LITTELL'S LIVING AGE.-No. 47.-5 APRIL, 1845. POETRY.-Song of Expectation; The Evening Star, 29-With an Almanac, 48-Judæa CORRESPONDENCE. 56 There is a startling coincidence of allusions to commercial troubles, as if our "prosperity" were THE most important part of the late news from already hurrying us over the brink into the vortex England, is the great stride which Sir Robert Peel of a "commercial crisis," such as signalized has made in the direction of Free Trade. He has the years 1825-6 and 1835-6. In the distant entirely taken the duties off about four hundred ar-west, an American paper describes a process of ticles, which yielded about seven millions to the speculation which, after enriching European capitalists, has tempted Americans into such a scramrevenue. Among those free articles are cotton,ble of exports and imports as to anticipate the which paid a duty of about a cent and a quarter a genuine movements of trade, to glut the markets pound,—pearl ashes, lard oil, and many other on both sides, and to induce a reaction. In the far articles which may now be largely shipped from East-in China-the way to the immense market the United States. We are especially pleased opened to us has, as we foresaw, been choked by rash enterprise, heaping the Chinese with goods that many of these articles are the produce of the of which they have yet to learn the want, and for western country, which will thus be brought into which they have no means of exchange; while the closer connexion with England, and will not be so same rash enterprise has put the tea-trade into a ready to quarrel with a good customer. temporary state of congestion. They have as yet nothing to give us legitimately but tea; but we do not want more tea while it is so dear in this country; and it must continue as dear while the duties in this country are so enormous. It is of no use, therefore, to smother them with ginghams and broadcloths, which they do not want and cannot buy yet they have been so smothered, and the exporters may bring upon themselves the usual consequences. Signs are observed at home. Lord Howick has denounced the inordinate and demoralizing speculation in railway shares; a game of hazard in which the board of trade throw the dice, and the gamblers, staking little fortunes, play for millions-staking ruin against infinite riches. The commercial Argus of the Times has discovered other tokens of a coming crash: If we may put the church after the state, the news next interesting is the action of the University of Oxford upon Mr. Ward's book. It was decided by more than two to one, that passages of this book were contrary to the doctrine of the Church of England, and inconsistent with good faith in Mr. Ward, who had obtained preferment by subscribing her articles. Upon the question of degrading Mr. Ward, many persons doubted the authority of the convocation-but there was still a considerable majority by which it was done. It was then proposed to proceed to condemn Tract No. 90, but the proctors interposed their veto against the consideration of the subject, so that nothing was done in that matter. : "Letters are constantly received denouncing the directors of joint-stock companies for all sorts of Lord John Russell spoke of the state of affairs irregular practices; including the formation of them with insufficient means; the withholding of across the Atlantic," as a reason why parlia-shares from bona fide subscribers, and selling them ment should be contented with no small surplus in surreptitiously at a large premium at the same the Treasury. time; and finally a resort to the old and nefarious system of rigging,' so often exposed on former | Robert Inglis condemned also the preponderance occasions-which means the purchase for a time of a larger number of shares than are known to have been issued, which subjects the sellers on the day of settlement to such terms as the fraudulent buyers may think fit to impose.” of males who are allowed to migrate to the West Indies. He adverted to attempts made to obtain free laborers on the coast of Africa for Mauritius; contending that the demand would be supplied, like that for slaves, by the African kings, who vaticina-possess an absolute property in their own subjects, tries for prisoners of war. and send them, or make inroads into other counhouse not to weigh the purse of the West Indians He called upon the against the blood and lives of the Africans. There may be exaggeration in these tions; but our prosperity is certainly alarming. The fatal day approaches, while we make merry in the city with festive wreaths: "Fatis aperit Cassandra futuris Ora, Dei jussu non unquam credita Teucris." Spectator, 15 Feb. INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT.