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    martyrdom of our self-tormenting voluntary exiles : they learn to Love home more obstinately , ancl to put up more resignedly with the anomalies of our " glorious institutions , " after exchanging the innocuous austerity of a ' Peeler' for the tender mercies of an Austrian gendarme . We have known the most dissatisfied revolutionary sympathiser almost weep with satisfaction at the comfortable prospect of those oligarchical cliffs of poor old England . " ¦ Now that I have returned home I laugh quite as heartily as young-er men at all "the small miseries and mishaps we must get through , without wincing , ia our -wanderings about the world . They are exactly the ups and downs , aud joltings out of icur drawing-room and club easy-rchairs , we set out to—enjoy !"

    TJaere is no mistaking the faithfulness of this confession . In the expd > - rienoe of most travellers the charm of the adventure is in the reminiscence , ; and the romance of travel in the telling . For our own part we confess we iiave little patience with tlese victims of small miseries and mishaps . Let'them stay at home , and . not make their country ridiculous abroad . Englishmen who must have indigestible dinners , Gargantuan beds , and dirt-creating carpets , are free to bask in those luxuries on their own free shores , without denying to foreigners the privilege of contrast . . Assuring the Captain that he need not fear the " freedom of his strictures aipon men and things , " which , we repeat , are presented in the best form , that of a careless diary , -we pass on from the Preface ^ over which Ave have lingered too long , to the Gleanings from Piccadilly to Pera . These alliteraiions appear to

    be'infectious-TCo do the ^ Captain justice , he does not wait to cross the Channel to i ? egln growling . Before he -has left Piccadilly he has a growl about cablaws , which he thinks unfair to Cabby , and accordingly lie pays " sixpence , if not a shilling , over his fare , " " avoid disputes . " At'Folkestone , the ; Captain , who has an eager eye for beauty , observes the : shx > rt supply of "beaux " for the '* ' dashing Handsome girls , linked in twos -anQthrees . " ' " How many , "he feelingly exclaims , " of our cbarming lilies and-roses * waste their sweetness on the desert ( watering-places ) , air I '—at last , any . sort of two 4 egged animal is welcome . " The prevalence of this disastrous state of affairs was amusingly illustrated at a salubrious ( and

    evangelical ^) watering-place on the western coast , the other day , where the local paper actually advertised for a " few gentlemen -Ranted " for a piCrnic . We cannot pause , in Parisj where the Captain has his eyes and ears actively . busy 'in : theMi 6 W : Streets , 'the ^ theatres , and the churches , and where lie isasmuch at home as in London . We heartily sympathise with any man who ias ' ^ lost . all the better chances in life " at Paris , and proceed by railway and river to Lyons , where the clean and comfortable aspect of the trowel provokes an . outburst of indignation at the miseries of our own streets . A ^ t Marseilles , a look at "the shipping , in which England is scarcely conspicuous enough , is moralised into a complaint at the legislative obstructions to the -complete removal of commercial monopolies 5 and the absence of beggars suggests a passage which , deserves to be quoted .

    Jwaother sign of ^ prosperity lere is the total absence of beggar—begging is indeed forbidden ,- —but I do . not see such xags , -such utter reckless destitution , in any of . the onarrowi meaner ' streets , orthe / raore lonely suburbs , as . among ourselves ; indeed ! have j notrsaena single heingin rags , or . unmistakably n beggar . Tms . setsme to toinking v&ntthatiiue-of Bope& about gwemments : —

    u Whate ' er is best auministereu , is best . " BCereis . au : active , unmistakable comment on the scribbling of the age among ourselves , of > ten thousand brilliant , but very worthless speeches in " both homes . " In > spite of various waTS , civil wars , changes of dynasties , in spite of much ignorance , much hot-headedness , ' much religious superstition , and oven , worst of all , much ? ¦ scarcity this winter , both ia bread and wine , here is a land , whose government wo affect ? to despise or pity , that . has infinitely more reason to despise or pity us ! They retain at least the solid good to the poorest creature ; they have ertough to . eat , and aie decently clothed ; their police-courts drag to light nothing approaching the diro ¦ distress , nox the excessive , heartless brutality of our lowest classes . What signifies

    ¦ diversity of ignorant or prejudiced opinions ! It is indeed high time for us to bo awake to facts , our opinions would lie too ridiculous were they not too melancholy , — but we love our opinions , we livo on and enjoy tliem : very well—meantime « ' cbtkes , / bod , anUJir& for tlie multitude becomes every clay a more and more serious question , only helped a . little of lato by the tide of emigration . Crime is multiplied even by the > vory laws made to redress It . Beggars swarm in our streets , besot our doors ; the ^ children 06 oatr bade slums and blind alleys , left to run wild , pour o-ut and commit all aorta of patty mischief , besides their noise , quite unchecked by the police , who stalk About holding familiar conversations with pot-boys , maid servants , or with the knots . of idlers hanging about our taverns and gin palacos , where they can Tjo—no doubt they Are too often—treated by the moat good-for-nothing characters , and made safu 1

