Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub

ifest itself with sufficient power to make a last race, because their only hope was in total revolustand for the Church of Rome. Pius the Ninth |tion. No recognition of the national rights of was supposed to intend the step of assimilating Hungary could have satisfied them; but it was

the constitution and regimen of the church to the genius of the age; but if ever he entertained the design, he has failed, and takes refuge in reaction. The Council of Paris cannot supply the fatal omission. But possibly, feeling its want of authority

precisely the excesses to which they had contributed which brought down upon them the whole force of the north, and terminated the campaign. Moreover, the cabinet of St. Petersburg, extending its observation to the rest of Europe, was

and of influence sufficient to cope with so vast a well aware that the triumph or defeat of the Hunsubject, it might start the project of a Great Coun-garian insurrection was not a question confined to cil of the whole church. We speak under cor- the frontiers of that kingdom. Its consequences rection in expressing the belief that a council pos- embraced the whole of Southern Germany. Alsesses supreme power within the church-higher than that of the Pope himself. If so, the council might revise the constitution and regimen of the church, as Pius the Ninth was expected to do; only that the revision would be effected with greater breadth and completeness. It is probable, indeed, that the Romish Church may prove essentially incapable of this expansive and progressive modification; and, in that case, the conflicts of councils which we note may be regarded as the signs of its final disruption.

From the London Times, of Sept. 19.

RUSSIAN PREPONDERANCE.

ready, in October last year, Hungary had kindled the conflagration in Vienna which rivalled the horrors of the Parisian days of June, when the Polish Bem and the Saxon Robert Blum conspired to overthrow the monarchical institutions of Germany in the heart of her greatest capital. However patriotic the intentions of some of the Magyars may have been, their cause was identified elsewhere with the explosion of those frantic doctrines and acts of violence which had so recently spread terror and destruction through so many of the fairest cities of Europe. At one moment the policy of M. Kossuth had been daringly aggressive; had he become undisputed master of Hungary, it would probably, or rather perforce, have become so again. The termination of the Hungarian war has interrupted a series of calamities to which it is not easy to assign bounds.

THE Emperor of Russia has withdrawn his troops from Hungary with a promptitude and sincerity which are more calculated to increase his weight and influence in the affairs of Europe than But, whilst we express our satisfaction that the any concessions of territory wrung from an enfee- blind enthusiasm of some of our contemporaries bled ally, or any act of hostile defiance to the has not been gratified at so enormous a price as other states which surround the frontiers of his a prolonged European convulsion, we have never empire. We are not surprised at the haughty concealed our regret that no other means of avertand self-applauding language of the proclamations ing it could be employed with effect, and we conin which the Russian autocrat has thanked his cur with some of our habitual antagonists in viewarmies and celebrated their triumph. Nor do we ing with dissatisfaction the increase which has regret that the harshness of some of the expressions thereby accrued to the power and influence of contained in these documents should be such as to Russia. That the fact is so, is generally acknowlmake the Austrian ministers feel how little such edged, and no less generally deplored, because we acts of friendship are to be coveted or accepted. have yet to learn that the armies and agents of The Emperor Nicholas took up arms against the Russia are to be regarded as the champions of imHungarian insurrection partly from a desire to ex- provement, and it fares but ill with freedom and tricate the house of Austria from the formidable civilization if they are to be the defenders of Eudifficulties which had been aggravated by the open rope from the most grievous excesses. But to and by the clandestine enmity of other powers. But what cause are we to attribute this augmentation the principal and decisive consideration which led of the European ascendency of Russia, which him to enter upon this campaign was the extreme those who are so ready to call revolutions liberty danger to which the possible success of the Hun-observe and deprecate as we do ourselves? Evgarian republic, assisted by the most daring sol- idently to the occurrence of those very convulsions diers of the Polish emigration, obviously exposed which their puerile enthusiasm was so eager to

the most unsettled portion of his own dominions. Many thousand Poles fought in the ranks of the Magyars. Dembinski and Bem exercised a degree of control over the military plans of M. Kos

applaud; and, secondly, to the extraordinary position of British diplomacy on the continent, which some of them have the intrepidity or the ignorance to defend. Whatever Russia has gained has been

suth's government which might subserve their own by the weakness of others, rather than by her own ulterior objects, but which was highly unpalatable strength-by opportunities of influence which ofto such men as Görgey, who probably entertains fered themselves to her more readily than if she the wonted aversion of the Magyars to their Sar- had sought them-by calamities which threw

