on the measures of his maturer years.

"That the whole substantive power of the Government was now manifestly vested in the House of Commons, we proceeded to shew, that the balance of the Constitution was preserved, and could only be preserved, by being transferred into that House, when a certain proportion of the influence of the Crown, and of the great families of the land, was advantageously, though somewhat irregularly, mingled with the proper representation of the people. The expediency, and, indeed, the necessity, of this arrangement, we should humbly conceive, must be manifest to all who will but consider the distractions and dreadful convulsions that would ensue if the three branches of the Legislature were really to be kept apart in their practical operations, and to check and control each other, not by an infusion of their elementary principles into all the measures of each, but, by working separately, to thwart or undo what had been undertaken by the other, without any means of concert and co-operation. (Cheers.) In the first place, it is perfectly obvious, that if the House of Commons, with its absolute power over the supplies, and its connexion with the physical force of the nation, were to be composed entirely of the representatives of the yeomanry of the counties and the tradesmen of the burghs, and were to be actuated solely by the feelings and interests which are peculiar to that class of men, it would infallibly convert the Government into a mere democracy, and speedily sweep away the encumbrance of Lords and Commons, who could not exist at all if they had not an influence in this assembly."

The reports of the speeches at this memorable meeting are now published in a cheap and compendious form, to which we earnestly invite the attention of our readers in all parts of the empire; and largely as we have already trespassed on their indulgence, we cannot conclude without making one quotation from the condensed and admirable Preface to the publication, by a gentleman, we believe, of the Scottish bar, equally distinguished for his legal talents and his literary acquirements.

"To the many who, holding the same opinions with themselves, have also the firmness to avow them, the Conservative Party in Edinburgh need say nothing more.To the more timid, who, though they perceive the dangers of the proposed change, shrink from the public expression of their opinions, they would suggest, that to sup

press their convictions at the present moment, is unconsciously to range themselves on the side of revolution, by falsely encouraging the idea of that unanimity in favour of the Re form Bill, which, even more than the supposed advantages of the change itself, is made the ground on which the necessity of the change is rested. Of the honest reformer, who accepts the Ministerial Bill in good faith, as a final measure which is to pacify the country, they would ask, Whether the events of the last six months have made no alteration on his belief as to the probability of that result from the passing of the late Bill? Whether the wild and insane schemes advocated during that period,-ballot-universal suffrage refusal to pay taxes-the creation of new Peers, to force a democratic measure through the House of Lords-the abolition of the right of Bishops to sit in that House the extinction of the House of Lords itself an equitable adjustment of the public debt, or, in other words, an unprincipled robbery, and violation of the national creditor —the establishment of a revolutionary force, under the title of a national guard,-whether these, and the other monstrous schemes never agitated till the commencement of this ominous discussion, have done nothing to satisfy him, that, while the new Bill would increase a hundredfold the power of the innovators, it would in no way remove their hostility to the Constitution, or enlist them on the side of law and order? If reform were ever so valuable, may it not be bought too dear, by the sacrifice of all which gives security for property, for liberty, for life? Reform may be the goal to which his wishes sincerely tend, but is it not time for the honest and conscientious reformer to pause, and ask himself if he can be in the right road to that object, when he sees that plunderers and assassins are his travelling companions, and that the path along which he is moving, or rather driven, is slippery with blood, and lighted by conflagration? Even to the unfortunate and misguided beings, to whom reform or revolution appears desirable, as holding out the hope of bettering their condition, they would put the question,-Have they ever yet heard of a Revolution by which the poor were not the greatest and the most immediate sufferers? Have they never reflected, that a man may gain little by the removal of a tax on some necessary of life, if, by the stagnation of trade, and the ruin of commercial enterprise, the very wages out of which the tax is to be paid are taken from him? Among them, too, we trust there are many that have something to lose in character, if not in fortune: self-respect, the esteem and the assistance of their superiors, the consciousness of having discharged their duty as men, as citizens, as Christians,-these are

not feelings to be lightly thrown away for the precarious chance of some addition to their worldly possessions. To one and all, the Conservative Party of Edinburgh would say, Weigh well the present condition of the countryc compare it with the surrounding nations of Europe; look to the long roll of its past glories; its present attitude of dig nity and power; its arts, its arms, its science and literature; its numerous institutions of charity; the purity of its religious establishments; the thousand channels by which the

riches of the higher ranks are unfailingly

distributed among the industrious classes of the lower; its administration of justice; its commercial enterprise; its security for property and personal liberty; its lofty instances of heroism and patriotism; its bright and numberless examples of private and domestic virtue, and then say, whether the humblest, as well as the highest, has no interest in the preservation of a Constitution under which such results have sprung up? no cause to deprecate the sudden introduction of a plan of innovation, which, in the opinion of so many of the wise, and virtuous, and opulent of the country, threatens those institutions, and that national character and glory, with irremediable ruin?"

