There was only one speech left unanswered that of breathed his last breath. He was buried at the Lord Grey. This was a speech which does little honour to the memory of a Whig noted in his day, but yet a man who often betrayed narrow views and strong prejudices. In the beginning of July, Parliament was prorogued. The fearful excitement was over; and the Premier, already undermined in health, sank into collapse. On the 20th of July, having accidentally taken cold and suffered from rheumatism, he removed to the Duke of Devonshire's villa for change of air. On the 30th he waited for the last time on the King at Windsor, who could not fail to perceive his condition; and after suffering the most severe pain, he died on the 8th of the following month, in the same chamber where Fox had foot of Mr. Pitt's tomb in Westminster Abbey ; and whatever may be the permanent estimate which posterity will form of his public character and services, no English minister was ever more profoundly and generally lamented. His death was universally felt as a national calamity, and mourned over as a private sorrow. We are certainly much indebted to Mr. Bell for his able and compendious Life of Canning, with which the world must be contented till, in the fulness of time, "The Canning Papers" shall emerge into the broad light of The Row. His letters of forty years to his mother, who predeceased him only by a few months, and which were returned to the writer on her death, would of themselves form a most interesting collection. GERMAN TRANSLATIONS OF ENGLISH AND SCOTTISH SONGS. GREEN GROW THE RASHES, O. BY ROBERT BURNS. Chorus. GREEN grow the rashes, O; An' 'twere na for the lasses, O. The warly race may riches chase, But gie me a canny hour at e'en, For you sae douce, ye sneer at this, Auld Nature swears the lovely dears Her noblest wark she classes, O; Her prentice han' she try'd on man, An' then she made the lasses, O. Green grow, &c. GRÜN WÄCHST DIE BINSE, 0. VON M. L. J. Chor. Grün wächst die Binse, O; Grün wächs't die Binse, O; Mein' allerliebste Stunde war Die Stunde bei den Mädchen, O. Der Menscheit Loos ist Schmerz und Gram, Schnell flieht das Menschenleben, O; Und was gelegen ist daran, Wenn's gäben keine Mädchen, O. Grün wächst, &c. Des Goldes mag der Mammons Knecht Das hält er fest, ein falscher Traum Grün wächst, &c. Die stille Abendstunde mir. Im Arm schläft meine Liebe, O; Ihr Frommen, diess sie brummen an, Es nennt die alte Frau Natur LATINE REDDITUM. Virescunt junci frondibus! Heu! multas curas hominum! Virescunt junci, &c. Ex auro avarus congerat Quæ nitent sibi munera Meos tenens in græmio Virescunt junci, &c. Doctis te questu carpere Virescunt junci, &c. Jurat naturæ genius LIED EINES SCHOTTISCH-GALLISCHEN BARDEN IM JAHRE 1745. VON WALTER SCOTT.-BY THE LAST COUNT PURGSTALL. Nacht ruht auf den Bergen, es dunkelt die Flur, Und singet die Thaten der Väter der Sang, Doch die dunkelen Stunden der Nacht sind entflohn, O edler Murray! wir rufen dich an, Muss die Harfe der Greise euch wecken zur Schlacht Er rufet die Helden zur Freude des Siegs, DER WIRTHIN TŒCHTERLEIN. Es zogen drei Burschen wohl über den Rhein, Bei einer Frau Wirthin, da kehrten sie ein; "Frau Wirthin! Hat Sie gut Bier und Wein? Wo hat sie ihr schönes Töchterlein ?" "Mein Bier und Wein ist frisch und klar, Mein Töchterlein liegt auf der Todtenbahr'." Und als sie traten zur Kammer hinein, Da lag sie in einem schwarzen Schrein. Der Erste, der schlug den Schleier zurück, Und schaute sie an mit traurigem Blick: "Ach! lebtest du noch du schöne Maid, Ich würde dich lieben von dieser Zeit !" Der Zweite deckte den Schleier zu Und kehrte sich ab, und weinte dazu: "Ach! dass du liegst auf der Todtenbahr'! Ich hab' dich geliebet so manches Jahr!" Der Dritte hub ihn wieder sogleich, Und küsste sie auf den Mund so bleich: "Dich liebt' ich immer, dich lieb' ich noch heut', Und werde dich lieben in Ewigkeit." L. UHLAND. THE HOSTESS'S LITTLE DAUGHTER. There halted three students once over the Rhein, And as ye the threshold cross'd, entering in, The third 'gain lifted aside the veil In Eternity, fair one, I still will love thee." GRETEL'S WARNUNG. BY VON HALM. MIT Liebesblick' und Spiel und Sang Nein, Keiner war In ihrer Schar, Und liess nicht nach, Bis er es all, bis er es all, Bis er es all erhielt. Wohl war im Dorfe mancher Mann, Bald riss ihr Wort Ihn schmeichelnd fort; Und liess mich hier, und liess mich hier, Sein Kuss, der tief zur Seele drang, Schaut meinen Fall, O seht mich an, mich Arme an, RULE BRITANNIA. BY THE LAST COUNT PURGSTALL. ALS einst von ringsumgossnem Meere, Einst sinkt der Tyranney Gewalten Nur du wirst stets dich frei erhalten, Nur mächt 'ger stets wirst du erstehen Will dich Tyrannen Hochmuth beugen, Der Fleiss sey deiner Wohlfahrt Quelle, Der Handel deiner Städte Zier, Dir fröhnen soll des Meeres Welle Und jede Küste dienen dir. Britannia herrsche! &c. Die Musen werden zu den Sitzen Der ewigen, heiligen Freiheit zieh'n; Wo Muth und Kraft die Schönen schützen, Wird ewig hold die Schönheit blülin. Britannia herrsche ! &c. GOD'S LAWS versus THE title of this tract is not more remarkable than its contents, and the quarter whence it emanates. To find "a Dignitary of the English Church," one who proclaims himself, by inheritance and education, a Tory, denouncing the Cornlaws to his ecclesiastical superior, as