kind for the wound inflicted on their national pride, by our apparent assumption that the great Republic could not deal with its rebels, but was destined at the first shock to split up into separate and hostile States. They have been humiliated, and they want to humiliate us. This desire may not be generous, but no one can wonder at it; and that such a desire does in fact exist is evident from the persistent way in which they have sought to obtain a formal condemnation of our recognition of the belligerent rights of the South. Entertaining these feelings and views we can readily imagine that they may and indeed must feel sore at the easy and off-hand way in which Mr. Johnson has treated the matters in dispute between the two nations; at his readiness not only to meet us half way, but even to render it easy and pleasant for us to come the other half; and at the manner in which he has in their belief surrendered, or at all events compromised, the attitude they have hitherto maintained in respect to the point of national honour. Then, again, his willingness to shake hands with Mr. Laird, Lord Wharncliffe, and Mr. Roebuck, may be very gracious, and quite wise and right from the highest point of view. But as long as men are men, there will be unwillingness on the part of those who have been injured to behave with magnanimity towards those who have injured them, until the latter have either been soundly beaten or have made atonement. The Northerners can afford to forgive the Southern leaders because they have defeated them; but the Confederate sympathisers in England do not stand in anything like an analogous position, and we are therefore not surprised to find that American generosity is hardly equal to the task of taking these men to their hearts. The confident manner in which, no later than Tuesday evening, Mr. Johnson asserted that peace between England and the United States is assured, warrants us in believing that, in spite of all the popular hostility which he has provoked in his own country, the arrangement which he has negotiated with Lord Stanley has the sanction of his Government, and will receive the support of the requisite majority of the Senate. But it is impossible not to entertain some doubt whether this consummation, so devoutly to be wished for, has not been seriously imperilled by the manner in which with the best intentions, the American Minister has set about the work of reconciling the two nations. Nor can we help 66 sharing to some extent the opinions of those who point out that the main obstacles which have arisen-if any have arisen to the settlement of the questions in dispute have grown out of the imprudent half-revelations which have been made during its progress. Open diplomacy is a very catching cry. But when the feelings of one or both of the two parties to a quarrel are strongly excited, we suspect that it will not be found conducive to a pacific issue to invite their presence and assistance during the deliberations of the plenipotentiaries. There are many arrangements, as every one knows, which a man is willing to accept as a whole, although he might find a good deal to say against each separate item. It is the duty of diplomatists to discuss details; it is the province of the Government, as the organ of the people, to say "ay" or no" to the scheme or proposition in which these preliminary discussions result. If we invite the public to assist at the first stage, it may well be that such an excitement of popular feelings and passions may be occasioned as will effectually prevent our arriving at the second. Mr. Johnson seems to us to have erred on the side of a dangerous frankness. But whatever faults his own countrymen may find with him, Englishmen have no cause of complaint. He is earnestly desirous to promote not only peace, but cordial friendship between the two countries; and he certainly entertains towards us in a very high degree the sentiments which we seek to inculcate. Under these circumstances it should have been impossible for any Englishman to treat him with rudeness or disrespect. So long, however, as we have the Reform League and its associates amongst us, no breach of decency or of the rules which regulate the conduct of gentlemen can be considered out of the question. If any one had entertained a doubt on that point it must have been removed by the recent conduct of Messrs. Beales, Coningsby, and their friends. To ask a man to dinner and then withdraw the invitation is bad enough; but to accompany the latter step by a direct insult is a refinement of bad manners, of which few save the person in question could possibly be guilty. Mr. Johnson may rest assured that, although no one is astonished, nearly every one is indignant at the treatment he has received from the obscure clique who represent the working classes, exactly in the same way as the three tailors of Tooley street spoke for the people of England.
