system of arbitrary government both in Church and state. In addition to what we have already shown of the proceedings in religion, the bill for triennial parliaments was abolished; and by a series of bullying and cajolery, the corporation of London, and in consequence of their example, most of the considerable places in the kingdom, had been induced to surrender their charters into the hands of the king to be remodelled at his pleasure. Clarendon would have us believe that they did this of their own accord.

A conference had been held by Charles, the Duke of York, and Lords Clifford, Arlington, and Arundel of WardourCatholics-to deliberate on the best means of advancing popery in England; and it was evidently the desire of Charles, as manifested in the latter part of his reign, to endeavor, like his father, to govern without parliaments, by the aid probably of his good friend and brother the King of France.

Dr. Lingard asserts that during the reign of Charles, the wealth and comfort of the people increased, and that he never forfeited the love of his subjects. It is possible that the state of the people might have improved, and greatly, compared with what it had been during the civil wars; but we are inclined to think that it was from natural causes, and not so much in consequence of the government of Charles as in spite of it. How he could be said to have retained the affection of his subjects, is to us a mystery. The whole kingdom of Scotland, from one end to the other, execrated his name. The nonconformists in England, though they still remained good subjects, could scarcely be supposed to look with affection on the man who allowed them to be persecuted even to the death-for many died in prison. The state clergy might admire him, for he allowed them to plunder and persecute to their hearts' content; and it is possible that the Roman Catholics regarded him with some complacency, as they might have believed that if he denied them toleration, it was against his will; and also might have known, what till the last day of his life the nation did not know, that he was a concealed papist himself.

King James began his reign with abundance of fair promises -which he kept about a week. Lord Preston, who had been for some years ambassador in France, was set up by the court as a sort of manager in the Commons, and his lordship told them, among other things, that if his parliament would but ' repose entire confidence in him (James), England would again 'hold the balance, and his majesty would be indeed the arbiter of Europe; and the courtiers said everywhere that James was ' a prince that had never broken his word.' They forgot to add, that he had never yet had an opportunity: however, he did not keep them long waiting. After making high professions, and

promising powerfully to uphold the Church of England, on the very first Sunday after his brother's funeral he attended mass publicly in his own chapel, the doors of which he caused to be set wide open. On this occasion he went in state, the Duke of Norfolk carrying the sword of state as hereditary Earl Marshal of England. The duke stopped when he came to the threshold of the chapel. Your father, my lord,' said the king, 'would ' have gone farther.' 'Your majesty's father,' replied the duke, 'would not have gone so far.' His next step was to appropriate the supplies, without waiting for the meeting of parliament, on which the barristers of the Middle Temple, and the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, presented fulsome addresses to his majesty, thanking him for taking the care of the customs, &c., into his own hands; but, as Dalrymple justly observes, these 'compliments by public bodies to the sovereign for the 'breach of the laws, only served to remind the nation that the 'laws had been broken.'--Pict. Hist.

Then followed in rapid succession the forcing of papists into the Charter House and the universities, and the king's contentions with those bodies on that account; for though these latter had fully subscribed to the doctrines of passive obedience and non-resistance as long as they applied to others, they never intended that they should be enforced against themselves. After this the bishops had their turn; they also, imagining that this prince, who had never broken his word, would uphold them as he had promised in all their pride and power, had subscribed to the same slavish doctrines. They were disappointed in their calculations on the king's sincerity, and he was as much disappointed in relying upon theirs. James published a declaration for liberty of conscience, and commanded the bishops to cause it to be read in the churches. The declaration was no doubt intended especially for the relief of the Roman Catholics, though put forth ostensibly for the good of all. The bishops determined to resist the mandate of the king (it was of course illegal), and for this they have been lauded as the champions of civil and religious liberty, while they were in fact the champions of nothing but the ascendency of their own sect. Six of them only, with Sancroft, the primate, would stand forward on the occasion; and it is worthy of remark that two of these, Ken, the Bishop of Bath and Wells, and Turner, Bishop of Ely, had been the most furious in contending for the principle of passive obedience and non-resistance. In men who came with clean hands to the discussion of the question, their reasons for disobedience might have been respected; it was not, they said, 'from any want of tenderness to Dissenters that they refused 'obedience to the king's commands:' this was false. It was 'because the declaration was founded on a dispensing power

which had been often declared illegal in parliament.' So it had, but their conscient have told them that this was not their reason. These very men had given publicity on declarations put forth by Charles the Second, which were equally illegal, when they were for the interest of their Church; and they objected to the declaration of James, not on account of its illegality, but because it bestowed on others the rights which they would have arrogated to themselves alone. In this they acted as state priests have always done, whose religion is expediency, and whose god is interest.

The reign of James was now drawing to a close. It was not his breach of promises, however solemn; it was not the atrocious cruelties that were perpetrated in his name, and indeed with his consent; nor even his arrogating to himself an authority which, according to the constitution of the country, was vested in the great assemblies of the nation in conjunction with the king; it was his determination to re-establish popery with all its mingled fooleries and horrors, that roused the nation as a man against him.

