ation to what it is at present! Our poor would have been employed and enjoying the fruits of their labours-our poor-rates and our taxes would have been diminished-our farmers would have paid their rents-our country gentlemen and noblemen would have remained in the kingdom, and not have been compelled, from imperious necessity, to reduce their establishments and to resort to foreign countries to escape from baukruptcy and the ruin of their families. Yes, undoubtedly, the nation, at this moment, might have been in the very height of prosperity, and Great Britain, as the guardian angel of liberty and humanity, might have been the idol of the whole globe, and gradually have extended the same blessings of our free and happy government to other nations, who are now suffering under tyranny and despotism. But this golden age is yet far distant, and however great may be the power and influence of the British government, and to whatever unlimited extent our manufactories and our commerce may yet be carried, the lower classes are inevitably doomed to a situation but little more enviable than that of mere beasts of burden; they are, in fact, more to be pitied than our slaves in the West Indies, who never knew the blessings of liberty,

CHAPTER X.

THE RADICALS.

By heedless chance I turn'd mine eyes,
And by the moonbeam shook to see
A sterne and stalwart ghaist arise,
Attir'd as minstrels wont to be.
Had I a statue been o' stane,

His darin look had daunted me;
And on his bonnet grav'd was plain,
The sacred posy-Libertie!

BURNS

SINCE We have broke in upon the thread of our narrative to look back on the war, regardless of consequences, we would express ourselves with honest indignation that its consequences now overwhelm us in the common ruin; and while we lament the direful condition of our beloved and distracted country, touching political matters we shall, for the future, be obliged to deal more in detail, as the private concerns of our principal characters become more intimately blended with those of the public.

On the day on which Goslington and Mr. Rifles man set off from Ringsdale Castle, on their way to Edinburgh, a large Radical meeting was to be held in the neighbourhood of Glasgow, to arouse the dormant spirit of the people, and excite them to stand forward in their own behalf. As the youths considered the increase of distance by turning a few miles out of their road in this direction a matter of mall consideration, they indulged their curiosity of becoming spectators of what was done

withstood; and whom, supported by the Radicals en masse, nothing could withstand. Nor less distinguished by their military air and carriage there were yet others on whom they placed great confidence-vast numbers among them had served in the militia, or in some volunteer corps; and what gave life and spirit to the Radical meeting was, that although they were not present, they could likewise calculate on a great many well-trained and wellmounted troops of yeomanry cavalry, all valiant men and eager to meet the foe. Besides these, they were amply supplied with fifers and drummers, commissioned and non-commissioned officers who had seen actual service, and who were devotedly attached to their cause. In addition to these who were to form the regular Radical squadron for the lower ward of Lanerkshire, there were yet a great number who, not having been disciplined, were to be armed en masse with pikes and pitchforks, pro tempore.

The Radicals, having nearly lost all hopes of attaining their object by peaceable measures, directed their principal attention at this meeting to the more gross abuses on the part of government, and such as were considered the most unpopular; not indeed with the intention of petitioning against them, but that those who attended might be informed to what a pitch corruption had arrived among those who sat at the helm of affairs. In their speeches, and to do them justice, some of them were very much to the point, and were delivered with a good deal of animation, they were lavish in their execrations against pensions, sinecures, a large standing army in time of peace, &c. and most of all, against the imperfect and unjust manner in which the people were represented, or rather mis represented in parliament, which enabled ministers

to carry on their corruptions to the ruin of the nation.

Goslington and Jonathan being at a short distance from the stage, heard distinctly what was said by those who addressed the people; and it was with infinite surprise that, among other orators, they saw Laird Shadow mount the platform, with a James Wilson, from Straven.

Wilson was an old reformer, and soon after the beginning of the war with France, among several others, who had entered into a society for parliamentary reform, he had been brought before the magistrates at Hamilton to give an account of the nature of their proceedings. Nothing having appeared in writing against the society, Wilson was questioned if he had ever heard any of his associates make use of any abusive or mutinous language respecting government?

"Nane o' them that I mind o', said ony thing wrang, and it ware na Captain Coventry whiles let out a word or twa a wee thoughtlessly," said Wilson.

"What did you ever hear him say against government?" asked one of the magistrates. "Mair than was true, I houp," replied Wilson. "Answer my question to the full extent of your knowledge," said the magistrate.

"Why then, since I maun tell you," replied Wilson, "I heard him say that ministers ware a set o' rascals a' thegither, and that the king himsel❜ was as great a rascal as ony o' them, and for the House o' Commons, it was naithing else than a nuisance."

"He is guilty of gross libels against his Majesty and against his ministers, and the House of Commons!" exclaimed the whole bench of magistrates;

by such a vast concourse of people, collected together for political discussions.

When they drove up to the place of meeting, great crowds were collecting together from the city, and the adjoining villages and country, with banners and caps of liberty, and bands of music playing 'Scots wha hae wi Wallace bled.' This national air was selected to remind them of the undaunted courage of their forefathers, who fought and died for their country, as an incentive to their own fortitude in braving the hardships which they had to encounter themselves, after the heroic and patriotic example of their ancestors. Some likewise who had wives, no less devoted to the cause than themselves, brought them along with them, and even some of them with their infants at their breasts; some of their daughters and sweethearts likewise were present, and animated with the same unconquerable spirit which laws cannot control and despotism cannot subdue.

We attempt not to justify the intention of many of those deluded people, who, on this occasion, assembled to nurse their animosity against the government of their country, and to concert measures for its subversion; but even in the misguided zeal of many others, amidst the deep ran. cour they harboured in their minds, against the flagrant abuses of a corrupt government, there was atso blended much of that noble spirit of independence which the Deity hath implanted in human nature, for one of the wisest and best purposes, that of supporting our rights in society which ambitious and despotic kings have trodden under foot.

A mutual and reciprocal interest between the governor and the governed, is as the grand principle of attraction and gravity in the universe, which binds nature together and regulates the motions of the