140 REVIEW.-Nicolas's Refutation of Mr. Palgrave's "Remarks." [Feb The other cause was the introduc- clude in his "Observations" on the tion of armour: "The Greeks and Romans, accustomed to contend chiefly on foot, and with such defensive arms alone, as protected the body and left the limbs at liberty, afforded the purest models of manly strength and graceful action. Charlemagne, in increasing the use of cavalry, first adopted the practice of encasing the person of the rider in iron; and though the custom was slow in gaining ground, it eventually prevailed throughout almost every country of Europe. In the delineations of these shapeless warriors, the artist required no anatomical skill; and grace and attitude were effectually excluded from the persons of his inanimate portraits."-ii. 273. This work will place Mr. Emerson among the first of our authors. Refutation of Mr. Palgrave's "Remarks in Additional Facts relative to the Record Commission, and Record Offices. Addressed to the Secretary of State for the Home Department, by Nicholas Harris Nicolas, Esq. 8vo. pp. 228. Pickering. IN the article on this subject in our last number we willingly acceded to Mr. Nicolas's principal arguments, and which can alone lead to any useful result, that the management of the offices of Records might be remodelled with advantage, and that the new Record Commission ought to be sufficiently furnished with practical men; nor could we either dispute or defend the undeniably enormous expenses of the late Record Commission. But the author of the "Observations" had introduced other topics, which have been made of undue importance, and which we much lament should ever have obstructed the course of this gentleman's useful and public-spirited exertions. At the period of their discussion such matters are apt to be magnified in the view of the parties concerned; and, because we deprecated what we considered as more likely to promote private animosities than public benefits, our pages were no sooner before the author, than he hastily wrote three pages of complaint against us, which are appended as a Postscript to the present Pamphlet. On this Postscript we shall have a very few words to say hereafter. It is to be regretted that Mr. Nicolas should have thought it necessary to in Record Commission the subject of the Society of Antiquaries. He had already repeated his strictures upon that body too often to make any further impression. His advice when a member had been rejected, and his subsequent censures disregarded; and if so, why trouble himself again? In the case of that society those circumstances do not exist, which so often afford, to self-devoting patriotism, a plea for its interference with the economy of public institutions. It is neither endowed by the munificence of deceased benefactors, nor supported at the public expense. Nor even is a man obliged to join it, in order to take a degree or to obtain a certificate. The profession of historian, or any other, may be practised without its license. In short, it is purely a matter of voluntary choice to come or go, to join the Society or to leave it: and the members themselves provide its means. In such a case, if the members are themselves satisfied with the management, they may be justified in judging for themselves, and in disregarding objections from without. When the Society publishes its works, they are undoubtedly as amenable to criticism as the productions of individual authors. Mr. Nicolas has frequently had such opportunities for giving his opinions, and it is clear they have not escaped him; nor has he been too strictly confined by that wellknown law, which enjoins the literary critic that, however a book may be abused, the author must be spared. We are convinced that, on this occasion, to repeat his objections was useless, because, from the irritation he had previously excited, they were sure to make but little impression; and injudicious, because he thus afforded to his Record Commission antagonists a neutral position, in which to fight their battle in advance of their own territories. With regard to Mr. Nicolas's reclamation against us, we can in most respects bear his discontent with equanimity. He blames, as might be expected, the multifariousness of our antiquarian taste; forgetting that we have more readers to please than even the Society of Antiquaries. Floriferis ut apes in saltibus omnia libant, 1831.] REVIEW.-Nicolas's Refutation of Mr. Palgrave's "Remarks." 141 We therefore pass by his reflections, knowing they were written in haste. To his complaint that we "had not the candour or justice to say that a reply was preparing" by him, we can point out that we conspicuously did so in our usual place for announcing new publications. To his objection at our quoting "an ex-parte statement," we can only (as soon as the means are in our power) show those points on which he has put forth a counter-statement to that we extracted. The passage of Mr. Palgrave, describing Mr. Nicolas's conduct at the only Council of the Antiquarian Society which he had the opportunity to attend, was undoubtedly strongly expressed, and we extracted it. Mr. Nicolas says: "With the hope of establishing the injustice of the remark that my behaviour at the Council was improper, by better evidence than my own negation, I wrote to Mr. Hallam, who presided. It appears from his answer, that he has no distinct recollection of my having taken any part at the meetings of the Council of the Society, but that he had on no occasion witnessed any impropriety of behaviour in the members of that body: a general certificate of good conduct upon which I felicitate them. If then my deportment were so offensive, or remarkable, as to justify an unprecedented measure, will it be believed that the chairman, at a meeting of eight persons would not bave noticed and remembered it?"