therefore, a seat in the House of Lords-to place, in the matter of wealth, so much influence in clerical hands was a pretty strain of folly in the people of England. It is tolerably evident, then, that if this argument for the exclusion of the Catholics be good, there ought to be no power entrusted anywhere there ought to be no such thing as government at all;-for there never can be a set of men to whom power is entrusted, who will not have motives, occasionally, to use it ill, to make it subservient to their own interests, instead of the interests of the community. It is the very object, however, of political science, to find the means of counteracting those mo tives; and, without withholding from any one the rewards to which he is fairly entitled, to devise such checks and restraints as may prevent any hazard to the society.

Such are the points on which it appears to us that the true merits of the Catholic question really depend-not, as has been delusively and unconstitutionally represented, on the oath of the King. If it is demonstrated that the disabilities of the Catholics are fraught with injustice to the Catholics, and with injury to the nation at large, it is inconsistent with the constitution to suppose that the King wills injustice to any part of his subjects, or injury

to the whole.

When injury and injustice appear to be involved in any act of royalty, the King's advisers are necessarily considered as the authors of it; and they, and they only, must answer for it to the country. Any attempt to shift this responsibility from themselves to a head, which the constitution has wisely environed with a sanctity which must not be questioned, is an attempt to break the bonds of the constitution-is tantamount to a call for rebellion and civil war. If the question of injury and injustice be once clearly decided,—and if the oath of the King be held out as a suf ficient defence of injury and injustice, the freedom of the constitution is no more. A king may take an oath against any of the vital organs of liberty-against the freedom of the press, for example-or he may chuse to conceive it included (and it is just as much included as that of intolerance to the Catholics) in his coronation oath. But, would this be a legitimate or satisfactory vindication of any attempts to crush the liberty of the press, or of any endeavours to keep it in thraldom? Would it protect the advisers of such endeavours, from that punishment which all endeavours to deprive society of the inestimable benefits of a free press so eminently deserve?

There are one or two of the observations of Locke, which, on such occasions as the present, aught never to be forgotten. It is not the diversity of opinions,' he says; for this cannot be • avoided;

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avoided; but the refusal of toleration to those that are of differ ⚫ent opinions, which might have been granted, that has produced all the bustles and wars that have been in the christian world upon account of religion. The heads and leaders of the church, moved by avarice and insatiable desire of dominion, making use of the immoderate ambition of magistrates, and the credulous superstition of the giddy multitude, have incensed and animated them against those that dissent from themselves. ' *

That magistrates should thus suffer these incendiaries and disturbers of the public peace, might justly be wondered at, if it did not appear that they have been invited by them into a participation of the spoil, and have therefore thought fit to make use of their covetousness and pride, as means whereby to increase their own power, For who does not see that these good men are indeed more ministers of the government than ministers of the gospel; and that, by flattering the ambition, and favouring the dominion of princes and men in authority, they endeavour, with all their might, to promote that tyranny in the commonwealth, which otherwise they should not be able to establish in the church? This is the unhappy agreement that we see between the church and the state.' †

We forbear making any commentary upon these memorable passages; and shall observe only, that though it be true of all public functionaries, as well as of the clergy, that their interests are apt to be contrary to their duty, it is true of the clergy, in a manner, and to a degree, that has never yet been explained and attended to as it deserves.

Amid the obstacles, however; so many and so powerful, which the progress of human happiness has ever had to encountereven in times as unfavourable as the present, when an insatiable despot demineers over so great a portion of the most enlightened and useful inhabitants of the globe, and doctrines so hostile to improvement are patronized among ourselves, the principles of improvement are perceived insinuating themselves throughout the mass of error and prejudice, as the fibres of the roots of the oak insinuate themselves in the smallest fissures of the mountain rock, and gradually acque the strength which one day enables them to tear it asunder. Amid the calamities which this Scourge of Europe has lately inflicted on the people of Spain, it is some consolation to contemplate the destruction of one of the most terrible instruments of hostility to the interests of human

nature,

* A Letter concerning Toleration, Locke's Works, &vo edin vol. VI. p. 53. † Ibid. p. 54.

nature, which ever the enemies of human nature set up: If Bonaparte succeed in rendering himself master of Spain and Portugal, the Inquisition will cease to pollute the soil of Europe. It will never be forgotten, in the annals of human happiness and misery, that such an act was left for such a man to perform. The Romans, says Montesquieu, deserved well of human nature, for making it an article in their treaty with the Carthaginians, that they should abstain from sacrificing their children to their gods. A British ministry, distinguished for many things, but for nothing so much as an extraordinary horror for the abominations of the Catholic religion; a ministry, who had treaties to form with the Spaniards and Portugueze, in circumstances which placed these nations in far greater dependence upon them than the Carthaginians, at the time of their memorable treaty, were with regard to the Romans; that ministry did not think it worth while to make any attempt to abolish the human sacrifices of their allies, or to employ a word, when a word would have sufficed, for putting down the Inquisition!

