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Leader (1850-1860), 5th December 1857, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1169

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      valuable and labonous contribution to philosophical literature , and finds in it * abundant evidences of tlie great extent and accuracy of the author ' s knowledge of philosophy ¦;* "while all familiar . with , the subject must be aware that it is crowded with elementary and puerile blariderSj exploded errors , and shallow philosophica ] common-places . Of the remaining articles in Fraser , the first , a review of ' " vYaterton's Essays on ISTatural Hist . 6 ry , ' is interesting , and the eighth , entitled 'A Glance at the Police of the Streets , by a Grunibler /

      decidedly seasonable ^ ¦ The Dublin University il /^« 2 ^ has a good revie w of c Tom Brown ' s School DaySj a recent novel of the muscular-Christiaiiity school , \ vhieli lias been praised almost as : much as it deserves . c The Tramping Artist' is full of lively and pleasant sketches of coaitinental travel . : The December number of the jLrt- Journal completes the twentieth volume of the work , the increasing Success of which testifies significantly to the progress of art-studies in England . The engravings are generally ad the literary contents varied and interesting . : ' ¦¦ . ¦ :

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      ; M . Cuarles BiiANC , thedistinguishedArt-critic , who some years ago presided over the Department ofthePine Arts at Tans , with eminent capacity , and with the approval of the whole body of French artists , was commissioned by the Cqurrier tie Pat-is to report upon thei Art-Treasures ^^ lExhibitibh at Man ^ Chester . Such a commission could not liave been eiitrusted to abler hands , and it was fulfilled witli conscientious carej zeal , and intelligence . Tlie letters , twelve innumber , are now republished by M ; Pagn ^ rke in a . neat volume , and deserve the attention of English artists and connoisseurs . We may take an opportunity to return to this ; volume critically ; meanwhile we recommend it to the notice of our readers , who will be naturally interested to learn the state of French opiiiion upon English Art . v ^ ; ¦ i

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      - ¦ . ;/ -. . ; . ;¦¦ : : . ; , ; , - V ^ A YEAR REYOLUTIONY ; - " : ' ^ ;>' A Tear qf I ! evolution . - ' . ¦¦¦ From a Journal Kept in Paris in 1848 . By th ? Marquis o ^ NormanVy , K . Gr . 2 vols . "¦ ' ¦ ' ''¦¦¦• .:: ' ; ¦ v .: ¦ \ V V . ¦;¦; - , ¦; :. '¦ ¦ ' ¦ longjtriaii and Qo-The Marquis of Nprmanb y ' s book is in some respects reniarkable . It overflows with prejudice , and , in parts ; is inaccurateas a history . Nevertheless , it has its vaHie , and is especially interesting in so far as it bears upon tlie conduct of Louis Philippe , the confidential dialogues of our ambassador with tlie chiefs ofthe Republic , and / tie tone assumed by general society after the events of Pebruary , 1848 . " With tbe personal opinions of Lord Nornvanby we have nothing to do they are exclusive , contracted , and often absurd ; his sympathies lead him astray ; he is incapable of comprehending any dignity except that of a Knight of the Garter ; arid he is most violent

      when he imagines himself to be least under the influence of passion . Tie testimony of such , a witness must be received -with sonie : reserve ; the more so when we find tHata British peer , represehtingthe Court of Great Britain to the French Republic , falls into gross errors concerning the acts of a merilber of tlie Republican Government ; but we are fully persuaded that Lord Normanby , when he published these volumes , intended , them neither as a libel nor as a satire , and imagined himself to "be fulfilling honestly the part of an historian . The blame attributable to him is that , being an ambassador , and professing to _ give evidence , he neglected to inform himself more fully on certain essential points , and , in his desire to be candid , forgot sometimes to be discreet . Much of his narrative is valuable as a gloss upon the story of the last French Revolution ; the earlier chapters , indeed , supply a new

