No 24— Vol. 1J SATURDAY, APRIL 20, 1850. [ PRICE ONE PENNY. EDITED BY GEORGE W. M. REYNOLDS, AUTHOR OF THE FIRST AND SECOND SERIES OF " THE MYSTERIES OF LONDON," « THE MYSTERIES OF THE CO URT OF LONDON," & c. & e. \ J RE YN POUTIGAL LDS'S __" MR. P. M'GRATH.* AnoNfi'theTnumerous advocates of that noble document, the People's Charter, no one is better known to the democracy of Great Britain than the subject of our present sketch. For a series of years past he has sus- tained a distinguished position among the creators of public opinion upon topics of social and political pro- gress. He has adhered with the warmest enthusiasm to the cause of the Charter from the day of its promulga- tion to the present hour. His first introduction to the political world in an official capacity, was in 1841, when he was. elected a member of that very useful and active body, the late London Delegate Council. Mr. M'Grath's exertions in connexion with the leading members of that institution were incessant , in disseminating the principles of the Charter throughout the length and breadth of the metropolis. Almost every evening in the week, but invariably on that of Sunday, were the lead- ing men of the council gratuitously engaged in the holy work of popular enlightenment. Mr. M'Grath soon suc- ceeded by his labours and talents in attaching to him- self so much of the respect and confidence of the London democrats, that he, together with the late Dr. Wade, Mr. Robson, and Mr. Wilson, was elected from a numerous list of candidates by a large public meeting of the inhabitants of the Tower Hamlets, to represent that part of London in the great Birmingham or Sturge conference then about being held. * The above portrait was taken from a beautiful daguerro- type produced at the American rooms in tha Strand. o In 1843, a conference representing the Chartist body was held in Birmingham, in, which Mr. M'Grath sat as one of the delegates from London, and at which he was unanimously elected a member of the Executive of the National Charter Association, in which capacity he has distinguished himself by untiring zeal and devotion. This important trust has been at five successive annual periods confided to him by the universal suffrage of the Association. Immediately after the arrival of the in- telligence that the genius of republicanism reigned triumphant in France, the largest in- door meeting ever seen in London, was held at the National Baths, to celebrate the downfall of a tyrant dynasty. Mr. M'Grath was unanimously elected as one of the deputa- tion to lay before the Provisional Government of France, the felicitations Of the democracy of Great Britain.' Mr. M'Grath has also sustained an important part in the management of the National Land Company from the commencement of that glorious institution which the hostility of the Government is striving to crush. At each annual meeting of its members, he has had the honour to be unanimously chosen one of the directing body. Since July, 1847, he has conducted the financial department, the principal books used in which elicited the approval of Mr. W. H. Grey, the eminent accountant, his evidence before the select committee of the House of Commons. At the late general election, Mr. M'Grath was among the few Chartist advocates who carried his principles to the hustings, and thence to the polling booth. At the solicitation of numerous political friends, he came for- ward to contest the borough of Derby; the Whig can. didates were the Hon. L. Govv- er and Mr. Strutt; the Tory was Mr. Raikes of Liverpool. Previously to the nomination, Mr. M'Grath addressed several large meet- ings of the inhabitants, promulgating in all their integrity and entirety the principles of the People's Charter. On the day of nomination the spacious Town- hall was densely crowded, and upon Mr. M'Grath making his appearance his reception was as cheering and cordial as a public man ever received. The nominations having been duly proceeded with, the candidates addressed the assembled multitude upon the requirements of the nation at the hands of parliament; and many are the inha- bitants of Derby who recollect that the oratorical essays of the old senator, the able barrister, and tbe juvenile aspirant to parliamentary fame contrasted most mise- rably with the lucid, fervid, and able exposition ' of the rights and wrongs of the people on the part of the I Chartist advocate; an exposition which was characterised I even by the Times' correspondent as a speech of great ; eloquence and power. The show of hands was over- j whelming in his favour. At the urgent request of" ! many friends, Mr. M'Grath went to the poll, not with any hope of winning the election, but to test the extent of principle among the electoral body. The close of the poll exhibited the following result: — Strutt 880; Gower 852; Raikes 800; M'Grath 226. Nearly all Mr. M'Grath's votes were plumpers. M'Grath has visited, while in the movement, almost every town of any note in England, Scotland, and Wales; in each of which he has secured by the integrity of his conduct, zeal in the discharge of his duty, and devotion to principle, a high appreciation of his character. ' Wi- REYNOLDS'S POLITICAL INSTRUCTOR. THE RISE, PROGRESS, AND PHASES OF HUMAN SLAVERY: HOW IT CAME INTO THE WORLD, AND HOW IT SHALL BE MADE TO GO OUT. LETTEK XIX. WE stated, in Letter XVII ( the letter containing the resolutions of the National Reform League), that the repeal of unjust laws, and the enactment of a few just and salutary ones upon land, credit, and equitable exchange ( the latter including currency), is all that is wanted to terminate poverty and slavery for ever ; and that nothing is easier for parliament than to enact such laws without infringing the rights of private property, without confiscating to the value of a shilling of any man's estate, or otherwise dealing with property than in the legitimate way of taxation and commutation, which the laws of all countries recognise and practice, and none more than our own. The resolutions in question show clearly how it may be done. An honest parliament is, of course, pre- sup- posed; for, without an honest legislature to begin with reform is all moonshine. The first article of the League's creed is, therefore, a full, free, and fair representation of the whole people. To that end it demands the en- actment of the People's Charter, not because it regards the charter- plan of representation as perfect, but because that plan is sufficiently so for all practical pui* poses, and because having already received the sanction of millions of the population, it would be unwise and mischievous to risk dividing the people by the propounding of any fresh scheme ; the more especially as any defects in the charter may be easily enough remedied hereafter by a parliament, or convention, elected upon Chartist prin- ciples. St But although the People's Charter is a sine qua non with the League, it is, after all, but a machinery for providing the means to an end. The means is parlia- mentary reform : the end is social reform, or a reforma- tion of society through the operation of just and humane laws. The Charter, in fact, but aims at restoring to the people their undoubted right of self- government— the right of making the laws according to which, and to which only, they are to be ruled. It leaves to the people themselves to do all the rest. It gives them the power to elect what sort of representatives they may, and to exact from them what pledges they like in the way of political and social reform. With the people themselves, however, it must ultimately rest, whether even the People's Charter shall give them veritable, political, and social rights. If they know how to choose their legislators, and are resolute to enforce the law, they will have both. But, if from ignorance, corruption, or other causes, they know not hew to make a proper choice, they will but have escaped Scylla to fall into Charybdis, and mayhap, make bad— worse. The very men they elect, to save them, may prove their direst enemies. These, with the aid ( out of doors) of the ignorant and depraved of all classes, may accomplish the ruin of t heir best friends, and then ( as the French Convention did, after murdering Robespierre) destroy universal suffrage itself, under pretence that it had led to nothing but folly, blood, and crime. These are no imaginary suppositions. We are but supposing for England and the present time, what has heretofore occurred in most other countries, and in all times under similar cir- cumstances. A people ignorant of their true political and social rights, will never elect a parliament of real politi- cal and social reformers. They will only elect declaiming demagogues and crafty adventnrers, who will promise everything and perform nothing,— who, professing to be doing everything for the people, will, in reality, do nothing for them, but make them stepping- stones to their own aggrandizement, and who, as usual, beginning with frightening the aristocracies of land and money, will end with compromising and going shares with them for the public spoil, after establishing a reign of terror over the people for their own conjoint security. How easily might we demonstrate this by a priori reasoning, were it necessary. The history of all past revolutions, however, dispenses us with any such necessity. Indeed, the bare fact that universal suffrage is nowhere to be found now- a- days amongst those ancient states and com- munities where it formerly flourished, is proof sufficient. A truly intelligent people would ever remain a self- go- verning people. A people fully conscious of the value of their political and social rights could never loso the franchise. In the first place, they would so use it as to remove or prevent the growth of those unnatural in- terests and institutes which are incompatible with its free exercise and permanent security. In the next place, they would use it to establish the social rights of the people upon a basis as broad as the population itself. And lastly, they would so know how to appreciate the bless- ings of self- government from a consciousness that they owed their liberties and happiness to no other source, that they would fight like lions, and die to a man rather than surrender their franchises. Such a people might be ex- terminated ; it could not be enslaved or disfranchised. Xerxes, with his innumerable hordes, was not a match for a few thousand Greeks inspired with the love of freedom. A Persian army could not force the pass of Thermopylse against three hundred freemen under Leonidas, till treachery leagued with numbers for his overthrow. And even then the handful of freemen had to be exterminated, because they could not be taken alive, nor subdued into slavery. We have a still more striking example of this in the present day. Of all the European states that en- joyed universal suffrage eighteen months ago, France is now the only one in which it survives. And why? Because France is the only one of them in which a large proportion of the working classes are imbued with a knowledge of their social rights, and consequently the only7 one in which the working people are determined to maintain the right of self- government by fire and sword. if necessary. In Prussia, Austria, and in most of the German and Italian States, the mass of the people had heard little or nothing of their social rights, and con- sequently attached too little value to them to fight for them, or for the political power through which alone they could be securely established. Hence their com- parative non- resistance to the overthrow of their respec- tive constitutions. It is otherwise in France. There, at least 2,000,000 out of 8,000,000 of adult males under- stand so well the value of their political and social rights, that Louis Napoleon and his bourgeosie dare not over- throw the constitution by a coup d'etat. Might they, with safety to themselves, make the at- tempt they would have done so long ago. The upper and middle classes hate universal suffrage quite as much in France as their feudal and money- grubbing brethren hate it in England, Germany, and Italy. Nevertheless, they dare not strike the blow lest it should recoil fatally upon themselves. There are full two million of social de- mocrats in France who are resolved to set the whole country in flames, and, if needs be, perish in the confla- gration, rather than suffer a traitorous conspiracy of landlords and money- lords to put down their constitution by force. It is in the stem determination of these two millions that rests the solo real security for universal suf- frage in France. The number of these social democrats increases, too, every day with the spread of knowledge, and with their greater experience of the baseness and perfidy of the commercial villains who seek to eject them from the constitution, and at whose instigations the present government is continually persecuting their party and seeking to goad it into premature insurrection in order to create an occasion for establishing a pitiless mili- tary despotism. With the increase of social democracy increases the security for universal suffrage. Every social democrat is essentially a freeman in heart and soul— in conviction and sentiment. Such men will fight when slaves would not. They were the freemen of Athens and Sparta that overthrew the hordes of Xerxes. Had the helots and bondsmen been sent against them, they would have succumbed to the barbarians even as they had to their own masters. The helots of Sparta and the bonds- men of Athens knew nothing of political, and still less of social rights. Ilenee did they all die, as they had lived, bondsmen and slaves. For the same reason did the chattel- slaves of the ancient world live and die in bondage for forty centuries before the Christian era. For the same reason the serfs and villains of the middle ages suffered themselves to be adscripti glebce, and quietly transferred from lord to lord as estates changed hands; ju3t the Bame as the other live stock on the lands. For the same reason, and no other, are the modem serfs of Russia, Poland, & c„ no better off than their prede- cessors of mediasvel times ; and precisely for the self- same reason are the MKj^ es- slaves of modern " civiliza- tion " so tractable under a system whioh for real though disguised savagery throws oriental barbarism and chattel- slavery completely into the shade. Impressed with these convictions, the National Reform League sees no hope for the successful establishment of the Charter, and for the permanent enjoyment of its legitimate fruits, but in the diffusion, amongst the people at large, of sound political and social knowledge. Real political they believe to be inseparable from real social power, and vice versa. To make the people appreciate universal suffrage we must teach them what they lose by the want of it, and what they may fairly expect from a wise and legitimate use of it. In answer to Sir Robert Peel and the House of Commons, we repudiate their doctrine, that legislation is not responsible for the suffer- ings of the people; and the terms of our repudiation are made good in the seven resolutions, or propositions, of the League affirmed by the Leicester Square meeting, and since then adopted by several popular assemblies. What is then demanded in those seven propositions that is not within the easy compass of a few aets of par- liament ? What is there in them incompatible with the acknowledged rights of individuals, or with the public peace or public security ? In what respect can they en- danger, ever so remotely, life, liberty, property, religion, family, home, or any other thing held sacred amongst men ? On the contrary, do they not go to secure all these with stronger guarantees than they can ever derive from coercive laws, or from the corruption of public opinion ? The People's Charter, unaccompanied by the social reforms we demand, might possibly prove a danger for all classes, through the poor, in their ignorance, demand- ing what they had no right to; and from the rich, in their selfishness, refusing everything to an enfranchised people armed with power to take more than their own. But we challenge the world to prove that the Charter, accom- panied with the social reforms we ask, could be a danger or an injustice to any class, or that it could fail to work out the complete emancipation of the whole people, poli- tically, socially, morally, and intellectually. What are the social reforms we demand ? They may- be classed under two heads. The three first resolutions demand reforms of a provisional kind to meet temporary evils. The remaining four are of a permanent kind to cure permanent evils. Resolution No. 1 is as follows:— " 1. A repeal of our present