directly opposed to the laws of God and the well-being of man, is a pregnant sign of the times, and we would fain hope an earnest of improvement. The "Dignitary," a man of learning and piety, who deeply feels the responsibilities of his order, has, as appears from every paragraph of his letter, taken a comprehensive and philosophic view of the social and political history of the most remarkable nations of antiquity, and has also kept pace with the development of opinion in his own age. But he starts from a higher point than can be assumed in mere human reasoning; from the direct commission and trust of the Creator, as revealed and committed to our first parents, to "replenish and subdue the earth, and to have dominion over it." This commission, originally given to Adam, and never revoked, was renewed in the charge given to Noah; and it is broadly contended, Under the terms of this commission, a right seems to be given to all men to partake of all the fruits of all the earth, provided they be willing to earn it with the sweat of their brow; and that no human legislation can intervene with this vested right of every individual, without violating God's law; and that all attempts, either direct or indirect, to limit this great end, can originate only in violence and tyranny-at least, not till the terms of the commission be thoroughly fulfilled, and the whole earth be subdued and replenished. The letter sets out strenuously arguing that it is highly proper and decorous, nay the bounden duty of the ministers of the Church, and especially of the Lords Spiritual in their place in the Upper House of Parliament, to interfere in such questions as Corn-laws; and to use their utmost sagacity and wisdom in correcting what is amiss in legislation, and amending what is defective. The clergy and men of all ranks are roundly told, Should, then, in a community leavened apparently by the great truths of the Gospel, and acknowledging Christ's ministers as an important element in its constitution, certain principles prevail, and practices be grafted thereon, which tend to add to the wealth of the rich, and to diminish the narrow comforts of the poor; it appears to me that the ministers of God, who, by their arguments, maintain, or by their silence connive at, such principles and practices, betray the cause of the poor, whom it is their essential duty to protect, and are in great danger of ceasing to be "the salt" of the social mass. Believing, as I do, that the Corn-Laws, which, for a generation of thirty years, have regulated both the price and quantity of food in Great Britain, have tended, and do still tend, to increase the wealth of the rich, and to diminish the comforts of the poor, it is my bounden duty CORN-LAWS.* to profess publicly this belief, and to attempt to relieve our poorer brethren from the pressure which these laws seem to inflict upon them. sacred and profane history, from the beginning of Throwing a rapid glance along the current of the world until the appearance of our Saviour on earth; the doctrines and principles which he promulgated, and the enlightened and humane civil institutions which, though still very imperfect, have grown out of the Christian system, are ably and eloquently contrasted with the principles of polity which regulated even the most illustrious and highly civilized nations of antiquity. Limited as is our space, and though this Letter contains much that is more apt for what we conceive its main object,—namely, forcing thought if not absolutely carrying conviction into high places, we must quote one passage, which, among many others, must show the "Protectionists" that the "Dignitary" is something different from those most useful labourers, in their the hustings or the platform. He reverts to the own sphere, the Anti-Corn-law orators whether of principles and labours of the early Apostles and disciples, the first Christian missionaries, and thus strikingly presents the contrast:— The natural man, the selfish creature, as known to us from actual experience, and as we find him faithfully depictured in profane history, acts upon principles directly the reverse of these. He loves his own locality with an instinctive feeling. He wars steadily against all attempts to enlarge the sphere of his local attachments. His home, be it ever so homely, is his paradise. Within that narrow limit, he cherishes those prejudices which have grown with his growth, and strengthened with his strength. He values all his petty privileges in proportion to their exclusive character, and resolutely resists any attempt to communicate them to others; and if he is a member of the more favoured class of the community, values his position, not according to his own real elevation in the scale of humanity, but according to a fictitious standard of his own invention, of which the favourite test is, the graduated depression of all placed below him. On such selfish principles were constituted the worldfamous constitutions of the ancient states of Greece: Sparta itself, that wonderful creation of the human intellect, presents us with a view of the most vigorous attempt ever made by man to fix within narrow limits energies which never can be permanently thus controlled, to cast all minds in one unvarying mould, and, as it were, to stereotype an everlasting imprint of social life. There were