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farming; the same useless commercial monopoly; the same interference with native legislation; characterized there the metropolitan managers; but Ireland had to depend on a protestant sovereignty, and in addition to civil had to suffer from religious intolerance and persecution. And of all the periods of interior suffering, that probably will be considered as the severest, which intervened between the recal of earl Fitzwilliam, and the dissolution of the anti-jacobin ministry. We trust that the approaching atonement will be as conspicuous as the past injuries; and that the union so happily accomplished will be the signal for diffusing civil, and extending religious liberty, for multiplying the furrows of the plough, of the shuttle, and of the keel; for invigorating commercial circulation, and for beckoning all the forms of merit into conspicuity and re

compence.

As it is certainly incumbent on the Duke of Portland's party to account for their not having resigned on Earl Fitzwilliam's recal; if they wish to escape the charge of letting to the crown their instrumentality, for the execution of detestably harsh measures, which they all the while disapproved, we shall extract some allusions to this circumstance.

"Mr. Grattan, previous to the motion he was about to make, observed, that it had been asserted, that in the conduct of the ministers of the crown towards that country, Lo blame could attach to the minister of Great Britain, or to any of his colleagues. He did not pretend to ascertain the real causes of the recal of the late chief governor, but was informed, that two causes were alleged; as to the removal of certain great officers, he served, that such removal was matter of Population on one side, and engagement on the other. He spoke of nothing of what he was confidentially informed, but asserted what he knew was generally known, and retedly communicated; he said, that the dag member of the coalition declared, he accepted office principally with a view reform the abuses in the government of Ireland; that the system of that government was execrable, so execrable as to threaten not only Ireland with the greatest misfortune, la ultimately the empire; that his Grace wald have gone in person if he had not found a second self in Lord Fitzwilliam, his Berest and dearest friend, whom he persuaded to accept the Irish government, and to whom he committed the important office of reforming the manifold abuses in that government. That he had obtained, with regard to that country, extraordinary power;

the information of that extraordinary power, he communicated to his Irish friend; he consulted members of the Irish opposition touching his arrangements of men and measures, and ardently espoused, as an essential arrangement, those principal removals, which of the depufy; an explanation and limitation were supposed to have occasioned the recal of his powers did indeed afterwards take place, but no such limitation or explanation as to defeat either the stipulated measures or the stipulated removals, one only excepted, which never took place. Another question binet could without blame recal the viceroy now arose, whether that quarter of the cafor carrying into execution those specific en Blame recal their minister of reform, for regagements; whether they could without moving, according to stipulation, some of the supposed ministers of abuse; and to continue the ministers of abuse in the place of the minister of reformation. He therefore concluded, that if the Irish removals were a ground for the viceroy's recal, blame did attach at least to one quarter of the British cabinet.

"The second alleged cause was, the catholic bill. Upon this the principles and declarations of that quarter were decided; the catholic emancipation was not only the concession of that quarter of the cabinet, but its precise engagement. His friends repeatedly declared they never would support any government, that should resist that bill, and it was agreed by that quarter with concurrence; and he was informed from persons in whom he could not but confide, of another; that the instruction was, if the catholics insisted to carry forward their bill, that the government should give it a handsome support. Before he concluded his speech, he thus summed up the acts of earl Fitzwilliam's administration: it had paid attention to the poverty of the people, by plans for relieving the poor from hearth-money, and paid attention to their morals, by a plan increasing the duty on spirits; had paid attention to their health, by proposing to take off the duties on beer and ale; that a plan for education had been intended; that a more equal. trade between the two countries had not escaped their attention; that an odious and expensive institution that obtained under colour of protecting the city by a bad police, was abandoned by that government, and a bill prepared for correcting the same; that a responsibility bill had been introduced, and a bill to account for the public money by new checks, and in a constitutional manner, had been introduced by the persons connected with that government; that it was in contemplation to submit for consideration some further regulation for the better accounting for the public money, and for the better collection of the revenue; that those occupations were accompanied by great exertions for the empire; so that administration established the compatibility of the services, do

mestic and imperial, and made a good system of domestic government the foundation of unanimity in support of the empire; that in consequence of such a conduct, a war not very fortunate, had ceased to be unpopular, and levies of an extraordinary proportion were not a ground of complaint. In the midst of all this, the British cabinet dissolved the government, and professed to dissolve it for the preservation of the empire. They converted a nation of support into a nation of remonstrance, and unanimity in favour of government to unanimity against her."