-In reply to Lord Mahon, on Monday, Sir Robert Peel said, that negotiations had been entered into on this subject IN the House of Commons, on 25 February, Sir with France, Belgium, and Saxony, for the purRobert Inglis, moving for papers, drew attention pose of giving facilities to the book-trade in those to the compulsory emigration of liberated Africans countries and in this. These negotiations were from Sierra Leone. Up to the year 1844, the carried on for some time, but they did not lead to British government acted upon a liberal construc- any final or satisfactory result. Negotiations were tion of the order in council issued on the abolition afterwards entered into with Prussia; and after a of the slave-trade, "that when landed in any certain time it was alleged, on the part of Prussia, place where there is a Court of Mixed Commission, that the law of copyright in this country was the slave should be protected and provided for." "defective and ought to be amended. Since that Sir Robert briefly recalled the horrors to which time, two bills had passed parliament to amend slaves are subjected in the passage from Africa-the law of copyright. The negotiations with horrors unavoidably protracted after the capture of a slaver until its arrival in port; so that the negroes, as Governor Nicolls said, "come out of the ships like ghosts." On the 12th June last, the Governor of Sierra Leone issued a proclamation under the authority of the colonial office, that allowances to liberated Africans landed in the colony would cease after adjudication; clothing and maintenance before adjudication being continued as before; and that should they prefer remaining in that colony instead of emigrating to the West Indies, they must provide for themselves. Now it is extremely improbable that persons landed : under the circumstances described could exercise Prussia were now renewed; and in the event of their being brought to a satisfactory conclusion, they might perhaps form the basis for the renewal of negotiations with other countries.-Spectator. BOOKS RECEIVED. From Messrs. Harper & Brothers, New York. HARPERS' ILLUMINATED AND ILLUSTRATED BIBLE, No. 21. This work comes out very rapidly now. Among the other pictures is one of Mordecai sitting in the King's Gate unmoved as Haman passes by-and it really was very provoking. THIRLWALL'S HISTORY OF GREECE, No. 8. 25 cents. COPLAND'S DICTIONARY OF PRACTICAL MEDICINE, Part 4. 50 cents. Edited, with additions, by Charles A. Lee, M.D. This has a very lively Table of Contents on the cover, beginning Colic, Colon, Coma, Concretions, Congestions, &c. HARPERS' ILLUSTRATED SHAKSPEARE, Nos. 43 -44. Much Ado about Nothing. Price 25 cents. From Greely & McElrath, New York. POPULAR LECTURES ON ASTRONOMY. By M. Arago. With Additions and Corrections by Dr. Lardner. Price 25 cents. Dr. Lardner's Lectures have so much excited popular attention to the subject of Astronomy, that we presume this work will meet with the extensive sale it deserves. The publishers have heretofore been issuing a series of "Useful Works for the People," the old stock of which was destroyed in the fire which lately consumed the office of the New York Tribune-and this is a new beginning. We are far from agreeing with all the opinions of the New York Tribune; but it is conducted with so much energy, and (so far as we can judge) with such entire honesty of purpose, that we rejoice in its success, and wish well to all its collateral business-not doubting that the same desire to deserve well of the public, will guide the selection which the publishers make of hocks for the market. From the Edinburgh Review. the continuity and cohesion of its parts. It has rendered it more useful as a book, and less perfect Part as a treatise. It is a sacrifice of artistical merit to utility. Political Philosophy. In Three Parts. First. Principles of Government-of Monarchical Government. Part Second. Of Aristocracy-Aristocratic Governments. Part Third. Of Democracy-Mixed Monarchy. By HENRY LORD BROUGHAM, F. R. S., Member of the Royal Institute of France Three Volumes. 8vo. London: 1842-44. THIS work was published, as may be seen by the dates, at successive periods. On the appearance of the first number, we expressed our satisfaction at a beginning being made to supply a great deficiency in our Political Literature; and we promised to examine and report on the whole work when it should be concluded. If any apology for our not having sooner performed this promise be due, either to the public or to the distinguished author, it is to be found, partly in the great extent and difficulty of the subject, and partly in the manner in which he has treated it. The influence on human affairs of different forms of government, may be considered historically, theoretically, or practically: or, in other words, may be made the subject of a history, a science, or an art. The writer may describe the nature, and relate the origin, the growth, and the fate of the principal political constitutions which have actually existed. He may tell the causes-some the result of design, but more of accident-through which the early simple governments, in some cases, were preserved unaltered; in others were changed from one pure form into another; and in others became mixed. He may show how the mixed forms gradually grew more and more complicated; until at length the system of divided powers, of balances, and of checks, became unmanageable, and the machine, unfit to resist attack, or perhaps even to bear the friction of its own ordinary working, was broken up by foreign conquest or by revolution. This is the historical treatment of the subject. Or, instead of relating what has existed, he may show what is capable of existing. He may explain the different modes in which the supreme power may be distributed or collected, the effects which it is the tendency of each form to produce, and the modifications to which that tendency is subject from intrinsic and extrinsic accidentsfrom the intrinsic influence of race, religion, climate, and situation, and the extrinsic action of one nation upon another. This is the scientific treat ment. Or, lastly, assuming that those who have the power of creating