many points in this system which a disciple of Malthus would gladly re-produce. Sparta had an aristocracy as fixed in its dimensions as the everlasting hills which looked down upon her meanlooking capital. Into her sacred band no new blood could possibly be infused,-no merits, however great, or whatsoever might be their nature, could entitle a Spartan, not legitimately descended from members of the privileged class, to have his name registered among the * A Letter to His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, from a Dignitary of the English Church. London: Houlston & Stoneman. The wisest of her sons amused themselves with con resulting from social and political life were to be secured, and all the evils avoided. But as they knew not of the high mission of man, they could never raise their imaginations beyond the contemplation of a territory limited in quantity, and consequently of a body of citizens limited in number. The necessary operation of what we now call the Malthusian laws, was perfectly well known to them; and that the principle on which they act, would necessarily prove fatal to any prosperous community formed on the very narrow basis on which alone they professed to found their systems, were not some means taken to counteract this principle, and to keep the number of citizens within the prescribed limit. It grieves me to write, that although both Plato and Aristotle hint at certain anterior measures which might palliate the evil, they teach openly, that the only effectual remedy against its ultimate certainty, was the destruction of superfluous infants, before they can appreciate the gift of life. blood nobility of Sparta. Her middle class was limited | ledge, and finally, the pride and glory of the unchrisin number, and her laws positively forbade any increase tianized world. of its constituent members. The first-born male of every Periœcian family was alone regarded as the re-structing systems of policy, in which all the advantages presentative of his class. His brothers, debarred from marriage, were compelled to servile labour on his territorial lot, without any hope of improving their position, except by the death of their brother without male offspring. The lower classes were represented by the Helots, slaves of the lowest description, without any social rights, without property, and whose numbers were kept down to suit the exigencies of the times by private assassination and public massacres. It has been supposed and the supposition is partly borne out by tradition-that Lycurgus borrowed some of his institutions from Moses. The only conservative principle, in this exclusive state, was the exemplary self-denial of the aristocracy. Its members were contented to forego all the luxuries of life, and to restrict their wants, as far as the body was concerned, to a provision for sufficient protection against cold, hunger, and thirst; they were, literally speaking, contented "with food and raiment." A Spartan noble, for centuries, lived as plainly, if not more so, than the lowest Helot of the community. Such self-denial was Rot without its reward; for the power of the Spartan aristocracy flourished for a period of time, of which we have no similar example in the histories of ancient states. To secure power, the desire of which is the last infirmity of noble minds, they voluntarily resigned those more sensual enjoyments which ignoble minds regard as most to be desired. Even the fall of Sparta had nothing abrupt or destructive in its results. She died of a gradual decline, without any dangerous convulsion, without any internecine war of brother against brother, or wholesale massacre of citizens by kindred hands. But Sparta fell "without a sign;" her greatness is really the "magni nominis umbra" of the poet, recorded in books alone, and not leaving the impress of her mind upon the history of man. She stands alone,-her pedigree begins and ends with herself; she had no ancestors, and left no successors. Athens was less exclusive in her institutions: her population consisted not of the pure Cecropian race alone, but was an amalgam of almost every tribe in Greece repeated revolutions had fused most of her free inhabitants into a compact democracy, instinct with life, and boundless in ambition; her movements were consequently less cramped, and her activity more decided, than those of any other free state of ancient Greece. At a period almost antecedent to the regular history of the race, Athens had sent forth colonies, which in time swelled out into the fair proportions of the Hellenic states of Ionia: nor did she, to the latest period of her power, cease to act upon the same principles, and to send her surplus population to distant shores. But she could not transfer her affections to her transplanted children. Her care was limited by the boundaries of Attica and a few neighbouring islands. Thus to her colonies she was an unkind stepmother-to her acquired subjects a cruel and despotical mistress. She thought that the brute force at her command would enable her to defy the discontent of those dependents, to whom she denied equal rights and privileges; that, by the superiority of her fleets, she might safely domineer both over her colonies and conquests, and make them her slaves and tributaries. But she drew the reins too tightly; they snapped in her