lies, and imposes the most grievous burdens. All the lavish ex penses of Louis XIV. could have done little to the ruin of the finances of such a country as France, had they not been accom→ panied by the spirit of conquest, which involved the nation in continual wars. When a people, therefore, are sufficiently advanced in political knowledge to discern their true interests, and have tasted the sweets of commerce and industry, it can be only some extraordinary concurrence of circumstances that can inspire them, in the mass, with a readiness to engage in war. For, how natural soever violence and rapine may be to man, (as, indeed, all his propensities are a part of his nature), self-preserva. tion, and the desire of quiet enjoyment of the goods of life, are at least equally so. If, therefore, civil communities were so constituted that the will of the majority should preponderate in the public counsels, and if the condition of that majority were such that peace should be its obvious interest, it might be presumed that no other wars than those of necessary defence would be undertaken. We know too well that such is not the state of the world in which we live ; but it may not be difficult to suggest reasons why it is not so; and if the causes shall appear in any degree removeable, in so far we may indulge the hope that a future amelioration may take place. As no examples come so home to our minds as these drawn from our own country, it may be use ful to consider the particular circumstances which have operated in producing that long series of wars in which this nation has been involved. No situation can be more favourable to the enjoyment of peace than that of an island possessed of naval superiority; but, on the other hand, by the sense of security it inspires, it will naturally encourage in the inhabitants a promptitude to engage in foreign hostilies from which they have no reason to apprehend any urgent or serious dangers. Out of the reach of enemies, and seeing them all within their reach, capable of employing just such a measure of force as suits their purposes, and of withdrawing it at pleasure, they will be strongly tempted, upon any view of advantage, or under the resentment of any supposed insult, to reşort to the decision of arms, rather than wait the effect of calm discussion. If such a nation is likewise (as it must almost necessarily be) highly commercial, though it has more at hazard than others, it is better able to protect its property than they; and by obstructing the navigation of a foe or rival, it gains the opportunity of establishing monopolies of its own products, or those of distant lands. Those, also, of its citizens who are engaged in a maritime life will always be impatient to be let loose upon the trade and treasures of a prosperous competitor. These circumstances have so eminently concurred in the case of Great Britain, Britain, that it would be surprizing if they had not sometimes exerted their natural influence; and nothing but an immoderate national partiality can blind us to the censurable effects they have in some instances produced. They have too much fostered a spi, rit of domination upon what we have been taught to call our own element, as if the sea were not as free to others as to our. selves; have given our naval commanders a tone of superiority and defiance highly offensive to other maritime nations; and have urged us to boundless adventures, in which we have occa, sionally disregarded the claims and violated the regulations of foreign states. Yet, upon a retrospect to the immediate causes of the wars in which we have been chiefly engaged during a century past, it will perhaps appear that they do not so conclusively decide against the pacific inclinations of the bulk of the people as might be supposed; nor, consequently, render so desperate the hope of future more wise and laudable counsels as despondency would suggest. I shall pass lightly over those in the earlier part of this period, which may be chiefly placed to the account of po litical speculations in our rulers with respect to the fancied balance of power; or the consequences of the accession of a new family to the British throne. It will be sufficient for my purpose to advert more particularly to the wars of the present reign. That, in the midst of which it commenced, was occasioned by disputes with the French concerning limits in North America, which certainly might seem very remotely to concern the people of this country; yet if the French acted upon a plan which, if successful, would have laid at their mercy all our (then) Ameri can colonies, and after due remonstrances refused to abandon it, I know not how the appeal to the sword could be avoided, The result of this quarrel was a wider extension of hostilities between the two nations than had ever before been witnessed, and in the end, a more glorious triumph to the British arms than history had recorded. It placed this nation on the pinnacle of pros perity; and after the restoration of peace, its progress in com. merce, manufactures, and improvements of every kind, was rapid beyond all example. The national spirit, rose in an equal pro portion; and was more than once on the point of blazing out into a fresh quarrel, before it fell on the colonies, and involved the country in a new and disastrous war, But though perhaps a majority of the nation held the high notions of the authority of a parent and superior over children and subjects,, which were the theoretical causes of the war, yet the commercial and manufac turing part of the public openly expressed their aversion to mea sures sures of actual hostility; and the landed interest was induced to consent to them only by the minister's lure of lightening the taxes of the mother country by those which were to be imposed upon the colonies. In the progress, indeed, every effort was employed to connect the support of the war with that much-abused princi. ple of loyalty which substitutes the will and wishes of the mo❤ narch to the voice and interest of the nation; and some of the very towns which had manifested their sense of its original impo licy were animated with so much loyal zeal as to raise regiments for its support. The nation however, was at length heartily sickened of a war, the original object of which, the subjugation of the colonies, became manifesly unattainable; and while the court and ministry were still bent on carrying it on, it was terminated by a vote of the House of Commons, a most instructive example of the wisdom of a people successfully combating the folly of its rulers! During the succeeding interval