wanting in thee that is desirable, insomuch that thou seemest another world placed besides or without the great world, merely for the delight or pleasure of mankind!!" (Part I. chap. iv., page 37.) Take the panegyrist's word for it, and this "happy and blessed" country is not less favoured in its government than in its soil and its inhabitants. "England," says he, "is such a monarchy as that, by the necessary subordinate concurrence of the Lords and Commons, in the making and repealing all statutes or acts of Parliament, it hath the main advantages of an aristocracy and of a democracy, and yet free from the disadvantages and evils of either. It is such a monarchy as by most admirable temperament affords very much to the industry, liberty and happiness of the subject, and reserves enough for the majesty and prerogative of the king that will own his people as subjects, not as slaves." Unfortunately for the worthy Doctor's theory of British transcendentalism, his own "Eulogies," whether as regards the country, its inhabitants, or its government, will not stand the tests of examination and experience. All bear the stamp of romance, not that of reality. As to the land, this "paradise of pleasure," this "garden of God," is said to have produced nothing indigenously but a few weeds and the crab apple. As to its inhabitants, his estimate of their character is much more poetical than true. He has exaggerated their good qualities; he has minified their defects, and he has left wholly out of his catalogue of the latter that which distinguishes them most of all-their boundless gullibility-which has rendered and still renders them an easy prey to impostures of every kind, public and private, civil and religious, governmental and individual. And as to what is said of a form of government having the advantages of all others and the evils of none, let the tree be judged by its fruits, and in nothing does that especial characteristic of the British people, to which allusion has just been made, appear more prominently than in their boasting of the possession of the best possible institutions, whilst labouring under consequences which could only have been rationally expected from the very worst. A result like this can only be attributed to the neglect, disregard, or perversion of the duties and responsibilities of parliamentary government, to secure which, in place of "the right divine of kings to govern wrong," was the professed object of the revolution of 1688. At the accession of the monarch to whom Dr. Chamberlayne The boundless gullibility of the English people. The obliga tions of nato "The National dedicated the book which has afforded us our text, "The King's Debts," viz., those left by his predecessor, for which the crown alone and its hereditary revenues were responsible, amounted to £661,263, and the whole public revenue was about £2,000,000. The Royal obligations were speedily converted into "the Wam III. National Debt," and this, at the close of the reign of King Converted William, amounted to £16,391,700. The expenditure, during the same period, about thirteen years, is calculated at £72,000,000. The obligations referred to arose principally out of the war in which England was engaged with France in support of King William's title. Upon the subject of ways and A Property means, the eminent national writer and patriot De Foe, proposed "a general assessment of personal property," the amount to be settled by composition, under the inspection of commissioners appointed by the king. Of the efficacy of his scheme he was so well satisfied, that he offered to farm the revenue arising from it, at a rent of three millions annually, giving good security for the payment. Tax recom mended by the patriot De Foe. King Wil- During this reign was introduced the theory of "the balance of power." The monarch aspired to be the arbiter of Europe, so that not a cannon should be fired within its boundaries unless by his permission. In pursuance of this object, and as the avowed champion of civil and religious liberty, he was almost constantly at war. Foreign nations were subsidized to fight his battles and their own. To meet the expenditure, the funding or borrowing system, the issuing of exchequer bills in anticipation of revenue, and other schemes for squandering the wealth of the nation and mortgaging its resources, were invented; Parliaments, which could not safely be browbeaten, were corrupted, and the country was robbed to enrich the aristocracy more particularly the Dutch favourites and adherents of the king. By a continuance of the same improvident system, and for wars less justifiable, during succeeding reigns, the National Debt, at the peace of 1815, had increased to the enormous amount of upwards of £800,000,000, the annual interest of which, though the capital has since been somewhat reduced, still swallows up nearly half of the ordinary taxation of the country, and is more than thirteen times the entire revenue of 1688. For this huge debt, and for probably as much again twice told, actually squandered in warfare, the country has received no tangible equivalent. (To be continued.) THE ARISTOCRACY AND THE ARMY. 1ST LIFE GUARDS-PAY-CONTINGENTS. hold troops are merely for Royal amusement and parade. THE three regiments called Household Cavalry-the 1st and The House 2nd Life Guards, and Royal Horse Guards (Oxford Blues), were formed, as at present existing, in 1788. They consist each of 32 officers and 401 men, inclusive of non-commissioned officers, staff sergeants, bandsmen, farriers, servants, and other noneffectives; being a smaller proportion of men to officers than in other regiments of the service. One regiment is quartered at Albany Barracks, Regent's Park; another at Knightsbridge Barracks, Hyde Park; and the third at Windsor. Their duty is to provide an escort to the Sovereign in state processions, and to mount a daily guard of ceremony at the offices of the Horse Guards, Whitehall. On rare occasions they have been employed to