It may be studied with peculiar advantage by all who | very good talents for painting life and manners, should have the care of the young, and particularly of girls; and deem it necessary, in order to be strong or intense, to also by those young women who would learn what con- mistake the legitimate end of fiction, and be so very often stitutes the glory, and best secures the happiness of their painful and disagreeable. There are, certainly, some sex and of the individual. powerful scenes in the novel; but the impression left by The Grate of Genius; a Tale. True yet Marvellous. By it, as a whole, is anything rather than pleasing or health J. O. La Mont. Another edition this, of a very old tale: that of a youth of genius who, wanting everything like useful working ability and experience of life, repairs to London as an aspirant for literary fame and daily bread, and sinks under the hopeless struggle. It is prettily told enough; but very useless, we fear, as a lesson. A Manual of Greek Prosody. By the Rev. Lewis Page A Treatise on Astronomy, displaying the Arithmetical NEW NOVELS. The Laurringtons ; or, Superior People. By Mrs. Trollope. 3 volumes. Longman & Co. ful. GLIMPSES OF NATURE, WITH ILLUSTRATIONS. By Mrs. Loudon. London: Grant & Griffith.-This is an account of an excursion to the Isle of Wight, made by a papa and mamma, and their little lively and intelligent daughter, Agnes Merton. Of course, Agnes saw many things that were new and strange, and asked her mother many pertinent questions; to which that lady replied in the kindest and most satisfactory way; and thus pleasant if not very profound dialogues pass between them, generally on subjects of natural history or about the surrounding objects and scenery. The little tome is very prettily illustrated. By the RHODA; OR, THE EXCELLENCE OF CHARITY. Author of the Cottage on the Common, &c. Grant & Griffith.-A nice little story this, for very little girls; but are not the villagers, in all such cases, grateful and adoring overmuch to their benefactors? THE LITTLE MAGAZINE OF USEFUL AND ENTERTAINING Knowledge. London Gilbert.-A selection of pieces in prose and verse for the use of young persons, and containing many good things. SKETCHES OF NATURE; COMPRISING VIEWS OF Zoology, BOTANY, AND GEOLOGY, Illustrated by original poetry. By Julia Lucretia Guinnes. London: Hamilton, Adams, & Co.-This is a very neatly printed, embellished, and altogether pretty book, about birds and flowers, and all manner of delightful things; and one which we consider peculiarly adapted to attract and improve young persons, both from the choice and the variety of the subjects, and the elegance and accuracy of the authorship. So clever and observant a fictionist as Mrs. Trollope, is not likely to produce any other than an entertaining and readable book, whatever humour she chooses to illustrate, or whatever class of society to describe or dramatize. Still, we cannot think that she has been eminently successful in The Laurringtons. The idea, or what, in the days of Ben Johnson, would have been called the Humour, embodied in the family group of superior people is exceedingly amusing; but it will not bear to be drawn out through three volumes. "The Laurringtons" will remind the reader a good deal of Mrs. Trollope's masterpiece, the "Widow Barnaby;" but without the broadly comic scenes, the amusement afforded by the brazen audacity of that matchless Widow, or the general truth of colouring, and the relief. There is here, as in the Widow, a gentle heroine; and a truly noble hero-half German though he be; and again, a little old maiden, the guardian genius of the lovers, the true, benevolent Fairy of the romance. Miss Charlotte Masterman, whose weak woman's artifice does indeed "Master man," is, if possible, more detestable than "The Barnaby," and her fortune-hunting not half so entertaining. She is a penniless young lady of noble connexions and high fashion, without one virtue or sterling quality to redeem her utter worthlessness. It has fallen to the share of Mrs. Trollope, whether by design or accident, to present the world with specimens of aristocracy more odious than any that ever a Radical's imagination dreamed of. Her late works are indeed powerful, if indirect, arguments for the abolition of the law of primogeaiture. How thoroughly unprincipled, and in every way heartless, are her poor and profligate younger bro-intended to meet that change in the principle of publicathers, and portionless daughters of fashion; left to shift tion which is expected to follow the late alteration of the for themselves by arts and villanies considerably viler law of copyright. Other publishers will follow in the train than open swindling or high-way robbery. of Mr. Murray; though it is yet difficult to say how the thing will work, as the men in the log-cabins of Canada, and in the Bush of Australia, have got that bad custom of buying the low-priced ugly American reprints and editions, which will not be easily overcome, Caleb Stukely. 