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ITrfiV^niitriy. JLiXFrilTIir* *
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and the lavs wiick such chartered libertines as mads and treros are now intrra to obey . _ Ifc also furnishes an account of the Atlantic telegraph , the rival lines of mail steamers—the Ctjnauj ) and € oluns—giving , of course , the palm for speed and safety to the former . The writer , in the foUowiag . passage , accepts Lieutenant Ma . uby ' -s snggestioa for lessening the risk ¦ of -collision , which experience proves to be considerable : — It is not , however , a rivalry -without risk . In seeking for tie maximum of speedy safety is jeopardized ia all ttese great lines of mail steamers . Winter storms , icebergs , fogs , tropical h . urricajjes and collisions -with other vessels , are all encountered at high rates of Velocity .: Experience and discipline have done much to protect against these dangers , but serious hazards still exist ; and especially those of collision , which are constantly augmenting in an ocean . © very year more crowded with ships , seeking to find the shortest passage across it In these days , iowever , of bold design and prompt execution , there are few ills which , do not bring with them the suggestion of jemedy . Lieut . Maury , and others in sequel to him , have urged the adoption of " steam la * ies" across the Atlantic ; that is , definite lines of navigation of a certain
WE saad last week that tiie lieviews tins quarter were better than usual , and this week the new number of the Edinburgh comes in to confirm the statement . Those who are in the habit of watching the progress of periodical literature must have noticed with pleasure that tliis patriarch of the Quarterlies is of late , after a somewhat wintry season , renewing its Tigorous youth . Tor a . time , certainly ; it seemed to have passed into the hopeless barrenness of age , the once vivid pages being wholly GJLed with dreary statistics and still
drearier dissertations on subjects of at best but little interest , and often of no interest at all . like the melancholy peculiar to tailors , which , according to Chakles Iamb , may be traced to the sameness and singularity of their diet ( they are well known to be , as a body , vegetarians , living almost exclusively on cabbage ) , this melancholy condition was too evidently produced by ¦ want of nourishment rather than weakness of constitution .. The Hevie'w , living wholly on Blue-books , by a natural process gradually became subdued to the colour of what it fed on . No doubt Blue-books are very good , but as they supply only one of the constituents of intellectual strength , their too exclusive use tends to impoverish the blood and dry up the vital juices , until a more liberal regimen becomes indispensable to mental health . The salutary effects of such a change are seen in the recent numbers of the Edinburgh . With
a more generous and stimulating diet , it has regained much of its old vigour , variety , and incisiveness of intellectual action . This is seen not only in tlie subjects chosen , but in the spirit with which they are treated . The choice of subject , howeveiy is by no means an unimportant point as an index to the power and vitality of a Review . The last number of the Quarterly , for example , contained three articles . on " Salmon , " " Ferns / 3 and " Rats , " respectively . As natural history is fashionable—minute botany and marine zoology being quite the rage just now—there is no doubt a certain wisdom in this . ' But it was felt that , for such , a journal to give three out of eight articles to the minutiae of a single subject , was , to say the least , an uncalled foT abnegation of its higher functions ; and though the papers , being well written ^ were decidedly interesting , the number was fairly open , to the charge of devoting too many great articles to small subjects . '
No such complaint can with justice be made against the current number of tlie Edinburgh , two of its best articles being dedicated to recognised celebrities , " Alexander the Great , " and "The Atlantic Ocean . " The first is a defence of A : lexa : ndeii ' s clvaracter and conduct against the wilful misrepresentations of Niebuhr , and the more temperate and judicial depreciation of Mr . Gbots . The article , though not brilliant , is interesting throu-ghout from the scholarly research it disrjlays , the care with which , it is written , and the broad aud liberal spirit iij breathes . "We may add that the writer , as it seems to us , docs his hero nty more than simple justice . Alexander tub Great . will always be judged wry differently by two parties more or less opposed to each
