period continued to agitate the public mind, and to form the debateable territory between the ministers and their opponents. Mr. Sheridan had not yet fairly exhibited the powers which were in some time to add so much to his reputation; and this question is only important here, as having afforded the field of debate, on which the Whigs struggled into a brief authority. With the cautious tact for which he was so remarkable, he kept out of the sway of the fiercer conflicts, and the : collision of the fiercer animosities, that attended the greater question of party. On lesser occasions, and there were some of much interest, he availed himself of occasion, or exhibited his useful zeal. One of these occasions may be selected for its own interest; on the 5th March, 1781, we find him moving "for the better regulation of the police of Westminster." There had been riots of the most alarming and mischievous nature in the metropolis, during the previous sum not possible to be maintained a moment longer. The question of right resolves itself thus can one country govern another of equal power, against its will? The colony may throw off the yoke, when it is arrived at the maturity of independent powers and interests. The policy of the English government was quite inconsistent with the actual relations between England and America. The latter had grown to imperial dimensions, and become invested with that complexity of interests, which must attend the mature development of a national system, differently circumstanced, whose interests were not identical with those of England. Separated by half the world, they could hardly be understood with sufficient precision for the ordinary purposes of government; and what, in truth, must be plain to every one, no one government can be enough for two distinct nations, having distinct and separate interests. This truism contains the strength of the question. Separated from England by no narrow frith-and marked by position and extent, for separate interests and relations-America had grown up into national adolescence; while this country, regardless of all considerations, endeavoured to maintain over her a power, which she, in fact, does not exercise over her own provinces. Commercial regulations, which were calculated to repress the growing importance of America, and in which the interests of this kingdom only, were contemplated, better suited the condition of the slave, than the subject. This, although the occasion of continued remonstrance, both in England and America, was borne through a long course of years. The navigation act had fostered the infant trade of the colonies, and had helped to enrich them by investments of British capital. It had the authority of time; the stamp act was repelled by the growing spirit of the country-and its repeal gave a precedent for resistance.This resistance was justifiable, and it should have been a warning. An extreme inconsistency was next committed by the English government. America had, from the beginning, exercised a discretion in her internal affairs. She had her own debt, and her own revenue; she had also her own council, and was not represented in England. Under these circumstances, the imposition of taxes, under whatever form and however slight, amounted to an alarming declaration of despotic right; and the duty on tea had the effect of kindling a flame that never subsided until America was what she should be, an independent nation. It is, indeed, strange, how false maxims possess the human mind, so as to regulate the policy of ages. abstract idea of national parentage, raised the spirit both of the people and their rulers, into the tenacity of an arrogant claim of empire, unfounded in nature. the relations of countries, might makes a principal ingredient in the right of supremacy; but then, its limiting principles should be the national equity which in all things, endeavours to secure the greatest sum of good to all. An In Such were the general features of the great question which occupied the country, and approached its termination, when Sheridan began his parliamentary career. It was deeply injurious to the country in many respects, as it gave an impulse to the spirit of popular exaction—and a handle for the dissemination of dangerous fallacies, among those who are, by their want of constitutional knowledge, incapable of distinctions. In combating the encroachments of despotism, Mr. Fox advocated the extreme principles of democracy; and, by the splendour of his abilities, gave them a sanction which they have not yet lost. The historian of the mighty minds of that day should, however, not fail to observe, that the whole fallacy of these views, had not then been disclosed by experience. They did not then imply the whole alternative of profligacy or ignorance, which rests on their modern advocacy. The line had not yet been passed between the rights of king and people, and extreme principles had some claim to be viewed as an excess on the right side. mer. A mob, headed by