HUSH! NOTES ON PAIN.-When we speak of death This absence of pain after wounds which would from "shock," it is the pain which, inducing otherwise entail suffering of the most intense the shock to the nervous system, must be looked character is often remarked upon the field of upon as the destroying agent. Hence we are battle. Dr. Livingstone's account of his renconnaturally led to consider the treatment of pain, tre with the lion, when his arm was fractured, and cannot fail to see the importance of sound illustrates this fact. He writes: "I saw the views as to its origin and nature. If pain were lion in the act of springing on me. I was on a due to an "excess of life," then it might be a little height, he caught my shoulder as he sprang, right practice to attack it with lowering feme- and we both came to the ground below together. dies; but since it is really dependent on deteri- Growling horribly close to my ear, he shook me oration of the vital process, our aim must be to as a terrier dog does a rat. The shock produced restore rather than to destroy, to build up rather a stupor like that which seems to fall on a mouse than to pull down. On the first suggestion of after the first shake of the cat. It caused a pain, our impulse is at once to fly to the nearest sort of dreaminess, in which there was no sense remedy that which shall the most speedily and of pain nor feeling of terror, though quite coneffectually secure to us the much desired relief. scious of all that was happening. It was like It may be interesting to point out the action of what patients partially under the influence of some of the means usually adopted to attain this chloroform describe, who see all the operation end; and a word of warning against their abuse but feel no knife. This singular condition was may not be out of place. The power of tea and not the result of any mental process. The coffee in relieving nerve pain is particularly shake annihilated fear, and allowed no sense of striking, and the influence of quinine and strych- horror in looking round at the beast." This nine is, in a certain sense, analogous. The for- peculiar state is probably felt in all animals mer as well as the latter class of remedies may killed by the carnivora; and if so, is a merciful be taken in poisonous doses. Brandy and other provision by our benevolent Creator, for lessenpowerful stimulants often act by a sort of re- ing the pain of death. vulsive influence. Since one form of disease The People's Magazine. may counterbalance and counteract another, it is sometimes justifiable to develop an artificial source of disturbance, and it is upon this principle that blisters, setons, and issues, &c., act. Chloroform, like cold or galvanism, causes contraction of vessels, renders the brain pale, and thus destroys consciousness. Narcotics, opium, tobacco, and the like, retard oxygenation, and check vital processes. Local anesthetics, as ice or ether spray, by freezing the part to be operated upon, deaden its sensibility; and though thus annihilating pain, they yet leave the patient fully conscious and alive to the feelings of horror consequent upon his seeing the operation in progress. Other means of temporarily destroying the sensibility of the nerves to pain there are, such as opiates taken internally, or syringed under the skin of the painful part, and "It is only the children playing they are of great value. But it must be borne in mind that the removal of pain is not necesBelow, now their work is done, And they laugh that their eyes are dazzled sarily the removal of the disease. The deadening of pain by opiates may gain for the doctor By the rays of the setting sun.' the delighted applause of the sufferer, although Fainter grew her voice, and weaker, not unfrequently the benumbing of sensation is As with anxious eyes she cried, the first step in the course of hopeless retrogres-"Down the avenue of chestnuts, sion. It is this benumbing influence of sedatives which makes them often so injurious; they induce an artificial calm, and say, "Peace, peace, when there is no peace." It is as unwise thus to silence the voice of nature, as to deal heedlessly with the complaints of the body. By a merciful provision, it frequently happens that Nature herself supplies the means whereby the sufferer is enabled to bear up though enduring the most racking pain. Under the influence of intense excitement, or mental emotion, the balance of the nervous system is sometimes so completely destroyed that, during great injury of sensitive structures, no pain is experienced. "I CAN scarcely hear," she murmured, I can hear a sound at last." "It is only the reapers singing, And the red flushed in her cheek. I can hear a horseman ride.' "It is only the deer that were feeding Now the night arose in silence, Birds lay in their leafy nest, There was only a sound of weeping From A. D. F. Randolph & Co., New York. HYMNS FOR THE CHURCH ON EARTH. Selected and Arranged by the Rev. J. C. Ryle. PREPARING FOR PUBLICATION AT THIS OFFICE: HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF THE REIGN OF GEORGE II. These very interesting and valuable sketches of Queen Caroline, Sir Robert Walpole, Lord Chesterfield, Lady Mary Wortley Montague, The Young Chevalier, Pope, John Wesley, and other celebrated characters of the time of George II., several of which have already appeared in the LIVING AGE, reprinted from Blackwood's Magazine, will be issued from this office, in book form, as soon as completed. A