—p. 110. The imputation of aspiring to dictatorship Mr. Nicolas denies. He alone can know his motives, and others can only surmise them. But he does not appear to wish to conceal that, if in power, he should have given a partial preference to one branch of archæology; and, if such were his inclination, we retain our opinion that such contraction of the Society's objects would not be fair towards members of other tastes, because they contribute their share to its support, and have a claim to a share of attention. This then is all we have to say regarding the remarks on ourselves; for we did not quote the mis-statement, that Mr. Nicolas's motion of April 17, 1827, was “lost." As recorded in our magazine at that time, it was withdrawn, "Mr. Nicolas declaring that the object of his motion had been fully attained." To the long exposition of the intercourse and correspondence between the parties at issue, we have not space to pay great attention. As is usual in controversial writings, the discussion runs to great extent. Mr. Palgrave deemed himself invidiously "attacked" by Mr. Nicolas's criticisms, and besides defending himself, impugned his opponent's motives, and various parts of his previous conduct. Mr. Nicolas has classed these imputations under thirteen counts or charges; and of these we can of course take but a very cursory view. Notwithstanding Mr. Nicolas's praise of the general execution of the "Parliamentary Writs," Mr. Palgrave thought so seriously of his remarks on the expensiveness of that work, as to deem them a charge of fraud. In reply, Mr. Nicolas contends "that I have not exceeded the bounds of legitimate criticism; that I have not used one word of a personal nature; and that it is absurd to draw any such inference from them [pp. 99 to 109, and pp. 123 to 137], as that they accuse Mr. Palgrave of being a 'fraudulent contractor.' Is the author who receives a large sum from a bookseller authorized to accuse a writer in a Review of charging him with fraud,' because in a criticism upon his labours the public are told that they are imperfectly executed? Are the various government servants charged with fraud,' when, as daily happens, they are said to be overpaid for their services? -P. 18. We pass on to the fourth count, because it is one by which the reputation of Mr. Nicolas has much suffered among those imperfectly acquainted with him, and yet admits of an easy explanation. It is, that he has turned round to treat most severely those whom he had before so highly praised, that they esteemed him at once an admirer and a friend. "That a prima facie act of inconsistency is shewn by this circumstance may be true, and it is naturally enough brought against me by those who prefer my opinions in 1824 to my opinions in 1830. I answer, that my praise then was as sincere and conscientious as is my censure now. My praise then arose from an imperfect acquaintance with the subject. My censure was called forth by a careful investigation of the volumes, after unremitting attention to the subject to which they relate for six years.” —p. 26. * Of these facts we have positive knowledge. At the first-named period Mr. Nicolas was a perfect tyro in records; 142 REVIEW.-On Duties on Sea-borne Coals. how conversant he has since been with them (if, as Mr. Palgrave insinuates, not with the originals, yet undeniably with their contents), is testified by a list of works, the rapid production of which has been a matter of astonishment with the literary world. The sum of Mr. Nicolas's offence on this point, therefore, was an unguarded indulgence in passing compliments, where his information was derived only from the parties' own accounts in their Prefaces. Under the fifth head are noticed the articles on the Parliamentary Writs and Rolls of Parliament in the Westminster Review, the statements in which Mr. Palgrave declared to be " wholly untrue." Mr. Nicolas says, "The facts were taken from the Parliamentary Return, and if the statements are wholly untrue,' it is very extraordinary that Mr. Palgrave has not shewn where they are false. I maintain, however, that every line of those statements, with one excep tion, is correct, and I invite him to disprove them. The exception is, when it is said, the far greater part' of the first volume has been before printed.”—p. 39. That passage, it is added, should have run "great part;" and, in connection with this point, we find the pamphleteers strangely at variance for a matter of fact. Mr. Palgrave stated that "Prynne's Calendar does not contain one document printed in the Parliamentary Writs." Mr. Nicolas gives in p. 49 a table, showing the pages which twelve writs, all of the reign of Edward the First, occur at length in both works. at Mr. Nicolas proceeds to say, that "But for the vanity which obscures Mr. Palgrave's judgment, he might have discovered that my charges are directed, not against him,—the mere employée of the Commission,-but against the Commission itself. I have said, and I repeat it, that a more inefficient board was never constituted; that a more flagrant waste of the public money never occurred. If I ventured to say this in the Observations,' when I considered that ONLY a quarter of a million had been spent under its authority, what must be my opinion when access to additional evidence has shewn me, that the sum spent by the Commission between 1801 and 1831 amounts to about THREE HUNDRED FORTY THOUSAND POUNDS?"