than any other in any age, although he rose to great station, enjoyed an enviable share of renown, and never appeared in any capacity without raising an admiration great in proportion to the discernment of the beholders, passed through life with less effect upon the fate of his fellow creatures than hundreds of the most ordinary men on whom, as he was well entitled, he daily looked down. The article in which his power has been the most felt, was certainly that of Parliamentary Reform, of which he was, with all his party, the constant and uncompromising adversary; and on which the last and perhaps greatest efforts of his genius were made."

Next of Mr. Huskisson,

"With these men was joined Mr. Huskisson, than whom few have ever attained as great influence in this country, with so few of the advantages which are apt to captivate senates or to win popular applause, and, at the same time, with so few of the extrinsic qualities which in the noble and the wealthy can always make up for such natural deficiencies, He was not fluent of speech naturally, nor had much practice rendered him a ready speaker; he had none of the graces of diction, whether he prepared himself, (if he ever did so,) or trusted to the moment. His manner was peculiarly ungainly. His statements were calculated rather to excite distrust than to win confidence. Yet, with all this, he attained a station in the House of Commons which made him as much listened to as the most consummate debaters; and upon the questions to which he, generally speaking, confined himself-the great matters of commerce and finance-he delivered himself with almost oracular certainty of effect. This success he owed to the thorough knowledge which he possessed of his subjects, the perfect clearness of his understanding, the keenness with which he could apply his information to the purpose of the debate, the acuteness with which he could unravel the argument and expose an adversary's weakness, or expound his own doctrines. In respect of his political purity, he did not stand very high with any party. He had the same intense love of office which was and is the vice of his whole party, and to which they have made such sacrifices; reducing indeed into a principle what was only a most pernicious error, the source of all unworthy compliances, the cloak for every evil proceeding, that no one can effectually serve the state in a private station. One immediate result of this heresy was to make Mr. Huskisson, like his leader, mistake place for power, and cling to the possession of mere office when the authority to carry those measures which alone make office desirable to a patriot, was either withheld or removed for preferment's sake. Yet, whoever has known either of these three great men, and casts his eye on those followers whom they have left behind, may be justified in heaving a sigh as he exclaims, Eheu, quam multo minus est cum reliquis versari, quam meminisse tui!"'"

Jeremy Bentham, Grattan, Mackintosh, and others are drawn with equal elaborateness and effect; but our space for extract having been exhausted we must draw to a conclusion. Before doing so, however, it may be proper to notice one or two points in regard not only to the general character of these volumes but the station

which their author may be supposed to hold in future times, as a reformer or a statesman.

With regard to certain obvious features in the work, we must observe that some of the speeches were more racy, though not so highly polished when we first read them and immediately after their vehement delivery, than they now appear. It is plain to us also that his Lordship, though possessed of a mind of wonderful command and resources, is frequently the slave of affectation, sometimes in the way of ruggedness, on other occasions of finesse and a sort of coxcombry that suit him badly. He knows his power, and this power is the slave of his ambition and his vanity, as well as of his patriotism. He disdains not at times to flatter grossly, although more usually he hesitates not to abuse and to smite in a sort of sledge hammer style, if it but merely serve a temporary purpose.

As to the question, whether his Lordship has any title to the character of a statesman, or whether he has been able to impress. the age and mould it permanently according to his own image, there may be different opinions. It seems to us, however, that his strength and eminence tend not so much in this lofty direction and imperishable form, as that the ceaseless activities of his nature, and the almost-boundless variety of his undertakings have been mightily influential in keeping alive the public mind on vital and popular questions, which would otherwise have been allowed to go to sleep for want of stirring. He has shown great sagacity also in sometimes anticipating views which the people were sure sooner or later to entertain; but we also believe that in perfect accordance with his restless mind, he is apt to grow fatigued with what is old, or what has long engaged him. Still, take Lord Brougham all and all, he not only must be placed in the foremost rank of the great men of his age, but in several respects he stands there alone.

