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round , no voice to raise m supplication . He knew that his door opened—that a light came into the room—that a voice cried ' Degraded beast 1 '—that the door was suddenly shot again with a bang—and that he was left once more in total darkness . He did not care for the light , or the voice , or the banging of the door : he did not think of them afterwards , he did not mouru over the past , or speculate on the future . He just sank back on his pillow with a gasp drew the clothes over him with a groan , and fell asleep , blissfully reckless of the retribution that was to come with the coming daylight . " We have outrun our limits , and still , like King John , " had a thing to say . " Enough , if we have given the reader ' s appetite an edge .
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ULTIMA THTJLE . Ultima Thule ; or , Thoughts suggested by a Residence in New Zealand . By Thomas Cbolmondeley . John Chapman . This is one of the best books that have appeared on New Zealand . And not only on New Zealand ; for though it has been pronounced by those whose knowledge and practical experience on the subject render them capable of judging it , to be exceedingly correct as regards information , aad fair in its views and statements of . disputed matters , yet , were its value confined to mere local interests of this nature , we should have contented ourselves with simply attesting its accuracy and pointing it out to the attention of those to whom such a work 13 especially valuable . But Mr . Cholmondeley ' s little volume contains so much that is applicable to the whole lar ge question of colonization , it evidences a spirit so tolerant of mistakes and difficulties , and at the same time so unmerciful to abuses and false principles , that we are led to notice it more particularly .
Our first extract shall be upon the " why" of colonization . There are very true things in it . When a common peasant hears of a new country , a vast uninhabited region over the sea , what is the first remark he makes ? ' Land , he says , must be easy to obtain there . Here it is impossible for me to get any ; ' and the thought uppermost in his mind is , ' a form of my own , it it is but small ; a-plpt of ground , a garden . ' The feeling is universal among the English common labourers , and very general among the mechanics . It is their ambition , and it is an hononrable ambition . If things could be so managed in England , so that a poor man , by the sweat of bis brow in youtn ^ eould conaqej&land enough to maintain his age , and make himself a sure home , it would do mofe-to . muke the old country young again than all the fine books of advice to oar poor neighbours that have ever been written . Your
tracts and your prizes , compared with that , are as milk and water to strong wine : for the desire of land has been planted by Heaven in the human breast . Indeed , in old times , less than a life-tenancy was not held worth the acceptance of a freeman . " Our countrymen will pass through fire and water for a freehold . They will cross the great deep under decks , where they are packed as close as sheep at Smithfield . It is a natural and holy feeliug which leads them to endure such martyrdom . Now , what is such a country as New Zealand meant -to be ? It is one of the remedies for the miserable inequalities of English life : there men go to right themselves . Again , we all know that the possession of land gives a man a moral , * as well as a social lift . It clears his brow : it makes him stand higher in hisshoes , though they be bat the same old pair as before : it is Nature ' s own saving-bank : ifc will hold up a man m hard times , when other savings are exhausted : then the land will support him , and still remain his own . "
And again , upon this same question of " righting the inequalities : "—*! The question then is , what can be done in a state by all means to bring such men into their proper place , and so to benefit both ourselves and them ; to benefit them by enabling them to fulfil their work under favourable conditions , and ourselves , by tie advantage" we are sure to draw from their labours among us . How melancholy a thought it is , that there are men in England folLowing the plough or making bricks—in short , engaged in some kind of mechanical drudgery or otherwise—who possess the souls of statesmen , artists , and poets ; and might have been such , to our infinite benefit , had they found a helping hand , or even received the ordinary rudiments of education . What waste , and what injustice there is herel for meanwhile , observe , that / in default of these our truri men , we are obliged fco put up with every description of mediocrity , and may think ourselves only too lucky if we can escape from counterfeits and hypocrites of the worst description . The * remedy for this disease
