Je sentais de la haine y fermenter la flamme. J'aimais les noirs canons gardiens de ses abords; Que disaient nos marins, lui demandant raison. Quand leurs deux poings fermés menaçaient l'horizon? On citait ses sermens de parjures suivis, -Delavigne, Messeniennes. And a favourable critic observes, upon this tirade, that M. Casimir Delavigne could not better prove his personal devotion and gratitude to the House of Orleans than in thus joining the public cry against the perfidy of England.' They forget that ALORS the House of Orleans was living under the hospitable protection of that same perfidious England;'-not in a cachot flottant, but in a good house at Twickenham; and that Louis Philippe was eagerly soliciting a command in the allied armies against the person whom he then styled the Corsican usurperbut whose bones he is now canonising. The Presse, which we have quoted so frequently because it has been the most rational of the journals, and is besides supposed to be the organ of the king, formally announces the complete rupture of the English Alliance,' and congratulates France on the complete and unanimous abjuration which she has made of that false and mischievous vision. This paroxysm of fury, having no real cause, and, now, not even an excuse, will probably subside: but let us not persuade ourselves that either of the two great parties that divide the French people can ever forgive us-the one our early recognition of Louis Philippe, and the other-WATERLOO ! ، Nor can we say that we much regret this renunciation on the part of France, of what they call the English alliance,' though we do very much the temper and spirit in which it is made. We always thought the French alliance' an unsure and hollow trust, that is, in the special meaning that has been lately given to the term. Close intimacies, which are not based on some public engagement, and referable to some known standard, are the most dangerous and and precarious of all connexions between nations as between individuals. The more patient of the two parties is expected to bear everything, and is thanked for nothing; and the closeness of the intimacy only affords more frequent occasions for bickerings and reproaches. Let us have amity with France,sincere and open, and, if possible, solid,—such as we have, or ought to have, with Russia, or Prussia, or Austria; but no such secret and undefined obligations as would estrange us from the collective policy of the rest of Europe, and, after all, end, on the very first untoward accident or occasion, in a similar, or perhaps a still worse, explosion of hostility than we have lately witnessed, and, as we hope, happily and honourably escaped. On the other hand, let us with equal care avoid doing anything which may give offence, or even umbrage. Let us endeavour to allay the jealous susceptibility of our neighbours, by good manners in all our proceedings, and good faith in all our engagements. And this leads us to a final remark on the Eastern question. The French whole press and all French statesmen affect to fear-or indeed may be really apprehensive-that England has some separate interest in these discussions-that she has some latent design on Egypt or on Syria. We think we may venture to deny, in the fullest and most formal manner, on the part of the British nation, any such unworthy, and indeed preposterous, views: and we exceedingly regret that one-and we hope but one—respectable English journal should have indiscreetly given the colour of its authority to such an imputation-by suggesting that England, as the recompence of the blood and treasure she has spent in the contest, should retain possession of Acre, and some other points in the Levant. We believe the Government and people of England will utterly repudiate any such selfish, and worse than selfish, proposition. England wants nothing in the Levant but what she hopes to enjoy in common with all mankind,-friendly relations, safe intercourse, and a general and mutual civility and protection to persons and property. There is, however, one point on which she and all Christian people feel so especial an interest that it deserves to be particularly noticed, our holy city of Jerusalem. Let the European powers, as a return for their exertions, stipulate that-however Syria may be otherwise administered-there shall henceforward be, for all the world, a free access to, and safe residence within, the city of Jerusalem—a place sanctified to us all by reverential recollections, by holy associations, and by pious hopes. If-which we trust might not be the case-any pledge or guarantee for this object be necessary;―if, for instance, the Porte itself, aware of her own condition, condition, should fear that she has not the power to maintain an adequate police in Palestine by her own means; and if the occupation of St. Jean d'Acre by a European power should be thought necessary to insure free access to the Holy Land,- let it be committed to the care--not of England; God forbid! but-if she will accept