he king was a sincere Reformer, and earnest in the struggle to have the measure passed in all its integrity. Without going this length, which is in the very opposite extreme to Mr. Roebuck, we may repeat our belief that, in the commencement, and till he was operated upon by direct and indirect influences, his Majesty really was desirous of forwarding the measure of his ministry. This view is borne out by a statement of Mr. Roebuck, which may be found at page 407 of the second volume, where the writer says:- The idea of a democratic republic, from which all nobility, and all distinctions of rank and property were to be excluded, got into, or rather was put into, the mind of the king; and no day passed without eager declarations by him of anxiety, not to say terror, as to the the fatal consequences about to result from the unwise concessions to popular power made in the Reform Bill. Considering that William the Fourth was not a monarch of superior, or even of strong intellect, and bearing in mind the manner in which he had been brought up, we conceive his wavering and change may be accounted for from far less discreditable motives, without imputing his conduct to falseness, to artifice, or to dissembling.

With reference to such portions of his narrative as profess to relate matters of which no written record is in existence, Mr. Roebuck states that they are related on his own authority alone. That which he found constantly spoken of, he has properly considered public property, and deeming no permission necessary to relate it, has stated on his sole authority. Allowing no one to know what he wrote till the whole became public, he avows he is prepared to accept the responsibility which attaches to his conduct, and is ready to justify it. What he has represented as passing in conference or conversation with the king, and with others in high office, Mr. Roebuck has given in each case, believing the statements as he has recorded them, and the accounts he found floating in society, to be substantially accurate. But as to authority to publish these statements, he declares he had none.

This is, however, a question with which the public will little concern or interest itself; all the reader is desirous of knowing, is whether Mr. Roebuck's details are substantially accurate, and whether the facts he has accumulated, and the information he has collected, no matter how, no matter from what sources, are fairly, candidly, and truthfully related. Of the general veracity of Mr. Roebuck we entertain no doubt whatever; and though it is evident that he entertains no favourable opinion of one of the great parties (the Whigs), yet we cannot say that he has unjustly represented that party in these pages; while his treatment of the Tory leaders is eminently fair and candid. Indeed, his observations in the preface, touching the character and conduct of the late Sir Robert Peel may, by many, be thought too favourable, too partial; while his remarks must be considered, even by the friends and followers of the deceased baronet, as candid and friendly to a degree. Generally speaking, indeed, we may say uniformly, Mr. Roebuck has adopted a very temperate, calm, and judicial tone. There is none of the vehemence, fierceness, or rancour sometimes evoked in parliamentary debate. So far is this eminently proper spirit carried, that even what Mr. Roebuck calls a subdued taunt in reference to the late Mr. Shiel, but with which no friend of that gentleman could find any offence, is softened down in the preface, and made the occasion of passing a panegyric on the talents and worth of the brilliant rhetorician, now no more. Having made these preparatory remarks in all fairness, showing the scope of the work, the character of the materials, the peculiar qualifications and disqualifications of the author, we would introduce our readers to the volumes themselves. The first chapter contains a general view of affairs from the end of the war in 1815, to the close of Lord Liverpool's administration, in 1827. These few pages contain a clear, candid, and judicious resumé of the situation of the country, creditable to the judgment and perspicacity of Mr. Roebuck. He shows that the habits which the war had created, and the modes of employing capital which

The

its necessities compelled, could not at once be changed without immense difficulties and enormous waste. The classes who had been engaged in the production of all that was necessary for the equipment and maintenance of our vast naval and military establishments, were suddenly left without the means of subsistence. Manufacturing capital at once became without value, and men in trade who had been gaining large profits, at one fell swoop found themselves bankrupt. Agriculture suffered in nearly as great a degree as trade. During the last years of the war, the landed interest had enjoyed an extraordinary monopoly. The rent of land had risen to an extravagant height, and profits were large and certain. But when peace came, a sudden and permanent fall in the price of corn compelled the farmers to seek a reduction of rent, and a reduction of rent brought the landlord of an estate-encumbered, as too many of them were, by family charges into difficulties. miseries attendant on this state of things were certainly aggravated by Mr. Peel's celebrated act for the resumption of cash payments, passed in 1819. This measure, as Mr. Roebuck truly remarks, suddenly improved the condition of creditors throughout the empire, and in a still greater degree made more burdensome the position of debtors. Debts contracted in a depreciated, were to be paid in a highly valuable, currency, and the immediate suffering was enormous. They who suf fered most were the most powerful class, the owners of land. In both houses they commanded a majority, and they were not long before they made attempts to relieve their own distresses. It is true, a restriction upon the importation of corn had preceded, by some years, the resumption of cash payments; but the system of restriction had been perfected into a complete national policy nearly simultaneously with the passing of the bill for the resumption of cash payments.