Lord George Gordon, with a view to intimidate the government, committed the most furious excesses, and filled London with conflagration and terror. Lord Mansfield's house was pulled down; property was destroyed to an immense amount; Newgate was burned down; the Fleet and the King's Bench, the Marshalsea, and all the other prisons were broken open, and all prisoners set free. The magistrates were, or pretended to be, intimidated, and it was evident that matters were proceeding to the most destructive extremity. Of necessity, the King was obliged to interfere, and the military were called into the fray, which was thus happily suppressed. The proceeding was attempted to be stigmatised by the Whigs, as unconstitutional. They admitted the necessity of the occasion-but pretended that the minister should, under these circum stances, have sought refuge in an act of indemnity. The conduct of the government was not, however, compromised by such a concession; which it must be seen claims a most unconstitutional prerogative for the mob, and removes both the constitutional selfprotection of government and the right of the people to protection.* The power of the sword may be abused; but, not to say that this is the common condition of all power, it is less liable to be carried to extreme lengths, than the ferment of the dregs of democracy. An armed multitude, however ordered, may produce some cases of outrage, and must cause alarm; but it is an observable fact, that the slightest case of mischief from the hand of constituted authority is more offensive to the popular mind, than the massacre of a village, from the outrage of a lawless mob. Another occasion may be noticed, which was, perhaps, more strictly suited to Sheridan's talents. Inconveniences had been experienced from some provisions of the marriage act. And the consideration of these had led to a further review of the act. Mr. Fox brought in a bill for its repeal, June 15, 1781; but carried his proposed measure towards the visionary extremes, to which his sanguine 66 temper had a strong bent. Sheridan showed the spirit and independence of his character by resisting the strange Quixotisms of his master and friend. Fox, if he followed the native impulse of his genius, would establish a republic in the nursery. His best apology was spoken by Mr. Burke, even in that measure by which he would take away paternal power, he is influenced by filial piety; and he is led into it by a mistake natural to him, that the ordinary race of mankind advance as fast towards maturity of judgment and understanding as he does." The sentence is valuable for its general truth. Fox was the most amiable of men; and much of his latitudinarian views arose from the singleness of heart that anticipated no ill. The strength of opposition was rapidly on the increase; and on Gen. Conway's motion to put a stop to the American war, 22d February, 1782, the ministers were saved by a single vote. Five days after the combat was renewed in another form; and the minister was beaten by nineteen votes. On the 20th Lord North signified to the house, that "the present administration was no more.' The new administration was formed by the Marquis of Rockingham, as first lord of the treasury. The Earl of Shelburne and Fox were appointed principal secretaries of state. Sheridan being one of the under secretaries During this period he had as yet taken no very prominent part in the debates, although the attention of the house and the country had continued to be agitated by a succession of questions of the deepest interest and importance. For this moderation he received the applause of his judicious friends. There were many reasons which must have operated on his good sense-to enforce this prudent self-restraint, a mind like his would naturally make rapid advances in the accumulation and application of knowledge of men and measures. And no man was more fitted by nature than Sheridan to seize with intuitive tact on the manner in which the general sense of the new circle into which he had found his way, might * The reader may be gratified by the opinion of a higher authority :-" June 14th, (1780.) There has been indeed a universal panic, from which the king was the first that recovered. Without the concurrence of his ministers, or the assistance of the civil magistrates, he put the soldiers in motion, and saved the town from calamities, such as a rabble's government must naturally produce."