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SCOTCH BANKRUPT LAW. NOTHING calls more loudly for amendment than the law regarding mercantile bankrupts, and the whole system of recovering debts, whether by execution against the lands, the moveables, or the person of debtors. Our present sequestration law is made the means of defrauding creditors to a great amount, by the operation of the provisions for the discharge of debtors. To entitle a debtor to his discharge, the consent of four-fifths in number and value of his creditors is required, and to effect a settlement by composition, the majority is increased to nine-tenths. If, in estimating these majorities, the whole creditors of the bankrupt were taken into computation, little harm would arise; but the only creditors who are regarded, are those who have claimed, and have been found entitled to be ranked on the estate. But when the funds of a bankrupt are so nearly exhausted before his failure, that it is doubtful whether they will pay the expenses of the sequestration, very few creditors will be inclined to claim, as they thereby incur the risk of being called on to pay the whole expenses of the sequestration, and of all the proceedings which may arise out of it. When the bankruptcy, therefore, is small, and the funds are inconsiderable, it is always an object to the bankrupt to represent matters in as desperate a light as possible to the body of his creditors, while he procures a few of his own friends to rank on his estate, merely for the purpose of carrying through the sequestration. Before any proceedings have been taken, it is commonly settled who is to be trustee, and the amount of the composition, and the cautioner for it, are commonly fixed on. Calculations regarding the vacations of the Court are at the same time made, that the matter may be carried through without loss of time. first meeting of the creditors of the bankrupt, perhaps two or three of his own immediate relations, whose debts may have been created for the purpose, appear, and, after electing one of their own number judicial factor, they authorize him to apply to the court for a personal protection to the bankrupt. The latter, who may have possibly been in the country for a few weeks, to avoid the proceedings of his creditors till matters were brought the proper length, now makes his appearance with his protection in his pocket, and probably carries on his business in the very same manner as he did before the sequestration was applied for. At the next meeting, the factor is appointed trustee; the examinations are afterwards hurried through, and, at the third meeting, a composition is offered, which is unanimously entertained, commissioners are appointed, and, at a subsequent meeting, the composition is approved of, without the slightest investigation being, in some instances, made into the situation of the bankrupt's affairs,

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or the trustee having ever been in possession of the books or documents of the estate. In this way the bankrupt, in the course of four or five months, and at the expense of from L.80 to L.100, obtains a discharge of all claims against him from the Court of Session, and the debts of his creditors, who have been deterred from claiming in the sequestration, are cut off without their consent. Sarely such a system requires amendment. The interests of the creditors deserve at least as much consideration as those of the bankrupt. It may be perfectly right, that one or two perverse creditors should not have it in their power to prevent the settlement of bankruptcies by composition, but care should be taken that all those who are really creditors should not be deterred by any consequences from giving their votes, when so important a measure is to be decided on.

Every honest debtor will call his creditors together when he finds his affairs in a state of irretrievable insolvency; but at present a positive premium is held out to him to go on, if possible, until his funds are utterly exhausted. It will then be easier for him to obtain a discharge than if he could pay a large dividend. be from this state of our law or not, we cannot say with certainty, but the amount of compositions now generally

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paid is much less than formerly; and 2s. 6d., 1s., or even 6d. per pound is far from unusual.

Our process for the recovery of debt is also tedious and expensive in an extraordinary degree. If the land is attached, the lapse of several years, and the expenditure of many hundred pounds, are certain before it can be brought to sale. In the execution against moveables, there are many absurd and tedious forms to be observed, and nothing can be more preposterous than that, before a debtor can be imprisoned, on the decree of a Court of Law, two other writs must be obtained, besides their respective warrants, by which much delay, expense, and risk of inaccuracy, and, consequently, of loss, are incurred. A radical reform is imperiously demanded in this branch of our law; but it will never be obtained till the people act as they did in the case of the Reform Bill, and take the matter into their own hands.-Edinburgh Weekly Chronicle.