-p. 96. Again, p. 166: AND "Instead of the Commission having, as I presumed, spent about 250,000l. the total [Feb. amount expended under its directions exceeds three hundred and forty thousand pounds, which, added to the sums paid by the Government in salaries to Record Keepers, and in other ways connected with the Public Muniments in England and Ireland between 1801 and 1831, forms the enormous total of about five hundred and fifty thousand pounds; but, notwithstanding this immense outlay upon Records, not a document can be inspected or transcribed without heavy fees being demanded; and the Records are in many offices not at all better arranged, or more accessible to the public, than they were before a shilling of that money was expended!" Calculations of the separate expenses of each of the publications of the Record Commission are then given, compiled from the several Parliamentary Returns in which that information has been from time to time elicited. A new Commission is now in the progress of formation; in the constitution of which no one is more sin cerely desirous than ourselves to see a body of truly efficient and practical directors of the Record publications. Some distinguished names have been mentioned to us as having been already selected; but we were sorry not to find among them that gentleman, whom one of our best judges and best employers of antient MSS.* has characterized as actuated "with the spirit of a Bodley, a Cotton, or a Harley; and to deserve, like these illustrious men, the respect and gratitude of his country." An opportunity of showing that respect to Sir Thomas Phillipps is now offered, and we trust it will not be neglected. May the new Commission profit by the errors of its predecessor; and though, from the necessities of the times, its means may be more contracted, supply the deficiency by economy, judgment, and perseverance. Observations on the Duties on Sea-borne Coals, and on the peculiar Duties and Charges on Coal, in the Port of London; founded on the Reports of Parliamentary Committees, and other official Documents. 8vo. pp. 51. FINANCIERS may be assimilated to spaniels and pointers, who hunt well both in cover and stubble, but not to sportsmen, who are infallible shots; for Swift says that their two and two, instead of making four, often make *The Rev. Joseph Hunter, in his "Monastic Libraries." 1831.] REVIEW.-Irving's Voyages of Columbus. only one. If however we cannot elevate them to the class of those who shoot flying, we cannot dispute their skill, when aiming at a target which cannot move off; and if they do so only with small shot, they may not do the said target much harm; but it sometimes happens, that they fire with ball, and then it is deeply injured. Something like this seems to have ensued in regard to the tax before us, that laid upon sea-borne coals. To show the absurdity of this tax, it is to be recollected, that persons, who live in coal countries, where the fossil is cheap, pay no duty whatever, while residents at a great distance from those countries-and in consequence expense of carriage, in se, creates dearness pay a heavy duty into the bargain. Now, if a tax upon teeth was proposed, there is certainly less reason for limiting the impost to persons who are obliged to use artificial ones, than for extending it to those whose masticating organs are natural. In short, this tax seems to be one of very extraordinary construction. Our author in this good businesspamphlet has established a clear case; and as our readers may have a very imperfect knowledge of the subject, we shall, as to main points, hold it up to the light. First, it appears that the tax by pressing upon sea-borne coals, injures the shipping interest; and, secondly, the manufacturing also, where steam machinery is requisite. "Mr. William Stark, a manufacturer of Norwich, informed the Lords' Committee, that so long as yarn was spun by the hand, all that was used in that city was spun there; but that since yarn had been spun by machinery, Norwich had entirely lost this branch of industry, inasmuch as the high price of coal, caused by the duty, had disabled them from erecting machines! At the time that Mr. Stark gave this evidence, there were from 4,000 to 5,000 persons unemployed in Norwich; and it is not, probably, going too far to say, that not onethird of them would have been in that situation, but for the coal duty."—p. 9. But the public is not only injured in this and similar ways, but by substitution of measure for weight. Every body knows the smallness of the coal used in London; yet, "Singular as it may seem, none but large coals are shipped from the Tyne and the toms. 143 Wear for London. The cause of the metamorphosis which the coal undergoes in its passage to the consumer, is not, however, difficult to discover. Coals are nominally sold by the owners to the shippers by weight, or by the chaldron waggon, which is supposed to contain, when full, 53 cwt. and is stamped as such by the officer of the cuspends in a great degree on the size of the But the weight of the waggon depoint of fact, coal is sold by measure. pieces with which it is filled, so that, in It is stated by the celebrated mathematician, Dr. Hutton, who, being a native of Newcastle, was well acquainted with the coaltrade, that if one coal, measuring exactly a cubic yard (nearly equal to five bolls), be broken into pieces of a moderate size, it will measure seven bolls and a half; if broken very that the proportion of the weight to the small it will measure nine bolls; which shows measure depends upon the size of the coals; therefore accounting by weight is the most rational method."—p. 19. "Besides screening, i. e. passing the coal over gratings, to separate the small from the great pieces, the benefit of further breakage is perfectly understood by successive retailers. Taking the cost of a chaldron of coals at 2l. 10s. 8d. the amount of duties levied upon it is 17. 