rous cast, and are only accused of pushing the principles of speculation and inquiry too far, her practical statesmen and politicians have been in general remarkable chiefly for their selfishness and servility; and the same union of the two countries which has added strength and range to our philosophy, fervour to our poetry, and spirit to our arms, has certainly not been favourable to the political morality, and therefore not favourable to the civil liberties of England.

LECTURE XXVI.

SIR ROBERT WALPOLE.

HAVING delivered to you what I have to offer on the subject of the union of Scotland, we must now return to the history of England, which we left at the accession of George I. The first object that claims our attention is the violence of the Whigs on their restoration to power. Of this violence, among the most durable monuments must be mentioned the articles of impeachment against Oxford, Bolingbroke, and Ormond, and the report of a Committee of the House of Commons commissioned to collect and examine such documents as were connected with the peace of Utrecht. This report and these articles become interesting from the great events to which they relate, and the distinguished characters whose private integrity and political reputation are concerned-Prior, Bolingbroke, Oxford; and lastly, their accusers, the great leaders of the Whig party, Walpole and others.

It must be confessed that these documents are much degraded by the foul insinuations and expressions of virulence which they contain; but suppose these terms of virulence, these serious accusations made by the Whigs undeserved, there will still remain a very heavy weight of blame to be endured by the Tory leaders. They might not merit the title which they sometimes received of "the Frenchified ministry;" they might not have been guilty (I use the language of their Whig opponents) "of forming, without regard to the honour or safety of her late Majesty, maliciously and wickedly a most treacherous and pernicious contrivance and confederacy to set on foot a dishonourable and destructive

negotiation," &c. ; but they were too much disposed to secure themselves in power, and to make a peace at all events, as a means to accomplish that end; they were too ready to make a peace with or without their allies; and their conduct was thus rendered not always wise, and sometimes even dishonourable.

In the writings of Mr. Coxe you will see the opinion of a very regular and respectable historian, and it is entirely against the Tory ministry. He is even more decided, and more disposed to reprobate their conduct in his work, "On Spain and the Princes of Bourbon," than before; that is, the more he has read and examined, the more unfavourably he thinks of them. The war of the Succession and the peace of Utrecht cannot indeed be properly estimated without a reference to his works, particularly his work, on Spain. I conclude, from the general tenor of his expressions and manner, that he is prepared to say that Europe is at this moment suffering, and has never ceased to suffer, from the unpardonable faults and mistakes of the Tory ministry of Queen Anne.

We thus arrive at that particular period of our history which may be described under the general term of the era of the administration, or at least of the influence and administration, of Sir Robert Walpole. It is important because the Brunswick family were establishing themselves during this interval, upon the throne of these kingdoms, and because in their success were involved the concluding fortunes of the Revolution. This great and happy renovation or assertion of the free principles of our mixed government had been with difficulty accomplished by the illustrious William. The spendid victories of Marlborough threw a glory around the Whigs, the party which he at last espoused; and for some time seemed to set at a distance all hopes of a counter-revolution in favour of the Stuarts; but these hopes had so revived about the close of the reign of Anne, and it was an experiment so novel and unpromising to bring a new race of

princes from Germany to rule the kingdom, ignorant of its constitution, and even of its language, that a very considerable interest belongs to this part of our history from the uncertainty that on this account still hung over the issue of the great struggle that had been made for our liberties.

The merit of Sir R. Walpole has been always understood to be the transcendent merit of having most materially contributed to establish the present family on the throne, or, in other words, of having rendered at last triumphant the great cause of the Revolution of 1688.

This is the first and great interest that belongs to these times, and to the character of this minister. There are, however, other subjects of curiosity connected with this era. It was still the classic age of England. The events and characters belonging to it are still illustrated in the immortal writings of Pope, of Addison, of Bolingbroke, and Swift. The parliamentary leaders were men of distinguished ability; Walpole, Pulteney, Shippen, Sir William Wyndham, Lord Hardwicke, Lord Carteret, Lord Chesterfield; and it was towards the close of the same era, that first arose the great orator of England, the first Mr. Pitt, who was afterwards destined to realise on many occasions even the splendid visions which have been given of the eloquence of Demosthenes by the enthusiastic admiration of Longinus.

Of the different topics that occur in the perusal of this part of our history, several are very striking, and there are some that can never lose their importance—the Septennial Bill, the South Sea scheme, the Peerage Bill, the rise and progress of the sinking fund, the national debt, the secret and open efforts that were made to restore the Pretender, the long peace that was maintained between England and France, the struggles of the great Tory, Whig, and Jacobite parties, the views and language of each; the concerns of Ripperda, Atterbury, Bolingbroke; and considerable entertainment, and very rational entertainment, may be derived from such particulars as have come down to us, of the cha

racter and manners of the two first monarchs of the House of Brunswick, and more particularly of Queen Caroline, not to mention such anecdotes as remain of the German favourites and mistresses, by which these reigns were so unfortunately disgraced.

Such is a slight and general view of the attractions that this era of our history presents to those who would wish reasonably to amuse their leisure, or usefully to employ their diligence, in historical pursuits.

It happens, too, that the whole is put immediately within the reach of every reader, by the labours of Mr. Coxe. His Memoirs of Sir Robert Walpole, in the first volume, give an authentic account of the views and situation of that minister from time to time, and of the measures that were the result. The two succeeding volumes contain the documents on which most of the representations contained in the first are founded. In the preface is given a reference to other great works connected with this subject-Boyer's Political State, and others. These works are voluminous, and seldom to be met with but in particular libraries in London (in the British Museum, for instance). In addition to the work of Coxe, we have also accounts of the public debates in the lords and commons, and we have Tindal's History.

On the whole, therefore, I would recommend to my hearers to take the modern publication of Belsham, and to read it in conjunction with Coxe; then to refer occasionally to the two volumes of the correspondence of Coxe, and to refer continually to the parliamentary debates which may be read in Cobbett.

Tindal's History is valuable, and should be looked at when the subject is important. Smollett's work is a rapid performance, but not worthy of its author. Smollett was a man, not only possessed of a strong vein of coarse humour, but one of laborious activity and of a powerful mind, fitted therefore to succeed in a literary enterprise. On this occasion, however, it is understood that he was only desirous,