MERCANTILE NAVIES OF france and ENGLAND.

In a work lately published in London, entitled, "Sta tistics of France, by Lewis Goldsmith," we have some information regarding the mercantile navy of France; and it may not be uninteresting to compare its present state with that of Great Britain in the year 1831, the period to which Mr. Goldsmith's statements relate. At the end of the war, the shipping of France was nearly annihilated, while that of Britain was in a more flourishing state than it had been at any former period. In the year 1817, the tonnage of the merchant vessels belonging to Great Britain amounted to 2,397,655 tons, navigated by 152.352 seamen. But a great increase has taken place in the mercantile navy of France since 1815, and she now possesses upwards of 8000 trading vessels of all sorts, the total tonnage of which is 744.000 tons, and the number of On the 31st December, 1831, sailors employed 57,200. there were belonging to the United Kingdom 18.942 registered vessels, admeasuring 2,190.457 tons, manned by 132,200 seamen ; and the islands of Guernsey, Jersey, and Man, and the British plantations, possessed 5400 vessels, navigated by 26,222 seamen, and admeasuring 391.507 tons. We thus see the immense superiority of our mercantile navy to that of France, which it exceeds threefold, and how little ground there is for the complaint of the end of the war, we had the carrying trade of nearly the decay of this important branch of our wealth. the whole of Europe; for the shipping of other states had, in the course of the war, suffered nearly as much as that of France; and although the shipping of the Continental states has increased greatly since the peace, our shipping has decreased in a very inconsiderable degree.

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SIR WALTER SCOTT AND MR. COOPER.-[Loquitur

Hazlitt.]-There are two things I admire in Sir Walter, his capacity and his simplicity; which, indeed, I am apt to other things, the less he is taken up with the idea of himself. Every one gives the same account of the author of Waverley in this respect. When he was in Paris, and went to Galignani's, he sat down in an outer room to look at some book he wanted to see: none of the clerks had the least suspicion who it was: when it was found out, the place was in a commotion. Cooper, the American, was in Paris at the same time: his looks and manners seemed to announce a much greater man. He strutted through the streets with a very consequential air; and in company held up his head, screwed up his features, and placed himself on a sort of pedestal, to be observed and admired, as if he never

think are much the same. The more ideas a man has of

relaxed in the assumption, nor wished it to be forgotten by others, that he was the American Sir Walter Scott. The real one never troubled himself about the matter. Why should he? He might safely leave that question to others. Indeed, by what I am told, he carries his indifference too far: it amounts to an implied contempt for the public, and misprision of treason against the commonwealth of letters. He thinks nothing of his works, although "all Europe rings with them from side to side.”

VERSES FOR THE YOUNG.

THE COMMON LOT.

ONCE, in the flight of ages past,
There lived a man-and who was He?
Mortal! howe'er thy lot be cast,
That man resembled thee!

Unknown the region of his birth,

The land in which he died unknown, His name hath perished from the earth, This truth survives alone :

That joy and grief, and hope and fear, Alternate triumphed in his breast; His bliss and wo, a smile, a tear!Oblivion hides the rest.

The bounding pulse, the languid limb, The changing spirit's rise and fall; We know that these were felt by him, For these are felt by all.

He suffered but his pangs are o'er;
Enjoyed-but his delights are fled;
Had friends-his friends are now no more;
And foes his foes are dead.

He loved but whom he loved, the grave
Hath lost in its unconscious womb;

Oh, she was fair! but nought could save
Her beauty from the tomb.

The rolling seasons, day and night,

Sun, moon, and stars, the earth and main,
Erewhile his portion,-life and light,-
To him exist-in vain!

He saw whatever thou hast seen;
Encounter'd all that troubles thee;
He was whatever thou hast been;
He is what thou shalt be!

The clouds and sunbeams o'er his eye
That once their shade and glory threw,
Have left, in yonder silent sky,

No vestige where they flew!

