powerful as that will is, the result of a collision would most assuredly be fatal to "the proudest aristocracy in Europe," the programme of the days of the commonwealth would be rehearsed, and the House of Lords, as Mr. Burke observed of France, be "blotted out" of the political firmament. Such a catastrophe would be deeply to be deplored, as there is no foreseeing to what monstrosities in government it might give birth. Forewarned, forearmed, and as what has once happened may happen again, the following historical anomaly is subjoined:

"AN ACT FOR ABOLISHING THE HOUSE OF PEERS, passed the 19th of March, 1648 (Old Style).

"The Commons of England assembled in parliament, finding, by too long experience, that the House of Lords is useless, and dangerous to the people of England to be continued, have thought fit to ordain and enact, and be it ordained and enacted by this present parliament, and by the authority of the same, that from henceforth the House of Lords in parliament, shall be and is hereby wholly abolished and taken away; and that the Lords shall not from henceforth meet or sit in the said house called the Lords' House, or in any other house or place whatsoever, as a House of Lords; nor shall sit, vote, advise, judge, or determine of any matter or thing whatever, as a House of Lords in parliament; nevertheless, it is hereby declared, that neither such Lords as have demeaned themselves with honour, courage, and fidelity to the commonwealth, nor their posterities (who shall continue so), shall be excluded from the public councils of the nation, but shall be admitted thereunto, and have their free vote in parliament, if they shall be thereunto elected, as other persons of interest elected and qualified thereunto ought to have. And be it further ordained and enacted by the authority aforesaid, that no peer of this land (not being elected, qualified, and sitting in parliament as aforesaid) shall claim, have, or make

use of any privilege of parliament, either in relation to his person, quality, or estate, any law usage, or custom to the contrary notwithstanding."

is

Every one must see that government can only be carried on in accordance with public opinion; that is, in accordance with the opinion of the metropolis and great towns of the kingdom. What that opinion may be derived by a more infallible test than even the composition of the House of Commons—namely, the tone of the public journals: they represent the national mind, and the direction of that mind unequivocally is to the substantial, not the illusive, removal of abuses. The giant power that created a reformed parliament will support it in carrying through those specific measures of general alleviation for which parliamentary reform itself was conquered.

One of the consequences of past misgovernment has been such as its authors did not calculate upon. The Tories, when contracting the monstrous debt, and infolding every one in their fiscal web, were not aware of the trap they were preparing for themselves; they were not aware that they were giving a greater political power to the people at large than they could possibly have done by the establishment of universal suffrage itself. A large revenue can only be collected from an intelligent people while they are willing to pay it, and they will only be willing to pay it so long as public measures are in accordance with the public sentiment. The people, therefore, may exultingly exclaim of their rulers as Cromwell

of his enemies,-" The Lord has delivered them into our hands!" and government can only escape from this dilemma by the repeal of direct taxes, and by narrowing the circle of taxation; but these again are protective expedients, the adoption of which is next to impossible, in consequence of the pecuniary obligations in which they have recklessly tied themselves up!

CHAP. VI.

LAWS, MORALS, AND MANNERS.

PAINE truly observes, that a great part of that order which reigns among mankind has its origin in the principles of society and the natural constitution of man.* The mutual dependence and reciprocal interest which man has upon man, and all the parts of civilized community upon each other, create that great chain of connexion which holds it together. All classes and occupations prosper by the aid which each receives from the other and from the whole. Common interest regulates their concerns, and forms

Some of my readers may feel surprised I should quote a proscribed author like Thomas Paine. The truth is, I have been lately looking over his political writings, and found more in them that is absurd than dangerous. Government, by wisely allowing them to be publicly sold, has deprived them of whatever potency they once possessed. They contain ingenious thoughts, but in the main are a jumble of conceits and impracticable dogmas, which the age has outlived.

that code of manners and usages, which has really a greater influence on social happiness than the laws themselves.

Civilization is only another name for laws and manners, and at first view it may appear that a person whose sole dependence is on his labour is not so deeply interested in their maintenance as the man of property. But this is a fallacious impression, and more attentive consideration will demonstrate, that the poor as well as the rich share in the advantages of the social state.

The first and most important benefit derived by all classes from the law is personal security. This is an advantage we have so long been in possession of that we can scarcely conceive the value of it, yet the times have been when it did not exist. That we now enjoy this blessing may be ascribed to various social improvements, especially the abolition of vassalage, the establishment of police, and the power of magistrates to punish criminal violence. In some of the despotic countries of Europe personal security is still inadequately secured; in Russia, and several of the states of Germany, serfship exists, and as to any redress a peasant or other inferior person could obtain for any merely personal attack, as, for instance, a blow from his landlord, the idea is almost chimerical. In England a very different degree of civilization has been attained, and no person, however wealthy or high in station, could with impunity raise his finger against the humblest individual, either in anger, wantonness, or revenge. This security is

not limited to the person, it extends to the habitation. Every man's house is his "castle," and the cottage of the poor, no less than the mansion of the affluent, is protected from illegal intrusion.

The next important benefit derived from the supremacy of the law consists in the liberty of locomotion. A working man was formerly restricted to the soil like cattle; if he strayed beyond the boundary of his employer he might be brought back with stripes, perhaps in bonds. His domain is now as wide as the world; wherever interest, pleasure, or curiosity may prompt him to go, he has privilege to roam without any one having the right to question or impede his progress. This is certainly liberty; and if we add to it the other advantage of personal security in its exercise, we may truly call it enjoyment, and one of the most gratifying results of civilization.

We come to a third great advantage of civil society in the freedom of industry. Every adult person is considered by political economists a portion of accumulated capital. A mere labourer cannot be reared from infancy to manhood without the expenditure of a considerable sum in clothing and food. If to mere sustenance be superadded a costly education, or instruction in a useful trade, then the value is still further augmented, and the owner of such capabilities possesses as productive a source of revenue as a freehold estate. The industrious classes all possess more or less property of this description, in the free disposal of which, and its bene