    ( There is much sagacity in our author ' s remarks on the municipal and sanitary administration , and the moral condition of the two great manufacturing and commercial cities of France . . From Marseilles we are carried to Toulon , where an eccentric English 'yachtsman ia mnde a . note of : thence -to Hyeres , the French Torquay , which , it being bitter . cold weather ( und nothing ia bo intolerable as cold weather in the South ) , we are sick of-in a fortnight , and get back to Toulon , and are off to Cannes and Nice . We . axe unable to linger at Genoa , Leghorn , Pisa , and Naples , ¦ with our thoughtful and observant companion , who improves on acquaintance . He . distributes , aa he proceeds , his severities pretty equally between the delusions and discomforts iho encounters in his travels , and the cants , corruptions , anomalies and aorvilitios he hua loft at home . Sometimes , after inveighing moat bitterly against English social hypocrisies and tyrannies , we find him aittingj down super Jlumina JBalti / louin , aud calling to remembrance , in touching accents , the iloah-pots of his native land , Who can read without emotion the following gastronomic apostrophe ? TImj Captain Sa " enjoying " tho winter at Naples .

    'O howl long for somo of our own nice , savory , relishing dishes ! what would I not give for a curry , or good Tumpsteak and oyntor mutce ? 1 had gcoen pens ; but there ia no tmch . thing us BtuHVwl duck : all their dinho , n , like 1 ho Front ;)) , arc only pre-oiniaiontly insipid .: this iuslpSdity hoa crept round the < : <> uut , from Franco of luto yours . thirty years ago tho ltali nn dishos wuro very much bettor ; thuy have uvan bnttuhod « nionH and most herbs : suffo , parsley , horso-nullsb , beut-root , not a thing loft ; mock turtle , mulligatawny , whitu « owp , or nny of our seasoned delightful soups airo unhward o'f- So of any dlalt . lloawt beef , or multon and current jolly , or boiled turnips , enper

    sauce , stuffed turkey or goose , any of our homely hashes would be exquisite compared to the messes they set before one ; and yet we travelled English to talk such un-Enolish nonsense of Continental cookery ! Yes , it is the fashion —So-and-So has a French cook—gives capital dinners ; now , 1 should say thut would be the very reason why I would by all means avoid his table , if I cared to eat any dinner at all ; still I mHht hope , in this continental flood of tortured insipidities and affectation which so likeiTit that some despised English dish might smoke on the sideboard . * A sailor is always worth listening to on all subjects : lie speaks his mind Captain Oldmixon ' s views on . art and artists ( in his chapter on Naples and Pompeii ) may not be singularly profound or refined , but they are at

    least genuine , and this sort of genuineness is as valuable as it is rare . We may always learn something from one who tells us what he really thinks and recounts what he really saw and felt . A visit to Sicily draws forth a word or two of honest sailor-like indignation at the disgraces of our ' diplomacy , and the iniquity and faithlessness of our policy towards that devoted island . The indolent apathy of our costly Envoys , their exclusiveness and inattention , their " squinting- forbearance" towards petty despotisms , and . the consequent contempt of the English where the Americans are respected and feared , are vividly and , we fear , too faithfully represented . Malta Oldmaxon takes

    From Captain wing in . a screw-steamer for Constantinople , where all the world is hurrying . It is the spring of the present year . We pass by the descriptions of the Dardanelles , the Sea of Marmora , the Golden Horn , and the traditional lions of the Sultan ' s capital . The lion of lions at the present moment is tlie . British Lion , who appears to wag his -tail in Turkey ; much as he does at home . The sublime insouciance of the True Believer is already indifferent , if not accustomed , to the antics of his deliverers . ' Fiie English , are all as shy of their travelling countrymen as usual , not always without reason , for Cons-tantinople is crowded with the detrimentals of all nations , seeking whoin or what they may devour . " One of these young men , with a revolver which threatened to shoot backwards on its owner , was on his way to join the French General Pacha commanding at Kars—as a volunteer , not knoivinjr whether the Pacha would have him or not . "

