Frenchman may be guided by the discretion of M. Guizot; but the roll of the distant thunder should make us prepare for the storm which it is true may pass, or may fall upon our devoted heads, and, if without shelter from its fury, crush us in its vengeance.

The Navy of England is the finest which rides upon the ocean; the Soldiers of England the bravest which ever drew the sword; but it is the "bold peasantry" of England who are England's best and only defenders. It is they who have made the red cross of St. George float so proudly over the seas, and it was their prowess which carried the banner of their country triumphant through the field of Waterloo. From the cottage issued the men who now man our ships, and form our army; and from the cottage must come the future guardians of England's honoured Queen, and England's unsullied name.

In the time of danger we expect the poor man to shed his life's blood in battle; but how do we reward him or his children when he has preserved our island from invasion, and conquered a peace by which we profit largely? How have we spent those years of tranquillity which, in God's mercy, he has given us? "We have," says Mr. Cochrane, "an enormous extent of capital, and an increasing population. Every year the extremes of want and wealth are becoming wider and wider. Every year, unhappily, there is a greater and greater development of the poverty of the country, in contrast with the manufacturing capital of the country." The love of gold and the insatiable desire for gain is the curse of this country, and its baneful influences are felt equally in the agricultural and the commercial districts. Put money in your purse get it honestly and fairly if you can, but put money in your purse. This is the system which has enriched the present, by laying up a fearful store of misery for the future; which has filled the pocket of the father, and impoverished his children; reduced the labourer to a pauper, and deprived the landlord of his best and truest support-a devoted and faithful peasantry.

That was an evil hour for England-an evil hour for her noble aristocracy—when, instigated by mercenary motives, they abandoned the old and venerated system of land-letting they gained, perhaps, a few shillings more per acre by receiving their rents from one tenant, instead of six or seven; but is their soil better tilled by this new arrangement, or have they gained aught in repute by the introduction

of a "middle-man" between them and their natural dependents? "Whilst the old system of land-letting continued," says a talented clergyman, and well known author, "and every thirty or forty acres of ground supported an honest family, it is very probable that the landlord received a less sum in the shape of gross yearly rent, and that the yeomanry rode poorer horses and kept poorer tables than they do at present. But it is equally certain that the paupers to be relieved by their parishes then came not up to one-fiftieth part of those which are continually seeking and obtaining parochial relief now; and if the increased burden thereby imposed upon the land be taken into account, it will, probably, be found that agriculturists are not such decided gainers by the change as most of them imagine." This was written immediately before the passing of the New Poor Law Act, and whilst the occurring events of every rent day convinced landlord and tenant that some change was inevitable-that the poor's rates were weekly devouring more than they gained by the adoption of this new system; and, in an unfortunate moment, instead of reverting to the old path. which their ancestors had for long years pursued with honour and respect, they determined to extricate themselves from their difficulties by the oppression of their best and most attached servants.

The state of things which suggested the fatal remedy of 1834 was but the natural sequence of a departure from the old English manners and customs. In extinguishing the small farmers a long stride was taken in the direction of that insane policy which has subsequently arrayed class against class, and destroyed almost every remnant of that sympathy between the great and the lowly, which was attended with the happiest results to both. "Their houses," observes the same

writer,

"were the nurseries of good and faithful servants: they were themselves hospitable to the utmost extent of their means, and almost always honest. They were really, I say not upon principle, but certainly upon honourable prejudice, attached to the constitution in Church and State." The employer and the employed were then bound together by ties which are now severed, and they owed an equal loyalty to their common lord. Now the owner of the land is too often a stranger to the tiller of his soil, and the occupier bound by no more enduring bond than his own interest to either. The fruits this system is bearing need not be enumerated; insubordination is manifest in our great

towns, incendiarism is raging in our counties, and our Union Houses are filled full to overflowing. We ask, then, is not the Condition-ofthe-Poor Question a deeply interesting and momentous question-a question of great and paramount importance?

We are not disposed to undervalue the improvements in agriculture which modern times have developed. We are not disposed to cast any slight upon Agricultural Societies; but we must say that the existence and prosperity of agriculture depends not one half so much on the discovery of an improved plough, or on the organization of an AntiLeague Association, as it does on the welfare and well-being of the labouring man; and we would urge upon those most interested in the matter the landlords and the tenant farmers-a more diligent and affectionate attention to the comfort and happiness of those who are especially under their protection.

FRANCE AND ENGLAND.