The annals of the human race;

Their ruin since the world began ;

Of Him afford no other trace
Than this-there lived a Man!

JAMES MONTGOMERY.

LINES

ON THE DEATH OF HIS ELDEST SON,

BY THE RIGHT HON. GEORGE CANNING.

THOUGH short thy span, God's unimpeach'd decrees,
Which made that shorten'd span one long disease;
Yet, merciful in chastening, gave thee scope
For mild redeeming virtues, faith and hope,
Meek resignation, pious charity.

And since this world was not the world for thee,
Far from thy path removed, with partial care,
Strife, glory, gain, and Pleasure's flowery snare,
Bade earth's temptations pass thee harmless by,
And fix'd on Heaven thine unreverted eye!
Oh! mark'd from birth, and nurtur'd for the skies!
In youth, with more than learning's wisdom wise!
As sainted martyrs, patient to endure!
Simple, as unwean'd infancy, and pure!
Pure from all stain (save that of human clay,
Which Christ's atoning blood hath wash'd away!)
By mortal sufferings now no more oppress'd,
Mount, sinless spirit, to thy destin'd rest!
While I-reversed our nature's kindlier doom-
Pour forth a father's sorrows on thy tomb.

JACK TAYLOR.

A SKETCH FROM THE SPECTATOR.

EVERYBODY knew Jack Taylor, and every body liked him. He was known by the familiar diminutive of his Christian name, on account" of his love of good fellowship and wit," to use Mr. Moore's phrase; and was the associate of some of the brightest men of his time, when "brightness" was the great study and pursuit of the day. Everybody loved Jack Taylor: he was thoroughly harmless; a kind and affectionate creature, with all kinds of light pleasantry futtering across his butterfly brain. "When you do an illnatured thing," said Sheridan to him, " chaos is come again." And it was true. Through a long life, Jack Taylor was always doing kind little offices, and saying pleasant little speeches. His benefits were necessarily of the small kind, and his wit was not of a high cast; but then, life is composed of small deeds, and filled up with small talk. Jack Taylor was a Tory, but of the very gentlest kind: his politics were rather an affair of feeling than opinion loyalty seemed to him to imply peace and pleasantness the reign of the social affections-the triumph of the intellectual enjoyments: the rude and boisterous tenperament of a republic would have been fatal to his talents and his pleasures: a man of his calibre would have perished in a political storm. Inasmuch as the strong hand of ab solute monarchy, while it quenches the more vigorous ef forts of men, favours the exercise of the smaller and more social faculties, he leaned on the idea of a king as on a rock of security. This is the creed of a large mass of citizens, who would gladly purchase the pleasures of settled society by the abandonment of all political influence, which is ig norantly supposed not to affect the private condition of the citizen. As a proof that Mr. Taylor's Toryism was altogether passive, he associated indiscriminately with men of all parties; and as the Opposition of that day was com posed of the most brilliant men of the age, he lived even more with them than their antagonists. But Jack Taylor was not a mere fair-weather companion-his good-nature outlasted the storms and vicissitudes of his life: he had a pun always ready over the glass, but then he had a tear for the garret. He never deserted his friends till they were laid in the grave; and this last duty he seems to have taken a sort of melancholy pleasure in performing. It would be curious to know how many funerals good-natured Jack Taylor had attended in the course of his long life. He saw nearly all his old friends out: we meet in these volumes with scarcely a name of living men, with the exception perhaps of a few such Nestorian youths as Lord Eldon and his brother Lord Stowell: but Taylor recollected Thurlow, if not an attorney's clerk, at least a student in the Temple. Mr. Taylor reminds us a good deal of a Frenchman: he had more mercurial qualities than commonly fall to the lot of our countrymen; he was not ambitious; he was more than ordinarily regardless of the outward circumstances of his friends; he was a worshipper of intellectual superiority: and above all, he was a thoroughly social creature-he lived by constant contact with his like;-and all this is French. He was altogether a citizen, a wanderer among bricks and mortar. He was born at Highgate; and perhaps that was his first and last rural excursion. Soon after his birth, his father, a celebrated oculist, removed to Hatton Garden, where he lived and died: between Hatton Garden and Covent Garden, his son oscillated for upwards of three quarters of a century; and they were probably the greenest places in his recollection, unless perhaps Vauxhall Gardens might put in a claim. We never heard Jack Taylor "babble o' green fields;" though we believe he had repeatedly been to Bagshot, was familiar with Kensington, and used frequently to dine at Bayswater. We say of resi dents in Paris, they are Parisians: Jack Taylor was not a Cockney, and yet he was a thorough Londonian. His pride was a rencontre of wits at the Turk's Head or elsewhere. At Covent Garden and Drury Lane he was also great, both before and behind the scenes: at the latter place, whenever Shaw, the leader of the band, observed his presence, he would always play a particular concerto between the acts, because he knew it was a favourite: here was distinction!