    In the middle of last TSIay people at Constantinople knew nothing of what was passing at the then seat of war on the Danube , except through a stray limes ten days old , or a tattered and torn Galir / nani . It was an on dit " that the Russians are bombarding Constantinople ; '' an on dit " that two or three of the Baltic fleet were sunk before Cronstadt . " Pera was mysterious as ever . ; and the allied troops- "were as ignorant of the next move as the pawns on a chessboard .. The admirable correspondence of the ' -daily journals has daguerreotyned with picturesque fidelity tlie incidents and the ennuiof the camps at Scutari and Gallipot ! in the spring , when the war was in suspense . Captain Oldmixon contributes a lively page or two to the reminiscences | of that strange episode in the history of Turkey . He regards the Turks with benevolent sympathy , and a sort of compassionate affection . He likes " their quiet smoking , contented barbarity . ' Making allowance for the temper of the writer , there is good feeling and good sense in his conclusion- —that ' we

    know veiy little of the real sense or feeling , or ideas , or notions of the Oriental , or any foreign nations . ... If we could only find out , and did but understand each natio-n ' s train of thought and train of reasoning !" There is an almost Shandean humour in the Captain ' s defence of those muchabused wild dogs—" a yellow-brown race , between a wolf and a jackal "whom we have always heard described as the terror and nuisance of Constantinople , and whom , it seems , our officers found sport in shooting . But the captain has an inexhaustible sympathy for the mute creation . He solaces his speechless loneliness with the society of a few cocks and hens , in the backyard of his lodgings . He thinks " one of the most remarkable and

    lovable things about the 'Turks is their gentle kindness to every living thing about them . " But the Turks arc dwindling away , while the Christians are fast increasing ; and with all his sympathy for the race , the captain concludes that , " in the midst of all varieties of bad governments of mankind , that of the Turks is the very -worst . " Here is the captain ' s summary solution of the Eastern Question . We may preface it by his declaration in another place , that ?' generals and admirals should be our only diplomatists . Statesmen and ambassadors havo -constantly thrown away the advantages gained by our armies and our fleets . . . . Witness the winding up of our last war . ! stripping ourselves , and imbecilely leaguing the whole Continent against us , for whose interests alone we had been fighting . '

    To do any real good , tho groat balancing powers should divide at least the European half among themselves , und lot Constantinople bo in our abaro , —a slieo including tho Bosphoma , the Sea of Marmora , and tho Dardanelles ! To talk of t \\ Q rights of any Government—indeed of any ono nation—haw over been , and over will bo , a moro nxockery ; when thoy cease to bo masters on their own ground , there is , and thero should bo , an end of it . Tho affectation of muddling by ambassadors on paper only , -while a country goes on to deeper ruin , —whilu a population of millions groans undox a barbarous oppression , and implores some chimtfo from without , —is Bimply adding hypocrisy to folly , nay , a hard-huarted indiflbraiiuo to tho sufferings of a whole pooplo . Bnt this is Lord Aberdeen ' s business , and the threa emperors , who might easily settle it any fine morning . Tho exodus of every Turk m Europo over to the Asiatic side , led by the Sultan himself in his state cuHijuo , would bo felt m a very great blessing j judiciously nnd justly managed , oven by tlm Turks themselves , who must bo tixod of fluttering betweun hawk und buzzard , ami are , 1 daro sayquite ready to fulfil what thoy already consider their destiny .

    , Just now , wo must first seo our v / ny by cutting thocltwvs of tho llunsian bimv ; tnka Sobastopol and tlio Crimea : —that insolence chocked , tho hiyh eontractiny ihjwith may do anything very much mora easily nnd cheaper than Heading floolti ixntX 4 inuieu L <> support what is , in overy sorao of tho wrd , insupportable . r ^ But pooplo naturally ask , not for tliis or that man ' s opinion , but what art ) tin- 1 urlts likono-w ? What are thoy at ? And this too Iiuh lieun ably smsweroil l » y rweiit booku ; and wo have it IVqhIi nnd froah from a dozen " correspondents" of wiir dully pupom . Allah Korim ! What euu I say ? Turkey , as ho walks the HtrmslM or sit * in bin cafijuo , dvesuos moro « nd moro « ftor tbo fanhion of ( Vieud Kuropo , \ rliu h anv « y » taking him by the button mid bothcrhig and boring him . Ho opens hi « lniH- <* hut ; oyon ott Ntenm and Htouin « ra | tries lo play at , tfoology , ehomintry , aitd I ho » ti" ' i . V ' Allah Aubnr ! coinpreheixln nothing and noto It down , on roguiuinjj ; U | M l '' l ' ' "" " , "' and robe , as moro bosh I XJo boliovcH tit the drilling of his Tnotlcos , and rtlls I'UiioiiUv pn « zled , llMtonlng to tho our-Aviyging aud contradictory ultimatums of a tM'louy ol infidol anibasuatlors .

    Untitled Article

    *«» THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 21, 1854, page 1002, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2061/page/18/