THE MIDLAND-METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE, AND MONTHLY REVIEW. DECEMBER, 1852. THE EDITORS TO THE READER. GENTLE READER.-With all due acknowledgement of the merits of the many productions that are constantly being issued at the present time, we would fain hope that room may be found in the ranks for our modest periodical, though it be heralded by no flourishing of trumpets and beating of drums. Though the powers of mammoth placards, bedizened red and yellow, are great, -though demonstrations of handbills and long advertisements carry astonishing conviction to the mind as they glare upon you from the wall still we have some remnant of a belief yet left that these are not the principal elements in producing a useful and interesting Serial. In this preface we shall be very brief-it is merely intended to give some idea of our aim and object for the carrying out of that object we refer our readers, and trust we may not do so in vain, to the present, and a large and goodly array of numbers yet "looming in the future." For the general reader-who will look principally for amusement from our pages, we shall bring a store of fresh and vivid descriptions-Scenes of Travel and Adventure-Personal Anecdotes, Essays, Continued Tales, with a novel and interesting cast of characters-Comicalities, and Graphic Sketches of Places and Objects of Note-as well as Remarks and Suggestions upon the Prominent Subjects of the Day, and Notices and Reviews of New Publications. For more enquiring minds, we shall sometimes enter the realms of Philosophy, wandering upon classic ground, partly to refresh and invigorate ourselves with the pure keen air of such exalted regions, and partly to show, as it were, at one glance, the Past No. 1. B and the Present-where our advantages and where our disadvantages lie in these later times. Our views will be original, perhaps, in their appearance and application, but we shall do our best to prevent them from being merely fanciful and theoretical, and to render them of practical importance. Even in the labyrinths of Metaphysics, should we find ourselves now and then straying darkly with but little to guide or light the devious path-the certain clue of a definite end and aim shall bring us safely back again in ample time for the next month's "copy." It will ever be one of our greatest pleasures to listen to and profit by the many lessons of science, from her inconceivably grand and lofty teachings of the mazy dances of vast families of orbs, which come to periods only in millions of years, to her quiet voice in the breezes of morning, where we catch the sweet odours of the early flowers, and study the busy, merry, insect life; from the vestiges of antideluvian wonders she brings forth, to the still more marvellous appliances of modern days, by which time and space, night and chaos, are being driven from their ancient empires. Neither amidst all our utilitarianism will Poetry be forgottenthat "only magician whose wand is not yet broken"-a wand whose influence should ever be for the higher and nobler ends— for the awakening of the soul to a keener and fuller appreciation of the beautiful and the true-a closer binding together of all the common interests, and common hopes of humanity—a soothing and consoling power in time of sorrow and trouble—and a smiling, joyous, and most exalted companion in the hours of joy and mirth. If, then, we may succeed in showing forth forgotten truths, cleared from the rubbish that surrounded them—in stripping from some ancient errors the disguises that have been their only safety in this clairvoyant age-in supplying from our own diggins" some of the rich ore of modern discovery and casting it forth to the world, shall we not have sufficient excuse, Gentle Reader, for the perpetration of a new periodical ? And then, the interesting Tales, Sketches, Comicalities-why it is positively selfish to keep them all to our own private circles! CONTENTMENT. "BE content with such things as ye have." Is that beast better that hath two or three mountains to graze on, than a little bee that feeds on dew or manna, and lives upon what falls every morning from the storehouses of heaven, clouds, and Providence? Can a man quench his thirst better out of a river than a full urn, or drink better from the fountain which is finely paved with marble, than when it swells over the green turf? ITS DEPOPULATION: PROBABLE CONSEQUENCES. OUR insular atmosphere is a clouded one, continually subject to meteorological changes; and John Bull's propensity for grumbling frequently makes him look for clouds even amidst indications of sunshine. Not only does he, according to the proverb, meet trouble half way, but he runs after it, as though fond of the chase, where it is not to be found. Thus, even in the depopulation which is at present going on in these Islands, as the effect of the "gold discoveries" in California and Australia, there are those who have already" discovered" an element of future distress. Erewhile the enquiry was, "what is to be done with our surplus population ?" and Dr. Malthus, and other Malthusian dreamers, seeing the steady increase in the number of Britain's inhabitants, cast about them for the means of mending God's ways, and improving his "short-sighted" arrangements, which, it was feared, would speedily produce, in England, more stomachs than that unfortunate country could provide victuals to fill. Characteristic enough was the course which the legislative wisdom of the day thought proper to pursue on the occasion when this mania first seized them; for it was perfectly opposite, if not perfectly proper, that they who doubted God's wisdom