the motives of the volunteer witness unexceptionable, such letters are nihili-pili authorities, as affecting the general question. There may be, we trust there are,-some isolated spots, where the prosperity that once diffused happiness and content over every sunny hill and fertile vale in merry England,-which enlivened with a joyous sound the busy hum of the men who ply their trades in populous places,-which darted a cheerful gleam through the dull clouds that ever hang over crowded cities,-still lingers, loath to quit a land so long endowed with every blessing that could delight, with every virtue that could ennoble, the human race. In those accursed deserts, whose soil is as iron, and whose sky as brass, there yet exist plots of luxuriant vegetation, whereon the eye of the wearied wanderer may rest with delight, enjoying their pleasant aspect the more, from the contrast with the torrid desolation which marks the surrounding waste. Yet the region is desert,-it is branded with the name of desert; and the traveller who should venture to describe it with more attractive attributes, would learn, from the unqualified contradiction of a thousand witnesses, that he had transgressed the traveller's privilege.

On the 25th of February, Lord Stanhope brought before the House of Lords his motion, that the whole House should form itself into a committee, to enquire into the internal state of the country. The clear and argumentative statement with which he proved the necessity and expediency of the measure which he proposed, well deserved the attention with which it was received. Lord Goderich was one of the chief opponents, and stood in the front of the battle. Verily, to look upon him, and to hear him, and then to reflect that he had held an office of dignity and responsibility in this country, might well cause an Englishman to blush. Unabashed by the signal failure of his predictions in 1825, the ci-devant Chancellor of the Exchequer once more raised his head, and prophesied smooth things. Whether, after the gentle castigation and exposure bestowed by Lord Radnor, he will venture again to lift up his head among his peers with equal confidence, would appear doubtful. Lord Rad

nor read also to the Duke of Wellington a lesson more severe than the Prime Minister has been accustomed to receive. The venerable Earl of Eldon made his first appearance for the Session; and it was satisfactory to find, in the acute logic of his reasoning, and the caustic vigour of his speech generally, the most conclusive evidence of his perfect enjoyment of the "mens sana in corpore sano." The Duke of Richmond supported, with his customary talent, the cause of his country. Of the answer which the Duke of Wellington gave to his opponents, it would not be necessary to speak, had not attempts been made to pay him undeserved compliments, on account of the details which he introduced in his speech on this occasion. That the speech was not of that character which might have been expected, even from the present Premier, on an occasion of so much importance, is admitted even by the supporters of the present administration. It might be considered desirable, on the score of propriety, that some arguments of a conclusive nature should be adduced, to defend the refusal of an enquiry into the state of the country, when that state is admitted to be alarming. It is well known, that the tables and details with which Ministerial orators are so amply furnished forth, are diligently concocted and hunted out by the clerks of the Treasury, or other public offices; this being, in fact, their chief occupation for two or three days prior to the time fixed for a discussion, on which it is probable these details may be beneficially employed. And it has been a common remark, that it would be well if the persons who have to make use of these materials would employ as much diligence in attaining a perfect acquaintance with the documents placed in their hands, as has been bestowed on the task of collection. It would be an unprofitable appropriation of valuable space to describe the pompous inanity of the Marquis of Lansdowne, who, having devoted the chief of his leisure, and his faculties, to the task of acquiring the manner and phraseology of an orator, has neglected to provide any portion of sound substantial matter whereof to form a foundation for his

laboured superstructure. Lord King, too, whose jokes savour of the lamp, and whose graver effusions burst out with all the freshness and unpremeditated simplicity of impromptus, requires but little comment.

The inducement to enter into any more detailed examination of the proceedings of either House of Parliament, is indeed small. Subjects comparatively trifling have been overlaid with ponderous debates, while matters of really serious importanceand, at the present moment, the state of the country is all-important-are lightly treated, and hastily dismissed. Committees of Enquiry are granted and proposed by Ministers on the East India Question, the Licensing System, the Game Laws, while the one great question, which requires the exertion of all, and, as Mr O'Connell would say, more than all, the energy and ability of every Member of the present Parliament, the Condition of the People, is utterly neglected. Ministers have indeed to answer for more than neglect,-for the endeavour to check enquiry, and stifle investigation. Were we the ardent advocates of reform, we should assume for our motto the sentence placed as an epigraph to these observations, we should place ourselves under the banner of the great advocate of all temperate and judicious improvement, and, taking his description of what a House of Commons ought not to be, and to do, leave it to public opinion to say, how far that description did, or did not, apply to the proceedings of Parliament as at present constituted. The expressions employed by Mr Burke, "an addressing House of Commons, and a petitioning nation," "a House of Commons full of confidence, when the nation is plunged in despair," might seem capable of an application to recent occurrences, so accurate, as almost to entitle them to be considered as prophetic. There are, however, men, of powerful intellect and disinterested patriotism, who exert their energies in their country's cause, but they speak to an unwilling audience. What influence the stream of events will exercise on the

tide of parliamentary feeling, remains to be seen.

