A TRUE REFORMER.*
THERE is a great dearth among English novelists of any school which combines the delineation of practical with that sentimental interests. 1Ve call ourselves realists, and no doubt our best novelists do paint character with a singularly realistic touch. Yet after all, character and feeling are but the half of life, while by far the greater portion of most men's time and thought is given up to efforts of a kind which very few novelists attempt to touch. Mr. Trollope, indeed, has made us familiar with the hunting-field, with the inside of money lenders' offices and minds, with the ecclesiastical consultations of Bishops and Archdeacons, with Parlia- mentary negotiations innumerable, and with much of the machinery of the police office, especially the detective department. But he has never done for us what many of the French novelists have done, delineated the practical course of any ambition not closely connected with the more showy parts of life, with love or oratory. Mr. Plantagenet Palliser's attempt to decimalise the coinage is inci- dentally and satirically, not substantively and seriously, introduced into the Euslace Diamonds ; and we cannot recollect any novel, even of Mr. Trollope's, in which the minute masculine ambition to bring about any practical result, such as the building-up of a fortune, or,—as in the case of the present novel,—the reform of an Army policy, is made a leading component of the work. Yet genuine realism ought to be able to in- terest the public on some at least of those subjects on which the strongest men spend if not their most passionate, by far their most resolute and tenacious efforts ; and in the author of A True Reformer we think we find a really able novelist, —a novelist with both skill and humour,—who really has an eye for that department of life which consumes by far the greatest amount of masculine effort and energy. It is true that the com- plete outline and details of his Army Reform scheme do not admit of being popularised, and that consequently ninety-nine out of every hundred readers, excepting Army reformers and soldiers, will skip all the chapters which deal with the technical part of the sub- ject. But the popular element in the treatment of the question is so lively, the account of the break-up and reconstruction of Govern- ments in connection with it is so full of vivacity and humour, the dis- cussions between the Prime Minister and the Army Reformer are marked by such delicate touches, indeed all the semi-political, semi- military, semi-social parts of the novel, with its Autumn Manoeuvres in Yewcestershire, and its military discussions in the War Office, are so amusing, that had the writer not taken up so very technical a subject, but rather one in which it would have been possible to carry the general reader's interest even into the detail of the practical matters canvassed ; had he had a campaign to describe, or the founding of a newspaper, or even the course of a great railway mania to depict, we believe he might have thoroughly succeeded, almost for the first time, in writing a first-rate English novel, of which half the interest would consist of the actual business of men's lives, and not merely of the interests which arise out of love and the more picturesque forms of ambition.
As it is, we cannot say that we think the technical part of the story, sound as it is in its general view and judgment, is assimilated into the substance of the novel. The nature of the subject is too little intelligible to people in general to make the hero's plans an organic part of the reader's interest. When we get to statistical tables of the Army's Peace establishment and War establishment, only an expert will study them, The reader is delighted with the general political colouring, nay, with the specific sketches of the personnel of the military administration ; but it would be almost as possible to work a currency theory into the chief interest of a novel, as a purely administrative reform of this character. All that man can do in this way, the writer has done. The outlying and. more popular aspects of the subject, the Parliamentary and official straggles and jealousies, are admirably drawn ; and the hero's char- acter, not an agreeable one, is painted with real force and steady consistency. Indeed, it is just the kind of character which would be • 4 2'rue lieformer, a vols. London and Edinburgh: Blackwood.
best adapted to carry through a reform of this kind. His impenetr- able reserve, his egotism, his self-sufficiency, his pertinacity, MS cold impetuousness, are all qualities suitable to a man with Army reform on the brain, who practically sacrifices his wife to his idea.
