ENGLAND UNDER SEVEN ADMINISTRATIONS.

THESE volumes consist of a selection from the original articles published in the EnvnitzPr newspaper during the last ten years.

They commence with the break-up of the Liverpool Administra-

tion, and the appointment of Mr. CANNING to the Premiership in the early part of 1827, and end about the close of the last session of Parliament. A paper on the Elections of 1826 forms a kind of germ from which the succeeding articles are made to spring ; notes explaining the temporary circumstances in relation to which the papers were written are added when necessary ; and a brief and rapid preface, under the title of Introduction, takes a connected but not a very profmind view of the leading political results of the period comprised in the volumes.

It will be seen from this statement that the titlepage is de- ceptive. The book does not contain a general view of England under seven Administrations, or comprehensively mark the cha- racter of the Administrations themselves and the effect which

they produced; nor does it always notice the leading events which

occurred during their existence. The expulsion of Eluswissora and his friend* from the WEI:Li:soros; Cabinet, and the repeal of the Test Acts, are unment imam' ; Catholic Emancipation has only one incidental notice; mid, stranger still, the British Revolution— the Interregnum of May 1832, the excitement and triumphant struggle of the People, the craven submission of the Peers, and the final enactment of the Reform Bill—is passed by without commemoration I Of course snmething may be learned of the serial and political spirit of the period, and a person familiar with the time may deduce conclusions for himself; but to a foreigner, or even to an Englishman inattentive to public affairs, England under Seven Administrations will neither present a connected narrative of events, nor furnish to any one the philosophy that might be drawn from them.

Passing by, however, what the book professes to be, and taking it as it really is, the articles contained in it may be classed under three general heads. The first comprises papers on great public questions and passages of our current history. The second consists of essays on abuses in the principles and practice of our legislation and laws—cases of morality, as it were, in politics and jurisprudence; and these appear to us the most valuable of the whole. The third class is very miscellaneous, embracing comments on the topics of the week ; and as they are often temporary, and some- times rest on a baseless rumour which hardly survived its birth, it was of course impossible- for any talent to endow them with an interest to outlast the occasion. Of papers taken singly, those on Equitable Adjustment and Imprisonment on Mesne Process appear to us the best, as being the completest ; that on the CAN- NING Administration the largest and most judicious in view; that on CANNING'S Death probably the most eloquent; and the pretended Life of Orator HUNT the most deep and general, for, though overdone, it characterizes with a poignant felicity the arts and falsehoods of the heraldic biographers. Of general subjects, the broadest and most important, as well as the most frequently handled, are the questions on the Ballot and Peerage Reform. As a whole, the earlier papers strike us as excelling the later ; being less forced, with more earnestness and more matter.

In a publication ranging over so long a period and touching so many subjects, considerable variety of treatment may naturally be looked for, and to a certain extent will be met with. If the exe- cution of the book, however, be closely analyzed, the slotrit of commentary will be found to be its leading characteristic, and too often of commentary without the text. Unless when the instances are so particular as to have been unintelligible even at the time without a statement, the writer assumes the reader to be as informed of the case as he himself. He is altogether deficient in what writers on oratory term the narrative ; aml hence, though his productions are not obscure, they are neither so full nor so satisfying as a little more pains would have made them. And this deficiency, we suspect, has a deeper source than mere igno- rance, or disregard of art. It implies what is certainly characte- ristic of Mr. FONI3L AISQUE, a want of grasp and depth, an inca- pacity to seize the whole, or to penetrate very far below the surface.