wasteful and degrading system of poor laws, and the substitution of a just and efficient poor law ( based upon the original Act of Eliza- beth) which shall centralize the rates, and dispense them equitably and economically for the beneficial employ- ment and relief of the destitute poor. The rates to be levied only upon the owners of every description of realized property. The employment to be of a healthy, useful, and reproductive kind, so as to render the poor self- sustaining and self- respecting. Till such employ- ment be procured, the relief of the poor to be, in all cases, promptly and liberally administered, as a right, and not grudgingly doled out, as a boon. The relief not to be accompanied with obduracy, insult, imprisonment in workhouses, separation of married couples, the breaking- up of families, or any such other harsh and degrading conditions as, under the present system, convert relief into punishment, and treat the unhappy applicant rather as a convicted oriminal than as ( what he really is) the victim of an unjust and vitiated state of society." What is there unjust or impracticable in this propo- sition? Who ought, by rights, to support the poor? Clearly those who have most profited by their labour, and whose enormous revenues ( derived from the aggregate labour of tho people every year, without yielding any- equivalent), is the main cause of so many labourers falling into pauperism. And who are these? . Clearly the owners of realised property ; the owners of lands, houses, mine6, collieries, turbaries, fisheries, docks, wharfs, canals, bank- stock, railway shares, consols, and every other descrip- tion of property yielding an annual income independently of any labour, or service, or risk, on the part of the pro- prietor. It is not upon mechanics, tradesmen, or profes- sional men who have but their own exertions to trust to for a living, and who may or may not be worth a groat, that the burden should fall. These parties are supposed to render to society an equivalent for what they get, and consequently ought not to be made responsible for keeping others whose poverty they have not caused. At all events, it will be time enough to tax them when they have realised something by their respective callings. But as the others render to society no equivalent for their incomes, as their incomes are purely and wholly the crea- tion of law, and not of their own labour or services, and as they are therefore the parties who make the poor, both common sense and common justice demand that they should be made to keep tho poor, or, at least, enable the poor to keep themselves by remunerative labour. More- over, it was upon these classes and these only that the original Act of Elizabeth contemplated the levies should fall. The 43rd Elizabeth extended the rate to every other description of realised property, as well as mere real property; but owing to the comparatively small amount of realised property ( other than what falls within the legal description of real), which existed in Eliza- beth's time, and for one hundred and fifty years after; and owing to the difficulty of ascertaining it for assess- ment purposes, it escaped its due share of the burden, aud, indeed, until about eight years ago, most people fancied that it was real property only, and not realised that was contemplated in the original act. The enormous strides, however, that other descriptions of realised pro- perty ( besides lands and houses) have made of late days, have opened people's eyes to the true intent and pur- port of the Act; and hence money mongers, scrip- holders, and annuitants must no longer expect to escape and throw their burden upon shopkeepers, mechanics, and needy professionals. In truth, it is not their interest to do so, unless they choose to risk their all for the sake of a beggarly saving of a few pounds a- year, which they, of all others, ought least to begrudge the poor, their especial victims. As to centralizing the rate, the selfish conduct of landed pro- prietors and others has made such a step almost inevi- table. By preventing tho building of cottages ova their respective estates in town and country, and by working the law of settlement to their own selfish ends, so as to debar the poor from having any legal claim in their respective townships, they have so effectually over- crowded some parishes with paupers, to spare their own, that nothing but a centralized rate ( to be dispensed ac- cording to the number of claimants in each) can now restore justice as between parish and parish, and union and union. But let those who may entertain any doubt as to the expediency or necessity of centralization, but read Mr. Hutchinson's admirable work on the subject, and we think they will at once admit that such an ar- rangement ought no longer to be deferred. As to the liberal and kindly treatment we demand for the unemployed and destitute poor, it is no more than a fraction of their right. If they had justice done thorn, they would need no charity : aud till justice is done them, we demand that their treatment shall be what our resolution describes ; and that it shall be considered their right, and not grudgingly doled out as a boon. Thus far for Resolution No. 1. For Resolutions Nos. 2 and 3 we shall show cause in our next, and so on for the remainder, that the ends and objects for which the National Reform League has been instituted, may be fairly laid before the public. Meanwhile ( for purposes which shall be hereafter explained) it is the wish of the council that the provincial branches of the League shall reprint the resolutions, elucidate them at public meet ings, and circulate them as widely as possible throughout the kingdom— not forgetting our Irish brethren, who must, if possible, be saved from another 184G— 7. A NATIONAL REFORMED. ( To be continued in our next.) ' THE HOUSE OF LOBDS.— The House of Lords has been called the Registering Office of the House of Commons; but, practically, it is the Commons who give effect to the wishes of the Lords. It is true, our hereditary legislators have, directly, but a small share in the business of law- making, but the wires which move the whole machinery are in their hands. Not only is the Lower House occupied to a large extent by their connexions and nominees, but they have possessed themselves, either personally or relatively, of every avenue to power, patronage, emolument, and in- fluence. They surround tho throne; they fill the chief offices in the administration; they rule in our colonies, aud represent us at foreign courts; they command regiments, and act as the chief magistrates of counties. What they cannot grasp themselves is appropriated to their families, and hence the army, the navy, the church, the diplomatic staff, and the public departments, swarm with the younger sons, brothers, nephews, sons- in- law of the aristocracy, aud their obsequious dependants. " Thank God, we have a House of Lords I" exclaims the conservative press, when a liberal measure is rejected; but of all tlie constitutional checks provided by the wisdom of our ancestors, this, under existing circumstances, is at once the most costly aud most obstructive."— Reformer's Friend. ' Wi- REYNOLDS'S POLITICAL INSTRUCTOR. THE CASE OF MITCHELL WATSON. [ From the Monthly Journal of the " Metropolitan In- stitute for the Protection of Trade"] JUSTICES' JUSTICE AND POLICE- COURT REPORTING. FROM the time of Shakspere to that of Washington Irving and Dickens, the decisions of the magisterial bench have been food for the satirist; and if we may form an opinion from passing events, the day has not yet ar- rived when the Shallows, Dogberries, Peter Stuyvesants, and Fangs are only to exist in the pages of romance. The law which created magistrates has invested them with extraordinary powers, and it behoves the Bench to exer- cise their privileges with discretion, and to use every caution before they give decisions from which, in many cases, there is no appeal, except it be to the decision of the public, that being a tribunal to which all judges, from the Lord Chancellor to the police magistrate, are amenable for the due exercise of their judicial conduct. With these remarks we place before our members the following report of a case which occurred at Worship Street, on the 19th inst.,— premising that it is our report, and, as will be seen from the sequel, not that of the police- court .— Mr. Watson, silversmith, Norton Folgate, was sum- moned before Mr. Hammill, the magistrate at Worship Street, for refusing to deliver up a gold neckchain, the property of Mrs. Mitchell, whose husband is clerk of the borings at Great Grimsby. Mrs. Mitchell, in answer to a gentleman from the office of Davis and Campbell, stated that she came to London about a fortnight ago, and having temporarily put up at a railway coffee- house in the vicinity of the terminus of the Eastern Counties Railway, applied to the landlady of the house to recommend her some respectable tradesman in the neighbourhood, who would undertake the alteration of some of her jewellery which was out of repair. The landlady mentioned the defendant, who carried on busi • ness close to her house, and on going there she saw his shopman, named Reed, but whom she supposed at the time to be the defendant himself, to whom she showed her neckchain, which he requested her to leave, and he would have it properly repaired by the next day. On calliug at the time appointed she saw Miss Watson, the defendant's cousin, who told her she was mistaken, as she knew nothing whatever about the chain, hut that she had better call again; this she accordingly did the succeeding day, and then again saw Reed, who denied all recollection of any such transaction, and declared that no chain had been left there. To confirm her conviction of that being the same shop she went outside the door, where the de- fendant's name, " Watson, late Alderman," was inscribed, and she perfectly recollected seeing the same name there when ahe left her gold chain ; besides which, she had a distinct recollection of Reed's features, which were of a rather peculiar character, and she could positively swear that he was the same man to whom she had intrusted her property. Moreover, at the time she first showed him the chain she also exhibited to him a finger- ring, which was partially out of repair, and the reparation of which he said would come to 8s. 6d.; but, considering the charge exorbitant, she declined leaving that, and took it to an- other jeweller's in Bishopsgate Street. [ Cross- examined by Mr. Dixon, the Manager of the Metropolitan Institute for Protection of Trade, who at- tended on behalf of Mr. Watson, one of their members. The house where she, Mrs. Mitchell, was staying, was a coffee- shop; did not know if it was one of the highest description, or if it was not; it was kept open all night for railway passengers. The chain was left on Thursday, 7th of March, between one and two ; she had been at Mr. Edwards's in Shoreditch, and at other places to in- quire if she had left the chain anywhere else. Did not know why she had been to other places, as she was cer- tain she had left the chain at Mr. Watson's. The pecu- liarity about Mr. Heed's countenance was that it had a Jewish cast; knew that one Jew often resembled an- other.] ( Mr. Reed is not a Jew.— ED. Journal.) Mrs. Eldred corroborated Mrs. Mitchell's statement as to introducing her to the shop of the defendant, with whom she had had frequent dealings, and added that, on being apprised by the lady of the possession of the chain being denied, she went herself to Mr. Reed, who dis- claimed all recollection of the matter; but on her show- ing him the damaged ring, which had been subsequently repaired, and asking him if he had ever seen it, he in- spected it closely, and made the remark that he intended to have mended it in a more perfect manner himself, as he intended to have taken the stones out, and in that case it would certainly have cost 8s. 6d. On hearing this observation, Miss Watson, who was standing by, ex- claimed, " Why, I thought you said on Saturday that you had not seen it before ?" Upon which Reed, who appeared not to have noticed it, offered to go round to the jewellers in the neighbourhood to endeavour to re- cover the neckchain, and said, if he were successful, he would forward it to her. [ Cross- examined by Mr. Dixon.— What Mr. Reed said was that " he should have mended it in a more perfect manner, as he should have taken the stones out," ( fee. The Magistrate.— Then why did you talk about in- tended ? Mi's. Eldred.— It was all the saine thing. Mr. Dixon.— All the same thing ! The Magistrate ( to Mrs. Eldred).— No, no; there's a wide difference between your first answer and that which you have made to Mr. Dixon's question.] Mr. Dixon said that he acquitted the lady af any at- tempt at fraud upon his client, although tricks of the description were of very common occurrence upon jewel- lers in London ; hut he was instructed to give the most positive denial to the charge, which had arisen from a mistake on the part of the lady, who was a stranger in town, and had no doubt left her property at another shop, the name of which she had forgotten. [ He should call Mr. Reed and Miss Watson, and leave the magistrate to decide between the testimony of two parties of known respectability and a lady, a stranger in London, who wore rings and jewels, and lodged at a coffee- shop.] Benjamin Reed, the shopman, had lived for seven years with the defendant's predecessor, and subsequently with the defendant ever since he had taken the business. He had no recollection whatever of the lady bringing the chain, or ever before seeing her until she came to demand it. With regard to the conversation with Mrs. Eldred, his remark simply was, that for the ring to be properly repaired the stones should have been taken out of it, when the charge would have been what she stated. Emily Watson, the defendant's cousin, deposed that she attended the shop as usual the whole of Thursday, when the lady said she had left the chain, with the excep- tion of the interval for dinner, when she could see into the shop through the intervening glass partition, and she was positive the lady had not called there that day. [ When Mrs. Mitchell entered Mr. Watson's shop she looked round and said, " O dear, this is not the shop 1 I have mistaken the place 1" She had never made a re- mark such as that stated by Mrs. Eldred. Has heard no such conversation as that sworn to by Mrs. Eldred. Mr. Reed was a gentleman of the highest respectability— it was the first time such a charge had, been made. In a year thousands of pounds' worth of property passed through Mr. Reed's hands.] [ The magistrate.— What is the character of the house ? Policeman.— The house is of the first character. Mr. Watson ranks very high in the trade ; he was not a pawnbroker— was a gold and silversmith.] Mr. Hammill said that he entirely exonerated the de- fendant [ whose respectability was unquestionable] from any blame in the transaction ; but the evidence had so conclusively proved to his mind that the chain must have been really left at his shop, as the lady had described, that he felt bound to order him to at once restore it or pay its value, which was estimated at 4?.; and he should also, as the lady had been kept in town for a number of days at great inconvenience and expense, award her an additional sum of 21. to compensate her for her trouble in that respect. In commenting on the above, need we say that the de- cision of Mr. Hammill excited the utmost surprise in all who were acquainted with Mr. Watson and Mr. Reed ?