othexthose wko look on him as the destroyer of the old , tlie seini-barbaric -warrior who helped to extinguish Athenian independence ; and those who regard Mm as the founder of . the new , the great general who helped , by his genius and conquest , to diltuse Hellenic civilization—the precious vase of Attic culture being " broken only that its fragrance might fill all lands . In this view lie simplythough in a sense not intended by the poet— " gave up to the East what was meant for mankind , " thus commencing the spread of that culture which , since Ms day , and in great part through his instrumentality , has extended to every quarter of the globe . The writer thus sums up his discussion of the subject : —
If he overthrew the liberties of Hellas , in their native eeat , he gave to the Hellenic mind a wider scope , and eventually a yet nobler mission- He was the precursor of Heraclius restoring the True Cross from its Persian bondage , of Leo boating back the triumphant Saracen from the walls of the city which Philip himself had besieged in vain . The victories of Christian Emperors , the teaching of Christian fathers , the abiding life of the tongue and arts of Greece far beyond the limits of old Hellas , perhaps the retention of Greek nationality down to our own times , all sprung from the triumphs of this perhaps " non-Hellenic conqueror , " but , in his ultimate results , most truly Hellenic missionary . And though -wo may not personally attribute to him the praise of results -which neither he nor any mortal could have contemplated , let us at least do justice to the great and noble qualities , the extended and enlightened aims , which mnTked his brief career on « arth . Many faults , ami a few crimes , indeed fitain his glory ; but perhaps none of mortal race ever -went through such an ordeal- It would indeed have been a moral miracle if a fiery and impulsive youth had passed quite unscathed , through such temptations as had never beset humanity before . A Greek
youth , a , a warrior , a king , ho would have been moro than man had ho loolced down quite nndazzlcd from the giddy eminence of what ho might well deem superhuman greatness . The fame of even tlie noblest of conquerors must yield to that of the peaceful benefactors of their species , or of the warriors ivlioso victories do but secure the liberties of nations . We < lo not place Alexander beside Lconidaa or Washington , beside Alfred or William tho Silent . But we do protest against a view -which places him in tho same class with Attila and Jenghiz and Timour . Their warfare was devastation for its own sake ; his was conquest whidi went hand in hand ¦ Wi th discovery and improvement . Theirs was a wild beast's thirst of blood , a barbarian ' s lust of moro dominion 5 his was " an ambition which almost grew into onewith the highest of which nrnn is capable , tho desire of knowledge and tho lovo of good . " Such is tho judgment of one who yields to none in tlie extent of his research , and Who , if ho may yield to aomo of Lis competitors in the brilliancy of original discovery , yet-surpasses them in those calm aud judicial faculties ,, -without which reueardi aud brilliancy are vain . By tho judgment of Unit great historian we still abide .
The article on "The Atlantic Ocean" discusses in clear and vigorous style the Gulf-stream , the Arctic currents , the forces which determine their course
width , ^ and distinct from others throughout ; so appropriated severally to vessels going east 01 west , that the chances of collision maybe greatlylessened , if not actually removed . Tho width of the zone of ocean now traversed by the mail steamers ia about 250 miles . It is proposed to mark off lanes , 20 or 25 miles in width , on the northern and southern , borders of this zone , as the routes respectively-to be followed and adhered to , by all steam-vessels crossing in one direction or the other . The scheme , or some one equivalent to it , we doubt not to be practicable ; and such is its obvious utility , that we as little-doubt its "being eventually carried into effect . The phrase of a Steam lane may somewhat startle those-who axe wont to associate with this-word the cross roads of a midland rural district—the high hedges , deep ditches , and straggling cart rats ; the bushes of blackberry , Aazel-nut , aud hawthorn , and the hundred sweet flowers and weeds which luxuriate on the hedge banks . We cannot quarrel , however , with this new use of the term , if the object be fulfilled to which it is applied . ;—it Jong tones of ocean , " which have no turning , " be really laid out for the Bafer navigation of the BeaB . The very simplicity and familiarity of the name is a , tribute to that prowess of man , which has taught Mm thus to mark out and pursue a fixed path through the wide wilderness of-waters .
