much greater strength than his adversary had done, and with much greater strength than any of his hearers thought possible, he seized it with the strength of a giant, and tore and trampled on it to destruction. If, at this moment, he had possessed the power of the Athenian over the passions of the imaginations of his hearers, he might have disposed of the house at his pleasure,--but this was denied to him; and on this account, his speeches fell very short of the effect, which, otherwise, they must have produced.

It is difficult to decide on the comparative merit of him and Mr. Pitt; the latter had not the vehement reasoning, nor the argumentative ridicule of Mr. Fox but he had more fire, more imagery, and much more method and discretion. In addition, he had the command of bitter contemptuous sarcasm, which stung to madness. It was prettily said by Mr. Gibbon to the writer,-"Billy's painted "galley will soon sink before Charles's black "collier :"-but never did horoscope prove more false. Mr. Fox said more truly,-" Pitt will do "for us, if he does not do for himself."

Both orators were verbose; Mr. Fox by his repetitions, Mr. Pitt by his amplifications. This, and the next session, were remarkable for being the commencement of the debates on the French revolution. These revealed to the world the want of political wisdom of each orator:-one discovering it by his total misconception of the nature of the revolution, which he thought an ordinary war; the other, by indulging in an inconsiderate language, by which

he scared many wise and good men from his party.--Mr. Grattan observed to the writer,-and he believes the observation just,-that no one heard Mr. Fox to advantage, who did not hear him before the coalition; or Mr. Pitt, who did not hear him before he quitted office. Each defended himself on these occasions with astonishing ability: but each felt he had done something that required defence: the talent remained, the mouth still spoke aloud, but the swell of the soul was no more. The situation of these eminent men, at this time, put the writer in mind of a remark of Bossuet on Fénélon. -"Fénélon," he said, "has great talents; greater "than mine, but it is his misfortune to have brought "himself into a situation, in which all his talents are necessary for his defence."

The most astonishing display of talent by Mr. Pitt, was, when the catholic bill was first agitated after his return to office. Narrow, and short, was the only plank, on which he could stand: but there he placed himself; and he defended himself upon it with such ease and adroitness, that he was seldom touched by his antagonists; and had often the posture of a successful assailant.

Greatly inferior to either of these extraordinary men, if we are to judge of him by his speeches, as they were spoken,-but greatly superior to each, if we are to judge of him by his speeches, as they were published, Edmund Burke, was through life the advocate, the warm, the powerful advocate of the catholic cause. Estimating him by his written speeches, we shall find nothing comparable to him,

till we reach the Roman orator. Equal to that great man in dialectic, in imagery, in occasional splendour, and in general information; exceeding him in political wisdom, and the application of history` and philosophy to it, he yields to him in grace and taste. He never lost an opportunity of recommending the catholics to the favour of the public. It may be doubted, whether, without the aid of his eloquence, either of the bills for our relief would have passed*.

* In familiar conversation, the three great men, whom we have mentioned, equally excelled: but even the most intimate friends of Mr. Fox complained of his too frequent ruminating silence. Mr. Pitt talked;-and his talk was fascinating; a good judge said of him, that he was the only person he had known who possessed the talent of condescension. Yet his loftiness never forsook him; still one might be sooner seduced to take liberties with him, than with Mr. Fox. Mr. Burke's conversation was rambling, but splendid, rich, and instructive beyond comparison.

Public opinion at home and abroad, seems to have pronounced against Mr. Pitt's politics and war; and, on the supposition that a war with France was necessary, in favour of the system recommended by Mr. Burke. But,-in advocating his own system, Mr. Burke seems not to have attended sufficiently to his own representations of the selfish temporising views of the continental powers, on whose energetic and public spirited co-operation, the success of his plans depended altogether. It must therefore be lamented, that the system of peace recommended by Mr. Fox was not adopted. It may be thought probable, that, if France had been left to herself, the occupations of agriculture and commerce, and the pursuits of literature and science, would have been continued, would insensibly have resumed their sway, cooled the public effervescence, and introduced moderation into the national councils. An uninterrupted series of writers of this country, of

Such were the leading men, and such their dispositions towards the catholics, at the time of which we are speaking.

LXXIX. 2.

State of the public Mind at this time :-Gradual Relaxation and final Repeal of the Penal Laws in France against the Protestants :-Progress of Civil Liberty in England in consequence of the Bangorian Controversy, and the Confessional:-Favourable Result to the Claims of the

Catholics.

1. THE French revolution was now rapidly advancing. It was considered at first, even by some persons of sense and discernment, as an harbinger of good. They did not sufficiently reflect on the great degree of happiness, which the world actually enjoyed, on the great probability of its regular increase, or on the chance of its being altogether lost by the proposed innovations.

It was particularly imagined that these would be propitious to religious liberty.-This had made a considerable progress in most parts of the continent: even in Spain, it began to dawn, and the rigours of the inquisition were greatly softened.

In France, the condition of the protestants was materially ameliorated. Some unjustifiable attempts had been made by them at the commencement of the regency which followed the death of Lewis the fourteenth they were repressed; a few of the transcendent powers, commenced with Spencer, and ended in Mr. Burke: by its duration and splendour, it far surpasses any literary era in ancient or modern Europe.

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most guilty agitators were punished; but the court was so little disposed to proceed with severity against the general body, that, soon afterwards, it was seriously debated in council, whether the edict of Nantes should not be re-enacted. The council declared for the negative; but, from this time, the penal provisions against the protestants were seldom carried into execution; and, towards the middle of the last century, the practical toleration of them in France was with a single exception,-complete; but this exception was of the greatest moment, as it regarded their marriages. The law rendered invalid all marriages, that were not solemnized according to the rites of the church of Rome. To these, the protestants, in consequence of their religious principles, could not conscientiously conform. The consequence was, that, in the eye of the law, protestant parents lived in a state of concubinage, and protestant children were illegitimate. Lewis the sixteenth, to his immortal honour, communicated, by his edict of the 17th of November 1787, to all his non-catholic subjects, the full enjoyment of all the rights of his subjects of the catholic religion.

2. In England, the progress of religious liberty had been great, but silent: we have noticed the advocation of it by the latitudinarian divines; and, on a still broader ground, by Hoadley and his disciples. These systematized the principles of their master. With their latitudinarian predecessors, they avowed, that the Bible, and the Bible only, was the religion of the protestants; but if we inquire what article of faith, what religious ordinance, was,