Sir James Graham described in the following manner the formation of the present administration.*

"If the fundholder, the political economist, the annuitant, the lawyer, are to rally under the banners of the Wellington Administration, the time is come, when, on the part of the tax-payers, it is necessary to form another party. The Duke of Wellington's administration is said to be founded on the dissolution of party feeling; it is intimated that the noble Duke possesses a receipt for the dispersion of party, and the blending of men of all sides and opinions. For instance there is Lord Rosslyn from one party, Lord Privy Seal; and the other day the bait was offered to a noble Lord, the Member for Buckinghamshire, who is from another; we have an Attorney General from the old Opposition; and another Hon. Gentleman from the ranks of the Danai, was lately appointed to a high judicial office in Scotland. Then dropping out among the freetraders, the noble Duke picks out a tame elephant for the Board of Control."

"It would seem as if the noble Duke possessed a crucible, whereby all parties are to be fused down in one mass, for the exclusive benefit of the great alchymist who blows the coals."*

Certain Members of Parliament have been loud in their eulogies of this system. They talk, in sounding language, of the advantage of selecting, with impartiality, men from either side of the House, to conduct the affairs of the State. They inculcate, with much earnestness, the propriety of the abolition of all factious party spirit from Parliamentary discussions. Whatever other charms these arguments and recommendations may possess, novelty, at least, is not one of their characteristic graces. However skilful the orators of this school may esteem themselves in the art of renovation, they cannot disguise the stale cant which was formerly stigmatized as, a sort of charm, by which many people get

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2 R

free from every honourable engagement." And this cant-the term is sanctioned by high authority-is found now to be employed, as has always formerly been the case, by those who are generally considered to be the eager candidates for office. But to discuss this matter more narrowly, to investigate the bearing of these arguments on the present position of affairs-for it is scarcely necessary to enter into any examination of this question, on the wide ground of general expediency-let any man look at the motley band on the Treasury bench, and then consider within himself, what may be the fusing principle, to adopt Sir James Graham's happy idea, whereby such heterogeneous materials can be supposed to be converted into an homogeneous mass. He will very soon dismiss the notion, that the honourable gentlemen have been burnt out of their old opinions by the blaze of ardent patriotism.

There is one nostrum for assimilating discordant principles, for fusing contending parties, which was the discovery of an alchymist of former times. He did not live to try its efficacy himself, but it has been pre served and recorded for our benefit. This receipt is to be found in the works of Mr Alexander Pope, who having, in harmonious verse, described at some length the ingenious philosopher, thus proceeds to indicate his nostrum:

" 'Twas his righteous end, ashamed

to see

Senates degenerate, patriots disagree,
And nobly wishing Party-rage to cease,
To buy both sides, and give his country
peace."

Whether, if all the exhortations of public-spirited gentlemen shall be found of none effect, it may not be worth while, at some future period, to try the efficacy of this receipt for stilling the waves of faction, wiser heads may determine.

That would be a gratifying day for true lovers of their country, when all the good and great should join their power in the noble work of national regeneration. The necessities of the present times would afford ample grounds for such an union; but there appear few signs of its probable consummation. In periods of great emergency, and under the apprehen

sion of impending change, it would be desirable that all good citizens should co-operate in the glorious task of preserving tranquillity. At such times, all lesser points of difference sink into insignificance before the primary duty, and chief necessity, of providing for the safety of the State. That safety being in peril, those minor matters of arrangement, which are only of moment quamdiu respublica se bene gesserit, fall into temporary disregard from their comparatively trivial importance. But those very men who bandy about the phrase of patriotism with the most familiar fluency, display the least disposition to abandon, for the sake of that sacred cause, the lightest of their prejudices, or the wildest of their theories. They are obstinate, even to inconsistency. On the one hand they urge, they clamour for, free and unbounded enquiry into every establishment, and every institution, on which antiquity has bestowed, it might be thought, at least a claim to careful consideration, with a view to force the introduction of innovation as extended as may be possible. On the other hand they deny, with stubborn perversity, any enquiry what ever into the effect and operation of the new projects, which have, of late years, been for the first time brought into practice. The physician, who should, for the first time, administer a novel and powerful medicine, and neglect to observe, with most patient scrutiny, every symptom which accompanied its operation, would deservedly be branded as a careless empiric. The surgeon who should perform a delicate and dangerous operation, and, without ascertaining whether he had rightly gone through the task, leave the patient to languish unattended, might be responsible for the consequences. But if the ministration of the drug, the performance of the operation, were immediately followed by symptoms of the most alarming character, if the patient appeared exhausted, and reduced to the point of death; what would be said of the operators, who, being told of the existence of this coincident, if not consequent, attack, should refuse to pay any attention, should treat complaint as a direct insult to themselves, and leave the miserable sufferer to his fate?