3 volumes. Blackwood & Sons. Little need be said of a work which appeared piecemeal in Blackwood's Magazine, and is only concluded the other day. We consider it a pity that a writer, with SERIAL WORKS. MURRAY'S COLONIAL AND HOME LIBRARY. Nos. I. AND II.-BORROW'S BIBLE IN SPAIN.-The first-fruits of this new enterprise in publishing is, that a fresh work, which till the present generation has passed away, appears at the sells at a high price, and which must remain in copyright cost of five shillings. It is moreover printed on a good paper, in a very clear legible type; and if not an elegant, is a neat enough book. The COLONIAL LIBRARY is THE BRITISH MINSTREL. Parts 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Glasgow: 1 William Hamilton. This is an interesting and cheap musical work, which displays both good taste and careful selection. It does not aspire to greater originality. We propose to give an account of it at a more convenient season; as it concerns a class of readers interesting to our associations-young persons whose love of ballad-music, songs, and musical literature, is much stronger than their purses. THE ILLUSTRATED EDITION OF THE WORKS OF BURNS. Parts 7, 8, 9, 10. Glasgow: Blackie & Son.-In these Parts, Professor Wilson's manly and generous estimate of the character and genius of Burns is brought to a conclusion. How he does squabash that cold and sneaking precisian, Josiah Walker! It is dangerous for mediocre men to intermeddle with the sons of genius: for as sure as there is a fountain of love and reverence in the heart of man, Genius will one day or other revenge them. The Life of Burns, by Dr. Currie, also appears in the Parts on our table; with the noble character of Burns by Carlyle from The Edinburgh Review, and various other tributes to the poet's memory, both in prose and verse. The portraits are the Earl of Glencairn; Miss Euphemia Murray, the heroine of the song, " Blythe was she;" Mr. Smellie, the philosopher and printer of Edinburgh; and Mr. George Thomson. The landscape and scenic illustrations are numerous; some of them rich, and all of them pretty. OLD ENGLAND, a Pictorial Museum of Regal, Ecclesiastical, Baronial, Municipal, and Popular Antiquities. By Charles Knight. Part I.-This Museum consists of architectural and scenic plates, fac-similes of all kinds of weapons, costumes, coins, &c., whatever, in short, may illustrate the Past. The engravings are on wood, in the style of those of the Pictorial Histories and Penny Magazines; rude, or more correctly, unfinished, but spirited. This Part has, as a frontispiece, what is called an illuminated engraving; the subject being the Coronation Chair. It is done by one of those new and favourite processes of the day, by which an imitation of rare and costly things is obtained at small expense. We begin to think that the Past "hoar antiquity" and the wisdom of our ancestors, are looming rather large through modern publications; that they interfere too much with the necessities of the Present, and obscure the prospects of the Future. These things may be a pretty amusement enough for innocent grown-up idlers; though they are, in this cheap guise, after all, often but the rubbish of Art, and the lumber of memory. SCENERY AND ANTIQUITIES OF IRELAND. Parts XXIX. XXX. This work is ended; and, to say the truth, it was about time. The plates have generally been good, and often fine; but there must, of necessity, have been a degree of sameness or monotony in them, since life was wanting. The artists have, however, done their duty better than the undertaker-general for the letter-press, Mr. N. P. Willis. But Mr. Willis, we now learn for the first time, had an auxiliary in helping him to do very little; and part of the blame of the meagre notices may rest with that gentleman,-if, on the contrary, as we suspect, the sole merit does not belong to him of anything like research or original observation that is to be found in the letter-press descriptions. The work, with all this, is an elegant one, and not of the ephemeral character or flimsy structure of many of the illustrated books; since Ireland is a lasting subject. HORSE-SHOE NAILS. No. 5.