      justification of that movement , althou gh they dp . ' not remove it from the category of political catastrophes . Even to an English marquis the throne of Louis Philippe had become contemptible ; during a whole year every step taken was a blunder , a compromise , or an aggression ; the Government of M . Guizot was in . a state of trembling yet insolent vacillation ; the King betrayed an increasing-disposition to obstinacy ; the Liberal party advanced its position ; and the spring of 1848 found botli cariips in a state of preparation for a struggle . Neither , however , knew the depth of the abyss that had opened ; the one had never thought of abdication ; the other had not dreamed of a republic . The result was a complete surprise—the Government startled to find itself a ruin , the Opposition standing , astonished , on the summit of power . But Louis Philippe had been , for eighteen years , the pupil of one revolution ; the Liberals had scarcely thVee days in ¦ which to put

      themselves in readiness ior another . The Revolution came , and piteously does the French King figure in the narrative of the Marquis of Normanby , who . describes him hurrying oil ' , exclaiming , as he passed through the crowd in tlio gai'dens , "I abdicate ! I abdicate ! " condescending to the most abject displays of fear , deserting the young Duchess of Montpensier—concerning whom the ambassador writes in language of superfluous pathos—and otherwise illustrating the unworthiness of his own ' character . ' In justice to the popular party , it is admitted that they immediately offered to set a guard over the Embassy , thus rendering unnecessary the volunteered chivalry of Mr . ^ John O'Connell and two hundred other Irish gentlemen , residents in Paris , who proposed at once to carry arms in Lord Normanby ' s court-yard . An amusing account is given of tho formation of the Provisional Government , and the accident by which M . Oe ' inienx is said to have been introduced ; but the writer can scarcely expect us to adopt all this gossip as authentic . An attempt is made to do justice to M . Lamartine . With him Lord

      Nornianbyheld frequent consultations , ' attacking him' < m the subject of the measures adopted by the Provisional Goverainent , and apparently carrying on a very confidential and amicable intercourse . When Ledm Bollia ' sfamous circular totheDepartmental Commissaries of the Republic had appeared in , theMoniteur , Lamartine , says the Ambassador , affirmed that he had never seen the document ; but Lord Normaribyy who appears to have busied himself in , domestic affairs quite as much as was good for an ambassador , entertained very strong opinions on the matter , and expressed

      them freely . We cannot think that he does justice to M ; Ledru Rollin , or that he ennobles himself by recording his repugnance t 6 a perspnaL meeting with , one who , at all events , is a gentleman by profession aad culture , and who , when Lord ITormanby was at Parish occupied an important position in the French State . If Lord Iformanby had been less fastidious , he might have been more accurate . Thus , it would have been wiser , before publisting a statement radically and totally incorrect , to inquire into the original organization of the Ateliers Nationimx . Lord Normanby attributes them to M . Loujs Blanc J This is hot an excusable mistake : the origination of that unfortunate scheme was matter of history before the Ambassador undertook to describe it . He knew Cavaignac , he knew the French press , and he should have known that Cavaignac voluntaer-ed , arid Emile de

      Girardin published , the declarationj " M . Louis BlanC is as innocent of the affair as I am . " Of the Dictator of J-Urie little is said , but that little ; redounds to his honour . When first the Marquis pf Normanby savy him , lie was visibly troubled with sorrow for the brave men who had fallen under his artillery during the fatal days of the June insurrection . There is an . eviderit tendency to accord j us tice to the Republican general at the expense of those Whose authprity he overpowered ; indeed ^ with one or two excep - tioris , the members of the Provisional Government are mentioned in terms of insult riot very beepming , the Marquis reaching at one point a clinaax in which he £ xciaims that it seems as easy , under certain circumstances , to attaia supreme power , as to forge an : acceptance or to pick a pocket . Perliaps he would ^^ notextend the ( application of this figure of spieeeh to the December which ielieved France from a Republic . ¦

