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rather abuses of language, which become universal for the time," &c. and afterwards, "The unity, or in other words the existtence of government, requires that in every community the controlling power in religion should be held and exercised by the same persons who also hold and exercise the controlling power in politics." Now, this is an outbreak with a vengeance! The previous tenor of the author's composition had been so smooth, and so thoroughly in accordance with popular opinions, that, an eruption like this was of all things the least to be expected. Then, an elaborate argument, in vindication of the commerce between church and state, from the pen of a professed republican of the nineteenth century, and a stout opponent of the Holy Alliance! We should as soon have expected and sought a defence of the doctrine of the divine right of kings, or any other exploded heresv. We must, however, do our author the justice to say, that, like Monkbarns in the Antiquary, his bark is worse than his bite; and by the time he has explained and signified his exceptions to the general rule, he "roars you" much more gently. If we gather his meaning rightly, as he advances, he argues for the expediency of mixing up the element religion, with the "moral element" government, in order that greater sanction may be given to the ordinances of the latter. Without the aid of a religious sanction, human laws, he thinks, "take no hold upon the minds or hearts of the people, and are looked upon as mere rules of practical expediency, which may be violated without impropriety by any one who is willing to suffer the penalty." This may be conceded to him; but he surely does not suppose that the. requisite sanction can be obtained only by giving the ministers of religion a share of the business and power of legislation. If he does, and his idea be correct, then the beau ideal of such a system must be found in some such government as that of the Holy See; since, the more direct and certain the influence of the priesthood in legislation, the greater would be the "sanction." Perhaps a descendant of the persecuted race who left Europe to get out of the reach of the arm of ecclesiastical power, and who eschewed with particular distinction the dominion of the lady who sitteth on the seven hills, will not readily admit that the doctrine ought to be pushed to this extreme. We have always supposed, that if the body of the people were trained in a due reverence to religion, and sufficiently imbued with its doctrines, all the sanction necessary to human laws would be obtained; because, our religion teaches us emphatically to respect and obey the law of the land, and lends its fearful denunciations to aid and strengthen the penalties of the civil magistrate. This may be the extent of the author's doctrine; but the following passages, which we submit to our readers as we find them, rather indicate some more complex machinery for applying this religious power to propelling the vessel of state.

"In England the king, who represents in his person the sovereign power of the nation, is also the head of the church; so that the unity of church and state is complete, and the system thus far theoretically perfect. By this arrangement, one of the two practical inconveniences above indicated, to wit, that of collision between the two lawgiving powers, is wholly avoided. Nor has the advantage of investing the laws with a religious sanction been entirely overlooked, since Christianity has been declared by the competent authorities to be parcel of the law. But as the unity of church and state was declared in England by Henry VIII., more for the purpose of escaping from the partial supremacy of a foreign prince, than from a perception of the essential correctness and expediency of the system, it has not been turned so much to account as it might have been, nor perhaps has the full virtue of the law maxim above stated been distinctly appreciated. In the United States, the sovereign power in religion as well as politics resides in the people, and here again the unity of church and state is complete, the system theoretically perfect, and the practical inconvenience of collision between the two lawgiving powers entirely avoided. With us, too, Christianity is parcel of the law, and the state is therefore, to a certain extent, consecrated (in the language of Burke) by religion. But with us also, this arrangement was the result of causes, other than a distinct perception of its essential value, though different also from those which introduced it in England. In this country it was the result of the general prevalence of the common opinion, alluded to above, respecting the natural separation of church and state. However singular it may seem, that the universal belief in this principle, and, as our legislators supposed, the practical adoption of it, should have produced, in fact, the directly opposite result of a perfect unity of the two lawgiving powers, it is nevertheless certain that this was the case. Our ancestors denied that religion had any concern with government, and therefore kept it entirely out of the hands of the political agents of the people. The controlling power on this subject remained, of course, like every other not specially granted, with the people itself, which in our country, where the people is the acknowledged sovereign, is its proper place, on the system of a unity of church and state. But as this system was thus introduced by a sort of accident, its real value has not been generally felt. No attempts have been made to improve it to the greatest possible extent, and the laws have hitherto wanted the advantage of a direct religious sanction. In this important par ticular, therefore, the position of England and the United States is nearly the same. In both the general theory of the constitution on the subject of religion is perfect, and in each it will perhaps be found expedient to introduce some new practical arrangements, whenever the public opinion shall be prepared to receive them with approbation. This, however, will not happen in our day."