WAR and the rumour of war has ceased. The good sense of the Cabinets of England and France has prevailed over the gasconading bluster and the mischievous intrigues of a faction in both countries, who care little at what expense they purchase the objects of their base ambition. The bigots of Exeter Hall are disappointed in their projected crusade for the re-establishment of the pure and chaste Queen of Tahiti, and the utter annihilation of Catholicism in the South Seas. Messrs. Freeman, Hamilton, and Co., must restrain their belligerent propensities for the present, and lay by their brazen artillery for another and more propitious opportunity. La jeune France must also bide their time, and vent their excess of bile in impotent curses on perfidious Albion, and execrations against their own Minister, for having sold the honour of their country to preserve an inglorious peace. The victories of Prince de Joinville and the captured parasol of the Moor will be insufficient to mitigate the wrath of this fire-eating and insatiable party. Never mind-let them curl their fantastically cut beards, and puff their cigars as fiercely as they will-let the cafés resound with their eloquence, and the National trumpet forth their

spleen-we are content, very content, that the peace of the world is secured, and the honour and true dignity of both nations remain intact.

From the very commencement of this altercation we felt confident that wisdom would triumph over clamour, and that statesmen— responsible Ministers-would pause before they involved Europe in a desolating war, on a question so simple that we fear it is this very simplicity which has made it more difficult of comprehension to men accustomed to deal with vexed, intricate, and mysterious matters of diplomacy. A simple question, which could have been compressed into a nutshell, has been indecently made the occasion for the most insane violence; a question of fact has been perverted to all manner of extraneous purposes; what was to be arranged by the constituted authorities of France and England has been most improperly made the subject of discussion and decision in Missionary Meetings and Restaurants; and we will venture to say that very few indeed of the loungers in the Palais Royal, or the semi-religious orators of the Loncion Mission, truly understood what was the matter at issue. And they entirely lost sight of the fact-the uncontroverted and uncontrovertible fact that to the bigotry and intolerance of their own Merchant-Missionary was solely and entirely attributable the interference of France with this "awakened" and virtuous Pomare,-that to the unjust expulsion of the Catholic priests who visited Tahiti they and she both owe their misfortunes. Their zeal or their ignorance also prevented them from discovering that to England it was a matter of indifference whether the tricolor of France or the pocket-handkerchief of Pomare floated over this little speck on the ocean; or whether its inhabitants were Catholics or Methodists. They seemed to forget that we were only justified in requiring that our flag was respected, and our subjects properly treated. We might regret Queen Pomare's situation—as a woman and as a Queen we might feel for her-we might deplore the error-the gross error-which she had been induced by evil counsels to commit, and we might offer her an asylum; but more than this we could not in justice do.

We would not, even by implication, insinuate aught to prejudice the Missionary cause there cannot possibly be a more heavenly or angelic calling than that of a Missionary, who leaves his home, his friends, his

dearest ties, to preach the love, the charity, the sanctity of Christianity, to a dark and savage heathen, and to diffuse with these sacred tidings the comforts and the happiness of civilization. It is a work which God will bless, and man should further. But if, instead of following the precepts of Him who was the bearer of salvation to us all-if instead of obeying all in authority, and separating themselves from the busy cares of the world, the more effectually to preach religion-if, instead of doing this, they become intriguers in state matters, movers in sedition, and meddlesome busy-bodies, they cannot expect that their Government will protect them, or interfere in their behalf. They cannot suppose that the subscribers to the Missionary Societies will pay their money to encourage political agitators, thinly disguised under the mantle of high religious professions. It is necessary that the British public should repudiate the language used at Exeter Hall—should demand a recantation of the unchristian doctrines there propounded, or place their pious benevolence in the hands of more fitting and more kindly almoners. If not, the inevitable consequence will be that the Missionaries will be regarded with well founded suspicion by the Colonial and Foreign Governments under whose protection they sojourn; their career of usefulness will be impeded, and, instead of being received as messengers of peace, they will be looked upon as political incendiaries, and dangerous and plotting men.

We cannot conclude this article better than by quoting a brief extract from the Portfolio: it is ably and honestly written, and deserves the careful attention of all who are interested (and who is not?) in this important subject; but to those, who, passing by the spiritual and temporal destitution which in this favoured land meets the most casual observation, lavish their money to support Foreign Missions, we especially commend these remarks :

"The movement has commenced amongst them who would have nothing to say to worldly affairs. All politics,' said they, are bad; all diplomacy is chicane; we will have nothing to do with it-we will not sustain justice by knowledge-we will encourage heedlessness in our rulers, by proclaiming indifference, and sanction crime by acknowledging its necessity.' This is the body that is the first in England to dare to speak of war-the first to spit forth venom, and invoke vengeance!