Such is England under Seven ...1dministrations. The most distinguishing and striking merits displayed by the writer are those of felicitous illustration, and the power of exposing a falla- cious conclusion. No one excels, if any one can equal Mr. Forr- BLANoux in making plain things pointed, or in showing the ri- diculousness of a flimsy argument or a solemn pretence, by ana- logous cases pushed ad absurdum. But these are the sum of his excellences, for the best of his other qualities are allied to defects. His crispness and perfect clearness of composition, pro- bably arise from his paucity of matter, for he is never embarrassed by his riches—materiern superabat opus ; and hence his sentences become flat when they cease to be pointed. When his jests (It is a necessary evil of jesters) are not excellent, they are .forced, and sometimes sorry. The straining after smartness, the evident atten- tion paid to words, smacks of want of earnestness, as though evil was good if it furnished forth jokes. As his general mode of treatment consists in taking up one point of a subject and setting it in many lights, a writer of such fancy as Mr. FONBLANQUE is tempted not to quit his theme till he has quite exhausted it, and not always even then ; so that the mind of the reader frequently outruns the ideas of the writer. His highest achievement being to impress the memory rather than to convince the judgment, his longer lueubrations sometimes become wearisome, from wanting the wholeness and consecutiveness analogous to the narrative of a story. Hence he has no enchaining power; he cannot .carry on his reader for long ; his shortest articles are the best. He mostly tickles or stimulates; he rarely informs the mind, and never touches the heart; and; though his range of illustra- tion is wide, we cannot agree with a panegyrist in the London Review that he exhibits many " mental resources." His expen- diture measures his means ; occasional " parallel cases " may be "drawn from the whole universe," but their sources are com- mon enough; whilst his main dependence is on some comedies of MOLIERE and the Life of Jonathan Wild the Great, which are used indeed till their repetition causes a mental nausea. The great defect, however, of Mr. FONBLANQUE, is the want of matter and solidity ; his excellence lies in the expression, not in the thoughts; and as HUME long ago observed, the pleasure yielded by pointed writers is exhausted on the first perusal.

This judgment is passed after a perusal of the three volumes, and applies to the book as a book, (and those who would test the soundness of the criticism, must follow our example of steady reading, and not be satisfied with a few crack pieces.) Considered in the light of political selections from a newspaper, they are without doubt remarkable compositions, not only for their lite- rary' merits, and for their frequent diffusion of BENTHAM'S philo- sophy, but as indicative of the change which has latterly taken place in the character of journals and of professional journalists. At the same time, we do not consider them as possessing that wonderful character which several eulogists rather than critics ascribe to them. Some years ago the Globe would have furnished papers of greater solidity, expressed in a purer and more Eng;ish style ; a selection from the Standard would exhibit more inge- nious dialectics, and from the old Times far more force and vigour.

The merit of "Equitable Adjustment" has already been spoken of; but, although the best, as the most comprehensive, of Mr. FONBLANQUE'S papers, yet its opening shows his per- vading fault, of never knowing when he has said enough, and illustrates the truth of our limitation of his main excellence to verbal power. The simple idea in the following long passage is, that equitable adjustment is merely a specious phrase invented by robbers to disguise robbery. If the reader doubt this opinion,— and the illustrative changes rung upon the one idea are so happy that he probably will,—he may (webs° the paragraph; or if that is too difficult, let him read it several times at intervals, and feel how it palls upon each repetition, till at last it seems little more than a jingle of sounds unsuggestive of profitable ideas.