Then he was the great prologue and epilogue manufacturer of the day every body came to him for the finishing-stroke, and Jack Taylor never refused anybody any thing: impromptus and epigrams he had equally at the service of his friends: no one in need of verse ever applied to Jack Taylor in vain. His Monsieur Tonson is his ground of immortality-a very small spot of Pierian earth, but still large enough for a poet to stand tiptoe on-stans pede in unomaking verse at the rate of a line a-second. He was the editor and proprietor of the Sun for many years; and in his hands it was seen how very harmless and inoffensive a daily paper might be. Somehow or other, he contrived to get himself ousted by some anonymous scoundrel-so he considers him a proprietor of one-tenth, and editor by agreement. Taylor was obliged to sell his shares; and after the separation, we believe neither he nor the paper ever prospered.

UNIVERSALITY OF TAXATION.

HUMOROUS LETTER OF A HIGHLAND

EMIGRANT.

The subjoined letter is said to be genuine-and written from Maryland by a real Donald Macpherson-we do not vouch for it, though Captain Brut does :

Portobago in Marilante, 2 June 17-.

Teer Lofen Kynt Fater.

Dis is te lat ye ken, dat I am in quid health, plessed bi Got for dat, houpin te here de lyk frae yu, as I am yer nane sin, I wad a bine ill leart gin had na latten yu ken_tis, be kaptin Rogirs skep da geangs to Innerness, per cunnan I dinna ket sika anither apertunti dis towmen agen. De skep dat I kam in was a lang tym o de see cumin oure heir, but plissit pe Got for à ting wi a keepit our heels unco weel, pat Shonie Magwillivray dat hat ay a sair heet. Dere was saxty o's à kame inte te quintry hel a lit an lim an nane o's à dyit pat Shonie Magwillivray an an otter Ross lad dat kam oure wi's an mai pi dem twa wad a dyit gin tey hed bitten at hame.

Pi mi fait I kanna komplin for kuming te dis quintry, for

THE following epigramatic reflections, which have already been published in a hundred different shapes, appeared original-mestir Nicols, Lort pliss hem, pat mi till a pra mestir, dey ca ly in the Edinburgh Review, and are just re-published on a folio sheet, headed with a likeness of the Lord Chancellor. We give them in the order they are printed :—

TAXES

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And the dying Englishman

Pouring his medicine which has paid 7 per cent, Into a spoon which has paid 15 per cent, throws himself back upon his chintz bed, which has paid 22 per cent,; Makes his will on an L.8 stamp,

And expires in the arms of an apothecary, Who has paid L.100 for the privilege of putting him to death. His whole property is then taxed from 2 to 10 per cent. Besides the probate,

Large fees are demanded for burying him in the chancel;
His virtues are handed down to posterity on
"Taxed marble;