It is not our purpose to go over the struggle of George IV. with his Queen. Mr. Roebuck, though taking the part of the weaker vessel, and ranging himself on the side of Queen Caroline, yet on the whole

gives a fair, though necessarilyan cinct, account of a transaction a discreditable to George IV, ther as man or monarch. We z advert to this unpleasant topi state that Mr. Roebuck convers formation not generally known, a note. In alluding to the Tory ps yielding itself altogether up to th rancorous will, or rather vengean of George IV., Mr. Roebuck ma the following remarks in referas to the Whigs:

The Whig party upon this occasio are said to have acted with a m nanimity worthy of the highest mium. They gave the ministers 1 understand, that if office were offere them by the king, in consequence of 2 ministers refusing to prosecute 2 queen, they would refuse it, even tho the king should dispense in their with the unworthy compliance bee manded of his actual cabinet. If intimation were given, and that it wa so, I have the highest authority is stating, the baseness of the minister acquiescence is immeasurably enhan The Whigs again gave evidence of t same magnanimous disdain of office, be obtained by unworthy means, in i case of the Emancipation Act.

The storm raised by her sudd appearance was allayed by e Queen's sudden death. The people. as Mr. Roebuck represents, cus dered hera martyr, and looked on he enemies as malignant, cruel, unscrupulous persecutors. The feeling excited towards the was indignant hate and contemp mingled largely with the abbot rence and horror with which the people regarded his ministers. F many years, says our historian, the estimation in which all public me were held was greatly influenced by the part the ministers had taken this miserable proceeding. It" true, the scrupulous and generous proceeding of the Whigs in refusing to supplant the ministry, ception to this low estimation of the character of public men; but the generosity of the Whigs was generally known, and was only portion of that secret history which floats in the traditions of politicians.

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The following observations on Bentham and Peel we think emi nently just and fair :

The persevering industry of Bentham subjected our law also to a searching

Then

and systematic inquiry; and day by day forced the dictates of common sense 2 upon the attention of those to whom

was entrusted the government of the country. In times not propitious for reform, Sir Samuel Romilly had endeavoured, at the instigation of Bentham, to mitigate in some small degree the severities of our criminal code. His efforts were highly thought of by the people, but were of little avail in the House of Commons. The truth, however, advanced: the responsible minis- ters

associated with the idea of despotism, so that a love of freedom was but too often united with a hatred and fear of the catholic religion. George III. had most of the vulgar prejudices of his people, and being, like all dull men, obstinate, to oppose catholic emancipation became with him an effect of temper as well as a matter of conscience. His confused and incapable brain conceived a scruple in consequence of certain words in the coronation oath. With this scruple he puzzled himself, annoyed his ministers, and injured his people. Thus the wise and generous intentions of Mr. Pitt, with respect to the catholics, when he proposed and carried the union with Ireland, were frustrated; that which ought to have been the sure means of making us an united people, was converted into a source of fatal dissension; and that which should have doubled our strength, divided, weakened, and almost destroyed us. George III. allowed him to carry the Act of Union, but resolved to dismiss rather than permit him to accomplish the remaining portion of his plans. From that fatal hour up to the present, we have felt the consequences of this royal bigotry.

became enlightened before the legislature, and in the two great departments of legal and financial reform, preceded both houses of parliament. Mr. Peel began cautiously to collect and arrange the various statutes, in which the law relating to many departments of our jurisprudence was contained. Enactments scattered over the legislation of years were reduced into some order, and brought gradually into a form which bore some resemblance to a system dictated by common sense. The werp consolidation of Mr. Peel was viewed with favour as a practical reform, while the codification of Bentham was scouted as the mere dream of a visionary theorist.