The parliament had recommended that the laws against Dissenters should be more strictly enforced; James, however, was too much occupied in his plans for raising the Catholics, to trouble himself about depressing others, except relatively and by consequence. He preferred, therefore, to make use of the act of indulgence as the first step towards both these ends. The numbers and importance of the nonconformists were made visible as soon as the full liberty of worship was established; and so formidable did they appear, that Archbishop Sancroft thought it necessary to address his clergy, and require them to have a ' very tender regard to their brethren (tempora mutantur) the 'Protestant Dissenters; to visit them at their houses, and to ' receive them kindly at their own'-in short, to flatter them in every possible way for the purposes of the Church. The Rev. Jeremiah White, who had been chaplain to Cromwell, and distinguished himself by making love to the Protector's daughter, who, however, preferred Lord Faulconberg, had written a minute account of the sufferings of the nonconformists. Oldmixon says that his list contained the names of 60,000 persons who had been prosecuted on religious accounts from the restoration to the revolution, of whom five thousand died in prison. White himself told Lord Dorset that King James had offered him 1000 guineas for the manuscript, but that he would not give it up, nor allow it to be seen, 'it being well understood 'that so horrible an exposure would leave an indelible blot on 'the Church of England, and facilitate its downfall.' The nonconformists generally, instead of upholding James, who would have granted them any immunities in return for their support,

joined with that Protestant establishment which had, perse cuted them to the death while it had the porci, and welcomed the Prince of Onangu w ine throne. Had they allowed their wrongs and feelings to get the better of their principles, and arrayed their power on the side of James, the so-called Protestant establishment, which now carries itself so high and vaunts so loudly, would have been at best but a tolerated sect-if indeed it had been tolerated at all.

In the character of James there are few or no redeeming traits. Cold, hard hearted, obstinate, and bigoted, even above the level of the Stuarts; we might be led to suppose that his cruelty must have been the result of calculating pride, rather than of passion or of impulse; and his debauchery a matter of taste and not of inclination, and therefore by so much the more incapable of palliation. He appears to have been guilty of two grand mistakes, one as regarded himself, the other as respected the nation. With talents neither high in kind nor uncommon in degree, he flattered himself that he was eminently qualified for the task of government, and more dexterous in the management of parties than his brother; and his pride, and obstinacy, and bigotry, aided perhaps by the knowledge of the course of events in the reign of Charles, induced him to conclude that the nation would submit to any thing which he chose to inflict it. On the first point, though he deceived himself, he failed to deceive others. As regards the second, his bigotry had perhaps the small merit of being sincere ;* but he calculated too much on the continuance of that hurricane of loyalty which, setting in with the restoration, had bowed the stubborn necks of Englishmen to the dust before the throne; they were now recovering their erect position, and were no longer to be trampled on.

upon

We had intended to say something on the progress of nonconformity to the reign of Queen Anne, when the crowning atrocity against it was perpetrated by the passing of a bill forbidding Dissenters to educate their own children, and which the death of the queen alone prevented from becoming law. It was also our intention to say a few words on the present position of Dissenters, who are again to be called on to assist in putting down themselves, by means of an enormous grant for the extension of the Established Church-a Church already distinguished in the history of the world, for doing the minimum of good with the maximum of means; and laying presumptuous

*One of the courtiers of Louis the Fourteenth, on seeing James one morning-after his flight to France-coming out of his chapel, observed, There goes an honest gentleman, who has given three kingdoms for a mass.'

claims to infallibility, at a moment when, by a coincidence which would be ludicrous if it were not lamentable, it cannot agree upon the meaning of its own articles, nor regulate its own discipline and practice ;-but our space forbids.

We see no reason to retract or qualify the favorable opinion, which we have elsewhere expressed of the work before us.

Art. VI. The Life and Opinions of the Rev. William Milne, D.D., Missionary to China, Illustrated by Biographical Annals of Asiatic Missions, from Primitive to Protestant Times; intended as a Guide to Missionary Spirit. By ROBERT PHILIP. London: Snow.

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I N every work regard the writer's end;' and we suppose it was intended by the author of this canon that reviewers should regulate their judgment accordingly, that if the object of the writer be praiseworthy, the defective execution of his work ought to be passed over with slight censure, if not with impunity. Or perhaps it was designed to correct an error which critics are very apt to fall into that of assigning to an author a purpose he did not contemplate, and then blaming him for not making it the prominent subject of his book. Certainly no literary production ought to be criticized without a special reference to its object; and praise or censure should be awarded as the author has succeeded or failed in its attainment. The end must not be permitted to sanctify the means. If a noble object be pursued in a feeble manner; if the thoughts are not worthy of the theme, or if the owl attempt to soar to the eyrie of the eagle, the failure ought not to be excused-in some cases it would deserve reprehension, in others ridicule. Men ought to know their powers, and how and on what to employ them, before they presume to offer themselves as public instructors. If the writer be equal to his end,' whatever it may be, he is entitled to commendation; but if his 'end' and his performance can only be contrasted-the one distinguished for its grandeur, the other remarkable for its meanness-he has forced himself upon the attention of the world only to excite its derision and contempt.

There are many intermediate degrees, however, between the extreme contrast which we have imagined; in which there are cases where the author and his end are worthy of each other; and though they who aim the highest do not always realize their great intention, yet they approach it. It is not every one that can enter into the heaven of heavens, and draw empyrean air;