never acting until every circumstance, every consideration, was maturely weighed; refraining, if he saw a doubt, but when once decided, going through with his purpose, whatever obstacles opposed. His integrity was most pure, his justice the most inflexible I have ever known; no motives of interest or consanguinity, of friendship or hatred, being able to bias his decision. He was, indeed, in every sense of the word, a wise, a good, and a great man. His temper was naturally irritable and high-toned; but reflection and resolution had obtained a firm and babitual ascendency over it. If ever, however, it broke its bonds, he was most tremendous in his wrath. In his expenses he was honourable, but exact; liberal in contributions to whatever promised utility; but frowning and unyielding on all visionary projects, and all unworthy calls on his charity. His heart was not warm in his affections; but he exactly calculated every man's value, and gave him a solid esteem proportioned to it. His person, you know, was fine, his stature exactly what one would wish; his deportment was easy, erect, and noble, the best horseman of his age, and the most graceful figure that could be seen on horseback. Although in the circle of his friends, where he might be unreserved with safety, he took a free share in conversation, his colloquial talents were not above mediocrity, possessing neither copiousness of ideas, nor fluency of words. In public, when called on for a sudden opinion, he was unready, short, and embarrassed. Yet he wrote readily, rather diffusely, in an easy correct style. This he had acquired by conversation with the world, for his education was merely reading, writing, and common arithmetic, to which he added surveying at a later day. His time was employed in action chiefly, reading little, and that only on agriculture and English history. His correspondence became necessarily extensive, and, with journalizing his agricultural proceedings, occupied most of his leisure hours within doors. On the whole, his character was, in its mass, perfect, in nothing bad, in a few points indifferent; and it may truly be said, that never did nature and fortune combine more perfectly to make a great man, and to place him in the same constellation with whatever worthies have merited from man an everlasting remembrance. For his was the singular destiny and merit of leading the armies of his country suscessfully through an arduous war, for the establishment of its independence; of conducting its councils through the birth of a government, new in its forms and principles, until it had settled down into a quiet and orderly train; and of scrupulously obeying the laws through the whole of his career, civil and military, of which the history of the world furnishes no other example.'

Of Madison he thus speaks

and

'Mr Madison came into the House in 1776, a new member and young; which circumstances, concurring with his extreme modesty, prevented his venturing himself in debate, before his removal to the Council of State, in November, 1777. From thence he went to Congress, then consisting of a few members. Trained in those successive schools, he acquired a habit of self-possession, which placed in ready command the rich resources of his luminous and discriminating mind, of his extensive information, and rendered him first of every assembly afterwards, of which he became a member. Never wandering from his subject in vain declamation, but pursuing it closely in language pure, classical, and copious; soothing always the feelings of his adversaries by civilities and softness

of expression, he rose to the eminent station which he held in the great National Convention of 1787; and in that of Virginia which followed, he sustained the new Constitution in all its parts, bearing off the palm against the logic of George Mason, and the fervid declamation of Mr Henry. With these consummate powers were united a pure and spotless virtue, which no calumny has ever attempted to sully. Of the powers and polishi of his pen, and of the wisdom of his administration in the highest office of the nation, I need say nothing-they have spoken, and will for ever speak for themselves.'

In closing our view of these great men, and the great events in which they bore a share, we may perhaps be expected to say something of the Republican Government which they established, and under which America has so eminently prospered. But the subject is too extensive for incidental discussion: and we shall have a fitter opportunity for handling it when M. de Tocqueville shall have completed his valuable work on America.

We have said nothing of the style of Professor Tucker's work. It is, generally speaking, plain, unaffected, and sufficiently pure, with the exception of one or two Gallicisms, a very few Americanisms, and here and there a word from that modern dialect which is of no country, and ought to be of no age, and which is making such a progress amongst us as threatens to overlay, if it does not extirpate, our good old mother tongue.

ART. IX.-1. De la Charité Légale, et spécialement des Maisons de Travail. Par F. M. NAVILLE. 2 tom. 8vo. Paris: 1836.

2. First Report from his Majesty's Commissioners for Enquiring into the Condition of the Poorer Classes in Ireland. Ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, 8th July, 1835.

SIR

IR WALTER SCOTT, in a letter written to his friend Mr Morritt in 1817, expresses himself, in regard to the poor laws, in the following terms:- The Poor Laws into which you have ventured for the good of the country form a sad quagmire. They are like John Bunyan's Slough of Despond, into which 'millions of cart-loads of good resolutions have been thrown, without perceptibly mending the way.' Such indeed had been the case for many generations, and such it continued to be until we obtained a government that had spirit and energy to face the vast difficulties of the question, and which produced the great enactment of 1834-an enactment destined

to contribute largely, as we hope and believe, towards renovating the character and augmenting the happiness of the lower orders of the English people. Still, however, this subject presents, in many points of view, an aspect far from satisfactory. Much popular delusion yet prevails with regard to the recent changes. This the late elections have fully developed. A strong disposition exists, in some quarters, to undervalue the good that has been accomplished; while, at the same time, there is found in others a tendency to overrate the recent improvements;-to represent the workhouse system, in its present form, as one of the greatest discoveries of modern times, and to treat it as suited to every age, and applicable to every country.

