the full glut of the democracy-dukes, marquises, earls, viscounts, barons (even including the royal household, the ministers, and the Fitzclarences), quite select-but misters, mistresses, and misses-captains, cornets, lieutenants, and ensigns, as plentiful as blackberries! We could write a curious chapter upon this theme, for it is not among the least of those things which we take to be signs of what is at hand.

One of the greatest grievances complained of by the parliament of Charles I. was, that members of parliament were punished by fine, imprisonment, and disgrace, for their conduct as members of parliament. This was justly denounced as an oppressive infringement upon that liberty of speech and action which every member of parliament was privileged to enjoy. Do such grievances exist now? Read the following account of what passed in the House of Commons not a fortnight since, just before it was prorogued

the case.

DISMISSAL OF LORD HOWE.

Mr. Trevor rose to put a question to his majesty's government, on the subject of the He had dismissal of a noble lord from his appointment of chamberlain to the queen. put a question on this subject a few days ago to the noble lord, the paymaster of the forces, and that noble lord had stated Lord Howe had tendered his resignation, which was accepted. He (Mr. Trevor) had since received a letter from Lord Howe, with whom he had not the honour of being personally acquainted, in which that noble lord stated, that his (Lord John Russell's) account of the transaction was inconsistent with the real facts of That letter he now held in his hand, and as he was authorized by the noble lord to make any use of it he thought proper, he would read it to the house :Gopsal, Atherstone, October 16th. "Sir,-Although I have not the honour of your acquaintance, I am certain you will pardon the liberty I take in making a few observations on a question which the papers of yesterday mentioned to have been put by you in the House of Commons, respecting my dismissal from the queen's household. If the answer Lord John Russell is reported to have given in the Times' is the one he really made, I must say his lordship made a statement at direct variance with the real facts of the case, which are these :

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"In the month of May last, and for the second time, I submitted to his majesty my intention of opposing the reform bill, and my perfect readiness to resign my situation as chamberlain to the queen, at any moment that he might be pleased to fix on. I received in reply a most gracious command to retain my office, and a DISTINCT RECOGNITION OF MY PRIVILEGE OF BEING PERFECTLY INDEPENDENT OF ANY GOVERNMENT from the circumstance of my being in her majesty's household. My having offered to resign again was out of the question, as I was allowed, by the king's own communication, to act and rote exactly as I pleased. NOTHING, THEREFORE, BUT THE POSITIVE REQUEST OF LORD GREY AND HIS COLLEAGUES TO THE KING FOR MY REMOVAL, IN CONSEQUENCE OF MY VOTE THE OTHER NIGHT, has been the cause of my being no longer in her majesty's household! I feel that it is but common justice to my own character to make this statement, and to give you full authority to make whatever use of it you like, except the insertion of it in the public papers. I have the honour to be your faithful and obedient "HOWE. servant,

"The Hon. H. Trevor."

He felt it necessary acting on this occasion as he had on the former, without any communication with the noble lord as to the course which he might think proper to take, to put a question to his majesty's government. He did so as an act of justice to the noble lord who had been removed from his appointment. The question which he wished to put was, whether Lord Howe had not been dismissed from the situation of chamberlain to her majesty in consequence of the vote he had given on the Reform Bill, notwithstanding the assurance that had been made to him by his majesty that he might vote on that occasion as he pleased?

The noble paymaster of the forces said-nothing. What indeed could he say, after what he had said? Lord Althorp evaded the question under shelter of official etiquette-and there the matter rests! Now, there are many modes by which an abuse of power can punish men who render themselves obnoxious by discharging their duty. You may imprison-you may banish-you may fine him. But in order to fine him, it is not necessary you should take money out of his pocket-this operation can be performed just as effectually by preventing money from going into it. Then, look at the practical good which a case like this is almost sure to work. There are men who carry their consciences in their pockets, and who, provided the latter is safe, leave

Don't you think I may come home after this tour? I begin now, my dearest mother, to wish much to see you; besides I think that, after all this, I could do a great deal of good at Black Rock with Mr. Ogilvie, as my mind has really taken a turn for business. Thinking of Kate disturbs me more than seeing her would do. I do really love her more, if possible, than when I left you. Have you seen her lately at anything? I always feel happy when I think you have seen her; because it must put her in mind of me. Have you seen the presents yet? Guilford waited till he got some also for Lady Anne, that she might not be jealous, and that the thing might be less suspicious. Kate herself thinks that it is Guilford that gives them to her. I made Guilford promise not to say I gave them. I must come home; really, my dearest mother, it is the only chance I have against la dragonne; for you see by her speech to Ogilvie, she will do all she can to make Kate forget me.

