drawn between Protestant and Cathol Europe.

The only event of modern times which can be properly compared with the Reformation is the French Revolution, or, to speak more accurately, that great revolution of political feeling which took place in almost every part of the civilised world during the eighteenth century, and which obtained in France its most terrible and signal triumph. Each of these memorable events may be described as a rising up of the human reason against a Castc. The one was a struggle of the lai.y against the clergy for intellectual li

the fancy, perhaps the heart, of the woman; but no rival could deprive the Treasurer of the place which he possessed in the favour of the Queen. She sometimes chid him sharply; but he was the man whom she delighted to honour. For Burleigh, she forgot her usual parsimony both of wealth and of dignities. For Burleigh, she relaxed that severe etiquette to which she was unreasonably attached. Every other person to whom she addressed her speech, or on whom the glance of her eagle eye fell, instantly sank on his knee. For Burleigh alone, a chair was set in her presence; and there the old minister, by birth only a plain Lincoln-berty; the other was a struggle of the shire esquire, took his ease, while the haughty heirs of the Fitzalans and the De Veres humbled themselves to the dust around him. At length, having survived all his early coadjutors and rivals, he died full of years and honours. His royal mistress visited him on his death-bed, and cheered him with assurances of her affection and esteem; and his power passed, with little diminution, to a son who inherited his abilities, and whose mind had been formed by his counsels.

The life of Burleigh was commensurate with one of the most important periods in the history of the world. It exactly measures the time during which the House of Austria held decided superiority and aspired to universal dominion. In the year in which Burleigh was born, Charles the Fifth obtained the imperial crown. In the year in which Burleigh died, the vast designs which had, during near a century, kept Europe in constant agitation, were buried in the same grave with the proud and sullen Philip.

people against princes and nobles for political liberty. In both cases, the spirit of innovation was at first encouraged by the class to which it was likely to be most prejudicial. It was under the patronage of Frederic, of Catherine, of Joseph, and of the grandees of France, that the philosophy which afterwards threatened all the thrones and aristocracies of Europe with destruction first became formidable. The ardour with which men betook themselves to liberal studies, at the close of the fifteenth and the beginning of the sixteenth century, was zealously encouraged by the heads of that very church to which liberal studies were destined to be fatal. In both cases, when the explosion came, it came with a violence which appalled and disgusted many of those who had previously been distinguished by the freedom of their opinions. The violence of the democratic party in France made Burke a Tory and Alfieri a courtier. The violence of the chiefs of the German schism made Erasmus a defender of abuses, and turned the author of Utopia into a persecutor. In both cases, the convulsion which had overthrown deeply seated errors, shook all the principles on which society rests The minds

The life of Burleigh was commensurate also with the period during which a great moral revolution was effected, a revolution the consequences of which were felt, not only in the cabinets of princes, but at half the fire-to their very foundations. sides in Christendom. He was born of men were unsettled. It seemed for when the great religious schism was a time that all order and morality were just commencing. He lived to see about to perish with the prejudices with that schism complete, and to see a line which they had been long and intiof demarcation, which, since his death, mately associated. Frightful cruelties das been very little altered, strongly were committed. Immense masses of

