Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 60, No. 370, August 1846

In Short

This volume is a bound selection of the August 1846 issue of a prominent Edinburgh-based literary periodical. It acts as a curated miscellany, featuring military reform manifestos, academic anecdotes, travel reflections from Peru, and scathing critiques of contemporary trends like mesmerism and the "Romantic" style of drama. By preserving a cross-section of mid-19th-century discourse, the book captures the tension between the era’s rigid social hierarchies and its burgeoning interest in modern science, global travel, and the evolving role of the British state.

The Story

The volume opens with a sober, technical examination of the British army, arguing that despite a history of martial triumph, England lacks a truly "military nation" temperament. The writer advocates for systemic reform, specifically calling for the abolition of corporal punishment and the introduction of commissions for sergeants, arguing that the current system of officer appointments serves an elite class rather than the efficiency of the force.

This gravity is balanced by the serialized fiction of "My College Friends," which introduces Charles Russell, a gentleman commoner at Oxford whose reserve and refusal to drink wine perplex his peers. These chapters establish a portrait of university life defined by cliquish curiosity and the quiet, often unobserved, movements of young men within the rigid social framework of the college system.

The magazine then shifts to the "Romantic Drama," providing a rigorous literary critique that favors the structured, focused intensity of Greek tragedy over the sprawling, panoramic nature of the modern Romantic play. This is followed by a haunting translation of Uhland’s "The Minstrel’s Curse," a dark ballad about a king who murders a young singer, only to be consumed by the resulting supernatural blight upon his court.

The narrative scope broadens significantly with excerpts from Dr. J.J. von Tschudi’s travels in Peru. These sections move from the geological wonders of the Cordillera—where the author encounters the ancient, snow-capped sources of the Amazon—to the secretive, often tragic relationship the indigenous people maintain with their own mineral-rich land, forever haunted by the memory of Spanish exploitation.

The momentum returns to Europe with a historical account of Maria Theresa, the Queen of Hungary and Bohemia. Her struggle to secure her throne against the forces of Europe, and the personal intrigues surrounding her favorite minister, Kaunitz, provide a dramatic backdrop for an attempted assassination. The tension culminates in a dark scene at a city gate, where an Italian assassin mistakenly kills his own Jewish accomplice instead of his intended target, leaving the intended victim to confront the murderer in a struggle of desperate, fatal consequence.

The volume concludes by turning its critical eye toward the present day. It mocks the rising obsession with mesmerism, characterizing it as a "tissue of unmitigated humbug," and celebrates the practical, disciplined genius of a new cookery manual by M. Soyer, likening the chef’s organizational prowess to that of the Duke of Wellington. It closes with a sharp political post-mortem on Sir Robert Peel’s ministry, lamenting the perceived instability brought about by shifting commercial regulations.

How It Unfolds

The military mandate — The opening essays outline a blueprint for professionalizing the British army, emphasizing the necessity of rewarding veterans with adequate pensions and replacing outdated disciplinary practices with modernized, egalitarian policies.

The Oxford enigma — Through the eyes of college students, the narrative focuses on Charles Russell, whose refusal to participate in the mandatory social rituals of drinking wine highlights the quiet, stubborn individualism present within traditional institutions.

The literary verdict — A critical meditation on the history of drama contrasts the sprawling, unfocused nature of historical epics with the precise, singular impact of a well-wrought play, arguing that true art requires discipline and focus.

The Peruvian odyssey — The scene shifts to the high Andes, where the narrative drifts between scientific observation of geography and the melancholy oral histories of the Peruvian people, who still bear the scars of colonial conquest.

The royal crisis — A dramatic historical recount details the precarious ascent of Maria Theresa, framing her reign as a battle between tradition and opportunism, underscored by a violent, botched assassination attempt on a young nobleman.

The contemporary critique — The final beats satirize the gullibility of the public regarding pseudo-scientific trends like mesmerism, while simultaneously praising the rigorous, orderly application of culinary science as a cornerstone of civilized life.

The People

The figures in these pages represent a spectrum of 19th-century archetypes. Maria Theresa stands as the embattled monarch, whose grace and resilience amidst political betrayal earn the grudging respect of her subjects. Her minister, Prince Kaunitz, is viewed by others as a "silly fop," representing the encroaching influence of German politics in the Austrian court.

Charles Russell is the quintessential outsider at Oxford, a man defined by what he refuses to do—drink wine, brag, or perform for his peers. His mystery serves to highlight the insecurities of those like Savile and Tichborne, whose lives revolve around the approval of their college social circle.

The unnamed Italian assassin and his unfortunate Jewish associate represent the dark, criminal underbelly that stalks the edges of European court politics. Their failure to kill the young noble, Otmar, suggests the chaos and unpredictability of the era's hidden intrigues. Finally, the "Jemadar," a recurring voice in the section on mesmerism, serves as the voice of common sense, cutting through the romanticized "rubbish" of contemporary fads with a healthy dose of skepticism and a preference for the electric telegraph.

In Its Own Voice

The magazine addresses the perceived deficiency in Britain's martial readiness compared to its continental neighbors:

"Our victories have been the result of no especial fitness for the profession of arms, but of dauntless spirit and cool stubborn courage, characterising the inhabitants of the narrow island that breeds very valiant children."

A critic expresses a preference for the focused, singular power of traditional drama over the sprawling nature of modern Romantic works:

"A series of galloping lithographic sketches of Italy, however highly coloured or skilfully drawn, will never paint that lovely peninsula like a single sunset of Claude in the bay of Naples."

The magazine mocks the public’s sudden fascination with the pseudo-science of mesmerism, framing it as a gullible pursuit:

"'Mr Chairman,' said one gentleman, 'I move that it be recorded as the opinion of this meeting, that the late exhibitions of mesmerism, as exhibited in this city, were neither more nor less than a tissue of unmitigated humbug!'"

What It's Really About

At its core, this volume explores the tension between tradition and the urgent desire for "regeneration" in an industrializing world. It asks whether the old methods of governing, fighting, and even cooking are sufficient for an age of railroads and telegraphs. The essays grapple with the difficulty of maintaining social order when popular opinion—whether in the form of "hysterical" mesmerism or political agitation—threatens to destabilize the established institutions. Ultimately, the book is an exercise in discerning what is "real" and "durable" versus what is mere performance, demanding that the reader apply a critical, disciplined eye to the shifting landscape of 1846.

Why Read It Today

Readers who enjoy the texture of historical life—the specific language, the peculiar anxieties, and the intellectual fashions of the Victorian era—will find this a treasure. It offers a rare, unvarnished look at how the 19th-century mind grappled with the world in real-time, long before history had polished these events into simple narratives.

There are challenges: the prose is dense and assumes the reader is well-versed in the political and literary debates of the 1840s, and the casual, often dismissive, treatment of non-European cultures reflects the unquestioned biases of the period. However, for those who value authenticity over accessibility, the experience of reading these pages is like stepping into a crowded, dimly lit club in Edinburgh, where the smell of ink and coal smoke hangs in the air and the conversation is as sharp as it is varied. What lingers is the realization that the people of 1846 were just as frustrated by "humbug" and just as obsessed with the future as we are today. It is a dense, rewarding read that rewards patience with a vivid sense of a world in transition.