The idea of "Equitable Adjustment" is, probably, of as high antiquity as robbery, and in the felonious mind of all climes and ages, has been "often thought though ne'cr so well expressed." The man in need, who supplied his wants by seizing on his neighbour's stores, doubtless, regarded the action as an "Equitable Adjustment" and plumed himself on rediessing the wiongs of fortune. The first rude intent of an "Equitable Adjustment" may, indeed, be traced in the history of Cain, who, seeing that his offering was less acceptable than Abel's, thought to relieve himself of the in- equitable depression by slaying his btother. The needy soon began to contrast the abundance of others with their privations, awl to perceive an equity giving theta a decree, accotiling to the power of their arms or the nimbleness of their fingers, to share with the provident and thrifty. Each of these men sat as chancellor in his own court of equity, and adjusted to the nttetmost of his opportunities and cap icity. There is, in the mind of man, so natural and strong a disposition to Equitable Adjustment, that it may seem wonderful how law could ever prevail against it ; but Equitable Adjustment was, at all tiines and in all circumstances, attended with this great incon- venience, that there was no limiting its operation—nu seem ity against its re- currence oftener than was desirable. The adjuster of one day might be sub. jecteil to adjustment the next ; and the equity he had exercised upon one might be exercised on him, by another, more needy and more potent. Hence, from no higher motive than convenience, law scents to have been generally preferred, and the institution of property secured. From the period when, all things 'considered, men thought it, on the whole, better not to be thieves, the names of purposes, actions, and actors, have been bestowed by the greiter number, who have stickled for the distinction between meant and taunt : hence, the ancient practice of Equitable Adjustmeut has passed under the various descriptions of highway robbery, housebreaking, felony, larceny, or the yet larger ternis of rapine, spoliation, &c. At no time, indeed, have the adjusters ceased to exist, and to cherish in their minds the principle of equity, as consecrating their method of settling the differences of fortuue or redressing the fluctuations of property ; and it is remarkable, that their administration of equity has been as summary as that of the court for the same object, having so many other points and practices in common with then), has been dilatory ; yet, the identical motive which induces the speed of the one, explains the delay of the other, awl we find the closest affinity between the working of the High Court of Chancery

and the works of the unlicensed apostles of equity on the highway. Thus much we have said, to show that the name of "Equitable Adjustment" is not so inappropriate to the design of those who have advocated it, as may at first appear, and that it is the proper clothing of the sentiment of those who yet hold to the

"good old rule, the simple plan. That they should take. 1A110 have the power. And they should keep, who can."

We could easily add to the preceding quotation, and indeed il- lustrate by extracts every opinion we have advanced, if our space permitted. But as this is impossible, we prefer giving what room we can spare to beauties. It is not, however, in single articles, but in single passages.— wholes of parts—as might be pronounced from the character of the writer's mind, that the happiest displays of his talent are to be found. From such as these we proceed to enrich our columns with some quotations ; and they shail be taken from subject as universal and permanent as the existence of parasites and power. The folly of any Liberal magnifying the difficulties or encouraging the fears and inertness of his leaders, or excusing their first and least deviations from the right course,—as well as the wickedness of such conduct in public journalist's. whom, with more truth than politeness, our author denominated " the serviles of the press, the laekies of the Ministry,"—was indeed a tfreme upon which Mr. FONBLANQUE delighted to dwell previous to the acces- sion of the MELBOURNE Ministry. The following happy pUSSage is descriptive of the writer's view of the " Policy of Mr. Cansing's Supporters." It is also curious as one of the few cases in which Mr. FONBLANQUE uses allegorical personation thnd displays humour. Its general character all will admit ; for, allow for the lapse d time and the alteration of circumstances—change Whig in Radical, and HUME into ROEBUCK, andlet the " bigness" begin to manifest itself in throes, et de nobis fabula narratur.

The Administration is big with excellent designs, and its tender nurses de. mond fur it, in respect of its delicate situation, the 'nose unhousded indulgence during the period of gestation, and a suspension of all useful works. Madam must do nothing, lest it should hurt her. She must lie on a sofa' and be fondled

and caressed by her Whig consort, who must give way to all bet whims and fancies, and anticipate her longings and nonsense,. Hint to the gentleman that

it is not becoming to see him acting so uxorious a part—to see brother Bruin suddenly transformed into Jerry Sneak—and he excuses himself by urging that every respect is due to the dear creature's interesting situation ; and that after

she has been fairly delivered of the good she has conceived, he will be a man

again. Now we have to remark upon this apology, that many a healthy Coneel. tution has beeu destroyed by such refinement of care, and many a dispositioo