This history is continued with instrucThis history is continued with instructive minuteness through the whole of the late rebellion, of which however the civil rather than the military history is given, and to the final accomplishment of the union; an event, says Mr. Plowden, affording the sure means of conciliating the affections, consolidating the energies, and promoting the prosperities of every part of the British empire.

This work is in its execution merito rious; in its tendency useful; in its ap

pearance seasonable. Its chief fault is the want of proportion: the early his tory from Henry the second to Anne late transactions excessively expanded. being excessively abbreviated; and the If the work professedly contained only the history of Ireland, from the acces sion of the house of Hanover to the present time, it might have been compressed into two quartos, and would have been passed for a completer work. We re commend to the author to revise and expand the earlier portion of his labours: and if the immediate diffusion of his book is, as we sincerely believe, important to the consolidation of that union of spirit, without which the constitutional junction will little avail, between the two nations; rather to let his octavo edition begin with the accession of the Stuarts.

and other documents is annexed: these A copious appendix of state-papers

again might partly be omitted in a cheap edition for popular circulation.

ART. VIII. Historical View of the English Government, from the Settlement of the Saxor; in Britain to the Revolution of 1688. By JOHN MILLAR, Esq. 4 vol. 8vo. pp. 496.

OF the two first volumes of this work a quarto edition was published in 1787. It was received with that select approbation which surpasses popularity, in the estimate of a writer of judgment and intellect. The distinguished author is now no more: his surviving friends, with a becoming solicitude for the public instruction, have republished the Historical View of the English Government, which extended to the accession of the house of Stuart; and have annexed the finished Continuation, which extends to the Revolution, and which occupies the third volume; and also some unfinished chapters and fragments, which were to have included a critical estimate of the present times. These chapters and fragments fill the fourth volume of this edition. The whole work, and this is high praise, is worthy of the author of an Enquiry into the Origin of Ranks.

Several continental writers have acquired diffusive reputation by treating on the philosophy of history: among the French, Voltaire, by his Essay on the Manners and Spirit of Nations since Charlemagne among the Germans, Herder, by his Philosophy of History, and Adelung, by his History of Culture. It cannot be too often repeated, that

permanent revolutions are the result of general causes; and that the effects of individual ability vanish with the individual, whenever he is not the organ of a sect, the instrument of a party, the chieftain of a confederacy, or the representative of a multitude. A great man is the tongue or the hand of a great party. Laws and institutions are the result of predisposing causes, not of personal caprice; else they never endure: so that, in the general course of things, that which is natural mostly comes to pass: the crimes of fanaticism, the martyrdoms of enthusiasm, are useless alike: the quiet persevering" so be it" of the numerous classes, eventually conquers all the resistance of embodied faction, or of established power.

Among the philosophers of history, professor Millar merits a high, perhaps the highest, rank. The sagacity with which he detects and indicates, even in remote periods, those predisposing circumstances, which produced the general flow of event, is wholly unrivalled. His generalizations, or theoretical inferences, are numerous and very ingenious. His knowledge of human nature may seem confined to man in the abstract, and his indifference to individual merit se

philosophic as to be mortifying; yet his reflections evince deep penetration, and his discussions a discriminating subtlety. It was the intention of the author to have divided his commentary on the period subsequent to the accession of the house of Stuart into two parts: the first comprehending the history of those contests between prerogative and privilege, which by the Revolution in 1688 were terminated in a manner so consonant with the spirit of the nation, and so Satisfactory to the happiness of the people: the second containing the rise and progress of the influence of the crown, an influence which, though in some measure checked by the general diffusion of knowledge, and the advancement of the arts, was to become the more dangerous to the constitution, as its slow and insensible advances are less apt to excite attention. This second part only is ime perfect; a loss the more to be lamented by every friend to literature and liberty; as it would no doubt have contained practicable suggestions for the remedy of a grievance which is, in our own times, the critical distemper, the baleful complaint, the gnawing cancer of the coun

try.

