DECEMBER MAGAZINES. * MANY persons were justly dissatisfied with " the

great political article " in the last issue of the Quarterly _Review. Perhaps it was " touched " too much by " eminent hands " to be intel- ligible ; perhaps the vagueness of the prophesyings arose from the nonplused state of parties. Be that as it may, Blackwood essays to supplement its elder relative, in a paper bearing the attractive title of " The Political Lull and What will Break it." The writer's theory is not very novel—" Party is not dead, but sleeping " ; it will come forth again ; its " cries" will be heard in the streets ; but they will be new cries. A cyclyc revolution is going on : we have reformed our domestic arrangements pretty well enough—too much in some directions ; for the future let us be deliberate. The country does not hurriedly demand further reform : " ought not Conservatives to be satisfied with such a state of matters ?" • "That changes be not made too hastily, is the fundamental maxim of Conservatism. Other principles it has, which (like those of its opponents) vary from time to time ; but this one changes never. A Conservative may advocate education as well as a Liberal indeed Sir John.Pakington's speech at Manchester has placed him facile princeps in this difficult but important department of statesmanship. A Conservative may advocate legal reform as well as a Liberal, and has done it better. He may support the Protestant character of our institutions as well as a Liberal, and for a long time past has done it better. He may advocate commercial reform, and did so earlier and better than the Liberals. Indeed, what names are to be found among the Liberal Ministers that will match as commercial reformers with those of Pitt, Huskisson, and Peel ? In these various departments of legislation, the Conservative walks as boldly as, and has distinguished himself' fully more than, his Liberal rivals. But in political reform, in all matters affecting our governmental institutions, he maintains an attitude of extreme wariness. Not indeed that his principles debar him from putting forth his hand to modify, at times the governmental fabric. On the contrary, Pitt was the first to con- ceive the project of Parliamentary reform, at the time When the Whig oligarchs had no relish for the change and it was only when they found themselves wholly. excluded from office that the descendants of the latter, as a means of regaining public favour, took up the project which the outburst of the Revolutionary War had caused the great Conservative statesman to postpone. but in later times—owing to the undue fervour of the Reform passion—the Conservative has ever maintained a negative attitude in all such discussions. We think the Conservatives erred in 1830 in resisting all reform ; for by so doing they left the country no choice between adopting the crude and Weeping measures of the Liberals, or declaring that it wished no reform at all!'

Charming confession twenty-five years after the Reform Bill ! instructive commentary on 1846 ! The reader will readily guess that after this comes a deliberate defence of deliberate innovation. But now we have done or nearly so with domestic affairs. It is not his domestic policy that keeps Lord Palmerston. "in." He "stood and stands" without any personal following even, simply because " the country believes that he represents those principles of foreign policy which are now uppermost in the hearts of the people." Hence it is clear that " the current of national interest

• Blaelcwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. 494. Published by Blackwood and Sons. Colburn's New Monthly Magazine, No. 432. Published by Chapman and Hall. Fraser's Magazine, No. 324. Published by Parker and Son. Dublin University Magazine, No. 288. Published by Hodges and Co., Dublin. Bentley's Miscellany, No. 240. Published by Bentley.

West of Scotland Magazine and Ileriew. New Series, .No. 3. Published by Murray and Son, Glasgow.

is shifting from domestic to foreign affairs." This turn of the tide is " natural and fortunate."

" Parliament and the country alike scent the truth, which the future will make plain, that the grand interests of the country now centre in foreign affairs and that there arc dangers brewing in that quarter which it will ere long dusk the combined energies of this country to withstand."

Then the writer goes on to speculate on the evasive actions of Russia and the dangers they bring with them ; on the effect of the speculative mania in France upon the alliance, and the critical position of Napoleon politically and financially. The signs of trouble and apprehension, the writer opines, will not pass away without a convulsion ; again he repeats that foreign affairs will " become the chief shaping power of our Parliamentary parties "; and naïvely remarks, that "those who aspire to the leadership of the nation cannot too soon or too earnestly " apply themselves to solve these foreign problems. May we accept the following as the full, true, and particular account of the "main ends of our foreign policy ?