Do not be afraid that I shall do no good in Ireland; you know, when I have a mind to study, I never do so much good as when I am with Ogilvie. I could go all over my mathematics-which is the most useful thing I could do-much better there with him than here with any one else. I know Ogilvie will be against my coming; but no matter you will be glad to have me on any terms, and I am never so happy as when with you, dearest mother; you seem to make every distress lighter, and I bear everything better, and enjoy every thing more when with you. I must not grow sentimental; so good bye, dearest of mothers. No one can love you more, than, &c.

The intense sincerity of affection with which he always regarded his mother, we consider as one of the most beautiful traits in the character of Lord Fitzgerald. In a heart overflowing with manly and virtuous sentiment, this feeling seems the dearest and most cherished of all its associations. It flings its indescribable charm over all his letters. When all the sensations of his quick and ardent temperament were at the highest, his mother was never forgotten. He was likewise devotedly attached to his brothers, and they to him.

"It is now," says he, in one of his letters from Goodwood, "three months since I have seen you, dearest mother, and four more is a great while. If you go abroad, I go with you, I am determined, and stay with you till the parliament meets. I hope Henry will come too, I long to see him. What becomes of dear Robert? I hate missing him. I wish he would come here."-What an inestimable treasure is a disposition such as this! Nothing more effectually undeceived Lord Edward in after life, and so completely curbed all his false conceptions of military fame, than the bitter reflection that his first efforts in the field were made to put down that spirit of liberty and that love of independence for which the Americans fought and conquered. He is known to have repented deeply the ever having fought against that cause. His generous nature disdained oppression in all its shapes, and it was only during the first thoughtless period of his youth, that he assisted to quench the energies of political virtue. When the sufferings of Ireland brought the case home to his native land, all the enthusiasm of the patriot was roused within him, and he showed that he put no value on life when the allegiance which he owed to freedom and his country called for its sacrifice.

He had been brought into parliament by his uncle, the Duke of Richmond, as was likewise his brother, Lord Henry. When, however, the Duke of Leinster deserted the standard of the opposition, with a view of taking office under the Marquis of Buckingham, on his appointment a second time to the lord lieutenancy of Ireland, Lord Edward felt himself placed in a painful situation.

"It was at first," says Mr. Moore, "evidently the intention of Lord Edward, as well as of his brother, Lord Henry, not to identify themselves with the Duke of Leinster's new line of politics, but to remain in opposition. The prospect, however, of such a political schism in the family exciting alarm in the Duke of Richmond, he addressed a letter full of affectionate remonstrance to Lord Edward, who allowed himself to be so far softened by his uncle's appeal as to consent that, while he continued the Duke of Leinster's member, his vote should be, as hitherto, at his grace's disposal. At the same time it will be seen, that while yielding thus to family feelings, he took care that no views of interest should be supposed to influence the concession, and that his own future independence should remain uncompromised by the acceptance of any favour." When pouring out on this-as he did on every subject-the inmost feelings of his heart to his mother, he writes thus:

Dearest Mother,

Nov. 21, 1788.

I have got a letter from uncle Richmond, which was as kind as possible; everything he does only makes one love him the more. He says, in his letter, that as Leinster is case over completely to government, he can see no reason why I should not now act with my brother and uncle. In my answer I have agreed with him, and said that I shall; because, upon consideration, though I think Leinster wrong, and told him so beforehand, yet s he has taken that part, it would be wrong not to support him-we being certainly his members, and brought in by him, with an idea that he might depend upon our always acting with him.—

The system out of which all this arises is so far in its progress towards dissolu tion, that we abstain from all comment upon it. That it should have warped the right feeling and sound judgment of such a man as Lord Edward Fitzgerald is sufficient of itself to render all comment superfluous. But it left the integrity of his high mind unstained. The above letter to his mother continues thus:

With all this, however, I am determined not to take any thing-lieut.-colɔrelcy, or any thing else. I wish my actions not to be biassed by any such motive, but that I may feel I am only acting in this manner because I think it right. Besides, by my taking nothing, Leinster can the more easily provide for his friends, some of whom he is bound in honour to make provision for. I have written to uncle Richmond to this same purpose, telling how I meant to act, and how I felt, and therefore trust he will not persist in trying to get me a lieut.-colonelcy. I am content as I am-I am not ambitious to get on. I like the service for its own sake; whether major, lieut.-colonel, or general, it is the same to me. High rank in it I do not aspire to; if I am found fit for command, I shall get it; if I am not, God knows I am better without it. The sole ambition I have is to be deserving to deserve a reward is to me far pleasanter than to obtain it. I am afraid you will all say I am foolish about this; but as it is a folly that hurts nobody it may have its fing For a young man of rank to preserve his integrity at the expense of his interest is but too apt to pass for folly. It is the interest of the craft thus to designate it. Honesty in the world of fashion is a very rare attribute; in the political world it is still more rare; but that a young member of parliament, of exalted rank and powerful connections, should preserve his principles unstained, and should turn a deaf ear to all the persuasives to corruption-the instance is so singular, that the best historic memory can furnish but few examples of it.