And he is then gathered to his fathers,
TO BE TAXED NO MORE

MAGNIFICENT OAK TREE.-Perhaps the most magnificent oak this country ever produced was lately felled at Tooley, in Leicestershire. It will hardly be credited, but it is nevertheless true, that this tree, when cut down, covered three roods, the ground on which it fell being immediately measured. The quantity of timber which it contained amounted to 1100 solid feet. The butt was about ten feet long, and it had five large tranches, one of which contained two hundred solid feet of timber. The tree, when fairly butted, measured at the bottom Dine feet in diameter. It produced the enormous quantity of three tons eighteen cwt. of bark. Another striking feature of this most wonderful production of nature is, the quality and beauty of the wood, which is allowed to be superior to any thing of the kind ever seen; it bears a polish equal to the finest mahogany, and the grain is of a most curious and fantastical dearription. The tree was purchased by Mr. John Thorpe, of Market Bosworth. Nearly the whole of it has been manufactored into various articles of drawing and dining-room furniture, which now occupy the residences of several families of the first respectability in the neighbourhood, where, when standing, it bad long been the object of admiration and wonder.

he nifer gart mi wark ony ting pat fat I lykit mi sel; de meast him Shon Bayne, an hi lifes in Marylant in te rifer Potomak, o' a mi wark is waterin a pra stennt hors, an pringin wyn an pread ut o de seller te mi mestir's tebil.

Sin efer I kam til him I never wantit a pottle o petter ele nor is in à Shon Glass house, for I ay set toun wi de pairns te dennir.

Mi mestir seys til mi, fan I can speek lyke de fouk heir dat I sanna pe pidden di nating pat gar his plackimors wurk, for de fyt fouk dinna ise te wurk pat te first yeer aftir dey kum in te de quintry. Tey speek à lyk de sogers in Innerness.

Lofen fater, fan de sarvants hier he deen wi der mestirs, dey grou unco rich, an its ne wonter for day mak a hantil o tombako; an des sivites an apels an de sheries an de pires grou in de wuds wantin tyks apout dem. De swynes te ducks an durkies geangs en de wuds wantin mestirs.

De tombako grous shust lyke de dockins en de bak o de lairts yart an de skeps dey cum fra ilka place an bys dem an gies a hantel o silder an gier for dem.

Mi nane mestir kam til de quintry a sarfant an weil I wat hi's nou wort mony a susan punt. Fait ye mey pelieve mi dipirest planter hire lifes amost as weil as de lairt o Collottin. Mai pi fan mi tim is ut I wel kom hem an sie yu pat not for de furst nor de neest yeir till I gater somting o mi nane, for fan I ha dun wi mi mestir hi maun gi mi a plantashon to set mi up, its de quistium hier in dis quintry; an syn I houp to gar yu trink wyn insteat o tippeni in Innerness.

I wis I hat kum our heir twa or tri yiers seener nor I dit, syn I wad ha kum de seener hame, pat Got pi tanket dat I kam sa seen as I dit.

Gin yu koud sen mi owr be ony o yur Innerness skeps, ony ting te mi, an it war as muckle clays as mak a quelt it wad, mey pi, gar my meister tink te mere o mi. Its trw I ket clays eneu fe him bat oni ting fe yu wad luck weel an pony, an ant plese Got gin I life, I sal pey yu pack agen.

Lofen fater, de man dat vryts dis letir for mi is van Shams Macheyne, hi lifes seust a myl fe mi, hi hes pin unko kyn te mi sin efer I kam te de quintrie. Hi wes porn en Petie an kam our a sarfant fe Klesgou an hes peen hes nane man twa yeirs, an has sax plackimors wurkin til him alrety makin tombako ilka tay. Heil win hem, shortly an à te geir dat he hes wun hier an py a LERTS KIP at hem. Luck dat ye duina forket te vryt til mi ay, fan yu ket ony ocashion.

