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THE LATE DOCTOR CUMMIN.

MANY of the readers of the Dublin University Magazine will learn with deep regret that Doctor Cummin, who received his medical education in Dublin, and has since been steadily advancing to eminence in London, died in the prime of life, on the 10th of April. We find the following notice of his death in the London Morning Post of the 12th of April :

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"DEATH OF DR. CUMMIN.-We regret to announce the death of Doctor William Cummin, of Great Russell-street, which event took place on Monday evening. He was for some years connected with the medical literature of the metropolis, and especially with the London Medical Gazette, in which his course of lectures on forensic medicine, delivered at the Aldersgate School of Medicine, recently appeared. He was of studious and retired habits, but his singularly blameless life, his spotless integrity, his uniform correctness, his literary accomplishments, his worth and modesty, greatly endeared him to the circle of his private friends, who have now to lament his premature decease. Dr. Cummin was M.D. of Dublin University, and a Member of the Royal College of Physicians. He was also a Fellow of the Royal MedicoChirurgical Society, and of the Statistical Society, and Lecturer on Forensic Medicine at the Aldersgate School. Besides the lectures above adverted to, he had published, with his name, a tract on the "Proofs of Infanticide;" but his labours had been chiefly directed to medical periodical literature, an anonymous service, which is not the less useful or honourable, because it confers no individual renown; neither was it on that account to a man of Doctor Cummin's modesty the less agreeable.— Living, he won the warm esteem of all who intimately knew him—and dead, he has the tribute of their heart-felt sorrow."

Doctor Cummin was, during his college course, a pupil of Doctor MacDonnell, and highly distinguished himself. He sat for the science gold medal, which was gained by Doctor Longfield, the present Professor of Law. It is no evidence of demerit, that with such a competitor, Doctor Cummin should not have succeeded-his subsequent career gave witness of his strong capacity, his unwearied diligence, and his extraordinary correctness. He was, in the best and highest sense of the words, a quiet, an honourable, and an amiable man; and, as such, a credit to the country which gave him birth, and to the University in which he received his education. His death was caused by an effusion of water on the brain.

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ARE we at peace or at war? This is the question which every one asks of his neighbour, when his attention is turned to the contest at present going on in Spain. We profess not to interfere in that contest. Our relation with the Spanish government is one of amity; and we desire to have it understood, that, under no circumstances, except such as might threaten our safety as a nation, are we disposed to take any active part in either promoting or resisting those internal changes in other countries, which may be prompted by the wants or the wishes of the people. Let other nations manage their affairs as best it liketh them; we will not meddle with them as long as they do not meddle with us. This would seem to be the maxim by which we are, in theory, guided ;— while yet, we have entered into a treaty which binds us to give aid, in arms and ammunition, to one of the parties at present disputing the succession to the crown of Spain; and, without any treaty, have relaxed the foreign enlistment law, for the purpose of permitting a body of troops to be raised, by whose presence upon Spanish ground, the contest may yet be decided. Under these conflicting appearances, of warlike acts and peaceful professions, what are the public to think? That we are at war? That is denied by the organs of the government, who maintain that Great Britain reposes, at present, in the profoundest peace. That we are at peace? That is contradicted by the presence of our troops upon the soil of VOL. IX.

Spain; and, by that eager interest which we have evinced in the contest of the rival candidates; which has caused us to expend half a million, at least, in promoting the success of the party which has been deemed worthy of Whig-Radical cooperation.

Never was our position more anomalous, we had almost said, more disgraceful. We have neither the wisdom nor the honesty to hold ourselves aloof from this sanguinary civil broil, nor the manliness to proclaim ourselves openly, the propagandists of revolution. We emulate the conduct, while we fain would eschew the character of firebrands; and expect, forsooth, that Europe will take no note of the lesson which we are labouring to teach her or, that circumstances can never arise which might render the application of it fatal to ourselves. Alas! never was political folly more profligate, more dangerous, or more short-sighted!

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We do believe that the people of England are beginning to be alive to this. The late parliamentary discussion upon the subject, must have greatly helped to open their eyes to the mispolicy and the disgrace of the course that has been pursued. Never was a subject better handled by the Conservatives, or one upon which the Whigs and Radicals appeared to more miserable disadvantage. Argument, they literally had none; and the topic of declamation which was adopted by one, for the purpose of getting out of one species of difficulty, was knocked to pieces by another of the same faction, who found it necessary to take a different

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line, for the purpose of accomplishing another object. In short, the defence of our disastrous intervention was chaIractered like the intervention itself. It aimed at one thing, and proved another. The cause of liberty all over the world was its theme. The coercing of an almost unanimous people into the adoption of a system of government which they detest, was its object.

shall see.

