aside or destroy an engine which they cannot long resist, or to arrest its locomotive powers by pretended attempts to improve its working. The present duties of the people are, therefore, courage, promptitude, union, and a wise vigilance. The announcement of the dismissal of the Melbourne Ministry, and the call to-of all men living!-the Duke of Wellington, in a single day fused into one mass all Whigs and Radicals, and Whig-Radicals and Radical-Whigs throughout their endless gradations, who are worth reckoning upon. And no self-seeker-no trimmerno traitor is worthy of being put on the musterroll. Looking to the spirit which has pervaded those great public meetings that have been got up in haste, and, as it were, by a spontaneous impulse, we may affirm that at no former period -not even during the heats of the Reform Billwere the people more united in their leading objects. Their hearts are as the heart of one man. If our space permitted, we could produce hundreds of inspiriting proofs of this universal unanimity. The maxim of the enemy is, divide and govern; that of the Reformers, unite and conquer. Before the powerful voice of Lord DURHAM had reached them, asympathetic impulse had led the Reformers to act, as at the New.. castle dinner he magnanimously exhorted, when he said

r

May I now venture to come to what ought to be our rallying cries-let them be Reform, Liberty, and the Constitution. Let us, as I said before, throw to the winds all dissensions amongst ourselves. Let us be prepared for the struggle that is coming. Let us form associations, in every town and village of the empire. How is it that the Tories have succeeded for the moment in supplanting a Reform ministry? By union and combination. Let us then take a leaf out of their book. Let us shew that good feeling prevails amongst us by determined union and combination. We have a great struggle coming on before us -a struggle which calls upon us immediately to take up a most determined and uncompromising position. A most powerful and a common enemy is to be resisted; and if they would take my advice, I would say to the Reformers of every class throughout the country, —Let us waive all speculative opinions, and employ ourselves with the sole consideration how to make our force stronger and our resistance more effective.''

How these objects may best be accomplished, it is not difficult to say. The first battle-ground must be the hustings-and for that instant preparation is required. The Tories may well dread a dissolution-but it is inevitable. It is the very next move in their game, unless, which we do not anticipate, Peel should at once throw it up in despair. Even then it will be tried by other hands. The Reformers have already taken the first step, by holding numerous public meetings. Manageable committees are next to be formed. They must canvass with promptitude-pledge every candidate, in the first instance, to permit

no tampering with the Reform Bill-no Tory so-called emendations. Pledge him to the Ballot, and to Triennial Parliaments, and to Church Reform. Let us garrison the House of Commons with staunch Reformers; but do not stand upon trifles, nor quarrel with friends while the enemy is at the gates. Let us have elections carried by united Reformers, not by party struggles; and let him be esteemed the best man who shall the most freely sink and forget himself-bury his own feelings and prepossessions, and give himself up, heart and hand, mind and strength, to the common cause. There are many shades of opinion, which, after a time, will harmlessly re-appear-but there is only one great, immediate, and pressing duty-annihilate the power of the Anti-Reformers. Destroy our enemies in the first place, that we may have leisure to settle remaining disputes amicably with our friends.

Of the condition of Ireland, with a military tribunal* established in her capital, the worst passions of party recently let loose and infuriated, and the country thrown into the tumults of an election in the depths of winter-of the condition of unhappy, misused, oppressed Ireland, we would utterly despair, if we did not remember her brave spirit, and that Heaven helps those who help themselves. The battle of ungrateful Britain again rests in one main point upon Ireland. We hope it is under wise generalship. Who can doubt of the spirit and gallantry of the troops? But Ireland now looks as formidable to the Tories as do Glasgow, Manchester, and the great towns; and one of the renagade or trimming London Journals throws out the idea of quieting that country by taking the Catholic clergy into pay-an idea as admirable as the late suggestion in a Tory Magazine to organize an established stipendiary press. As regards the press, the admirable idea is unhappily, like other wise Scotch suggestions, only a hundred and fifty years behindhand; and as to what the Voluntary Religionists, the English High-churchmen, and the Sons of John Knox, would think of the Duke of WELLINGTON adding the Catholic Clergy to his permanent staff, we do not pretend to say.