HOUSE OF CARDS. LETTICE LISLE PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY BY FOR EIGHT DOLLARS, remitted directly to the Publishers, the LIVING AGE will be punctually forwarded for a year, free of postage. But we do not prepay postage on less than a year, nor where we have to pay commission for forwarding the money. Price of the First Series, in Cloth, 36 volumes, 90 dollars. " Second " 20 50 " Any Volume Bound, 3 dollars; Unbound, 2 dollars. The sets, or volumes, will be sent at the expense of the publishers. PREMIUMS FOR CLUBS. For 5 new subscribers (840.), a sixth copy; or a set of HORNE'S INTRODUCTION TO THE BIBLE, unabridged, in 4 large volumes, cloth, price $10; or any 5 of the back volumes of the LIVING AGE, in numbers, price $10. From The Edinburgh Review. ticed. pages to refer to the Letters of Madame de Villars, the wife of the Marquis, which are THIS volume is published under circum- also in themselves of great interest, and, stances sufficiently curious to merit notice. from the elegance of their style, have taken The MS. from which it was printed was pur- rank among the epistolary classics of dischased some years ago at a sale in London tinguished French women. The Letters by Sir William Stirling Maxwell, then Mr. and Memoirs of Madame d'Aulnoy, the Stirling of Keir. It was evidently in the authoress of the Contes des Fées,' who handwriting of the eighteenth century, and visited Spain at this time, are also highly on examination it proved to be an interest- entertaining, full of information, and writing report on the state of the Spanish mon- ten in a sparkling style. Besides these archy under Charles II., drawn up by the sources of information, the letters and deMarquis de Villars (father of the celebrated spatches of Mr. Alexander Stanhope, Enggeneral of that name), who was French am- lish ambassador at Madrid, published some bassador at the Court of Madrid in the reign years ago by Lord Stanhope, also throw of Charles II. Mr. Stirling, himself pro- great light on the state of Spain at this pefoundly acquainted with the historical an- riod. Nor should a brilliant article of M. nals of Spain, could find no evidence that Paul de Saint-Victor, in his recently pubthe document in question had ever been lished collection of Essays, be left unnoprinted before; Sir Frederick Madden and Mr. Panizzi, of the British Museum, on The country of the Cid and of Philip II., being consulted, were of opinion that the of romance, intolerance, and superstition, MS. had never been made public. The still possesses a charm and an interest even work was therefore printed at Mr. Stirling's in the darkest hour of its abasement. The expense, and presented by him to the Phi- personality of Charles II. is a still more lobiblon Society. Subsequently, however, striking representative of the fortunes of it appeared that these Mémoires had already Spain than those of Philip III. and Philip passed through the press and been given to IV., and the impending extinction of the the world, in 1733, in Paris, in an anony- great Spanish House of Austria gives it a mous form; and thus the Marquis de Villars tragic solemnity in spite of the King's imbehas had the honour of publication in Eng-cility. For, imbecile as he was, Charles land nearly two centuries after the composi-possessed all the strange characteristics of tion of his work, entirely from the oblivion his race. The story of his reign, indeed, into which it had fallen. The document, however, is in itself of great historical value: it gives a very clear and curious picture of the condition of Spain at the end of the seventeenth century; and some of the causes of its incessant and increasing decay are specified with great judgment and penetration. From the account we have given of the publication of the English êdition it is clear that the existence of the work was unknown to those most conversant with French and Spanish literature and history. Besides the work in question, we shall have occasion in the following *1. Mémoires de la Cour d'Espagne sous le Régne de Charles II., 1678-1682. Par le Marquis de VILLARS. London: 1961. [Printed for the Philobiblon Society.] 2 Lettres de Madame de Villars a Madame de Coulanges, (1679-1681). Nouvelle édition, avec Introduction et Notes par ALFRED DE COURTOIS. Paris: 1868. has nothing to chronicle abroad but disaster, and its political changes within were insignificant; but the real historical interest of his sovereignty is centred in himself, in the life of the palace, and the records of the amazing condition of society and the nation at its period of worst humiliation. The greatness of Spain had been acquired by a system of external and internal policy which contained within it all the maleficent roots of premature decay. Around the vast trunk of Spanish grandeur even in the days of Charles V. and Philip II., the ivy of ruin was growing with its growth, and the inflexible Spaniard, whose haughty boast Was Nosotros Españoles no mudamos rey ni religion,' so well personified by the imperturbable Philip II. himself, was not capable of producing a reformed government, or even of awakening to a consciousness of the extravagant follies and parasite vices |