In the Essay affixed to the Speeches on the "Oratory of the Ancients," some questionable opinions may be met with. Still the production as coming from such a consummate master of that of which he treats will naturally attract attention, and be taken as valuable criticism. His theory seems to be, that the ancients regarded oratory as offering one of the finest and noblest fields for the disportings and the exhibition of intellectual power, rather than as the vehicle or weapon by which the real activities and progress of private or public business was to be forwarded and supported. His Lordship's Orations, while logical and abounding with dramatic personifications, are eminently effective as to their practical features and principles reducible to action; and therefore he combines both the ancient and the modern qualities of senatorial eloquence.

81

ART. IX.

1. The Spirit of the East. By D. URQUHART, ESQ. 2 vols. London :

2. Incidents of Travel in Egypt, Arabia Petræa, and the Holy Land. By G. STEPHENS. London: Bentley. 1838.

ACCORDING to several of the views presented in these two works, certain very material mistakes seem to be generally entertained in England and the more civilised nations of Europe regarding the East. We at once proceed to glance at a few of the scenes, the descriptions, and the corrections furnished by our authors, leaving their pictures, without any very critical investigation, to the judgment and knowledge of our readers; assured that, whether such pictures be precisely accurate or not, they are at least striking and honestly intended, and the result of patient observation or real experience. It is only, however, to certain additions in the present impression of Mr. Stephens' work that we invite notice, the first edition of the work, though not so full, and which formerly appeared in America, having been, as our readers may remember, reviewed by us some considerable time ago.

Mr. Urquhart's "Spirit of the East," is illustrated in a "Journal of Travels through Roumeli, during an Eventful Period," that is, during the Greek war of Independence. The author treats of great national and political questions, of the government, institutions, laws, and characteristic manners and feelings of the Turks, their relative position in regard to surrounding and Christian nations; and in short in a tone and with an ability which ten years residence in the East, and some of his former speculations and publications, must have prepared many readers to expect. But into these graver and perhaps questionable parts, we have no desire at present to enter, and shall confine ourselves to a few notices and incidents of a slighter, though probable, not less descriptive and suggestive nature.

That we, however, may convey some idea of the decided opinions, the bias some may think, which our author cherishes respecting Eastern countries, we shall for a moment turn to his Preface. Here he tells his readers that, although during the early part of his travels he was led to form the most unfavourable conclusions respecting the countries in question and of the Turks in particular, he at length saw reason to change his opinions. He began after three years diligent statistical inquiries to discover that there were institutions connected with the East. Three years more enabled him to collect and note down the particulars of the administration of two hundred and fifty towns and villages. Certain rules and principles of social manners and customs at the same time gradually unfolded themselves; so that he came to feel strongly that in addition to the sources of fallacy common to all Europeans, there are mistakes VOL. III. (1838.) No. I.

G

arising from the party views of travellers that have greatly tended to mislead the public at home. The Liberal, for example, calls Turkey a despotic government; the Tory sees in it popular principles, and inquires no further; the Radical dislikes its aristocratic principles; the admirers of an aristocratic body are offended because that aristocracy is not hereditary; and political economists look upon the system of taxation as inquisitorial. Upon all these and other important points Mr. Urquhart is desirous to throw new light, the chief purpose in contemplation seeming to be this, that the Greeks and Russians, as well as the Turks, may be in their great and influential relations clearly presented to his countrymen.

is one.