— the former gentleman being well known as an honourable and upright tradesman, and not less estimable in all the relations of private life. Mr. Reed also is equally honour- able and respectable in his station ; and yet Mr. Ham- mill— fully cognizant of these facts— chooses on the un- corroborated and contradicted testimony of a strange woman, to give a decision the effect of which is to brand Mr. Watson's shop as a place of roguery and trickery, and to stamp Mr. Reed as a man who is unworthy of trust, unworthy of belief, and guilty of an act which would disgrace the lowest scamp in Field Lane,— nay, more, Mr. Hammill's decision goes to brand Miss Watson as an accomplice, and to hold her forth to the world as leagued with her relative's employer in an attempt to uphold an act of fraud and gross dishonesty 1 Mr. Wat- son protested against so strange a decision, and told the magistrate that the woman Mitchell had not spoken the truth. We also made our protest, and gave Mr. Ham- mill to understand that we were of the same opinion— and the result has justified those protests. The chain has since been advertised in the daily papers, and it has been found where Mrs. Mitchell left it, at a Mr. Willis's shop, which is one of the same description as Mr. Wat- son's, from which it is distant only a few doors ! Further comment surely is unnecessary. We appeal to the public, not doubting that they will form a correct estimate as to Mr. Hammill's judgment, Mr. Watson's and Mr. Reed's respectability, and tlie truthful evidence of Mrs. Mitchell. We have now done with Mr. Hammill; but we have not yet done with his police- court. When the case came on we observed that no reporter was present, and yet a report appeared the next day in the Times, and in several other daily journals; from whence it was transcribed into the Dispatch, Weekly Times, Lady's Newspaper, & c, & c., with such headings as " A DIRTY AFFAIR," " AN AWKWARD MISTAKE," " COPY THE ADDRESS," & C. From whom did that report emanate ? Certainly not from us; certainly not from Davis and Campbell, the respectable solicitors on the other side. The report must have been furnished to the Times by the magistrate's clerk, who on the occasion alluded to, it is justice to state, was not Mr. Hurlstone— he being absent through indisposition. In our report we have marked several passages in brackets [ ] ; and if our subscribers will turn to it, and peruse it with- out those bracketed passages, they will find themselves in possession of the garbled and m9st unfair report which some police clerk palmed upon the Times for a veritable statement. The Times is always holding itself forth as a journal that can neither be bought nor sold. The world must believe that the Times is the only immacu- late newspaper, and that evil speaking, lying, and slan- dering, are not its characteristics, but qualities to be sought for in other quarters. And yet, with all this boasted independence and integrity, it is evident that even the Times is easily imposed upon, and that its pure j columns can be used as a vehicle lor slanders on respect- ' able and unoffending individuals, who are, of course, not allowed any opportunity of defending themselves; for the Times, like every one who sets up a claim to infalli- , bility, will never acknowledge that- it has committed a mistake. Our remarks have extended to a greater length than we calculated upon, but the importance of the case must be our excuse. If a Trade Protection Society confine its operations merely to a periodical exposure of swindling practices, its utility is of a very partial nature indeed. The tradesman can be most seriously affected by other attacks than those of the practised swindler; and it is a part of our duty to ward off those attacks, from what- ever quarter they may proceed, or in whatever guise they may present themselves. The above case is an instance in point; for by an accusation ALTOGETHER FALSE AND GROUNDLESS, a respectable member of our society has suffered a serious temporary injury, and the parties em- ployed in carrying on his extensive business have been subjected to personal annoyances, and also to language of too disgusting and revolting a nature for us to re- peat. THE TEN HOURS' ACT. LETTER TO THE FACTORY OPERATIVES. You, the workers in factories, have for thirty years been engaged in a struggle for the reduction of the hours of labour. It were a needless task to remind you of the sufferings you have endured, of the obstacles you have overcome. Your mission has been a sacred one, your success great; yet in this the eleventh hour, do not, we beseech you, slumber at your posts. Remain resolute in your demands, active in your energies, and be prepared to insure eventual and satisfactory triumph. At the meeting of parliament after the Easter recess, your case must again be brought before the country for a final settlement, and if you triumph unopposed, yours will be a final and signal victory. We expect yon will be met by a powerful and well- organized opposition. Our expectations are based on the character of your op- ponents, and the nature of your cause. The men who are opposed to you are skilled and practised debaters, and they feel and know that your triumph is not only opposed to their worldly interests, but your principle of " regulation " strikes at the root of those social views of which they are the advocates. A knowledge of that fact alone will make them draw forth their every energy except they feel that in your case all opposition is unavailing. It is for them to'choose their course; you have already chosen yours. Be you pre- pared for battle, and you will enjoy peacc with greater repose. The advocates of non- interference cling to their theory with a tenacity worthy of a better cause. Their theory, too, is plausible— it is^ unregulated freedom. What say they ? We desire all to be free, we ask no advan tage, free commerce, free action, free power to capital, the workman to make his own bargains. AVhat do our opponents desire? Restraint, interference, and regula- tion, preventing capital from reaping its full profit, and preventing workmen from working as long as they please. Ours is freedom, yours is bondage, they exclaim. _ " You know the meaning of this high sounding freedom.' You know that it means death to your order and in- creased power to centralized wealth." The premises on which they rest their case are nevertheless plausible, and admit of much specious reasoning. When heaven was all harmony Satan, the prince of devils, became a rebel, and declared himself in favour of uncontrolled freedom; he rebelled against God and order, and of that rebellion and its fruits we have all heard much. We read that it brought sin into the world, and death by sin, and that the end of such freedom is all the disorder and punish- ment we can hear of or behold. Satan reasoned well, spoke blandly, and his success was a world's ruin. These inconsiderate capitalists, who merely look to accumula- tion without a regard for distribution, resemble Satan not a little: they are all for freedom, and the end of their freedom is death. Never did Mahometan stand by his Koran or Chris- tian by his faith with greater tenacity than the political economists cling to their favourite theory of " no restric- tion," " freedom of capital," " every man for himself," and as a modern writer, quaintly says, " the devil take the hindermost;" and we are much mistaken, indeed, if Mr. Bright, Mr. Milner Gibson, and Mr. Roebuck, do not make a renewed effort on the third reading of the " Ten Hours' Bill." We may be in error ; but if we are, those who profit by our fears will err on the safe side. Again wo say, buckle on your armour and be prepared for the struggle. Yon have much in your favour which you never had before. The time gained by you under " The Ten Hours' Bill" has been made good use of. You have not wasted it in idle dissipation; you have not rioted in drunkenness, nor encouraged coarse brutality. These things are much in your favour, and are an honour to the whole army of English workmen. In your spare hours you have cultivated your understandings, and nourished your heart's best affections. Booksellers inform us of your improved knowledge, and clergymen bear willing testimony to your improved morality. No one has dared to accuse you of increased idleness and crime ; had it been otherwise your staunchest advocates would have bowed their heads in shame, and fought your battle with wounded spirits. The reverse is the case, and it stands well for you. The question of education bids fair to engross a great share of public attention at no distant day; it is desirable that it should be so. The friends of voluntary education, and of national education, should be ever ready to aid you. It is of no use building schools if you have no time to attend them. The harmony of nature seems to demand that you have rest and leisure for instruction. It is always to us absurd to talk about education without finding time for those to whom you desire to educate. A young person or woman confined twelve or fifteen hours in a factory, is in no fit state of body and mind to attend an evening school for one or two hours,— we say body and mind, for the link that unites physical and mental health aud activity cannot be trifled with. Rest for the physical man is sure to benefit intellect. England, with her illimitable productive power, has that lesson to learn. In the midst of bustle and excitement w^ are apt to forget that we require rest. Our forefathers were wiser in this and in ' other things than their children. In the midst of all our progress and improvement, we have the misfortune of travelling rapidly to decrepit old age ' Wi- REYNOLDS'S POLITICAL INSTRUCTOR. and. an early grave. The stately old man of eighty years of age we seldom meet with; the stunted, cough- ing, bowed man of forty meets us at every corner. Ever ready as we are to acknowledge the value of books and reading, we would give many railway libraries at a shil- ling a volume for the return of the stalwart English labourers of eighty years ago. Prince Albert's proposed exhibition of the industry of all nations, has caused con- siderable noise in high quarters. Gould the men of the past rise as at a resurrection that could exhibit them in full bodily strength, and stand beside the dwarfed men of our times, the physical strength of our forefathers would be as much superior to the physical strength of their grandchildren as the ingenuity of these days would be superior to the ingenuity of the times in which our grandfathers lived. In the spirit of the age should be incorporated tho condition of the body. The prince's gaudy play things would loose much of its grandeur, but none o f its usefulness, could it illustrate and exhibit the physic al decline of England's sturdy peasantry. To retain what is good in the present, and bring back what was good in the past, would be to inaugurate true pro- gress. Short hours of labour and increased education have a tendency to improve the present state of our workers, and pave the way for a better future. The thoughtful friends of education must, we are confident, see much gain to their cause in shortening the hours of labour in factories. Therefore, it is that we say to the factory workers, solicit their aid in the present crisis of your affairs, and, if we mistake not, they will be of ser- vice to you. We also say to the educationalists, aid the factory workers: it is a mockery to talk of books, if men and women have no time to read them. To build schools and havo them unoccupied, is to rear monuments to ignorance. Your question is important to you as a home question. Home is a sweet word,— it clings to us throughout our lives: home knowledge and home assoaiations are the . first and last ties of life. Heretofore the factory opera- tive has known but little of home; ceaseless labour has been his lot; he has been looked upon more as a produc- ing agent than an intelligent human being possessed of mental and moral susceptibilities. The dearest and sweetest part of life's chequered career has to him had no existence ; and when he looks back to childhood, he remembers no sunny hours, no sweet and endearing scenes of the fireside, or blithe hours of schoolboy's wildest glee. The past is all toil, embittered by tyranny. Not a tyranny of spasmodic anger; but a cruel day- by- day endurance of endless wrongs. Factory operatives ! as you regard life itself, adhere to your Ten Hours' Bill in its full entirety : it will bring in its wake enjoyments you have never known, pleasures that you cannot esti- mate at their full value. It will give you that which up to this hour you have never had— a share in those domes- tic scenes of order and bliss, without the enjoyment of which life is one long bitter draught. Your opponents in parliament are evidently bent on reasoning the question as if your bill referred to the labour of " male adults" and not to 11 women and young persons." Do not follow them at this time ; but adhere closely to your demands as stated by yourselves. The day may possibly come when the adult labourers of England may follow your example, and if ever that day does arrive, we doubt not but the intelligent workmen of our country will be prepared for such discussion. It is sufficient for you at this time that you reason for your own cause: a word to the far- seeing is never lost. Take care, rich capitalists, that you do not force the factory question beyond its limits into the general question of shortening the hours of labour for all tradesif you do, you will be the first to repent of your indiscretion. There are movements in the minds of England's labourers unknown to you, that will one day be made manifest to the world, and if you force the operative at this time into a premature discussion of the labour question in all its bearings, then will thoughts come to light that will make senators and even princes look around them with astonishment. We every day hear of the successes and triumphs of mind over matter: machinery increases rapidly in its speed and power. We travel as if we grasped space in our hand ; we speak as if with the quickness of lightning; we arrange machines that, tended by a few women and children, move with mathematical correctness and per- form the work of hundreds of men. In tho midst of all these triumphs of modern civilization, are we assured that our women and children must be sacrificed at the shrine of mammon ? mAre we told that England's manufacturing great- ness rests o" n the excessive and unnatural labour of defence- less and dependent women and children? If such be indeed the case, we say perish, and for ever, to this manufacturing " prosperity," this woolfish and death- like " civilization." It is not— it cannot be so: the simplest instinct, and the wisest philosophy teach us the same lesson. They say, in concord machinery should lessen the drudgery of life, not work women and children into the grave: machinery should be man's blessing, not man's curse. Again we say to the factory operatives, adhere to your Ten Hours' Bill: your cause is based upon humanity, and is sacred to justice. Bestir yourselves, wc beseech you, and if parlia- ment men forsake you, and ministers equivocate, appeal to the nation, and the response will be such as was never heard before. Gold ransomed the coloured slaves of southern climes; and the voice of the people will give protection to our down- trodden aud neglectcd factory children. GRACCHUS. AN AMERICAN'S DISGUST FOR ENGLAND - Mr. Ditson, an enlightened American traveller, having visited Asia Minor, the Caucasus, and Eastern Europe, thus speaks, with natural contempt and disgust, of England, as he paid it a flying visit in his way home:—" When we quitted France, it was in a sad and gloomy state. We passed over into Old England, to see the priests and nobles ride over the necks of her starving mil- lions, and took the first good ship bound to our own free and " happy— OUR NATIVE LAND." THE ARISTOCRACY: ITS ORIGIN, PROGRESS, AND DECAY. A FABRIC is pulled down quicker and with greater facility than it can be erected; but if left to itself, with a rotten foundation, it will in time fall of its own accord : in many cases the latter is the surer process. Thus will it be with the Aristocracy of England. Since the creation of the world no institution has so assisted in its own overthrow as the Aristocracy of this country. It had the power, the means, and the occasions for making itself beloved, respected, endurable— and even tolerated— but, lacking the will to do this, it has become offensive, de- tested, and vexatious; its vices have shocked human nature, and its oppressions must soon cease: centuries of blood, rapine, spoliation,. and iron- handed tyranny were required to consolidate its greatness. Scarcely half a century has been found necessary to shake this loath- some institution to its basis, whilst its complete over- throw and downfall may be calculated upon even by the present generation. The gorgeous profligacy of George IV dazzled the eyes of the great and unthinking portion of the nation. He and his noble courtiers daily fed on luxuries produced by the oppressed, reviled, and ridiculed people, who, to pamper an unnatural and bloated monster, were condemned to poverty, misery, and slavery. Whilst the nation was still groaning under the burthens imposed upon it through the Aristocratic crusade against the democracy of France, the coronation expenses of George IV were admitted in the House of Commons to have amounted to the scandalously great sum of two hundred and thirty- eight thousand pounds! Twenty- four thousand was the cost for the gorgeous dress in which this filthy mass of polluted carrion wrapped his disgusting carcase, on that occasion when the crown was placed upon his empty head, and his syco- phantic nobles bent their servile knees before him. The Aristocracy finding