If, however, while the Inquisition is destroyed in Europe by the power of despotism, we could entertain the hope-and it is not too much to entertain such a hope--that the power of liberty is about to destroy it in America; we might even, amid the gloom which surrounds us, congratulate our fellow-creatures on one of the most remarkable epochs in the history of the progress of human society-the final erazure of the Inquisition from the face of the earth. We know very well, that public opinion, even in those dark regions, has recently done much to restrain the excesses of this terrible tribunal; and that, in many places, it had in a great measure lost its character of protecting the pure faith by reasonable penalties' and inflictions, and been converted into a court of police, or civil judicature. Still, however, the principle of its constitution was fraught with incredible danger; and, in times that have already seen so many successful usurpations, and the resurrection of so many despotisms that appeared to be worn out and extin, uished, it is not altogether unreasonable to tremble at the existence of an institution which has been the instrument of so many rors, and seems but ill calculated for any other serwice but that of oppression.

With this consolatory prospect, then, we close these observations; and shall only add, that, without freedom of conscience, there can be no free government. A system of intolerance afford such tentations and such facilities to despotism, that the two are never four & long asunder. If the awakening people of South America, therefore, desire at last to taste the blessings of 2 good government, they must fulfil the conditions which are esE e 4.

sential

sential to its attainment :-They must not only proclaim their independence, but they must establish perfect toleration, and give their sanction to the exertions of a free press.

ART. IX. Fourth Report of the Directors of the African Institution. Read at the Annual General Meeting on the 28th of March 1810. 8vo pp. 128. London. Hatchard. 1810.

WE have, upon a former occasion, laid before our readers the principal details connected with this Institution, and deduced its history from its first formation to the third general meeting, held in March 1809. We now resume, with much delight, the consideration of a subject equally interesting to philosophers, and pleasing to philanthropists; for indeed we shall in vain expect to find any topic more attractive to the lovers of science, than the exploration of the most unknown quarter of the globe; or more captivating to the friends of humanity, than the diffusion of comfort and civility among a vast portion of the species, whose happiness has hitherto been the very sport and spoil of the vices of their enlightened neighbours. At the present moment, we are induced to revive this discussion, not so much for the sake of communicating any new information respecting Africa, as in order to keep the subject constantly in the eyes of our readers, and to disseminate, as far as in us lies, whatever has recently occurred to interest the friends of the abolition. It is quite impossible that the pages of this Journal can be more worthily employed, than in recording even the most slender contributions to that great, and, we trust, victorious cause.

The Report now before us is, like the former ones, distinguished for its moderation, good sense, and plain, practical views, We do not think it necessary to say, that it displays a thorough knowledge of the subject in all its details or relations; because the enemies of the Institution themselves will hardly deny its leaders this praise. But we note the tone of sound and tempe rate discussion which pervades this piece, in order to warn our readers of a truth industriously kept out of sight by the interest ed adversaries of the abolition-that there is some difference between philanthropy and fanaticism-that a man may occupy himself most seriously with plans for promoting the happiness of his fellow-creatures, without losing his reason-and that they are not always the most deficient in what is vulgarly termed worldly wisdom, who are enlightened and virtuous enough to despise the

viler objects to which it is so often perverted; and to aim, in a practical manner, at nobler and happier things. The present state of the opposite interest-of the slave-holders and slavedealers affords an apposite illustration of the converse of this proposition; and shows, that men do not always wax in wisdom as they decay in virtue; and that the grovellings of vulgar, ordinary, practical wickedness, bring us sometimes as close to the paths of folly and failure, as the most romantic flights of generous enthusiasm.

We remarked upon a former occasion (No. XXIX.), that the improvement of the African continent, hitherto prevented chiefly, if not entirely, by the slave-trade, can only now be expected to proceed, whatever exertions may be made to favour its progress, in proportion as the abolition of that detestable traffic is enforced by those powers which have declared it to be illegal, and adopted by other powers which still share in its guilt. The Fourth Report begins with an ample recognition of this obvious principle; and then states the obstacles which, unhappily, still are found to stand in the way of a thorough extirpation of the trade. It is material that these should be known; and as the statement of them involves a detail of some important facts, we shall present it in the most concise form. We cannot find a better than the words of the Report itself.

The Directors were sanguine in hoping, that, ere this time, some thing effectual would have been done, to limit the range of this destructive traffic, which has hitherto impeded the success of every attempt to do good to Africa. But this expectation has not been realized. No foreign states have hitherto followed the example set them by the Legislatures of Great Britain and of the United States of America; while the flags of Spain and of Sweden (which, till within the last two years, had scarcely ever visited the African coast) have of late been extensively employed in covering and protecting a trade in slaves, in which, it is believed, that the subjects of these countries have little or no direct interest.

Nor is this all. It has been discovered, that, in defiance of all the penalties imposed by act of Parliament, vessels under foreign flags have been fitted out in the ports of Liverpool and London, for the purpose carrying slaves from the coast of Africa to the Span ish and Portugueze settlements in America; and that several adventures of this description have actually been completed.

of

The persons, however, who are by far the most deeply engaged in this nefarious traffic, appear to be citizens of the United States of America. These shelter themselves from the penal consequences of criminal conduct, by means of a nominal sale both of ship and Come Spanish or Swedish port-(the Havannah, for examd of St Bartholomew). They are thus put in a caof these states; and, so disguised, have car

ried