" The first is, so to shape our policy, and maintain the magnitude and efficiency of our fleet, as to provide against that greatest peril of the future- s naval confederacy against the maritime power, and consequently the in- dependence and commercial wealth, of Great Britain. The next is, ever to cultivate a good understanding with America ; and to support and to draw closer our alliances with the Scandinavian Powers, as a guard against Russia becoming supreme in the Baltic, adding its seafaring population to her own, and advancing her fleet and arsenals to an impregnable position behind the Sound, from whence they could issue at any time to attack the British shores. Finally, wemust seek to extend our influence in Syria, as a bulwark for the overland route to India. We leave details to the wisdom of our rulers. But we have no hesitation to reiterate as the three grand ends of our Old World policy—to maintain a first-rate fleet ; to keep a sharp eye upon Syria ; and, if necessary, to fight to the death for Scandinavia.

Our own reading in this number of Blackwood further includes an informing summary of the British administrative system in India; racy dialogue on "Respectability" ; and the recent fear- ful adventure of an Opium-eater with barkers and body-snatchers in " a squalid and dingy chamber in the topmost flat of one of the many-storied and ancient dwellings which still give indivi duality to the Old Town of Edinburgh." [Surely this last is a burlesque on the English Opium-eater, by one who is not new to the work ?] In Colburn's New Monthly, besides a rambling paper on the political prospects of the New Year, by Mr. Cyrus Redding—no- ticeable for its brief remarks touching the presence of speculating Members in the House of Commons—there is a note on the comparative rate of mortality in our Army. The writer's au- thority is Mr. Hodge, a member of the Statistical Society, who recently contributed a paper on the subject to the Society's Jour- nal. First take battles-

" In the nineteen most important military battles, in each of which the British lion took a share—and the lion's share too generallyp, as became him—from the commencement of the century to the battle of Inkerman, an aggregate British force was, it appears, engaged, speaking in round num- bers, (for which it is to be hoped our statist will forgive us,) of 438,000 men, of whom nearly 50,000 were either killed or wounded, and nearly 30 per cent of the latter died subsequently of the effects of their wounds. The actual loss of life to this country during twenty-three years of war, from its direct action military and naval, is estimated at about 8000 lives annually ; an appalling sacrifice to the daemon of discord undoubtedly, but scarcely so large and alarming as regards the question of absorption of population and of material for future self-defence as might almost have been expected. The lowest ratio of casualties—that is killed and wounded—in a single en- gagement, is stated to have been 22 in 1000, at Bunco; the highest, at Albuera, when it amounted to 395. That Great Britain, when, as has been most generally the case, she has acted in cooperation with allies' has either worked the hardest or managed the worst, or both, is evidenced by the fact, that the average British casualties of all these occasions collected together was 114 to 1000, which was reduced to 98 when the aggregate force of the allies was included in the estimate. At the battle of the Alma the ratio would seem to have been below the average, as we find it quoted at 74 per 1000 only."

The second head is sieges ; and here it will be seen that we lose more than the French— •

" The average loss of life in fourteen successive sieges, which include the most important from Louisbourg to Bergen-op-Zoom, where the English were the besiegers, and from Saragossa to Antwerp, where the French were the assailants, was 114 to 1000 to the former, and 73 only to the latter. The siege of Sebastopol exhibited a ratio of casualties of 179 to 1000."