Neither the one opinion nor the other appears to us well founded; but the misconceptions of those who depreciate the law of 1834 are the less dangerous of the two. These are daily giving way, and may be expected to yield altogether at no distant period. We may safely trust to the practical benefits of the new law, as compared with the old, for making converts, as evinced by the immediate observation, of its most sceptical and prejudiced opponents. Much more is to be feared from the mistake of those who, at the present stage of the conflict between opposite dangers, are already singing the song of triumph-who conceive that the modern workhouse plan has put an end to all the difficulties of Poor Laws-and that mankind may be confidently assured that the great problem of Public Charity is at last effectually solved,

These latter opinions are prevalent amongst the most respectable classes of society. Nor can this be matter of surprise. The landowners have been relieved from a just alarm for the safety of their property. The occupier finds his payments greatly reduced; the moral observer sees a beneficial change in all the habits of the peasantry; the two Houses of Parliament are filled with Guardians, and Chairmen of Boards of Guardians, who have been most commendably devoting their time to the superintendence of this experiment, and have witnessed, with a natural joy, the success of their labours. Every individual of the Government who took a part in this great reform, must feel a justifiable pride in the result; while even those members of former Cabinets, whose opinion is best worth having,' gave an enlightened support to the measure, and enjoy their share of satisfaction.

6

But, in the midst of these rejoicings over risks that are past, there lurk the seeds of future danger. That subject, which has so long distracted the thoughts of statesmen, has not at once grown manageable and easy. The monster Pauperism is not

yet chained to the rock; and many an anxious thought and enlightened effort remains still to be bestowed upon a topic deeply affecting the welfare of the most numerous classes of the community.

It is not certainly at a moment like this that we can reasonably expect the most judicious opinions to be formed with relation to Poor-Laws for Ireland. Our incitements towards rapid generalizations and hasty measures are too strong. We have two extremes before us. On the one hand, the abuses of the English system, unacknowledged so long, and so long left unredressed; on the other hand, the unparalleled distress and destitution of the great bulk of the Irish people. This state of things is in neither point of view creditable to the practical wisdom and humanity of our public men. So far is true. But we doubt whether our former errors in this respect will be best corrected, and our reputation for prudence regained, by our so soon treating our recent measure as a universal panacea, equally applicable to all countries, though their conditions may be alike in no single circumstance. The new system has been in operation in no part of England for above two short years. To a great part of the country, for which it was expressly designed, it has not hitherto been extended. Under these circumstances, it seems exceedingly premature to propose at once to subject a country so differently and peculiarly situated as Ireland to so novel an experiment. Yet the Bill of the last session received great support in the House of Commons. During its progress, the objections urged against it were chiefly upon points of detail, not affecting its main principles; and there can be little doubt, that had not the session been so abruptly terminated, it would have been by this time law. That 'some'thing must be done' to relieve the miseries of Ireland, had long been the prevailing impression. The first proposition that emanated from Government was almost sure to be favourably entertained. English members took little part in the discussion, whilst the reception it met with from Irish representatives was of a singular character, and bore the marks of a painful anxiety. Though Mr O'Connell pointed out, with vast ability, the dangers attendant on the measure-though he 'shuddered at ' it,' and ' saw confiscation in it'-he yet declared his readiness to uphold it in every stage, and called aloud for its immediate adoption!

6

This Bill will doubtless be again brought forward in the new Parliament; but time for further reflexion is happily afforded, before the Legislature will be called upon to give its sanction to a step

which, once taken, can never be retraced. Is it, then, or is it not, for the true interests of the people of Irland, that a law of public relief, on the principles proposed, should be established amongst them? With us, we confess, it is a matter of much regret that so indiscriminate a feeling in favour of Poor-Laws is found to prevail throughout society,-in the southern part of Great Britain more especially. The vague impressions now existing, are destined, we trust, to be superseded by the progress of thought and observation. The experience of mankind respecting compulsory relief has hitherto been by no means extensive. The ancient world had no such practice, though it would appear, from the answer to Hortalus in the Roman senate, put into the mouth of Tiberius, that reflecting minds like that of Tacitus were fully sensible of its dangers. The example of the early Christians points to nothing beyond voluntary contributions:-Now, concerning the collections for the Saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by ⚫ him in store, as God hath prospered him.'

It was not, in fact, till the sixteenth century that fiscal measures were any where resorted to for enforcing this Christian obligation. Among the nations that have adopted them, those seem to have dealt most successfully with the difficulties of public charity who have confined it within the narrowest limits; while of all the nations of the world England is that which has committed the most grievous errors by extending its operations most widely. If this fact cannot be denied' if it must subsist for our shame, "let it subsist for our instruction.' If we are regarded justly as a beacon to warn, rather than as an example to follow, let us not be in haste to imitate ourselves.

The situation in which England found herself in 1834, as respects the lower classes of her population, was one of a very peculiar kind. History will in vain be ransacked to find a parallel case. She was suffering, not from any natural increase either in the numbers or the hardships of those poor 'who shall never 'cease out of the land,' and whom we are to have always with us. Her people were not groaning under poverty, or sickness, or any visitation from Heaven; but under Pauperism, a disease wholly of human origin, the growth of erroneous impressions among statemen, who ought to have known their duties better. The labour market had been allowed to become totally deranged; wages had almost ceased to be a matter of contract, and had become a matter of right; the natural affections were perverted; two hundred years had been spent in tempting the parent to