should throw impediments in the way of God's ordinance of marriage, and thus attempt to stop the onward progress of constant increase. That day has passed. The "New Marriage Act" which, maugre all its vexations, was the laughing-stock of the times, has gone into oblivion, and people are allowed without impediment to enter into that which the Scriptures denominate a "holy state." Yet, notwithstanding the removal of these restrictions, mouths have been filled even better than before; and those who have been elbowed out of the old world, have found elbow-room enough in the new, where countless acres demand the aid of man's hand to reclaim them. And now, such are the changes in our "philosophy"-a satire, as it were, upon Dame Fortune's lesser vagaries-man begins to wonder what is to become of the land for want of the people that are leaving it. That the next census will find our population decreased instead of increased is almost certain, so rapid is the rate at which the tide of emigration is now flowing out. That we are losing, not so much the idle and slumbering, as the active and energetic portion of our people, is also a well-established fact. Men without energy and go-a-head propensities are not to be tempted by a distant prospect of good. A voyage and journey of five or ten thousand miles, is to them, in truth, 'a lion in the way!' Yet these better men, if they leave England's shores, are not to be considered as lost to her. They are only gone to reap the golden harvest in her more distant fields, leaving more breathing room for their friends behind them. And even if we anticipate the distant day when Australia, like Columbia, shall become independent of the Mother Country, she will, even then, with British habits, British tastes, and British feelings, form a mart for our commerce to an extent which it is almost impossible to estimate; returning, what most we need, supplies of food, and wool, and gold. To Again, depopulation in its home effects will, perhaps, be as salutary as its outre-mer ones. We never dreamed of danger or inconvenience arising from any of the arrangements of Providence, because the world is wide if population is expansive; and even in our own country, and our sister island, there are yet millions of uncultivated acres asking the aid of man; but it must be confessed that if our island was like a mansion without a back door, if there were no outlets for our increasing numbers, England might, in time, bear some resemblance to the black hole of Calcutta, and not allow sufficient room for its inhabitants. It is at present sufficiently filled for all the needful purposes of social life; and though we might do very well with a few million more inhabitants, we could do quite as well with a few millions less. make arrangements for such an increased number, it might be necessary to bring more waste lands into a state of cultivation, in order to supply the wants of our increasing towns. But there will be no need to throw land out of cultivation, and let arable fields become a desert, for want of hands to cultivate and attend to them. And even if depopulation went on to such an extent as to leave houses void, which the rising generation could not fill, there are, alas! too many instances of several families being cooped up in one house, too many of others "pigging in cellars," and "flocking together in rookeries," whom a little lower house rent, better means, or more constant employment, might enable to live more like human beings who require a breath of pure are to oxygenize their blood. And who shall say, when competition becomes less, because the number of competitors is lessened—and demand becomes greater, because new sources of demand are opened—that there will not be remunerative employment for all who are able to work, and as willing as they are able. The very cause of depopulation, too, is one that, in another respect, cannot fail to prove beneficial to our country. It has been "A rather wisely remarked that Providence has settled the currency question, and thus repaired Sir Robert Peel's great error. pound" may be "a pound" now, and gold the legal tender, and yet the currency will be sufficiently expansive for our use; nor will the foreigner find it to his advantage to take gold for his corn instead of manufactured articles. Moreover, the golden harvest has thus prevented any ill effects which might have arisen from our adoption of Free Trade measures, or unrestricted competition with nations less heavily burdened,-Providence thus, as it were, interfering to bless the nation that set so good an example, and obviating, by such mineral discoveries in its own dominions, the only evils that could be anticipated by such an adoption. The proof of the pudding, says a homely proverb, is in the eating. And if a man cannot . "Hold a fire in his hand By thinking on the hoary Caucasus," so neither can he be persuaded that he is fainting with hunger when he has just partaken of a hearty meal. Hitherto the results of the "gold mania" emigration have been decidedly good. Trade is better; workmen are more fully employed; money, to use the commercial phrase, is "easier;" and he must be somewhat touched with hypochondria, mentally or physically, who in the midst of such conditions and circumstances will venture to prophecy evil to Britain from the present process of depopulation. T. WELLINGTON. THE Solemn funeral words are said For our great one gone beyond recall, It seems as if a halo yet Encircled England from His tomb; Wept over by a nation's tears- A giant in our utmost need Thy name, world known, shall live apart That holds our glorious England dear. November 19, 1852. |