great party who were upholding in this country the cause of France, which could scarcely at that moment be said to have ceased to be the cause of rational freedom.' The copyright was sold to Mr. George Robinson for £30, but when the sale of the work was found so greatly to exceed the expectations which had been entertained, that sum was generously repeated several times. Three editions followed each other with rapidity, and the general effect of the work was to check the influence of Mr. Burke's 'Reflections,' and to show to the more thoughtful and candid, that, tried at the bar of enlightened philosophy and sound constitutional lore, the French Revolution, in its essential elements, was susceptible of a complete and triumphant vindication.

Most of Mr. Burke's countrymen had been taken by surprise at the appearance of his 'Reflections.' His former position as one of the leaders of opposition, and the vast services he had rendered to the cause of rational government, gave an air of inconsistency to his procedure greater than was warranted. Throughout his political career there had been much to predispose him to the part he now took, for an abhorrence for abstract politics, a predilection for aristocracy, and a dread of innovation,' had been amongst the more prominent articles of his creed. Hence he belonged to the aristocratic section of the Whig party, and uniformly opposed the more liberal views of Fox on the subject of parliamentary reform. Against such an opponent the 'Vindiciae Gallica' was directed.

Though composed with rapidity, it evinced the soundest logic combined with the results of varied reading; a masculine eloquence, clear, sonorous, and earnest; an enlightened estimate of constitutional freedom, and a generous appreciation of the new prospects opening up to the world. Throughout the whole there was, moreover, a gentlemanly bearing, a courtesy of style which political controversialists had commonly disowned; a generous appreciation of the powers and honesty of his opponent, and a fearless assertion, even of unpalateable truths when deemed needful to the completeness of his vindication, or the consistency of his argument. The effect was instantaneous; and, on the fortunes of the writer, most propitious. He was immediately sought by the leaders of the Whig party. Fox, Grey, Lauderdale, Erskine, and Whitbread, solicited his acquaintance, and his company was requested at the Duchess of Gordon's routs. So far all was pleasing; and if further evidence of his success were needed, it is found in the clamour which was raised against him. Thus much respecting the history and general complexion of the work. There are several points mooted in it on which we should be glad to transfer the author's

reasonings to our pages. We must, however, impose restraints upon ourselves; but as the work is probably known to few of our readers, we shall make free with the following extract relating to church property, a subject evidently destined to engage the early attention of our countrymen, and on which all intelligent men should seek to obtain settled and satisfactory views.

The corn law is approaching its settlement, and no extraordinary endowment is required to perceive that the tithe system, and, indeed, the whole subject of church property, is destined to take its place in the public mind. Coming events cast their shadows before them, and men of all classes, dissenters especially, will do well to inform themselves thoroughly on all the bearings of this subject. Come to its consideration and settlement we must; and our policy will be wise, or foolish, as our knowledge is extensive, and our views well digested. We strongly recommend to our readers the careful perusal of this part of Sir James Mackintosh's work.

The fate of the church,* the second great corporation that sustained the French despotism, has peculiarly provoked the indignation of Mr. Burke. The dissolution of the church as a body, the resumption of its territorial revenues, and the new organization of the priesthood, appear to him to be dictated by the union of robbery and irreligion, to glut the rapacity of stockjobbers, and to gratify the hostility of atheists. All the outrages and proscriptions of ancient or modern tyrants vanish, in his opinion, in comparison with this confiscation of the property of the Gallican church. Principles had, it is true, been on this subject explored, and reasons had been urged by men of genius, which vulgar men deemed irresistible. But with these reasons Mr. Burke will not deign to combat. You do not imagine, sir,' says he to his correspondent, “ that I am going to compliment this miserable description of persons with any long discussion?' What immediately follows this contemptuous passage is so outrageously offensive to candour and urbanity, that an honourable adversary will disdain to avail himself of it. The passage itself, however, demands a pause It alludes to an opinion, of which I trust Mr. Burke did not know the origin. That the church lands were national property was not first asserted among the Jacobins, or in the Palais Royal. The author of that opinion,--the master of that wretched description of persons, whom Mr. Burke disdains to encounter, was one whom he might have combated with glory,-with confidence of triumph in victory, and without fear or shame in defeat. The author of that opinion was Turgot! a name now too

* Church power,' remarks Sir James, in a subsequent part of his reasoning, unless some revolution auspicious to priestcraft, shall replunge Europe into ignorance, will certainly not survive the nineteenth century.'p. 49.

high to be exalted by eulogy, or depressed by invective. That benevolent and philosophic statesman delivered it, in the article 'Foundation' of the Encyclopédie, as the calm and disinterested opinion of a scholar, at a moment when he could have no object in palliating rapacity, or prompting irreligion. It was no doctrine contrived for the occasion by the agents of tyranny: it was a principle discovered in pure and harmless speculation, by one-of the best and wisest of men. I adduce the authority of Turgot, not to oppose the arguments (if there had been any), but to counteract the insinuations of Mr. Burke. The authority of his assertions forms a prejudice, which is thus to be removed before we can hope for a fair audience at the bar of reason. If he insinuates the flagitiousness of these opinions by the supposed vileness of their origin, it cannot be unfit to pave the way for their reception, by assigning to them a more illustrious pedigree.

'But dismissing the genealogy of doctrines, let us examine their intrinsic value, and listen to no voice but that of truth. 'Are the lands occupied by the church the property of its members?' Various considerations present themselves, which may elucidate the subject.

