many, how little of contrivance or regular adjustment there is in the affairs of mankind; and how governments, after their first rude formation, are, at particular epochs, and in a most dangerous manner, tumbled and tossed into shapes of greater convenience by the unexpected, and often violent operation of mere chance and change, rather than moulded into forms of symmetry and usefulness, by reasonable alteration and timely improvement.

The subject of the revenue of the crown was finally settled early in the reign of George the Third, as may be seen in Blackstone.

There are, however, some sources of revenue, that still very properly exercise the vigilance of patriotic members in the House of Commons during the time of war.

III.

THE proceedings in Sir John Fenwick's case took place in the reign of William the Third, and are highly disgraceful to the Whigs. It is scarcely possible that bills of attainder should be otherwise than perfectly disgraceful to those who have recourse to them. They are the convenient, but coarse and savage expedients of power; for bills of attainder take away the life of an offender by positive enactment, and that, because according to the existing laws he cannot be pronounced guilty. The bow-string of a sultan, or the execution of a tyrant, can do no more. In each case there is a departure from those known forms and antecedent provisions of law which are the only real protection of innocence. Sir John Fenwick was, there can be no doubt, guilty of treason; but it is to be feared that many who voted away his life, when the laws could not take it, voted from the basest motives, to remove out of hearing a man who knew, and could have proclaimed too much.

On this occasion, it is the arguments of the Tories only which we can read with pleasure. These men might have been taught, while they were using the generous maxims of government, introduced to their understandings on this particular occasion, their cogency and their justice on every other occasion. "This bill," said the great Tory leader, Sir Edward Seymour, "is against the law of God, against the law of the land: it does contribute to the subversion of the constitution, and to the subversion of all government; for if there be rules to be observed in all governments, and no government can be without them, if you subvert those rules, you destroy the government. The law enjoins forms strictly, even to the least circumstance: men are not left to a discretionary power to act according to their consciences."

"Sir John Fenwick," said Howe, another Tory leader," though he should not be a good Englishman, yet his cause may be the cause of all good Englishmen. Our enemies, you say, may have an advantage, and our government is at stake: we sit not here to patch the failings of the one by an unwarrantable prosecution against the other."

IV.

LORD Clarendon's act of 1662, for the licensing of the press, &c. &c., was to be in force for two years; it remained so it was then continued. It was again continued by James the Second in 1685, and enacted for seven years. It therefore existed at the Revolution, and was left to continue until 1692, four

years after the Revolution, and through all the sessions of the convention parliament. In 1692, when the Tories were in power, it was renewed for two years longer, but it then expired in 1694. What, therefore, was then done by the parliament?

It appears, by the journals of the commons, that directions were given by the house to two of its members, at four different times from the years 1694 to 1698, to prepare a bill for the licensing printing presses, &c. &c. On one occasion the Whigs seemed almost ready, from the irritation of the moment, to have disgraced themselves by some bill of the kind. They, however, did not disgrace themselves. On another occasion a bill of this sort passed the lords, and was even once read in the commons. It was, however, lost on the second reading; and the act of Charles the Second having expired in 1694, and having existed till the influence of the Revolution and the general progress of society had enabled men to discover its very objectionable nature, no efforts seem afterwards to have been able to revive it, and it now remains on our statute book only as a monument of that well-intentioned but unenlightened legislation, which constitutes so important a part of the instruction to be derived from the perusal of history.

I must observe, that I cannot find any detail of any debates connected with these proceedings. The journals of the houses give nothing but the mere facts and results; and such debates as have been published entirely fail us on this very interesting occasion.

V.

THE Act of Settlement was the last labor which William the Third contributed to the great cause of the Revolution. The heads of this act were prepared in a committee, and we cannot now discover the different views of the subject that were taken by the statesmen of the time. This is to be lamented. The act seems to have given occasion to no debate in the houses. On the whole, it does honor to the Tories who were then in power. Provisions were made against the consequences of a foreigner coming to the throne, though they were not afterwards found to be complete. The laws of England are pronounced to be the birthright of the people thereof. The kings and queens, it is declared, ought to administer the government according to these laws. But in a manner somewhat strange, and not very systematic, there are three constitutional points provided for, and not more: that those who have places and pensions should not be members of the commons; that the commissions of judges shall be made "quamdiu se bene gesserint"; and that no pardon under the great seal shall be impleadable to an impeachment. Descending into these particulars, it is singular that they proceeded no further; still more so, that they should incorporate the Place Bill (a bill so contested) upon this, the most solemn and important enactment, the dispo sal of the succession of the crown, which they could ever have to make.

LECTURE XXIII.

