Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 74, No. 455, September, 1853 by Various
"Blackwood''s Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 74, No. 455, September, 1853" by Various is a literary and political periodical written in the mid-19th century. This issue blends historical and economic analysis, cultural criticism, and serialized fiction, with pieces ranging from Scottish constitutional and fiscal grievances to foreign views of England, alongside Shakespearean notes, a continuing domestic novel, poetry, and religious reflection. The opening of the issue presents a long essay, “Scotland Since the Union,”
which praises historian John Hill Burton’s fairness yet faults his handling of Highland character, then argues that Scotland entered the Union as an equal but was later injured by English commercial restrictions, centralizing administration, and neglect. It recounts the path from the Revolution and Darien scheme through the Act of Security to the 1707 treaty, then details post-Union mismanagement—customs and excise enforcement by outsiders, diversion of Crown revenues (with Holyrood left to decay), underfunded universities and public institutions, and inequities in policing and infrastructure—before urging remedies: a Scottish Secretary of State, stronger representation, and faithful observance of the treaty’s spirit. The issue then turns to “Foreign Estimates of England,” reviewing Max Schlesinger’s lively portraits of London and Parliament staged as dialogues between a steadfast English host, a grumbling Austrian exile, and a Paris-fixated Frenchman; it highlights English ceremonial continuity, contrasts it with continental revolutions, and sketches figures like Lord Palmerston with wry approval before the extract breaks off mid-anecdote. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
Richard Tonsing, Jonathan Ingram, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive)