-Minor Hugo here proposes to abolish washing-day, with its disagreeable concomitants, all over the world; and to have, in defiance of the maxim of Napoleon, all the dirty linen of society cleaned in Phalanterys, or by joint-stock or coöperative washing companies; which are, in every locality, to supersede the stated plague. To this extent, we daresay, Minor Hugo might obtain nearly the universal suffrage of mankind. But womankind is quite another consideration. Those who annihilate the notable housewife's washing-day, take away half her life. CUMMING'S FOXE'S BOOK OF MARTYRS. Parts XXVIII., XXIX. One of these Parts is embellished by a capital architectural plate; a view of the West Bow Head of Edinburgh, the way by which the Scottish Martyrs were led to the scaffold in the Grassmarket. The History is brought down to the last appearance of Latimer. CHAMBERS'S CYCLOPEDIA OF ENGLISH LITERATURE.— Part XII. goes from Armstrong to Crawford inclusive; CAPTAIN KNOX'S HARRY MOWBRAY. Part XI. PAMPHLETS AND TRACTS, &c. GUTCH'S LITERARY AND SCIENTIFIC ALMANACK.-A hodge-podge of useful information. Surely we have far too many Almanacs, to admit of many really good and useful ones. CONNELL'S ISLE OF MAN ALMANAC. GLENNY'S GARDENER'S ALMANAC for 1844. A VISIT TO THE Wild West; OR, A SKETCH OF THE EMERALD ISLE during the Past AUTUMN. By an English Traveller. Lettre à Monsieur de la Martine; suivie de la Reponse de Monsieur de la Martine, et de celle de Messieurs de Genoude et De Lafonet, sur le meme sujet. The sujet is politics-Liberal politics. The Legitimists are not the only party in France at present in a state of fermentation. REMARKS ON THE LIGHT-HOUSE SYSTEM OF GREAT BRI TAIN. By John Baldry Redman. THE COLD-WATER CURE. By Edwin Lee, Esq.-This pamphlet is meant to counteract the partial or one-sided views given of the cures performed at Graffenberg, by grateful patients on their return home; and also to rescue what is really good in hydropathy from the depreciating attacks of some of the medical profession. IRELAND BEFORE and After THE UNION WITH GREAT BRITAIN. By Montgomery Martin, Esq.-The best thing in this pamphlet is the query with which it concludes: "Would those who now contend for a repeal of the Legislative Union between the two Islands agree to a restoration of the state in which Ireland was previous to the Union?" That they would not! They have one and all more sense and patriotism. DIALOGUES METAPHYSICAL AND PRACTICAL. By James Forest, A.M. Dialogue First, between Space and Time, Mind and Matter.—An ingenious attempt to force people on the discussion of metaphysical questions, somewhat as little children are taught or cheated into the elements of science by catechisms. Time and Space talk in so lively and engaging a manner, that we shall be curious to hear what Mind and Matter shall have got to say, FLOWERS AND FRUIT. By James Elmslie Duncan.A small collection of essays, sketches, and verses; with, however incongruous it may seem, a pleading for the general adoption of vegetable diet. HINTS TO REPEALERS. By William Johnson Campbell.-There is nothing worthy of much attention in this pamphlet. Its author's system seems neither adapted to soothe nor to cure. REMARKS ON PAUPERISM, its Prevention and Relief. By John Taylor, A.M. Edinburgh: Maclachlan & Stewart. A series of dissertations on subjects connected with public economy and morals, written in a philosophical spirit. A PEOPLE'S EDITION OF DR. ANDREW COMBE'S PRINCIPLES OF PHYSIOLOGY, APPLIED TO THE PRESERVATION OF Health; being the TWELFTH.-No better addition has been made to the "FOLKS' Books" than Dr. Combe's contribution. It has, besides the great reduction in price, been revised, added to, and improved throughout. SEQUEL TO THE REAL MONSTER EVIL OF IRELAND.-In this sequel Mr. Stapleton goes over his former ground, and farther develops the grand remedial scheme, which we formerly described. A SERIES OF COMPOSITIONS FROM THE LITURGY. By John Bell, Sculptor. No. I.-The artist has commenced with compositions illustrative of the Lord's Prayer. The drawings, which are merely outlines, are free, flowing, and expressive: we need not say that they are all of the figure of groups in attitudes of devotion. PROCEEDINGS OF THE GENERAL PEACE CONVENTION, HELD IN LONDON, IN JUNE 1843. London: Peace Society's Office. A TREATISE ON PHOTOGRAPHY, CONTAINING THE LAST DISCOVERIES, &c., &c. By N. P. Lerebours, Optician to the Observatory, Paris. Translated by J. Egerton. Longman & Co.