ANNE.

THE reign of William is interesting on many accounts : from its immediate connexion with the Revolution of 1688; from the suspense in which the cause of that Revolution still hung, on account of the parties that then existed; from the conduct of William to those parties; from their conduct to him and to each other; from their relative merits; from the relation which questions connected with the monarch and such parties must always bear to our mixed and free constitution; from the great subjects that occurred in the course of the administration of William, the Civil List, the Place Bill, the Triennial Bill, the liberty of the press, a standing army, the responsibility of ministers, the veto of the crown; from many other subjects connected with our internal and external policy, — the situation of Ireland, the East India Company, the Bank of England, questions of finance, of the coinage, the funded debt, and others, such as I could only mention. These are topics that must always deserve the attention of the inhabitants of these kingdoms. The very narrative of the reign is also interesting, and full of events and business, foreign and military, as well as civil and domestic; add to this, that this era of our annals has been always highly attractive to the readers of history. William is not only the deliverer of England, but the great hero of the age in which he lived; and they who have accustomed themselves to meditate on the characters of men, and the fortunes of the human race, have always lamented that the story of William has never been undertaken by any writer so distinguished for the superiority of his talents as to be worthy of a theme so splendid and so important.

This lecture was written many years ago, but at this mo

ment, while I am now reading it, occurs the great subject of regret to literary men, and particularly those interested in the history of their country, the loss of Sir James Mackintosh. This great thinker and accomplished writer was worthy of such a theme, and had undertaken it; what he has left us is the best account we have of the first ominous proceedings of the reign of James the Second.

The reign of Anne may be considered as a continuation of the reign of William. The great features are the same : national animosity against France; resistance to the aggrandizement and the ambition of Louis; contending parties, the Whigs and Tories; the constitution settling; and the great question of the return of the exiled family, i. e. the success of the Revolution, i. e. the cause of the civil and religious liberties of England still suspended on a shifting, doubtful balance.

Our best means of information are likewise the same. St. Simon and the French writers, Burnet, Macpherson's Original Papers, the Debates in Parliament, the Statute Book and Journals, Tindal, Belsham, and Somerville are to be read or referred to in the same manner as before.

To these sources of information, on which I originally depended, I can now add the Life of Marlborough, by Mr. Coxe, which has been lately completed from the Blenheim papers. To write the life of Marlborough is to write the reign of Queen Anne; and it is impossible for any one to judge properly of this part of our annals without a diligent perusal of this very entertaining and valuable work.

I must also observe, that a very good idea may be formed of the general subjects connected with this period, and of the original memoirs and documents which should be referred to, by reading the appendix to Belsham's History: it is very well drawn up.

My hearer, therefore, will bear in mind, that the great subjects before him are, the resistance made to Louis the Fourteenth and the power of France, abroad; and at home, the different parties of the Whigs and Tories, the various questions that arose connected with our civil and religious liberties, the union with Scotland, and above all, the great question of the success of the Revolution, the security of the Protestant

succession, and the chance of the Restoration of the House of Stuart.

We will first advert to the foreign concerns; afterwards to the domestic.

Many subjects must be necessarily omitted, and cannot even be mentioned, but they will occur to you in the reading of the history some can be but adverted to; a few, and but a few, on account of their superior importance, may be a little dwelt upon; but on this occasion, and on every other through the whole of these lectures, I am oppressed with the consciousness that I can attempt little more than barely lead up my hearer to the consideration of different subjects, and, having stated their claim upon his attention, leave him to examine them for himself.

The reign opens with the great war of the succession.

I have already observed, that questions of peace and war are peculiarly deserving of attention. They cannot be made too often or too much the subjects of your examination. No more valuable result can be derived from the meditation of history than habits of dispassionate reflection, of caution, foresight, a strong sense of the rights of independent nations, of justice, and of humanity on such momentous topics. It is on these occasions more particularly that the philosophic statesman is distinguished from the ordinary politician; and when we suppose a minister in a cabinet, a member of either of the houses in his place, an individual at a public meeting, or an intelligent man in the private circles of social life, contributing to make his countrymen more upright, reasonable, conciliatory, patient, while the tremendous issues of war are dependent, are hanging on the balance of words and expressions, are dependent not merely on the wisdom, or the folly, but the good and ill humor of the parties; we, in fact, suppose a man elevated to something above his nature, and for a season assuming the character and office of a superior being, one whose voice breathes the heavenly accents of peace on earth, and good will towards men.

In a government that is free, where every individual is educated upon a system, not of servility and baseness, but of personal dignity and independence, of submission to no power but the laws; in such a government, one like our own, there