the ground sinking from be- neath them, knowing that although they were born legislators, the greater number of tlieir order were profli- gate fools, the Aristocracy having leagued with the high shopocracy to keep down the people of England, now endeavoured to instil fresh blood into their corrupt body by means of. debauching talent and holding out pre- miums to apostacy. This policy was followed up, and an immense influx of law lords poured into the House of Peers. Possessing the entire patronage of government, what inducements could the Aristocracy hold out to aspiring lawyers and smooth- tongued pleaders ? With the gates not only to vast riches, but likewise to the highest dignities opened wide to welcome them, is it surprising that, for tho last thirty years, we have seen a constant and apparently never- ending supply of legal subtlety imported into the House of Peers ? Did a man of genius advocate the people's cause or venture to assert and clamour for their rights, then was he instantly sur- rounded by the toadies of the nobility; flattery, praises, and attentions were showered upon him and in time, in- stead of a bold and conscientious statesman he would be- come a servile, base, and lick- spittal tool of the Aristo- cracy. Such an one was Henry Brougham. When places, emoluments, influence, and patronage are wrested from the corrupt nobility, which they as- suredly soon will be ; when they must cease to dazzle with the brilliancy of their offers, or corrupt by the magnifi- cence of those inducements they could formerly hold out; then shall we witness the crafty, keen, and far- sighted lawyers abandon, like rats, the falling house that can no longer afford them a desirable asylum. Perhaps no man has displayed more callousness to the interests of the country, and more care for himself, than the present Lord Lyndhurst. He has been at everything and in all things ; he has wheedled a prime minister out of a lucrative situation, and then turned round and opposed him. Being not only a man of law, but likewise a man of pleasure, and having for his first wife a woman of most extravagant habits, his lordship, when compelled to live upon his retired chancellor's pension of four thousand per annum, found that it was far too little for his wants, and entreated the then minister, Earl Grey, to appoint him chief baron of the Exchequer, with a salary of seven thousand pounds. A man with any sentiment of decency would have re signed a situation so acquired sooner than become the most virulent antagonist of that person who had thus elevated him, particularly as his functions, being separated from all political partizanship, would have allowed him to remain neuter; but no, Lord Lyndhurst spontaneously led the opposition against Lord Grey, still retaining the position he. had acquired at his hands. Perhaps a more mischievous man than Lord Lyndhurst was never raised to the peerage; but, thank God, his own great age and the march of liberal sentiments have both tended to curtail liis means of accomplishing evil. Public feeling was aroused towards the latter end of George IV's reign by the many dark and suspicious deeds surrounding royalty and the Aristocracy. The death of the Duke of York, involved as he was in debt, with only a prospect of sixpence in the pound to his creditors, created an unpleasant sensation in every grade of society. Never was a more meagre royal procession seen than when his body left St. James's for Windsor: the only tears that fell were those of his unfortunate creditors whose families had been ruined by his royal highness's dishonourable conduct; tliey wept at seeing the only chance of payment buried with the prince's remains. Another terrible tragedy happened, in which a present reigning sovereign, then a royal duke, was con- cerned. The existence of a criminal intimacy between Lady Graves and his royal highness being suspected and discovered by the injured husband, in despair, that the mother of his children should thus dishonour his bed, Lord Graves committed suicide. The subsequent con- duct of the guilty woman and her royal paramour was scandalously disgusting; they were seen driving and riding about together in all public places, laughing and amusing themselves ere the remains of their victim were yet cold. The latter days of the man monster, George IV, were in accordance with his previous life; he al- lowed, even in his last moments, his lusty mistress, the Marchioness of Conyngliam, to extract one of the most valuable jewels from the English crown : fear, however, of popular indignation caused this costly gem to be re- stored; but others, formerly belonging to his daughter, Charlotte, valued at one hundred thousand pounds, were bestowed by the corrupt voluptuary to his greedy para- mour. Her son, Lord Albert Conyngham, has lately been pitchforked into the House of Peers as Lord Londesborough; for what reason we neither know nor care, being at the present time a matter of little import. On William IV ascending the throne, the people had determined that our constitution should undergo some revision. From what possible evils the nation asked, had this constitution of which so many people seemed, enamoured, saved the country ? Under its protection we have had expensive wars, leaving eight hundred millions of debt; rebellions and constant agitation, with con- tinual commercial embarrassments and checks, present- ing the strange and unnatural picture of an intelli- gent, active, industrious population, totally unrepresented and starving in the midst of plenty. Such a state of things might be conformable to the antiquated and absurd notions entertained by the Aristocracy as to their own su- perior powers of governing. Governments had for a length of time been supplying a want of capacity by the most scandalous venality, and by reason of corrupt influ- ence maintained an army of followers in the Lower House always ready to swamp the popular cause. The people had no longer confidence in the House of Peers; their eyes were opened, the treachery, villany, and selfish corruption of ages stood unbared in their hideous perfidy; the nation waited the decision of the Upper House whether reform should be granted with calmness; but assuming an im- posing attitude, they threatened not, neither was violence had recourse to for the purpose of overawing; the resolu- tion of millions could not however be daunted, by fierce, fiery, and frothy denunciations of a few old ermined dolts. The peere struggled to emancipate themselves from the net cast around them ; they endeavoured to juggle, to in- timidate, and cajole the people; they had resort to the meanest duplicity to avert the threatened blow. The Duke of Buckingham, a rabid Tory, father of the present peer, promised that if the bill introduced by Earl Grey should be thrown out, he himself would bring forward a measure of reform that would content the whole nation! The man was foully lying, and attempting to deceive by means of such a wretched device. Old Lord Eldon snivelled over the atrocity of the measure, declared that he was an advocate for reform ; but had opposed it for forty years because no plan had been introduced that could meet his approval. Lord Tenterden, another sycophantic law- lord, went so far as to declare that " did the bill pass he would never enter the house again after it had become the phantom of its former greatness." A terrible threat to the nation was this, but it fell harmless. The Duke of VYellington protested against tke second reading of the bill, and wa3 joined in his protest by seventy- four other peers, including the Dukes of Gloucester and Cumberland. During the recess the people displayed their sovereign power in a manner intelligible to those who dared to op- pose it. Immense meetings were held throughout the country, and petitions were presented to theHouse of Lords imploring it not to drive to despair a high- minded, fearless, and generous people; not to urge them on, by a rejection of their claims, to demands of a much more ex- tensive nature." Another petition stated that in case of the Reform Bill's mutilatiou or rejection, " there was reason to expect that the payment of taxes would cease; that other obligations of society would be disregarded; and that the ultimate consequence might be the utter extinction of the privileged orders." Lord Lyndhurst, as we before remarked, a slimy, slip- pery trickster, brought all his legal knavery and natural shrewdness to overthrow the purposes of the bill; he pro - posed that its first and second clauses should be postponed. The object of this motion was evidently to strangle the whole measure. Some lords supported it on the grounds that such a proceeding would not interfere with the pro- gress of the bill, they however knew well to the contrary ; amongst these double faced gentry were the Duke of Wellington, Lords Winchelsea, Ellenb'orough and Har- rowby, whilst the Duke of Newcastle candidly declared that he gave the motion his support, as he would any other measure likely to frustrate the bill. Lord Lyndhurst's proposition was carried by a majority of thirty- nine, and the ministers forthwith resigned, declaring to the country that the Reform Bill never could be passed unless a creation of liberal peers was effected to swainp the noxious influence in the old house. The annals of England do not present a more exciting period than that following the rejection of the Reform Bill by the House of Lords. Addresses poured in from all parts, all threatening the power of the Aristocracy ; one from the inhabitants of Westminster declared that unless reform was granted, " tumult, anarchy, and confusion would- overspread the land, and would cease only with the ex- tinction of the privileged orders." The majority of the House of Lords was everywhere attacked; their obstinacy and accursed selfishness had raised a storm before which, they must either bend or break; it was declared that they were men who would mix blood with corruption, and were the friends of every species of despotism. The following ominous sentence was found in a peti- tion presented from an immense body of people : " Your petitioners find it declared that in the bill of rights the people of England may raise arms for their defence, suit- able to their condition, and as allowed by law ; and they apprehend that this great light will be enforced gene- rally in order that the people may be prepared for any circumstance that might arise." No hopes remained for the self- willed majority of the peers; no ministry, except- ing a reform one, could face the country even for a day ; the die was cast, and the will of the people triumphed, over the mulish obstinacy of besotted nobles. ALFHA, ( To be continued in our next.)] ' Wi- REYNOLDS'S POLITICAL INSTRUCTOR. ? A NEW HISTORY OF ENGLAND. CHAPTER XXVI. CROMWELL. OLIVER CROMWELL, who was not crowned King of Eng- land, was yet in effect the most remarkable and kingly ruler that the world ever beheld. He was one of the three great men who governed mighty nations more po- tentially than any one invested with royalty could have done. We name the three because these names are suggestive and worth remembering. They are Cincin- natus, Washington, and Cromwell. He was the son of a country gentleman ( who lived near Hungtingdon) named Robert Cromwell. Oliver was born in that town on the 25th April, 1599 ; was educated at the free school, and afterwards at Sidney College, Cambridge. His college career was wild and turbulent, but this wildness was characteristic of a strong, stormy mind which should be capable of deposing a king, of being a tyrannicide, against whom there is no fiat issued, and of ruling more than twenty millions of men in equity and peace. The rule of Cromwell constitutes the halcyon days of England, and the period of the Commonwealth was that during which foreign nations gazed upon her with wonder and with respect. There were no corrupt kings who made inglorious treaties for a " consideration," and sold the liberties of the people for the means of present de- bauchery. In Ilia twenty- first year he was married, and the wild- ness of his youth gave place to a grave and staid de- meanour. He was returned as a member for Huntingdon in 1625, during the first parliament of Charles. In 1637, his affairs having become disordered by con- tinual farming losses, he, in conjunction with several others, formed the idea of settling in New England ( North America); but Charles, governed by his fate, issued a proclamation against such an emigration as was proposed. In 1640 he was returned for Cambridge, and in the next year he was one of the foremost of those who re- monstrated against the absurd tyranny of Charles, which brought on the civil war; and in 1642, when the rupture had placed king and parliament fairly in the arena, Cromwell raised there a troop of horse, and received his commission from the Earl of Essex. Some few daring acts increased his popularity, and he soon found himself colonel of a thousand horse. Men of iron, full of enthusiasm, fearless and indomitable in every way, he moulded them to his will, and they became his famous " Ironsides." The events of the war which led him to the dictatorship of England, is properly the history of Charles I himseif. The coolness and ' hardihood, the strength and self- possession of Cromwell, exhibited in a score of ways, point him out as eminently a military genius. He may be compared, for stratagy, for successes, and for a steady perseverance which overcame every obstacle, with any of the heroes of Polybius or Plutarch. In 1649, Charles was executed, and a few months after, Cromwell was made Lord Lieutenant of Ireland by the parliament, and sent there to quell the disturbances that had arisen. So unequivocal and peremptory were his mea- sures, that his name has become a portion of the popular ballads of the country. Ruin upon ruin, castle, town, and city, bear witness to the imperious " no nonsense" style in which he made his procession. He left Ireland terror- stricken in 1650, making his son- in- law Ireton his deputy, and was received in London with all the honours of a triumph. The Scotch, who were favourable to the house of Stuart, had invited Charles II to leave the continent, and on Fair- faix refusing the command of the commonwealth forces, Cromwell marched into Scotland in order to anticipate the invasion, at the head of twenty thousand men. A large army under General Leslie was raised to oppose him, and it was attempted to starve the English out of the country, a plan that, to say the least of it, speaks little for their recognition of the laws of hospitality. The battle of Dunbar, which Cromwell had nearly missed fighting, in 1650, resulted in the total defeat of the Scotch army/ Edinburgh Castle surrendered next, and he then reduced Perth; while Charles, beholding the bad success of things in Scotland, took the bold resolution of trying his fortunes in England. Cromwell followed the king's army and broke it to pieces, and having ac- complished so fully the task which had been allotted him, he returned to London, and was met outside the town by the parliament and the speaker, who escorted him with the honours of a triumphal entry. A thanksgiving day was appointed, and four thousand pounds a- year voted to him. In the meantime, the slow indecision of the parlia- mentary members disgusted him. Too much of the old monarchical statecraft was retained. They were infirm of purpose and vacillating in coming to an end or aim. From the length of time that they found pretences for remaining together as a legal assembly, it was called the " long parliament;" and though they had repeatedly talked of dissolution, they still clung with an instinctive tenacity to their old honours. Cromwell, holding a mili- tary council in 1653, decided what to do. Placing three hundred aimed men round the House, he entered in the midst of a debate, and ordered the speaker to quit his chair, telling all that for the little good they had done they had sat there long enough. " Come 1" lie added roughly, " I will put an end to your prating— yon are on parliament. Begone, for shame, and give plaee to lionester men." In a few moments the whole place was cleared, and Cromwell, locking the door, put the key in bis pocket. It was perhaps as sublime as complete a deposition of an effete though legislative power as ever the world witnessed. Charles I did not offer his parlia- ment the tithe of this overwhelming insult, and yet it cost him his life. Cromwell, on the contrary, vigorous, great, and original, bound up in his stern republicanism, could mould them into any shape he pleased, or dissolve them at will. In December 1653 he was solemnly invested with the office of Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scot- land, and