-This work will be peculiarly interesting, both to scientific men, and to those ingenious persons and they are a numerous class-who, from curiosity, are tempted to try experiments in this beautiful art. The French are still keeping before us in these processes; and the work of Lerebours, which is compiled from the communications of Daguerre, Claudet, Arago, &c., &c., describes the latest improvements and suggestions. 66 POSTSCRIPT POLITICAL. Is the modern Politician's Calendar, the month of December might aptly enough be termed the Guessing Month. It is then, and up to the meeting of Parliament, that all sorts of rumours and conjectures are set afloat; that feelers are thrown out by party organs, and tubs are launched to amuse the whale; while every new day demolishes the lie of yesterday, and spreads its more novel fabrication. According to one late rumour, the Whigs and Tories are to coalesce; in order, we presume, that a strong government may show a bold face to the country and the Anti-Corn-Law League, and save as much of the wreck of "Landlords' Protection" as is now possible. Other reports make the Whigs and Radicals fraternize, but forget to say for what purpose. Certainly not to carry a fixed duty on imported corn, and make a final stand upon the grand Russell principle of Finality. Reports, quite as extravagant, hint at Sir Robert Peel being about to become a Total Repealer! In the midst of these contradictory rumours, whether circulated by the quidnuncs of the Clubs, or by Editors at their wit's end for a new idea, and fond of being imagined in the secrets of the Government or the Opposition, we may mention a fresh report that has more of novelty to recommend it, with quite as much probability as any of those which have enlightened or amused the public during the currency of the Guessing Month. It is whispered in "high circles," that it is understood to be the intention of a great personage," on the first hitch, which cannot be very far distant, to send for Earl Spencer, who lately made so emphatic a declaration for Free Trade, and against fixed duties, sliding-scales, and all the other apparatus of monopoly. We do not see that the love of retirement, or any consideration of self, could absolve Earl Spencer from obeying the commands of his Sovereign in the contemplated emergency. He will, no doubt, receive ample powers to form a broad-based and really Liberal Administration; fitted to meet the exigencies of the times, and calculated by ability, integrity, and moral influence, to gain the support and win the confidence of every class of citizens. It is, however, believed that Earl Spencer will on no consideration accept of office. But is this a conjuncture in which a good man, with the power to serve his country, can conscientiously decline the responsibilities of place, on the mere plea of disinclination? Or if determined against place, then the new and anomolous office of Director-General of the Cabinet, and umpire of public affairs, held at present by the Duke of Wellington, may be vacant; and it cannot be more unconstitutional when held by a peaceful, sagacious, and Free Trade Earl, than by a warlike and Conservative Duke. If ever there was a time when, leaving factious motives and party interests to those that like them and thrive by them, enlightened and unanimous councils and energetic measures were required, it is now ; and from what party Administration, whether represented by Sir Robert Peel or by Lord John Russell, can the nation rationally hope for what it urgently requires ? These rumours and speculations may seem idle enough, and perhaps they are so ; but not so the pertinent question, That if Sir Robert Peel be not the man who is either to work out the salvation of the commonwealth, or even to lend a helping-hand in finishing what the League have all but accomplished without, or in spite of Whig or Tory help or opposition, who, then, is that man? Where are we to look for him? And if none such be found in the Whig or Tory ranks, the next question is-Does the country possess none of the desired material? Is there not intelligence and virtue sufficient in its own bosom to guide its councils and to save itself? In the heart of the people of America and of France, the rulers of France and America are looked for, and found. So, we F VOL. XI.