assist the civil power in London, but have not been required for such duty since the establishment of the wellorganised Metropolitan police. On still rarer occasions they have been employed abroad; but it was found that the horses were inadequate to bear the weight of the men and accoutrements in active service. It is alleged, by high authorities, that in any emergency which might call them to the field, even to the coast of Sussex or Kent, should such an improbable call arise, they would be disorganised by fatigue, the men dismounted, and the horses broken down, in three days. hold troops possess a A commission in the Guards has the advantage of raising a young officer more rapidly to those higher ranks which gain a command in the army, or a staff appointment, than does a regi- The housemental commission in the line. It also possesses a charin and advantage to young gentlemen of high family and moderate charm, &c. fortune, by giving them access to the circles where the largest amount of patronage is distributed; where also they may cultivate political influence, or become amateur statesmen, with seats in the House of Commons for snug counties (or for boroughs yet more snug, not disfranchised as they should have been, on the principle of population, in 1833, but, on the contrary, widened, with extended boundaries, to embrace the family or the friendly estate), where they may enjoy "life" and the clubs, be useful to the dispensers of patronage, draw pay, and rise in army rank, Price of commis household regiments. all with one effort, or rather with none. The price of a commission, though nominally higher in the Guards than in the line, is thus, by the quality of advantage gained, lower. The prices are, in the Household Cavalry-lieutenant-colonel, £7250; major, £5350-if the major has served seven years as such, he acquires, by purchase of lieutenant-colonel, the rank of full colonel, which places him favourably, in case of a brevet, (rank gratuitously conferred,) for becoming a major-general; sions in the captain, £3500; lieutenant, £1785; cornet, £1260. The two last sums refer to the 1st and 2nd Life Guards only; in the Royal Horse Guards (Oxford Blues), the lieutenancy is £1600, and the cornetcy £1200. The price of commissions in the cavalry of the line are-lieutenant-colonel, £6175; major, £4575; captain, £3225; lieutenant, £1190; cornet, £840. The commissions of the Foot Guards arelieutenant-colonel (which gives the rank of colonel), £9000; major, with rank of colonel, £8300; captain, with rank of lieutenant-colonel, £4800; lieutenant, with rank of captain, £2050; ensign, with rank of lieutenant, £1200. Infantry of the Line-lieutenant-colonel, £4500; major, £3200; captain, £1800; lieutenant, £700; ensign, £450. aged pages rewarded with gratuitous commis In the Rifle Brigade the commission of ensign or lieutenant is £500. The advancement from lowest to highest rank is more rapid in the Foot Guards than elsewhere. The Queen's pages, who are in the service of the Palace from the age of ten or eleven to fifteen or sixteen, have commissions conferred on them free of Important cost, in the Guards, at the rate of two pages to three years, or services of thereabout. The pages are four in number. King William had four, and Queen Adelaide two, who, finding their gratuitous way into the guards, have become colonels and major-generals, with staff commands or colonial governorships, or sold out at £9000 when lieutenant-colonel, or at the price affixed when in some lower rank. When an officer is transferred from the Foot Guards to the line, the rank of ensign is equal to lieutenant; of lieutenant equal to captain; and of captain equal to lieutenant-colonel. An appointment as aide-de-camp to the Queen confers the rank of colonel gratuitously, with 10s. 6d. a-day of extra pay. sions in household regiments. (To be continued.) IMPEACHMENT FOR HIGH TREASON AND OTHER PROCEEDINGS AGAINST SIR WILLIAM SCROGGS, KNT., LORD CHIEF Mr. SPEAKER, in the front of Magna Charta it is said, nulli regabimus, nulli differemus justitiam (we will defer, or deny, justice to no man). To this the King is sworn, and with this the Judges are entrusted by their oaths. I admire what they can say for themselves; if they have not read this law, they are not ht to sit upon the bench: and if they have, I had almost said, they deserve to lose their heads. Lord (" Mr. Speaker, the state of this poor nation is to be deplored, that in almost all ages, the judges who ought to be preservers of the laws have endeavoured to destroy them: and that, to please a court faction, they have by treachery attempted to break the bonds asunder of Magna Charta, the great treasury of our peace. It was no sooner passed, but a Chief Justice (Hubert de Burg, in that day persuades the King he was not bound by it; because he was under age when it was passed. But this M sort of insolence the next Parliament resented, to the ruin of the pernicious Chief Justice. In the time of Richard II. an Anir geta unthinking dissolute prince, there were judges that insinuate Justic into the King, that the Parliament were only his creatures, and depended on his will, and not on the fundamental constitution of the land; which treacherous advice proved the ruin of the King. And for which all those evil instruments were brought to justice. In his late Majesty's time, his misfortunes were Mistertales occasioned chiefly by the corruptions of the long robe; his judges, by an extra-judicial opinion, gave the King power to chetly raise money, upon any extraordinary occasion, without Parlia- corruptions ment; and made the King judge of such occasions. Charity of the long prompts me to think they thought this a service to the King; but the sad consequences of it may convince all mankind that every illegal act weakens the royal interest; and to endeavour to introduce absolute dominion in these realms, is the worst of treasons. Because, whilst it bears the face of friendship to the of the Crown. arose by the robe. |