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The Irish movement and O'Con

nellite party in parliament generally consider Mr. Roebuck in the light of a prejudiced enemy, yet it appears to us nothing can be fairer or in a better spirit towards Ireland than the remarks which we extract:

But Ireland, unfortunately for England and for herself, is so placed, as to form geographically a necessary portion of the English dominions. Conquered in a rude age, she has been from the very commencement of our rule the victim of cruelty and oppression. The Reformation, unhappily, was adopted by a very small portion of the Irish population, and thus to the political and social causes of quarrel and disunion was added another source of animosity arising from the difference of religion. The original sin of our conquest has, like an evil genius, dogged the steps of our dominion. Every event in our history which has by us been deemed of good augury, and looked upon as a blessing, has in Ireland changed its nature, and become a curse. The last great revolution-that which placed a Protestant family on the English throne, and gave us a government of law, in place of a despotism-was to Ireland the immediate cause of a system of oppression, which ceased only a few years since-of misery, which continues to the present hour. In England, catholicism had become in the popular mind strongly

**

The judgment which Mr. Roebuck pronounces on the mediocrity of Lord Liverpool is now the universal judgment; and as the man and the minister are nearly alike forgotten, we pass on to the remarks on Canning, as contrasted with Peel.

Mr. Canning, by his older standing and his brilliant capacity, appeared to be their natural head. But there was one in their ranks as ambitious, though not so brilliant and dazzling as he. The powers of Mr. Peel were, at that time, by the consent of all, rated as inferior to those of Mr. Canning. The wit, the eloquence, the winning manners of Mr. Canning, made rivalry on the part of Mr. Peel hopeless, were they each to trust to their personal capacities alone. The passions of a party supplied the personal deficiency. Mr. Peel was deemed the pupil of Lord Eldon, and was supposed, at that time, by studying at the feet of this Gamaliel, to have become imbued with his passions and his prejudices. Hatred and dread of popery were among the most marked, most potent emotions evinced by that learned lord during his political career. Mr. Peel trod carefully in the footsteps of his friend and leader, and became in the Commons the chief of the no-popery faction. This character suited him in his relative position with respect to Mr. Canning. As the head of a great political band, he was raised to a rivalry

and sort of equality with his more gifted rival. Mr. Canning and his friends were deemed the leaders of the movement which had for its aim the emancipation of the Catholics.

On the 17th July, 1827, Lord Liverpool was stricken with paralysis, and at once rendered incapable of any further discharge of official duties. When the King requested Mr. Canning to form an administration, the nation, says Mr. Roebuck, acquiesced he might have added, enthusiastically acquiesced in the wisdom of the selection, and vainly thought that the party to which Mr. Canning belonged would also deem him the fittest among them to be their future guide and chief. But the Duke of Wellington, Sir R. Peel, Lord Eldon, Lord Westmoreland, Lord Bexley, and Lord Bathurst, thought differently, and refused to act under him. The premier, without their aid, was unable to maintain his position, and was therefore compelled, if he desired to remain prime minister, to coalesce with his former antagonists, the Whigs. The alliance was accordingly made; and, with the single exception of the late Earl Grey, all the leading Whig statesmen determined to support the new minister. Mr. Tierney, who had acted as Opposition leader in the House of Commons, became Master

of the Mint. Lord Lansdowne also

joined the administration; and though Mr. Brougham was without office, he yet gave the government the advantage of his support. Lord Grey, however, refused to join Mr. Canning; and in a most remarkable speech, stated that he could have no confidence either in his domestic or foreign policy.

As regarded home affairs, the session of 1827 passed away in personal recrimination. Abroad, the

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pressed of all nations rejoiced, they knew not apparently why, so vague and indefinite were the benefits expected. But yet it is certain the Italian, the Spaniard, the Frenchman, and the Greek rejoiced in hearing of the promotion of Canning to the highest office, and mourned his unbidden and sudden death, not merely as an European, but almost as a personal and individual loss. He was unquestionably a man of genius and intellect; he was sup

posed to be laden with the best most generous intentions, and asks days were shortened by hara and factious persecution, he w honoured as a confessor to constin tional principles, as a martyrin cause of freedom.

Lord Goderich, a good-natured fair-purposed man, of average abu ties, but without nerve or energy for the highest place (though we enough fitted for a subordinate tion), succeeded Mr. Canning. E his ministry was soon broken up; an at the noble Earl's request, the K sent for the Duke of Wellingto who, though he would not hồlls subordinate position under Canning, consented to hold such i position in the administration c Lord Goderich. It is impossible t account for this proceeding witho imputing it to personal repugnaze But on this point we do not no is less of faction and party feeling care to dwell, considering that ther to be traced in the long and gloriou career of the Duke of Wellingta than in that of any living man.