of repose, more liberal maxims of public polity seemed to prevail; and when a commercial treaty with our habitual foe and rival was projected by our young mi, nister, orators in and out of parliament were accustomed to des. cant upon the truly pacific ideas of mutual interests subsisting between neighbouring natious, and the means by which the prosperity of one might be made to conduce to the advantage of another. These were then considered as the true commercial principles, not those of establishing monopolies by compulsion, and ruining competitors. The term of national enemies began to be regarded as barbarous and ill sounding; when the mighty event of the French revolution, with its direful consequences, darkened this cheering prospect, and plunged Europe again into all the horrors of blood and devastation. By what a concurrence of circumstances we were impelled to take a part in the confederacy against that distracted nation, is fresh in every one's memory. The alarm of the higher orders artfully communicated to the lower, and associated to every sen. timent that could inflame the passions, was soon able to extin, guish the good will with which one free nation first looked upon the acquired freedom of another, and to revive all the bitterness of ancient enmity. Though no specific object of the war was held to view, yet each class was assiduously taught that it was fighting for its own peculiar objects; the rich for their proper ty, the merchant for his trade, the pious for his religion, the patriot for his constitution, and all for security. The events of the war, however, were such, that the return of peace was hailed by the people with uncommon demonstrations of joy, and the two nations immediately rushed to a friendly intercourse. It It is needless to lament the very short period of tranquillity, or to enquire by whose fault hostilities were renewed. We have now seen several years of a second war, without any other ap parent purpose than that which experience proves to be abso lutely unattainable by our arms, the subversion of a power which war alone has raised to its present formidable magnitude. Heartless and hopeless, overwhelmed with taxes and mortified by disgraces, the nation submits to it in silence, rather under the persuasion that it is unavoidable, than with any reasonable prospect of a fortunate issue. There are classes of men, indeed, whose interests lead them to wish its indefinite protraction; and on the failure, some time since, of negociations to put an end to the immense waste of blood and treasure, the Exchange of London resounded with a savage yell of exultation from a herd of stock-jobbers, monopolists, and contractors. This involuntary burst of feeling may serve to indicate those persons whom, if the nation ever becomes really desirous of lasting peace, it should regard with suspicion, and exclude from the public counsels men who have no permanent concern in the welfare of the coun try, and who are upon the watch to make advantage of its diffi. culties and distresses, upon which, and not upon its prosperity, they found their expectations of raising a fortune. That at the present moment all but such men, and the immediate instruments of war, would heartily rejoice in a peace that should alleviate their burdens and quiet their fears, that should open a regular market to the merchant and manufacturer, and secure the landowner and capitalist in the enjoyment of their property,—it is impossible to doubt. By what means it is to be obtained, is a question which I do not profess to discuss. It is sufficient if the preceding observations have rendered it probable that a time may come when the nation, instead of the grasping projects of dominion which it has too fondly entertained, shall adopt a sincere desire of living peaceably among its neighbours, content with the distinction it cannot fail to maintain by the effects of its superior knowledge and activity. Peace, however, it will be objected, does not depend upon the disposition of one nation, unless it consents to submit to all the injustices, that may be practised against it. This is true; but moderation, when joined with innate strength, will avert all the usual causes of quarrel; for they who do not themselves offend, yet show themselves able to repel an offence, are seldom molested, either in public or private life. But how, it may be asked, shall a nation desirous of peace be enabled to enforce that policy at home against the will of an ambitious king, the intrigues of a rash minister, or the machina. tions tions of those subordinate classes who have so often succeeded in kindling the flames of war for their own interests? Obviously no otherwise than by the influence of a constitution that effectually subjects partial wills to the general will. The British Constitution in its purity possesses that advantage; for although it has placed the actual declaration of hostilities within the preroga tive of the crown, yet it has provided a sufficient check to its exertion in the responsibility of the crown-ministers. But such a responsibility must be real, and not nominal; which it mani festly becomes when the sanction of a subservient parliament can be previously obtained to all the measures they choose to adopt. Thus, in this great point of national welfare, as in every other, all is found to revert to the fundamental maxim, that an independent parliament is the only socurity the nation possesses against the errors or vices of its government; and I cannot better conclude this paper than by leaving this important truth upon the minds of its readers. J. A. ART. XVIII.-Doctor Bentley. "At his impenetrable armour of celestial mould, the critics, both Ơxford and Cambridge men, both aliens and his own brethren, in those days very generally united in brandishing their bull-rushes, from an ignominious jealousy, I fear, of his superior acquirements.—It might be said of Bentley, as of the shield of the Trojan hero: Tela Latinorum." "Unum omnia contra "Alone sufficient to sustain the war."-DRYDEN. Gilbert Wakefield's Memoirs, Vol. I. p. 70, 71. THE talent of wit, as it is sometimes a noble assistant of truth and virtue, so at others is a dangerous weapon of malignity and detraction. "Lampoons and satires," says a great moralist, "that are written with wit and spirit, are like poisoned darts, which not only inflict a wound, but render it incurable." Cer. tain it is, that the characters of some men live more clearly in the writings of the satirist than in their own, a circumstance by no means to be complained of, where the satire is just as well as witty, |