The scheme was a favourite one, we know, with Mr PITT-it is fifty years from original. To The Times we give the sole merit of urging the launch of the tub for the whale, and of the neat compact cabinet of seven; and to The Courier, the idea of quieting Ireland by taking the priests into pay.

In the meanwhile let the fundholders look to themselves! Lord CHANDOS, who is named as a minister, has been agitating for his favourite measure the repeal of the malt tax. Clip the Duke down in ways and means by one five millions, and let the fundholders look to themselves. In the general scramble, down they go in the first place. What defence have they but in public confidence, peace, and order? Tories will fight in the last ditch for their lu

The

partisan, and Sir H. Hardinge, are to be the Lord-Lieu* Lord Rossyln, a recreant Whig, that worst kind of tenant and Chief Secretary of Ireland.

crative patronage—for their well-paying church -for their lands and heritages; but what security is there for that which exists but in national faith, and which either perishes in the first convulsion, or is irreparably endamaged? Again, we say, let the fundholders look to themselves. The Tories-and even the Ultra-Tories, who are much honester men-will, if pressed, venture the length of being generous to the nation at the expense of the funds. Church Reform, Law Reform, Constitutional Reform, the Dictator neither understands nor values; or, if understanding, he thoroughly hates and despises them; but though vowed to lead on the armies of the Church in this last crusade, he may not object to reform the Jewish Commissariat, and mulet the suttlers.

Again we would exhort a generous oblivion and cordial union among the Reformers. The Whigs have erred, they now feel how greviously. While they held and abused power, and dallied with golden opportunities, we neither spared admonition nor censure. But that time is past.

From advancing in favour with liberal men, they have incurred disfavour in high quarters. Their slow approximation to the liberal party has hastened their downfal. And is it for this we are to turn upon them in the day of adversity? It was clearly foreseen, that whatever was pretended about less being done, more must have been accomplished in the next Session of Parliament. Of the regenerated Whig government, the nation was become hopeful. There was no possibility of misconstruing the spirit which broke forth at the Grey Festival, and at Dundee and Glasgow. Every large and intelligent community was inviting the presence of Lord DURHAM, because all were actuated by the sentiments which he and the liberal Ministers had avowed. And is it for this that the King has been advised to turn off so abruptly and discourteously the Premier on whom Lord DURHAM had at Glasgow pronounced a high panegyric? --and is it for this that we behold the Duke of WELLINGTON Dictator of Great Britain ?

In The Amulet there are two good prints, the "Gipsy Mother," painted by Wilkie, and a quaint picture by Eastlake, of the daughter of Lady Charlotte Bury, termed the "Lily." The other engravings are altogether Annualish, and made for that yearly market. The "Lace-Maker" by Inskipp, and "Going to Service" by the same artist, are, however, sweet, natural subjects, very pleasingly and cleverly treated. The literature of the volume, as a whole, is heavy for an Annual. Ronald Herbert, the "Selfish Man," carries the weight of metal of a good Magazine Tale. The "Gipsy Mother" is written by Mrs Hoffland, in a tender and beautiful spirit-it is a moral tale indeed. We also like the "Baptism of the Isles." "Reminiscences of Russia," and the "Water Mole of Australia," are, if not out of place, too long. In brief, the work, as a whole, wants lightness, relief, and variety, though it possesses separate excellencies. As a specimen of the poetry, we select the following beautiful verses by Elliott of Sheffield, though they are very far above the average merit of Annual poetry.

COME AND GONE.

By the author of "Corn-Law Rhymes." The silent moonbeams on the drifted snow

Shine cold, and pale, and blue,

While through the cottage door the yule log's glow,
Casts on the iced oak's trunk and grey rock's brow
A ruddy hue.

The red ray and the blue, distinct and fair,
Like happy groom and bride,
With azure-green, and emerald-orange, glare,
Gilding the icicles from branches bare,
Lie side by side.

The door is open, and the fire burns bright,
And Hannah at the door

Stands-through the clear, cold, mooned, and starless night

Gazing intently towards the scarce-seen height,

O'er the white moor.

Tis Christmas eve !—and, from the distant town,
Her pale apprenticed son

Will to his heart-sick mother hasten down,
And snatch his hour of annual transport-flown
Ere well begun.