Mr. Moore gives to these biographic memoirs the emphatic title of The Life and Death of Lord Edward Fitzgerald; and he does this with good reason, for his death, and the manner of it, is an event of deep interest, and one that reads a most impressive lesson.

All who are conversant with Irish history, are well acquainted with that system of oppression which, in the year 1791, gave birth to the society, which afterwards became so celebrated under the name of UNITED IRISHMEN. It was organized in a manner well calculated to give effect to all its operations; and a code of laws for its regulations was drawn up by Theobald Wolfe Tone, a man born to none of the ad vantages either of rank or fortune, but distinguished from early youth by an im patience of oppression, and combining great natural talents with that intellectual courage which fitted him to lead the mass of mind which his influence had put in motion. He found in the breast of Lord Fitzgerald a heart that beat with kindred feelings, and the latter attached himself to the popular cause with an energy that left him only with his life. We must in justice acquit the leaders of this great federal society of all treasonable design. No part of their proceedings justify us in imputing to that great political union any other object than that expressed in their first and principle article, which proclaims it to be constituted "for the purpose of forwarding a brotherhood of affection, a community of rights, and a union of power, among Irishmen of every religious persuasion; and thereby to obtain a com plete reform in the legislature, founded on the principles of civil, political, and reli gious liberty." When the term legislature is here used, we must carry back our minds to the period before the union of Ireland with Great Britain, when the Irish government existed, and existed in all the plenitude of corruption. The same re morseless and arbitrary exercise of power which had excited rebellion was employed to repress it. Proclamations were issued calculated to infuriate the spirit of resist

ance, rather than to allay it. This fact is sufficiently proved by the generous and humane efforts of the friends of order and of liberty in the English parliament to restore the tranquillity of Ireland by measures of conciliation. The admirable speech of Lord Moira in the House of Lords, on the 19th of February, 1798, on submitting a motion in which a conciliatory course of policy was most earnestly recommended, sufficiently developes the merciless spirit of despotism adopted to put down the insurrectionary system which that despotism itself had excited. He related that "many individuals had been torn from their families, and looked up for months in the closest confinement, without hearing by whom they were accused, with what crime they were charged, or to what means they might recur to prove their innocence; that great numbers of houses had been burned, with the whole property of the wretched owners, upon the loosest supposition of even petty transgressions. That torture, by which he meant picquetting and half-hanging, had been used in more instances than one, in order to extort from the sufferer a charge against his neighbours. If he should be contradicted with respect to these facts, he professed himself prepared to produce affidavits of them," and declared his intention of moving" for the examination of the deponents at the bar of the house."* We may lay it down as an axiom that rebellion never breaks forth in a well governed state. The natural tendency of the great body of the people of every nation is to peacefulness and good order. It is no light grievances that goad them into insurrection. The government of Ireland had for ages exhibited a system that contained within it the seeds of dissolution. It was impossible but that the slaves would one day rise against their taskmasters. A state of society in which the interests of the many are inveterately sacrificed to the ambition and avarice of the few, is an order of things which cannot last. In whatever kingdom it exists, it must sooner or later, come to an end. Such was the political condition of Ireland which gave birth to that organized confederacy of united Irishmen, to which the illustrious subject of these memoirs had unhappily attached himself. On the particulars of the conspiracy being disclosed to the government, some of the most active and influential members were apprehended. A warrant was issued against Lord Edward Fitzgerald, but he escaped, and remained for upwards of two months undiscovered in the city of Dublin. Information was at length obtained, that he was in the house of a Mr. Murphy, who resided near St. James's gate, to which the police officers immediately repaired. On their entering the house, Lord Edward made a desperate defence. He wounded two of the principal of them dangerously, but was himself so severely wounded in the conflict, that he expired in a few days. The following extract from a letter written by Lady Louisa Conolly, who was present with him at his last moments, will show the resigned and peaceful spirit in which he met his dying hour:

My dear Mr. Ogilvie, Dublin, June 4th, 1798. At two o'clock this morning, our beloved Edward was at peace; and as the tender and watchful mercy of God is ever over the afflicted, we have reason to suppose this dissolution took place at the moment that it was fittest it should do so. On Friday night a very great lowness came on, that made those about him consider him much in danger. On Saturday he seemed to have recovered the attack, but on that night was again attacked with spasms that subsided again yesterday morning. But in the course of the day, Mrs. Pakenham, from whom I got my constant accounts, thought it best to send an express for me. I came to town and got leave to go with my dear Henry to see him.

