BLACKWOOD'S
EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.
No. CCCCXXXIV. DECEMBER, 1851. Vol. LXX.
CONTENTS.
| To the Shopkeepers of Great Britain, | 629 |
| The Jew's Legacy. A Tale of the Siege of Gibraltar, | 648 |
| Life Amongst the Loggers, | 669 |
| My Novel; or, Varieties in English Life. Part XVI., | 681 |
| Johnston's Notes on North America, | 699 |
| The Ansayrii, | 719 |
| The Champions of the Rail, | 739 |
| Index, | 751 |
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SOLD BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.
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PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH.
BLACKWOOD'S
EDINBURGH MAGAZINE.
No. CCCCXXXIV. DECEMBER, 1851. Vol. LXX.
TO THE SHOPKEEPERS OF GREAT BRITAIN.
Gentlemen,—As it is customaryfor most men about this season of theyear, when accounts are balanced andsquared, to take a serious survey ofthe posture of their affairs, and toexamine into their business prospects,perhaps you may not consider a fewobservations, touching the welfareand position of that important classof the community to which you belong,either impertinent or ill-timed.You are aware that, for the last yearor two, Her Majesty's Ministers havebeen in the habit of opening Parliamentwith a congratulatory assuranceof the continued, and even augmented,prosperity of the country. Thereason why such statements weremade, altogether irrespective of theirtruth or falsehood, is obvious enough.In a political point of view, theywere necessary for the vindication ofthe measures which Governmenteither originated or adopted. To haveadmitted that the country was notprospering under the new commercialsystem, would have been consideredby the public as tantamount to anacknowledgment that the policy whichdictated those measures was vicious;and that the Whig ministry, if notdeficient in duty, had at least erredsorely in judgment. In private life,we rarely meet with that degree ofcandour which amounts to an unequivocaladmission of error in point ofju