So soon as the Duke of Welling ton assumed the insignia of office, many objections were urged agains his appointment. Among the fore most objectors was Mr. Brougham, who contended that the Duke's e

perience had been purely military, not civil. The observations of Mr. Roebuck on these remarks of his noble and learned friend, are en nently fair and candid, and we have much pleasure in extracting them:

Since the days (says Mr. Roebuck) of Marlborough, no soldier had swayed the councils of this country, and the Duke of Wellington had himself, a few months before, sanctioned the general opinion as to the incapacity of a soldier to rule over the civil affairs of the state. Yet there is no rational foundation for any such belief. No man can be a great soldier unless he possess great adminis trative talent, and this talent is more likely to be brought forth, and fostered by the business of war, than by the ma nagement of cases at Nisi Prius; yet lawyer is deemed capable of governing, because of his habit of speaking, the while the soldier whose life is spent in action and not in talk, is considered unversed in what are called the civil affairs of state. The training of the Duke of Wellington was, however, of a much higher character than any which ordinary

し

statesmen, or soldiers, or lawyers, can hope to enjoy. In India, and in Spain and Portugal, he led armies, and he governed nations. To feed his armies, and to keep the people for whom he was nominally engaged obedient and favourable to his cause, he was obliged to bring into action all those great qualiGo ties of mind which are needed for the practical government of mankind. Every intricate question of finance, the various and perplexing operations of trade, the effects of every institution, commercial, political, of law and administration, all had to be understood, weighed, watched, and applied, while he led the armies of England, and in fact governed the the people of Spain and Portugal.

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So soon as the Duke of Wellington was installed in office, the Whigs recurred to their old tactics. Their old notices of stock liberal motions were again placed on the notice book of the House of Commons. The opposition tactics and their personnel is thus described:

Mr. Tierney at this time might be deemed the nominal leader of the opposition. The most formidable person in their ranks, however, was without doubt Mr. Brougham. He, nevertheless, though the chief strength of their party was never looked upon or trusted as their leader.* Ability, no matter how commanding, was never, in the estimation of the Whigs, deemed of itself sufficient to win for any man the formal leadership of their party. By genius the new man might tower above them all; but in station, in power-he was always carefully taught to consider himself a subordinate. Burke, at the most brilliant period of his career-when his genius had reached its meridian, and his services were above all price-was yet not admitted a member of that cabinet which his powers had almost alone called into existence: and thus for the present Mr. Brougham was not permitted to assume the name of the Whig leader. Being, however, of a bolder nature than Burke, more energetic and overbearing, he by himself was a power, giving assistance to, rather than deriving position from the Whigs. This assistance they were glad to receive, intending when the victory might be won, to forget him altogether in the 'division of the spoils.'

On the character of the late Mr. Huskisson, Mr. Roebuck does not ex

patiate at any great length. Wethink, however, he underrates the utility of that very remarkable and clearheaded official man, and that he lays too much stress on his pliability and subservience. Mr. Huskisson, a few months after the period to which Mr. Roebuck refers, lost his life by a melancholy accident. That event, which we remember as though it occurred but yesterday, produced a mournful feeling among men of all parties. It is a mistake to say that Mr. Huskisson's death made no gap in the political world, for it removed a man without a rival, since the death of Canning, in official experience and high administrative talents. Independently of these advantages, Mr. Huskisson was unequalled for extensive commercial, financial, and statistical knowledge, for lucid arrangement, great powers of statement and exposition, and a most amiable private character.

On Mr. Roebuck's observations on the Repeal of the Test Acts, it is not necessary that we should pause to make any comments. This event, however, was but the precursor of the Catholic Emancipation, a question which had been forced on the attention of England by the proceedings of the Catholic Association at Dublin.

No sooner had the Duke of Wellington entered on the duties of office, than the voice of Mr. O'Connell was heard, calling his countrymen together. His well known accents acted like a spell on the quick hearts of the people of Ireland. Mr. O'Connell is thus described :

In the history of mankind there have been few instances of a power so extraordinary as that which Mr. O'Connell now exercised over his countrymen. He was himself thoroughly an Irishman-endowed with many great powers-wanting many qualities, without which no man can be deemed really great. Of a commanding presence, gifted with a beautiful and flexible voice; also with great quickness, versatility, wit, and the power of compressing a long argument into a short and epigrammatic sentence -he seemed formed by nature for the