But, perhaps there is a cause for this, by which, strange as it may appear, our conduct is justified. We In 1833 Ferdinand the Seventh died, leaving issue one daughter. By the Spanish law, the crown must, of necessity, have devolved upon his brother, Don Carlos; but, before the death of the old king, the young queen, who was his fourth wife, contrived so to manage matters, that, if the arrangements then made were suffered to take effect, the prince must be set aside, and her daughter substituted in his room, in defiance of a law regulating the succession, which had been in force for more than one hundred years, and under the guarantee of all the great powers of Europe. The manner in which this notable affair was managed, was as follows:-It was pretended that Charles the Fifth, in 1789, had altered the law of succession, upon the petition of the Cortes; which alteration had been kept a profound secret for forty years, until it was now found convenient to bring it to light, and, without reference to any other authority than the will of the reigning monarch, to publish it "for perpetual observance.”

Now, into the pros and cons of the question of succession, as between Don Carlos and the present de facto queen, we do not enter. It appears to us that it is a matter which peculiarly concerns the Spanish people, and them alone. But, we ask any reasonable man, was there not, at least, room for some doubt on the part of the prince and his friends, as to whether they were bound to abide by the above arrangement? Was this extraordinary defeasance of his title to the crown of Spain, a matter so clear from all suspion of court intrigue, as to command universal respect and obedience? And might not numbers of the proud and jealous people of that country, without any imputation of unreasonable recusancy, have their suspicions that all was not fair, and that the whole contrivance deserved no better name than a

plot to deprive the prince of his rights, and to swindle the people out of their constitution? Was there any thing in the moderate views, and the immaculate character of the queen mother, which forbad surmises such as these? And, did the composition of the court during the dotage of Ferdinand, afford no colour to the suspicion, that a system of disgraceful trickery and fraud had been practised by those about him, for the accomplishment of selfish personal objects? Upon these questions we pronounce no opinion. But, we gravely put it to our readers to say, whether two opinions might not fairly be entertained; and whether, if the queen regent and her partizans felt it their interest, and their duty, to give to them one answer, Don Carlos and his adherents might not be equally justified in giving them another?

It has so happened that the prince has not acquiesced in that decision which the queen regent hoped to be final and irrevocable, and neither have a large proportion, probably a considerable majority, of the Spanish people. They have appealed to arms for the defence of what they consider their right. And, we put it to our readers to say, whether there ever was a question, as between a people and their rulers, which it so exclusively belonged to themselves to decide, and for any active interference in which, either on the one side or the other, on the part of any foreign power, so little pretext has been afforded ? Never. As well might a foreign power interfere in England, during the struggle of parties which took place when the reform bill was under discussion! As well might they interfere at the present moment, during the struggle that is going on respecting the expediency of giving municipal corporations to Ireland! The Spanish was a domestic question, in the strictest sense of the word. It was a question, which, to be satisfactorily decided, must be decided by the people themselves; and any interference which, however well intended, would have the effect of giving an undue weight to either party, must be most disastrous in its effects, both to that nation in particular, and to Europe in general, by substituting foreign compulsion, for the national will, and thus causing either a bad system to be endured, or a good system to be abhorred; and, by legitimatizing the practice of intermeddling in the domestic concerns of other states, by which the

soundest principles of international policy must be subverted.

Nor were there any persons who cried out more loudly against any such departure from sound views of the rights of other nations, than the Whigs. It constituted, during the revolutionary war, the thunder of all Mr. Fox's declamation. What! that distinguished orator said, go to war with the French because they have revolutionized their government, and beheaded their king? What right have we to interfere in such matters? Is not every nation the best judges of its own affairs? Have not we ourselves, at one period, done the very things which we now find fault with in our neighbours? Such conduct, on our part, is equally unjust and impolitic. It arrogates an authority which we do not possess, and establishes a precedent which may embroil Europe in interminable war, and lead, in the end, to the overthrow of our constitution. Nor was the reply to this strong language one that, in the slightest degree, contravened the principle for which Mr. Fox contended. It was simply maintained that he misrepresented the grounds of the war-that the French were the first aggressors that they, by their open encouragement of domestic traitors, and by their avowed determination to be aiding and assisting in bringing about, in other countries, changes such as those which had taken place in their own, made war upon us before we declared war against them; and that, although the restoration of the Bourbons might be an event exceedingly desirable, as furnishing the securest basis for a lasting amicable arrangement between the countries, yet, that it would be by no means insisted on as a “sine qua non ;" and that, on the part of England, the contest would not be continued a single hour longer than was necessary for self-defence, against the revolutionary mania which was then epidemic, and by which her exist ence as a constitutional monarchy, was endangered. Thus, it was contended for on one side, and admitted on the other, that, with the mere internal arrangements of the French government, we had no right to interfere; that they were themselves the best judges of the form of government under which they would be most likely to enjoy security and happiness; and that the war in which we were engaged was only justifiable upon the principle of selfpreservation. How comes it then