matian neighbors. These foreign auxiliaries had contributed to make the breach between the Hungarians and the house of Austria irreparable, by encouraging the deposition of the emperor and his

others prostrate whilst she remained erect, and which left her mistress of her policy and resources, whilst all the other continental states were without force, and without will. In other words, the revolution which paralyzed the other governments | those factions which have weakened and convulsed of Europe left her the more free to pursue her own the continental states of Europe, but he owes course, even against their aberrations, so that we at least an equal debt of gratitude to that English

may venture to affirm that no combination of circumstances could have been so favorable to the extension of the power of Russia as that sudden and irrational outbreak which swept away the habitual checks to her policy. The Emperor Nicholas made use of his position with great forbearance and moderation; but, had his ambition been of a more active kind, he would have found that his most effectual auxiliaries abroad were precisely those liberals who professed the keenest hostility to his policy, but who had destroyed the system by which that policy was controlled. The conflict between a regular and absolute government, conducting its affairs with skill and secrecy,

minister who based his policy on the chances of these revolutionary adventurers, and at once threw aside the principles and the power which this country had so long adhered to and enjoyed in her foreign relations.

From the London Literary Gazette.

IMPORTANT DISCOVERY IN VENTILATION.

Ar a time when cholera, with an appalling voice, calls the most earnest attention to house ventilation, and dreadful explosions and loss of life in mines demand no less efforts to devise means for the prevention of these calamities, we have much satisfac

and disposing of great military resources, and a tion in anticipating that human residences may

fluctuating, irregular, and irresponsible popular power, whose resources are dispersed, and whose diplomacy is in the street, can have but one termination.

One country, indeed, besides Russia, remained entirely exempt from these infirmities of revolution; the measures of the British Foreign-office were never taken with greater freedom from external pressure or popular debility; and if they have failed it has been, not from necessity, but from choice. Nevertheless, even when an effort has been made by this country to oppose or counteract a tendency which she disapproved, it has so happened that she has not only succumbed, but has actually contributed to promote the result least acceptable to British policy. We have seen it asserted that in the Danish mediation Lord Palmerston succeeded in defeating the intentions of the Russian cabinet in the Baltic. A more erroneous statement was never made, for the settlement which was ultimately adopted was precisely that which Count Nesselrode had sanctioned, and every important point in the negotiation and the war was determined, not by English suggestions, but by Russian declarations. It was well known that the Emperor Nicholas was resolved and prepared to act, though with reluctance, and that we

were not.

easily be supplied with a continual circulation of wholesome air, and the most dangerous subterraneous works be preserved against accident from foul currents of fire-damp. Dr. Chowne has enrolled a patent for Improvements in Ventilating Rooms and Apartments, of the perfect efficacy of which, we believe, there cannot be a doubt, and on a principle at once most simple and unexpected. Without going into details at present, we may state that the improvements are based upon an action in the siphon which had not previously attracted the notice of any experimenter, viz., that if fixed with legs of unequal length, the air rushes into the shorter leg, and circulates up, and discharges itself from the longer leg. It is easy to see how readily this can be applied to any chamber, in order to purify its atmosphere. Let the orifice of the shorter leg be disposed where it can receive the current, and lead it into the chimney, (in mines, into the shafts,) so as to convert that chimney or shaft into the longer leg, and you have at once the circulation complete. A similar air-siphon can be employed in ships, and the lowest holds, where disease is generated in the close berths of the crowded seamen, be rendered as fresh as the upper decks. The curiosity of this discovery is that air in a siphon reverses the action of water, or other liquid, which enters and descends or moves

So, also, in the affair of Moldavia and Wallachia; down in the longer leg and rises up in the shorter when England protested against the Russian occu-leg! This is now a demonstrable fact; but how is pation, and was even said to have fomented the the principle to be accounted for? It puzzles our warlike spirit of the Porte, the Russian cabinet philosophy. That air in the bent tube is not to the

simply took no notice of our remonstrances, and declared it should continue to hold the country. In Italy and Sicily, when it was found that the weight of England was thrown on the side of the revolution, the credit and influence of Russia increased in a compound ratio with all the governments we had estranged from ourselves; and, to crown these exploits of our foreign policy, our persecution of the interests of Austria contributed to send her as a suppliant to Warsaw until Russian armies appeared on the Lower Danube.