No, nor in any body else's day, we hope. We are perfectly satisfied with the present arrangements, and believe posterity will have no reason to alter them. We love and reverence religion from our inmost heart, and hold that a more venerable and valuable being does not exist than a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ, who walks in the footsteps of his divine master, as far as it is given to mortals to pursue them, and by his preaching and influence brings to the aid of the moral and municipal law, the sanctions of a pure faith. Milton has said truly, "There is no employment more honourable, more worthy to take up a great spirit, more requiring a generous and free nurture, than to be the messenger and herald of heavenly truth from God to man, and by the faithful work of holy doctrine, to procreate a number of faithful men, making a kind of creation like to God's, by infusing His Spirit and likeness into them, to their salvation, as God did into him; arising, to what climate soever he turn him, like that

sun of righteousness, that sent him with healing in his wings, and new light to break in upon the chill and gloomy hearts of his hearers, raising out of darksome barrenness a delicious and fragrant spring of saving knowledge and good works." But precisely because we wish religion and its ministers to be objects of public reverence, would we exclude them from any connection with the politics or business of government. If the latter be dignified and exaltod by the alliance, in the same proportion would religion be lowered and desecrated. All history confirms the truth of this doctrine; and, without spending any more time in refuting the strange speculations of our author, we may safely leave them to the judgment of his readers.

Chapter VI. treats of the "European Colonies in America.” The British possessions are first considered, and then those of Spain, France, &c. At page 211, the author observes, "Had we subdued. Canada in the last war, or should we do it at any time hereafter, we should of course restore it at the conclusion of peace, which would never be made upon any other basis than that of prior possession." We are at a loss to know why this restoration follows so much as a matter of course. Has not this

same Canada been conquered and kept by the victors on more than one former occasion; and are we never to be strong enough to retain possession of it? The mention of Hayti leads to a long and learned disquisition on the relative capacity of the whites and negroes; into which we have no disposition to follow him. He is the most thoroughgoing advocate of the African race we have yet encountered. Not content with asserting their equality, mental and moral, with the European stock, he absolutely insists on their superiority, as the following passage may testify:

"It would seem indeed, as I have hinted before, that if any race have a right to claim a sort of pre-eminence over others, on the fair and honourable ground of talents displayed and benefits conferred, it is precisely this very one, which we take upon us, in the pride of a temporary superiority, to stamp with the brand of essential degradation."

After this grave culogium upon the character of our coloured brethren, we certainly were not prepared to find him, only a few pages further, questioning the expediency of aiding their return to the land of their forefathers, and opposing the project of colonizing, on the ground that the southern states would experience some inconvenience from the loss of their labour. It strikes us as a little inconsistent, to endeavour to keep in bondage this "pre-eminent race." But we may be mistaken.

Chapter VII. treats of the "Foreign Policy of the two Americas." We find in this chapter a fuller development of the author's ideas respecting the hostile tendencies of the European and American systems. "The existing relation," he says at page 227, between the continent of America and that of Europe (consi

dering the latter as represented by the Holy Alliance) is that of hostility, actual in some parts, and only virtual in others, but real and effective in all." This situation of things arises from "the opposition that exists between the principles of government that respectively prevail in the two great divisions of the Christian system." In fact, this chapter is little more than an enlargement of some of the topics treated of in Chapter II. We find, too, the same amiable and infantine confidence in the sincerity of Mr. Canning's professions towards this country, to which we have already had occasion to advert. The never-to-be-forgotten sentences uttered by that veteran statesman to Mr. Hughes at the Liverpool dinner, are again put forward with great apparent glee, as conclusive evidence of a truly amicable spirit towards this country. It is really pleasing to observe with what heartiness and good nature our author (himself a diplomatist!) dwells on "the new sentiments of amity" which "beam out of the countenances of either party," and congratulates his readers on "the new relation of political alliance and amity between Great Britain and the United States;" and, kindling as he advances, how, finally, he assures himself that we have converted our former enemy into a firm friend and ally.

