this long interruption of our trade, and the equipment of our fleets, &c., has really cost us. The immense extension of secret societies throughout China, formed chiefly of supporters of the old Ming dynasty, the diminution of that almost religious adoration with which his subjects have been taught to regard their emperor as omnipotent, the now universally admitted importance of English commerce to China, may yet shake the Tartar monarch on his throne, or even place there for a time some post captain of our navy to rule the three hundred millions of his subjects till further instructions be received from the home government. It is useless to speculate at present. The next Chinese mail, or at least the one after, ought to bring to us important intelligence. We cannot, however, conclude without expressing our cordial admiration of the excellent spirit which seems to unite all the branches of our service at present. Many of our readers will doubtless recollect the period when their mutual jealousy used often to paralyse some of our most important operations; but, though that jealousy has long ceased, we do not think the spirit that has now rendered the united services apparently irresistible was ever so cordially manifested as in our recent operations both in Syria and China. Whilst such a spirit exists, and such competent leaders to guide it, need we apprehend the issue? We cannot do better, in conclusion, than refresh our readers with an anecdote not generally known, and most highly illustrative of the noble emulation and truly generous feeling which actuate our officers in their intercourse with one another. We owe it to our readers, after making them wade through the thoroughly humiliating details of our " 'great plenipotentiary's conduct," to acquaint them more particularly with those who are in future to be freed from his discreditable rule. Amongst the most brilliant feats performed in the operations of last March, was that of the capture on the 18th of that month of a number of forts before Canton, and 123 guns, as well as the destruction of a numerous fleet of war-junks, all accomplished in a single day, by the judicious combinations and arrangements of Captain Herbert of her majesty's ship Calliope. It is not generally known that Sir Gordon Bremer, with his usual watchfulness over all the departments of his duty, had arrived at the scene of action on the night preceding the operations. He was, of course, therefore entitled to assume the command; but finding on examination that Captain Herbert's arrangements were such as he would have himself adopted, and of which he entirely approved, he refused to take the command, lest he might deprive Captain Herbert of an opportunity of distinguishing himself, and with the same self-devotion which afterwards induced him to sacrifice the brilliant opportunities of action for the irksome but useful employment of superintending the raising of reinforcements at Calcutta, he actually retired to a distant ship, and only proceeded to the Modeste about an hour before the action ended the following day. None but a soldier or a sailor can properly appreciate such disinterested generosity; and the best commentary on it is the manner in which he alludes to his absence from the scene of action in his official despatch :-" I endeavoured," he says, "to push forward to the scene of action in the Hyacinth's gig, but only arrived towards its close; in sufficient time, however, to be gratified by the hoisting of the British colours." Thus he took care to keep down the fact of his having been entitled by his presence on the spot the previous evening to have assumed the command, and thus claimed for himself the glory of the victory. Surely with such men to lead British forces, we ought to cherish high hopes; for with such a more than heroic spirit in our navy and army, we might conquer the world! The Late Mr. Fraser. was WE have never written with a heavier heart. One we loved and esteemed, and with whom we have spent many a happy hour, is now numbered with the dead. Many will feel his loss deeply. All who knew him, and few connected with literature were strangers to his hospitality and friendship, will regret his removal as that of one distinguished by every generous and noble characteristic. Mr. Fraser, however, needs not the eulogia of friends,-he lives in many hearts. His fine tact and acute discrimination of literary excellence, his taste and patronage of genius, in whatever garb he found it, raised him to a high place in the esteem of some of the first literati of the age. His judgment was uncommonly masculine; it weighed whatever submitted to it, and required its verdict, coolly and dispassionately; and rarely was the imprimatur he affixed reversed by the opinions or erased by the experience of others. He appreciated the importance of literature not merely as an elegant art, but as endued with great power, and allied to the spirit and influence of Christianity. He believed it to be the daughter of revelation, and he ever rejoiced to see it her handmaid also. Nothing gave him greater satisfaction than to find in our pages a bud taken from the tree of knowledge, and grafted into the tree of life. We well know the high enjoyment he derived from sceing in the Magazine vigorous defences of the claims of Christianity, and of its consecrated herald, the church, to the reverence of the nation, and to the support and patronage of our princes, and cabinets, and parliaments. He was in politics a Tory, in outward communion a Churchman, and in heart a Christian. It may be truly said of him, his professions came short of, never exceeded, the principles he espoused, or the feelings he cherished. His generosity to reduced children of song and of literature is well known. Many a time has he accepted articles of inferior merit and paid the author the usual amount, quietly putting the production in the fire, or classifying it with useless lumber. He did so to help the needy, and at the same time not to offend the too sensitive feelings of unsuccessful authorship. We have said he was a Christian; we say so again; and that too while perfectly aware of the intensity of meaning really condensed into that oft-misapplied term. During the latter weeks of his life, the hidden stream which weeds had too often concealed,—and which sin, peradventure, had tainted,-which the noise of the wheels of this world's career, and the spray that flashes from them, had often overpowered,-gushed forth, refreshing those who ever believed in its reality, satisfying those who felt doubts, and presenting to all who saw it a bright signature and foretoken of coming joy. He has rendered some service to his country, to his kind, to religion, and to truth. If, at any time, from the mixed nature of a literary magazine, allusions were introduced by its writers calculated either to offend good taste, or subvert in the least the high claims of religion and morality, he was the first to interfere. When papers of great