It is fit that the language which has been so common on the Opposition benches, now so called by courtesy alone, and echoed with so much glee by the gentlemen opposite, should be heard no more. Let it not be said, "there must be no enquiry into the effect of the Free Trade system, there must be no examination into the One Pound Note Question, or the Currency Question." Enquiry full and fair there must be into all. If, on the one side, it shall be made manifest that the measures of the Free Trade have been harmless or negative, as their advocates of course maintain,-why persist in the belief, that the parties now opposed to those measures, will pertinaciously close their eyes and ears to conviction? And, if it shall be proved, that to those measures the distress of the country is mainly attributable, shall not you yourselves,-the Liberals, be prepared manfully to avow your errors, and retrace your steps? Or is it because you fear that such a" sacrifice of your political existence" might be required of you, and that you are conscious that you do not possess the honesty to make it if required, that, with the perversity of ignorant bigotry, you refuse all investigation? There is a sound aphorism, fresh in our recollection, which we commend to your consideration: "The free and ingenuous confession of an error, is of no evil consequence to the reputation of a man who is conscious that he has enough left to support his character." A man who knows that he derives his whole consequence from the temporary currency of the error to which he has attached himself, and has no substantive reputation whereon to support himself, may perhaps do wisely, after the generation of this world, to keep his error afloat, and himself with it, to the last possible moment. The same reasoning will apply to the Currency Question.

Consider, gentlemen innovators, you were fairly warned that you

were sowing the seeds of ruin and poverty, and not preparing, as you fondly anticipated, a golden harvest. The whole land is overrun with ruin and distress, the golden harvest has not yet raised itself above the soil,and yet do you persist in watching for and predicting its appearance, as dotingly as certain fanatics awaited the advent of a supposititious Shiloh!

Let the Duke of Wellington pon der well his position. The game he has to play is for a mighty stake. In addressing him, we do not point out to his notice the common considerations which might be supposed to influence mercenary statesmen, the mere creatures of office, the sole glory of whose life is the attainment of a secretaryship, and whose sole remaining care is the preservation of the place so hardly acquired. What do men such as these know of the ruin of a country or its salvation? They cannot believe that the petty tampering with the affairs of a nation, of which only they are capable, is of competent importance to ruin or to save. Their names die with themselves, or live to be quoted by some hereditary blockhead, who proudly asserts that his grandfather was a Secretary of State. The mere circumstances of elevation to, or retirement from office, cannot materially affect the Duke of Wellington, now or hereafter. He has to consider and to decide in what light it will best become the Wellington Administration to appear to posterity

he has to decide whether the name of the successful General shall be united, in the grateful eulogies of generations yet unborn, with the praises of the Minister who restored prosperity to his afflicted country; or whether his military glory shall be obscured in the gloom which will in the records of history overshadow this period of the annals of the empire.

The decision surely can not be dubious.

SIR,

THE meagre knowledge which men in office seem to have, at all times, possessed in regard to the importance and value of his Majesty's dominions in North America, induces me to address you on the subject of, and with the ardent desire of drawing your attention to, those great and valuable portions of the British empire. What I am about stating is the result of my personal acquaintance with those countries; and my object in pointing out to you their vast political and commercial importance is, to shew that the negotiations now understood to be going on between the government of this country and that of the United States may, if decided according to the expectations of the Americans, lead to the most serious consequences.

In justly viewing the British North American Colonies, we must consider them as forming a great component part of the empire, and as countries that yield in great plenty all the kinds of grain and green crops that grow in England, besides many other productions for the support and benefit of man, with a climate perfectly congenial to English constitutions. These are the advantages, sir, that will insure their prosperity and power; for where men can enjoy the blessings of health, and obtain with little difficulty the prime necessaries of life, there must they thrive and grow strong, and there will their offspring maintain possession of the country.

Those provinces, notwithstanding their advances since the American revolutionary war, are still only in their infancy; and men who can, with the minds of statesmen, anticipate their future grandeur, will readily acknowledge that their mighty resources, which are as yet but gradually developing themselves, and their political consequence, which cannot but be soon more justly appreciated, must, while we possess them, necessarily increase the strength and magnificence of England.

The position and the resources of our North American Colonies have long been regarded with jealousy by the people of the United States, who, as well as the French, have, with great bargain-making tact, generally over-reached us in obtaining conces sions of vast importance, by their negotiations on Colonial affairs. I will only advert, sir, to those that immediately affect the prosperity of our own Colonies; and, in doing so, I have, in common with thousands of his Majesty's subjects, to regret that it will appear most distinctly that we have been advancing, in a way of which the people of England have scarcely an idea, foreign interests at the expense of our own.

At the first arrangements for the settlement of the boundary line between the British Colonies and the United States, we gave, with true English generosity, the latter whatever they required; and they now come forward and ask, with their wonted republican assurance, about twelve thousand square miles of what they call " disputed territory," situated in the very heart of our provinces, watered by magnificent. streams, and as I can assert, from personal observation, equal, in point of fertility, to any part of England. The settlement of this question is, I understand, left to the judgment of the King of the Netherlands; and certainly, if that Prince be not biassed by American cunning, and if he will but honestly regard the state. ments which Sir Howard Douglas, the excellent Governor of New Brunswick, now in Europe, in connexion with this dispute, can, and will make, we have little to fear from the consequence.

By the last Treaty of Paris we most impolitically, most unwisely, ceded to France the sovereignty of the two commanding islands of St Pierre and Mequelon, lying in the very highway to Canada, together with the exclusive right to the best half of Newfoundland, for carrying