If, therefore, the Emperor of Russia has reason to view his present political position with pride and satisfaction, he may thank, in the first instance,

surrounding atmosphere as water, or any heavier body, is evident; and it must be from this relation that the updraft in the longer leg is caused, and the constant circulation and withdrawal of polluted gases carried on. But, be this as it may, one thing is certain that a more useful and important discovery has never been made for the comfort and health of civilized man. We see no end to its application. There is no sanitary measure suggested to which it may not form a most beneficial adjunct. There is not a hovel, a cellar, a crypt, or a black, close hole anywhere, that it may not cleanse and disinfect. We trust that no time will be lost in bringing it to the public test on a large scale, and we foresee no

Some luckless lung the deadly reek inspires; Ev'n from the tomb morbific fumes arise,

Ev'n in men's ashes live disorder's fires.

For thee, who, shocked to see th' unhonored dead,
Dost in these lines their shameful plight relate;
If, chance, by sanitary musings led,

Some graveyard-gleaner shall inquire thy fate;

impediment to its being immediately and univer- | To some doomed breast the noxious vapor flies, sally adopted for the public weal. We ought to remark, that fires or heating apparatus are not at all necessary, and that, as the specification expresses it, "this action is not prevented by making the shorter leg hot while the longer leg remains cold, and no artificial heat is necessary to the longer leg of the air-siphon to cause this action to take place." Extraordinary as this may appear, we have witnessed the experiments made in various ways, with tubes from less than an inch to nearly a foot in diameter, and we can vouch for the fact being perfectly demonstrated. Light gas does descend the shorter leg when heated, and ascend the longer leg, where the column of air is much colder and heavier.

From Punch. AN ELEGY, WRITTEN IN A LONDON CHURCHYARD.

BY A TRADESMAN IN THE VICINITY.

THE Sexton tolls the bell till parting day;
The latest funeral train has paid its fee;
The mourners homeward take their dreary way,
And leave the scene to Typhus and to me.

Now fades the crowded graveyard on the sight,
But all, its air who scent, their nostrils hold,
Save where the beadle drones, contented quite,
And drowsy mutes their arms in slumber fold.

Save where, hard by yon soot-incrusted tower,
A reverend man does o'er his port complain
Of such as would, by sanitary power,
Invade his ancient customary gain.

Beneath those arid mounds, that dead wall's shade,
Where grows no turf above the mouldering heap,
All in their narrow cells together laid,

The former people of the parish sleep.

The queasy call of sewage-breathing morn,

The ox, urged bellowing to the butcher's shed,
The crowd's loud clamoring at his threatening horn,
No more shall rouse them from their loathly bed.

For them no more the chamber-light shall burn,
The busy doctor ply his daily care,
Nor children to their sire from school return,

And climb his knees the dreaded pest to share.

Good folks, impute not to their friends the fault,
If memory o'er their bones no tombstone raise;
Where there lie dozens huddled in one vault,
No art can mark the spot where each decays.

No doubt, in this revolting place are laid

Hearts lately pregnant with infectious fire; Hands, by whose grasp contagion was conveyed, As sure as electricity by wire.

Full many a gas, of direst power unclean,

The dark, o'erpeopled graves of London bear, Full many a poison, born to kill unseen,

And spread its rankness in the neighboring air.

Some district surgeon, that with dauntless breast
The epidemic 'mongst the poor withstood,
Some brave, humane physician here may rest,
Some curate, martyrs to infected blood.

Haply some muddle-headed clerk will say,
We used to see him at the peep of dawn,
Shaving with hasty strokes his beard away,

Whene'er his window-curtains were undrawn.

There would he stand o'erlooking yonder shed,
That hides those relics from the public eye,
And watch what we were doing with the dead,
And count the funerals daily going by.

One morn we missed him in the 'customed shop;
Behind the counter, where he used to be,
Another served; nor at his early chop,
Nor at the "Cock," nor at the " Cheese," was he.
The next, by special wish, with small array,
To Kensall Green we saw our neighbor borne;
Thither go read (if thou can'st read) the lay
With which a chum his headstone did adorn.

THE EPIΤΑΡΗ.

Here rest with decency the bones in earth,
Of one to Comfort and to Health unknown;
Miasma ever plagued his humble hearth,
And Scarlatina marked him for her own.

Long was his illness, tedious and severe;
Hard by a London churchyard dwelt our friend;
He followed to the grave a neighbor's bier,
He met thereby ('t was what he feared) his end.

No longer seek corruption to enclose
Within the places of mankind's abode;

But far from cities let our dust repose,

Where daisies blossom on the verdant clod.

[JEWISH RESURRECTION.]