generally excellent spoiled by such pampering and eneouragement of its little failiugs. Further, we must observe, that though Madam has undergone con- siderahle aggrandizement about the waist, it is yet by no means certain whether she is big with a bairn or a bolster ; and if it should prove the latter, after all the fondling aod foolery of the doming Whig consort, alter the rapper has hem tied up, and the straw laid down, and Joseph Hume thrashed for making a noise in the street which might or could disturb the sweet love, and after the mid- wifery and the nursing, and the fuss and the nonsense, the making of baby. clothes and the parade of the cradle, and loud outcries on Juno and Lueina for help in the hour of parturition,—after all this ado, we say, a pretty " shrunken and wooden posture " (to use Bacon's expressive phrase) the goodnian's face will be in if his other half should in due season be delivered of nothing butt bundle of feathers, with which she may have stuffed herself out to work on his tendeiness. That such will be the ease we by no means intend to aver ; but there are conjunctures at which ladies tinil it convenient to be in the family way, just for the sake of gaining time awl sympathy ; and a prudeut man should be careful lest Ile commit himself too far on the strength of embryo good pleaded at trying emergencies. Madam may be fairly big with excellent things; but whether she is so or not, we think that her consort is inure fond than judicious in his nursing. All her failings be encourages by his pernicious system of codtainy and coaxing. To drop metaphor: however friendly and honest in motive may have been the course pursued by the supporters of the new Govern- ment, we are persuaded that, so far as it has gone, one more injudicious or more dangerous to the object in view, could hardly have been devised. The leading Whig supporters have discovered, on several occasions, a disposition not merely to yield to the bias of Mr. Canning's politics, opposed to the popular sentiment, but actually to outrun it. In doing so they have doubtless imagined that they were serving him at the present moment ; but we are sure that they were entering on a line of conduct which must, if pursued, be equally fatal to hint and to themselves. • • We are persuaded that, in showing a disposition to give way to Mr. Canning, his Whig supporters have acted according to their ideas of the demands of public policy. To assure him of their assistance and firmly seat him, are their main objects • and when these thi Ts are accomplished, they trust to his own judgment and liberality for the rest. But we think they are, in the course of complaisance referred to, incurring two dangets, that of hazarding their own characters—for the public judgment on appearances is often rash and hasty-- and of encouraging the bias of Mr. Canning's mind, which sets against the ultimate object they have in view. If they make a wreck of their own now honourable reputations, by a seeming desertion of principles they will lose their influence and the Premier his best moral support; and if they set hint once rolling down the hill on the wrong side, no power on earth will be able to pie. vent his fall. He csonot be indulged with a short trundle on his favourite way; for ten thousand fines the force which may first gently jog him on the slope, would not be able to check his headlong descent when set in downward motion.

Again, with similar allowances, how applicable this diatribe to the present position of affiiirs, or indeed to any state where men undertake a business without prudence or spirit to demand the means to carry it through, or courage to use them if they have them !

There is an old song the burden of which is the discovery that " rogues will be rogues in a very high degree." Earl Grey, in his speech of the tith, appears to have made at last the In illiant discovery th'at Lords will be Lords in a very high degree. We quote his words—" I can declare to your Lordships that I experience no great satisfaction in occupying my present situation. Give me leave to assure you that it cannot be very agreeable to me to sit here, night after night, to see arranged on the opposite benches a number of your Lordships, which I know, whenever called into a division, must decide the question against me. Nevertheless, I have persevered under all the difficulties and disadvan- tages incident to this state of things, in the hope that better times would occur. The noble Earl says that he Is disappointed in the expectations which he formed with respect to the conduct of Government. I, also, have been disap- pointed in another respect ; for, notwithstanding the forbearance, for observing which, during the present session, the noble Eatl takes so much credit to him- self, I observe symptoms of a bitterness of spirit which I cannot help deploring. la conclusion I will observe that if the noble Earl has good reasons for enter- taining the opinion which he has exptessed respecting the conduct of Guvern- ment, be ought to adopt proceedings to effect our removal from office; but if he will not do this, let him at least permit our measures to proceed, without endeavouring to excite throughout the country a factious spirit of discontent." The Lords will do neither the one nor the other ; them time is not come, Calllia comet till, under the hands of men at once their rivals and their tools, the people have been reduced to despair. The Grey Ministry mast be made to do the worh of its own disgrace before the pear will be ripe for the Tories. Lord Grey must exercise more forbearances towards the Lords before the Lords can, out of his weakness, make their strength, and hazard their last blow against the liberties of the people. It is their policy to condemn the Govern- ment to "lie in cold obstruction, and to rot "—a lifeless, useless, offensive hotly; to make it despised as King Log, to prepare the way for the dynasty of