-Johnson's Letter to Mrs. Thrale. operate for or against him. Aristocratic pride will naturally take the alarm when brilliant talent has the effect of raising a person of low birth or equivocal pretensions, into a contact on terms approaching equality. But there is a broader though less intelligible feeling of jealousy, which affects classes whose pretension to respect is founded on any peculiar department of knowledge. The mathematical Class judges of a man by his mathematical ability-men of business by expertness in the details of affairs; and there is a strong and natural opposition to any claim of superiority dependent on high distinction in some other walk. But amongst all these, there is perhaps no sense of this kind of jealousy so strong as that between the public and the literary man. There is pretension of the same kind, so differently manifested, that their respective degrees of merit cannot be adjusted by comparison; and as comparison is the popular way of thinking, a strong sense of opposition is propagated in prejudices. With this, a sense is mingled, of the jealousy of being eclipsed by pretensions which are not willingly acknowledged. The feeling is both coarse and common; but like all our latent feelings, cannot be stated without the appearance of refining. It will easily, however, be felt, that the communis sensus, or esprit de corps, of professed politicians must be offended at the implied sanction by which the comedian and "wit upon the town," might claim so pretending an affinity with orators, members of committees, and statesmen. Sheridan's course was, in this respect, one of consummate tact and address. By slow degrees of progress, he allowed one character to sink, while he diligently cultivated and put forward the other. The most glaringly opposed associations blend into union, and become consistent in the minds of the crowd, whose judgments are but prejudices, even on the side of truth. Sheridan's known and familiar associates were the most commanding spirits of the day. And before he began to occupy the leading place which his talents claimed, both parliament and the public had come to look on him less in his character of manager and dramatist, than as the friend of Fox and the ally of Burke. Nor was it long before a loftier and intrinsically more honorable distinction graced his other claims to reputation, in the friendship of the Prince of Wales. In this position it is, that the biographer may dwell for a while with complacency on the successes, and on the prosperous ascent of talent and merit like Sheridan's. In the final estimate of posterity, an equity too severely just, pronounces upon the result of a life. The termination which crowns with approbation the bright event of adverse and often equivocal appearances, fixes also the worth of brilliant talents happy dispositions and favoring circumstances marred by indiscretion. The characters of men, in the estimate of posterity, will lie as they fall; and we have no right to protest against the award which is not merely just but useful. But the biographer has also a private duty on a lesser scale to fulfil, equally consistent with truth, justice, and utility. In claiming praise for worth and talent, and commiseration for that mixture of folly, infatuation, and misfortune, by which they have been baffled and overcome, as well as corrupted, he is but enforcing a lesson equally awful and affecting on the pride of man. He exhibits the caution and providence required to ensure success; he has to show how slight errors and deviations may accumulate in their consequences, and how passion, vice, and indolence, gather force from indulgence, and neutralize the happiest opportunities to brightest powers. Sheridan's sagacity was, perhaps, of the highest order. No man was more alert to see the slightest indications of wind and tide, in the steering of court intrigue; and no man was less likely to lower and compromise himself by a base and dishonorable use of finesse. In the associations which now opened to him a seemingly auspicious road to honor and wealth, he had qualities which, with discretion, might, in time, have enabled him to take a more leading position. His common sense and sagacity gave him an advantage over Fox; and the stern and uncomplying earnestness which fixed and elevated the master spirit of Burke, gave Sheridan a similar advantage over him in the intercourse of personal communication, which forms so much of the real working of public affairs. Burke's overmastering spirit was an influence from which men were glad to be relieved; and this in proportion to their own importance. Fox, on the other hand, had, in his ardent and fiery nature, something of the meteoric, and impressed a sense of the danger of being carried away into extreme lengths. In the varied sources of human in fluence, there is none which can be carried so far as that of the social kinda pleasing countenance-a general tone of sense the companionable powers of wit and vivacity-the ready sympathy, with all the varying moods-the quick rebound of mind-the salient wit-the ready repartee-the tone of mind equally capable of seriousness and levity, as occasion may require. These were the characters of Sheridan's general demeanor: His persuasiveness and the fascination of his manner, can only now be judged of by the effects which they are known to have produced; and these effects fell little short of the notion of enchantment, The miracles of his address, are altogether unparalleled in our recollections of human adroitness and influence. He could unlock the heart