the trust-to that of Austria; a power of whose guardianship no one could be jealous, and on whose good faith all could rely. But let us rather hope that the Porte, by undertaking itself this interesting office, will avoid any derogation, however slight, from its territorial integrity. To conclude:-If Mehemet Ali and France have been encouraged in their opposition to the general wishes of Europe by the hope of any serious difference of opinion in England on these subjects, they are egregiously mistaken. A dozen of crazy agitators may deceive half a dozen ignorant mobs, and may carry to Paris the empty nonsense of their congratulation and encouragement to be disregarded there as they have been despised at home but the great majority of the wealth, intelligence, and weight of the people of England-the Conservative party --will be found ready to support even their political adversaries, when they have-however reluctantly and unintentionally-blundered into a right course. The Conservative party will be always true to its Conservative principles. It accepts the Reform Bill in England, and the July revolution in France, as des faits accomplis, to use M. Guizot's own expression :—what is done is done-and the Conservatives in both countries have now no other duty but to endeavour to improve the existing circumstances quicquid corrigere est nefas-to the advancement of private happiness and public prosperity, to the progress of civilisation and light, and particularly to the first indispensable condition of all civilisation and prosperity-universal peace. In England, the Conservatives will never attack their adversaries through the public interests, nor attempt to embarrass them on questions in which they have supported, however inconsistently and feebly, a national and rational policy. They will seek their increase of strength where they found its original elements—in honest means—in the patriotic industry of their representatives in the Legislature and in zeal and activity at the registry and in the corporations. They well know that there lie the legal and legitimate springs of their future and not distant success. They will prepare themselves against the agitation of new reform bills, which will be produced when their adversaries shall have found that the old *It would, we hope, be no serious objection that the Emperor of Austria now takes, we believe in common with the Kings of Naples and Sardinia, the nominal title of King of Jerusalem. ones ones have failed to answer their private purposes; and they will endeavour to consolidate and protect all existing institutions— even the Reform and Municipal Bills-against the wickedness and folly of unscrupulous men, who will seek to destroy their own work as soon as they find it insufficient to accomplish their own ends who reformed before, and will try to reform again—not for the sake of real reform, but for the miserable conveniences of a party and a disreputable and powerless tenure of place. The Conservatives may well congratulate themselves on their great, their growing, and speedily triumphant force, increasing honourably and rapidly, in despite of the influence of the most corrupt of governments, and without the personal predilections of a misinformed and misguided court. NOTE.-In our last Number it was inadvertently stated that Mr. Chri Vinerian law professor at Oxford; in truth he was Downing law professor bridge. THE QUARTERLY REVIEW. ART. I.-History of Scotland. By Patrick Fraser Tytler, Esq. Vol. VII. Edinburgh. 1840. pp. 471. THE industry to trace and discover historical documents is seldom found united with the talent to condense and employ them. It is not always the same hand that can draw forth the metal from the mine and smelt away the dross. We have seen in France, during the last century, innumerable narratives, like ~~~~ lively, and ingenious, but constructed from the I have seen, in our own time and Page 592, line 16, for under the 51, read under the Nor od service in printing, al and cartload after this rare combination erspicuous deduction, rve the praise of an igh praise is due to study of the printed collections of manue of our history, the I have been rewarded ployed these fruits of a word-catcher that ith singular sagacity the doubts hitherto few cases, into the ce and value to his common error of ascribing unu own discoveries. From the whole he has derived a narrative, clear, vigorous, and graphic in its style, accurate and trustworthy in its statements. His candour and love of truth are conspicuous in every page; he has not been drawn aside by any favourite theory or preconceived opinion, and he has dealt out justice to all with a firm and unsparing hand. It is therefore with great satisfaction that we hail the appearance of Mr. Tytler's seventh volume. One more will complete the work, which, we venture to predict, will then become, and long remain, the standard history of Scotland. The seventh volume, now before us, comprises the most brilliant, VOL. LXVII. NO. CXXXIV. X |