-NO. CXXI. presume, it is expected to be in Ireland, should that country ever become an independent kingdom. England alone, though nearly all its science, knowledge, business talent, and enterprise, are to be found among its middle-classes, must be governed exclusively by its aristocracy; by Whig and Tory alternatively, as of hereditary right! When the Queen shall verify the above rumour (for which we do not vouch) by sending for Earl Spencer to aid her with his advice as to how a new government may best be framed, we anticipate that "Honest Lord Althorpe" will act upon the simple and true principle of, in every case, recommending the man best adapted for the office; that he will-to illustrate our opinion-point out Mr. Rowland Hill for Post-Master-General, as infinitely the best choice that could be made; and Mr. M'Gregor, Mr. Cobden, or Mr. Grote, for the Board of Trade. Either Mr. Joseph Hume or a reformed Sir Robert Peel might make a very fair Chancellor of the Exchequer. We are not so sure of Joseph Sturge, a man of peace, succeeding Lord Palmerston and Aberdeen as Foreign Secretary; but are next to certain, that Lord Dunfermline would be pointed out as Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland. We, however, merely enunciate the principle on which the new Ministry might be formed, and do not pretend to enter into details. Nor do we give currency to these rumours merely to raise a foolish laugh; but in the sober assurance, that official appointments must be made on this principle, before there can be either peace in Ireland, or prosperity in England. At the feet of a very different sort of Gamaliel from Lord Spencer, the young Queen is said to have been indoctrinated in the principles of the British Constitution; but now it is desirable, that from such men as his Lordship she should learn somewhat more than she can yet know, of the condition and the wants of the British people; and that their influence were felt in her Councils, although their presence might not be visible there. It is quite true, that no monarch, no government, can, all at once, make a whole people wise, good, and happy; but every government has the power to remove those impediments which render it impossible for a large proportion of the people to emancipate themselves from the thraldom of ignorance, poverty, and vice. And the first and great preparatory step, in the case of our own country, is doing the people the bare justice to unfetter their industry, and lighten their burdens; or in plain words, which are best,—to prevent the landlords' and monopolists' grasp from longer reaching their pockets and their bread-baskets. In speculating upon changes in the Administration, or of Lord John Russell taking, for a time, the place of Sir Robert Peel, no one appears to get farther than the hackneyed idea, that, as a matter of course, the Whigs must come in; because Sir Robert Peel has lost the confidence of the middle-classes, and is distrusted and deserted by the High Tories. No one seems to believe the Premier possessed of that moral courage, of that confidence in himself, and that strength of purpose which, by arousing the enthusiasm of the country, might make the day of his apparent defeat the birth-hour of his ultimate triumph. And yet so timid is dishonesty, that some of the Whigs seem in trepidation lest the manœuvring Sir Robert should once more forestall them, by all at once giving effect to his "abstract principles." However this may be, Sir Robert will assuredly not stoop to pick up the abortive Whig "fixed duty." That is now repudiated by everybody but Whigs. They need not be alarmed for Sir Robert's manoeuvres here. In the possible or probable accession of the Whigs to office, upon the certainly not-improbable downfall of Peel -too wise and conscientious to be a mere Tory tool, and, perhaps, too prejudiced and timid to become a Liberal even on merely fiscal questions-we do not see, as many seem to do, a merely simple and natural sequence of events; but, on the contrary, one to be jealously watched and strictly scrutinized. With what new claim do the Whigs propose themselves for office? Have they changed either their faith or practice since 1841? Were they not less Reformers in that year than in 1836? Then we had a section of them, headed by Lord Durham, patronizing, at the least, Household Suffrage, or a Five Pound Qualification. Since that period, every recurring election has more forcibly demonstrated the defects of the Reform Bill; originally a very imperfect machine, and one requiring constant