and disasters in the East, and the apprehension of war nearer home, the Corn-laws were threatened, flesh and blood could stand it no longer. In 1842, the Conservative Opposition became once more the government party, being strong in the entire possession of the House of Lords, strong in the Commons as numbering a majority of 100 there, and stronger still in the unbounded confidence which seemed every where to be reposed in the sagacity and firmness of the premier. Has he, by any act of his, forfeited this opinion? We think not. True, his measures have all carried us step by step away from the old Conservative standard. We have an education scheme meted out to the people of England on the exact model of that which they would not accept from Lord Melbourne. We have Romanism placed in Ireland in a position to which no other minister than Sir Robert Peel could have advanced it. We have had an incometax, a new tariff, and various other arrangements besides, which the party now declare that they did not sanction except with undisguised reluctance, and which, on the score of consistency, it was not an easy matter to defend. But what of all that? Robert Peel. What, then, is his If it be Sir Robert Peel's intention Rents have not fallen; the price of But But we must protest against ar rangements which, under the plea of opening new markets for our manufactures abroad, shall lay the axe to the root of the social arrangements which are connected with our holiest affections at home. We will never consent to the eradication of the aristocratic principle from the English constitution, nor sanction any measures which appear to have a tendency in that direction. Wherefore, if Sir Robert Peel's plan do not include a just and ample compensation for the immediate losses which a total repeal of the Cornlaws must necessarily inflict, at the outset, upon the landed proprietors of England, we shall resist it, and denounce it to the utmost extent of our power, because we can regard it only as the first decisive step towards the depths of democracy, whither we shall not willingly be carried. like manner, we must object to any settlement of the corn or any other law, which shall take away a portion, be it ever so small, from the already inadequate incomes of the clergy. The Tithe-commuta In tion act, to which, be it remembered, the clergy were not consenting, and in the concoction of which they were never consulted, not only deprived the tithe-owners of a property improvable and improving from year to year, but fixed the amount of money-payment which each impropriator was to receive according to the average price of wheat in the market. Now it is manifest, that if the price of wheat be lowered to the extent which the Leaguers anticipate, no conceivable reduction in the costs of the necessaries of life will compensate the clergy for the loss which they must thereby sustain. Accordingly, unless Sir Robert Peel's device imply, that the clergy shall by some means or other be protected against this wrong, it will outrage the first principle of justice, and be by us, and by all who value justice between man and man, resisted. In a word, we are willing to accept cheap living provided we can get it, apart from bad living and mean living, and the consequent overthrow of the established institutions and the habits of social life, which dis tinguish this country from all others parties to arrangements which shall in the world. But we will never be threaten to turn our landed proprietors out of doors, and to make beggars both of the clergy and the tenant-farmers even of the present generation. The queen's speech is an able document. Somewhat oracular it may be in many of its clauses, and in none more so than in that to which the attention of the whole community is at this moment drawn. We go regarding peace or war, and the newith it cordially in all that it tells cessity of being prepared for either. We are glad, likewise, to find that the system of open outrage that has prevailed of late in Ireland is to be put down. But the clause which refers to a further relaxation of the laws that regulate commerce and give protection to British industry, we do not pretend to understand; no, not after reading the speech of the minister who concocted it, and the answers more or less sharp which were provoked by it. Before we come again into the presence of our readers, both they and we will know better what all parties be about. And they may rely upon it that we shall take our places where truth, and honour, and good policy, seem to dictate; for it is by the truth and honesty of his purposes that the policy of a minister, not less than the character of a private person, is to be tried. Since the preceding went to press, Sir Robert Peel has made his promised announcement. It is obvious that we have neither space nor time to give to so grave a matter the shall, therefore, decline entering at notice which it deserves; and we all into the many questions which are stirred by it. But this much of credit we will give to the minister's, speech, that it is the boldest that was ever uttered in the House of Commons. What we ourselves think of it, and of its probable effects on the well-being of the country, we must state when a more convenient opportunity shall offer. London :-Printed by George Barclay, Castle Street, Leicester Square, MR. NEWMAN; HIS THEORIES AND CHARACTER. UPON a certain day in the year of which we have so recently taken leave, known in the almanacks as the year of grace 1845, a gentleman was travelling to Oxford by the Great Western. He occupied a seat in one of those carriages which, by their peculiar division into compartments, two four-in-side post coaches,-separated by a window and door,-immediately suggest to an academic observer the appropriate designation of a "Double-First." IIe had not glided many miles along that agreeable thoroughfare to the west of England, before a casual remark from a stranger, who had the advantage of being placed opposite to him, introduced a dialogue upon the current topics of the hour. There is no spot in which "news, the manna of a day," descends in so refreshing a shower, Even as over these iron ways. raillery itself may be endured by rail. Under such circumstances, however, conversation exercises a very veller, kindling with his subject, and looking his vis-à-vis full in the face, "I have always believed Mr. Newman to be a Jesuit in disguise." What answer the vis-à-vis may have returned to this startling declaration, summary jurisdiction; the claims of public candidates are despatched with all the speed of emulation; and Bright and Bolingbroke are treated with equal freedom. The dialogue on this memorable day, which we are thus committing to history, possessed something of the same autocratical character. By a natural transition from the Pope to Dr. Pusey, whether, arguing from what had been, he might have admitted that such things may be again,-or whether he would have sunk into the heresy, we shall never have the corner, overpowered by horror and happy privilege of knowing, or of informing our readers; for, at the same instant, a face which concentrated the chapel and monastery at Littlemore into the opposite glass, was slowly and solemnly projected through the open window of the double," and a particularly soft and distinct voice uttered these thrilling accents: "I would have you, sir, to be cautious what you are saying, for there is somebody in this carriage whom you may not like to hear you." The sound ceased, and the apparition vanished, leaving the in 66 habitants of the other double in a shudder of amazement and awe, which might have been felt by that Homeric gentleman, whose curtains were so fiercely drawn at night, a great many hundred years ago. But our pen unequal to the effort of painting the scene. 