was not, however, to the House of Brunswick, but to the exercise of the power of the aristocracy, who, by this last mentioned act, left hardly the semblance of power in the hands of the people. The members of that house have, in general, conducted themselves with great moderation; but, in its name, the aristocracy has gone on with its encroachments, which, however, seem at last to be destined to counteract themselves.

19. The "glorious revolution" broughtwars; first for the keeping out of James and his family, and second for the preservation of Holland and of Hanover. These brought debts; and these brought taxes. The American colonies, now the United States, all of which, observe, had been settled by the Stuarts, began, in 1770, to present food for taxation. The parliament (the Septennial parliament) passed laws to tax them. The Americans had seen how their brethren in England had, by degrees, lost their property and their liberty. They raised the standard of "No TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION;" the septennial parliament raised the standard of "UNCONDITIONAL SUBMISSION;" the battle began; and how it ended all the world knows.

20. It was impossible for these two standards to remain raised for seven years, as they did, without attracting the attention of the world, and particularly of the intelligent and brave

people of France, especially as the latter had to take a part in the conflict. The success of the Americans, in conjunction with the armies of France, beckoned to the people of France to follow the bright example. As it was absolutely impossible for Lafayette not to imbibe the principles of Washington, so it was impossible that the French should not imbibe the principles of the Americans. And, now it was that our aristocracy began to see the effects of their septennial system recoil upon themselves. The French people, who, as FORTESCUE clearly shows, had never derived from the Catholic church the benefits which the English had derived from it; the French people, always borne down by a great standing army, while England had none; the French people, pressed to the earth by taxes, partial as well as cruelly heavy, such as England had, at that time, never heard of; the French people, insulted in their wretchedness by a haughty, a squandering, and most profligate court, and higher clergy; this oppressed and brave people resolved, in 1789, no longer to endure the degrading curse, and, at one single effort, swept away their grinding and insolent aristocracy and clergy, and, in their rage, the throne itself; and, by that act, sent dread into the heart of every aristocrat upon the face of the earth.

21. Our septennial law-makers remained, however, spectators for about two years and a

half; but, in the meanwhile, the example was working here. The Septennial bill had produced all its natural consequences, wars, debts, and taxation; and, as the cause of the evils was seen, the people had begun, even during the American war, to demand a REFORM IN THE COMMONS HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT as the only cure for existing evils, and as the only security against their recurrence for the future. When the standard of the right of representation had been raised by thirty millions of people only twenty miles from them, those of England could not be expected to be dead to the call. They were not; and it required no long time to convince our aristocracy that one of two things must take place; namely, that the French people must be compelled to return under their ancient yoke; or, that a change must take place in England, restoring to the people the right of freely choosing their representatives; the consequences of which, to this aristocracy, were too obvious to need pointing out, even to parties not deeply interested in t! ose consequences. The obstacles to war were very great. There was the DEBT, which, by the unsuccessful American war, had been made to amount to a sum, the annual interest of which demanded six times the amount of the taxes which had existed in the reign of James II. There were, besides, heavy burdens entailed upon the country by that war on account of half-pay and of other

things. On the other hand, we had a most advantageous commercial treaty with France, which the Republicans in France were ready to continue in force. The interests of the people of England manifestly pointed to peace; their wishes, too, were in favour of peace; and this latter is proved by their conduct, and still more clearly by the PROCLAMATIONS for checking French principles; by the ARISTOCRATICAL ASSOCIATIONS formed for that purpose; and by the TERRIBLE LAWS passed for the purpose of cutting off all communication between the people of the two countries.

one.

22. But the alternative was, Parliamentary Reform, or put down the Republic of France. That really was the alternative, and the only The former ought to have been chosen; but the latter was resolved on, and that, too, in spite of the acknowledged risk of failure; for, so much did the aristocracy dread the other alternative, that failure, when compared with that, lost all its terrors. To war then they went; in war they continued for twenty-two years, except the short respite procured by the peace of Amiens, which was, in fact, a truce rather than a peace. At the end of twenty-two years, Louis XVIII. was restored to the throne of France; but of that event, and its causes and consequences, the details will come into the history to which this sketch is an introduction.

23. During the fight every thing but the dread

of the effect of the example of the French appears to have been overlooked by our aristocracy; and, of course, they thought nothing of the DEBT which they were contracting, though that was, as the sequel will show, destined to undo all that they were doing against the French, and to render that parliamentary reform, which it had been their great object to root out of the minds of the people, more necessary and more loudly called for than ever. They had advanced only about six years in the war when they found themselves compelled to resort to a papermoney, and to make it a legal tender. This was

a very important crisis in the affairs of the septennial parliament and of the aristocracy, and the consequences which have resulted, and will result from it, are to be ranked amongst those which decide the fate of governments. Therefore this matter calls for full explanatio.

24. At the time when this war began, 1793, WILLIAM PITT, a son of the late Earl of Chatham, was the Prime Minister. He had established what he called a SINKING FUND, and had adopted other measures for reducing the amount of the DEBT, which had now reached the fearful amount of two hundred millions and upwards. A new war was wholly incompatible with Pitt's schemes of reduction; and he, of course, would be, and he really was, opposed to the war of 1793, though he carried it on (with the excep