disturbed possession of their rights; in not insisting on the removal of King James and his Court to Avignon; and in his impolitic exclusion of Shrewsbury, and all the English Ministry, from any confidential knowledge of the negociations during their progress. We agree entirely with the following judicious remarks of Mr Archdeacon Coxe: "The manner in which this nego ciation was conducted and terminated, was perhaps not less objectionable and impolitic than the conditions of the arrangement itself. The cautious exclusion of the English Ministry from a transaction in which England was so deeply interested, was unjust towards them, as well as towards the country to which they were constitutionally accountable for the arrange ments the Monarch was supposed to form with their advice and participation. That the Duke of Shrews bury, in particular, was mortified by this reserve, his letters sufficiently show; and we cannot doubt, that the aversion he felt to become responsible for proceedings over which he had no control, essentially contributed to encrease that dislike to public life which breaks forth in every part of his Correspondence. One error in policy, however, usually generates another; and if William can scarcely be excused for the conclusion of this unfavourable pacification, his conduct is still less to be commended in the negociation for the first Treaty of Partition, which may be considered as the natural, and almost inevitable consequence of the peace of Ryswick *.”

Part Third of this Correspondence opens a very interesting view of the state of factions, at that eventful and agitated period, and derives a particular value, from containing the communications to the Duke of Shrewsbury, of the great Lord Somers-a name justly dear to a very sincere and upright lover of his country. His letters are highly characteristic. They are calm, temperate, firm, and full of sound, enlarged and liberal views. He wants the enthusiasm of Montague, the suavity of Shrewsbury, the impetuosity of Russel, and the habitual and suspicious caution of Sunderland; but the flame of patriotism burned in his breast, not like "the blaze of crackling thorns under a pot," but with a steady, uniform, and unextinguishable lustre. He loved his party, for at that period no man could be honest without being of a party; but he loved his country better; nor, in the whole of his correspondence, can we discover the smallest indication of that rancorous political animosity, which might, at that period, have been in some degree venial, but which was destined to be the disgrace and the bane of our own time, under the patronage of those miserable state-cobblers and quacks, who, while they declaim against party-spirit, and the licentiousness of the press, allow Lord Advocates, to subscribe Newspaper bonds, and fee their hirelings to traduce the private characters of their political opponents. The great men of the Revolution were above such Grub-street practices. The Lockes, the Shrews

burys, the Somerses, and the Marlboroughs, supported the interests of their party by other means. We extract the following letter, relative to Smith's practices against the Duke of Shrewsbury. It is a pleasing memorial of Somers's friendship for his Grace.

It bears date January the 30th,

1697.

"MY LORD,

"This morning has put an end to Smith's business. After the report from the Committee, which was little more than the pointing to the particular letters which were thought most to deserve a remark, with some observations that were kindly enough made by my Lord Rochester, (who was the chairman), the House come to two votes to the effect following:

"That Smith, upon his examination, having alleged somewhat of the nature of a complaint against the Duke of Shrewsbury, upon account of some intelligence given by him to the Duke, which he said would be made out by his papers given in to the House; the House was of opinion, upon examination and consideration of the papers, that there was no ground for the complaint; and upon consideration of the whole matter, the House was of opinion that Smith did not deserve any further reward*.

"The first of these questions was proposed by my Lord Wharton; the second by my Lord Rochester.

"I think I ought to confess to your Grace, that how little soever this thing is in itself, yet I know the dependence of it was an uneasiness to your Grace; and therefore I am guilty of desiring Mr Vernon to send the account of it by a particular messenger, in which opinion my

Lord Wharton did entirely agree with me.

"The whole of this transaction has succeeded entirely according to the desires of those who meant your service; and if it has not been right in any thing, it must be attributed to their mistake; for I did not see but that what we aimed at we had. These two votes passed without any question put, and, I persuade myself, will be to the full satisfaction of every body without doors; the malice and design of the whispers and insinuations which were spread abroad, being now much more the discourse than those whispers themselves did ever give rise to, I will not pretend to enter into the particulars of this matter, and how great a fool and a knave Smith appeared; but I will mention a turn that was generally given to the thing, that Smith was resolved to be on either side, as the success was: he would be a discoverer, if the assassination failed; and would have had a horse for the service, if it had succeeded.

"I am not able to tell your Grace how my Lord Monmouth (afterwards Peterborough) bears his imprisonment t. Some say, beyond measure impatiently; some qualify it; but all agree my Lady has no bounds in what she says. He has sent me a letter, wherein he desires leave of the King that he may petition the House. I returned answer, that I should not see the King till to-morrow night, and was so ill, that I did not know if I could go to Kensington then. He sent me word his desire was I would send the message_by_somebody else, and therefore I told my Lord Portland of it. This quick proceeding is, as I think, like all the rest. What it will produce I know My Lord S- ‡ was to

not.

Sunderland.

visit him on Monday, and my Lord Portland yesterday; but I do not hear what either of them said, though I believe you guess that cannot be a secret long." (p. 465.)