Ireland. This took place at Westminster Hall, and when in the fifty- fourth year of his age. His first acts were to do everything that a mind, almost all, comprehensive, could do, to secure his subjects' peace, to encourage and protect commerce, to make the nation feared, and its rulers honoured. He made peace with Holland, made treaties with Denmark and Portugal, and what was of great importance to the trading part of the people, he closely cultivated the good understanding that subsisted between him and Sweden. He filled the high offices of the state, the courts of justice, and every department of the executive with talented men, with men worthy of the positions they held. He was a rigid dispenser of justice, and therefore he ap- peared to be a stern, moody, and lone man. " His life," to use Carlyle's words of Rousseau, " along soliloquy." His style of living was austere, simple, and primitive. His virtues were genuine; but they wore an unsmiling aspect. Coarse in some things, he only uttered the unpolished language of sincerity, and his relaxations in the bosom of his fam- ily, have a pastoral simplicity about them be- longing to a pure country life. The partizans of the House af Stuart were certainly as indomitable and unsleeping as Cromwell was vigilant and watchful, and year after year beheld them plotting and conspiring in Scotland, England, and France, how to bring back the monarchy and depose the usurper. All in vain. In 1665 an insurrection broke out in the West of England, which Cromwell, who was cognisant of all that passed, permitted to grow to 3 head in order that, by this proceeding, he should know as clearly as possible the amount of danger that was at any time likely to menace the peace of England and destroy the happiness of its people. Its chiefs were executed, and justly so. We have yet to behold this one man of the world for whom it is laudable to shed blood and kill peaceable men. He consolidated the civil, the military, and the execu- tive power in a manner worthy of the senate of ancient Rome, when its members sat in their seats like kings upon their thrones, and thus acquired the right of dic- tating to other nations The act of seizing of four hundred thousand pounds on the seas, belonging to the King of Spain, was followed by a war, and the expedition sent against the Spanish possessions in the West Indies, under Admiral Penn, took the important island of Jamaica, which has been a British possession ever since. In the Mediterranean Sea the English flag, carried by Admiral Blake, one of those genuine sea- captains who seem bom to command ships and to live in fire and flame, commanded respect from every country on its shores. A treaty with France was one result, and the exacted condition was carried into execution, which shows that the power of Cromwell was greater than at the time when the Edwards and the Henrys were all but throned in th © French capital. His condition was, that the English royal family should leave the country. Dunkirk wa3 also ceded to England, a compensation for the loss of Calais, till the pauperised vagabond, Charles II, sold it, as he would have sold his father's bones to make dice, or his mother's honour to be made a scurrilous jest of. A splendid embassy arriving to him from Sweden, is not the least expressive episode of liis reign ; but all the blandishments of Queen Christina could not induce the grim man of quick expedients to accept a visit from her- self in person, which she proposed to him to make. A second time was Cromwell inaugurated as Protector, though it is insinuated, with show of reason enough we admit, but not of truth, that it was intended by those most obsequious to him to substitute the word king for protector in the project of the settlement which was drawn up. Like all men who make innovations, and who, acting under the elastic hopefulness arising from a good pur- pose— a purpose which goes in advance of the age, Cromwell found obstacles everywhere. He was sur- rounded by plotters and conspirators, also ; for the refusal of the Republican Commons to act with the oligarchy of the lords, compelled men, in a sort of self- defence, to fly to the opposite extremes. Never were more devoted royalists ; never were there more genuine republicans. The death of his favourite daughter, Mrs. Claypole, married to his chaplain under peculiar circumstaneea, which amount to romance, was a severe blow to him. Strong and hardy as was hia constitution, the great weight and the greater responsibilities of government, combined to shatter a frame which waa originally like iron, and hia health began to give way. He had laid a foundation, had it been supported, that would have been productive of good to every individual in Britain, had not the infatuation of having a king to reign over them nullified all that was done. Like the Hebrew nation, when it was a pure republic, it waa great, powerful, and flourishing, but when they had their deaire in the person of a king, wars, famine, poverty, and cap- tivity became the retribution they drew on' their own heads. He waa seized with a slow fever which reduced and weakened him so fast, that hia phyaiciana were compelled to give up the case as a hopeleas one; and he died on the 3rd of September, 1658, hia day of the great victory at Dunbar, eight years back, when only fifty- nine years of age. While kinga of England have died and been buried like dogs, all leaving them aa loathsome lazars when their power was gone out of the cold, relaxed grasp, all the honours that a man could possibly desire were paid to the republican after death. Hia funeral waa a triumph. The orations made over hia corpae were like a deifica- tion ; and hia memory was celebrated by men who were poeta without being laureates. He left two sons, Richard and Hemy. The former auceeeded to the government, but his amiability waa exaggerated to weak- ness. A man with more loving qualities, perhaps, never existed; but he wanted the stem leaven of hia father, and the aceptre fell from hia flaccid hand. He gave it up without regret, and retired to his beloved domeaticity with a sense of pleaaure which may be envied. Cromwell was a good husband and father. He was temperate, chaate, and frugal after liia marriage, and when he came to power. He loved literature and patronized the arta; and hia religious sentiments were pure and unsullied by bigotry. As a ruler he waa unapproachable. We shall never behold hia like again; for where nature creates auch men once in the course of two or three thousand years, she breaka the mould, and there are no successors. As a general, he is unparalleled; and his love of justice never faltered with the antagonistic mummery of mercy. They canuot co- exist— they will not co- operate, and the jus- tice of a merciful man may amount to cruelty. We sum up his character in the worda of Lord Claren- don, reminding the reader that the " wickedness" which the old statesman speaka of ( for we think it but justice to give the opinion complete) is that of having been one of those who found Charles I guilty of high treason, and who became thereby regicides. But who says that the name implies a crime ? " He waa one of those men whom his very enemies could not condemn without commending him. at the same time ; for he could never have done half that mischief without great parta of courage, industry, and judgment. He muat have had a wonderful understanding in the natures and humoura of men, and aa great a dexterity in applying them; who, from a private and obacure birth ( though of a good family), without interest or estate, al- liance or friendship, could raise himself to such a height, and compound and knead such oppoaite and contradic- tory tempera, humoura, and interests into a oonaistence, that contributed to hia deaigna, and to their own deatruc- tion ; whilst himself grew inaensibly powerful enough to cut off those by whom he had climbed, in the instant that they projected to demolish their own building. What waa aaid of Cinna may very justly be aaid of him. [' He attempted thoae things which no good man durst have ventured on, and achieved those in which none but a valiant and great man could have succeeded.'] With- out doubt, no man with more wickedneas ever attempted anything, or brought to paas what he desired more wickedly, more in the face and contempt of religion and moral honesty. Yet wickedneas aa great as hia could never have accomplished thoae designs without the as- aistance of a great spirit, an admirable circumspection and sagacity, and a moat magnanimous resolution. " When he appeared first in the parliament, he seemed to have a person in no degree gracious, no ornament of discourse, none of those talents which use to conciliate the affectiona of the stander- by. Yet as he grew into place and authority, liia parts seemed to be raised, aa if he had kad concealed faculties, till he had occasion to uae them; and when he waa to act the part of a great man, he did it without any indecency, notwithatanding the want of custom. " After lie waa confirmed and invested protector by the humble petition and advice, he consulted with very few upon any action of importance, nor communicated any enterprise he reaolved upon with more than those who were to have principal part3 in the execution of it; nor with them sooner than waa absolutely necesaary. What he once resolved, in which he was not rash, he would not be dissuaded from, nor endure any contradiction of his power and authority, but extorted obedience from them, who were not willing to yield it. " Thua he subdued a spirit that had been often trouble- some to the moat sovereign power, and made Weat- miuater Hall as obedient and subaervient to hia com- manda aa any of. the rest of hia quartera. In all other matters, which did not concern the life of liia jurisdic- tion, he seemed to have great reverence for the law, rarely interpoaing between party and party. Aa he pro- ceeded with thia kind of indignation and haughtiness with those who were refractory, and. durst contend with hia greatneaa, so towarda all who complied with his good pleasure, and courted his protection, he used great civi- lity, generosity, and bounty. " To reduce three nations, which perfectly hated him, to an entire obedience to all his dictatea; to awe and govern thoae nationa by an army that was indevoted to him, and wiahed hia ruin, was an inatance of a very pro- digious addresa. But his greatness at home was" but a shadow of the glory he had abroad. It waa hard to dis- cover which feared him most, France, Spain, or the Low Countries, where his friendship waa current at the value he put upon it. As they did all sacrifice their honour and their interest to his pleaaure, so there ia nothing he could have demanded that either of them would have denied him. " To conclude hia character : Cromwell was not so far a man of blood aa to follow Machiavel's method ; which prescribes, upon] a total alteration of government, as a thing absolutely necessary, to cut off all the heads of those, and extirpate their families, who are friends to the old one. It was confidently reported, that in the council of officers it waa more than once proposed, ' that there might be a general maasaere of all the royal party, as the only expedient to secure the government,' but that Cromwell would never consent to it; it may be, out of too great a contempt of his enemiea. In a word, aa he wa8 guilty of many crimes againat which dam nation is donounced, and for which hell- fire ia pre- pared, ao he had aome good qualities" which have caused the memory of some men in all agea to be cele- brated ; and he will be looked upon by posterity as^ a brave wicked man." CHAPTER XXVII. CHARLES II. CHARLES II waa the son of Charles I, and of Henrietta of France, and waa born in 16 ) 0. At the time of hia father's execution he was a refugee in Holland, aud in ' Wi- REYNOLDS'S POLITICAL INSTRUCTOR. stantly assumed the regal title, and held a court while being a pensioner upon the bounty of the Prince of Orange. In Ireland the Marquis of Ormond had assumed his cause, but the heavy hand and rapid movements of Crom- well annihilated his hopes there. The battle of Dunbar did the same in Scotland, though his partisans there held out longest, and exhibited an example of devotion which will for ever reflect honour upon the country. Crowned, however, at Scone, in 1651, he thought of trying England, but was defeated at the battle of Wor- cester, and was obliged to hide in an oak- tree till his pursuers went by; and then getting to Shoreham in Sussex, he was enabled to obtain a passage to France. On the death of Cromwell, General Monk, who was able to throw the weight of his influence over the army into the balance, decided for him. The general sent to Charles at Breda, forcibly dissolved the parliament then sitting, summoned a new one, declared for the king, and the declaration was received with applause, and Charles entered London on the 29th May, 1660, amid the ap- plause of a multitude that had grown frantic with its insane, its suicidal joy; for never did a greater wretch cause so great a sensation. It is difficult to account for it; it is humiliating to say it — bat the Restoration annihilated republicanism, so that there was no trace or vestige of it left. Charles was at first conciliating, and took the most popular measures it was possible for liim to do. Hyde, afterwards Lord Clarendon, was made Chan- cellor and Prima Minister, and few men were better qua- ked for the office than he was, and his, council table was filled by men who were of all denominations. This may be looked upon as a matter of course, and the whole was crowned by an act of indemnity which forgave past of- fences, because, in fact, retaliation might have been dan- gerous. A revenue was settled, and monopolies and prerogatives were totally destroyed, while the disbanding of the army was flatteringly expressive of the security which Charles felt. Prelacy was restored, but carried to tyranny, because an act of uniformity was passed by which all clergymen who were of the Presbyterian Church were forced to resign their living. In 1662, the king married Catherine of Braganza, the Infanta of Portugal, and gave her unchaste women to be the ladies of the bed- chamber. From this moment his execrable, his horrible career of bestiality begun, and he prostituted himself, the nation, and the people. Oliver Cromwell had said to the King of France, " Give me Dunkirk, or I will come to Paris and compel you to do so;" and it was given him. This base- blooded man, now on the throne, sold it back to Louis in order that he might have money to lavish upon the filthy harlots he cherished. In 1663, a war with Holland took place, and as the quarrel was upon commercial grounds, the parliament supported him vigorously. France and Denmark joined with Holland, and the Dutch fleet entered the Medway, burning and devastating as far as Chatham. This is one of the bitter disgraces of England which labours under so many. In 1665, while the king was drinking with the obscene Eochester, gambling with the cheat and charlatan Buckingham, and quarrelling with the vicious amazon Castlemaine, a dreadful plague broke out by which the country was decimated, aud as if this were not enough, in the next year an awful fire broke out, which burned half the metropolis down, and the miserable condition of the nation is absolutely indescribable. The next year, 1667, a peace was made with the Dutch, which was a great relief to a nation almost ex- hausted by calamity and extravagance. Clarendon, whose integrity would see but one thing, where there was but one thing to look upon, drew upon himself the anger of the courtiers and the dislike of the king. A man of methodical business habits, having a sincere wish to benefit the nation in his capacity, he re- fused to bend or to be conciliated; and the consequence was that he was dismissed. Some of the '• merry" monarch's mistresses ran short of money; Charles ap- plied to his chancellor for a grant; but could not make Hyde comprehend that if money was obtained for one object, it might be legitimately lavished by another channel. Sir William Temple, a man of ability and approved honesty, made one of the best treaties of this miserable reign." He formed an alliance between England, Holland, and Sweden, for the purpose of checking the ambitious views of Louis, the French monarch. This was the last good thing done. Would we could use Hamlet's words and say, " the rest is silence." The sordid baseness of Charles II's character de- veloped itself when he sold himself to Louis, and received in return, additional dishonour to his name, an annual pension, and a Frenchwoman for a new mistress whom he made Duchess of