But to proceed: Shortly after the minds of men had been thus prepared for a reaction, appeared the famous Ikon Basilike; and from that time the ruin of the parliamentary cause, although for a while retarded by the episode of Cromwell's iron despotism, might be considered an event determined. As ingeniously conceived as successfully executed, and, however unjustifiable and dishonourable the imposture, deservedly influencing the public mind by the arguments placed in the mouth of the royal Eidolon, as well as the devotional character with which, by no violation of truth, it invested him; this extraordinary work appeared to the regicides of Westminster Hall, in much the same manner as the ghost of Banquo is described by Shakspeare, arising before the eyes of his murderer, marring at once the triumph of their success, and proving a fearful earnest of that justice, which was not long in overtaking many of their number. Milton was the exorcist commissioned to lay the avenging spectre; and a task more unsuited to a model for the patriotic Christian, can scarcely be imagined; for since the authenticity of the work was still uncontroverted, the only means of effecting the end proposed was, by aspersing the character of the deceased anew, and descending into the sacred stilness of the tomb, to vent a list of unfounded calumnies, in the "dull cold ear of death," at a time when few of the most unfeeling among mankind could have avoided some sense of commiseration at the spectacle of departed royalty, "yet green in earth," and fallen by a fate which, even if deserved, generally secures the worst of criminals from further insult and contumely. Of any such weakness, however, all must unequivocally acquit John Milton, since not a vestige of it appears in his Iconoclastes, or any subsequent work upon the same subject. With a devotedness to his purpose, which some perhaps may admire, but few would wish to imitate, and in the exultation of that triumph which the worst may feel in the accomplishment of their designs, he never ceases to point to the headless corpse before him, as a sufficient manifestation of the favour of Heaven towards his view of the question, not remembering how often success has crowned the most iniquitous, nor anticipating the fearful extent to which the same evidence might afterwards be used against his party and himself. Such a triumph we conscientiously believe few of our readers will envy him. Let us hear, however, the judicious Mr. Fletcher, and observe how complacently he dwells upon Milton's vilification of his deceased king.

"Be the great unknown' whom he might, the gauntlet is here taken up as if it were the king's; every allegation is examined; the reply and justification of the parliament and army are complete, and the ghostly visitant gibbers back again to the grave. Pressing closely on his antagonist, and tracing him step by step, the Iconoclast either exposes the fallacy of his reasonings, or the falsehood of his assertions, or the hollowness of his professions, or the convenient speciousness of his devotion. In argument and in style compressed and energetic, perspicuous and neat, it discovery a quickness which never misses an advantage, and a keenness of remark which carries an irresistible edge. The martyr stands before us exposed in all the deformity of his duplicity and deception, smitten, blasted, and withered, in the pitiless encounter, (pitiless indeed,) and yet there is not a single paragraph of unseemly exultation, of wanton mockery, or insult, over the fall of the monarch, throughout the secretary's vindication of the patriots! As so much history, the Iconoclast is invaluable: (we believe it-no assignable sum could be named as a fitting price.) The royal road to a fatal block is pointed out; and the lesson is not more awful than plain. The following extracts are specimens of that satire, sportive and yet grave withal, which wrings its victim in every page.”—Preface, page 27.

And yet that sportive satire over the ashes of the dead, which, however grave withal, wrings its victim in every page, does not contain a paragraph of unseemly exultation. Alack alack! such are the inconsistencies of genius! However, we proceed, according to our plan, to extract a few paragraphs from the Iconoclast's Answer to Salmasius and the Defensio Secunda, which the patriotic Christian will do well to study, in connexion with some of those passages in his Testament, which, besides enjoining the tribute of "honour to whom honour is due," also command us "not to render railing for railing, but contrariwise blessing." And here we may remark, that Mr. Fletcher's system of Christian ethics should by all means be published as soon as possible, in the shape of a commentary upon such parts of scripture. It would, at least, possess the merit of originality; and we begin to suspect that we have hitherto been egregiously in the dark as to their true meaning. In the first place, then, to shew Milton's general idea of the manner in which justice ought to be administered; an idea which his party were never behind in putting into practice.

"He goes on, therefore, with vehemence to repeat the mischiefs done at these tumults; they first petitioned, then protested; dictate next, and lastly overawe the parliament. They removed obstructions, they purged the houses, they cast out rotten members. If there were a man of iron, such as Talus by our poet Spencer is feigned to be, the page of justice, who with his iron flail could do all this, and expeditiously, without those deceitful forms and circumstances of law, worse than ceremonies in religion; I say, God send it done, whether by one Talus, or a thousand Iconoclastes.' What is intended by the allegorical Talus, we are not left a moment in doubt, since Milton at once proceeds to interpret it, in opposition, we imagine, to Spencer, as symbolical of the people; and, after this undisguised advocacy of club law, a very excellent and summary method of justice, by the bye, which we here submit to the patriotic Christian, as perfectly scriptural; and the more to be admired, since it is recommended by one who, as Mr. Fletcher states, in meekness possessed his soul, we are not at all surprised at the following passage:

"To give account to royalists what was done with their vanquished king, yielded up into our hands, is not be expected from them whom God hath made his conquerors."

