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The next source of abuse is still more important, and appears, from the results of the committee's labours, to be at once unjust and oppressive, in its very partial operation; for they do not hesitate to state, that the privileges and exemptions from tolls and dues, which are enjoyed by freemen, give them, in some cases, very considerable advantage in the conduct of the ordinary affairs of life, over those who are not freemen. It is stated that two persons engaged in trade in Hull, and in all other respects being equal, except that the one is and the other is not a freeman, the exemption from port and other dues will give an advantage to the freeman, to the amount of 100l. per annum. It may well be questioned whether such exemptions rest on any public principle sufficiently strong to compensate for and justify an interference with that equality of rights which ought to be enjoyed by members of the same community. In most considerable places, private acts of Parliament have been obtained for the purpose of watching, paving, and lighting the towns. Thus, some important functions of police have been transferred to bodies independent of, and unconnected with the corporations; and, as the committee did not consider, that, under the reference made to them, they had power to inquire into the efficiency and administration of those acts, as regards the police of the respective towns, they have abstained from the inquiry. It may be remarked, however, that it is probable, that if the corporations had been more popularly constituted, and had enjoyed a larger share of public confidence, they might have been invested with a greater if not an exclusive controul over the execution of these acts of

Parliament. The rates levied by the authority of the corporations, for public c purposes, and which, in some cases, have been to a considerable amount, constitute another fit head of inquiry. Complaints have been made on this subject; and, even if no complaints had been made, it seems to be expedient that some better and more efficient checks than exist at present should be established, for the benefit and protection of those who are to pay the rates.

It further appears, that there are several corporations existing in the. hearts of counties, and no one can in the least explain the motives on which the charter was granted to them. For example, Bradninch is an agricultural parish in Devonshire, which has been incorporated by charter. No reason appeared why it should have been separated from the other parishes that surround it; and, on the contrary, your committee cannot hesitate to express their opinion, that the condition of the parish would be improved by being placed under the ordinary jurisdiction of the magistrates of the county. The inference which your committee draw from the cases into which they have inquired, is, that little difficulty will be found in suggesting a remedy for the defects which appear to exist in the towns where there is a large population. The remedies, however, which might be applicable to large towns, might not be capable of being applied, with equal success, to those that are small. This consideration appears to furnish an additional reason for further inquiry, in order that an attempt may be made to arrange the different corporations into classes, and to devise some measure to cure the defects or to remove the evil of small corporations.

But the most important part of the report is that in which the committee express their opinions on the general subject of corporations. They are induced to believe, as they themselves

expressly admit, that corporations, as they at present are constituted, do not suit the existing state of society, They find that the corporate officers are not identified with the community, who have rarely any influence in choosing them, and have no control over their proceedings. Corporate Corporate offices, even the highest in rank, are not always objects of desire, and are likely to be less so, now that the political influence of corporations has been so much diminished. To make corporations instruments of useful and efficient local government, it seems to be essential that the corporate officers should be more popularly chosen; that the offices should be accessible to all that have entitled themselves, by their conduct, to the good opinion and confidence of their fellow citizens; that their proceedings should be open, and subject to the control of public opinion; and that it should be felt by the community, that the maintenance of order, and the equal administration of justice in all things, depend on the energy and principle of the corporate officers. If these objects could be obtained, there seems to be no reason to doubt that the wholesome influence and authority of corporations would be increased, that their powers of usefulness would be extended, that public confidence would be established, and that the desire of honourable distinction, and the sense of duty, would call into the service of the community those who are most capable of discharging the duties of the corporate offices with ability and integrity. Such are some of the results which your committee anticipate from a zealous and honest prosecution of this most important inquiry; and they have accordingly considered, with care, the best means of attaining the end. For the reasons which have been already stated, your committee are of opinion, that it is not in their power to bring the inquiry to a satisfactory conclu

sion. Two plans were suggested: the one, to circulate queries, addressed to the different corporations; the other, to recommend the appointment of a commission. The first plan was rejected, on the ground that queries could not be framed so as to meet all the various circumstances of the different corporations; that they might have been easily evaded; and that the information might have been partial.