Those who are unacquainted with this part of the island, can form no idea of the class who compose, or the weight which belongs to the gentlemen who have signed the Edinburgh petition. The Reformers ask what weight is to be attached to the signature of sixteen hundred persons in and around the metropolis of Scotland? They might as well ask what is the weight due to the opinion of 658 gentlemen in the chapel of St Stephen's? They form the nucleus and kernel of Scottish prosperity they are composed of men who have come up from all quarters, and risen to eminence and wealth by exertion and talent in every part of the country; they are, literally speaking, the representatives of Scotland, since she lost by the Union her local and separate legislature. They are neither composed of the feudal Aristocracy, nor the urban Democracy of the country they are the middling

orders who have risen to affluence and prosperity by their exertions in every walk of life, and whose weight keeps the extremes, who have now combined to overwhelm them, from that fierce and ruinous hostility, into which, upon their destruction, they will inevitably break out against each other; and in which every one must see, the Aristocratic party is destined to be destroyed.

We are not so sanguine as to imagine that the Conservative Meeting at Edinburgh, standing alone, can have geat weight. We know that this city is but a speck in the British dominions, and that, however great its influence may ultimately be, as one of the great fountains of thought and genius, it is too inconsiderable, during the strife of party, to be of any great moment. We know, too, that the words of Sir Walter Scott and Professor Wilson will have as little influence with the great body of modern reformers, as the recorded opinions of David Hume or Adam Smith, of Cicero or Bacon, have had upon their conduct. But still it is something to the Conservative Party throughout the empire, that genius, destined for immortality, should have done so much in their cause, and that they can number among their warmest supporters, names which will be resplendent in the rolls of fame, when the great mass of reformers shall be buried in the waves of forgotten time.

But still they have at least set an example, which, if generally followed, would ensure the triumph of the Constitution. The other cities in the empire have only to do what Edinburgh has done, and the Revolutionary Bill is overthrown for ever. Come what may, the friends of the Constitution here have the conscious satisfaction of having done their duty; of having maintained that post assigned to them with unconquerable firmness.

Ir has been proved in the prece ding article that the heart of Scotland, in spite of all the arts of agitation employed by reformers and revolutionists, is still sound at the core, and so far from beating in accordance with the Grand Measure of Ministers, is true to the spirit of our time-hallowed and time-cemented Constitution, which is felt and known by the enlightened patriotism of the country to have been less the work of man's hands than the growth of nature, and, as such, worthy not of our admiration alone, but of our gratitude and reverence. In the midst of so many vehement but unstable passions, set agog by shallow, insincere, deceived, or desperate politicians, it is consolatory to know that the intelligence of the land remains, if not undisturbed, yet on the whole "true to the truth;" and that of the best educated of all the orders of the people, a vast majority is at this hour adverse to the Bill that has again been dug out of the dust. The clamour of the populace will no doubt be renewed, and countenance given to their cause by many who, seeking vainly to secure the triumph of their party, have pledged themselves to support" the measure," in reckless defiance of all their recorded reasonings against it during the last thirty years. But while they have wheeled suddenly round upon their heels, or described a more gallant circle, their former arguments stand fast, frowning those who have any shame left, and many have, into confusion of face as of tongues; and extorting from their own mouths, the lie direct to their present outcries for what they now falsely call reform, and then truly called revolution. Elderly noblemen and gentlemen may be as pleasant and profound as it is possible for them to be in their fancy and their reflection, on" the puerile vanity of consistency;" but the mind of the nation is made of "sterner stuff" than to tolerate, much less to be taken in by, such worthless aphorisms-and knows how to distinguish between wits and wittols. It has, too often, its idols, which it sets up and worships, worthless enough, and soon by