"THE Jews commonly express resurrection by regermination, or growing up again like a plant. So they do in that strange tradition of theirs; of the Luz, an immortal little bone in the bottom of the Spina dorsi; which, though our anatomists are bound to deride as a kind of Terra incognita in the lesser world, yet theirs (who know the bones too but by tradition) will tell ye that there it is, and that it was created by God in an unalterable state of incorruption; that it is of a slippery condition, and maketh the body but believe that it groweth up with, or receiveth any nourishment from, that; whereas indeed the Luz is every ways immortally disposed, and out of whose ever-living power, fermented by a kind of dew from heaven, all the dry bones shall be reünited and knit together, and the whole generation of mankind recruit again." -John Gregorie, p. 125.

[THE GREENDALE OAK.]

HORACE WALPOLE mentions cabinets and glasses at Walbeck "wainscoted with the Greendale Oak, which was so large, that an old steward wisely cut a way through it, to make a triumphal passage for his lord and lady on their wedding, and only killed it."-Letters, vol. 2, p. 8.

[blocks in formation]

ILLUSTRATION. - Adopted Cubs of the Russian Bear, from Punch, 224.

POETRY.- Early to Bed and Early to Rise, 222.

SHORT ARTICLES. Block Printing, 211. - Practical Christianity; Travelling in Italy, 212. The Great Sugar Discovery, 213. - Clerical Combinations against the Press, 214. Lucy Osborn, 215. - Grace Mysterious in its Mode of Operations, 217. - Works by Natural Means, 222. - English Repudiation, 227. - Ventilation, 238.

United Service Magazine,

225

Spectator,

226

Economist,

228

Montreal Herald,

231

Economist,

232

Examiner,

234

Spectator,

236

Times,

237

Elegy in a London Church Yard, 239.

PROSPECTUS. This work is conducted in the spirit of Littell's Museum of Foreign Literature, (which was favor ably received by the public for twenty years,) but as it is twice as large, and appears so often, we not only give spirit and freshness to it by many things which were excluded by a month's delay, but while thus extending our scope and gathering a greater and more attractive variety, are able so to increase the solid and substantial part of our literary, historical, and political harvest, as fully to satisfy the wants of the American reader.

The elaborate and stately Essays of the Edinburgh, Quarterly, and other Reviews; and Blackwood's noble criticisms on Poetry, his keen political Commentaries, highly wrought Tales, and vivid descriptions of rural and mountain Scenery; and the contributions to Literature, History, and Common Life, by the sagacious Spectator, the sparkling Examiner, the judicious Athenæum, the busy and industrious Literary Gazette, the sensible and comprehensive Britannia, the sober and respectable Christian Observer; these are intermixed with the Military and Naval reminiscences of the United Service, and with the best articles of the Dublin University, New Monthly, Fraser's, Tait's, Ainsworth's, Hood's, and Sporting Magazines, and of Chambers' admirable Journal. We do not consider it beneath our dignity to borrow wit and wisdom from Punch; and, when we think it good enough, make ase of the thunder of The Times. We shall increase our variety by importations from the continent of Europe, and from the new growth of the British colonies.

The steamship has brought Europe, Asia and Africa, into our neighborhood; and will greatly multiply our connections, as Merchants, Travellers, and Politicians, with all marts of the world; so that much more than ever it

now becomes every intelligent American to be informed of the condition and changes of foreign countries. And this not only because of their nearer connection with our selves, but because the nations seem to be hastening, through a rapid process of change, to some new state of things, which the merely political prophet cannot compute or foresee.

Geographical Discoveries, the progress of Colonization, (which is extending over the whole world,) and Voyages and Travels, will be favorite matter for our selections; and, in general, we shall systematically and very fully acquaint our readers with the great department of Foreign affairs, without entirely neglecting our own.

While we aspire to make the Living Age desirable to all who wish to keep themselves informed of the rapid progress of the movement-to Statesmen, Divines, Lawyers, and Physicians-to men of business and men of leisure-it is still a stronger object to make it attractive and useful to their Wives and Children. We believe that we can thus do some good in our day and generation; and hope to make the work indispensable in every well-informed family. We say indispensable, because in this day of cheap literature it is not possible to guard against the influx of what is bad in taste and vicious in morals, in any other way than by furnishing a sufficient supply of a healthy character. The mental and moral appetite must be gratified.

We hope that, by "winnowing the wheat from the chaff," by providing abundantly for the imagination, and by a large collection of Biography, Voyages and Travels, History, and more solid matter, we may produce a work which shall be popular, while at the same time it will aspire to raise the standard of public taste.

LITTELL'S LIVING AGE. - No. 286. -10 NOVEMBER, 1849.

From the Christian Observer.