Got Almichte pliss yu Fater an a de leve o de hous, for I I sal kum hem wi gier eneuch te di yu à an mi nane sel guid. hana forkoten nane o yu, nor dinna yu forket mi, for plise Got

agen, for I heive leirt a hantle hevens sin I sau yu an I am I weit you will be very vokie, fan yu sii yur nane sins fesh

unco buick leirt.

A tis is fe yur lofen an Opetient Sin, TONAL MACKAFERSON. Directed-For James Mackaferson neir te Lairt o Collottin's hous neir Innerness en de Nort o Skotlan.*

This jeu d'esprit has a good deal of humour in it. It is written in the dialect which is spoken on the borders of Murray and Banffshire, the spelling being adapted to the pronunciation of such Highlanders as speak broken English. But it is evidently written by one who did not understand Gaelic; there is not a single idiom of that language in it and the orthography is much too nicely adjusted to be genuine, although the hint may have been taken from an original letter.

THE RABBLE.

How various and innumerable,
Are those that live upon the Rabble!
"Tis they maintain the Church and State,
Employ the priest and magistrate,
Bear all the change of Government,
And pay the public fines and rent;
Defray all taxes and excises,
And impositions of all prices;
Bear all the expense of peace and war,
And pay the pulpit and the bar;
Maintain all character and religions,
And give the pastor's institutions,
(And those who have the greatest flocks,
Are primitive and orthodox ;)
Support all schismatics and sects,
And pay them for tormenting texts;
Take all doctrines off their hands,
And pay 'em in good rent and lands;
Discharge all costly offices,

The doctor's and the lawyer's fees,
The hangman's wages and the scores,
Of caterpillars, bawds, and
Discharge all damages and costs,

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Of Knights, and Esquires of "The Posts.'
All statesmen, cutpurses, and padders,
And pay for all their ropes and ladders ;
All pettifoggers, and all sorts
Of markets, churches, and of courts;
All sums of money paid or spent,
With all the charges "incident."

SCRAPS.

ORIGINAL AND SELECTED.

ADVANTAGE OF EVEN A LITTLE KNOWLEDGE-The mysteries of magnetism should be unfolded to the sailor, above all men, since he is the one, of all others, whose safety depends on its phenomena. He should be told, that on electro-magnetic principles, he would materially influence the march of the needle by wiping the glass which It is some years ago since screens it, especially with silk. a fact was communicated to me, which may be adduced in illustration; it was that of a ship which arrived at Liverpool, after having been for several weeks the sport of winds and waves; the mariner's compass having been washed overboard in a storm, their voyage was dreary and procrastinated, much caution being necessary, and despite of which, their fate, but for a fortuitous circumstance, might have been inevitably sealed. Now, had the simple fact of the extreme ease with which a mariner's needle might be made, been known to any on board, the peril might have been avoided. A sewing needle, or the blade of a penknive, being held in an upright posture, and struck by a hammer, and subsequently floated by cork on water, or suspended by a thread without torsion, would become a magnetic-needle, and point north and south; or the end of a poker held vertically, and passed over its surface from one extreme to the other, would impart magnetism, and which, if the needle be of steele, would be of a permanent character. Mechanics' Magazine.-[The cotsman recently gave an instance where a whole fleet of fishing boats would have been saved, if the fishermen had known the use of the marine barometer.]

THE HORSE-DEALER.

A horse-dealer is a double dealer, for he dealeth more in double meanings than your punster. When he giveth his word, it signifieth little, howbeit it standeth for two significations. He putteth his promises, like his colts, in a brake. Over his mouth, truth, like the turnpike-man, writeth up, No trust. Whenever he speaketh, his spoke hath more turns than the fore-wheel. He telleth lies, not white only or black, but likewise grey, bay, chesnut-brown, cream, and roan-pie-bald and skew-bald. He sweareth as many oaths out of court as any man, and more in; for he will swear two ways about a horse's dam. If, by God's grace, he be something honest, it is only a dapple, for he can be fair and unfair at once. He hath much imagination, for he selleth a complete set of capital harness, of which there be no traces. He advertiseth a coach, warrant its first wheels, and truly the hind pair are wanting to nin. A carriage that hath travelled twenty summers