To the work is prefixed, an eloquent dedication to Mr. Fox: it may be considered as the parting advice of disinterested wisdom, and will encourage the pupils of the philosopher to rely on that statesman for the indication of the appropriate remedy for the disorders of the constitution of the country.

From those portions of the work, which have already attained, in the pubic estimation, a classical rank, it would be needless to select specimens: we pass on, therefore, to some characteristic reflections on the execution of Charles Lue First.

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in which the whole people composed the legislative assembly; and is evidently inapplicable to those modern systems of democracy, in which the legislative power is committed to national representatives. Nothing is more common than for philosophers tion of words. to be imposed upon by the different accepta The nations of antiquity having no notion of a representative government, countries of large extent were subjected universally to an arbitrary and slovenly despotism; and it was only in a few small states that it was thought practicable for the hands, the supreme powers of public admimass of the people to retain, in their own nistration. The expedient, employed first in modern times, of substituting representatives, in place of the whole people, to exercise the supreme powers in the state, has removed the difficulty of communicating a popular constitution to countries of a great extent; as it may prevent the legislative assembly from being too numerous, either for maintaining good order in its deliberations, chief executive officers. or for superintending the conduct of the

Concerning the general question, whefer a government of this nature was, at period, accommodated to the circumces of the English nation, it may be dift to form a decisive opinion. Many ans have asserted, that a republican on is peculiarly adapted to a small 1 cannot be maintained in a large This doctrine seems to have a view of the ancient republics,

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If, by a republic, is meant a govern-
ment in which there is no king, or heredi-
ditary chief magistrate, it should seem, that
this political system is peculiarly adapted to
the two extremes, of a very small and a very
great nation. In a very small state, no other
form of government can subsist. Suppose
inhabitants, and these paying taxes, one
a territory, containing no more than 30,000
with another, at the rate of thirty shillings
yearly; this would produce a public revenue,
at the disposal of the crown, amounting an
nually to 45,000l. a sum totally insufficient
for supporting the dignity and authority of
the crown, and for bestowing on the king
an influence superior to that which might
few of his richest subjects.
be possessed by casual combinations of a

tory so extensive and populous as to contain
Suppose, on the other hand, a terri-
thirty millions of inhabitants, paying taxes
in the same proportion; this, at the free
disposal of a king, would bestow upon him
an annual revenue, so enormous as to create
a degree of patronage and influence which
no regulations could effectually restrain, and
would render every attempt to limit the
powers of the crown in a great measure vain
and insignificant. In such a state, there-
fore, it seems extremely difficult to maintain
the natural rights of mankind otherwise than
by abolishing monarchy altogether.. Thus,
in a very small state, a democratical govern-
ment is necessary, because the king would
have too little authority; in a very great one,
because he would have too much.
state of moderate size, lying in a certain me-
dium between the two extremes, it should
seem, that monarchy may be established
with advantage, and that the crown may be
expected to possess a sufficient share of au-
thority for its own preservation, without