The paper on " The Last Census of Trance , " in a careful and dispassionate review of facts and figures , with the causes and consequences they suggest , gives a picture of the results of Imperialism gloomy -enough , and even menacing ; We can only , in . passing , recommend it to the serious study of all who wish to know the actual state of the IVench people , wTiose interests in many respects are so identified with our own . "We have , however , dealt with the subject in another department of this journal , and we shall xot allow it to escape the close attention of our readers . Hie article on .. ' * ' The Dilettanti Society" affords an illustration of the
improved spirit we have referred to as cltaracterizing the Edinburgh of late , the disposition to recognise and appreciate the influences which , in the evolutions of modem life , arc unconsciously changing the form and character of society . We ought to say , parenthetically , that the history of . the Society given hi the body of the paper certainly takes away from its labours the character of polished trifling , and elegant but utter uselcssness , which somehow or other we had supposed natujally "belonged to them . On . the contrary , the Society has evidently done much for art , as well as for historic science and archaeology * Towards the close , the writer of the article considers the influence of classical
culture now in comparison with its position and power half a century ago—in what spirit will be seen from the following extracts : — It requir es no deep philosophy to understand that the moral and intellectual characteristics of any period can hardly be discerned by those who are close upon them . '• each man reflects them in his own nature , and believes the coloured or distorted object to be the reality . With this reserve , we express our belief that our lot is cast in that moment of tliis world ' s life in which the great instrument of civilization , tha Classical Culture , is ceasing to occupy the minds and regulate the intellectual motions of mankind- There are many wlio would lind in this persuasion no cause for regret , and these not among the ignorant nor tlio vulgar . If the tradition was a guide , it was also a check ; if it drew up the ordinary intelligence , by certain fine and analogous processes , to a certain level of noble thoughts and graceful expressions , it cramped wi thin the same framework many luxuriant growths of fancy , and many genuine diversions of genius . As long , indeed , aa tho Latin language was the vernacular of the education of iiuropo , by that very fact it acquired a certain liberty of development ; and while it might lose something in ite philological structuro , it
gained in its adaptation to the various requirements of tho advancing world . But when tho modern languages gained their perfect stature , and claimed to bo written and spoken by nil men ns the organs of their separate nations , and tho classic tongua declined to the use of mere scholars , and soon ceased to be the medium of general communication even there , no variation of its authentic shape was longer possible , and it only retained the powerless faculty of a dead form of speech . Mr . Conington , in the interesting lecture to which we have before alluded , regards this circumstanco as an advantage for the study of the language ; but wo so little agree with him , that we look on the fact of tho appointment of a Professor of Latin in the University of Oxford as iu itself a strong proof of the diminution of the classical spirit . This very eulogy of the Latin language rcada like a funeral oration over that condition of study , when the colloquialisms of life , tho banter of youth , the academic sporta ( of wliich the Westminster Play 1 > is allowed to linger as a belated representative ) , tho principles of philosophy , and tho verities of religion , spoke the great common diction . It seems to us- like establishing an annual lecture upon tho principles of Liberty in tlie place of tho working of the British Constitution . . .
But it is fitill a stronger index of the intellectual tendencies of our time that even those who succeed in attaining tho highost classical honours at our universities dismiss tho subject from thuir minds when tliciy mix in political and common , life . Itia not only that tho young politician ' h " first speech , " with its appoaito quotations and ite scholarly tone , is a custom of tho past ; not only that such a publication as established tlie reputation of l'ayno Knight , and made him a man of fashion , would now exclude liim from respectable houses , and « eriou « ly damage his prospects in life ; but that in the writings and the specchcH of these , very men , in their occupations , and in tlieir amusements , you are not connciouH of tho presence of tho old Hpirit , you do not taste the flavour of the ancient tfrnce , and you think that they might just as well have been devoting their youth to ttanacrit aa to Greek , to Cicrmnm as to Latin . . . ,
I he foundations of this cluing iu tho thoughts and expressions not only of thi * country but of the civilised world must lie deep . Not to go further back , the greal French devolution ( " the Dow / igor , " the French now call her ) accelerated , while il pretended to arrest , tho full of the traditional literary authorities . Our fiionc
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¦ ¦ ' ' ' : ¦ ¦ , ' » Criticsare nofcthelegislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do not make laws—tley interpret and try to enforce them . —Edinburgh Bevieto . ¦ ¦ . . ¦ ¦ ¦ - . - '¦¦ ¦ ' ' ¦ ' ; ' ¦ ?—— ¦ ¦
Itrfiv^Niitriy. Jlixfriltiir* *
' - . ' . /' . y-XMfAisxi .
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¦ Apkil 18 , 1857 . ] THE LEADER , 375
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Leader (1850-1860), April 18, 1857, page 375, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2189/page/15/
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