One of the best parts of the book is the opening in India. The accounts of the life at Sirmoori, of Mr. and Mrs. Bar- ton, the hero's father and mother-in-law, of the lazy general habits and energetic racket-playing of the former, and the fussy good-nature of the latter, of the sisters and brothers-in-law, of the wedding, the dust-storm on the way down to the railway, and of the awful three days' railway journey to Bombay in the hot weather, are all told with great humour and force, and nothing can be better than Captain West's negotiations after he arrives in London for getting into Parliament. But the beat talent of the book is shown is the description of the fictitious political crisis,—a crisis invented for the purpose of bringing Mr. West into office as the new War Secretary. Von Ueberlisten's (Bismarck's) threat against England, and its result in the formation of a Ministry in. which Mr. Merrifield (Mr. Gladstone), and Mr. Braham (Mr. Disraeli) unite, under the Duke of Ulster (? the Duke of Argyll), to. make a Government which the Tory leader denies in any sense ta be a coalition Government,—much more, he says, is it one of "con- stitutional coalescence,"—is a very happy effort of political humour and satire. Only politicians, however, will fully appreciate many. of the strokes. The letter in which Mr. Merrifield offers the War Office to Mr. West implies really a very fiim study of Mr. Glad- stone's character, and has but the slightest touch of irony in it. In the banter of the newspapers, with one exception perhaps, the author is less skilful 9r less careful. The " Dial" and the "Round World," are not touched off with any effect, and it is- hardly worth while satirising the Press at all, unless at least as much sting is put into the picture as there is in that of the semi-metaphysical, semi-epigrammatic Overseer. We must give as a specimen of the clever political irony of the story, the passage in which the Great United Government, under the Duke of Ulster, makes its first appearance in the House of Commons The elections and the adjournment came to an end together, and: Ministers were able to take their seats on the first afternoon when the. House reassembled. I was not there in time myself to see the earlier proceedings, which I afterwards heard were of an interesting sort. For there was a little natural awkwardness about the first start, especially as the House was very full, and every one eagerly watching the pro- ceedings. Mr. Sinnick, indeed, who was the first Minister to come in, took his seat on the Treasury bench without embarrassment, smiling to himself as if occupied with droll thoughts; but when Mr. Braham entered the House on the left of the chair, and made as if for his accus- tomed place, there was a momentary hash in the murmur of conversa- tion, followed by a titter, which in turn was succeeded by a gratifying cheer, as the new Foreign Secretary, discovering his mistake, crossed over to the other side and sat down, bareheaded and with folded arms, a couple of feet below Mr. Sinnick. There were still louder cheers when Mr. Merrifield came in, and passed quickly to the Treasury bench, nod- ding to his friends, as they made way for him to pass between their legs and tho table. The bench was now pretty full, only one or two gaps appearing here and there, and the leader of the House looked at them for a moment as if doubtful which to occupy ; but the hesitation was only momentary, and amid still louder cheers he plumped down between Mr. Braham and Mr. Sinnick, a sort of practical inauguration of the Great United Administration. Great, indeed ; never had the Treasury bench been so full before, especially as very few of us could be called thin men; two or three of the under-secretaries had no seats at all, but stood at the end, almost hid from observation by the Speaker's chair. And the Treasury bench was as nothing to the right of the House. There was literally no room for the supporters of the Government, whose crowded state was rendered more striking from contrast with the other side, especially the empty condition of the front Opposition bench. No Opposition at all, in fact, to speak of ; for Mr. Perkyman and others, although not joining our party, promise a general support during the European crisis—a magnanimous resolution typified by appearance of Perkyman and others on the fourth row of Opposition benches. No Opposition, therefore, to speak of; momentary abolition of party government, in truth, and Opposition and Treasury lions and lambs all lying down together, a truly edifying spectacle, and one never- witnessed in Parliament before or since Nothing could be more triumphant than our debut. No man so quick as our leader- to catch the tone of national feeling, no man so able to give it clear expression ; and as Mr. Merrifield, describing the formation of the Government, touched delicately, but with feeling, on the sacri- fice made by our noble Premier in surrendering the elevating pur- suits for which a life of leisure were all too short, and which should bring the undying fame not to be gained by any political success [this a graceful allusion to the great work unfinished—The Calculus of the Unthinkable], had come forward at the call of duty to furnish the con- necting link which should bind the two parties in one firm bend; as the orator, too, pictured in animated language the attitude of the