In a

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"Of all the great revolutions recorded in the history of ancient or of modern times, that which happened in England, in the year 1688, appears to have been productive of the least disorder, and to have been conducted in a manner the most rational, and consistent with the leading principles of civil society. When a sovereign has violated the fundamental laws of the constitution, and shewn a deliberate purpose of persevering in acts of tyranny and oppression, there cannot be a doubt but that the people are entitled to resist his encroachments, and to adopt such precautions as are found requisite for the preservation of their liberty. To deny this, would be to maintain that government is intended for the benefit of those who govern, not of the whole community; and, that the general happiness of the human race ought to be sacrificed to the private interest, or caprice, of a few individuals. It cannot, however, be supposed, that such resistance will ever be effected without some disturbance, and with out a deviation from those forms and rules which are observed in the ordinary course of administration. When the machine is out of order, it must be taken to pieces; and in the repairing and cleaning of the wheels and springs, there must be some interruption and derangement of its movements. When a general reformation of government has become indispensible, it must be conducted according to the exigency of times and circumstances; and few situations will occur, in which it is practicable without many temporary inconveniences, or even without violence and bloodshed. It is the part of prudence and of justice, in those cases, to adopt such measures as are likely to produce the end in view with the least possible hardship; so that, although violent and irregular, they may be justified by the great law of necessity.

"In consequence of a very general and pressing invitation from the English nobility and gentry, the prince of Orange, about the end of the year 1688, landed, with an armed force, in England; and immediately published a declaration, that the sole purpose of his undertaking, was to obtain the dismission of the roman catholics from those offices of trust which they held contry to law, and the calling of a free parliament for the redress of grievances. Though the nation was in some measure apprised of this

event, yet, intimidated by the unusual situ ation, they remained, for a short time, inre solute and in suspense; but soon after, an universal approbation of the enterprise was manifest from the conduct of the people in all quarters, who resorted to the prince, and formed an association to support his measures. The king found himself deserted by those upon whose fidelity he had most reason to rely; even by his own family, the prince and princess of Denmark, and by a great part of that army which he had provided to enforce his authority.

"In this alarming conjuncture, it might have been expected that James, to extricate himself from the difficulties in which he was involved, would have embraced one or other of two different plans. By encountering the present danger with firniness and resolution, by collecting the forces that were still faithful to him, and by endeavouring to scatter dissension among his enemies, who, notwithstanding their union in demanding a free parliament, were far from coinciding in their political opinions, he might perhaps have been successful, in defending his crown, at least, in protracting the war, till he might obtain assistance from France. By conciliatory measures, on the other hand, by giving way to the complaints of the people, by assembling a new parliament, and submitting to certain restraints upon the prerogative, he might have endeavoured to lull the nation in security, trusting to some future opportunity of retracting or evading those concessions. If either of these plans, however liable to censure, had been pursues), it is likely that the consequences to the pub lic would have been fatal. But, happily,

James was thrown into such consternation as to be incapable of persisting in any settl resolution. Yielding to the impressions of fear and despondency, he quitted entire's the field of action, and withdrew, for the present, into a foreign country. By this imprudent step, the remains of his party le came quite disheartened, and were no longer in a condition to oppose the new settlement

"The prince of Orange, having thus ne enemy to cope with, proceeded to execut the task he had undertaken, by referring t the people themselves, the redress of thei own grievances, and by employing the powe which he possessed, for no other purpos than that of securing to them the privileg of settling their own government. As the absence of the king, the ordinary powe of the constitution could not be exerted, most rational and proper expedients we adopted to supply the deficiency. T prince invited all those who had been me bers of any of the three last parliaments hold a meeting for the purpose of giv their advice in the present conjuncture. their direction, he called a convention, co posed of the usual members of the house peers, and of the representatives of the co ties and boroughs, elected in the same m

ver as in a regular parliament. This meeting assembling at a time when the whole nation was in a ferment, and when the people, having arms in their hands, were capable of making an effectual opposition, its determinations, which passed, not only without censure, but with strong marks of public approbation and satisfaction, must be considered as the voice of the cominunity at large, delivered with as much formality, and in a manner as unexceptionable as the nature of things would permit. In this convention the main articles of the revolution-settle ment were adjusted; though to remove, as far as possible, every appearance of objection, they were afterwards confirmed by the sanction of a regular parliament.

