was

respect of their property. A commission,' he says, established, to settle the question of indemnification to such whose claims were founded on land formerly possessed by their ancestors, and granted in perpetuity under the term emphiteusis, to the township, hundred, or even single tenant, who became charged with an hereditary rent in kind to the family of the original proprietor; '-in other words, the lords had done what, in Scotland, we term feuing, granted leases in perpetuity at a fixed rent, only that the whole rent seems to have been in kind; whereas, with us, a small part only is, generally speaking, so reserved, and, in more modern grants, no part at all. The date of those grants, it seems, was frequently as ancient as the origin of the families themselves, and the charters were lost or destroyed; nor was any evidence of their ever having existed to be found, except very long enjoyment. Now, according to Mr Craven, a decree was made, ordering all who claimed compensation for the loss of such rents, to produce their documentary evidence, as the only ground which could be admitted. This at once cut off those who had no titledeeds. Then, many who had such deeds, having deposited them in the Archives at Naples, were equally deprived of them, by the destruction of that repository in the dreadful excesses committed at the restoration of the Royal Family. So far, all is very intelligible; but our author adds, that the act of injustice which thus deprived the proprietors of their rents, was of no benefit to the other classes, who were only tolerated from several ridiculous and antiquated observances, and in no other manner benefited by an operation directed entirely to the profit of the government that had planned it.' Now, certainly, if the payment of the emphyteutic rents ceased in all cases where there were no title-deeds forthcoming, and if, through time and the accident at the restoration, very few were to be found, how gross soever the injustice of the proceeding might be, there can be no question that it benefited the vassal as much as it injured the lord: But, from the latter part of our author's remark, we have little doubt that he has stated the facts imperfectly, and that these acts of spoliation were entirely for the benefit of the government. Indeed, it is pretty well known that the present restored dynasty, after the expulsion of Murat, carried the principle of confiscation so far, as to deem it a title in the state peculiarly sacred; for their own adherents having been punished for supporting their cause, by the loss of their estates, which became crown lands, the whole, or nearly the whole, of the property thus acquired by the new dynasty was retained by the old, instead of being restored as a matter of course to the unfortunate owners, who had only lost it because

they were supporters of the family. Had it indeed, as in France, been sold, and the recovery of it become impracticable, without a total subversion of the new order of things, the case would have assumed a very different aspect; nay, had emigration in all cases been the ground of the forfeiture, something might have been said; but that the family itself, for whose sake the loss was incurred, and, in many instances, by the political conduct of the proprietors within the country-that this family should profit by the spoil, seems almost too much for belief, even after all that has been seen of restorations-and goes far towards fortifying the opinion of those who hold them to be 'the worst kind of revolution.'

Our author admits, that the new system of jurisprudence was most advantageous to the community at large; and that the families who retained property in their hands were greatly benefited by the abolition of majorats (entails), which enabled them to relieve their estates from incumbrances. He adds, that this tends also to the extinction of the nobility, as the alienation of their lands, which must almost inevitably be the consequence, will deprive them of the only importance that remains to them after their feudal rights are gone, and throws them into a state of dependence upon the court. In this we agree with him; a nobility, without a certain power of entailing real property, appears to us worse than an absurdity in politicks. Perhaps in England this power is, upon the whole, as well regulated as can be reasonably expected; perpetuities are avoided, while an opportunity is generally enjoyed of preventing improvident alienations, and guarding against all hazards for a limited time. In Scotland, there is by far too unrestrained a power of tying up property; and the late fluctuations of the law upon the subject have, we fear, increased rather than lessened the evil.

In a work upon the kingdom of Naples, we naturally look for information respecting the Carbonari, of which so much has been said, and so little seems accurately known. The following are the principal remarks of our author upon this subject; and they are of importance, not so much with a view to the sect itself, as from the light they throw upon the great change of property and of popular feeling, in which both the Carbonari, and all other reformers, must, of necessity, both have their origin, and seek for their support.

That the efforts of this society have been directed to the attainment of a representative system of government, can no more be denied than that they have been eminently successful; but that, in so doing, they assumed an exclusive agency in the affairs of state, and must therefore be regarded in the light of a faction, is not admissible. It should be observed, that if the Carbonari do not constitute

the positive numerical majority of the Neapolitan nation, which is a matter of some doubt, they include in their ranks that portion of the population which, from their acquirements, property, habits, and reÎative situation in the body politic of the country, must ever give a decided preponderance to whatever part they assume. The state of intellectual information in this kingdom, however it may be underrated by inhabitants of regions more advanced in that respect, is, nevertheless, much more respectable than those individuals are aware of; and, however inferior it may be to that of the northern nations, it may safely be asserted, that it cannot retrograde from the point it has reached, even if it be for a while checked in its future progress.

The classes wherein the sect had made the least advancement are the higher divisions of nobility, and the most abject among the populace. The former, in consequence of the encroachments upon their possessions, and almost abolition of their ancient privileges, while they are debarred from the means of exercising any political influence over the remainder of the population, are alike unable to afford any support to the crown; and the others must, until the country is entirely regenerated, continue to vegetate almost as a caste, in a state to which they are habituated from their infancy, and which, after all, is neither painful or insupportable. The description of individuals filling up the vast chasm between these two extremcs, must be admitted to rank as a body whose employments, labours, and local knowledge, contribute most largely to the welfare of the community; and of these I should not hesitate to affirm that the great portion are Carbonari.