or altering the constitution of a nation have some given end in view-its power, its wealth, its freedom, its tranquillity, or its intelligence he may show what is the constitution under which, in any particular case, any one or more of these objects is most likely to be effected, what are the incidental sacrifices, and how these sacrifices may be diminished. This may be called practical politics, or the art, as distinguished from the science and the history of government. Whichever of these three modes of treating the vast subject of government were adopted, it could not be considered adequately except at great length. Lord Brougham has united them, and has therefore been forced to compress into one treatise the matter of three. This, of course, has rendered his work more complete in its outline, and less so in its details; and has also impaired By far the largest portion of the work is purely historical. Of the twenty chapters of the first volume, the last ten are devoted to the history of Monarchy in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, and Sweden; and the greater part of the remainder is employed in the history of the Asiatic despotisms, and of the feudal system. The second volume contains twenty-eight chapters, of which only the first six treat of the nature and consequences of aristocratic government; the remaining twenty-two being histories of the aristocracies of Poland, Hungary, Rome, Ancient Greece, Modern Italy, and Switzerland. The third volume contains thirty-five chapters, of which the first twenty-one treat of democracy and mixed government; and the rest contain the constitutional histories of England, the United States, France, Holland, Belgium, and Switzerland. Throughout are dispersed disquisitions as to the influence on human happiness of different administrative institutions, and precepts as to the modes by which they may be best adapted to given political forms; and frequently, after noticing the defects of existing institutions, the means of remedying them are pointed out. For this mixture of narrative, of philosophical exposition, and of positive precept, so far as we are merely a part of the public, we are grateful; but as Reviewers, we feel that it gives us only a choice of difficulties. Anything like a general view of the whole work would be a condensed and yet meagre abstract; and if we select portions, and give to them their due consideration, a very few will be all to which we can afford any attention. The historical part we shall not criticise-not certainly because we undervalue it-it is executed with great research and sagacity, and contains many brilliant and clear condensations, many striking comparisons and contrasts, and much valuable criticism, both historical and political-but simply because we have not room for it. From the practical portion, we shall select for examination a very few of the most important, or the most remarkable passages. Of the scientific portion, we shall endeavor to give an outline as full as is consistent, not with the importance of the subject, or of the treatise, but with our confined limits. In the first chapter, Lord Brougham inquires into the origin of civil governments. He disposes summarily but efficiently of the rival theories of original contract, proprietary right, and prescription; and asserts that the rational foundation of all government-the origin of a right to govern, and a correlative duty to obey-is expediency-the general benefit of the community. In the second chapter, after stating the generally admitted proposition, that in every state there must be a supreme power, an individual or a body possessing authority in itself, legally absolute and uncontrolled, and that this authority may be exercised by acts, either legislative or executive, he proceeds, in the following passages, to give an outline of his subject, and to mark its principal divisions: "There are three great divisions under which governments, where they are of the simple and unmixed form, may be classed according to the hands in which the supreme power is lodged. It may be vested in a single person, or it may be vested in a particular class different from the bulk of the community, or it may be vested in the community at large. In the first case, the government is called a Monarchy; in the second, an Aristoc-be equal to his own, and in that case he is not, in racy; in the third, a Democracy. causes in his own person? How can he be obliged to allow the judges whom he finds, or whom he has nominated, to retain their offices for life? The power that restrains or coerces him must at least fact, absolute-the constitution is not a pure monarchy. Again, if the people at large have retained, or rather have proposed to retain, no power but that of electing legislative and executive functionaries, it is clear that they hold that elected. The legislative body elected for three years, may pass a law that it shall sit for seven, or that it shall sit so long as it pleases, or that it shall be elected by only a portion of the people, or that it shall appoint its own successors, or that its powers shall be hereditary. If it be answered, that it would not venture to do so, the reply is, that the fear of resistance operates as a practical check on all gov In order that any one of these forms of government should be pure, the supreme power should be vested in one of these three bodies or authorities exclusively, and without any control or check from any