The Holy Book unread upon his knee,
Old Alfred watcheth calm;
Till Edwin come, no solemn prayer prays he;
Till Edwin come, the text he cannot see,

Nor chaunt the psalm.

And comes he not? Yea, from the wind-swept hill, The cottage-fire he sees ;

While of the past Remembrance drinks her fill, Crops childhood's flower's and bids the unfrozen rill Shine through green trees.

In thought, he hears the bee hum o'er the moorIn thought the sheep-boy's call—

In thought, he meets his mother at the door-
In thought, he hears his father, old and poor,
"Thank God for all!"

His sister he beholds, who died when he,
In London bound, wept o'er
Her last sad letter. Vain her prayer to see
Poor Edwin yet again!-he ne'er will be
Her playmate more.

They talk of other days, when, like the birds,
He culled the wild-flower's bloom,

And roamed the moorland, with the houseless herds; They talk of Jane's sad prayer, and her last words, "Is Edwin come ?"

He wept.
But, though he slept, his eyes, half open, gleamed;
For still of dying Jane her brother dreamed,
And dreaming wept.

But still, almost till morning beamed,
They talked of Jane then slept :

At mid-day he arose, in tears, and sought

The churchyard where she lies;

He found her name beneath the snow-wreath wrought;
Then from her grave a knot of grass he brought
With tears and sighs.

The hour of parting came, when feelings deep
In the heart's depth awake:
To his sad mother-pausing oft to weep-
He gave a token, which he bade her keep
For Edwin's sake.

It was a grassy sprig and auburn tress, Together twined and tied. He left them, then, for ever! Could they less Than bless and love that type of tenderness ?Childless they died!

THE KEEPSAKE.

"The Keepsake" is the Aristocratic Annual. Its con tributors are either lords, ladies, baronets, colonels, or M. P.'s. A few litterateurs by profession appear among the fashionable amateurs, as a real actor may sometimes be seen at private theatricals. "The Keepsake" is "of outward show elaborate." It is copiously embellished with showy, sketchy prints. It has a beautiful presentation plate, a pretty vignette, and, for a frontispiece, a fashionable lady-the Countess of Beresford-from a painting by Lawrence, an equally fashionable artist. Among the contributors are the Countess of Blessington, Mrs Norton, Mrs Abdy, the Lady Julia Lockwood, the Lady Isabella St John, Lady Emmeline Stuart Wortley, Lord Newark, Lord Morpeth, two baronets-Sir W. Somerville, and Sir Aubrey de Vere, (whose very name points him out for a romance writer,) one archdeaconMr Spencer-sundry fashionable young ladies, and two M. P.'s-the Hon. Grantley Berkeley being the one, and Mr Bernal-a young Mr Bernal, we conjecture—the

other.

How could so many fine people fail to produce an elegant volume ?-None of them are very remarkable either for failure or success. Among the articles, our special favourites are "Wordly Wisdom," by Lady Isabella St John, who wrote so charmingly in last year's 66 Keepsake;" and the "Trial of Love," by Mrs Shelley, which, though a mere sketch, indicates many a history. "Aunt Mansfield"-though we begin to tire of equivoques off the stage-is a sprightly story, and the "Fortunes of Blanche Bolton" is a pleasing one, and a seasonable relief to "Wordly Wisdom." To the finest engraving in the volume-not Gipsy children as it is named, but lovely English children masquerading in a wood as Gipsies-Lady Emmeline Stuart, (who always writes exceedingly like a person of quality,) with equal-handed justice, appropriates the most indifferent verses.

But to

atone for this, there are many very good verses in the book, as the " Lament of La Valiere," by Mrs Norton. The Seven Hearts of Condé," also, is a poem interesting from its subject. During the first Revolution, the infuriated plunderers, brutalized by the Bourbon mis. government, broke into the chapel of Chantilly, where the hearts of the Condés were preserved in silver urns. They flung away the gems and kept the caskets. Twenty years afterwards, on the return of the Prince of Condé, at the Restoration of the Bourbons, the hearts of his ancestors were found in preservation, and restored to their former resting-place. This is the event Miss Strickland celebrates.

THE SEVEN HEARTS OF CONDE Each in its silver urn enshrined,

Beneath one pillar's shade, In fair Chantilly's holy fane,

Seven gallant hearts were laid.