coun- try, opposing a united front to oppression and craft abroad, however and whenever manifested, and the determination of all Englishmen in this crisis to stand unanimous by each other ; and as be went on to state how the members of the new Government had been foremost iii setting an example of magnanimity and self-sacrifice to their fellow- citizens, almost, in fact, doing violence to their feelings by accepting office ; then we occupants of the Treasury bench began to feel what true patriots we were, while the House by its acclamations gave a foretaste of the enthusiasm to be exhibited by the world out of doors. But the most telling point in our leader's speech occurred, quite accidentally, in his statement that the best guarantee for England exhibiting a dignified and honourable policy, was afforded by the fact that the management of her foreign affairs would be guided by the ripe judgment of the right honourable gentle—' I mean,' said Mr. Merrifield, correcting himself, 'my right honourable friend,' turning as he spoke and looking down upon the head of Mr. Braham, who was next to him on the bench ; whereat the statesman referred to, who was sitting sphinx-like and motionless, with his arms folded and head slightly bent down, responded by a slight bow, and at this graceful exchange of courtesies the cheers were taken up and repeated on all sides. Slight signs of opposition indeed were not wanting, for as soon as Mr. Merrifield sat down, Mr. Rigby Sebright—fast rising to be a minor power in the House—got up, and in a long set speech denounced us as an unrighteous coalition ; an insinuation, however, which Mr. Braham was considered to dispose of effectually in his famous reply. Not a coalition in any sense, said Mr. Braham; rather a constitutional coalescence—a famous term, much bandied about afterwards, and since handed down to history. Mr. Bra- ham went on to justify our course by appropriate historical illustrations Did not the Romans, patricians and plebeians, sink their smaller politi- cal differences in face of the invading Gauls Did not the Greek republics, notwithstanding their normal hostility to each other, combine with success against the Great King? The Barons, again, gave up their customary state of quarrelling to combine against King John. Lastly, where could be found a more appropriate illustration than in the Crusades, where all the leaders of chivalry, abandoning their usual diversion of knocking each other on the head (here the speaker could not resist a glance downwards at the head of his new colleague close by his own elbow), combined with more or less harmony against the newly- discovered foe ? How much more, then, was it in accordance with principles of modern politics to combine against the dangers which now threatened the State ? He denied, then, that this was a case of a coali- tion Government, rightly so called ; it was rather what he had termed it, a constitutional coalescence."
The ability of the book is by no means wholly on what may be called its masculine side. The picture of Eva's misunderstandings with her very moody and self-involved husband up to her illness and death (which closes the book), has plenty of pathos, and pathos of that reticent kind which one values most ; indeed it would have taken but little more to make the picture of Eva's aunts, the Miss Bartons, and especially the devotion of the capable aunt to her incapable sister, one of great beauty. The author however, is, we suspect, a little nervous, or a little ashamed, when he comes to draw upon the deeper feelings ; he prefers to keep in the region where you are half uncertain how much of what he says is persiflage and how much is serious. The picture of Mr. West's cold self-reproaches when he is unjust to his wife, and of his pain when, even after her death, he is fully aware that he is not inconsolable, is done with a good deal of real power, but wants just a deeper note or two to bring fully out the power it really implies. The literary force of the book is too much limited upon this side by the half-mocking self-consciousness of..the man of the world. The story gives us the impression of an imagination that hardly dares to trust itself outside the region of conventional life, that shrinks from the brink of the life which runs beneath it. That will never do, if the author really wishes to make his mark in Literature. Reticence is a great quality while it is recognisable as reticence, i.e., as simply restraining the ex- pression of what is too deep or too delicate for complete expres- sion; but when, as seems to us often the case in these volumes, it appears to spring from a sort of ntauvaise honte that dreads encounter with the deeper sentiments and passions, it is fatal to the kind of success which we judge to be quite within the reach of this able author. The episode about Annette and the account of poor Eva's death are both so good, that it is a great pity the anonymous author should not trust himself to combine with that kind of realism which shows the fascination of great practical enterprises for almost every capable man's ambition, that kind also which enters into the secrets of the heart and de- picts its most genuine struggles. A True Reformer is full of skill, humour, and promise ; but certainly does not gauge the full power of which it gives us clear indications.
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