WE HIT som i due viu ide themselves to her quez, a robust be of der sentments and pledge VSULT I To a de que vf dark or the subject of dif zive the virt if Lourdes, a the Constitution of Lagtand de tu za tergoed te power but without measure TEREM BEon vierte a respect of the duration of the trues, we sẻ tie par sa intrusted And when this tras revera as her hands to be granted afresh, they may contta nue ch terms with their representatives as their own interests and security demand, the very right to elect implyng this; which is wholy different from a general right to instruct • See Eclectic Review, July 1831, p. 8. וי 6 a representative. Upon that reserved point alone, his discretion is limited by honour and duty. Such appears to us to be at once the theory and the practice of the Constitution. The appeal to the constituent power residing in the aggregate of the electors, is an acknowledgement, that the national will expressed in act, is the ultimate political sanction; and that, although under ordinary circumstances dormant, the reserved power inherent in the nation is never alienated or delegated to Parliament itself. We had intended to submit a few observations upon the probable effects of the reform in the representation, as regards the future administration of government; but this is a point upon which we must not now enter. Professor Park complains, that the present Government have never stated, how far they intend the return to the original constitution of the country to be ' followed out in the correlative parts.' We see nothing that indicates any return to the theoretic constitution, except in the conduct of the Tory portion of the House of Lords, who, after having fought the battle of self-interest against the nation in the Commons' House, have sought to avail themselves of their power as a distinct estate, to oppose the theoretic check of the old constitution to a practical measure of reform. Nothing could tend to degrade the House of Peers in general estimation, so much as the violent, reckless, factious, interested conduct of the anti-reform leaders, who have shewn that their hatred of the Bill was far less strong than their appetite for place and power. It is feared, however, by some persons for whose judgement and superior attainments we have an unfeigned deference, that the influence of the Crown will, by the restoration of the representative principle, be so far deprived of its salutary preponderance in the House of Commons, as to render any steady system of government impracticable. In apology for entertaining a different opinion, or rather for cherishing a different expectation, we beg leave to remark, that neither history nor experience warrants the apprehension, and that for contingent evils there will probably be found contingent remedies. We have almost been led, indeed, to adopt it as an axiom, deduced from the strange turns of affairs for the past twenty years, that what is expected never takes place. Premising this, we may perhaps venture to disclose our own expectations, which nevertheless are theoretically checked by the overruling persuasion that the precise contrary is very possible. We expect, then, as the result of passing the Reform Bill, that we shall continue to have, at least for some years to come, a popular ministry, during which the influence of the Crown must of course maintain its preponderance. We expect an executive government stronger by reason of the withdrawment of the oligarchical counter-force. We expect, that, in the new House of Commons, there will be a larger number of VOL. VII.-N.S. 3 G members directly connected with the Aristocrasy, partly consisting of the new county members, partly of men of family and substantial wealth chosen by the larger towns. We expect that fewer adventurers of desperate fortune will disgrace the legislature; and that, in consequence of the diminished expense attending elections, gentlemen who have shrunk from ruining their estates and beggaring their children for the honour of a contested seat, will consent to be put in nomination by their friends and neighbours. We expect a more religious House of Commons. We expect what Lord Wynford forebodes,-the abolition of slavery; what Lord Henley recommends,-a reform of the Church; what Europe hopes for,-a continuance of peace; what England needs,-an honest, statesman-like revision of the various branches of our domestic administration. We expect that the people, feeling confidence in the integrity of the Government, in the patriotism of their sovereign, and in the bona fide character of the representation, will exhibit more patience and subordination under any evils that may yet continue to press upon them, and any hardships not proceeding from wrongs. We expect all this, if the Reform Bill be but received by the nation in a right spirit, (the spirit pointed out by Mr. Douglas in his admirable pamphlet on the Prospects of Britain,') as knowing that every blessing, if not held as coming from God, will in the end prove a cala'mity. Our trust is not in men, nor in measures, but in Him who works by both, and overrules both for the welfare of those whom he designs to save and deigns to bless. Professor Park must pardon us, that we have, in the present instance, made his volume serve our own purpose, rather than done justice to him. We freely acknowledge that we have been greatly indebted to it for the illustration and modification of our own notions: when he has not convinced us, he has set us to thinking. The historical information and sound constitutional views which his Lectures comprise, render them highly instructive and valuable, not simply to professional, but to general readers, to whom we strongly recommend their perusal. Popular without being superficial, scientific without being technical, original, yet not theoretical or paradoxical, they are excellently adapted to recommend and promote the cultivation of a science which exists at present only in its rudiments. When to this we add, that the Law Professor of King's College is a conservative, yet no Tory, a reformer, yet no liberal, a lawyer yet no partizan, we shall have described qualifications not often found united, but which are peculiarly requisite to form the character of a scientific politician. Art. III. 1. Researches in Greece and the Levant. By the Rev. John Hartley, M.A. late Missionary in the Mediterranean. Cr. 8vo. pp. 388. Price 6s. London, 1831. 