The

It has not hitherto been supposed that any class of public servants are proprietors. They are salaried by the state for the performance of certain duties. Judges are paid for the distribution of justice; kings for the execution of the laws; soldiers, where there is a mercenary army, for public defence; and priests, where there is an established religion, for public instruction. The mode of their payment is indifferent to the question. It is generally in rude ages by land, and in cultivated periods by money. But a territorial pension is no more property than a pecuniary one. right of the state to regulate the salaries of those servants whom it pays in money has not been disputed and if it has chosen to provide the revenue of a certain portion of land for the salary of another class of servants, wherefore is its right more disputable, to resume that land, and to establish a new mode of payment? In the early history of Europe, before fiefs became hereditary, great landed estates were bestowed by the sovereign, on condition of military service. By a similar tenure did the church hold its lands. No man can prove, that because the state has intrusted its ecclesiastical servants with a portion of land, as the source and security of their sions, they are in any respect more the proprietors of it, than the other servants of the state are of that portion of the revenue from which they are paid.

pen

'The lands of the church possess not the most simple and indispensable requisites of property. They are not even pretended to be held for the benefit of those who enjoy them. This is the obvious

criterion between private property and a pension for public service. The destination of the first is avowedly the comfort and happiness of the individual who enjoys it: as he is conceived to be the sole judge of this happiness, he possesses the most unlimited rights of

enjoyment, of alienation, and even of abuse. But the lands of the church, destined for the support of public servants, exhibited none of these characters of property. They were inalienable, because it would have been not less absurd for the priesthood to have exercised such authority over these lands, than it would be for seamen to claim the property of a fleet which they manned, or soldiers that of a fortress they garrisoned.'-vol. iii. pp. 41-44.

His views subsequently underwent considerable modification. This is not to be wondered at, nor is it generous, or even just, to indulge in severe reflections on this account. The atrocities which marked the course of the French Revolution sickened and disgusted him, and if, at the instant, he recoiled too far from his former position, it is only what the benevolence of his character, and the common infirmities of our nature might have led us to anticipate. He did not sufficiently discriminate between the Revolution and its agents,-the protest recorded against the oppression of ages, and the bad passions by which it was overclouded and disgraced. It is easy for us, who have witnessed the course of another half century, to condemn our fathers for their want of discrimination. We have seen the end of the tragedy, and may, therefore, be ready to assert that with all its horrors, the French Revolution has been a blessing to the world. But the men of that day were no prophets, and we need not, therefore, wonder at their being, for a season at least, confounded. Living amidst the reign of terror it was not unnatural that they should denounce, in terms too sweeping and indiscriminate, both the revolution and its agents. They alone,' said Sir James, 'knew my feelings, from whom no sentiments of mine could be concealed. The witnesses of my emotion on the murder of General Dillon-on the 10th of August -on the massacre of the prisons-on the death of the king, are now no more. But the memory of what it is no hyperbole to call my sufferings, is at this instant fresh. As often as I call to mind these proofs of deep and most unaffected interest in the fortunes of mankind, the indignation, the grief, the shame, which were not on my lips, but at the bottom of my heart, I feel an assured confidence of my own honesty of which no calumniator shall ever rob me.'

The rebound, however, was speedily followed by reaction, and Sir James was too honest to conceal the fact. I can easily see,' he said, when referring afterwards to the tone of his lectures on The Law of Nature and Nations,' that I rebounded from my original opinions too far towards the opposite extreme. I was carried too far by anxiety to atone for my former errors. In opposing revolutionary principles, the natural heat of controversy led to excess.' His final position was,

probably, midway between the opinions advocated in the Vindicia Gallicæ,' and those to which Mr. Burke had given his sanction.

His 'Dissertation on the Progress of Ethical Philosophy,' was a vastly different work. It was prepared in the full maturity of his powers, and the subject was in happy keeping with the natural bent of his genius. My nature, perhaps,' he remarked in a letter to Mr. Hall, would have been better consulted, if I had been placed in a quieter station, where speculation might have been my business, and visions of the fair and good my chief recreation.' Such was his own impression; and the proposal, therefore, which was made to him in August, 1828, to write a dissertation for the seventh edition of the Britannica Encyclopædia,' in continuation of that of Mr. Dugald Stewart, could not have been wholly inattractive. He felt, however, the difficulties of his position, and having resolved to devote the remainder of his labours to British history, was induced, with considerable hesitation, to undertake the work. It was originally agreed, that the dissertation should include political as well as ethical philosophy; but his impaired health and parliamentary duties, led to the omission of the former, which is much to be regretted. The work was completed in the spring of 1830; and though the author did not accomplish his wish, to leave an edition of it, with such improvements as time, criticism, conversation, and reflection might suggest,' it constitutes one of the most attractive and useful pieces of philosophical criticism and history, which our language contains, betokening both vast reading and profound meditation. One or two brief extracts will best acquaint our readers with its character, and allure them to its perusal. We should esteem it a good omen, a sign of mental health, the earnest of a coming generation, more entitled to confidence and respect, if such works were in general request. We will simply premise, that our extracts are not taken from those passages which reflect most credit on the intellect of the author. We select such as have special interest to our readers. Referring to Thomas Hobbes, of Malmesbury, of whom we have recently heard, with no small surprise, as a believer in Christianity, Sir James observes :

'A permanent foundation of his fame remains in his admirable style, which seems to be the very perfection of didactic language. Short, clear, precise, pithy, his language never has more than one meaning, which it never requires a second thought to find. By the help of his exact method, it takes so firm a hold on the mind, that it will not allow attention to slacken. His little tract on Human Nature has scarcely an ambiguous or a needless word. He has so great a power of always choosing the most significant term, that he never is