other. A pure or absolute mon-power merely at the will of those whom they have archy implies that the sovereign should have the whole power, legislative and executive, in his own person. If his power is shared, or if his functions are exercised subject to any control or check, the government is no longer purely monarchical, but in some degree mixed. In like manner, if the aristocracy shares its authority with the people at large, or allows any check over its operations to the people at large, or to any individual func-ernments whatsoever. Even in the purest democtionary over whose creation it has no control, the government is no longer a pure but a mixed Aristocracy and so of a Democracy. "It must, however, be kept in mind, that in order to detract from the purity of any of these forms, the supreme power itself must be actually divided, and not merely an arrangement made voluntarily by the party having the supreme power, and which only subsists during that party's plea-power, legally can do-not what they are likely to sure. "In a monarchy, the choice by the sovereign of a council to aid him in his office, or to exercise a portion of his power, does not detract from his power, and does not render the government a mixed one. [So,] if the sovereign can do whatever he pleases, except that the judges of his own nomination act for life-in other words, if all he is prevented from doing is judging causes in his own person-if he is independent of all other control in his legislative and executive functions, and only restrained by being obliged to judge through persons of his own nomination, even if these are named by him for life-we call it an absolute, and not a mixed monarchy. The limitations arising from this judicial arrangement are plainly little more than nominal, because he may choose such tools as he can rely upon, and has no one to control or watch his choice. 66 racy, the majority is controlled by the fear of provoking the resistance of the minority. But we have seen that there must exist, in every state, a supreme power uncontrolled by law. We are now inquiring as to the modes in which this supreme power may be distributed or collected, and for the purposes of this inquiry the question always is, what the individuals, or the bodies possessing a portion of this do; their ea, not their durauis. Even if we suppose the delegation of legislative power to be partial as well as temporary-if we suppose that the people at large retains exclusively to itself, not merely the right of election, but also the power of altering the more important parts of the constitution-as is the case in the United States-can it be maintained, that the constitution remains equally democratic, whatever be the period for which that partial delegation is made? Can it be said, that if in one country the legislative and executive functionaries are elected for life, in another for twenty years, in another for ten, and in another every six months, the management of affairs in each country equally depends on the will of the people? And if the delegation of power for twenty years impair the purity of the democratic principle, so must, pro tanto, its delegation for six months, or for one month. Again, the purity of the democratic form is Lord Brougham admits, that if an aristocracy not diminished, by arrangements made for the pur- allows any check on its proceedings to an indipose of enabling a people inhabiting an exten-vidual functionary, over whose creation it has no sive territory to administer its own affairs. It may control, it is no longer a pure aristocracy. But if delegate for this purpose the legislative, the exec- that check be effectual, it is pro tanto an introducutive, and the judicial power to individuals as to tion of the monarchical principle, even though the bodies; it may be satisfied that these should be individual functionary be created by the aristovested in certain portions of the community, and cratic body. If, in a purely aristocratic governnone remain in the nation at large, except the ment, the aristocratic body make a law appointing choice of those ruling portions; and still the gov- a president for life, and requiring his concurrence ernment is purely democratic, and not at all mixed, in all subsequent legislation, the government is because no body or individual exists in the com- from that instant partly monarchical. The will munity having power independent of the people of an individual can now control that of the whole and because the people have not shared their own community. Like the horse in the fable, the compower with others over whom they have no con-munity has taken a bit into its mouth and a rider trol, but only deputed others to exercise their authority."* We doubt whether Lord Brougham adopts a convenient nomenclature, when he applies the epithet pure to a monarchy in which there are irremovable functionaries, or to a democracy in which the people act through representatives. How can an absolute monarch be prevented from judging *Vol. i., p. 73 to 77. on its back. And the effect is the same in kind, though not in degree, whether the president be appointed for life, or for ten years, or for a month, whether we have an absolute or only a suspensive veto. The result is, that to obtain a precise nomenclature, we must confine the term pure monarchy to the form of government in which an individual is legally omnipotent-the term pure aristocracy to the form which allows no legal resistance to the |