service to eke out a page, and with what propriety the quotations occur is apparent from the following lines which are appended to the regulation of Henry the Eighth, forbidding the Gentlemen of his Chamber from gambling, but permitting them to play moderately for their amusement, whilst waiting in his ante-chamber, though without even alluding to fires, music, ladies, lamps, or wine: "When fires were bright, and lamps beam'd gay, And he was held a laggard soul, Who shunn'd to quaff the sparkling bowl."' Scott-p. 37. The slight biographical notices which are added to a few of the names, are as novel as interesting, and are formed after the same recipe; whilst the absence of any reference to them ensures to those who may wish to ascertain whether a particular person ever held this dignified office, the gratification of reading through nearly four hundred pages to ascertain it, thus consuming as much of his time as ought to be bestowed on a work for which he has paid "the small charge," as the itinerant venders of songs say, of one sovereign! Great care is also taken that the book shall not be neglected on the ground of imperfect eye-sight, a highly laudable consideration for aged persons, and indicative of the author's amiable disposition, for at least one third is printed in capitals, and the rest either in the largest pica or italics. The latter part of the volume is devoted to an inquiry into the legality of the decision of the judges, as to whether a Gentleman of the Privy Chamber is free from arrest on a civil process, which is treated as one of their " rights and privileges;" and incomparable as is the ridicule which the work throws over other follies and other prejudices, the author has almost exceeded himself in his caustic irony on people who would avail themselves of, or purposely seek, an obsolete office to enable them to cheat their tradesmen with impunity. There is little doubt that whilst Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber actually performed duties to the king's person, and were paid wages for doing so, they could not be arrested for debt, and it can be proved that the office was sought by numerous unprincipled people with that express object. About the reign of Charles I they ceased to receive pay, and when the question was agitated in 1818 by one of these " Gentlemen," whom Mr. Carlisle with unmerciful severity styles "the unfortunate sufferer," the court most judiciously decided "that the neces sity of the servant to his majesty must be shewn, and also fees annexed to the office in proof of it, to entitle him to protection from arrest." It was conceded that these" Gentlemen" perform no services and receive no pay, and yet it is pretended, (with a zeal which has made some of our contemporaries very unjust to Mr. Carlisle, from believing that he was in sober earnest) that the Royal Prerogative was then invaded!-Two or three passages on this subject are so truly comic that, to supply the loss of the Pantomimes which will have disappeared by the time this article reaches our readers, we shall copy them. 'Antiquity has removed from our view the particular services of the office, as well as the particular profits, privileges, and advantages ; but because they cannot at this time be specified, the known and heretofore acknowledged right of the Crown to have all the menial servants of its household in ordinary protected, is not to be broken in upon by abstract notions of reasoning, and principles drawn from the common law, to which those rights are not subservient.'-p. 275. The Judges are then charged with having "exceeded their jurisdiction," in not protecting this "unfortunate sufferer;" and the principles which are supposed to have influenced their decision May for aught that is known have reason on their side if reasoning be admissible, but it was for monarchs of old and not for the judges of the present day to determine or fix them.'!,-p. 276. 'Where is the use of precedent; where the sanction of immemorial usage-where the veneration due to the king's rights-if the law is to be set afloat, and vary with the different opinions of successive judges. '-p. 278. Why at this hour is the privilege to be undermined and the prerogativé sapped by peevish distinctions and pitiful exceptions? The king's prerogative and the people's rights go hand in hand.-Prerogative and liberty are closely connected; and while the people and the throne are united in the support of each other there is nothing to fear for the constitution.'-p. 279. The old ultra-tory cry-"The constitution is in danger.”— Hurra!" The royal prerogative is invaded," because a person holding a nominal appointment in the king's household may not snap his fingers at some industrious artizan whom he has defrauded. This is true Toryism with a vengeance; and very like what is still often urged by that profession, a member of which, and not Mr. Carlisle,* was the author of this precious piece of * "Such are the arguments of a late Gentleman of the Privy Chamber who had the honor of serving his majesty twenty years, as his majesty's advocate-general in his office of Admiralty,-which we are bound to respect as containing more legal information than could be easily attested from others. The interests of all the Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber are alike involved in this question."-p. 280. rhapsodical nonsense.-Law, we are daily told, is independent of reason:-Common sense goes for nothing against precedent: Men living in 1830 must be governed by decisions made in the enlightened period of the middle ages. Every thing may change; the human mind may be acted on by the advancement of science, but law, no, prerogative is immutable; and is not to be shackled by such silly considerations as common sense, or even by real and substantial justice. Our "conclusion "shall be in the ipsissima verba of this Juvenal of Antiquaries.-We reserved them for a bonne bouche, and as a brilliant example of the manner in which absurdities may be exposed by a philosophic spirit, when it avails itself of that scourge which cuts deeper and with a more lasting effect than any other application-Satire. CONCLUSION. "Such were the diversified services of the Gentlemen of the Privy Chamber, as component Members of the Royal Establishment of the Kings of England from time immemorial. [Their first institution, according to the author's conjecture, being by Henry VII, and according to his proofs, by Henry VIII], but whose duties and functions having for years been dispensed with, [that is, superseded by the King's Valets, Messengers, and Footmen] they have seldom been called upon by their Sovereign. As they were attached by the strongest ties of duty, veneration, and fidelity, which were the leading and essential qualifications for obtaining their high office [!]; so were the Monarchs pre-eminently guided in their choice of men as worthy of such dignity from among the "sadde and auncient Knights in their Court." "That an honour so coveted not only by men of the highest rank, but of the greatest talents, should have been dispossessed of its rights and privileges [the power to cheat with impunity, be it always remembered] is matter of much surprise [to whom is not stated], and cannot perhaps be satisfactorily explained, otherwise than by that mutability which is incident to all human affairs. 