property were confiscated. Every part | jealousies. The Spaniards were invited of Europe swarmed with exiles. In into France by the League; the Engmoody and turbulent spirits zeal soured lish were invited into France by the into malignity, or foamed into madness. Huguenots. From the political agitation of the We by no means intend to undereighteenth century sprang the Jacobins. rate or to palliate the crimes and exFrom the religious agitation of the cesses which, during the last generasixteenth century sprang the Anabap- tion, were produced by the spirit of tists. The partisans of Robespierre democracy. But, when we hear men robbed and murdered in the name of zealous for the Protestant religion, confraternity and equality. The followers stantly represent the French Revoluof Kniperdoling robbed and murdered tion as radically and essentially evil on in the name of Christian liberty. The account of those crimes and excesses, feeling of patriotism was, in many parts we cannot but remember that the deof Europe, almost wholly extinguished. liverance of our ancestors from the All the old maxims of foreign policy house of their spiritual bondage was were changed. Physical boundaries effected "by plagues and by signs, by were superseded by moral boundaries. wonders and by war.' We cannot but Nations made war on each other with remember that, as in the case of the new arms, with arms which no for- French Revolution, so also in the case tifications, however strong by nature of the Reformation, those who rose up or by art, could resist, with arms be- against tyranny were themselves deeply fore which rivers parted like the Jordan, tainted with the vices which tyranny and ramparts fell down like the walls engenders. We cannot but remember of Jericho. The great masters of fleets that libels scarcely less scandalous than and armies were often reduced to con- those of Hebert, mummeries scarcely fess, like Milton's warlike angel, how less absurd than those of Clootz, and hard they found it crimes scarcely less atrocious than those of Marat, disgrace the early history of Protestantism. The Reformation is an event long past. That volcano has spent its rage. The wide waste pro

"To exclude

Spiritual substance with corporeal bar."

Europe was divided, as Greece had been divided during the period concern-duced by its outbreak is forgotten. ing which Thucydides wrote. The con- The landmarks which were swept away flict was not, as it is in ordinary times, have been replaced. The ruined edibetween state and state, but between fices have been repaired. The lava has two omnipresent factions, each of which covered with a rich incrustation the was in some places dominant and in fields which it once devastated, and, other places oppressed, but which, after having turned a beautiful and openly or covertly, carried on their fruitful garden into a desert, has again strife in the bosom of every society. turned the desert into a still more No man asked whether another be- beautiful and fruitful garden. The selonged to the same country with him-cond great eruption is not yet over. self, but whether he belonged to the The marks of its ravages are still all same sect. Party-spirit seemed to jus- around us. The ashes are still hot beLfy and consecrate acts which, in any neath our feet. In some directions the other times, would have been considered deluge of fire still continues to spread. as the foulest of treasons. The French Yet experience surely entitles us to beemigrant saw nothing disgraceful in lieve that this explosion, like that which bringing Austrian and Prussian hussars preceded it, will fertilise the soil which it to Paris. The Irish or Italian demo- has devastated. Already, in those parts crat saw no impropriety in serving the which have suffered most severely, rich French Directory against his own na-cultivation and secure dwellings have tive government. So, in the sixteenth begun to appear amidst the waste. The century, the fury of theological factions more we read of the history of past suspended all national animosities and ages, the more we observe the signs of Q

our own times, the more do we feel our | risings, suppressed as soon as they ap

hearts filled and swelled up by a good hope for the future destinies of the hu

man race.

peared, a few dark conspiracies in which only a small number of desperate men engaged, such were the utmost efforts made by these two parties to assert the most sacred of human rights, attacked by the most odious tyranny.