Portsmouth. This was in 1670, when the cabal, so celebrated for its intrigues, was formed. The tvhole was intended to destroy the treaty of Breda, and to peril the safety of the nation. For seven years, to the time of the Popish plot got up by Charles and his cabal, in order to create a sensation in his favour, his whole conduct was marked by the most disgusting proceedings. He threatened the Dutch with war, found his exchequer empty, shut up his parliament, called a new one, and made a new treaty of peace with Holland, married one of his daughters to the Prince of Orange, and the peace of Nimeguen, in 1678, was for- warded by him, but for which few thanks are due. This popish plot brought to a state of powerful perfec- tion by the notorious Titus Oates, caused immense mis- chief, and the scaffold had its due quantum of victims. In 1681, Charles came to a determination to do without a parliament, and the plot took a new form, the selected victims being taken from among the Presbyterian party. The Rye House plot, in which the king's life was aimed at, was the first of all these vile atrocities. Lord Russell and Algernon Sydney were the illustriousj_ martyrs to the king's own turpitude. In Scotland the Covenanters were harassed by the Duke of York, the king's brother ( who was a Roman Catholic) under circumstances of the greatest barbarity, and Charles began to fear lest the bloody game should be carried too far. Death from apoplexy terminated all that he had con- templated for the future. This took place on the 6th February, 1685, when Charles was in his fifty- fifth year, and in " the twenty- fifth year of his reign. He died a professed Roman Catholic. His brother published the precious document which proved him to be a hypocrite, a liar, and in effect one of the most thorough- paced vagabonds that ever by a freak of chance escaped the doom of a common swindler. Charles was a voluptuary, without taste, refinement, or the slightest delicacy. His reign is characterized by its licentious manner, and by a general demoralization. From the throne to the cottage the degrading leprosy infected all in its way. The stage was a huge brothel, and its dependants were sunk to the lowest scale in the ani- mal creation. The streets were filled with drunken ruffians who committed every outrage. The people were unprotected, and those who railed against the king's pleasures were assaulted by the bullies in his pay, whom if he did not openly countenance he protected. He made a protege of the notorious Colonel Blood, who was an assassin, and a thief. Charles had made the vilest selection of friends of any man in the world. They were haughty, proud, rapacious, merciless, and debauched. They are gone, swept away into endless night, and we trust that heaven will never chastise England again with such another king and court. CHAPTER XXVIII. JAMES II. THERE is scarcely knowing to what extent depravity can go. Charles was execrable, but James II was still more so, from the consummate hypocrisy which shrouded his character and deceived all the world as to the real nature of the man. James wa3 brother to Charles I, and after the Revo- lution, which compelled him with others to fly, he passed most of his time upon the continent. At the Restoration, in 1660, as Duke of York, he took the command of the fleet, as high admiral. He married Ann Hyde, daughter of the Lord Chancellor Clarendon, though he would have repudiated her had he dared to do so ; but his mean soul quailed beneath the woman's firmness. In 1664 and the following year he figured prominently in the Dutch war, and engaged in a great fight with Opdam the great Dutch admiral, in which the latter was killed and his fleet taken. A mystery hangs over this portion of the duke's history, for more than a suspicion of cowardice is imputed to him. In 1672, during another war with Holland, the duke was at the head of the fleet, and engaged in a desperate fight with De Ruyter, at Solebay, in which the latter being attacked by both English and French was obliged to retire. Parliament having after this determined that should hold public offices, the duke was obliged So resign his command. The popish plot, so celebrated and so tragic in its results, was a plan deliberately formed by Charle9, the Duke of York, and the popish ministers to restore eatholieism into the country. Nothing was wanting to render this scheme complete but another St. Bartho- lomew. The project failed, and the duke, in 1679, with- drew to the continent. He soon afterwards returned, and was sent to Scotland to hold a parliament, and the manner in which he pur- sued the hunted Covenanters, indicates the ferocity of a fiend, all the more atrocious that James was calm, cold, and scientific in his implacable methods of torture. He was regarded by all with horror and detestation. In February, 1685, Charles died, and James succeeded to the crown without opposition. He appears to have had but two things in view, both of which he pursued with a perseverance worthy of a better cause. These were, to become an absolute king, and to establish the Roman catholic religion. _ By carry- ing his theories into open practice he gave offence to the people. An almost instantaneous rebellion showed him their temper. This was caused by the Duke of Monmouth, natural son to Charles II. Several had invited him to come back from the continent and claim the crown, which he did, alleging that his mother and Charles had been privately married. He landed in Dorsetshire, in 1685, and was soon joined by a great number of people. The battle of Sedgemoor ( in Somersetshire) destroyed his hopes, and he was taken prisoner. Monmouth was executed, and the sanguinary ferocity with which James followed up the letter of the martial law upon unarmed and help- less men, redoubled the rage and the hatred which was gathering daily against him. In picking out the most diabolical villain that ever polluted the seat of justice, in order to strike terror into the hearts of the people, he could not have selected a more atrocious agent than the infamous judge Jeffreys. He pressed his favourite point on behalf of Catholicism with such haste and obstinacy, filling every place and office with converts, and interfered with the established church; attacked every man's religious principles ; gave intolerant laws to the Universities; persecuted and im- prisoned some bishops who were bold enough to petition him; sent an embassy to Rome in order to conciliate the favour of the Pope, and implore his holiness to take the country once more into favour; was in fact carrying on his schemes seemingly unchecked, and about to triumph in every way, when he was suddenly appalled to behold himself all at once standing on the brink of an abyss. The drivelling hypocrite had revolted all but those who were as fanatical as himself. He found that many of the moat influential people of the realm had already sent to William Prince of Orange, then Stadtholder of the United Provinces, and his own son- in- law, for aid. In fact, they invited him to invade England. Jamea would willingly have drawn back, have temporized, but it was too late. He began to repeal act after act, but the memory of his merciless nature, of his fiendish deeds, was spread throughout the length and breadth of the land. It was all over : he was now not only hated, but despised, and his concessions were justly looked upon as the effects of fear. On the 4th November, 1688, William arrived at Tor- bay, and landed his forces ; but for some time the people did not flock to his banners with the zeal and speed that had been calculated upon. The remembrance of Mon- mouth's fate, and the horrible cruelties James and Jef- freys had practised, no doubt weighed upon them at first; but at length the royal army began to desert, and I even James's favourite Churchill, who was afterwards the celebrated Duke of Marlborough, quitted him. James was abandoned by his army, his friends, and his two daughters. Men, pitiless and ferocious to others, very fond of pitying themselves in trying situations, and they can lament pathetically the reverses of fortune which fling them into the deeps of misery. His two daughters, afterwards Queens of England, Mary and Anne, quitted him, and he is said to have wept, exclaim- ing, " God help me— my own children have deserted me." He now sought to escape into France, having first sent his queen and infant prince there, under the con- duct of the Duke de Lazun. He embarked himself, and endeavoured to reacli a ship at the mouth of the Thames, leaving everything in a confusion, which he had himself created. At Faversham he was recognised by some of the people. These would have retaliated upon him the insult and the wrongs they had experienced at his hands, but he was protected by a band of gentlemen, and taken to London, where, strange to say, he was received with acclamations, and honourably housed in the palace of Whitehall. James, however, once more essayed to es- cape, and was hospitably received by Louis XV*. The throne of England was now vacant; James had not been deposed— he did not wait for that— he voluntarily abdicated it by leaving the kingdom. In 1689, Louis, who, for many reasons desired to be- hold James restored to the throne again, enabled him to make an attempt upon Ireland, where he was likely to be most successful, as great numbers of the Catholic party were there, and possessed the means of furthering his design if they were so minded. His first essay was successful, and the whole island de- clared for him, except an inconsiderable portion of the north. He attacked Londonderry, sought to reduce it, and failed, and giving up that object for the present, went to Dublin, and there held a parliament. In the meantime, he, during this brief interval, exhi- bited his animus against the Protestants by a series of ar- bitrary and tyrannic measures, which plainly indicated that there was little in the way of concession to be ob- tained from him. The Prince of Orange found it necessary to attack him on this ground, and accordingly in 1CTO, landed his forces in Ireland, where at the Battle of the Boyne, the last final and fatal feat of James, destroyed his hopes for ever. The disgraceful cowardice he on this occasion exhibited, disgusted those most devoted to him, and they speak of him with loathing and exe- cration. He returned to St. Germains, in France, and spent the last years of his life in laboriously going through all the ceremonials of an extreme devotion, having become a member of the society of Jesuits. He died on the 16th September, 1701, in the sixty- eight year of his age. EDWIN ROBERTS. ERRATA.— In No. 22, by an oversight, the following errors occur. Jane Seymour, and Anne of Cleves are said to have been executed. Jane Seymour died in childbed, and Anne of Cleves was divorced only. THE BLOATED CHURCH. " When the Christian religion was first planted in this island, its ministers were supported by the voluntary obla- tions of the faithful. By and by, all were expected to contri- bute a tenth of their substance, and afterwards this became a legal obligation. But by law there was long a four- parted division of the tithes— one part to the bishop— one to the in- cumbent of the parish— one to repair the fabric of the church — and a fourth to the poor. An alteration was afterwards made, which could only have been by the legislature; and bishopricks being amply endowed by landed possessions, the parochial clergy contrived to get the whole of the tithes for their own use, the repairs of the church being left to the parishioners, and the poor thrown upon charity." — Lord Campbell's Speehes. IN the primitive ages the clergy never claimed to be the proprietors of the tithes and landed possessions from which they derived their income, but only the trustees or administrators. Tha whole product of tithes and offerings formed the bank of each parish church, and the minister was the sole trustee and dispenser of them, conformably to the stated rules of piety and charity. So late as the Reformation, in the injunctions of Henry VIII and Edward VI, the goods of the church were still held to be the " goods of the poor," and which Dryden has thus versified:— " True priests, he said, and preachers of the word Were only stewards of their sovereign Lord; Nothing was theirs, but all the public store, ' Intrusted riches, to relieve the poor." Irregularities soon arose; the clergy were charged with misapplication and fraud, in having applied for their own benefit an undue proportion of tho fund, and having been neglectful of their duly to the poor: hence arose the quadripartite division for the bishop, incum- bent, church rates, and the indigent. Further abuses ' Wi- REYNOLDS'S POLITICAL INSTRUCTOR. and more successful encroachments followed, and ulti- mately that settlement of ecclesiastical property ob- tained which now prevails, and Lord Campbell described to ihe House of Commons. It is, however, an arrangement wholly inconsistent • with reason, that a tenth of the yearly produce of land and industry should be set apart for the maintenance cf any priesthood. For the clergy to require a tenth, they ought to form one- tenth of the population; but no mode of worship requires that proportion of the people to be teachers and ministers. The tribes of Levi had a tenth, because they formed a tenth of the entire com- munity, and had no other inheritance; but Aaron and his sons had only a tenth of that tenth. So that the clergy received no more than one- hundredth part, the remainder being for other uses, for the rest of the Le- vites, for the poor, the stranger, and the temple. Christianity contains less authority for tithe than Judaism. Jesus Christ ordained no such burden, and in no part of his history is any compulsory provision for the support of the faith sanctioned. Both the Saviour and his apostles unceasingly inculcated poverty and humility to their followers, and contempt of • worldly goods. How do the bishops follow out the precept! The Jews of the present day pay no tithes to their rabbis; nor is there any country in which the exor- bitant exaction is persisted in, or in which its full value has been commuted for, except England. Every- where else the clergy have been divested of their unseemly and gorgeous riches, and reduced to moderate stipends. Slow as England is in substantial reform, and in the as- similation of national institutions to modern ideas, the possessions of her clergy have at length ceased to be considered of the nature of private property. This idea is repudiated even by such a miserable, drivelling, bigotted dotard as Sir Rpbert Inglis. The baronet has now adopted the views of Sir James Mackintosh, " that the Church is a corporation, regulated by the same laws and principles as civil corporations; and consequently that the State has no more right to take away the pro- perty of the church, than it has to take away the pro- perty of the corporation of London." But on this ver- sion, this distinction may be made, that the possessions of the corporation of London are held for local pur- Eoses, whereas ecclesiastical possessions are held for the enefit of the entire community. The first is more of the nature of a private institution, while the latter is strictly public in its endowments, offices, and duties. As an establishment of the State, the Church has been dealt with in every continental kingdom; and even in England, at the Reformation, under the Commonwealth, and in recent statutes, interfering with the incomes, oc- cupations, and discipline of the clergy. But our purpose is not the tenure of clerical posses- sions, but their annual value. It is known that the re- venues of the Church are enormous, equal, or exceed, the aggregate revenues of all other Christian Churches in the world. England, indeed, is the only great monu- ment of ecclesiastical wealth remaining; is the only country in which the Government has not divested itself of the prejudice that it is necessary to wring a large portion of the people's property and the fruits of their industry, to be consumed by a numerous body of idle and luxurious ecclesiastics. Abroad, those clergymen are only respected and supported, who zealously labour as the real pastors of their flocks. Formerly clergy- men were almost the onlyj persons who knew how to read and write; they were the depositaries of all the knowledge and administrative ability of the age, and took an active part in every branch of civil affairs, as ministers of state, judges, chancellors, and secretaries. This was some excuse for their number and endowments. But these days are past; and the subjoined comparison • will show that the Roman Catholic churches present as singular a contrast with their ancient revenues, as with the redundant riches of the Protestant Church of Eng- land. Comparative Statement of the Number of Hearers, Revenue of the Church of England, and of all other Christian ~~ Churches. other countries. In France an archbishop has 1,000?. a- year; a bishop, 625?.; an archdeacon, 166?.; a canon or prebendary, 1001.; a rector, 48?.; a curate, 31?. In Rome the income of a cardinal, the next in dignity to the pope, is 400?. to 500?.; the rector of a parish, 30?.; of a curate, 17?. Compare these incomes with the in- comes of the rapacious, greedy, and luxurious aristoc- racy of the English Church, and making allowances for differences in the expense of living in the respective countries, and the disparity in ecclesiastical remunera- tion appears incredible. Then, having made this com- parison, ask the question, " Who are the real promoters of infidelity in this country ?