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Leader (1850-1860), 18th August 1860, Edition 1 of 2, Page 737, FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE.

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      aristocrats to-morrow ; pocketing the pay now of tWemagogue of Athens , now of the oligarch of Sparta now of the _ tyrant of Macedon . Such were the Lysiases and Isocrates , the Demadeses and ^ schineses of the Athenian Cema . Some of the diatribes of Lysias and Demosthenes will be found to be admirable archetypes of that sort of judicial rhetoric which passed current before a Scroggs and a Jeffries . The speeches of Demosthenes and Cicero contain matter that would have made even such furious adepts as Swift and Junius stare and gasp . The fact may be accounted for and in part palliated by the consideration that Cicero and Demosthenes held the same position and fulfilled the same functions in their society that Swift and Junius did in the generations that belonged to them . There was no press . The drama of Aristophanes did for the sophists what the more formal circulation of Butler ' s poems did for the Puritans . The oratorical productions of Isocrates are pamphletsa remark which is due to Lord Mbnboddo . The difference between modern and ancient oratory may ^ be gathered from a contrast between the formalities of the Old Bailey or Westminster Hall and those of the Areopagus or the Forum . An Englishman can have but little sympathy with that sentimental justice that yields to the exposure of a beautiful bosom , and melts into tears at the sight of a bloody cloak or a gaping wound . A Roman 01 a Grecian , on the other hand , would have regarded with supreme disgust the impartial majesty of that stem judicature which saw unpitied the weeping children of Stratford , looked unmoved at the bleeding loins of Lilburne , and laughed aloud at the impassioned dagger of Burke . # Mr . Windsor prefers Demosthenes to Cicero—the former simple ; the latter tricky , time-serving , and specious . He furnishes an elaborate parallel of the two men , after the manner of Plutarch . Burke ' s name is frequently mentioned , and the Parliamentary eloquence of England is freely canvassed . Once it lisped : but under Elizabeth it acquired dignity . Bacon spoke as well as wrote . Of him Jonson remarked , " He commanded when he spoke , and had his judges angry and pleased at his devotion . The fear of every man that heard him was , lest he should make an end . " Then came the Rebellion , and the mouth spake from the fulness of the heart . From the Restoration to the Revolution , we have a period comparatively barren . Yet during it the science of debate became developed j still the pamphlet had more influence than the speech . Elocution was studied in oratory , not its more material qualities . The charm of this goes , in these times , a very little way , Chatham exemplified the philosophy of action , and is pourtrayed by pur author , grand in outline , rich in colour . He was the dramatist and actor in one . He was , however ,- misplaced in the House of Lords . " The British House of Commons is the most perfect arena for the display of oratory that the most sanguine rhetorician could have imagined for himself . " Recent influences are gradually assimilating the style of debate to that which prevails in the American Congress ; that of an agent or an advocate . The two Pitts are also described , Fox likewise , and Sheridan . Brougham is dilated on in a note . But it is with a full-length portrait of Burke that the chapter and the book conclude . . ¦ ¦ - ^ ' Meagre , as it has inevitably been , our analysis of this chapter must suggest to the reader an idea of plenitude both in power and in detail . It is utterly impossible for us to illustrate in the same mflnner-4 h ^ r 1- of > o ^" g ^ r fpvfi - Onft of ' tne most interesting topics in them is the rise of pamphleteering , and , as France is now going through that phase which England has survived , some remarks on it may prove instructive . Versified satire had preceded its avater ; but public matters grew too complex for the poetic form , . The process of action and reaction had enlarged and intensified itself . Things were emerging , as it were , from chaos . There were the claims of James and the claims of William—claims of the Church ot Rome—claims of the Church of England—claims of Dissent . Opinions divided the House into separate parties . " There were Whigs like Nottingham and Portland , attached to William ' s person and title ; Whigs like Godolphin and M arlborough , in correspondence with St . Germains ; old Whigs , like Harloy , indifferent alike to the King in exile and the King in possession , and only jealous of the prerogative . There were Tories who were Jacobites ; and Tories , who , though they were not Jacobites , wore certainly not WilliamitoH . All these several parties , again , joined in their political prejudices , were subdivided in their theological tenets . There were Non-juving High Churchmen , Nori-juring Low Churchmen , High Church Jurors , Low Church Jurors , Dissenters arrayed against the Church of England ; Dissenters arrayed against the Church of Rome . The more varied the faction , the more varied the literature . " This state of things was the fountain of pamphleteering . Jho increase of political discussion was such that it was regarded ais a fatal disturber to the peace and welfare of families ; " the meanest of the shopkeepers and handicrafts upending whole days in coffeehouses , to hear news and talk politics , whilst their wives and children want bread at home , auul they thomselvcs are thrust into gaols , or forced to take Hiinctunvy in the army . " Piunphletooring supplied what ~ waH wunting-ta -the . pix i as-ur- ± ha _ day , _ whie ] i .. AVftti ^ eji . r eeouingly limited in its sphere of nativity compared with that of ours , uoing little more than a more chroniclp . Among the Pamphleteers Do Foe ' s is a great name . " In an age when to bo a political writer was to bo a venal one , his honesty won him the pillory and a prison . " Next to Inn is Swill ' s . The chapter to which we live now directing attention is ftill of anecdotes . Do Foo and Bunynn are compared ; and it is Htated that De Foo is Bunyaiu in the garb of a layman , and that Bunyan is Do Foe in the pulpit . Do Foe in also compared with Swift . Tim 4 YvmYlrlt « nn !« i <» l + lw » J'niv > SlinH . + lw » Ifl +. tftl * AVlir > flJ / Mil' XCTr \ Y \ AAl » tw