We regret, with Mr Coxe, that so little of Mr Montague's (afterwards Lord Halifax) correspondence with the Duke of Shrewsbury has been preserved, and that of that little our limits permit us only to extract the following paragraph, from the most vigorous epistle in the whole collection, relative to Sunderland and his party. It is addressed to his Grace, and dated Feb. 11. 1698. "MY LORD,

"I have the honour of your's of the 22d January, and am very much obliged to you for the confidence you express towards me, and do assure you it could nowhere be more safely placed. Our circumstances are such, that I think the nation had been long ago ruined, but for the unalterable friendship and union that has been maintained between some of us; and I think at this juncture, if we can perfectly know one another's mind, without any reserve, sound measures may be taken. I must own myself to be one of those that all along thought the Duke of Shrewsbury had some uneasiness in business, from several circumstances that attend my Lord Sunderland's power and conduct, which would be removed with him; and this had more weight with me, to wish it so, than any other consideration; for I thought, with you, we could always make a stand, and, without you, we should be lost piecemeal. The old scheme, whatever it was, is confounded, and he is to be gin the world again; and, if you will allow yourself to be made the corner-stone, we will raise such a structure as shall not be easily destroyed, especially when we have

taken away his tools and engines. Duncombe's fall will more disable him, and cut off his power to play tricks, than any thing else could have done. He was the cement that kept Peterborough, Bolton, Seymour, and the rest united. He was the Iago of the whole villany, and nothing can keep them together, but such a busy temper joined with a faculty of helping those that have money to dispose of it, and those that have none to borrow." (p. 531-9.)

We would gladly have given a place to one of the most important documents in this collection, the letter of Lord Somers, in which he describes the interview with the King, when, on the reduction of the military force of the kingdom to 8000 men, and the vote passed for sending his Dutch Guards out of the country, he had taken the desperate resolution of abandoning the country, and leaving the Government to its fate: but we have already greatly exceeded our limits. "The intrepid and manly remonstrances of the Chancellor (Somers)" says Mr Coxe, "induced the King to forego his hasty resolution of withdrawing from England; but no representations could soothe his resentment against the Whigs, for suffering their opponents to carry so odious a measure as the reduction of the army." (p. 575). For the character of King William, drawn with a masterly and impartial hand, and as happily conceived and forcibly expressed as any thing of the kind, perhaps, to be met with in history, we refer the reader to Burnet's History of his Own Time, Vol. II. p. 176. (Dublin, 1724, folio *.)

The Revolution of 1688 was, in every point of view, one of the greatest events that ever distinguished the history of this or of any other country, and was brought about, 'and

carried through with a firmness, disinterestedness, moderation, and patriotic adherence to principle, and sound constitutional law, unparalleled in the history of the human race and when we read the annals of the previous reigns, and reflect on the arbitrary and despotic measures of the Stuarts, and the violations of law and liberty of which they were guilty, in order to compass their bloody and destructive ends, it is impossible not to feel our hearts warmed with grateful admiration of those men, who, at the hazard of their lives and fortunes, drove the tyrant from his throne without bloodshed, and brought to reign over us, according to the constitution and the laws, a Prince descended from a line of heroes who had fought and bled in the cause of European Liberty, and who proved himself, not merely our Deliverer from Popery and foreign influence and domination, but one of the greatest, wisest, and best monarchs that ever swayed the British sceptre. We cannot conclude this article better, than by quoting the words of one of the profoundest lawyers which England has ever produced: "But while we rest this fundamental transaction, (the Revolution), in point of authority, upon grounds the least liable to cavil, we are bound in justice and gratitude to add, that it was conducted with a temper and moderation which naturally arose from its equity; that, however it might in some respects go beyond the letter of our ancient laws, it was agreeable to the spirit of our constitution, and the rights of human nature; and that, though in other points (owing to the peculiar circumstances of things and persons) it was not altogether so perfect as might have been wished, yet from thence a new era commenced, in which the bounds

On Government, p. 2. c. 19.

of prerogative and liberty have been better defined, the principles of Government more thoroughly examined and understood, and the rights of the subject more explicitly guarded by legal provisions, than in any other period of the English history. In particular, it is worthy observation, that the Convention, in this their judgment, avoided with great wisdom the wild extremes into which the visionary theories of some zealous republicans would have led them. They held that this misconduct of King James (breaking the original contract between the King and people, and violating the fundamental laws-Resolution of the Convention Parliament) amounted to an endeavour to subvert the constitution ; and not to an actual subversion, or total dissolution, of the Government, according to the principles of Mr Locke: which would have reduced the society almost to a state of nature; would have levelled all distinctions of honour, rank, offices, and property; would have annihilated the Sovereign power, and in consequence have repealed all positive laws; and would have left the people at liberty to have erected a new system of State upon a new foundation of polity. They therefore very prudently voted it to amount to no more than an abdication of the Government, and a consequent vacancy of the throne; whereby the Government was allowed to subsist, though the executive magistrate was gone, and the kingly office to remain, though King James was no longer King. And thus the constitution was kept entire, which, upon every sound principle of Government, must otherwise have fallen to pieces, had so principal and constituent a part as the royal authority been abolished, or even suspended t."