5s. 5}d.—(see p. 27.) Is not this a mirabile?" [Since this article was written, it is a satisfaction to add, the duty on seaborne coals has been taken off by the Chancellor of the Exchequer; forming almost the only subject in his whole budget that gave general satisfaction.] Voyages and Discoveries of the Companions of Columbus. By Washington Irving. 16mo. EVERY one knows that the conquests of the Spaniards in the New World, were attended with the most diabolical criminalities; but it is not also known, that superstition caused the invaders to deem that they were destined by Holy Writ to make their conquest;* and by Pagan morals to treat the unfortunate natives as mere vermin. In retribution, Superstition and the presumed felicity of acquiring a pecuniary Pays de Cockayne, have destroyed the politic character and wellbeing of Spain, the invaders' own * Solorzan, L. i. c. 15, who quotes Isaiah, the Psalms, &c.—Rev. 144 REVIEW.-Irving's Voyages of Columbus. country. The following extract also shows us how baneful to the invaded was at first the same principle of superstition; and what a recoil it produced when detected. "The poor Indians soon found the difference between the Spaniards as guests, and the Spaniards as masters. They were driven to despair by the heavy tasks imposed upon them; for to their free spirits and indolent habits, restraint and labour were worse than death. Many of the most hardy and daring proposed a general insurrection, and a massacre of their oppressors; the great mass, however, were deterred by the belief that the Spaniards were supernatural beings and could not be killed. "A shrewd and sceptical cacique, named Brayoan, determined to put their immortality to the test. Hearing that a young Spaniard named Salzedo, was passing through his lands, he sent a party of his subjects to escort him, giving them secret instructions how they were to act. On coming to a river they took Salzedo on their shoulders to carry him across, but, when in the midst of the stream, they let him fall, and throwing themselves upon him, pressed him under water until he was drowned. Then dragging his body to the shore, and still doubting his being dead, they wept and howled over him, making a thousand apologies for having fallen upon him, and kept him so long beneath the surface. "The cacique Brayoan came to examine the body, and pronounced it lifeless; but the Indians still fearing it might possess lurking immortality, and ultimately revive, kept watch over it for three days, until it showed incontestible signs of putrefaction. "Being now convinced that the strangers were mortal men like themselves, they readily entered into a general conspiracy to destroy them." This transaction is alluded to by Solorzanus, L. ii. c. vii. sect. 49, p. 175. Superstition gave birth to this Indian idea, for the Peruvians being worshippers of the Sun, they esteemed the Spaniards to be his sons, and therefore immortal. Ibid. Having thus shown the consequences of superstition, we inform the public that no better direction of Christianity has been given by the Missionaries to the Otaheiteans; for it is stated by Captain Kotzebue, that they have nearly depopulated the island by instigating wars, and maintained their ascendancy by inculcating mere superstition; and no arts, sciences, or knowledge justly, according to European refinement. Every body execrates the memory of [Feb. Pizarro and his associates; but history is not to be understood, except by reference to contemporary ideas. Now those ideas were, that if a barbarous people would not submit to slavery, it was justifiable to hunt them down more ferarum. Solorzanus (L. ii. c. vii. sect. 52, 53) shows us that the Spaniards acted upon this principle, and vindicated their conduct from Plato (in Dial. 3 de legib. Ciceron. parad. 5) and Aristotle (Polit. L. i. c. 3, 4; and L. vii. c. 14). Cælius Callagninus, in his Paraphrase (ad Polit. Arist. c. 32), explaining and illustrating the passages quoted, says (literally translated), "It is the hunting part of the art of war, that we should fight not only against wild beasts, but that we should turn our arms also against those men, who having been born to obey, yet refuse to obey, and by contumacy do not endure civilization (per contumaciam mores non patiuntur). A war of this kind is just, as being that which is waged under the auspices of nature." Now in the present day mob-principles are dominant. It is however utterly impossible that a civilized people barbarous country, or the latter be elevated in social happiness, unless the recruit submit to the drill of the serjeant, the schoolboy to that of the pedagogue. The liberty of civilized countries can no more be allowed to a savage, than fire-arms to an idiot. It is not that the mode of subjection may be correct, but subordination there must be; or no good can be done to the people themselves. Could South America, or North America, ever have been what they now are, if the Indians of either country had been suffered to be triumphant. We speak only en philosophe in vindication of Providence, which extracts good out of evil; and openly manifests, that power cannot be entrusted to barbarians, without injury to the species. can make a beneficial settlement in a We have thus made a moral use of the work before us, because we thought it a good thesis, one that invited a commentary by way of lamp or candle, to exhibit its social character in certain main points. Mr. Washington Irving is a man who has many thousands in the consols of public approbation, and therefore we need not say a word about his reputation in the stock-exchange of literature. |