— who are the men that bring the Christian religion into contempt?" Why, the Clergy themselves! REVIEWS. Name of the Nation. France United States ^ Spain Portugal Hungary, Catholics Calvinists ,. Lutherans Italy Austria Switzerland Prussia German Small States Holland Netherlands Denmark Sweden Hussia, Greek Church..... Catholics and Lutherans.. Christians in Turkey South America Christians dispersed elsewhere .. £ ® 2 ® 5 • a So I3 £ * o a v i - a a £ ' 32,000.000 9,600,000 11,000,000 3,000,000 4,000,000 1,050,000 650,000 19,398,000 18,918,000 1,720,000; 10,536,000 12,763,000' 2,00 « , 000: 6,000,000 1,700,000] 3,400,000: 34,000,000 8,000,000; 6,000,000: 15,000,000 3,000,000 £ 62,000 2,000,000 60,000! 576,000 100,000] 1,100,000 100,000 300,000 80,000 , 320,000 " THE DEMOCRATIC REVIEW."— We observed in a pre- vious number that the April letter from France in this periodical, would most probably be of a more than usual interesting description ; and we were not mistaken. Those who wish to learn the true progress of democratic prin- ciples amongst our French brethren, should peruse the cor- respondence from the other side of the channel, in the De- mocratic Review. Mr. Harney's Letters, directed against the Taxes ujoon Knowledge, maintain their interest, and abound with information. " A Glance at History," " Reve- lation of the Building Trades," " Democracy," by Helen Macfarlane, are good and sound articles. The contents of the April number is, in every respect,, worthy of the already achieved and increasing reputation of the Democratic Review. From the above- mentioned article, " A Glance at History," we extract the following:— " After the assassination of Caesar, upon the formation of the second triumvirate, composed of Antony, Lepidus, and Octavius, it was agreed that the enemies of both should be given up, and among the one hundred and thirty senators doomed, Cicero's name was in Antony's list. Aware of his danger, Cicero fled from Rome, and sought safety at a small farm which he had near Mola di Gaeta— a place which has been rendered of late memorable amidst the events of that perfidious conspiracy of the present tyrants of France against the modern Roman republic. Cicero, however, not finding himself safe at his farm, fled from place to place ; but at last the soldiers employed by Antony found out his track— ap- proaching the carriage in which Cicero was, they immediately despatched him By Cutting offliis head. His mangled remains were conveyed to Antony, who in his triumphant revenge, placed them upon that rostrum from which many of the orations against himself had been delivered. It does not appear that Cicero had any hand ill the conspiracy which led to the death of Julius Caesar, not that he had any disinclina- tion to become one of the assassins, but from the actual fact which is related by Plutarch, that Brutus and his infamous associates considered him not trustworthy I In contemplat- ing the life of Cicero, we find him throughout his political career a base and cowardly sycophant. In the days of Pom- pey's success, he styled Csesar " a vile and monstrous tyrant," but when Caesar destroyed Pompey and his faction, he courted and flattered him with the well- turned compliment, " That Caesar forgot nothing but the injuries done to himself." Finally, forgetting all the generosity shown him by that great and good man, Cicero declared, " That Caesar's death was a divine blessing to the republic." Considering such glaring turpi- tude, it may be asked, can any reliance be placed on the con- duct of Cicero, whilst narrating the events connected with the conspiracy of Catiline? The narration of Sallust must be estimated in the like manner. False and prejudiced in their writings, they both were oppressors of the people— strenuously supporting the vile system of robbery which then prevailed. They may truly be ranked among the tyrants of the earth who have been the cause of those popular revolts and those revolutions which have agitated nations. All impartial writers, who have profoundly studied the history of man- kind, concur in the view that " conspiracies," " rebellion," and " treason," are but the effects of vicious systems of government. Indeed, the learned and celebrated Locke— one of the most eminent philosophers England has produced, and who, through a great portion of his life, knew, from personal obser- vation, the low intrigues and base policy of courts— has main- tained in his dissertation on governments, that all popular commotions have emanated from the selfish, unprincipled conduct of those in power. It was this conviction in the breast of that noble of nature, Robert Burns, which led him throughout his beautiful productions to the expression of those generous and manly sentiments which in so particular a manner characterise him as the poet of freedom and indepen- dence. The Democratic Review is published by Watson, Queen's Head Passage. 60,000; 40,000] 40,000! 50,000; 50,000 50,000 60,000 80,000 42,000 70,000 70,000 15,000 50,000: 30,000' 63,000 26,000 776,000 950,000 87,000 527,000 765,000 160,000 252,000 119,000 238,000 510,000 400,000 180,000 30,0001 450,000 50,000 150,000 The Clergy of .'...'..."'. j203, TM, 000 England and Wales j 6,500,000,1,455,316| 9,459,565 ] 9,949,000 ISHence, the astounding fact that the administration of Church of Englandism to 6,500,000 hearers costs nearly as much as the administration of all other forms of Christianity in all parts of the world to 203,728,000 hearers. The monstrous excess in the pay of the Eng- lish clergy, appears from comparing their average in- comes with the incomes of the clergy of equal rank in is instantly echoed in the heart and brain of every survivor in this previously happy village; every house is immediately untenanted— male and female, old and young, fly to the pit's mouth, to ascertain the fate of those most dear to them. The grey- headed tottering old man— others hale and strong— many widows as well as many fatherless children, might be seen in the open air publicly bewailing their several afflictions, and anxiously watching for the restoration of those most dear to them, as the mutilated fragments of bodies are brought up and carted away; whilst others, in some cases, who may be bodily able and anxious to descend to the rescue of the sufferers, are told that the brattice separating, the up- cast from the down- cast shaft has been blown out, ventilation has ceased in the inte- rior of the Mine, and none dare descend without certain de- struction by suffocation. Still, the dictates of humanity and true Christian feeling often prevail, and many a valuable life has been lost in this fruitless attempt to rescue a near relative or dear friend; see the evidence of J. HUTCHINSON, Esq. M. D., when four brothers perished in this humane act. But, I would ask, who could stand by unmoved, and hear the shrieks, the groans, the piteous supplication and prayers of those beneath for help, and yet deny them assistance ? It is true, that in many cases, the reckless yet praiseworthy conduct of some, has been the means of saving many from so fearful a death ; but in other cases, no one dare descend the pit for many days, and then are usually found the majority of its inmates, not blown to atoms as some occasionally are, but apparently placid in death, struck whilst listening and watching, doubtlessly iu prayer, for the approach of human aid to deliver them; or are else overtaken by the deleterious after- damp, and thus pe- rish for want of proper ventilation, before they can reach the pit's bottom. Thus, for instance, in HAIR'S Views, we find that 011 the 18th of June, 1835, an explosion took place in Wallsend Colliery, by which 101 men and boys lost their lives, and four others were seriously injured. Eleven horses also, which were in the pit at the same time, were ail killed. ' Eight men immediately volunteered to go down, in the hope of rescu- ing some of their fellow workmen, but on descending they were so nearly overpowered by the impure air, that it was witii extreme difficulty they regained the ropes, and were almost insensible when drawn to the top. Mr. BUDDLE, with assist- ants, went down the C pit, but the workings were found ill so ruinous a state, that many tons of rubbish had to be brought to " bank " before the bodies could be come at. In the after- noon of the following day, the bodies of two men and nineteen boys were got out. Some of them were black, shrivelled, aud burnt, some were mutilated; but the greater number, having been suffocated by the after- damp, had the appearance of be- ing in a profound and tranquil sleep.' ' The humane conduct of one of the sufferers, a deputy overman, named LAWSON, has beeu justly recorded ; he and eight boys had been working in one of the dangerous parts about 500 yards from the pit shaft; within 100 yards of this point of escape, they were all found dead together. In front of the body of LAWSON were six of the boys; on each side of him was one of the youngest, and near them were the Davy lamps which the boys had used. The obvious conjecture is, that poor LAWSON had been attend- ing to his duty; that the explosion in a distant part of the mine had alarmed him, and, disdaining to leave his young charge exposed to danger, he had hastily collected the lamps, hurried the six elder boys before him through the mine, and taking each of the two lesser boys by the hand, had travelled till the after damp terminated at once their progress and their lives.' " This valuable work, neatly bound, is published by Simpkin and Marshall, London; price three shillings and sixpence. " A SOLDIER'S LABOUR IN VAIN TO PROMOTE FINAN- CIAL ECONOMY IN THE ARMY DURING TWENTY- EIGHT YEARS."— This is a pamphlet written by Richard M'Cor- mick, late of the 17th Lancers, edited by Alexander Somerville, and published at Manchester by Irwin, 30, Oldham Street. The tyrannies and impositions that were, and still are, in perhaps a rather mitigated form, prac- tised upon the private soldiers in the British army, are ably exposed by the author, himself a severe sufferer through them. The extortionate prices charged for articles served by the regiment to the soldiers, is fully proven as contrasting them with tho cost of similar com- modities in regular shops. Whilst reading the following cruel and inhuman flogging scene, our blood boils with indignation to think that such atrocities were ever toler- ated, sanctioned, and approved of:— " We marched from Deal and Canterbury, in 1825, to Brighton. At this place the man who received the two hundred lashes at Romford for remarking on the defrauding of the troop horses of their forage, fell into fresh and ag- gravated trouble. General court- martials could at that time sentence a man to one thousand lashes, and did so. The threat of a thousand lashes was a common one in the mouths of overbearing officers, though they might mean nothing real by the threat. This man had been marked in more re- spects than one, ever since he had his two hundred at Rom- ford. He was crossing the barrack- yard one day, when the captain of his troop met him, and said, in a tone of virulent ill- nature, that if he did not straighten his shoulders, and walk more upright, he ( the captain) would get him another flogging, to straighten them; and that a thousand lashes would do him a great deal of service. This threat, and the unresisting persecution to which he was subjected, preyed ; upon his mind so much, that he deserted that night. He made his way to London, but was taken there and brought ; to the regiment. He was tried by court- martial, and actually sentenced to receive one thousand lashes. By the time he had received six hundred he was cut to the blade bone, and 1 was taken down from where he was bound, hand and foot, by order of the surgeon, who declared his inability to bear more at that time. He got the option of taking the re- mainder of the thousand, or of volunteering Into a con- demned regiment. I had access to him in hospital, and ad- vised him not to volunteer into the condemned regiment. I MONET, v. LIFE. — Mr. C. Colwell's name has long been familiar to those who, interested in the lives and safety of their fellow- creatures, have turned their atten- tions to investigating the dangers and many evils to which our colliery population are constantly, exposed. The improvements in ventilation, suggested by Mr. Colwell, have attracted the attention and approval of many of the most scientific men in the kingdom; and we feel con- fident the work now before us will add greatly to his reputation. A graphic description of a coal pit accident is thus given;— " Let the reader, therefore, picture to himself a small village occupied, as it were, by one large family, the employes of a obtained acce- s to the hospital by professing myself unwell, Coal Mine. They all rise with the lark; the rays of the risiiv sun in the eastern horizon gladden each heart, as the first meal is prepared and despatched for early labour— each man takes ' on purpose to bo his nurse. Being 011 good terms with the surgeon, and with the hospital sergeant, I had no difficulties put in my way. I had heard of a newspaper reporter in his departure from his domestic hearth and prattling little '• Brighton who corresponded with a London newspaper. One ones, apparently unconscious of the danger by which he had : night I succeeded in obtaining some female apparel, and been surrounded from day to day; he descends a cavern of! taking a basket in my hand, passed the sentries at the hos- darkness by the means before described, accompanied by per- pital door, and at the barrack gate, and finding the person haps his eldest boy, or it may be by more than one of his chil- i wanted in the town, told him about my poor friend in the dren— independently of his comrades, who are most of them in hospital, lie wrote an account of the case, which appeared one way or other related to him— when within an hour from ; in the newspapers. Either this publicity, or the succession this apparently happy separation from home, and all that is of a neiv commanding officer ( Lord Bingham), who now home- like and precious, the horrid and unmistakable notice is , succeeded the former lieutenant- colonel, or both causes given that an explosion has taken place in the Mine. Its sound ! saved the poor invalid from the infliction of there ' Wi- REYNOLDS'S POLITICAL INSTRUCTOR. remaining four hundred lashes. On leaving hospital he walked about the barrack- yard doubled up, literally almost two- fold. Indeed, it would have been the death of him to have received farther punishment. It was at this time that M received five hundred lashes. He had complained of the extortionate prices, and was a marked man in conse- quence. He was asleep one day on his bed, when his turn came to go on fatigue duty. Corporal B went to call him, and shaking him roughly, he not knowing who it was, and before being awake, threw out his arms and pushed the corporal back, with some offensive remark. He was not accused of striking his superior ( a heinous offence), hut of the minor charge of disobedience and insolence. He was tried by court- martial, and to the surprise of most persons, hut its members, was sentenced to five hundred lashes. He received four hundred, and was taken down by order of the surgeon. When he recovered, and was discharged from hos- pital, he was at once taken a prisoner to the guard- room, and was once more marched out and tied up, and received the re- maining one hundred lashes." THE NATIONAL CHARTER ASSO- CIATION. As the ensuing letter contains information which may prove valuable to the various Chartist localities, we publish it in extenso. 