      excites our scepticism . Rousseau apostrophises the author of ' Robinson Crusoe" as far above Aristotle , Pliny , and Buffon . Withal , Do Foe was thoroughly national . In him " we meet with the plain unembellished existence of the Anglo-Saxon element , exemplifying itself in its vigorous common sense , its epigrammatic expressiveness , its honest and prosaic reality . " " Cobbett , " adds our author , "did not deal less in sentiment . " We have now enabled the reader to form some idea of a book which impresses us with a sense of dignity . In its diction there is a majestic tone , and a breadth in its inductions which invests it with a philosophical character . The author ' must take his place among the great essay writers of the day . We are at a loss , howit ever , to assign his position in the field of argument , or to determine the system to which his inquiries are auxiliary . There is an accumulation of detail , but we know not the propositions that the illustrations are intended to strengthen . There are parts , but we have yet to apprehend the whole to which they belong . Perhaps the writer did not wish to limit himself or his subject , and affected a largeness of argument and of mind . Decidedly his grasp is extensive , and his fertility apparently inexhaustible . To the higher class of readers , his labours will prove eminently suggestive ; and their" minds will expand as they peruse this well-stored book with the extraordinary amount of knowledge it displays .

      Untitled Article

      SPECIAL . Hanover , August 14 , I 860 . T HE following " Story of Six Prussians , " which I translate from the feuilleton of the Weser Gazette , illustrates very pithily he popular view of the national task of Prussia :- — A short time ago six Germans met casually in a Cafe , at Paris * and , very naturally , their conversation turned upon German affairs . They spoke about the agitation for unity and centralisation , about the reawakened sentiment of nationality , and the

      firm resolution of all Germans to put an end , to all the petty divisions and jealousies which had obstructed the political and material progress of the country , and to transform themselves into a compact , powerful , and commanding nation . Prussia , being the country to which all Germans lopk as destined to carry into e ect the universal desire , came more espe cially under discussion . The conversation grew more and more hopeful and animated , till it reached a pitch of the most ardent enthusiasm . Only one sat quiet and silentand appeared not to share the general patriotic

      excite-, * ' You are , perhaps , opposed to the internal policy of Prussia ?" said his neighbour , a young artist , half in earnest , half in jest , - ¦ " On the contrary , " replied the other , calmly , " I love Prussia for two reasons—first , because I am a German ; secondly , because I am by birth a Prussian . " " You do not , however , seem to share our patriotic sentiments i "My patriotic sentiments are less ardent than yours , because I am neither a German nor a Prussian . "

      " How is that ? Are you banished ?" "Yesj " and " £ ro . " — -liW ^^ uio ^ nii-mean-hL y-that ? lLthey all inq uired . ^ " I am no $ phinx , " answered the person addressed , smiling , " but a simple man of business , and I will solve you the riddle at once . I am a Prussian ; but , having omitted to get my certificate of settlement renewed , I have , lost my country . I am , consequently , no longer a Prussian ; and , as I am no longer a I rusaian , I have also ceased to be a German . The Prussian embassy will not give me a passpprt , and if I want to take a journey to Germany , I must beg a passport from the French authorities , and explain to them that I have no country , because some wiseacre of a legislator has concocted the paragraph of a law by which I am deprived of my natural right . Is the riddle solved to your

      satisfaction V" , . . "By heavens ! I am in exactly the same position , " said ^ tne artist , rather cowed . And it soon turned out that the other four were likewise similarly situated . They were six Prussians , who , by the law of 31 st December , 1842 ( sec . 23 ) , had lost their quality as Prussian subjects because they had not thought of acting in due time , as the law prescribed . _ . A pause ensued , which the merchant at last interrupted with these words : — ¦ _• ... '

      " Gentlemen , my sojourn abroad has not caused me to forget my native land ; on the contrary , the knowledge I have obtained ot other countries makes me love it more fervently , and I am more than ever convinced that the man whose heart is sound prefers the country of his birth in spite of all cosmopolitan tendencies . 1 have , however , during my residence abroad , shaken off many u prejudice , and renounced many a false view . 1 rejoice with every patriot at tho political resuscitation in Prussia , and the national spirit evinced by the entire people of Germany ; but 1 cannot Jucie fronvmysolf lliarin thra ^' m ^ much too prevalent . Thero is a groat deal too much said u \ prose and verso about tho enemy who threatens the boundaries of txeri

      many , while very little is done to make Germany » aeea , anu . m fact , the country of Gormans . A Prussian loses » V ° f + i ? , ™ nl ho lives six years out of Prussia without renewing ^ fJX ™ ?* certificate , no matter whether this period bo passed in JJ ™ JJ ' "J India , or in the Duchy of Nassau . Tho Prussian police ^ TJjJJ regard every non-Prussian country as a foreign one ^ ° ^ " ? . ™ ««« t k , ™™ ri n ( « nn , m +.,. v of which I may bo easily be deprived t

      Untitled Article

      Aug . 18 I 860 . ] The Saturday Analyst and Leader , 787

      Foreign Correspondence.

      FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 18, 1860, page 737, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2361/page/9/