There is a class of middlemen in these realms, who have acquired an individual importance in the country at large, originating in the vicissitudes which have been so prejudicial to it in general; they consist in agents or stewards of many of the ancient families, who, too proud or too careless to look into the management of estates they never visited, consigned them entirely to the care of subordinate individuals, whose habits of activity and practical knowledge of rural economy, have enabled them to profit by all the losses or temporary embarrassments of their superiors, and many of whom are now in the actual possession of the domains which they once superintended. It would be as invidious as illiberal to generalize the imputations to which this description of men have been subjected; especially as instances of the same kind are by no means confined to the southern portion of Europe. Here, however, they are infinitely more common, in consequence of the changes in the government, laws, and institutions during the last twenty-five years; and, in a country of which the principal resources may be considered as almost purely agricultural, these persons, united to the petty landed proprietors, may undoubtedly be regarded as forming the most important portion of the nation; they are usually denominated galantuomini, or gentlemen, as a dignified improvement upon possidenti, or

proprietors, an appellation perhaps more applicable in its general sense. From this class, which might again be subdivided into seve ral inferior portions, all the subaltern offices in the provinces must necessarily be supplied; and in this case, the decrees fulminated against any secret institution could have no effect but that of multiplying its adherents. Government might in vain choose, from its own particular friends, individuals of tried fidelity to fill the highest posts of trust and dignity; but its efforts towards the destruction of the sect must always be rendered abortive as long as the selection of inferior agents is not conducted with similar precautions; and that such precautions are impossible must be obvious. The vital necessity of concealment imposed by persecution upon a Carbonaro, would add more than ordinary stimulus to the rigid observance of all those official duties likely to secure favour and confidence from his principal; but the secret patronage and encouragement of the individuals of his own sect would undoubtedly be extended with a fervour proportionate to the zeal and integrity displayed in the exercise of his public functions. From this circumstance it must frequently have happened, that all the local authority of a country town became vested in the hands of Carbonari, who might discharge the complex and intricate duties of their respective stations with exactness and even fidelity towards the state, but at the same time continue the occult pursuit of their ultimate plans, and disseminate the tenets of their association with redoubled activity and effect. A majority of Carbonari in the Decurionato, or civic assembly of any village, would insure the election of a Syndic of their own body, who would, in his turn, be enabled to bias the choice of his successor, as well as that of the different Gabellieri, or excise officers, and other subordinate charges.' pp. 383-386.

Our author adds, that the Carbonari principles are in no classes more universally diffused, or deeply rooted, than among the provincial militia. Now, these are all landowners; they are the yeomanry of the country, and must have a considerable qualification in land to enable them to serve; they must pay ten ducats a year to the land-tax. If recent experience did not seem to show that governments, like individuals, may be stricken with incurable blindness, we should not hesitate in pronouncing it to be impossible that the interests, or even the inclinations, of such a class, could be very long despised by any dynasty not bent upon its own destruction.

It would have added greatly to the value of Mr Craven's book, if his classical allusions had been accompanied with references, and in many places with quotations. The defect may be supplied in another edition; and, as hardly a step of his route was off classic ground, though the trouble of making this addition may be considerable, yet he appears to have the materials in his notes; and the work would gain incalculably by it.

ART. IX. The Elements of the Art of Packing, as applied to Special Juries, particularly in Cases of Libel Law. By JEREMY BENTHAM Esq., Bencher of Lincoln's Inn. 8vo. pp. 270. London, 1821.

WE

E must fairly confess that we have no intention to say any thing of Mr Bentham or his book on the present occasion; and that we have borrowed the title of it merely as a peg on which to hang a discussion of a more local and domestic nature. We shall therefore take leave of the ingenious publication with which we have used this liberty, by merely observing, that in what we have been able to read of it, we have met with a good deal that we did not approve, and a great deal that we could not understand:-and that we are happy to learn, that the evils of which it chiefly complains have been corrected in recent practice. We proceed now to matters which do not concern Mr Bentham.

There is nothing in which the people of this country have a deeper or more immediate interest, than in the administration of Criminal Law; and therefore they ought never to lose sight of the causes which make, or which keep it pure. There are some who think, that the principal of these causes is the unimpeachable integrity of our Judges; and of course these persons must hold, consistently with this opinion, that the larger the Discretion is with which Judges are invested, the judicial system must be the better. This, however, is a very dangerous error; and one that is as repugnant to the genius of the Constitution, as it is to sound reason. For though we have the highest admiration of the great qualities that have become familiar to us in the British judicial character, and feel prouder of the scheme of justice which the integrity and learning of those who preside in our Courts has helped to mature, than of any of our other national achievements,-holding the splendour even of our warriors as eclipsed by the more civilized glory of our Judges, still we think it perfectly plain, that this excellence, instead of being produced, has a direct tendency to be destroyed, by that very Discretion with which the injudicious think it so worthy to be intrusted.

For what is it that forms and preserves the peculiar integrity of a Judge? We need say nothing of their long previous training-of their removal from the usual scenes of corruption-of the infamy which would attend a detected violation of duty-or of the honourable fame which rewards the proper discharge of it;-because these incentives to virtue are obvious and universal. But the more special causes which have operated in Great