The history of the Reformation in England is full of strange problems. The most prominent and extraordinary phænomenon which it presents to us The explanation of these circumis the gigantic strength of the govern- stances which has generally been given ment contrasted with the feebleness of is very simple, but by no means satis. the religious parties. During the twelve factory. The power of the crown, it is or thirteen years which followed the said, was then at its height, and was death of Henry the Eighth, the religion in fact despotic. This solution, we of the state was thrice changed. Pro- own, seems to us to be no solution at testantism was established by Edward; all. It has long been the fashion, a the Catholic Church was restored by fashion introduced by Mr. Hume, to Mary; Protestantism was again estab- describe the English monarchy in the lished by Elizabeth. The faith of the sixteenth century as an absolute monation seemed to depend on the per-narchy. And such undoubtedly it sonal inclinations of the sovereign. Nor appears to a superficial observer. was this all. An established church Elizabeth, it is true, often spoke to her was then, as a matter of course, a parliaments in language as haughty persecuting church. Edward perse- and imperious as that which the Great cuted Catholics. Mary persecuted Pro-Turk would use to his divan. She testants. Elizabeth persecuted Catholics punished with great severity members again. The father of those three sove- of the House of Commons who, in her reigns had enjoyed the pleasure of per- opinion, carried the freedom of debate secuting both sects at once, and had too far. She assumed the power of sent to death, on the same hurdle, the legislating by means of proclamations. heretic who denied the real presence. She imprisoned her subjects without and the traitor who denied the royal bringing them to a legal trial. Torsupremacy. There was nothing in ture was often employed, in defiance of England like that fierce and bloody op- the laws of England, for the purpose of position which, in France, each of the extorting confessions from those who religious factions in its turn offered to were shut up in her dungeons. The the government. We had neither a authority of the Star-Chamber and of Coligny nor a Mayenne, neither a Mon- the Ecclesiastical Commission was at its contour nor an Ivry. No English city highest point. Severe restraints were braved sword and famine for the re-imposed on political and religious disformed doctrines with the spirit of cussion. The number of presses was Rochelle, or for the Catholic doctrines at one time limited. No man could with the spirit of Paris. Neither sect print without a license; and every in England formed a League. Neither work had to undergo the scrutiny of sect extorted a recantation from the the Primate, or the Bishop of London. sovereign. Neither sect could obtain Persons whose writings were displeasfrom an adverse sovereign even a tole-ing to the court were cruelly mutilated, ration. The English Protestants, after like Stubbs, or put to death, like Penry. several years of domination, sank down Nonconformity was severely punished. with scarcely a struggle under the tyranny of Mary. The Catholics, after having regained and abused their old ascendency, submitted patiently to the severe rule of Elizabeth. Neither Protestants nor Catholics engaged in any great and well organized scheme of resistance. A few wild and tumultuous

The Queen prescribed the exact rule of religious faith and discipline; and whoever departed from that rule, either to the right or to the left, was in danger of severe penalties.

Such was this government. Yet wa know that it was loved by the great body of those who lived under it. We

know that, during the fierce contests of of England, commanded by the merthe sixteenth century, both the hostile chants and esquires of England. parties spoke of the time of Elizabeth as of a golden age. That great Queen has now been lying two hundred and thirty years in Henry the Seventh's chapel. Yet her memory is still dear to the hearts of a free people.

Thus, when intelligence arrived of the vast preparations which Philip was making for the subjugation of the realm, the first person to whom the government thought of applying for assistance was the Lord Mayor of London. They sent to ask him what force the city would engage to furnish for the defence of the kingdom against the Spaniards. The Mayor and Common Council, in return, desired to know what force the Queen's Highness wished them to furnish. The answer was, fifteen ships and five thousand men. The Londoners deliberated on the matter, and, two days after, "humbly intreated the council, in sign of their perfect love and loyalty to prince and country, to accept ten thousand men, and thirty ships amply furnished."

The truth seems to be that the government of the Tudors was, with a few occasional deviations, a popular government, under the forms of despotism. At first sight, it may seem that the prerogatives of Elizabeth were not less ample than those of Lewis the Fourteenth, and her parliaments were as obsequious as his parliaments, that her warrant had as much authority as his lettre-de-cachet. The extravagance with which her courtiers eulogized her personal and mental charms went beyond the adulation of Boileau and Moliere. Lewis would have blushed to receive from those who composed the gorgeous circles of Marli and Versailles such outward marks of servitude as the haughty Britoness exacted of all who approached her. But the authority of Lewis rested on the support of his army. The authority of Elizabeth rested solely on the support of her people. Those who say that her power was absolute do not sufficiently consider in what her power consisted. Her power consisted in the willing obedience of her subjects, in their attachment to her person and to her office, in their respect for the old line from which she sprang, in their sense of the general security which they enjoyed under her government. These were the means, and the only means, which she had at her command for carrying her decrees into execution, for resisting foreign enemies, and for crushing domestic treason. There was It is a common error in politics not a ward in the city, there was not a to confound means with ends. Conhundred in any shire in England, which stitutions, charters, petitions of right, could not have overpowered the hand- declarations of right, representative ful of armed men who composed her assemblies, electoral colleges, are not bousehold. If a hostile sovereign good government; nor do they, even threatened invasion, if an ambitious when most elaborately constructed, nenoble raised the standard of revolt, she cessarily produce good government could have recourse only to the train-Laws exist in vain for those who have bands of her capital and the array of not the courage and the means to deher counties, to the citizens and yeomen fend them. Electors meet in vain