This greater loss the writer accounts for by citing Sir John Jones to show that we were unprovided with skilled. engineers. An undoubted fact ; and not only engineers, but tools fit for use. But these were not the only causes. The exigencies of the campaign, especially in the Peninsula, did not permit the Eng- lish chief to wait for regular approaches. It was a race of time against life ; and time won. The third head, sickness, presents curious results : the period taken for the comparison instituted is from 1801 to 1814-

" The proportion of sick per 1000 in the French army was 134; that of the English 239—verging upon double the number. What is, however, still more remarkable, and indeed wholly unintelligible without the ex- planation which follows, is, that while the ratio of deaths of the whole male population of Great Britain, in the prime of life, is 10 in 1000, the average annual mortality of that portion of it employed in the army, at home and in time of peace, is 15 to 1000, notwithstanding the advantages the army may be supposed to enjoy, for the purposes of such a comparison, of being com- posed of health—well andregularly fed, carefully housed, and under of picked men, carefully subjectedto physical discipline—the very constant medical supervision ; con 'dons which would, it might be inferred, insure in its ranks a ratio of mortality much below the average of the rest of the community, instead of 50 per cent above it."

Here, however, we may remark that the men are not " picked men," in the sense of the writer ; and that many of the men are quite unequal to the hardships and restraints of a soldier's life even at home.

The two most salient papers in Fraser are " An Essay on Po- pularity, by a Manchester Man," and " Professorial Elections " ; the latter a rather sharp criticism on the prevailing mode of elec- tion by local authorities : the writer is of opinion that the se- lection of Professors should be taken from Heads of Colleges and Town-Councils and vested in the Crown. " The Muniment Chamber at Losely Place " is a pleasant paper, redolent of the

sixteenth century, its habits and manners. Some Talk about Scotch Peculiarities " is artificial in its structure, but we have lighted on one passage of truthful simplicity and pathos. The writer is illustrating a " peculiarity " not confined to Scotland— the existence of deep feeling concurrently with undemonstra- tiveness.

" The Scotch are not a demonstrative race. I do not believe that among our labouring class here in the country there is any want of real heart and feeling ; but there is a great awkwardness and stiffness in the expression of it. People here do not give utterance to their emotion like your volatile Frenchman : they have not words to say what they feel ; and they would be ashamed (blate, m their own phrase) to use these words if they had them. I have had atouching instance of this within the last few days. Do you re- member our taking a walk together one beautiful afternoon to the cottage of one of my people, a poor fellow who was dying of consumption ? You sat upon a stile, I recollect, and read a proof, while I went in and sat with him for a few minutes. It seemed to cheer him a little to have a visit from the laird, and I often went to see him. After you left us he sank gradually; it was just the old story of that hopeless malady; till at last, after a few days in bed, he died. I hate all cant and false pretence, but there was earnest reality in the simple faith which made my humble friend's last hours so calm and hopeful. When he felt himself dying, he sent for me, and I went and staid beside him for several hours. The clergyman's house was some miles off ; and apart from private regard, it was a part of my duty as an elder of the kirk to go and pray as well as I could with the poor fellow. He was only thirty-two but he had been married eight or nine years, and he had four little children. After lying silent for a while, he said he would like to see them again ; and his wife brought them to his bedside. I know well that no dying father ever felt a more hearty affection for the little things he was leaving behind, or a more sincere desire for their welfare after he had left them. He was not so weak but that he could speak quite distinctly ; and I thought that he would try and say something to them in the way of a parting advice, were it only to bid them be good children, and be kind and obedient to their mother. Yet all he did was just to shake each of the three elder children by the hand, and to say ' Gude-day.' As for the youngest, a wee thing of two years old, he said to it, Will you gie me a bit kiss ? ' and the mother lifted up the wondering child to do so. ' Say Ta-ta to your feyther,' she said. Ta-ta,' said the poor little boy, in a loud cheerful voice, and then ran out of the cottage to play with some companions. The story, I feel, is nothing to tell ; but the little scene affected me much. I believe I have told you the exact words that were said ; and then the dying man turned away his face and closed his eyes, and I saw many tears running down his thin cheeks. I knew it was the very abundance of that poor man's heart that choked his utterance, and brought down his last farewell to a commonplace greeting like that with which he might have parted from a neighbour for a few hours. Gude-day was his farewell for ever."