cobbling in all its parts. But the more of feebleness and inaptitude that was discovered in its rickety frame, the more dear has it become to its doating parent, Lord John Russell. In the meanwhile the Whigs have retrograded so far, that Lord Durham's plan is wholly forgotten; and now we have only Chartists, Complete Suffrage Liberals, (both Total Repealers,) and Finality Whigs with the party badge of a fixed duty. Now, we ask, Could the accession of this last party to power do anything but damage the cause of Free Trade, and of farther Reform in the Representation? Should the Whigs be suffered to shuffle into place, in virtue of party prestige, the same men that they went out, followed by the regret of no man save their own host of retainers and expectants? If Sir Robert Peel will do nothing, while he in effect confesses that he knows much is wanted which he is in theory inclined to approve, let him depart! But what is Lord John Russell to do? What great measure does he propose, and what are his powers to carry it? Any truly great measure which an honest and able government might bring forward, would, in fact, carry itself in its own strength. But dare we look for such a measure from the Whigs? Although we would purchase even the temporary tranquillity of Ireland at almost any price, we would not, though the Whigs could ensure us this-which they cannot-see them glide back into office, taking advantage of a distressing emergency, but unpledged to any one good measure. Ireland, Earl Spencer may safely tell her Majesty, is not only the "chief difficulty" of Sir Robert Peel, but must long remain the chief difficulty of every British cabinet; Radical-if such should occur as well as Whig or Tory. The Abolition of the Corn Laws no longer, comparatively, presents any great difficulty. Abolish them at once, and the good will soon become apparent; and things adjust themselves in the natural order. An Extension of the Suffrage presents no great difficulty. Carry the measure, and you remove a fruitful and interminable cause of discontent, and ensure a future good. But the strangely-complicated and inveterate disease, which has eaten into the heart's core of Ireland, has had manifold causes, and will submit to no simple or short process of cure, whoever be the State doctors. And let us not forget, that every argument for a government of Whigs-whom O'Connell very sincerely despises-ought to be tenfold more strong for a government of Liberals; of Radicals, with whom the Irish leaders affect to sympathize, and upon whom they could rely for something better than Coercion Bills, and an Army of Occupation.--But Earl Spencer and Lord Dunfermline will be sent for. This ought to be no joke; and Mr. Grote, and Mr. Cobden, and Mr. Rowland Hill will follow. If the Whigs retrograded from 1834, until they took post on Finality, and only crept on, when driven, to a fred duty, the country has advanced by great strides, both on the question of Free Trade and Extension of the Suffrage; and it now demands,-What token has Lord John Russell given-we take him as the representative of his party-that he is less wedded to his idols, landlords' protection and aristocratic influence in Parliament, than before? He had the honesty, whatever may be thought of the modesty, to confess that his Reform Bill was contrived to increase the influence of the lords of the soil in the House of the People; which, industry, and the extension and wealth of the commercial and manufacturing interests, were gradually undermining. From the Whigs, were their reappearance likely, we are entitled to something more than the Total Repeal of the Corn Laws, which they seem so reluctant to concede, or than the old soothing-system,—the dosing with opiates—if not Coercion Bills, for Ireland. We shall not now be greatly overburdened with gratitude to any party in power that may concede the Total Repeal of the Corn Laws. The League, backed by the intelligence, and may we not now say the enthusiasm of the electoral body and the people, have virtually carried that already. The farmers, the first to suffer and the last to be convinced, are awakening at last from a long dream of delusion. Now we should grieve to see the harvest sown in care and pain by Cobden and Bright and their associates, reaped by any other than the legitimate inheritors-the People; or its seeds producing nothing better than office to a Party. The bringing down the Dagon of Monopoly is the earnest of farther advantages, which ought to be strenuously