It is quite possible, and indeed it is but natural, that a man of our author's lively sentiments, and, we may subjoin, ardent temperament, will come to very decided conclusions on subjects where others might hesitate, or see that there were contradictions and opposing evidences which could not be got over. We think the reader of these volumes will feel himself prepared to meet with more sweeping and rapid inferences than he is quite ready to yield to, unless other grounds of conviction are advanced than have been here made plain. When speaking of the sources of European prejudice and error in regard to the Turks, Mr. Urquhart says, for instance, that religion "In contradiction," continues he, "of the liturgy of the English church, we look on the Mussulmans as infidels ;' and, in the spirit of our age and country, we treat as enemies of our religion those who admit the Gospels as their creed, and suppose in them the same intolerance towards us, that we are guilty of towards them." We are astonished. Does the author really mean to assert that the Gospels constitute the creed of the followers of Mahomet? or will he deny that the Mussulmans have ever been as ready with the charge of " infidelity" to fling at the professors of Christianity, as the most intolerant of the latter religion have been capable of showing? We lament that Mr. Urquhart has not endeavoured by evidence and argument to substantiate his dictum; but instead of this satisfaction, we must be content with the following statement and explanation,-" In undertaking this work, one of my principal objects was the exposition of the characters both in dogma and in practice of Islam; but circumstances into which it would be irrelevant to enter, have deprived me of the leisure necessary for treating this question as it ought to be treated." The task has been found difficult, and we do not wonder at it, to prove the doctrines of the Gospels and the greatest" delusion" that ever misled nations to be one and the same.

Something similar to this equalization and confusion of distinct things may be discovered in our author's enthusiastic and highlycoloured account of the manners and condition of the people of Janina. Having stated that this place is the centre both of art. and of fashion, and fits all the beaux of Roumeli; and having de

scribed the principal manufactures of the people,-the silk braid and gold lace, so universally used in Eastern costume, the morocco leather, their numerous modes of ornamenting, their looms and dying materials,-the industry of the women, their skill in confectionary, in the rearing of the silk-worm, &c. &c., Mr. Urquhart exclaims,

"What a contrast the artisans of this clear sky present with ours! Sudden disasters may fall upon them; but no industry falsely bolstered up leaves them a prey to incessant fluctuations. Money may, at times, be extorted from them by violence; but they have not the irritating example before their eyes of injustice of taxation, which spares the rich and oppresses the poor. They tend their silk-worms, prepare their dyes, weave their delicate tissues and rich laces, and embroider their fermelis and zuluchia, not by smoky fire-sides, but under shady vines; and instead of becoming callous and indifferent under the unfortunate insecurity of the times, they exert themselves the more to avert or to meet danger and oppression. This appears most unaccountable to Europeans, who are acquainted with oppression and its effects only by examples of systematic despotism; but the difference between the tyranny of man and the tyranny of law is one of the most instructive lessons the East has to teach. The one is uncertain, and leaves to the oppressed chances and hopes of escaping it; it varies with the individual; and those who suffer, if not benefited, are, at least, consoled by the vengeance that, sooner or later, overtakes the guilty. The tyranny of law is a dead and immovable weight, that compresses at once the activity of the limb and the energy of the mind; leaves no hope of redress, no chance of escape; is liable to no responsibility for its acts, or vengeance for its crimes. For fifty years, in Turkey, convulsion has followed convulsion as wave rolls after wave; and Europe judging by its own cumbersomeness of machinery, and consequent difficulty of re-adjustment has looked on each succeeding disaster as a prelude to the fall of the Ottoman empire. Turkey's political state may be compared to its climate: an unexpected hurricane in a moment wastes fields and forests, covers the heavens with blackness, and the sea with foam. Scarcely is the devastation completed, when nature revives, the air is all mildness, and the heavens all sunshine. As destructively and as suddenly do political storms and military gatherings overwhelm the provinces; and no sooner are they past, than industry is busy preparing her toil, and security is scattering seed, or wreathing flowers."

To us it is marvellous, after all this beauty and industry, that the nations in which such things exist are not far wealthier, wiser, and greater than old England, for instance; far happier and far more independent. But we are under the "dead and immovable weight" of the tyranny of law, and do not know it; thus, ignorance comes to our assistance, blesses us, and makes us believe that we are even better off than the people of Janina. Mr. Urquhart proves too much, and in so doing sufficiently and significantly evinces his animus and his bias, of which we shall not say more, but proceed to pick out a few incidents and scenes illustrative of the "Spirit of the East," which he sets off with unusual clearness and ability.