King Storks

• she Ministry grapple with this plan of operation, or will it attempt toAbold wil on inthe milieu course, which. propitiate,. no enemies .and secures no Will it be the flyiwg and of the political world, pleasing ?from air to

friends?

water and from water to air, an in ing enemies in either e emeat swatches FROM SIMILAR WILLOWS& toner Opinions on Expediency.—The negotiation with the Marquis of Lanadowne has furnished ample matter for the discussions of the pren. Strange y the leading prints have agreed that this union is absolutely necessary to int%t the return of the Seven Sages to office—thus supposing the King desti. in "of ffie common measure of decent pride which belongs to humanity', we :willing to hope, in every shape and condition; and they reproach Lord saensdowne fur his hesitation, as if he were endangering the safety of the nation be holding out for a single hour against the solicitation of his suitor. His lOrdshiP is understood to have objected to joining a Cabinet divided on the mea- sure of Catholic Emancipation ; a want of union on a vital question which he and his party have always reprobated. The jout milks Limper this difficulty by an argument resolving itself into the position, that ponciples should not

of place. Expediency, they say, must determine these matters. shod the way Parties must uot be too rigid in their virtue ; and must, above all, consider the 'astaerviees they will render in office—the benefits they may confer on the world, and

weigh these thing, against the assertion of a dry and abstract prin. *le as unprofitable as Palstaff's honour. These arguments ought to be solid, for they are those which have been used for compromises since the beginning of abings, and which are held sufficient or insufficient, just as the individual hap- pens to be a frind or an adversary. If we think highly of the man, of course the state absolutely requires his services, end his scruples most give way to expedience. If we think meanly of him, the state does not require his ser- vices, and there is no expediency to warrant the surrender of a single atom of principle. Politic Indisposition to do any thing.—To drop appropriate imagery, de- rived front tragedy burlesqued, and to avidness ourselves literally to the rumours of the week—it has been reported that the Ministry is tottering, that it wants the powers necessary to its purposes—in a word, that the Royal support fails it. It is not the first time that we have heard this doleful story. The fact is, that from the very hour of their entering on office, the adherents and partisans of Ministers have delighted in giving out, that they are not long for this Downing Street; that they are very feeble in some quarter or other ; that their improve. sunas hare outgrown their strength, that they are too good to last ; that the corruptions of place cannot 'hide their purity ; that Heaven sends its favourites early doom ; that a supernatural benignity is the disposition of their Govern- ment; anti that their spirits will speedily be dismissed from their tabernacles in Westminster to their respective country-house.. We have heard stout, durable. looking, square-built, large. salaried, official men, hold this moving sort of talk, while thew cherubimical countenances have assumed a radiance (or braining, as the poets call it) suited to their ethereal qualities and destination. It was ex- pected of the hearer that he should thereupon look sad, draw out a handkerchief, and pass it across the eyes, lament, in a solemn tone of suppressed emotion, that virtue was so unpractical, and express an earnest hope, that Ministers would not attempt too much, promising that all allowances should be made for any deficiencies, in considmation of their delicate predicament. We state, as a matter of fact which will occur to the recaection of hundreds when it is mentioned, that the most zealous partisans of Government have been perpetually throwing out doubts of the stability of the Ministry, and even nanung poiiods for its ilksoltition. Their talk has been suited to a Curti us, about to 'levett. himself to destruethin for the good of the country,— with this 413:mice, [VA by a hint of the inutility of the sacrifice, they have seemed to invite a charital.le interforence. Whether this language has been countenanced by the Minh.ters we know not, hut that it has been held by their adherents many will yoneli, and we have imerpreted it 29 a demand upon no heat mice and allowaue, 104 sliamm;ng .t :.:is fur tho sake of the petting nod holidwilee4.