2. History of the Seven Churches of Asia; their Rise, Progress, and Decline; with Notices of the Churches of Tralles, Magnesia, Colosse, Hierapolis, Lyons, and Vienne; designed to show the Fulfilment of Scripture Prophecy. By the Rev. T. Milner, A.M. 8vo. pp. 388. Price 12s. London, 1832. MR. Hartley's interesting volume, though it appears to have been published last year, has but just fallen into our hands. Of great part of its contents, communicated to the public through the Missionary Register, we were already in possession; but we gladly avail ourselves of the occasion, to recal the attention of our readers to the state and prospects of the mother country of European civilization, that portion of Europe which first received the light that has lightened us Gentiles. Little that is new, and nothing that is decisive, as regards the political condition of Greece, can be communicated. A private letter from Corfu (of the date of March 27th) thus adverts to the unsettled state of the country. With regard to unhappy Greece, all is anarchy and confusion there; and I see no prospect of melioration from the appointment of a school-boy king, who will necessarily be a tool of Russia, through a minister of 'that country, or of one deeply in its interests. From what I 'know of the people, I do not think there exists a boy of seventeen capable of administering the affairs of a Greek village, * much less of a nation composed of fierce barbarians and subtle, designing, emancipated slaves; then, again, subdivided into 'Continental, Moreote, and Island Greeks, all entertaining different views and interests, even allowing them to be capable of public virtue, with unprincipled and factious leaders, the re'membrance of recent feuds, and selfishness acting in a thousand 'treacherous and insidious ways. From Marshal Soult, I should expect something. From King Otho, child's play.' Of Capo d'Istrias, we had been led, by what appeared to us trustworthy authority *, to form a higher opinion than some who are nearer the scene of action have thought altogether warranted. Now, however, that death has set its seal upon his character, we are not disposed to retract our favourable estimate of his motives and general policy, although we do not feel qualified to pronounce upon the merits of his administration. He is described, in an article upon Greece in the last North American Review, as 6 a person whose individual and private character is pure, his manners simple, his mode of life frugal, his industry unwearied, * See Eclectic Review, 3d Series, Vol. VI. p. 46. · and, on his first arrival in Greece, he was highly popular.' The decline of his popularity, it is added, may be ascribed to the difficulties of his situation, the distress of the country, and the previously existing factions, as much as to his own arbitrary dis'position.' We are not unwilling to believe this. At the same time, having lost his popularity, and not possessing the confidence, or, at least, not enjoying the support of the allied powers, he does not appear to have possessed those rare and high qualities that would have enabled him to contend alone, and with success, against the difficulties of his situation. It is much to be regretted that the absurd scheme should have been entertained, of erecting a Greek kingdom, than which a Greek republic only could be a more visionary project. Kingdoms are made by conquest, and supported by power, as republics are created and maintained by commercial wealth. Kingdoms are made by the consolidation of provinces, and the subjection of feudatories: republics, by the expansion or federation of municipalities. Greece, without cities, more feudal than commercial, without wealth enough to support a government, with none of the elements of political power, long enslaved, yet never governed, peopled by tribes, not a nation, and tribes as incapable of union, as, collectively, of independence,--can never, in its present moral and political condition, compose a state, much less sustain a monarchy. It can be nothing more than a burdensome dependency upon some foreign power. This seems to be now pretty clearly understood. Yet, one would imagine, from the endless negotiations about this dutchy of Athens, this miniature territory, that the balance of Europe would be disturbed by its being consigned to this or to that Power, and that the reign of anarchy must be perpetuated there, rather than either Russia, France, or Great Britain should acquire the vast possession. Truly, Great Britain does not want Greece, for this reason among others, that it would cost more money to govern it, than its revenue would furnish. For the same reason, possibly, Russia is the less anxious to obtain direct possession of the Morea, which she could retain only by sufferance, and reach only by the Dardanelles, or from the Baltic by the Straits of Gibraltar. France has at present the firmest footing in Greece, for she has succeeded in planting her language there; and we deeply regret it, not from any national jealousy, but on account of the moral results. The following statement (which we copy from the North American Review) is taken from a paper in the Missionary Herald, furnished by Rufus Anderson, one of the Secretaries of the American Board of Missions, who in 1829 visited the Morea and the Greek Islands on a special mission of observation. The French nation is, at this time, exerting a considerable inuence in modifying the systems of education in Greece; and that |