itself to be dashed in pieces; but, good-sort-of-a man as my Lord Althorp is, the mind of the nation has not prostrated itself before his imagined wisdom, nor as yet beholds in him, any more than in my Lord John Russell, or my Lord Durham, either an idol or an oracle. On the contrary, it knows that the intellect of all the three would not, if multiplied by nine, give a result equal to one wise man; and smiles with pitiful contempt on such legislators legislating for it-on men distinguished for no one talent above the common level, in nothing egregious from the common herd, providing institutions, forsooth, congenial with the spirit of the age! What that spirit is, must be understood by far other intellects than theirs, and told by far other tongues, and be ministered to in such "deep consult," as can be held only among statesmen. In no one department of hu man knowledge would their opinion go for half-a-crown; at that moderate price it may be had, but has been" with sputtering noise rejected." Yet they who cannot pen a pamphlet, or prate a speech of maudfin mediocrity, with priggish presumption have put themselves forwards to decide the destinies of earth's mightiest empire! True that Lord Grey was once a man of talents, and may be so still; but he is getting garrulous and old, and how peevishly does he endeavour to redeem the pledge of his youth, forgotten during his prime, and forfeited but some twelve months ago, through love of "his order," in his vacillating age! Among the pigmies, there is indeed one man, who, among such small infantry, may well be called a giant. But though Lord Brougham had not his own Bill in his pocketit never having been reduced to writing-not even, he says, so much as the heads, yet he had it in his brain, and its provisions were heard to flow from his eloquent lips-and alas! for the moral and intellectual greatness of his character, how different from them all, the blunders of that abortion, in behalf of which he lately bawled for four glasses," and at the finale of his hollow-hearted pero

ration, like a strong man inflamed, if not refreshed with wine, beseeched the Peers to pass it, "even on my bended knees !"

In Scotland, we can afford to laugh at much of the drivelling of our Ministers, however disgusting and deplorable; for the people are in peace, and will remain so, in spite of them, and all the demagogues that have enlisted themselves in their service, some unasked yet not unwelcome, many undesired, because dangerous, traitors all. But in Ireland, how different the condition of the Conservative, that is, the Protestant Party, of the State! Surrounded by bigoted and ferocious enemies, and not deserted merely, but insulted and trampled on by a Ministry who seem to be resolved to subject the intelligence, the integrity, the property, and the patriotism of Protestant Ireland to the tender mercies of Popish domination!

At such a crisis, we have read, with deepest interest, in the Dublin Evening Mail, an account of a meeting which was held on December 7th in Dublin, and which appears to us one of the most important assemblages of rank, wealth, intellect, and independence,which ever took place in Ireland. It was at tended by noblemen and gentlemen of the highest respectability, whom a sense of common danger compel led to assemble from all parts of the island, for the purpose of laying their grievances before the King, and bearing an united testimony against the cruel mispolicy of his Majesty's advisers. We cannot sufficiently express the high sense of admiration which we feel for the calm and resolute, the solemn and elevated declaration of principle, and expression of feeling, which were elicited from the various speakers who moved and seconded the resolutions. We were not before fully prepared to believe how odious and detestable to the Irish Protestants are the measures of the present viceroy. They were, at the very outset of his administration, deliberately insulted by the dismissal of Mr Gregory. Their feelings were then outraged by the promotion of Lord Plunkett to the office of Lord Chancellor, which places him over the magistracy of the country-an out