"That the king, who had shewn such a determined resolution to overturn the religion and government of the kingdom, and that his son, then an infant, who, it was foreseen, would be educated in the same principles, and until he should arrive at the age of manhood, would be under the direction of his father, and of his father's counsellors; that those two persons, whatever might be the reverence paid to their title, should be excluded from the throne, was, in the present state of the nation, rendered indispensibly necessary. In the convention, however, this point was not settled without much hesitation and controversy. The two great parties who, since the reign of Charles the First, in a great measure divided the kingdom, had shewn themselves almost equally disposed to resist the arbitrary measures of James for introducing the popish religion. But though a great part of the tories had, from the terror of popery, joined in the application to the prince of Orange, that he would assist them with a foreign army, to procure the redress of grievances; no sooner were they delivered from their immediate apprehensions, than they seemed to repent of their boldness, relapsed into their old political principles, and resumed their former doctrines of passive obedience. They at least arried those doctrines so far as to maintain, that the people had no right, upon any abuse of the regal power, or upon any pretence whatever, to punish the sovereign, or derive him of the sovereignty; and that even apposing the king to have resigned or abanoned his royal dignity, the throne could at upon that account, be rendered vacant, at must immediately be filled by the prince Wales, to whom, upon the death of his ather, the crown must be instantly transrred. According to this view, it was con nded, that, in the present emergency, the -ministration should be committed to a regency; either in the name of James, if he was to be considered merely as absent; or in the name of his son, if the father had actu-lly abandoned the sovereignty.

The whigs, though they entertained more liberal notions of government, were nwilling to fall out with their present conANN.RIV. VOL. II.

federates, and endeavoured by a temporising system, to avoid unnecessary disputes upon abstract political questions, and to render the new settlement, as much as possible; unanimous and permanent.

"It is a matter of curiosity to observe the public debates on this important occasion; in which the natural spirit and feelings of men, made up for the narrowness of their philosophical principles; and in which at feigned and ridiculous pretence was employed to justify a measure which they did not scruple to execute. They supposed that, by leaving the kingdom, James had abdicated the government; instead of boldly asserting that, by his gross misbehaviour, he had forfeited his right to the crown. That James made his escape rather than comply with the desires of his people, or assemble a parliament to deliberate upon the redress of grievances, was the real state of the fact.But that he meant by this to yield up, or relinquish his authority, there certainly was no ground to imagine. His flight was the effect of his obstinacy and his fear; and was calculated to procure the protection of a foreign power, by whose aid he entertained the prospect of being soon reinstated in his dominion. We cannot help pitying the most enlightened friends of liberty, when we see them reduced, on that occasion, to the necessity of softening the retreat of James, and his attempt to overturn the government, by regarding them as a virtual renunciation of his trust, or voluntary abdication of his crown; instead of holding them up in their true colours, of crimes, deserving the highest punishment, and for which the welfare of society required, that he should at least be deprived of his office.

"In Scotland, where a majority of the people were presbyterians, and felt an utter abhorrence, not only of popery, but of that episcopal hierarchy to which they had been forcibly subjected, and where the reformation, as I formerly took notice, had diffused among all ranks, a more literary and inquiring spirit than was known in England; ti.. convention, which was likewise called by the prince of Orange for the same purpose as in the latter country, discovered, or at least uttered, without any subterfuge, more manly and liberal sentiments. The estates of the kingdom found and declared, that James VII. had invaded the fundamental laws of this kingdom, and altered it from a legal and limited monarchy, to an arbitrary despotic power; and had governed the same to the subversion of the protestant religion, and violation of the laws and liberties of the nation, inverting all the ends of government; whereby he had forfeited the crown, and the throne was become vacant.'

"But though the language employed by the leaders in the Englith convention, was accommodated to the narrow prejudices of the times, their measures were dictated by sound and liberal policy. Setting åside the S

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