that these wise maxims are now to be contravened? How comes it that what was denounced as flagitious in the case of France, when, in her audacious jacobinism, she presumed to send emissaries for the purpose of disturbing our internal repose, is lauded as righteous and liberal in the case of Spain, which has never entertained the thought of meddling in the affairs of her neighbours? We cannot, we confess it with sorrow, see any explanation of this matter, which does not cover us with national disgrace; although we can, no doubt, see that there is a perfect consistency between the aims, at least, if not the principles of the opposers of interference in the one case, and the promoters of it in the other. In the case of revolutionary France, by denouncing it, jacobinism was served. Interference was distasteful to the anarchists, because it had for its object the establishment of social order. In the present contest in Spain, by lauding it, the same end is answered; as the interference which we have patronized is in favour of the anarchists;

its tendency being to substitute for a hoary despotism, the wildest democracy that ever, even for a brief season, obtained the authority of legitimate government in Europe; and that, in direct contradiction to the wishes of a majority of the Spanish people! It is thus that his modern successors justify the declamation of Fox! Such is the nature of their scrupulosity in interfering in the domestic concerns of other nations! When, by maintaining the principles of non-intervention, the revolutionary spirit may be aided, they will maintain them, even though our own existence as a nation should be the sacrifice! When, by acting upon opposite principles, in defiance of all their previous declarations, the same spirit may be made to prevail, they will act upon them, in opposition to the national interest, and at the risque of lighting up a war in Europe! Oh! most consistent Whigs !-consistent, at least in fraud and falsehood! If they be asked, why they opposed the French war, they may answer, because the cause of revolution was thereby disserved. If they be asked, why they now encourage British subjects to become parties in the contest that is raging in Spain, they may answer, because revolution may be thereby promoted; thus masking themselves by principle to support revolution in the one case, and boidly flinging the mask

aside, when, by its abandonment, a similar end may be effected in the other ! But, we have not time to dwell upon this characteristic treachery, this consistent tergiversation, as it deserves; and, by leaving it to the unqualified admiration of the self-styled friends to "the cause of liberty all over the world," we do as much as perhaps could be done in a single sentence, to consign it to the reprobation of all honest men, and to write, at the same time, its character, its epitaph, and its condemnation.

We must, of necessity, pass over the important considerations which present themselves, as arising from the very novel attitude in which we have, of late years, thought fit to exhibit ourselves in the affairs of Europe. We cannot now dwell upon the light in which we must be regarded by foreign powers, by whom, as long as British feeling prevailed in the British cabinet, England had been so greatly respected. We cannot now afford time, to point out the danger which we have incurred by sanctioning, as towards ourselves, the very same line of conduct which we have adopted towards others. These are matters which the peculiar complexion of the times, the state of parties, and the condition of Ireland, must afford us frequent opportunities of bringing, at future periods, under the consideration of our readers; and we shall confine ourselves, on the present occasion, to the discussion which took place upon Sir Henry Hardinge's motion respecting our interference in the affairs of Spain, as it furnishes the British public the fullest and the fairest criterion which, perhaps, any one subject could afford, for judging of the wisdom and the honesty of the Whig-Radical administration.

To our minds nothing could be more perfect than the manner in which the gallant officer introduced the consideration of the important question, which had been confided, by the Conservatives, to his ability and discretion. He did not advert to a single topic which did not bear immediately upon the matter in hand, or indulge in a single sentiment or reflection which could have the effect of drawing the attention of the house from the pressing necessity of the measure which he recommended, or of furnishing his opponents with any excuse for mystifying the subject by any irrelevant declamation. He was clear, calm, forci

ble and decided; and evinced a tenderness and a consideration for General Evans and his unfortunate companions in arms, after their recent disastrous defeat, which, we doubt not, was, to the advocates of the Palmerstonian policy, almost as mortifying as it was unexpected. Those to whom wisdom and justice are unpalatable, will only be the more enraged when these indispensible qualities of a righteous policy are recommended by an advocate whose authority is enhanced by his generosity and his moderation.

The quadripartite treaty is a treaty formed by the four powers of France, England, Portugal and Spain, the principal objects of which were, the establishment of the present queen upon the throne of Portugal, and the expulsion of Don Carlos from that kingdom, in which he had been well received by Don Miguel, and where his presence seemed to threaten the government of the adjoining kingdom, to the crown of which he had laid claim, with not a little danger. The treaty was formed when the reform mania was at its height in England, and when Louis Phillipe was still in his revolutionary swaddling clothes; and it might be considered, on the part of those who entered into it, a kind of plighting their troth, either to other, not only for the security of the changes in government that had been already made, but as a demonstration of union and power, by which the new state of things might be protected, by anticipation, against foreign or domestic enemies.

This treaty, when Sir Robert Peel and the Duke of Wellington were last called to the councils of their sovereign, they found in force; and although it was one which they would not themselves have advised, had they been consulted at its original formation, when the faith of England was pledged by it, they did not hesitate one moment about fulfilling, both in spirit and to the letter, its obligations. Arms were liberally furnished to the Queen of Spain, and all those friendly demonstrations of interest in her cause were exhibited, which became a power with whom she was in friendly alliance, and to whom, as her title was recognised as legitimate, her successes against the pretender must be a source of pleasure and gratulation. Further than this, the then government felt themselves uncalled upon to interfere in that contest. They never contem

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