The former subjects of difference, our worthy author thinks, are put to sleep; and he intimates that a suggestion of his own, promulgated in his former work, "Europe," would go far to put an end to them altogether.

"I proposed that the two parties should take a higher ground than any which had hitherto been occupied in the negotiations on this subject, and should agree to extend to the ocean the principle which had long been admitted in warlike operations on land, of respecting all private property: and should prohibit the capture of it under any pretext whatever, whether by national ships or privateers."

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To be sure, "the suggestion was treated as visionary in some respectable quarters," but, adds the author, with infinite complacency, "I have had the satisfaction to learn from an authentic quarter, that the suggestion I had offered on the subject was taken into view in determining upon the proposals offered by President Monroe to the leading European powers.

In Chapter VIII. we find a view of the "Internal relations of the two Americas," followed by a discussion of the policy of the Congress of Panama. Our author thinks that the old European theory, which supposes that all neighbouring nations are, as such, natural enemies, will not hold good between the United States and the southern republies. Enjoying a common freedom, and governed by institutions which oblige their statesmen to consult the true interest of their countries, he infers that no cause of dissention can arise between them.

"We believe that the political institutions prevailing through all parts of the continent, are more conformable to reason and nature than those which are established elsewhere; and that as such, their natural tendency will be to produce a

relation of amity between the different communities in which they subsist; and although these institutions are not perhaps at present perfect, either in North or South America, more especially, as I have intimated before, in the latter, nevertheless, as there is a tendency in each to favour rather than discourage all reform that may appear advantageous, we have reason to anticipate that, in their future progress, they may approach more nearly to the type of perfection, rather than recede from it, and that the relations resulting from them will have a constant tendency to become more and more amicable. It is always, however, a fortunate thing, when the favourable operation of general principles is aided by the concurrence of accidental causes, and such has been the case as respects the relations between the United States and Spanish America. Under the operation of circumstances, in a great measure independent of the general cause just alluded to, these relations were established in the first instance, on a footing of entire amity and mutual good understanding; and the same circumstances have continued hitherto, and will probably continue for a long time to come, to exercise a very strong influence in preserving and maintaining them on the same basis. It was our good fortune to have the opportunity of manifesting a friendly disposition towards these new nations, at the very opening of their political existence, when they were still diffident of their resources, and were looking round anxiously for foreign succour. We may venture perhaps to say, without fearing to be charged with an indelicate assumption of merit, that the policy pursued by the govern ment of the United States, in regard to the Spanish American question, is one of the circumstances that have contributed very powerfully to aid the colonies in establishing their independence. Nor has this policy been less advantageous, because it has been distinguished throughout by discretion and good sense, as well as an enlightened regard for the rights of humanity. We neither embarrassed our young neighbours with officious and premature aid, before we knew in what way we could best serve them, nor did we wait to be the last in bidding them welcome into the family of Christian communities. Subsequently to the acknowledgment of their independence, it was publicly declared by the United States, at a time when it was known that the great continental powers had thoughts of taking an active part on the side of Spain, that such an interference would be considered by us as unfriendly. This declaration created between us and the new American governments a virtual alliance against a common enemy, which, as I have already said, determines at present, and will continue to do so for a long time to come, the character of our foreign relations in general. Our position in regard to the other American governments, which was naturally friendly, has assumed, therefore, in consequence of accidental circumstances, the form of a close connexion from its commencement, and will wear this shape for a long time to come. In this way habit, after all one of the strongest principles of human conduct, will confirm what nature and accident have combined to establish; and if ever the relation of the two sections of the American continent, in regard to each other, becomes unfriendly, it can only be when the whole existing political system shall have been swept into nothing, by some of the great changes, whe ther sudden or gradual, that occur from time to time in human affairs, and are in their nature beyond the reach of anticipation."

In these remarks we perceive the same good-natured and charitable spirit, which we have had occasion before to observe; and if we do not altogether agree with him in his prophecies, we cannot but respect the principles from which they are derived, and join with him in wishing that harmony may always exist between republics.

After an elaborate view of the rise and progress of our public intercourse with Spanish America, our author comes to the conclusion, that our government did exactly what they ought to have done, both as to the time and manner of acknowledging the independence of those colonies. This leads to a consideration