of thrifty avarice to his large necessities, and convert the anxious solicitation of the suspicious creditor into the improvidence of a fresh loan. Of such a character, under favorable. circumstances, and under the influence of controlling prudence, the influence will grow in silence behind the scenes, and gather breadth and depth of power. This view, founded in the facts of Sheridan's life, may not only illustrate the true elevation to which he was at this time raised, and the splendid avenue to fame and power which opened before him, but may account to the reader, both for his advancement in the political arena, and for the obvious preference by which, while more powerful men were held in a specious alliance, he became the friend, adviser, and confidant of the Prince of Wales. THE WILD-FLOWER. "Full many a flower is born to blush unseen, Flower whom the desert beareth, And human folly spareth, Whose fragrant wreathe No worldlings breathe No tinsel Fashion weareth, O! born for nature only, In living green enthrone thee! From heaven above Stars look upon thee nightly; Morn makes thee bright, Pass from thy dell With scents which tell The secret of their straying. The insect choir Around thy beauty hovers; The lark at morn doth press thee, The loitering bee caress thee, Sweet lips inhale The wild sweet gale And lovers turn to bless thee. Gray. J. U. U. HINTS FROM HIGH PLACES.NO. V. "Ich, Ebenbild der Gottheit, das sich schon Ich, mehr als Cherub, dessen freie Kraft I fell asleep as usual. Such is the beginning of every dream. Yet mine was not all a dream. I found myself, as I thought, after some hours, rubbing my eyes in a strange place. The light was too strong for me, and yet it was not as strong as sunlight. I was lying on the softest and finest turf, by the side of a clear calm stream, and there were mountains near, with some low wood on this side of them. The effect of things can be described, negatively, in one word -unearthly. The landscape was as clear and distinct as day where the light struck; but the shadows were black and abrupt, and no middle tint -no chiaro oscuro could find room to edge itself in as a mediator between the contending principles. Black met white, sheer and sharp, and covered the scene with strong harsh lines, as if they had fortified every inch of space against each other, and were not inclined to leave a single spot of neutral ground. The stream beside me absolutely burned in the splendour of the luminary that hung above it—a luminary which I could neither identify with It was a great sun, moon, nor star. white ball of light, far exceeding in apparent circumference any of them; and in its colour and intensity only resembled by the blue, diamond-like splendour of some of the fixed stars. If we could imagine Sirius attacked by a fit of curiosity, and advanced a few myriads of leagues to prowl about in the neighbourhood of our system, such, perhaps, might be the appearance of the celestial Paul Pry. The effect was enhanced, too, by the same warfare of light and shade exhibited between it and the sky, as I have described to have tessellated the ground below. The heavens were one black varnished mass-no cloud appeared— not a breath of air stirred-no sound was heard. I begun by saying I rubbed my Faust. eyes; but as every one in such a situation rubs his eyes with the idea that by so doing he may make things appear in some sort, manner, or degree different from what they did before the operation, I looked round me again to see if they had represented matters truly at first. But I could perceive no difference. Herbage and foliage were as fine, the mountains as ghostly, the river as much on fire, the sky as pitchy, and the what shall I call it? the great white silver salver as large, white, and silver salverish as ever. I was puzzled, I confess; and as is the case when a man is puzzled by any supernatural phenomenon, my courage began to shew decided symptoms of disaffection. Eneas, and many other worthies of old, were not too wonder-proof to tremble at miracles, so that I feel the less shame in confessing that the usual manifestations of dread began to shew themselves upon me; my hair stood up, my body sweated coldly, and above all, my tongue adhered so fast to the roof of my mouth, that I was unable to utter that wild cry which was ready at the bottom of my lungs, and with which I should certainly have made the solitude ring if I had had the power. At last my eyes swam, my ears tingled, and I dont know what became of me. All things, however, must have an end. Accordingly, I recovered; and as every thing was quite quiet and unchanged round me, I begun to be reconciled to my fate, and to get my reason once more astride upon my imagination, with the reins in its hand. The first symptom of returning rationality I shewed was to get up on my feet. This, let me say, was an important step. When a man is on his feet, he is as different a being from the same man when on his back, as a warrior in his armour is to his image |