Seven hearts of Condé's laurelled line,
The noblest and the best,

That e'er at glory's impulse thrilled
A princely hero's breast.

Bold hearts, without reproach or fear,
Whose deeds for many an age
Have left a pure redeeming light

On history's crime-stained page.

Ay! hearts of those, whose mention once,
Like trumpet notes of fame,
Made every pulse in France beat high
At Condé's honoured name.

And when the star of chivalry
Was fading from the earth,
With them its glorious beam was seen,
As bright as at its birth.

Let us shew the reverse of the medal in the following spirited lines on "The Bourbons" of the Three Days. They are written by the author of "Miserrimus," and adapted to music. We are rather surprised (agreeably) to meet them in "The Keepsake."

Let their blood flow like water!
They have rush'd on their fate;
The ruthless! their slaughter
They shall expiate!

O France! the delightful, the fertile, once more
On thy plains is the standard of Discord unfurl'd;
And writ in indelible letters of gore,

Thou wilt read thy red lesson again to the world!
Take the sword then in hand
And extirpate the race!

Let them lie on the land

They have sought to disgrace!

The bigots, the fated,

The foemen to good;

The despots, the hated, The dabblers in blood!

Since the days of the hero who founded their throne,
Not another of all their intolerant line
But e'en to the uttermost earth has been known
As the monkish, the slavish, the basely supine!
Then on for the right!

Draw your sabres and cry
"Revenge! To the fight!
Let us conquer or die!"

"A December Night's Carol," by Mr R. Bernal, M.P., of which the theme is ""Twill be all the same a hundred years hence," is among the liveliest and most genial pieces in "The Keepsake"-it has a Horatian relish :

Quick! close the casements-shut the doors-
And o'er the crackling faggots throw
Another log or two.

Hark! how the sullen north-wind roars,
As rushing o'er the drifted snow,

It sweeps the valley through.

The night is bleak-my friends, draw near
The blazing hearth; around it flings
A welcome, warm and free.

Fill ev'ry glass-another year
Is close at hand, perchance it brings
Good luck to you and me.

Fill, neighbours, fill-a truce to care,
To gloomy musings on the past-

New days are on your track;

You're twelvemonths older than you were-
Be wiser then! time flies 30 fast,
'Tis useless looking back.

What-Farmer Jones! as usual, full
Of worldly thoughts and past events,
Low markets and short crops;
Will grumbling raise the price of wool,
Or lower poor-rates, tithes, and rents,
Or ripen corn and hops?

Come, neighbour! trust to common sense-
Put on, to-night, a cheerful face-

Be happy when you may;
"Twill be the same a century hence
With landlords, parsons, and the race
Of those who toil and pay.

My friends! cheer up a brimming glass,
A bright new year! and health to all!
Fill bumpers-neighbours, fill !
Improve the moments as they pass,
Seek not past troubles to recall,
Nor look for future ill,

Heath's Book of Beauty. Edited by the Countess of Blessington.

We regret that the tardiness of the appearance of this dazzling charmer in Scotland precludes us from doing fitting homage to its many captivations. It is a galaxy of living and of beau-ideal beauty, though probably some of the unnamed ladies are real portraits. The frontispiece, the Countess of Wilton, is the most natural portrait we have ever seen executed by Lawrence. Perhaps he could not spoil what Lady Blessington felicitously calls theangel-human air" of the original.

There is a very good engraving of Jane, the late Duchess of Gordon, from the well-known painting of Sir Joshua Reynolds. Some of those beautiful Helens and Ellens, Marys and Ianthes, do not, to our ungifted vision, appear to be doing what their respective poets set down for them, but the fault unquestionably rests rather in the text or the stage directions than with the fascinating actresses. The writers in the Book of Beauty are, in most instances, the same as in the Keepsake. Barry Cornwall has contributed a striking poem; Leitch Ritchie and Mrs Shelley, two good tales.

The remainder of the Literary Register must stand over till next month.

POLITICAL

ENGLAND.