FI:ELEDING IN ANC/CHER KEE,

Pl,e Session of he common remark is. that nothing has been done in this session; but we ore of opinhm that much has leen done in the demon- stration the incompatibility of the existing House of Peers with good govern. ment. Indeed, when we regard the long list of measures of improvement destroyed by the Lords, as the price at Whirls they have made their power understood by the people, the lesson appears cheap ; and for the impression on the public mind we cheerfully compound for the sacrifice of present convenience st which it has been made. We have had a paroxysm of acute disease which drives the sufferer to remedies, instead of the insidious chronis malady whose attacks, as they are less sharp, are neglected while impairing the system.

Although England under Seven Administrations does not ful- fil the promise of its title, yet its perusal having taken us over the events of the last ten years, has forcibly impressed us with the melancholy truth, that of all the sessions since CANNING'S death, the last session was the most unproductive of gain in substantial or prospective advantages for the People ; as the present is likely to be equally barren. In the year 18" With the Duke of WELLINGTON as Premier, and unstained by political dishonour—with Mr. Pest Liberal Orange, and strong in eonsistency—with the Tory party united, and possessed of a rotten Parliament—we yet obtained the repeal of the Test Acts. In 1129, Catholic Emancipation was gained. In 1830, upwards of three millions of taxes were remitted ; the Duke of WELLINGTON Was driven from power, and a Reform of Parliament secured by the accession of the GRIT Ministry,—for, in those days of "lax political morality," when Government introduced a measure it was felt that they had the will, and so far as visible means go, the power, to carry it. In 1831, the country struggled for "the Bill, the whole Bill, and nothing but the Bill ; " and so manfully, that in despite of Whig fears and finery, the year closed with the philoso- phical certainty of a large reform. In 1832, the Revolution was dieted. In 1833, the Scotch Corporations were reformed, the trade of India and China was thrown open, the Slaves were emancipated, and the Bank Charter remodelled,—one of these, indeed, a bought, and the other a bad measure, but showing at least that Govern- ment could give effect to their views such as they were. The year 1834 saw the GREY Ministry first weeded and then destroyed, Poor-law Reform, and the virtual concession of the Appropriation principle. In 1835, the Pam Ministry was driven out, and English Corporation Reform achieved. What was done in 1836 ? The landlords got the Tithe Bill, which they might have gotten out of any rotten borough Parliament. What has been done in

1837? The Irish Corporation Bill has at last been sent up to the Lords, where it waits to be strangled, with any other mea- sures that our "best of all possible Ministries" may find time and business talents to pass through the Commons.

It may be alleged, that "to bombard the Lords" is now the right course? Be it so, but let us see what the Ministers do in the way of " bombarding ? " In the year 1829, Parliament met on the 5th February : the act to put down the Catholic Associa- tion having been passed, the Roman Catholic Relief Bill was intro- duced into the Commons on the 7th March, under as fierce and foul an opposition as ever got together, and received the Royal assent on the 13th April. In the present year, Parliament met on the 31st January : the Irish Corporation Bill, a worn-out subject of last year, was got through the Commons on the 11th of April, and intro- duced to the Peers on the 14th, by Lord MELBOURNE,—who, such was his anxiety to open the trenches, spontaneously proposed a dozen days delay. This is the reverse of "very pretty service? One swallow makes no summer : one bomb is no bombardment, especially %%hen the bombardiers seem frightened at their own mortars, and discover every disposition is the world to avoid in- conveniencing the enemy.