followed up; and we must not be juggled out of them by party fallacies. These Lord Spencer is neither apt to be deluded by, nor to employ. He is a clear-headed, sagacious, moderate Liberal, who never pretended to be that suspicious character, a democratic born-aristocrat. He saw through, and pointed out, the practical dangers of the Chandos Clause, when true Reformers were deceived by it; and be better understands the principles of social progression than now to declare himself a Finalist. But, laying aside Lord Spencer, who is, no doubt, for himself much more happily occupied in private than he could be in public life, there can be no necessity for submitting to a Government of either incapable or unwilling Whigs, or of Tories, in the same predicament. Seven or eight years since, it was a favourite speculation with Liberals, to construct, upon paper, a Radical Cabinet. If Radical zeal has in some quarters waxed cold since that period, the materials of an efficient Liberal or Radical Government are not less plentiful than then. It would not be difficult to nominate for every place in the Cabinet twice over; and challenge Europe to answer if our men are not, save in the accident of birth and family connexion, by their knowledge, activity, honesty of purpose, breadth of statesman-like views, and practical business talents, better qualified to perform the functions of Government, than any administration of which we have had experience. Ay; but they would not possess the confidence of the country. Now, the confidence of the country they would possess; though they might lack the favour, and endure the bitter hostility of the aristocracy. To come to a more specific point: there appears, we have said, to be a dread, in some quarters, that Sir Robert Peel may adopt the Whig fixed duty of eight shillings a-quarter, or perhaps cut below the Whigs, down to five or six shillings. He surely cannot be so simple. He will not abandon his favourite sliding-scale,-which has, in fact, abandoned him,-merely to replace it by a stale Whig measure, to which no man in his senses will longer listen. What, coupled as it was with other measures having a right tendency, might, in 1841, have been acquiesced in for a time, it would be weakness to receive now. bert Peel wishes to forestall the Whigs, it can only be by total abolition. If Sir Ro Whatever becomes of his Tories, the majority of the electoral body will support any Minister who, nailing his colours to the mast, declares for Total Repeal. Less will satisfy no member of the League. That Association has not, we would hope, in the opinion of the nation, performed its work so badly, that it must all be done over again at some future period, in order to get rid of the fermentive dregs of the iniquitous impost, the eight or five shilling duty. If the principle of a tax on the people's food, for the protection, as it is called, of the landowners, be recognised, and retained in any shape, what shall prevent its increase? We have had half-adozen changes of sliding-scales and corn-laws within the last thirty years; and what is to give security against other changes and increase in the amount of duty? What shall prevent what is eight shillings this year from becoming sixteen shillings in another, or twenty-four shillings in a third? Besides, the effects of Free Trade can never have scope for development while any vestige of duty or restriction remains. The League have not surely, as we said, done their work in so loose or slovenly a way, that it may be all to do over again in another generation. We are not afraid of this; but then the next settlement must be final. If Sir Robert Peel has courage to be the minister that will manfully propose the only admissible terms of final settlement, there is, we believe, a spirit in the country that will bear him out. But he has not. It is mere folly to look for it. Will Lord John Russell then, sometime between this and next Easter, looking to the triumphant progression of the League-to its geometrical progression-screw his courage to the proper pitch; declare, like Earl Spencer, for Total Repeal of the Corn Laws, and also for the abandonment of the Income Tax; and, instead of Finality, take up the Suffrage where Lord Durham left it in the lurch eight years since? This is surely not much. This is not asking anything either impracticable or visionary; but it is moving onward-and that mere Whigs never will do. Sir Robert Peel has of late been fully more liberal-so far as a flourish of fair |