THE abrupt dissolution of the Melbourne Administration, absorbs every other topic of domestic interest. This untoward event took place upon Friday, the 14th November. Lord Melbourne, who had gone to Brighton to attend the King, in consequence of the changes in the Cabinet caused by the death of Earl Spencer, which removed Lord Althorp from the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer to the Upper House, returned to London upon the 15th, charged by his Majesty with a letter to the Duke of Wellington. The Duke, until the return of Sir Robert Peel from Italy, is at once First Lord of the Treasury, Home Secretary, and Secretary for the Colonies. No office is yet finally fixed, nor any definite arrangement made, though it is believed that no member of the late Government will accept of office under the Wellington or Peel Administration. There is a rumour that Lord Stanley, Sir James Grahame, and the Duke of Richmond, nominal Whigs, may coalesce with the Tories. The intelligence of this rash change in his Majesty's Councils has produced more surprise and indignation than dismay. Meetings were instantly held in the metropolis, and in all the great towns, to address the King. There are various and contradictory rumours about who have been the King's confidential advisers, but the subject admits of few doubts. The measure had long been premeditated; and the death of an aged nobleman afforded the pretext for its precipitation. The determination was known in Holland and at Aberdeen before it was made public in London by the event.

After a long investigation, it turns out that the burning of the Houses of Parliament was wholly accidental.— On the 24th October, the Conservatives of Gloucestershire had one of those great Tory dinners which have of late been so frequent. Lord Ellenborough was the principal orator. We notice that, since the long nights came on, there have been incendiary fires in several of the same counties in which Swing formerly played his gambols. There is also considerable discontent among the agricultural labourers, from the reduction of wages.-There has

REGISTER.

been great loss at sea, in consequence of the high gales in the end of October and the beginning of November.

Messrs GRANT & BELL, proprietors of the True Sun, have completed their period of imprisonment for libel, under an ex officio prosecution, and been released almost about the same time that their ill-advised prosecutors were dismissed from office. Their offence, it may be remembered, was advising passive resistance to the payment of assessed taxes; or doing what Earl Fitz william and the brother of the Lord Chancellor had done before them with impunity. The newly emancipated gentlemen gallantly declare that they are prepared again to suffer in the same way whenever the cause of truth shall demand such a sacrifice." The time may not be distant.

The Libel Law appears to be shaping itself into a more just and rational form, even without alteration. On the 20th Oct. Mr Prentice, the spirited editor of the Manchester Times, was tried at the Salford Sessions for "a false and malicious libel" upon a brother editor. Mr Prentice took new ground, which he had formerly occupied with success, and was his own advocate. He called upon the plaintiff to prove the falsehood and malice charged in the indictment; and reminded the jury that by finding the libel proved, he was entirely taken out of their hands and left at the discretion of the Court; and that although only one farthing damages was found by the jury a sufficient punishment, yet, if that farthing was found, the Court had power to subject him to a heavy mulct in expenses. He farther reminded them that they must return him not guilty, unless they could swear that all the averments in the indictment were proved before them. They might also, he said, return a special verdict, declaring what they believed to be proved, and what was not proved against him. The jury, after a long consultation, returned a verdict, finding the defendant guilty of using the words charged in the indictment, but not with malicious intent, such intent not being proved. before them. The verdict was recorded as one of acquittal. This is the second case in which Mr Prentice has been

engaged, in which juries have refused to return a verdict, when malice was only inferred and not proved before them. The example will not be lost sight of. English juries will henceforward find no man guilty unless the charges contained in the indictment are proved before them in open Court. It is only agreeable to sound sense and common justice that such charges as those, for instance, which Dicas, the attorney, has brought against the London newsvenders, who have sold copies of a print, in which he avers he is "falsely, maliciously, and inju riously libelled by them," should be compelled to prove the averments, or that the defendant should obtain a verdict of acquittal. Inferential malice is but one degree less unjust than constructive treason. From this date juries have conscientiously a veto on the libel law. The severity of the criminal law often forced them to strain conscience.

At the dinner of the new Lord Mayor, (Winchester, a Tory,) the almost obsolete toast of Church and King was revived, and given with great applause. A public dinner was given to the Earl of Durham at Newcastle, upon the 19th, W. H. Ord, Esq. M.P., in the Chair. It passed off with entire unanimity of sentiment, and is, we trust, indicative of the good understanding that exists among all classes of Reformers, at a crisis which peculiarly demands union, combination, and energy. The speech of the Earl, who has nobly thrown all personal feelings and animosities to the winds, and who warmly exhorted the Reformers to UNITE, is above all praise.