hands: the fleets of her dependents went over to the enemy. Her naval supremacy was thus overthrown; and she fell amidst the horrors of a home-war and civil bloodshed, with a suddenness in direct contrast with the slowness of her ascent. But she did not fall without a sign. The sons whom she had cherished in the days of home-liberty, left the impress of their minds on all succeeding ages; and she still lives in her orators, poets, historians, and philosophers, and in the remains of her marble wonders, whose ruins still breathe. After many a bloody struggle, not without glory, Athens gradually subsided into the peaceful teacher of her ruder conquerors, the favourite seat whence the ancient world derived its intellectual know Still there was an authority even in their days which might have taught them a better lesson. That authority the majority of their countrymen regarded with something of the veneration with which we regard the Holy Scriptures. Old Homer, had they consulted him, would have told them of lands untilled by the hand, untrodden by the foot of man, which waited for nothing but man's labour to change them from a howling wilderness into smiling gardens, which would have furnished her with ample domains, ready to be occupied by that superfluous population which was the source of their difficulties, and against the evils supposed necessarily to result from which, they knew of no better remedy than the destruction of their own children, the continuous removal of the genial spring from the course of the year. But the high attitude which England is called upon to assume as a colonizing country, possessed of means and resources, such as the world never before saw, for executing the commission originally given by the Creator to man, is less to our immediate purpose than the narrower but more pressing question of Free Trade. It is enough that the subject of colonization is ably treated, though only on general principles, and illustrated by examples drawn from the history of the greatest conquerors and colonizers of the ancient world. One sentence from a brief and masterly sketch of the Norman Conquest we copy as an indication of the general spirit of the "Letter."-"It must be confessed that the period of the Norman domination is marked by events which, however pleasing they may appear in the eyes of a medieval enthusiast, have no charms for the truly benevolent man, who wishes to improve the great body of his countrymen." But setting out upon better principles and with nobler ends than ever yet animated conquerors, and possessing unrivalled means and advantages, which are proudly enumerated, the "Dignitary' exhorts his countrymen to fulfil the high destiny for which Providence seems to have selected this favoured land, and to become the beneficent agents in the great work of peopling and civilizing the world. There is, however, one great but not insurmountable obstacle to the accomplishment of an object in which it would be glorious even to co-operate, namely, our restrictive commercial policy, and the condition to which it has reduced our industrial classes; our laws that are opposed to God's laws. This obstacle, which the reasonings and persuasions of this Letter must tend to remove, is thus treated,― As far as human reason can infer, as far as experience can lead us to conceive, there is but one visible obstacle to prevent us from fulfilling so glorious a duty; and this obstacle has been thrown across our path, not by any necessity imposed upon us by the physical laws of the universe, nor erected by the ingenuity of human enemies, but deliberately built up by our own suicidal hands. We, the favoured, the energetic, the patient, the hard-toiling inhabitants of this realm, so powerful for good, so abstemious from evil, able to produce to an unlimited extent all the other necessaries of civilized life, and to part with them as a medium of exchange, cannot and do not produce a sufficiency of wholesome food for the healthy maintenance of our existing population. The Legislature in an evil hour passed laws, which, however wisely intended, have eventually prevented us from supplying this deficiency in proportion to our wants. I need not recapitulate to your Grace the history of our Corn Laws; most probably, it is better known to you than it is to me. But your Grace must well remember the memorable year when they assumed their present form, and the instinctive hatred with which their enactment was regarded by those who have since that time been called "the masses." The Bill, against which, in its every stage, those poor people published their turbulent and riotous protests, passed into a law. Its proposers and supporters affirmed that it was imposed upon them by necessity; and, to a certain extent, perhaps it was so. We were told that it was necessary in our transition-state from almost an universal war to almost an universal peace; to save the landowners from certain ruin-to lighten the burden of the national debt-to enable us gradually to descend from the false position into which we had been inevitably brought by our isolated existence of so many years' continuance, and especially by the fearful debasement of our legal currency. It was more than hinted that were only time allowed, all might be rectified, and we might again safely and gracefully descend to the