abate their zeal of intrigue, and free the land from the pollution which, in the intervals of tranquillity, is circulated over it, to prepare it for coming disorders. We repeat, that it is the despair of success alone that can quell this baneful spirit, reclaim the people to their duty, and consign their wicked leaders to obscurity.

And will it be thought that this great country has not the means of awing, by the majesty of her attitude alone, the bad spirit which seeks her undoing? Away with the base and coward thought. It is the encouragement given to such notions, in quarters where more of courage and high-mindedness might have been expected, that has emboldened sedition to reckon its ultimate triumph already secured. It is the supineness which has been indicated,-the feeble and helpless alarm betrayed,together with the countenance which has been madly given to this baneful system which can never ally itself to any constitutional party in the state, that has imparted to radicalism all the intrepidity which it can boast. That the wealth, talent, rank, and honour of this great country are not, if duly and seasonably arrayed, a mighty overmatch for the systematic ruffianism within it which the chance of the times has created, is a sentiment at once ineffably puerile and degrading. It is true, indeed, that if matters are to proceed as they have done hitherto,—if all is to be criminal activity on the one side, and shameful inertness on the other, if we are stupidly to gaze on the advance of the enemy, instead of preparing vigorously to grapple with him, it is easy predicting what must be the result-for there is nothing impossible to malignant energy, when opposed to secure and confiding imbecility. But we trust that the season of supine-. ness is fast passing away, and as it can no longer be disguised, even from the most incredulous, that disaffection is already organized into a system, so we hope that the spirit of constitutional loyalty will assume the attitude and the preparedness of a system too.

The first step to be taken undoubtedly is, the general convocation of public meetings throughout the land, at which a determination to maintain the constitution and the laws at all hazards, shall be energetically avowed. The strength of patriotic feeling will thus be ascertained, and the friends to the constitution will learn with whom they are to co-operate with whom to contend. We wish no factious or debateable matters to find their way into such resolutions,-for we disdain to speak here of parties while the subject is our country.-But the mere expression of sentiment will not of itself suffice. A more general arming of the loyal and well affected will be required to overawe the

presumptuous spirit that is now abroad, into submission and despair. What could a disorganized and unarmed multitude, supposing it ten times more numerous than its opponents, do against disciplined and armed men resolute in a good cause, and prepared to defend their native land against the worst of public calamities? In such a case, any probable disparity of numbers could be of little consequence-for, besides that the conscious guilt of the plunderers would weigh them down,-besides that, undisciplined and unarmed, they could never make head against their opponents,-how few, we would ask, even among the malcontents themselves, would risk real personal danger in their hopeless pursuit? For it is a sophism to hold that the great mass of the lower orders, unarmed, unheaded, and uncombined, constitute, for active purposes, the true physical strength of the country. In mere bulk and volume, they are indeed formidable, but their effective strength has on all occasions been found to correspond but ill with the menace of their appearance. A mere mob is cowardly by the very nature of its composition-by the want of system and mutual understanding-by the conscious feeling of guilt, which never leaves the heart of the insurgent even in his noisiest exultation-by the mutual fear of treachery, which repels from each other those who, in order to be strong, must be bound by the most unreserved sympathy, and linked together by the strictest discipline. The distinguished courage of our common people cannot be disputed; but it requires discipline and a good cause to bring it forth in all its lustre; and so unpropitious is all mobbish combination to its fair exhibition, that a crowd which may not contain one individual craven, shall in a mass betray the most infamous cowardice. There is nothing therefore to fear from riot and insurrection, if it be not cherished by the shameful apathy of those whose duty it is to repress it.

What this country is capable of performing on a great emergency, has been signally exemplified in some passages of our recent history. The late usurper of the French throne dared to threaten the invasion of this country, and the annihilation of the British name-he marched his marauders to the coast, and presented them ready to pounce upon their prey. What was the result? Did the heart of Britain sink in the hour of trialdid she shew that her spirit and her resources were unequal to meet the greatest dangers? The instantaneous levy of near a million of men, rushing to arms in defence of their native land, struck the invader with despair-while it must have filled his inmost soul with reluctant admiration. The project of invading England was abandoned, and one of the finest triumphs that patriotism ever won, was thus achieved by mere vigour and

alacrity of preparation. And shall the spirit which rose to save England from the polluting presence of a foreign enemy sleep now that a foe not less mortal has risen within her bosom? We cannot for a moment believe it. It is true that, in the altered circumstances of the case, we must lay our account with a heavy deduction from that mass of valour and of strength which arrayed itself against a foreign foe, but which, being now tainted with disaffection, may, instead of being auxiliary, prove incurably hostile. Let it be remembered, however, that, if the national means be thus shattered, the danger to be encountered is incalculably less-for it was one thing to repel by the hasty levies of enthusiastic patriotism the veteran conquerors of the European continent, and it is another to subdue the disjointed and disorderly gangs who now threaten the public repose, and who can never, but by the criminal supineness of others, become better than a discontented, but trembling and disorganized conspiracy of spoilers.