SCOTLAND.

The Glasgow dinner to the Earl of Durham took place upon the 29th October. It was celebrated in a hall erected for the purpose, and was attended by nearly 1500 gentlemen. Above 120,000 persons assembled in the Green of Glasgow to welcome and congratulate the Earl, and to deliver numerous addresses voted to him. This Festival has made a powerful sensation throughout all Europe. By his declarations there, the Earl of Durham has fairly placed himself at the head of the liberal party. His declarations were for triennial parliaments, vote by ballot, an extension of the suffrage, and free trade. Whatever else occurred is, in his own words, "now thrown to the winds." We hope, in the next session, to see him and Lord Brougham, side by side, confronting the hosts of corruption. One of the most remarkable features of this solemnity was the appearance made by the working classes, and the talent displayed by their speakers and deputies. They seem to have left a highly favourable impression upon Earl Durham, who, at Newcastle, referred to them in terms of great praise. Lord Durham was received with great enthusiasm throughout his journey; he received the freedom of the towns he passed through, and addresses, &c. An anti-reform dinner was given at Aberdeen in the same week. The ticket was prudently made very cheap; and the attendance, swelled by lairds and vassals, amounted to about seven hundred. The Duke of Gordon was chairman. A party of four hundred Edinburgh reformers, favourable to the extension of the franchise, dined together in the Waterloo great Hall, upon the 6th, Mr Wallace, M.P., chairman, Mr William Tait, croupier. This assembly of Radicals

is allowed, even by the Tory papers, which have lately volleyed out scurrility and abuse upon all the public dinners given by the Reformers, to have been marked by perfect propriety and decorum.

A large meeting was held at Edinburgh, in the open air, upon Friday, the 21st, at which the Lord Provost presided, and all the magistrates were present. Whigs and Radicals appeared cordially together upon the hust ings, as their object was in that instance the same. The most important resolution was for an address to his Majesty, praying him to exclude the Duke of Wellington from his councils, and to admit none but men honestly determined to extirpate every abuse. A similar meeting was held at Leith; and such meetings have been too frequent to admit of separate notice. The spirit of Scotland has always been good; the Tory manœuvre has once more made it unanimous. He is either an imbecile or a traitor to the cause of Reform, who does not, at the present crisis, adopt the sentiments of Lord Durham, and proclaim, that in UNION lies the strength of the Reformers.

IRELAND.

Mr O'Connell has addressed a powerful letter to Lord Durham, upon the wrongs of Ireland, and calling on him to render Repeal unnecessary, by governing Ireland with wisdom and justice, when he shall have the power. The Reverend Marcus Beresford, who has lately signalized himself by his sayings and doings, has raised an action for libel against the Editor of the Dublin Evening Post. Let Irish juries study Mr Prentice of Manchester's true exposition of the libel law. The Orangemen of Ireland have been as active in holding meetings of late as the Tories of Britain. The sudden change of the ministry has been even more keenly felt there than in this side of the water. The celebrated Hamilton Rowan, long an exile, died lately at a very advanced age. He was buried in the family vault in St Mary's church Dublin, and the funeral was, though private, attended by a number of equipages, many persons being desirous of testifying their respect for the memory of this true Irishman.

FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE.

The FRENCH Premier, Gerard, has resigned, and the cabinet was subsequently broken up by the resignation of the Doctrinaires in a body upon the 4th. The king took them abruptly at their word, and lost no time in appointing successors.

The Dutch King has opened the States-General. If he was as far as ever from an amicable settlement with Belgium, the change in Britain is not likely to have a pacific effect on his policy. The Belgian chambers have also been opened by King Leopold. The late intelligence from Spain and Portugal is very unsatisfactory. A dreadful hurricane arose in the island of Dominica on the 20th and 21st September. Many of the sugar plantations have been totally destroyed. The intelligence concerning the conduct of the emancipated negroes in different quarters, is confused and contradictory, though if anything very disastrous had occurred, the accounts would have been more particular.