People who could give such signs as these of their loyalty were by no means to be misgoverned with impunity. The English in the sixteenth century were, beyond all doubt, a free people. They had not, indeed, the outward show of freedom; but they had the reality. They had not as good a constitution as we have; but they had that without which the best constitution is as useless as the king's proclamation against vice and immorality, that which, without any constitution, keeps rulers in awe, force, and the spirit to use it. Parliaments, it is true, were rarely held, and were not very respectfully treated. The great charter was often violated. But the people had a security against gross and systematic misgovernment, far stronger than all the parchment that was ever marked with the sign manual, and than all the wax that was ever pressed by the great seal.

where want makes them the slaves of direct or indirect, they will assuredly

the landlord, or where superstition makes them the slaves of the priest Representative assemblies sit in vain unless they have at their command, iu the last resort, the physical power which is necessary to make their deliberations free, and their votes effectual.

not ill governed. And the reason is simply that they will not bear to be ill governed.

In some of the Oriental monarchies, in Afghanistan for example, though there exists nothing which an European publicist would call a Constitution, the sovereign generally governs in conformity with certain rules established for the public benefit; and the sanction of those rules is, that every Afghan approves them, and that every Afghan is a soldier.

possess. Some organ, constitutional or unconstitutional, they will assuredly find. They will be better governed under a good constitution than under a bad constitution. But they will be better governed under the worst constitution than some other nations under The Irish are better represented in the best. In any general classification parliament than the Scotch, who indeed of constitutions, the constitution of are not represented at all. * But are Scotland must be reckoned as one of the Irish better governed than the the worst, perhaps as the worst, in Scotch? Surely not. This circum-Christian Europe. Yet the Scotch are stance has of late been used as an argument against reform. It proves nothing against reform. It proves only this, that laws have no magical, no supernatural, virtue; that laws do not act like Aladdin's lamp or Prince Ahmed's apple; that priestcraft, that ignorance, that the rage of contending factions, may make good institutions useless; that intelligence, sobriety, industry, meral freedom, firm union, may supply in a great measure the defects of the worst representative system. A people whose education and habits are such, The monarchy of England in the that, in every quarter of the world, sixteenth century was a monarchy of they rise above the mass of those with this kind. It is called an absolute whom they mix, as surely as oil rises monarchy, because little respect was to the top of water, a people of such paid by the Tudors to those institutions temper and selfgovernment that the which we have been accustomed to conwildest popular excesses recorded in sider as the sole checks on the power their history partake of the gravity of of the sovereign. A modern Englishjudicial proceedings, and of the solem- man can hardly understand how the nity of religious rites, a people whose people can have had any real security national pride and mutual attachment for good government under kings who have passed into a proverb, a people levied benevolences, and chid the whose high and fierce spirit, so forcibly House of Commons as they would have described in the haughty motto which chid a pack of dogs. People do not encircles their thistle, preserved their sufficiently consider that, though the independence, during a struggle of cen- legal checks were feeble, the natural turies, from the encroachments of checks were strong. There was one wealthier and more powerful neighbours, such a people cannot be long oppressed. Any government, however constituted, must respect their wishes and tremble at their discontents. It is indeed most desirable that such a people should exercise a direct influence on the conduct of affairs, and should make their wishes known through constitutional organs. But some influence,

great and effectual limitation on the royal authority, the knowledge that, if the patience of the nation were severely tried, the nation would put forth its strength, and that its strength would be found irresistible. If a large body of Englishmen became thoroughly discontented, instead of presenting requisitions, holding large meetings, passing resolutions, signing petitions, forming associations and unions, they rose up; they took their halberds and their bows; and, if the sovereign was not suff