11, Southampton Street, Strand. March 26th, 1850. DEAR BENFOLD, The communication you favoured me with from the South Lancashire Delegates I submitted to the consideration of the Provisional Committee cf the National Charter Asso- ciation, at their meeting on Wednesday evening last, when I was instructed to state in reply:— That the Committee feel very grateful to the South Lan- cashire Delegates for the courteous and friendly spirit iu which they have taken up the question, and would be most happy to receive, at any time, from such an intelligent, energetic, and influential body of their brother democrats, any suggestion that they might consider calculated to forward the great and glorious principles for which we are all struggling. Although the Committee might feel disposed, if their indi- vidual opinions were consulted, to agree to the alterations in the 8th rule which our brethren require, yet being aware that the Constitution of the Association was adopted by a Confer- ence, and placed in their hands to be carried out, therefore, on mature consideration, they are of opinion that they cannot interfere unless called on to do so by a majority of the enrolled members. Tou say in your letter, " The most cogent reason against the 8th rule is, that it will enable any person to act as a bona fide member, although he may not pay a single fraction towards the support of the locality in which he may reside; and in cases of great importance, those who do not pay to the local funds may out- vote the active financial member, or may undo that which may have been previously adopted." Permit me here to remark that having had many years' experience in local organization, I am fully aware that in almost every locality there will be found those who always look on things as going wrong. I defy any one to please these pick- thanks ! indeed, nothing is right for them, and you will generally find such men ( if such cha- racters can be called men) act from factious motives. Now I freely confess that the last sentence in the said rule, which runs thus, " But any person subscribing to the funds of the Association will be entitled to vote in all its proceedings," does give such parties a quibble to lay hold of, and might produce what you have described. But on the other hand, as the localities are empowered by the 5th local rule to determine the amount that shall be con- tributed weekly for local purposes, the 9th rule in the Consti- tution provides for every contingency, and is, I consider, very conclusive on the subject, when it says, " As any individual who fails to maintain his payments ( of course local as well as general) ceases to be a member of the Association ; he cannot vote unless his arrears be previously paid up." I ask what can be more plain and understandable than this ? Having said, what I trust will be satisfactory to the Dele- gates, relative to the Constitution, I now proceed to the alter- ations they require in the local rules; and here permit me to state that the Committee consider they have the power to make such alterations in the local rules as they may tnink best cal- culated for the Association to work harmoniously together, and • while they are of opinion that it would be impossible for them to frame such a code of local rules, as would meet with the approbation of, or indeed, suit every locality,( they deeming it necessary for each district or locality to make bye- laws for their own guidance), yet as the Committee are about having a quantity of the Constitution aud local rules printed for circu- lation among the members, the revision of the local rules will be taken into consideration at their next meeting, when you may rest assured the Committee will do their best to make them as perfect as possible; and I have no doubt that most of the alterations suggested by the Delegates will be agreed to. In conclusion, the Committee are most desirous of forming the veritable democratic mind of this mighty empire into one solid bond of union, so that when events, which are fore- shadowed, may arise, we may be able to take advantage thereof; in fact, that we may thoroughly understand each other— that we may know what we are about; not being deceived as we have been; not acting rashly, or precipitately. No false steps, no retrogression— but march on, firm and united, until we gain that consummation so devoutly to be wished— the lreeuom of the enslaved and toiling millions. Trusting this may be speedily realised, I am, fraternally yours, JOHN ARNOTT, General Secretary. NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.—- The Emperor Napoleon was thoroughly unscrupulous. He would steal, slander, assassi- nate, drown, and poison, as his interest dictated. He had no generosity, but mere vulgar hatred. He was intensely selfish; he was perfidious; he cheated at cards; he was a prodigious gossip, and opened letters ; and delighted in his infamous police; and rubbed his hands with joy when he had intercepted some morsel of intelligence concerning the men aud women about him, boasting that " he knew everything:" and interfered with the cutting of the dresses of the women : and listened after the hurrahs and the compliments of the street, incognito. His manners were coarse. He treated women with low familiarity. He had the habit of pulling their ears, and pinching their checks, when he was in good humour, aud of pulling ears and whiskers of men, and of striking, and horse- play with them, to his last days. It does not appear that he listened at keyholes, or at least, that he was caught at it. In short, when you have penetrated through all this immense power and splendour, you were not dealing with a gentleman jit last, but with an impostor and a rogue; and he fully deserved the epithet of Jupiter Scapin, or a sort of scamp's Jupiter.— Emerson. HONOUR.— A soldier's honour is as delicate as a woman's : it must not be suspected. THE INIQUITOUS TAXES UPON KNOWLEDSE.—" The Tracts for the People," published by Chambers of Edin- burgh, and which circulated to the extent of 80,000 copies a- week, were abandoned under the pressure of the paper- duty. This step was in effect the abandonment of a busi- ness that circulated 18,000/. a- year in the employment of labour ; a sum equal to the maintenance of 600 families at 12s. a- week, or 2400 of the population. On the coarse paper used by tradesmen for wrapping their retailed goods the duty amounts to seventy or eighty per cent, of the original cost, and " forty per cent, on the combined cost"— out of every LOI paid, 4Z." is exacted as duty. " This amounts in large ironmongery businesses to a tax of more than 200(. a- year ; in the grocery business the grocer escapes by weighing with sugar, & c., which he sells, the heavy absorbent paper which wraps it; but the burden is thus thrown on the poor man, and is onerous in proportion to his poverty, in proportion to the small ness and frequency of his purchases. While the man in comfortable circumstances orders forty pounds' weight of sugar at once, the poor man comes for it in forty or eighty parcels, and he loses at least as much sugar as the weight of all the coarse absorbent paper which is used for wrappage. A paper has lately been manufactured in France from straw, which could be purchased iu the Edin- burgh market at 35s. or 40s. per ton, Is. 9d., or 2s. per hundredweight; bnt upon this material, which would cost less than one farthing a- pound, would be charged a tax of three half- pence a- pound. The Paris journal La Presse is published at 40 francs a- year ( 3G5 numbers) or the small- est fraction above one penny a number. The circulation was lately about 30,000 a- day, or about 10,950,000 copies a- year, weighing about 342 tons. Our excise- duty of 141.10s. on this quantity would be 5,000/.,— that is to say, a rate of some 29 per cent, on the whole cost of the paper and one of 10 per cent on the gross return of the publication, exclu- sively of advertisements. The stamp- duty and the paper- duty together would absorb the whole return of tbe publica- tion. If the exeise- duty were removed, and a complete free trade in paper established, we should compete advanta- geously with France and Belgium, and should supply the colonies on the most favourable terms.— Critic. Now READY, with the Magazines for April, No. XI. OF rpHE DEMOCRATIC REVIEW of BRITISH and J- FOREIGN POLITICS, HISTORY, and LITERA- TURE. Edited by G. JULIAN HARNEY. CONTENTS:—!. The Stamp Tax on Newspapers. 2. March of the Red Republic. 3. Revelations of the Building Trades, Part II. 4. A Glance at History, Part III. 5. The His- tory of Socialism. By Louis Blanc, Lecture II. 6. Democracy Defended, in reply to the " Latter- Day " ravings of Thomas Carlisle. 7. Two Years of a Revolution— 1848— 1819. 8. Letter from France. 9. Letter from America. 10. Political Postscript, & c. FORTY PAGES ( in a coloured wrapper), PRICE THREEPENCE. London: Published by J. WATSON, 3, Queen's Head Passage, Paternoster Row. NATIONAL CHARTER ASSOCIATION. The Provisional Committee of the NATIONAL CHAR- TER ASSOCIATION hereby give notice, That they have taken an Office at No. 14, Southampton Street, Strand, where the Genera) Secretary, MR. JOHN ARNOTT, will be in attendance daily from 9 to 2 o'clock ( Sunday excepted), and on every Monday Evening, from 7 to 9. PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT. \ PUBLIC MEETING convened by the Provisional i- Committee of the National Charter Association will be held in the Hall of the Literary and Scientific Institution, John Street, Tottenham Court lload, on Tuesday Evening next, April 10th, for the purpose of reviewing the proceed- ings in Parliament during the past week. MISCELLANEOUS. " SCANDALOUS. — " Taxation without representation is tyranny," was the exclamation of Lord Chatham, and from his day to our own it has had the foremost place among the political axioms of Englishmen. Yet, strange as it may seem, it is a fact, that at the present moment, and notwith- standing a Parliamentary Reform Act, obtained only by a popular agitation closely verging upon rebellion, the great majority of the English people are still without any voice in the making of the laws by which they are governed, or in the levying of the taxes which they are compelled to pay. REYNOLDS'S WEEKLY NEWSPAPER. A JOURNAL OF DEMOCRATIC PROGRESS AND GENERAL INTELLIGENCE. PRICE FOUR- PENCE. fTlHE good cause of Democracy has made such rapid pro- J- gress within the last two years,— having received no small portion of its impulse aud a considerable amount of its inspirations from tlie grand and startling events which have occurred upon the Continent of Europe,— that this development of liberal and enlightened ideas in the British dominions requires a more ample succour and a larger re- presentation on the part of the newspaper press. Every new journal, therefore, which may be issued with those views and iu those interests, must be regarded as an aux- iliary, and not as an opponent, to pre- existing prints of the same class. The spread of democratic principles has widened the arena for such action : the advocacy of popular rights de mands as many champions as possible ;— and the appear- ance of a new journalist in the field should be hailed with delight by his predecessors in the cause of progress. The monopolists of power, the privileged orders, aud the fa- voured classes of society, are supported by nearly the whole newspaper press of this country ; and the few noble excep- tions to this rule constitute, by the fact of their limited num- ber, a striking proof of the necessity of establishing addi- tional organs as the representatives of Labour's rights and the champions of Labour's wrongs. Under these circumstances, aud animated with those im- pressions, Mr. G. W. M. REYNOLDS has resolved to issue a Weekly Newspaper, which will be devoted to the cause of freedom and the interests of the enslaved masses, lu its political sentiments it will be thoroughly democratic : while as an organ of general intelligence, it will yield to none in the copiousness of its news, the interest of its miscellaneous matter, and the variety of its information. It will therefore prove not only a staunch, fearless, and uncompromising friend of popular principles, but likewise a complete and faithful chronicle of all domestic, foreign, and colonial news of interest or value. Arrangements have been made with some of the most eminent democratic writers of the day to ensure their as- sistance in the columns of REYNOLDS'S WEEKLY NEWSPA- PER; and the services of able correspondents have been retained in Dublin, Paris, Madrid, Berlin, Vienna, Turin, Rome, Athens, Constantinople, and New York. The ac- quaintance of Mr. REYNOLDS,' with the principal foreign patriots now dwelling as temporary refugees in the British metropolis, will likewise enable him to afford his readers the best and most accurate views of the progress i f events upon the Continent of Europe;— and one of the leading features of his journal will be the weekly exposure and refutation of the diabolical falsehoods and wilful mis- statements so shamelessly published by several London daily newspapers relative to the progress of democracy and the characters of leading democrats in foreign climes. The price of Four- pence has been fixed upon as the one best calculated to ensure a fair trial for the new venture ; so that there may be an adequate margin for conducting the journal with the utmost liberality, and leaving a proper remuneration for the labour and time devoted by Mr. REY- NOLDS to the undertaking. But while he promises to dimin- ish this price, should circumstances eventually permit, lie distinctly and emphatically pledges himself on no account to augment it. An amouut of circulation surpassing his hopes at the outset, or the removal of the oppressive Taxes upon Knowledge, will prompt the former course: but he would rather carry on the enterprise at a considerable pe- cuniary loss weekly, than have recourse to the latter expe- dient. There will be Four Editions of the newspaper issued weekly :— the First ill time for post- hour on Friday even- ing; the Second for the early trains on Saturday morning; the Third for the evening post of Saturday; and the Fourth for delivery on Sunday morning. The first Number, printed with entirely new type, and on a fine stout paper, will make its appearance in the early part of May. To save " trouble, it may be as well to state that no credit will be given for Subscriptions, Agencies, or Advertise- ments. Cards specifying the scale of prices for Advertisements may be obtained at the office. Books for review will receive prompt attention and be impartially dealt with. NOTICE.— All persons intending to take the First Number ^/• REYNOLDS'S WEEKLY NEWSPAPER, are requested to give their orders in due time to their local news- agents or venders of cheap periodicals. Published for the Proprietor, by JOHN DICKS, at Mr. REYNOLDS'S Establishment, No. 7, Wellington Street North, Strand. THE COMMITTEE OF THE FUND FOR THE WIDOWS OF SHARP AND WILLIAMS Hereby beg to give notice that a Meeting of the said Com- mittee will be held at the Office of tbe National Charter Association, 14, Southampton Street, Strand, on Monday Evening, April 22nd, 1850. Chair to be taken at half- past seven precisely, when all who have had Tickets for sale for the late Tea Meeting at the National Hall, are especially solicited to attend. Signed, on behalf of the Committee, WILLIAM DAVIS, Chairman. Chair taken at Eight o'Clock. Admission Free. 96, REGENT STREET, LAMBETH. TAMES GRASSBY takes this opportunity of informing " his numerons friends, that he carries on the business of CARPENTER and JOINER, at the above address, in all its branches, and assures I hose friends who may favour him with their patronage and support, that all work executed by him, shall be of the best, description of workmanship aud materials, which, combined with the strictest economy in charges, and punctuality in business, he trusts will ensure him their favours. Estimates given for all kinds ot work in the building line; . alterations, repairs, shop fronts, fixtures, & c., executed in ! the best possible style, and at the lowest charge for Cash. N. B.— Rent collector, and General House Agent. Observe the address, JAMES GEASSBY, 96, Regent Street, Lambeth. A BOROUGH OF GREENWICH. PUBLIC MEETING convened by the Provisional Committee of the NATIONAL CHARTER ASSOCIATION ! will be held in the LECTURE IIALL, Greenwich, on Monday Evening, April 15th. George W. M. Reynolds, G. Julian Harney, S. M. Kydd, Walter Cooper, J. Bronterre O'Brien, aud other Friends to Democratic and Social Progress, will : attend and address the Meeting. Chair to be taken at Eight o' Clock. *** ADMISSION FREE. i Office of the National Charter Association, 14, Southampton Street, Strand. April ilk, 1850. JOHN ARNOTT, General Secretary. i LONDON : Printed and Published, tor the PROPRIETOR, by 1 JOHN DICKS, at the Office of REYNOLDS'S MISCELLANY, 7, Wellington Street North, Strand.