(but this, in the affairs of mankind, is only one point among many)—this act, I say, as far as mere reasoning and logic were concerned, bore upon the face of it its own condemnation; for if the dissenting ministers differed from the church in articles of faith, they could not yet sign; and the act extended to them no toleration; and if they differed from the church only in points of discipline, then those points of discipline and church government should not have been insisted upon by the church, and they should have been brought within her pale. But allowance must be made for mankind on subjects like these.

On the whole, the Toleration Act was an act of relief and indulgence; as such it has always been considered; it has been administered and interpreted very favourably to the nonconformists, and very inconsistently with the mere letter of it; that is, very creditably to the government, from the increasing humanity and more consistent Christianity of the times.

The Toleration Act was an act with which, defective as it might really be, and must necessarily have appeared to William, still it was perfectly incumbent on him to rest contented, as society was at the time not in a temper to grant more; probably the king thought so, for having made these wise and virtuous efforts soon after his accession, and established the kirk of Scotland, agreeably, as he conceived, to the wishes of the nation, he seems to have turned immediately, and without further expostulation, from this not altogether ineffectual campaign in the cause of religious liberty, to face his enemies in the field in defence of the more intelligible rights of civil liberty.

These enemies he found in Ireland, and in the continent of Europe, and he was happy enough to overpower the one, and at least to check and resist the other.

Since I drew up these lectures, the Stuart Papers have been published, and the historical student will naturally refer to them-the Life of James II., edited by Mr. Clarke.

I have not found it necessary to make any alterations either in my first or in this second course of lectures, in consequence of the perusal of them. All the regular conclusions of historians and intelligent writers seem to me only confirmed and rendered more than ever capable of illustration, by the new materials of observation that are now exhibited to our view.

The same might be said, I have no doubt, if the very journal of the king (James II.) had been placed before us; this has unfortunately perished. We have only in the Stuart Papers the representation of it, given by some friend or confidential agent of the family; but between this representation and the real and original composition of the king himself, the great difference would be, that the king's own journal would have shown, in a manner more natural and striking, all the faults of his mind and disposition; of these there can surely be no further evidence necessary; certainly not to those who understand and love liberty; but, after all, these are not the majority: and the loss of the journal, independent of the curiosity belonging to the other characters of these times, must be considered as a great loss, because, though no new light would have been thrown on these subjects, there would have been more; and there cannot be too much light thrown. They who run should read.

LECTURE XXI.

EAST AND WEST INDIES.

We must now consider ourselves as having made a sort of progress through the more important parts of the history of modern Europe. We have alluded to the conquests and final settlements of the barbarous nations, the dark ages, the progress of society, the ages of inventions and discoveries, the revival of learning, the reformation, the civil and religious wars, the fortunes of the French constitution and government, the fortunes, in like manner, of our own civil and religious liberties, till they were at length successfully asserted, confirmed, and established, at the Revolution of 1688. We have made our comments on that most fortunate event.

We might now, therefore, proceed to the character and reign of William, and to the history of more modern times; but I must first attend to a part of the modern history of Europe, of which I have hitherto taken no notice; and I must go back for nearly two centuries, while I advert to a series of events, which distinguished the ages of inventions and discoveries, and which are on every account deserving of our curiosity. I allude to the discovery of the new world, and the conquests and settlements of the different European nations in the East and West Indies.

This omission of mine you have no doubt remarked; but to these topics I have as yet forborne to make any reference, because, among other reasons, I wished not to interrupt the train of your reflections and inquiries, while directed to the subject of the progress of Europe, more particularly in its great interests of civil and religious liberty; a subject which, if surveyed apart, has a sort of unity in it, which I have in this manner endeavoured to preserve.

I must not, however, be supposed insensible to the curiosity and interest which belong to such events, as distinguish the lives of the discoverers and conquerors of a new hemisphere, the great navigators and military captains of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. I have only wished to adjourn for a season, by no means to disregard, such memorable transactions. While we read the civil and religious history of Europe in the manner I have supposed, the general facts respecting America and the Indies will present themselves, and may be received without any immediate examination; nor is this of any material consequence; we may still hasten on. We can easily conceive, what in fact took place, that these vast and unknown regions, when once discovered, would be converted into the great theatres, where enterprise and courage were to be exhibited. We can find no difficulty in supposing, that the woods and morasses of America, however gloomy and inhospitable, would still seem a retreat and a refuge to those, who were exasperated by persecution, or inflamed by religious enthusiasm. We may easily take into our account the effect which would be produced on the minds of men by the novelty of their prospects and situation, on the discovery of a new portion of the globe; all this we may conceive, and in a general manner take for granted, while we read the history of Europe; and we may afterwards turn back and examine the more particular history of these expeditions, and give them such attention, as on the whole, and in comparison with other objects of reflection, they may appear to deserve.

But here again, as on all former occasions, we should transport ourselves in imagination back to this distant period, and assume, for a time, the opinions and sympathies of those who went before us, the better to understand their merits and to be instructed by their faults; the better to be animated by their history, and improved in our own minds and dispositions, by the spectacle before us; by the images of our common nature placed in scenes so fitted to display all the possible varieties of the human character.

Science has been now advanced, navigation brought to comparative perfection; the winds and currents of other climates and seas, the shores and rocks, the rivers and the harbours, of an unknown hemisphere have been now ascertained; and we travel over the ocean as we journey over the land, expecting at a given time to reach a given place, and with little more fear of miscarriage and disappointment in the one case than in the other; but the situation of mankind at the close of the fifteenth century, in none of those respects, resembled ours: the difference is one of the greatest testimonies that can be produced to the progressive nature of human improvement; and before we open the History of America, we must endeavour to forget, for a season, our present situation and our comparative advantages. After all our efforts, it will scarcely be possible for us properly to comprehend and sympathise with the various strong and contradictory emotions, to which these enterprises gave occasion in the course of their origin, progress, and

success.

The work of Dr. Robertson is well known; the whole subject, as far as we need at present consider it, is there fully discussed. To his History of America I must refer you.

In his work we are made acquainted, first, with the progress of navigation anterior to the time of the great Columbus, the discoverer of America; the nature and the fortunes of his enterprise; the fortunes of Columbus himself; the conquest of Mexico, by Cortes; of Peru, by Pizarro; and we have also a very full discussion of a subject so extraordinary, as the situation and nature of whole races of men, that before had never been supposed to exist.

Themes so striking, and so interesting, have not in vain been presented to this accomplished historian. He has formed a narrative and composed a work, of all others the most attractive, that the range of history affords; and along with the other merits which his writings so generally exhibit, this production has another not so obvious, and surely of