and winters, he describeth well-seasoned. He knocketh down
machine-horses that have been knocked up on the road, but is
so tender of heart to his animals, that he parteth with none
for a fault; for,' as he sayeth, blindness or lameness be mis-
fortunes.' A nag proper only for dog's meat, he writeth down,
but crieth up, fit to go to any hounds; or, as may be, would
suit a timid gentleman. String halt he calleth grand action,"
and kicking, lifting the feet well up. If a mare have the
farcical disease, he nameth her out of Comedy,' and selleth
Blackbird for a racer, because he hath a cunning thrush.
Horses that drink only water, he justly warranteth to be' tem-
perate,' and if dead lame, declareth them 'good in all their
paces, seeing that they can go but one. Roaring he calleth
sound,' and a steed that high bloweth in running, he com-
Another
pareth to Eclipse, for he outstrippeth the wind.
might be entered at a steeple chase, for why he is as fast as a
church. Thorough pin with him is synonymous with perfect
leg. If a nag cougheth, 'tis a 'clever hack.' If his knees be
fractured, he is well broke for a gig or saddle.' If he reareth,
he is 'above sixteen hands high. If he hath drawn a terce in
a cart, he is a good fencer. If he biteth, he shows good cour-
age; and he is playful merely, though he should play the devil.
If he runneth away, he calleth him off the Gretna road, and has
been used to carry a lady.' If a cob stumbleth, he considereth
him a true goer, and addeth, the proprietor parteth from him
to go abroad.' Thus, without much profession of religion, yet
he is truly Christian-like in practice, for he dealeth not in de
traction, and would not disparage the character even of a brute.
Like unto love, he is blind unto all blemishes, and seeth only a
virtue, meanwhile he gazeth at a vice. He taketh the kick of
a nag's hoof like a love-token, saying only, before standers-by,
'Poor fellow, he knoweth me!' and he is content rather to pass
as a bad rider, than that the horse should be held restive or
over-mettlesome which discharges him from its back. If it
hath bitten him beside, and, moreover, bruised his limb against
a coach-wheel, then, constantly returning good for evil, he
giveth it but the better character, and recommendeth it before
all the steeds in the stable. In short, the worse a horse may
be, the more he chanteth his praise, like a crow that croweth
over Old Ball, whose lot it is on a common to meet with the
common lot. Hood.

LUNATICS. From a report made in 1829, it appears that there
was at that time in England, in confinement in public lunatic
establishments, 1189 male, and 1314 female lunatics, or idiots;
in private lunatic asylums, 1770 males, and 1964 females; in
workhouses, &c. 36 males, and 52 females; making, in the
The number of indi-
whole, 6,325 persons in confinement.
viduals in the condition of lunatics, or idiots, who were at
large, or with their relations, was 3,029 males, and 3,199
females; making a total of persons at large, of 6,222. The
total number of lunatics was 6,806, and of idiots 5,741; make
ing together 12,547 insane persons. To these must be added
1,500 persons belonging either to parishes from which no returns
had been made when the lists of the clerks of the peace were
made out, or to towns which are counties of themselves, and
This addition
which are not included in this summary.
makes the whole number above 14,000, of whom no fewer than
11,000 are paupers, and maintained at the expense of their
respective parishes. Taking the whole of England, the
average is one insane person to every 1000 of the population.

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THE

AND

EDINBURGH WEEKLY MAGAZINE.

CONDUCTED BY JOHN JOHNSTONE.

THE SCHOOLMASTER IS ABROAD.-LORD BROUGHAM.

No. 19.-VOL. I. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1832. PRICE THREE-HALFPENCE

POLITICAL TRUTHS NOT SUFFICIENTLY
APPRECIATED.