—this wasting disorder—is to put the education of the people upon a proper footing . . . . " It is often objected that , in oar state of society in England , men who nave risen from the ranks are the most unhappy of any , for they feel the disproportion of fortune more keenly , and they acquires tastes and affections which it is impossible to gratify . They become , therefore , miserable , and a distress rather than a glory to their friends and helpers . Suppose this were universally true , which it certainly is not , what does it prove ? That the country is in an unhealthy stat « . Ifc proves that there exists a barrier between certain classes of society ( to speak roughly ) which cannot be surmounted , except in very extraordinary cases indeed . That such exists , the mor « is the shame and the pity : to say nothing of the incalculable ) loss and waste to society—it is a distinct source of disaffection which may any day lead to a catastrophe , such as those who are most concerned in maintaining the present system may well shudder to contemplate . It is , however , a happy exception in new countries , and in new societies , that a practical freedom exists , whereas the old , for the most part , only retain the forms of liberty . Our common people look to America with longing , very chiefly on this account;—because society there is not hampered with so tight a uniform . "
The " how ' of colonization falls next under consideration . Mr . Cholmondeley draws a very just distinction between the mere emigrant , who leaves his own country and severs the social , ties which bound him to her , with an indefinite purpose , —and the colonist , whose aim is always the formation of a new society , and the establishment of new ties . The former may be compared to a severed branch , whose individual existence is preserved for a time by being supplied with earth or water ;—the latter to a tree carefully transplanted , ready to take root in the new soil , and become perhaps the parent of a forest . The mother country is the gardener . We all know , in the case of the young plantation , that if he left them entirely to their unassisted resources at first , they would be in danger of perishing ; lie must water them in the drought , and fence them from being
down-trodden by invaders , -while young and weakly . We know also that undue interference , superabundant nourishment , and unnecessary protection would produce another class of evils ;—hasty or excessive development , and corresponding weakness and decay . All this applies also tothehunian plantation ; though Governments have been sometimes slow in finding it out . Probably no political probluirft arc so difficult of solution as the relations of a mothercountry with her colonies . Such a variety of elements are at work , — differences of race , titles of possession , circumstances of settlement . But the truth is daily becoming a more acknowledged one , that while you treat a colony as a . conquered country , it will ever bo a source of weakness , — ratlier limn strength and advantage , —to the parent state . Mr . Chohuondelcy ' s remarks upon the rationale of self-government for colonies are very true and sterling . Hero , is a sample : —
" Without attempting to define tlio actual position of some of our foreign possesftions which aro occasionally dignified hy being callod ' coloniea '—however these may bo governed —it may safely be suid , that to attempt to govern a real colony as a mere dependency is
™ w ? AM T ? you tre ^ oolon 3 M a child , the more childish it « ts . ' ¦ Every society is old enough to govern . itself , however young in point of years . AgainVall cblonS governrnent , as at present practised , is foreign government , whereas all beueficial goyeraments of freemen must proceed from within Every colony and every society exists by tha £ Z ^ S r f 7 "fY ^ Yott ««* substitute tS outwid ^ uKSJte inward instinct of order and development . And if yon , by your intertereBco , check the natural growth of a society and substitute deformities of your own creation , toa liave done your best to kill that society Better , I think , take away the Ufc of countless 'Singular persons , ' than that common life by the inspiration of which they becomelitiwsns . You merely talk of forming a colony or society , bat you can no more make a colooy , in the true sense , than Frankenstein could make a man . It is not inherent in one society to make another in this way . ' , " Where g « nuine life , natural , vigorous , and truo is not allowed ^ tuere some ' hidedus counterfeit is sure , sooner or later , to disclose itself . The true tody to guide men is to out them ike
m way of guiding themsdves . Nor ought we to calumniate liberty by attaching t « it anarchic licence as an inseparable accident . There will always be aoine amount at ' struggling and contention , and perhaps even violence , about the beginning of liberty or self , government , call it which you will . But this will wear off as men get used to it and 1 boldly assert that a strong leaven of the spirit of political agitation and collision ia ' advantageous to any people , but indispensable to the Anglo-Saxon race , as it is the only way of making them inquire , investigate , and think at all . . : " A great political contest is an education for a whole generation . The histories of Roms and England are scarcely anything else . We must have an antidote against stagnation , ani here it is . God forbid that the common people in our countries should ever 1 m Btruck ^ rith the paralysis of carelessness or inattention about their Government . 'They will next foriwt the meaning of the institutions of their fathers—they viili lose the spirit of' oar sacral Constitution , and , having forgotten and lost that , what will they begin to do , wnea any publaa storm descends , but clamour tor some absurd change , by- which most likely they tuemseltfea are deluded and robbed ? Blessings unused cease to be blessings . The strong arm . uneieicised , becomes weak . " <
