Produced by Brendan OConnor, Alan, Jonathan Ingram and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Library of Early Journals.) BLACKWOOD'S Edinburgh MAGAZINE. VOL. LXIII. JANUARY--JUNE, 1848. [Illustration] WILLIAM BLACKWOOD & SONS, EDINBURGH; AND 37, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON. 1848. BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. NO. CCCLXXXVII. JANUARY, 1848. VOL. LXIII. CONTENTS. THIRTY YEARS OF LIBERAL LEGISLATION, 1 SOMETHING LIKE A COUNTRY-HOUSE, 28 EVENINGS AT SEA.--NO. III., THE SURGEON, 33 FLÉCHIER'S CHRONICLE OF CLERMONT ASSIZES, 47 DON JOHN OF AUSTRIA, 70 A NIGHT'S PERIL, 83 SWITZERLAND AND ITALY, 98 THE PERIODICAL LITERATURE OF AMERICA, 106 IRELAND AND THE MINISTERIAL MEASURES, 113 NOTE.--BLACKWOOD AND COPYRIGHT IN AMERICA. 127 EDINBURGH: WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, 45, GEORGE STREET; AND 37, PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON. _To whom all Communications (post paid) must be addressed._ SOLD BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH. BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. NO. CCCLXXXVII. JANUARY, 1848. VOL. LXIII. THIRTY YEARS OF LIBERAL LEGISLATION. "EXPERIENCE," says Dr Johnson, "is the great test of truth, and is perpetually contradicting the theories of men." "If an empire," said Napoleon, "were made of granite, it would soon be reduced to powder by political economists." Never was there a period when the truths stated by these master minds were so clearly and strikingly illustrated as the present; never was there an epoch when the necessity was so fearfully evinced of casting off the speculative dogmas of former times, and shaping our course by the broad light which experience has thrown on human transactions. If this is done, if wisdom is learnt by experience, and error expelled by suffering, it is yet possible to remedy the evils; though not before a frightful and _yet unfelt_ amount of misery has been encountered by the people.