18 Such is the true story of a the name of Mr. Newman came up, journey to Oxford, the accuracy of -his opinions, his talents, his ho nesty. "For my part," said the tra VOL. XXXIII. NO. CXCV. which we have the strongest reason to be sure of, and which far sur S passes in interest Pope's narrative of a visit to the same university in the company of Lintot. The only similar occurrence, we remember, that can by any possibility be related in the same paragraph, is one recorded by Byron, and referring to his own appearance in type with Mr. Rogers, when Larry and Jacky solicited the public suffrages together. A gentleman in the Brighton coach, having been engaged in the perusal of the book, laid it down, when it was taken up by a fellow-passenger, who inquired the name of the author. "There are two," was the mysterious reply. Ay, ay, a joint concern, I suppose, summut like Sternhold and Hopkins." The possessor of the volume was a friend of the poets. Newman been? In what name, and in what authority, has he been teaching the children of the English church, if not by his voice in the pulpit, at least by private communication, and by his previously published works? His sermons have been read as those of a minister of the Church, even those which contained the germs of the poison which he is now openly administering to the Church. His reasonings have been listened to, have been permitted to find access to minds, from which they would have been anxiously excluded under the present title." These comments, be it remembered, come from no semi-Dissenter, with whom St. Paul's and the Weigh House are equally sacred, and Binney and Barrow co-efficient authorities. On the contrary, they are the sentiments of one of the representatives of that large body in the Church of England, who think that her orders are apostolical, and that her Halls and Beveridges knew something of the Fathers; who, with Hooker, can revere her majestic polity; and with Horsley, refuse to be scared by the bugbear of purgatory; who, with the greatest men of the brightest times, believe nothing to be holy which is not honest; and scorn to acknowledge any devo tion to be profitable or sincere which grows only in the dark, and is fed only by deception. Mr. Newman would have us to believe that his conversion rushed upon him with an irresistible impetus, while he was descending these inclined planes of developement. But no, we are wrong, It was not until type had imparted to his arguments that clear symmetry, by which they are recommended to the general reader, that the blaze of conviction burst full upon his eyes. Not by his own, but his printer's proofs, was the change to be effected. "When he had got some way in the printing, he recognised in himself a conviction of the truth of the conclusion, to which the discussion leads, so clear as to supersede further deliberation." Can this statement be received for a moment? Is it credible? Is it possible? Every understanding is undoubtedly open to new accessions of light; and one eye perceives some defects in a book, that another is unconscious of. Montaigne The scene in the Double-First returned vividly to our memory, when the recent publication of Mr. Newman announced his descent into Popery. Could it be possible? Was he a Jesuit after all? Had he remained in the fortress long enough to undermine the ramparts, and poison the water-springs? Had he conciliated the garrison, only to betray it? Had he now gone over to the enemy, with all the advantages of a comrade and all the malice of a deserter? Had he made himself so familiar with the battlements of our church, only to lead the storming party of her assailants? While these questions kept thronging to our lips, the observation of a contemporary came under our eyes. He concludes some general remarks on the degrees of trust to be reposed in the author himself "by alluding to one strange, inexplicable, moral phenomenon, which to Englishmen at least must wear an appearance so unsatisfactory, as to supersede much further examination. The present volume is a very elaborate, studied work, full of research, bearing proofs of long preparation; the result of matured thought; the conclusions of a course of reasoning which can now be traced back in Mr. Newman's writings to several years since, during which, we now know from authority, he has been meditating his recent step. It is not the questioning-the anxious, wavering questioning of an undecided mind; but the formal proof of a long-weighed conclusion. And during all this time where has Mr. to was accustomed to say that he read in Livy what another could not, and that Plutarch read there what he did not. In like manner, Bolingbroke confessed of himself, that he had read at fifty what he never could find in the same book at twenty-five. This we can easily comprehend; for not only does the intellectual eye-sight reflect its own colours upon the object, but its vigour and penetration vary with conditions of the moral health. But Mr. Newman comes within neither exemption. If the theory of developement made him a Romanist, it would have made him one in its working. No; the solution of the mystery is to be sought and found in the book itself. The author has furnished the key to the problem. IN THE MIDDLE OF HIS DAYS IS BE- is literally to begin life again; to We entreat our readers to mark these words. Where do they occur? Not in the preface, not in the postscript, not even at the close of the volume, broken where the faint ray of Roman Catholic sunrise may be supposed to have upon the pilgrim, then ascending, after so wearisome a journey, into the sweet garden and paradisiacal atmosphere of indulgences and image-worship. In none of those positions will this declaration be discovered. It stands in the beginning of the Essay, and that essay, which the writer commenced and finished according to his own assurance, while belonging to the Church of England. There can be no mistake here; the meaning of the passage is distinct and positive. To become a Romanist "If, then, I am asked, What I believe to be the principal evil of the system inculcated by Mr. Newman and his friends? My answer must be,-disregard of truth, and the disregard more dangerous, because it certainly appears to originate in their having in the first instance confused their own notions of truth and falsehood, both as to their nature and their importance."-See the Rev. J. C. Crosthwaite's very ingenious papers on Modern Hagiology, recently collected in two small volumes, and well worthy of a perusal, for their argument, their directness, and plain speaking; not to mention an irony which sometimes proves highly effective, though occasionally, perhaps, carried a little too far. |