SEYMOUR'S MORNINGS AMONG THE JESUITS.

Mornings among the Jesuits at Rome: being Notes of Conversations held with certain Jesuits on the

subject of Religion in the City of Rome. By the

Rev. M. H. SEYMOUR. London: Seeley.

WE consider this work of Mr. Seymour's as one that is likely to be of much service in the Romish controversy. Circumstances appear to have favored Mr. Seymour in obtaining for him free and unre

served communication with some of the leading Jesuits at Rome, and he seems to have availed himself with much tact of the opportunity thus afforded him of ascertaining their precise views, and the strength of their arguments in various important points on which we are at issue with the Church

of Rome.

Mr. Seymour informs us, in his Introduction, how this happened, and as it might appear, without his own explanation, that he misled the parties with whom the interviews were held as to his real state of mind, we give his own account of the matter.

During my constant attendance at all the services of the Church of Rome, I was observed by a Roman gentleman who held office in the papal court; and, being acquainted with him, he remarked one day to my wife, that I seemed much interested in these things; and asked whether I would not like to make the acquaintance of some of the clergy. Having learned from her my wishes to that effect, he called some days after to say he had been with his personal friend the Padre Generale-the father-general of the Jesuits and had mentioned to him my wish to enter into communication with the clergy,

and he seemed to intimate that this was sure to convert me to the Church of Rome. He added that the father-general had directed two members of the order to wait on me, to give me any information which I might desire. These gentlemen came in due course. They soon presented me to others. They introduced me to the professors of their establishment, the Collegio Romano, and thus a series of conversations or conferences, on the subject of the points at issue between the Churches of England and Rome, commenced and were carried on, as occasion offered, during the whole period of my residence at Rome. A portion of my notes of these conversations constitutes this present volume of "MORNINGS AMONG THE JESUITS AT ROME."

I dealt with all frankness with these several gentlemen, as to the object of their visit. They were under the impression, which they were at no pains to conceal, that I was disposed favorably towards their church;-that I was one of those Anglican clergymen, who neither understand nor love the Church of England, and who, in a restless dissatisfaction and love of change, are prepared to abandon her communion for that of Rome, and who only wait a little encouragement, and perhaps instruction, before taking the last step. I was very careful to undeceive them, stating that I should be most happy to confer with them on the differences beCCLXXXVI. LIVING AGE. VOL. XXIII. 16

tween the two churches, but that I could not do so under a false color-that I was devotedly attached in judgment and in feeling to the Church of England-that I looked on her as the Church of God in

England, and the most pure, most apostolic, most

scriptural of all the churches of Christendom-that, without unchurching other churches, she was still the church of my judgment and of my affections; and that I had never for a moment harbored the thought of abandoning her for any other church, and especially for the Church of Rome.

My new friends, for such their subsequent conduct proved them to be, seemed surprised at the decision of my opinions; and expressed their wonder that I could refuse to hold communion with the Church of Rome.

I stated that I felt very strong objections, as they appeared to me, against that church; but that, if those objections were removed-if they, who were priests of the Church of Rome, could remove them

-if they, living at the fountain-head of that church, could prove them futile, in that case they should find me free to act, and prepared to act on my enlightened convictions, and I would without hesitation join their communion.

They generally asked me to state my objections, as they felt assured that they would be able to remove them.

This invitation led to a series of conferences or

conversations with some of these gentlemen. (pp. 3-5.)

In these interviews Mr. Seymour displays, we think, much acuteness in drawing out his oppo

nents so as to obtain from them a clear admission

as to the real character of Romish views on various

important points on which generally much reserve is adopted by Popish controversialists in their communications with Protestants; and we are not surprised, when we read the account here given of their conversations with Mr. Seymour, to find him making the following remarks :

I have learned, and must bear about me forever the memory of the lesson, never again to regard the extremities of credulity as inconsistent with the most scientific attainments; or to suppose that what seems the most absurd and marvellous superstition is incompatible with the highest education; or to think that the utmost prostration of the mind is inconsistent with the loftiest range of intellectual power. There was in some of my friends an extraordinary amount of scientific attainments, of classical erudition, of polite literature, and of great intellectual acumen; but all seemed subdued and held, as by an adamantine grasp, in everlasting subjection to what seemed to them to be the religious principle. This principle, which regarded the voice of the Church of Rome as the voice of God himself, was ever uppermost in the mind, and held such an influence and a mastery over the whole intellectual powers, over the whole rational being, that it bowed in the humility of a child before everything that came with even the apparent authority of the church. I never could have believed the

« VorigeDoorgaan »