To shew that the multitude are not in. any efficient sense the physical strength of the country, we need not go far back into history, nor seek examples in distant countries or remote ages. The events which occurred in the west of Scotland during the early part of the last year, afford a most satisfactory illustration of the position. There it is certain that, a very wicked and turbulent spirit was largely diffused among the lower classes, and that every thing was prepared for revolt, so far as the means and the talents of the populace enabled them to make such preparation. Secret meetings had been held-arms more or less efficient had been obtained by purchase or by robbery-military training had been attempted and a hundred thousand men, it was expected, would burst in destruction upon one of the greatest commercial cities of the empire. But one or two regiments of the line, with the assistance of a few troops of yeomanry and companies of volunteer infantry, were sufficient to repel the attack of this motley multitude to dissolve, for a time at least, the vast combination to strike disaffection with dismay-and to seize the leaders in the midst of their drooping and confounded followers. It is a jest, after such an exhibition, to talk of the physical strength of the country as residing in the crowd-it is mere imbecility to imagine that such strength can ever triumph over the armed precaution of the well disposed whatever it may achieve if left to grow upon and to grapple with them, while unarmed and uncombined. If the precaution now recommended be not needed, it is at any rate but a harmless superfluity-if it be needed, it is an indispensable safeguard. We may rely upon it, that the revolutionists consider

the destruction of the government and of the higher classes a safe as well as easy achievement, or they would cease to entertain the design---and therefore it is that a counteracting power must be created and sustained, ready at all times to cope with them, until they are reclaimed from their present deep delusion. Nor let it be said that there is harshness in our proposal, we wish to overawe, and thereby prevent crime, in order that the necessity of all sanguinary punishments may be spared. We claim the merit of that humanity which would repel the deluded crowd from the gulf into which they are about to fall-and willingly leave to others the praise of seducing them to destruction, and then venting their craven reproaches over their ruin.

Do we then invoke a system of coercion, which is to chain down the lower orders in perpetuity to their actual condition! Far from it. The rich and the powerful are, by the happy constitution of these lands, no privileged or enduring class. The labourer of our times may be rewarded in his posterity for his humble toil; his children may have the highest stations and the richest rewards of industry to defend against the radical spirit of another generation. He, on the other hand, who is numbered with the great or opulent ones of the present day, may by lawful progression exchange places with some of the malcontents who now mark out his wealth for plunder-if the latter will wait to realize its legitimate transference by industry. It is not then for the security of a privileged class that we demand of the power of government, and of the loyalty of the country, that every vigorous and merciful precaution should be instantly adopted. It is in support of that gracious system which permits the mutual exchange of all conditions, and thereby confers upon society so many splendid advantages,-which enables the industry of the peasant to lift him up to the level of the wealthy and the great-and permits the follies of the latter, to sink them to the rank of the peasant,-that system under the benignant auspices of which this country has pre-eminently prospered, that we resolutely contend. And now that an organized design has been formed to overthrow this system, and to regenerate the country by plunder, anarchy, and blood, it becomes the imperative duty of all honest men to come to the aid of the constitution,-to avert by wisdom or by strength the horrors that are menaced,—and to extinguish the hopes of disaffection by the very aspect of their power, that the necessity may be for ever averted of calling it into vindictive and sanguinary operation.

ART. II.

ART. II.-The Life and Studies of Benjamin West, Esq. President of the Royal Academy of London, compiled from materials furnished by himself. By JOHN GALT, Esq. Cadell & Davies. London, 1816 and 1820. 2 vols. Svo. Pp. 411.

Ix tracing the progress of the fine arts in England, it is quite unnecessary to go farther back into history than the reign of Henry VIII. In his reign painting met with considerable encouragement, and, under the patronage of that monarch and the nobility, many distinguished artists from the Continent visited the country occasionally. But their labours, being in general confined to portrait painting, had no very extensive influence in disseminating a pure taste; and the Reformation, and other great political events that subsequently occurred, left little leisure for the cultivation of the arts, or the development of native talent. A love of splendour, and a taste for the elegant arts, formed a striking characteristic of Henry, and these dispositions were warmly fostered by his minister Wolsey, who was not inferior to his master in this respect.

During this reign, Hans Holbein, a native of Basle or Augsburg, came to England, where, being warmly patronized by the King, and meeting with great encouragement, he remained till his death. Holbein was a man of great genius, and showed himself capable of excelling in the highest departments of the art; but during the long period of his residence in England, he almost exclusively devoted himself to portrait painting. The style of Holbein is marked with much force of character, a fine relief without much shadow, and great richness of colouring; but, as might be expected from the school where he studied, there is in it no small portion of the Gothic dryness of manner of the early German masters. Lucas Cornelii was another artist contemporary with Holbein in England. He painted portraits with some success, and is supposed to have practised miniature painting. He was appointed painter to the King. Henry also endeavoured to induce Raffaelle and Titian to visit his court, but was not successful. The disgrace of Wolsey was a severe blow to the arts, as that minister projected many magnificent undertakings, which, had they been completed, would have formed a great era in the. history of national taste.

The next painter who visited England was Sir Antonio More, a native of Utrecht. During the reign of Henry, he had been