level of other nations. With the truth or fallacy of these arguments, it is not my present intention to deal. But I know this, that since that period a generation of men has passed away, that the Corn Laws are still in force, although mitigated in their stringency, and that the arguments adduced for their continuance, are of that character, which, if unrefuted, must render the laws perpetual, cripple our ever-elastic energies, arrest us in our onward course, and render our statesmen the by-word and scorn of future generations. "Wholesome food," (he says,) according to my definition, ought to consist of a diet, of which bread made of the ground seeds of the more generous cerealia, ought to constitute a large element; and this bread might, to a great extent, be partially displaced by preparations of the seeds of leguminous plants. But along with this farinaceous food, there ought to be consumed a fair proportion of animal substances, whether in the form of milk, butter, cheese, flesh, fowl, or fish. I have no hesitation in adding, that there should also, in the case of hard-working men, be a due allowance of fermented liquor, the soul of the seeds of the cerealia, or of fruittrees, in the shape of cider, wine, beer, porter, ale. This will be recognised all over Europe as the Englishman's bill of fare. Such was the food of the patriarchs, the kid, the calf, the lamb taken from the fold, milk in its various forms, and especially bread, without which Jacob and his children could not live comfortably, with all their numerous flocks and herds. Such was the food which Melchisedec brought forth to refresh the wearied servants of Abraham. He refreshed them with bread and wine, God's best earthly gifts to his creatures. The priests of the old world, under every dispensation, approached the altars of their gods with similar offerings. Old Homer allowed no other food to his warriors before Troy but the generous diet of bread, what we call butcher's meat, and wine. And the riotous suitors in the Odyssey revel on the same substantial courses. The harvest food of even his reapers was the roasted ox and newly-baked scones, and his very ploughmen received, at regulated intervals, a refreshing draught of wine. Herodotus states as an historical fact, that the warriors of Egypt received, among other perquisites, a daily allowance of bread, butcher's meat, and wine; even her very bondsmen, when tasked hardest to their work, were allowed to revel in the luxuries of the fleshpots. We call this sound and admirable doctrine; and some remarks follow about the physical condition of the Irish, and the poor of the North of Scotland, which we gladly hail from the pen of a "Dignitary of the English Church;" though such language about the people's food, or want of food, might, forty years since, have qualified a man for Botany Bay. The conclusion is, It is therefore a gross fallacy to affirm, that the agriculture of these islands furnishes its population with a sufficient quantity of wholesome food. The utmost that can be said under this head is, that it does provide a sufficiency for the consumption of the easier classes. Instead of favouring what are called the Malthusian doctrines, the "Dignitary" contends that a numerous and increasing population — where reliThe "Dignitary" next sets himself to combat the hackneyed arguments of the Protectionists, and gion and morality, wise legislation, and an enlightto demolish, in particular, the thrice-refuted falla- ened system of civil policy fulfil their great purposes to demolish, in particular, the thrice-refuted falla-is to be regarded as a special blessing of Provicies, which our readers have so often seen knocked upon the head during the last dozen years. But we have little to say on this section of the "Letter," save to express a fervent hope that, for the common good, it may take effect in quarters where Colonel Thompson and the League might in vain raise their voices. This hope is indeed one main ground of our satisfaction at the appearance of this remarkable pamphlet. The writer at once gives up the point of the labouring population being fed as generously as he would have them fed from the produce of our home territories; and roundly denies the necessity of any restrictions. His working-man's dietary, or his definition of what "wholesome food" is, would really go far to make the country deserve its old appellation of "Merry England." dence, as a token of the divine favour. This, he holds, is the doctrine taught in the Scriptures, and corroborated by profane history. Thus it is stated, that ancient stock. So also Athens and Carthage fell beSparta was ruined by the want of Spartans of the cause their citizen population did not increase in proportion to their ever-increasing number of imperial subjects. Rome was in some degree either wiser or more fortunate in this respect but even Rome, with ciples, showed alarming symptoms of a similar disease, much greater advantages, and with more liberal prinand tried various means of remedying the gradual decrease of real Romans. What but God's judgment has smitten the regions once ruled over by the great monarchs of Assyria, Media, and Persia, with sterility and barrenness sterility in their soil and bar renness in their families? We read in the pages of Herodotus of the almost incredible productiveness of |