66 'Why the Law should lend its aid to an unnatural intrusion upon the Prerogative [!], and should treat with asperity those privileges which were confirmed by the wisest council of the state, is worthy of serious, if not mournful, consideration;-as an admission of even the most minute advances upon ancient Royal Rights may lead to bitter Repentance. "But as the honour which shone with so much refulgence upon our predecessors was reflected from the Crown, to the grace and favour of that bright luminary can we now only look, and hope for reinstatement in the legitimate respect of this high office [!!], and in the enjoyment of the rights, profits, privileges, and advantages' thereunto belonging, and so graciously granted to us in the express terms of our appointment. 'From myself an Apology is certainly due for having presumed to attempt an historical description of matters of such great importance. Yet I trust that I have neither been led away by intemperate language, nor have compromised that independence of mind and proper pride which belong so immediately to this subject; and, however I may regret the little benefit which may accrue to literature from these imperfect Researches, I cannot but feel a degree of satisfaction in having endeavoured to explore the rights, and to shew the quality, which belong to the GENTLEMEN OF HIS MAJESTY'S MOST HONOURABLE PRIVY CHAMBER. And, although I look back with poignant sorrow upon their fallen immunities [to defraud people, with impunity be it always borne in mind], I cannot but participate in the Sensibility of the Illustrious Warrior, who yielding only to numbers and to fate, magnanimously exclaimed 'All is lost, except our honour.' NICHOLAS CARLISLE."-pp. 364–366. ART. IV. Journal of an Embassy from the Governor General of India to the Court of Ara, in the year 1827. By John Crawfurd, Esq. F. R. S., F. L S., F. G. S., &c. Late Envoy. With an Appendix, &c. 4 to pp. 516 and 88. London, 1829. Colburn. NOTWITHSTANDING our commercial, military, and political relations with the Burman empire, by far the greater portion of that extensive country is still a terra incognita to our geographers. A few points of the coast, two or three of the numerous islands which are scattered along it in the Bay of Bengal, together with a narrow tract of country on either side of the Irrawaddy from the gulf of Martaban to the city of Amarapoora, are almost the only parts of this great empire of which we can be said to possess any knowledge. According to Hamilton, and Malte-Brun, who, however, does no more than servilely copy Hamilton, the modern kingdom of Ava, which comprehends several large provinces that formed no part of the original Burman dominions, extends from the 9th to the 26th degree of north latitude; and from the Bengal districts of Tipperah and Chittagong, to China. The space thus circumscribed was supposed to be about one hundred and ninety-four thousand square miles. Since these authors wrote, however, though but a very few years have elapsed, the "empire" has been considerably curtailed of its "fair proportions;" the kingdom of Arracan, part of the province of Martaban, and the entire province of Yé, Tavoy, and Merqui, estimated to contain an area of forty-eight thousand eight hundred English miles, having been wrested from it by the East-India company. Its southern limits have now receded from the 9th to the 15° 45', degrees north; and on the west, part of Arracan, and the petty states of Cassay and Assam, have been interposed between its frontiers and Bengal. The southern, or best-known portion of the country, is a low level land, which, like the plains of Bengal, and the Delta of the Nile, is annually inundated by the rivers. The central provinces consist of a succession of hills of moderate elevation, divided by fertile and well-wooded vallies; while the northern parts of the country, approaching Tibet, are said to tower into mountains of vast height. In these lofty ridges the principal rivers of Ava, as the Saluen, the Setang, the Irrawaddy, and the Kyen-dwen, are believed to have their sources; though, like the Ganges, the Indus, and the Nile, they may be said in the language of the east, to hide their heads in heaven, since no mortal has yet traced their beginnings. A large proportion of the empire is supposed to be covered by forests, in which the wild elephant and the tiger are sovereigns, whose dominions none but a few solitary hunters have ever yet invaded. Interspersed between these vast and impenetrable woods, and among the foldings of the wild and lofty hills, are innumerable lakes, many of them so large as rather to deserve the name of inland seas, which form the haunt of immense flocks of aquatic birds, and abound in various species of fish. The coast is broken or indented by numerous arms of the sea or small bays; but there are only three harbours, which are those of Martaban, Rangoon and Bassim. The population of the Burman empire, compared with the extent of the country, is exceedingly scanty. Colonel Symes estimated it at seventeen millions; captain Cox, the next ambassador, reduced these seventeen to eight millions; and captain Canning, who visited the country in 1810, and with whom Hamilton agrees, brings down the number to three millions. At the period of his embassy, however, the country had been greatly depopulated by war, rebellion, and famine; temples and villages were deserted; and mothers, whose husbands had been dragged away to the wars, or sold as slaves, brought their children to the ambassador, and entreated him to accept of them, and save them from starvation. Either captain Canning's estimate was much too low, or the prosperity of the country, notwithstanding the late wars, has considerably increased since 1810; for, without including the inhabitants of Arracan, and the other ceded provinces, which were of course comprehended in captain Canning's calculation, Mr. Crawfurd makes the population amount to four millions, which allows about twenty-twó VOL. XII.-Westminster Review. |