rage this the most gratuitous, as there never was perhaps a public man, of the same degree of ability and notoriety, who was so little acceptable to any party-who was so detested by the Protestants, and distrusted by the Papists. He was not, as a chancellor, acceptable to the bar-as a politician, popular in the country-or as a statesman, serviceable to the administration. His own immediate friends and connexions have reason to set a high value upon him; as Lord Grey himself does not seem to have more scrupulously acted upon the maxim, that charity begins at home. But positively, when Lord Anglesea saddled the country with the expense of providing for a retiring Chancellor, in the person of the late Sir A. Hart, he was not merely chargeable with a prodigal waste of the public money, but with the removal of an equity lawyer of inoffensive manners, and acknowledged reputation, to make way for one in whose legal knowledge the suitors in Chancery had far less confidence, and whose temper was considered as unruly as his principles were dangerous to the Protestants of Ireland. We do not know that any administration, whether Whig or Tory, could at the present moment do a more popular act than the dismissal of Lord Plunkett from his offensively conspicuous place in the Irish administration. Then came the appointment of the education commissioners. This was the severest cut of all. Education commissioners! They are commissioners for the suppression of education, which we will prove in our next number. Suffice it here to say, that the whole affair meets the indignant reprobation of the noblemen and gentlemen assembled on this important occasion; and if their representations fail to make a suitable impression upon his Majesty's Government, it will be demonstrable that the Irish Protestants are to be sacrificed. In well-grounded fear of such a catastrophe, what is to prevent their uniting with O'Connell for a repeal of the Union? They may fairly hope to be able, from their moral weight, to make better terms for themselves and their families, in the event of separation from England, than will now be conceded to

them by adhering to their British friends, who seem willing to sacrifice them to their Popish enemies. Only let a perseverance in the present policy be continued a little longer, and the Union must be repealed, not merely from a compliance with the clamour of O'Connell's party, but from a deliberate persuasion, on the part of the Protestants, that by such a measure their condition would be improved. What have they to apprehend from it? Their discountenance as a party by the British Government? They are already discountenanced. The abandonment of the Protestant interest? It is already abandoned. The overthrow of their Church? It is, already, all but overthrown. The security of their property? Already it is marked out for spoliation. All these evils either have come upon them, or are in progress, and must speedily be realized, unless a decided change of measures shall take place; and what difference can it make to them whether their ruin be accomplished by the wickedness of an unprincipled cabinet, or the grasping rapacity of an Irish Parliament? Nay, may they not hope to obtain an interest in the latter, which would give them a better chance of safety than they can hope for, at present, from those who so grossly neglect their interests, and undervalue their numbers and importance ?These are considerations which we shall not just now pursue any farther. We are not without a hope that this Great Meeting will produce a good effect upon our rulers. IF

IT SHOULD, THE EMPIRE WILL BE SAVED. If it should not, the ranks of the agitators may be reinforced by an accession of strength which must render them irresistible; and England will find, when it is too late, that in sacrificing Protestantism, she has sacrificed Ireland.

Theable editor of the Dublin Evening Mail most justly says, that, as a deliberative assembly, that to which we have referred surpassed in rank and respectability, in knowledge and in talents, any other ever called together in Ireland. There was a solemnity attendant on the proceedings, and a depth of thought manifested in the discussion, commensurate with the importance of the subject. It appeared evident, on the whole, that

the machinations of Irish traitors, abetted as they are by the revolu tionary schemes of the Ministry, are driving at, first, a repeal of the Union, secondly, the separation of the two countries, thirdly, the erection of an independent nation in Ireland; and that these three things involve the ruin of the British empire, and as it regards Ireland, the property, the religion, and the lives of the Irish Protestants. To avert such evils has been the object of the careful, deep, and patriotic deliberation of the preservatives; nor could better means be devised than the adoption of those principles which have always guided the Orangemen of Ireland, and converted that loyal and constitutional body into a sacred guard, which bulwarked the throne, and fenced property with impassable trenches, and afforded a secure asylum to the civil rights, the religious liberties, and the natural affections of this great, good, and much calumniated body. Calumniated by whom? By the enemies of order, and liberty, and truth-by the friends of confusion, slavery, and fanaticism

by the imbecilles,who believe they can soothe ferocious passions by submission, and cajole sedition and treason out of their long-pursued prey by fear-born flattery, and by studious insults and exquisite injuries offered, in face of day, to all that is most high and honourable in the character and conduct of the best citizens !

After two preliminary meetings, it was finally agreed on, that a junction between all classes and denomi nations of Irish Protestants should take place; that a committee should be appointed to prepare resolutions in accordance with the sentiments expressed by the meeting; and that such committee should come prepared with them on the following day. On the third day, Lord Roden in the chair, a series of resolutions were passed, and, grounded on them, an address, to be presented to his Majesty by the Earls of Roden and Longford, Lord Viscount Lorton, and Lord Farnham.

Lord Roden moved the first resolution, "that now, as upon all occa sions, our inclination and duty equally lead us to express our devoted loyalty to his Majesty the King, and