The committee, in conclusion, recommend that a commission should be appointed, which, by proceeding, in every instance, to the spot where they can obtain the best possible evidence, would thereby be able to carry on the investigation with the greatest

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THE late lamented Lord Dover, in this little offering to his son, assumes that most interesting of all characters, the amiable and competent promoter of the intellectual and moral instruction of his child. The work, therefore, presents his Lordship before us as an example for our imitation, such as we do not in general expect from the members of his high order, and we hail it as an auspicious token of the progress with which the conviction of the eternal superiority of mind over every other consideration is spreading.

The small volume contains in a familiarly, but still elegantly expressed

form, the more striking events of the lives of Gustavus Adolphus, John Sobieski, Peter the Great, and Fred erick: In the dedication to his dear est boy, he informs him that he was anxious to encourage within him the love of history, and as this was in his opinion best to be done by attracting the notice of such a youth by the more amusing study of remarkable and highly interesting biographies, so did he think proper to adopt that course. His selection had further for its motive to set before the youth the actions of distinguished men in order to enable the susceptible reader to estimate, at their proper value, meritorious deeds. The noble Lord goes on to say that he was anxious that his son, in becoming acquainted with those great characters, should see in what a brief interval of human life a vast accession of the means of happiness may be added to the existing race of men by individuals preferred by fortune to extensive power. At the same time this great moral is inculcated by the author, that the imperfections and errors of men of such supreme abilities are only proofs of the native imperfection of man. Gustavus Adolphus, for instance, the possessor of the noblest virtues-generous, brave, and religious-still was tarnished with faults, if not with crimes, and he lost himself in the overwhelming influence of that ambition which led him to designs of aggrandizement, involving all the horrors of war, such as his conscience never could have sanctioned. Then look at Sobieski, the king of Poland, who loved tranquillity and the prosperity of his people far better than a warrior's reputation; he who poured oil on the tumultuous waves of the factions of his dominions, and proved himself the champion of Christendom against Turkish fanaticism-he, alas, was the slave of his unworthy spouse, and was heart-struck by the ingratitude of his children. And, then in

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THIS is a well-written pamphlet, and deserves to be read by every person in the discussion of the vast question of which it treats. Mr. Atkinson sets out with laying down the principles of his argument, stating his fundamental proposition to be as follows:-namely, that an increase of means must precede an increase of species; and, in order to obtain and keep in view a right notion of the welfare of any society of people, or indeed of all mankind, this proposition must never be lost sight of. We know, by experience, that the tendency of man's nature is constantly to increase its species, and we know by our reason that this increase of species must be PRECEDED by a constant increase of the means of supporting it. The next inquiry is, How is this end to be accomplished? The first step towards it is, that one man procures from the earth more food than will supply his own wants and those of his family, and is thus enabled to offer to another man a portion of his surplus food for anything that the other may be able to procure -such, for instance, as articles of clothing, for these naturally come next in order to food. Thus, by mutual compact, a division of labour

commences, which is attended by advantage to both. The one, by directing his industry to procuring food, feels certain that he will obtain also the comfort of clothing: the other, by directing his industry to the procuring of clothes, knows also that he will earn food. Such are the sources of the temporal well-being of mankind, and whether we regard them as two, or two millions, the principle must of necessity be and continue the same. Having argued at some length on these principles, the author comes to the consideration of the actual point itself—is it better to bury alone amongst ourselves what we want, than than to allow strangers to come in with the goods and barter them for our commodities? The case is simply put by him in this way: he imagines the existence of an island where two families reside one sows wheat, the other makes clothes: they go on very comfortably together, because the one clothes the other, and the other sends back the worth of the articles in wheat. Whilst they are all going on very happily together, a devil of a merchantman comes to the shore by stress of weather, and, as it is convenient for him to go to the place where he intended originally, he makes up his mind to get rid of small cargo in the island at all events. Well, his cargo turns out to be very choice cloth, much better and cheaper than the islander's, and the worst of it is that the former is of the same opi- ́ nion, for he takes the resolution of giving his wheat for this cloth instead of that other. What is the condition of our unhappy clothesman? Why, he has got a surplus of clothes -he has been making trousers for the last six months for all his little neighbours, from whose father he used to get the wheat, but as the wheat is now gone, because the children don't want his clothes, so the brother islander of the man of food must lie down und die. Now Mr. Atkinson's

notion was that the two islanders ought to have pelted away the intruder from the coast, and shaken hands over a mutual pledge that they would just stay as they were. The moment, therefore, says Mr. Atkinson, that people go hunting forforeign partialities, that moment is the signal given for the fall of that people.