I. THE degree of the good or evil, and merit or demerit of any act, estimated in foro humano, if not in foro poli, is precisely in proportion to the extent of the beneficial or injurious effects which do, or may result from its operation on society at large.

II. Hence, those who frame or regulate the institutions, or direct, sway, and influence the conduct and circumstances of society, are more meritorious or more criminal than others, in proportion to the extent of the power which they exercise on the community, and the good or bad consequences which do or may result from it.

III. It is consequently implied, that kings, governors, magistrates, legislators, electors, and other public functionaries and trustees; and also priests, authors, editors, and other public instructors; and, in general, all those who have the power, coercively or influentially, to command direct, or modify the conduct, and alter the circumstances of the various classes, and the general body of society, are, when they transgress the respective moral duties, particularly incumbent on them in their public capacities, more deeply responsible, and more criminal, than others whose power of doing good or evil is more limited. This is true of sins of omission as well as commission.

IV. The KING who wantonly rushes into an unjust and unnecessary aggressive war, is a far greater sinner than the highway robber, who murders him on whose property he seizes. To approve, expressly or tacitly, the conduct of such a king, however successful in conquest, is greatly more criminal than to screen the murdering robber from condign punishment.

V. The GOVERNOR or MAGISTRATE, who perpetrates an act of injustice, is more criminal than the private cheat. VI. The LEGISLATOR who, wilfully or carelessly, gives his sanction to laws of necessarily evil operation and tendency, and thus gives occasion to the augmentation and extension of sin, is greatly more criminal and sinful than the individual who, in his own person, commits iniquity.

VII. Laws necessarily give extension and intensity to

sin.

1. When they deny the liberty of religious belief, and prohibit certain modes of worship, by generating an intolerant, uncharitable, and persecuting spirit,-by encouraging hypocritical conformity as the price o worldly benefit, and by encouraging, in the favoured sect, an insolent, spirit of tyrannical domination

Hence proceed "all uncharitableness," and "all deceivableness of unrighteousness."

2. When they impose unnecessary burdens, in order that a few may be unjustly benefited, at the expense of the many;-as when they sanction the maintenance of useless establishments of any description, in order that the useless scions of the aristocracy may be supported, at the expense of the community; and more especially when, for the same unrighteous purpose, they sanction the existence of sinecures, and the payment of unmerited pensions.

3. When they impose partial and unjust restrictions on industry, and sanction monopolies, and confer exclusive privileges, for the exclusive benefit of certain classes, orders, or individuals; or when they impose duties on commodities, for the same iniquitous purpose, and not for the legitimate end of adding to the receipts of the public Fisc. It is obvious to every one of ordinary intelligence, that the CORN LAWs are of this description, and nothing better than a gigantic system of THEFT, iniquitously and sinfully legalized, for the purpose of adding to the wealth and power, and consequently to the injurious and demoralizing influence, of a rapacious, insolent, and tyrannical aristocracy, hostile to the promotion of virtue and the general happiness.

4. When they alleviate the burdens of the rich, and add to the onerosity of those imposed upon, or chiefly affecting the poor. Of this species of iniquity our fiscal code affords numerous examples, especially in those acts which impose duties on consumable commodities.

5. When they interpose obstacles to the speedy, efficient, and economical administration of justice, or commit it to faithless or incompetent functionaries. Of these evils the English code of procedure, and the toleration of such a Magistracy as "the Great Unpaid," afford examples.

All such laws necessarily give confidence and daring to the evil-minded: They generate a rapacious and dishonest spirit, and lead individuals to rely on finesse, manœuvre, and deceitful expedients, rather than on honest, industrious, and righteous conduct.

VIII. The ELECTOR who, wilfully or carelessly, contributes to the choosing of a legislator, who wilfully sanctions, or is incompetent to perceive the evil, or to oppose the enacting, of a bad law, is, so far as his suffrage contributes to the election, responsible for the evil which may

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