Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Critical Notices Of The Literature Of The Last Three Months,
persons , or malefactors , in the streets , and beat them , without the formality of a trial , in the severest maimer , without their cries exciting any attention amongst those who witness it ; who , glad that the tempest has not fallen on their shoulders , quietly pass by without observation or surprise . " This extract will give our readers some idea of the blessings of the Czar ' s rule , and perhaps suggest to them that the yoke of tho infidel , however galling on the conscienceis of far lihter burden than that of
, g the champion of the Orthodox Church of Christ . Well , indeed , may the question be asked , " What is this Christianity ofthe Bussians P" And emphatically true is the answer , " Man-worship , the religion of despotism !" The Erench traveller Custine thus describes the counti * y : —• " Russia is a book , the table of whose contents is magnificent ; but beware of going further . If you turn over the leaves , you will find no performance answering to the promise all the chapters are headedbut all have to be filled How
; , up . many of the Russian forests are only marshes , where you will never cut a faggot ! How many distant regiments are there without men ; and cities and roads which exist only in project ! The nation itself is as yet nothing more than a puff placarded upon Europe , dupe of a diplomatic fiction . I have found here no real life , except that of the emperor ' s ; no constitution , except that of the court . "
Memoirs of individuals , whose lives and actions serve to make up the sum total of political history , furnish a fit and proper connecting link between the historical ancl the biographical ; and of the latter style , Lord Holland ' s "Memoirs of the Whig Party" * during his time deserve honourable mention . Thoy are not only amusing reading , as furnishing a picture of parliamentary and official life during times of unusual public interest , but they are also attractive as the literary production of a man who
, while a sincere partisan , never shrank from the honest ancl candid avowal of his opinions , —Avho , through a long ancl honourable life , won for himself the good opinion of men of all parties , and whose sweet temper and good heart made of him a kind friend and an indulgent opponent . The chief interest to be attached to these memoirs consists in the admirable sketches they furnish of the great political celebrities of the day . Besides many a pleasant gossip about Carlton Houso and the king , and the throes ancl
agonies of ministries , in esse and in fosse , we are introduced now ancl then to the fireside and social conversation of such men as Pitt , Burke , and Sheridan ; we laugh at the bigotry of Erskine , applaud the ever dauntless ancl generous demeanour of Lord Howick , sympathize with the slights offered to Nelson by the court , pity the littleness of the king , and finish by congratulating ourselves that we are not called upon to exist under a regime so full of mischief , and so Avholly devoid of political morality .
Yet we must not too hastily assume the credit of having in our own generation formed a class of statesmen wholly without fault . The very next biographical sketch on our list introduces us to one whose indisputable talents only force into stronger relief his political errors . Benjamin Disraeli , t as often abused as admired , and even more feared than loved , has found a biographer who , lenient to a fault , has yet failed to hide the chief blemishes in the character of a man whose elevation is as much the consequence of the weakness of his party , as the result of any particular merit due to himself . While , however , no man ' s rise has , perhaps , ever
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Critical Notices Of The Literature Of The Last Three Months,
persons , or malefactors , in the streets , and beat them , without the formality of a trial , in the severest maimer , without their cries exciting any attention amongst those who witness it ; who , glad that the tempest has not fallen on their shoulders , quietly pass by without observation or surprise . " This extract will give our readers some idea of the blessings of the Czar ' s rule , and perhaps suggest to them that the yoke of tho infidel , however galling on the conscienceis of far lihter burden than that of
, g the champion of the Orthodox Church of Christ . Well , indeed , may the question be asked , " What is this Christianity ofthe Bussians P" And emphatically true is the answer , " Man-worship , the religion of despotism !" The Erench traveller Custine thus describes the counti * y : —• " Russia is a book , the table of whose contents is magnificent ; but beware of going further . If you turn over the leaves , you will find no performance answering to the promise all the chapters are headedbut all have to be filled How
; , up . many of the Russian forests are only marshes , where you will never cut a faggot ! How many distant regiments are there without men ; and cities and roads which exist only in project ! The nation itself is as yet nothing more than a puff placarded upon Europe , dupe of a diplomatic fiction . I have found here no real life , except that of the emperor ' s ; no constitution , except that of the court . "
Memoirs of individuals , whose lives and actions serve to make up the sum total of political history , furnish a fit and proper connecting link between the historical ancl the biographical ; and of the latter style , Lord Holland ' s "Memoirs of the Whig Party" * during his time deserve honourable mention . Thoy are not only amusing reading , as furnishing a picture of parliamentary and official life during times of unusual public interest , but they are also attractive as the literary production of a man who
, while a sincere partisan , never shrank from the honest ancl candid avowal of his opinions , —Avho , through a long ancl honourable life , won for himself the good opinion of men of all parties , and whose sweet temper and good heart made of him a kind friend and an indulgent opponent . The chief interest to be attached to these memoirs consists in the admirable sketches they furnish of the great political celebrities of the day . Besides many a pleasant gossip about Carlton Houso and the king , and the throes ancl
agonies of ministries , in esse and in fosse , we are introduced now ancl then to the fireside and social conversation of such men as Pitt , Burke , and Sheridan ; we laugh at the bigotry of Erskine , applaud the ever dauntless ancl generous demeanour of Lord Howick , sympathize with the slights offered to Nelson by the court , pity the littleness of the king , and finish by congratulating ourselves that we are not called upon to exist under a regime so full of mischief , and so Avholly devoid of political morality .
Yet we must not too hastily assume the credit of having in our own generation formed a class of statesmen wholly without fault . The very next biographical sketch on our list introduces us to one whose indisputable talents only force into stronger relief his political errors . Benjamin Disraeli , t as often abused as admired , and even more feared than loved , has found a biographer who , lenient to a fault , has yet failed to hide the chief blemishes in the character of a man whose elevation is as much the consequence of the weakness of his party , as the result of any particular merit due to himself . While , however , no man ' s rise has , perhaps , ever