Thanks to the great God! our visit was timed to the moment that the wretched situation allowed of. His mind had been agitated for two days, and the feeling was enough gone, not to be overcome by the sight of his brother and me. We had the consolation of seeing and feeling that it was a pleasure to him. I first approached his bed; he looked at me, knew me, kissed me, and said-what will never depart from my ears- "It is heaven to see you;" and, shortly after, turning to the other side of his bed, he said, "I can't see you." I went round, and he soon after kissed my hand and smiled at me, which I shall never forget, though I saw death in his dear face at the time. I then told him that Henry was come. He said nothing that marked surprize at his being in Ireland, but expressed joy at hearing it, and said, "Where is he, dear fellow?"

Henry then took my place, and the dear brothers embraced each other, to the melting

* See Hansard's Parl. Deb, Feb. 1798.

of a heart of stone, and yet God enabled both Henry and myself to remain quite composed" As every one left the room, we told him we were with him. He said, "That is very pleasant." However, he remained silent, and I then brought in the subject of Lady Edward, and told him that I had not left her until I saw her on board; and Henry told him of having met her on the road well. He said "And the children, too?-She is a charming woman:" And then became silent again. That expression about Lady Edward proved to me that his senses were much lulled, and that he did not feel his situation to be what was; but, thank God, they were enough alive to receive pleasure from seeing his brother and me. Dear Henry, in particular, he looked at continually with an expression of pleasure.

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When we left him we told him that as he appeared inclined to sleep, we would wish him good night and return in the morning. He said, Do, do," but did not express any uneasiness at our leaving him. We accordingly tore ourselves away, and very shortly after Mr. Garnet sent me word that the last convulsions soon came on, and ended at two o'clock, so that we were within two hours and a half before the sad close to a life we prized so dearly.

We strongly recommend these interesting memoirs of Lord Edward Fitzgerald to the public attention. They are fruitful of reflection in every page, and, in the present portentous aspect of public affairs, they offer a lesson that may be studied with peculiar advantage. Mr. Moore, in his preface, expresses an anxiety lest the public should mistake his object, and consider as meant for the occasion what is intended as historical. "In order," says he, "to guard against the suspicion of having been influenced in my choice of the subject of this work, by any view to its apt accordance with the political feeling of the day, I think it right to state, that the design of writing a life of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, had been taken up by me some months before any of those events occurred which have again given to the whole face of Europe so revolutionary an aspect." We frankly confess that we see nothing to call for this sort of disavowal. We consider it as betraying, if sincere, a morbid state of political feeling, which no public writer should be forward to acknowledge, and least of all such a writer as Thomas Moore.

THE LORD CHANCELLOR AND MR. WELLESLEY.

WE have read with great attention, and with proportionate interest, the report of the Committee of Privileges, to which committee the letter of the Lord Chancellor, stating "That he had issued a warrant for the commitment of the Honourable William Long Wellesley, for a contempt of court," and also a letter from the Hon. W. L. Wellesley, complaining of the same, as being an infringement of the privileges of parliament," was referred, and who were to examine the matter thereof, and to report their proceedings, together with their opinion thereupon, to the house. Whereupon the members of the said committee, after sitting for several days in grave deliberation, listening to the arguments advanced, and the precedents produced, report to the house that they have examined the matters to them referred, and have come to the following resolution :

"That Mr. Long Wellesley's claim to be discharged from imprisonment, by reason of privilege of parliament, ought not to be admitted."

Now what is most extraordinary in this report is, that the arguments are all one way, and the conclusion another. The precedents are decidedly in favour of the privilege, and by some miraculous process of reasoning, they give birth to a resolution decidedly against it. There are, likewise, other peculiarities about the report of a most curious and appropriate complexion, and which render it, in our opinion, unique as a parlia mentary document. It commences thus:

"Immediately after the committee had met to examine into the matter which ras HOUSE (it stands in capitals in the original) had committed to them, they received a letter from Mr. Long Wellesley, stating the Lord Chancellor had issued orders not to allow him to attend.

"This information was confirmed by the evidence of Mr. Butt, the deputy sergeant