And again : — . * : " Any institution , in order to act successfully , must be , so to speak , the natural grontU of the Bail whereon it maintains and spreads itself . Foreign institutions ' tre like exotics ; foreign constitutions are like ordinary articles of import and export—they are only matters of present , occasion , they express no life , and are only intended to last till those who bay them either break them , or can get a better thing . .,. ..,-•* No persons have ever been so much misunderstood as the great lawgivers <> f the world . Their laws stood , and became the lepreseht&tiyes of national life , not because they were' 3 d themselves extraordinarily excellent . Strictly speaking , they were not inventions , thW were begotten on the nation , not given to it . Those men had searched for , and at length penetrated , the very essence of all that their fellow-countrymen felt to be truest , and dearefet , and best . . Hence the law , when it came forth , was living , and at ouce recognised as the true child of the people , so that they might figuratively say of it , ' Unto us a child is born , unto us a son is given , and the goyerninent shall be upon his shoulders . ' . . ' . ' " Such masterpieces of legislation were , hi each instance , veritable gospels ; they explained a want , and they supplied a remedy . " *
Nothing can be better than the practical advice to colonists contained in these pages . Of course for such we must refer the reader t © the book itself . Mr . Cholmondeley speaks strongly , and wisely against the false inppression which we constantly find existing , that very inferior talent naay rise to distinction in the colonies . How often we hear of the indolent , the imperfectly educated , the fourth or fifth rate professional , bent on " making a fortune in the colonies . " No hope can be more delusive . Ability finds its level there as at home , and in a flourishing colony ( where alpne ;^ for ^ jpe can be made ) , there will soon be no want of competition . E y « r ^ # ue' : fnieiiii to the colonist should reiterate perpetually this truth , that no ^ iw ^§| for that most arduous undertaking who does not bring to it a plent ^ ul'Ss ^ fp ^ f energy , long-suffering , self-forgetfulness , and steadiness ofpui ^ os £ | i ;| # | is true the colonies hold but to the aspiring settler prizes that wotzld never ; wl within his reach at home ; but they must be won , like most , things worM having , with labour and struggle , the difference being ; , that there they r » ajf be won at last . •; ,
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A BATCH OF NEW BOOKS . We propose to collect below , within the limits of one article , several short reviews of works recently published . In these times , when the bad influence of war on the peaceful arts is beginning to be felt already in the direction of Literature , it is of more advantage to authors to Becure the immediate notoriety of a brief notice , than to wait for the prospective chance of a lengthy review . By assembling many writers together , we can pay such prompt attention to all new works as could not possibly be , bestowed on them if they were set apart to be criticised in separate articles . Let us see , to begin
with , what we have got that is noticeable m the shape of Books on India and thb East . —The enterprising Mr . Bonn has published a History of India , in one volume , with many illustrations on wood . The book is well arranged , and the . voluminous information connected with the subject seems very fairly and clearly condensed within the compass of about 450 pages . People who only want to be generally informed about our Indian empire will find these Outlines of Indian History likely to answer their purpose satisfactorily . We must not omit to mention that the book is provided with an Index .
The Thistle and the Cedar of Lebanon is the autobiography of Risk Allah , whom some of our readers may remember as a Syrian student of surgery at King ' s College . Thebsok is modestly and sensibly written , and contains , in connexion with the author's life and travels , some interesting particulars of domestic life in Syria , with , here and there , some curious revelations on the subject of religious belief in that country . Risk Allah ' s account of his first impressions of English life , on arriving in this country , is , as migh t be expected , the most diverting part of the book . The style , where serious matters are treated of , has the disadvantage of being decidedLy prosy . We should like to have seen Risk Allah ' s proof sheets before they were revised
for him by an English friend . At present , while the matter of his autobiography is fresh and characteristic , the manner is heavy and commonplace . Just the reverse maybe said of the next work on our list , Constantinople of to-day , by Tlieophilo Grautier , translated by Mr . Gould . Here we have old subjects made interesting by being treated in a new way . Theophile Gawtier has tho fault of most modern French writers of his class : he has no idea of repose . His style is all glitter and gaiety from the first page to the last . If you sat down , to read him through , he would weary you by dint of sheer vivacity—but if you take him up from time to time , and devote a leisure hull-hour to him whenever you can , ho is one of the most amusing literary companions that any reader can wish to meet with . Some of his descriptions are quite delightful in their picturesque gaiety ; aud he has the great merit ,
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June 24 , 1 S 54 . ] THE LEADER . 593
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Leader (1850-1860), June 24, 1854, page 593, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2044/page/17/
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