The Dublin, University Magazine opens with a timely resume of our relations with Persia, written from a Calcutta point of view. The writer adheres to the policy which dictates constant watchfulness and opportune interference whenever Herat is threatened or seriously attacked. As the expedition to the Per- sian Gulf has sailed, we quote part of a description of the first halting-place on Persian ground.

" Karrak—the Icarus of Arrian—contains a superficial area of rather more than twelve square miles. Its surface is described as being exceed- ingly rugged, but on the East side it is not incapable of cultivation. Of more importance is it that it affords safe and spacious anchorage, and that it contains an abundant supply of both spring and well water. 'At the pre- sent moment there are not above 300 inhabitants, chiefly engaged in fish- ing ; but in the time of the Dutch the population is said to have exceeded 3000. The permanent occupation of this small island would secure the command of the Persian Gulf, and, if it did not acquire the amity, would at least neutralize the hostility of the Persian Government. Should the Eu- phrates line of communication be ever opened, this post would become one of great importance. The Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf would thus become the antipodes of Russian and British diplomacy, and Central Asia would form a neutral ground between the absorbing races. To the rest of Europe it must be a matter of.perfect indifference whether the English or Persian flag float over the barren rocks of Karrak, except that under the former an additional bather is raised against Muscovite ascendancy."

It may be remarked that Sir John M'Neill is the great authority upon whose views the advocates of the policy of interference in Central Asia rely most.

Bentley's Miscellany.—The most readable article is a merry story of the adventures of one Professor Dnmmkopf at the Bal Mabille, Paris. The idea of this story is comic. The Professor, desirous of " seeing life," is taken by a malicious Frenchman to a ball at the Hotel de Ville, which he is made to believe is the notorious Bal Mabille ! There is some quiet satire levelled not only at the German, but another nation ; as witness the following passage.

"Professor Dummkopf could hardly trust his astonished ears when ho heard the names of most of the celebrities of the day—and not of one sex alone.

" Mein Gott !' he exclaimed, can that be Queen Christine ?—would she come to Mabille P "'I answer for no one,' replied Monsieur Frisquet ; chacun a son gotit. But a word in your ear : why should she not call herself Queen Christine, or Queen Pedauque, if she prefers it ?' " Ah ! so comprehend Inow r returned the German. It is what these ladies call themselves ? Vortreffiich ! Excellent ! Yea,—ha ! ha! But the men,' he continued, they are the persons they assume to be—nicht water ?'

" Oh yes. it is that which makes Mabille so much the fashion. All the Ministers of State, the Marshals of France, even the Archbishop of Paris, I believe, may be found in these saloons.'

" 'Das fist wunderbar ! So could not such a thing be in Vienna ! Mein Gott ! what for a pleasure-throned city !' "

The West of Scotland Magazine is a patriotic periodical, deal_ ing with native subjects. Among them is a biographic sketch of the celebrated President Forbes. He is justly described as sacri- ficing personal ambition to his love of country. But what do the Scottish Rights Association say to this ?

"The activity of Forbes in his capacity of Lord-Advocate had the effect of making the Government dispense with a Secretary of State for Scotland on the removal of the Duke of Roxburgh from that office. The office Wag revived in 1731 for the Earl of Selkirk ; who was succeeded by the Marquis of Tweeddale, in 1742: four years afterwards the office was altogether abo. fished. It seems not to have been so efficient as the advocates of Scottish Rights could wish it ; for Forbes writes of the office as a nuisance that had been long complained of. In 1734 he succeeded to the family estates by his brother's death."

We observe that this little Glasgow periodical takes notice of Mr. Thackeray's recent visit, and forms a rather unfavourable estimate of our great novelist as a lecturer. The lectures are tee brilliant ; and Mr. Thackeray commits the unpardonable sin of describing the Court of George the Second as corrupt, although it contained men like " Stillingfleet, Hare, Sherlock, and Butler"; and improperly dilates on " the character of a King as having neither dignity, learning, nor wit." As a set-off to the Glasgow depreciation, let us mention a far more comprehensive estimate of Thackeray's genius, which appeared in the Edinburgh Scotsman of the 28th November.