      With reference to Louis Napoleon , the "allusions are few and far be ' * tween ; no opinions are expressed , arid all that strikes us in the narrativei is that which will for ever be startlirig in the biography of the citizen Louis Bonaparte—his intense and dramatic show of homage to liberty . To the Marquis of Normanby he appeared * the man for the time '; ' every contribution of evidence , in fact , helps to show that he was the man for a time in which freedom had scarcely any united friends , and in which a government , originating in surprise , dissolved in contempt . The ^ Republican party did ; not maintain its ; ground with tact or dignity ; a splendid opportunity was gained andlost ; riot so much , perhaps , to the shame of the Liberal leaders ^ as certainly to the affliction and have resisted Bourbon , Orleanist , and Bonaparte intrigues , had it understobd how to reconcile Republican animosities . The twb volumes by the

      Maiquis of Norrnariby are , as we have said , falsely cplouredj but not without their yalue . He has transferred into them the substance of numerous elabprate colloquies with Lamartine ,: Cavaigriac , and Bastide ; he is , by tiirii , just and unjust to both ; he tells us that concerning Guizot of which we must admit the truth ,, and ^ yet we feel his general summary of that statesman s-character and capacity to he unfair ; other illustrious names he either ridicules or ignores . All these points in his work must be kept iri view by the reader who hopes to gain from them a deeper insight into the story of the French Revolution of 1848 . And yet that deeper insight will be gained .- Lord Normanby , though not a perspicuous , was a close observer ,

      and the principal events and personages of the astonishing drama passed before his eyes ; from his residence in the Rue St . Honore" he heard the firing on the barricades , and similarly intimate was his acquaintance with all the phases of the marvellous process which , with revolutionary rapidity , converted a kingdom into a democratic republic , arid a republic into a military empire , It is with the first aspect alone that the narrative deals Lord Normanby treats of one year of revolution , not of four . We do not valwe his work as a history ; still less can we accredit it as a criticism ; but as a memoir it is singularly interesting , and though wordy in style , and hot unfrequently erroneous in statement , it must be regarded as a repertory of useful materials available for the future historian of the period .

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      SUMMERLEIGH MANOR . Summerleigh Manor . Masters and Co . Summerlkigh Manor is a story which unites in an unusual degree the characteristics of a book for children with those of the regular novel , and Paterfamilias will no doubt read it upon the sly when the young people are gone to bed . The plot is interesting without being exciting , and the incidents such as niay very well occur in any quiet English household , without , at the same time , being common-place . The language , habits , and thoughts of children are depicted in a "very natural manner , and there is a spontaneity and human freedom in their actions which distinguish the story rather favourably from works like Amy Herbert and the Fairy Botoer ^ though , in many other respects , we could not bestow higher praise than to saythat the mantle of Miss Sewelhad descended upon a writer of children ' s talcs . ' . ' ¦ . , ¦ ' " ¦ ¦ ; ¦ ¦ . ' •¦ ' . ' . ' Margaret Woodward , the youthful heroine of Summerleigh Manor , is a kind of enfant incomprise , who displays a preference , unaccountable to the governess mind , for scrawling figures of men and animals on the fly-leaves of her geography book , to either the mastering its interesting contents , or the game of romps by which that achievement might , bo rewarded . Her , brothers and sisters and papa and mamma all take but one view ^ of the subject , and poor little ' Daisy , ' as she is habitually denominated , is in a normal condition of disgrace . She is at last , however , partially elevated , though not , made more intelligible in the eyes of her own family , owing to tho praises bestowed upon one of her zoogrnphic performances by a wealthy old gentleman in the neighbourhood . Mr . Massy is a man of taste , fully appreciates the child ' s genius , and uses all his influence to secure her emancipation from the to her unprofitable drudgery of the schoolroom . From

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      It is good news to a large and increasing class of the reading public to announce Messrs . Long ^ in six-shilling volumes , each with a careful and serviceable Index . The first has appeared . It contains three chapters : externally pleasant to the hand and . eje , clearly and solidly printed on good paper , it is precisely such an edition as was wanted to make a . natiPnal classic universally at home in the land .

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      ^ ^

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 5, 1857, page 1169, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2220/page/17/