ART. XVI.-Rosine Laval, a Novel. In 2 Vols. By R. SMITH, Esq. London: Newman & Co.

1833.

THIS is a genuine specimen of an antient, but, we are happy to say, still unexploded school of imaginative composition, sacred by its associations with the youth and buoyance in time long past. The novel is exceedingly well written the plot is interesting, and has the additional recommendation of a catastrophe that is warranted to be perfectly unbearable by any young woman of only moderate sensibility. There is no Tate and Brady work here, these being the emptyheaded mischief-makers who took poor Lear out of the fit of madness, into which Shakspeare placed him, and made the poor exhausted, decrepid king rise up at the end of the act, and bow like a well-dressed speaker of a prologue at the end of the play. No, no, Mr. Smith is truer to nature than all this, and so strict is the tribunal over which he fortunately presides in the poetical jurisdiction, that he keeps to the old-fashioned practice of ordering for execution those characters who cannot be got rid of by milder

means.

ART. XVII.-Sermons on the Principles of Morality Inculcated in the Holy Scriptures, and their Application to the present Condition of Society. By W. J. Fox. London: C. Fox. 1833.

In this very clever volume the Christian, no matter to what denomination his shade of belief may attach, will find materials worthy his deep medita tion, and recommended by the practical connection which they possess with some of the most ordinary, but not on that account less important, duties of life. To those who are anxious for a source of reference when they become perplexed with any difficulty respecting their moral actions, or the course which they ought to pursue under circumstances of new ereation, to such we say we should recommend this clear and energetic volume, which is admirably comprehensive as to its application to all classes and orders of Christians. The style is terse and could only proceed from a mind well versed in the choicest treasures of sacred eloquence.

ART.XVII. The Original Legend › of Der Freischutz, or the Free Shot. Translated from the German of A.Apal. London: Schloss. 1833.

REALLY this legend gives quite a new feature to the story which we have been so much accustomed to admire as developed in the opera of Der Freischutz. It appears that the present, translation is taken from the German of A. Apel, and that the original formed a part in a collection of similar stories, published under the title of Apel's and Laun's Gespenter Buch. As the little publication is exceedingly cheap, along with being highly entertaining, we shall be content with merely calling to it the attention of our readers.

at.

ART. XIXA Dissertation on the Antiquity, Origin, and Design of the Principal Pyramids of Egypt, particularly of the Great Pyramid of Ghizeeh, with its Measures, as reported by various Au

thors; and the próbable Determisonation of the ancient Hebrew and Egyptian Cubit; also, on the ori ginal Form and Measure of the Arkof Noah 4to. London: Arch. - 1833.

THE object of the present very learned work, is, to furnish in a combined form the several opinions, accounts, and descriptions, which numerous authors and travellers have given of the origin and the end aimed at in the building of those extraordinary structures, the Pyramids of Egypt, and also to lead the reader into the right path for determining the question of their use.

It will be remembered, that even Herodotus, a writer who lived nearly five centuries before the Christian era, speaks of the pyramids as objects known to antiquity. Only let us consider at what era we are to date the antiquity of which Herodotus speaks, and we shall at once be satisfied that there is no chance of coming to any safe conclusion. But the ingenuity of man for several thousands of years has been directed to these strange monuments of human labour; and in every age, and in every nation, the question has been asked, and is still repeated, for what purpose were such piles erected? Conjecture upon conjecture has been made, and in such an abundance, that they are capable of being arranged into a series of heads, consisting of no less than seven. We shall give them in their order: 1. Granaries for the storing of corn for the purpose of meeting bad harvests. 2. Places of safety in ease a second deluge should visit the earth, or in case an extraordinary overflow of the Nile should take place. 3. Mausoleums, or tombs for kings, and other illustrious persons. 4. Monuments to hand down the memory of glorious events or actions to remote posterity. 5. Suitable places for priests to deliver their oracles. 6. Positions intended as permanent

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