power and righteous principle were accepted, he was ever foremost to reward and encourage the writers. As publisher of Fraser's Magazine, he received many a token of substantial approval from the highest dignitaries on the bench and the holiest clergy in their parishes; and at last he closed his eyes most beloved by them that knew him best. He lived, however, to see the symptoms of halcyon days, the foretokens of national progress and prosperity,—a Conservative ministry, an expanding church, bright harbingers of national good. We lament his removal bitterly. We have lost a true man, a dear friend, a right honest and large-hearted companion. But we shall pay the highest tribute to his memory, not by words, but by prosecuting with yet intenser zeal and energy the righteous cause which he loved and which we worked. He needs no marble record- -no monumental brass. His image is engraven on many hearts; and of him it is literally true, As friends, we have much more to say; but we desist. Let strangers speak. We therefore select from the pile of papers now upon our table the following short extracts, embodying the opinions of our publisher's worth entertained by contemporary writers: "The publisher of Fraser's Magazine died on Saturday last, after a protracted illness, brought on, as it is supposed, by the attack of Mr. G. Berkeley. Literature has thus lost an earnest supporter, literary men a generous patron, and a large circle of friends one beloved as a very brother. It is often true that an intimate acquaintance, by unveiling defects of character, weakens the reverence, respect, and esteem first felt. This did not apply to Mr. Fraser. One learned slowly but surely to love him, and they who knew him best loved him most. His fine taste, his ardent attachment to literary pursuits, and his sacrifices in the service he loved, endeared him to the most distinguished literati of the age. His unfeigned faith, humility, and true Christian conduct, exemplified in public life, and yet more richly developed on a death-bed, shewed that the loss of many is indeed the gain of one."Times. warmest, most indefatigable, and con- We "On Saturday this very estimable man paid the great debt of nature, at an early age, when, according to all human probabilities, he had a long career of usefulness and prosperity before him. Mr. Fraser was a successful publisher, and proprietor of the well-known Magazine which goes by his name. From his press issued many works of great merit and popularity; and he was personally the friend and intimate of a number of authors of high talent and genius. In all his dealings with them, and with literary persons in general, he was direct, straightforward, candid, and liberal. It is a rare trait of character, and worthy of remembrance whenever he may be spoken of hereafter, that we never heard a complaint against what he either said or did in the whole of this difficult intercourse. He must have conducted himself with singular integrity and prudence to bave earned this praise. Mr. Fraser's own taste and judgment in literature were also of a superior order. He held peculiar opinions on some subjects; but they interfered not with his punctual discharge of all the real duties of life. In short, he was an individual of great worth; and his premature loss is a subject of extensive and sincere lamentation. He died in Argyll Street, where his afflicted mother resided with him, after a very long consumptive illness, which for many a day left no hope of his recovery and we may conclude by repeating, that a more just and honourable man never descended to the grave.”— Literary Gazette. "Mr. Fraser was descended from a family originally from Inverness. His private letters disclosed his literary taste and enthusiasm, and bore marks of an accomplished and benevolent mind. For some months before his death he was unable to attend to busi. ness, and resided in the country; yet he was alive to every topic connected with literature and the arts. We had a communication from him only a few weeks before his premature death, on the subject of the Shakspeare Society, recently established in London, of which he was a member, and from which he anticipated a vast accession of new information respecting the dramatic career and personal history of the immortal poet. To one distinguished literary man of the day-Thomas Carlyle Mr. Fraser was a kind and generous friend. Though a keen Conservative, his sympathies were bounded by no party considerations; and his family must have the melancholy pleasure of reflecting, that he was respected by men of all opinions, who knew his sterling integrity, and the unosten tatious worth of his character."-Inverness Courier. "Attached to this Number of the Magazine is a painful interest; for scarcely had it been published, when the proprietor, whose name it bears, expired. Of the liberality of this excellent man, the generous patronage which he ever afforded to merit and worth is a proof."—Devonport Telegraph. "The respected and highly talented publisher of this periodical is now no more, having fallen a victim to the brutal treatment he received at the hands of Mr. G. Berkeley. A man more universally beloved amongst his extensive literary acquaintance, or more sincerely esteemed for his literary talents, does not exist; and we must travel very far before we find a man more deservedly esteemed, as the friend and patron of literature, than was the late Mr. Fraser."-Doncaster Chronicle. "We cannot better commence our hurried notice of this excellent Number, than by offering in a few but sincere words our humble tribute to departed worth. Mr. James Fraser is no more. He has sunk under the effects of a ruffianly attack made upon him, as our readers may remember, some few years ago; and in him literature has lost a firm and able supporter, and literary men a liberal patron and a zealous friend."- Worcestershire Guardian. Fraser "Of the Magazines before us, is entitled to the lead; not only for sterling worth and true affection to that mighty constitutional cause to which we also own attachment, but, since the present Number came into our hands, James Fraser, the esteemed and respected publisher, has paid the debt of nature; and to his memory we owe a passing tribute, as a man whose private worth and great businesslike talents contributed in no mean degree to promote the prosperity of a publication which has rendered more effective support, of recent years, to the Conservative cause than any other monthly Magazine in the empire.". Berwick and Kelso Warder. London:-Moyes and Barclay, ('astle Street, Leicester Square. XVI... 652 656 661 XVII.... XVIII.......... THE CONDEMNED CELLS. FROM THE NOTE-BOOK OF THE ORDINARY. CHAPTER X. RECKIVERS OF STOLEN GOODS .... WANTED A CLERK: AN ADVERTISEMENT .............. PARTIES IN THE KIRK. WITH A NOTE TO SIR ROBERT PEEL FROM OLIVER EDITED AND ILLUSTRATED BY SAM'S COUSIN, MICHAEL ANGELO. CHAPTER XI. IN WHICH IT APPEARS THAT A MAN MAY POSSESS A DIAMOND AND YET BE |