No doubt, Milton found it difficult enough to give any satisfactory account of so infamous a transaction. But let us proceed to notice his eminent talents in vilifying the dead, in his vituperation of Charles, which, besides laying the crimes of parricide, hypocrisy, sensuality, and a cruelty surpassing that of the worst of tyrants, to his charge, certainly does not contain any great quantity of insult!

"But, saith he, as swine are to gardens, so are tumults to parliaments.' This the parliament, if they had found it so, could have told us. In the mean while, who knows not that one great hog, (Charles,) may do as much mischief in a garden as many little swine."- Iconoclastes.

"Neither is it slightly to be passed over, that in the very place where blood was first drawn in this cause, at the beginning of all that followed, there was his own blood shed by the executioner, according to that sentence of divine justice, In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, shall dogs lick thy blood, even thine.""-Ibid.

6

"Thus had this miserable man no worse enemies to solicit and mature his own destruction, than the obdurate curses which proceeded against himself out of his own mouth."-Ibid.

"The curse is an appropriation of the prayer of David, Let thine anger, I beseech thee, be against me, and against my father's house; as for these sheep, what have they done?"

"Hitherto his meditations, now his vows, which as the vows of hypocrites used to be, are most commonly absurd, and some wicked."- Ibid.

"After the suspected poisoning of his father, not inquired into, but smothered up, and him protected and advanced to the very half of his kingdom, who was accused in parliament to be the author of the fact, with much more evidence than Duke Dudley, that false protector, is accused upon record to have poisoned Edward," &c.-Ibid.

"But the king and his party having lost in this quarrel their heaven upon earth, begin to make great reckonings of eternal life; and at an easy rate, in formá pauperis, canonize one another into heaven-he them, in his book; they him, in the portraiture before his book: but, as it was said before, stagework will not do it, much less the justness of their cause, wherein most frequently they died in a brutish fierceness, with oaths and other damning words in their mouths, as if such had been the only oaths they fought for, which undoubtedly sent them full sail on another voyage thun to heaven."

Very facetious certainly, and, if true, an unquestionable ground for jesting and exultation to the patriotic Christian!

We

The whole of the twelfth chapter of the Iconoclastes is devoted to the purpose of proving the atrocious and merciless massacres in Ireland, to have taken place by the authority of Charles. As extracts upon this subject would make it necessary to exceed our usual space, we may be excused from quoting Milton's own words. may observe, however, that a more rancorous falsehood was never invented; and yet the monarch is in no wise insulted! But the best comment upon the more covert accusations contained in the Iconoclastes, is to be found in the Defensio Populi, which we proceed to quote in preference to the former work, as in it Milton's republican fury, increased by opposition, blazes beyond all bounds at the cost of every one differing from himself in opinion. We recommend the concluding paragraphs addressed to Salmasius, (with which our notice for the present number will be closed,) to the most attentive consideration of christian men, as models of meekness, sobriety, decency, and good-will towards our opponents.

"What you ascribe to the barbarous cruelty of the English, proceeded rather

from their clemency and moderation, and as such deserves commendation; who, though the being a tyrant is a crime that comprehends all sorts of enormities, such as robberies, treasons, and rebellions against the whole nation, yet were contented to inflict no greater punishment upon him for being so, than they used of course to do upon any common highwayman or ordinary traitor."-Def. pro Pop. An.

"Since therefore, the law is chiefly right reason, if we are bound to obey a king, or a minister of God, by the very same reason, and the very same law, we ought to resist a tyrant, and a minister of the devil."Def. pro Pop.

"I will be content to pass by in silence that part of his life that he spent in banqueting, at plays, and in the conversation of women, (vitam inter fœminarum greges dilapsam,) for what can there be in luxury and excess worth relating? And what could those things have been to us, if he had been a private person? But since he would be a king, as he could not live a private life, so neither could his vices be like a private person. For, in the first place, he did a great deal of mischief by his example: in the second place, all that time that he spent upon his lust and his sports, which was a great part of his time, he stole from the state, the government of which he had undertaken: thirdly, and lastly, he squandered away vast sums of money, which were not his own, but the public revenue of the nation, in his domestic luxury and extravagance. So that in his private life at home, he first begun to be an ill king. But let us rather pass over to those crimes that he is charged with, on the account of misgovernment. Here you lament his being condemned as a tyrant, a traitor, and a murderer. That he had no wrong done him shall now be made appear. Though you scorn to have Charles compared to so cruel a tyrant as Nero; he resembled him extremely much.

“And, finally, I suppose no man will deny that he was a murderer, by whose order the Irish took arms, and put to death with most exquisite torments above a hundred thousand English, who lived peaceably by them, and without any apprehension of danger."— Ibid.

"All this is to be imputed to Charles, not to us, who first raised an army of Irishmen against us, who, by his own warrant, authorised the Irish nation to conspire against the English; who by their means slew Two hundred thousand, (eleven, Hal, I told thee eleven,) in the province of Ulster, besides what numbers were slain in 2D. SERIES, No. 38.-VOL. IV.

other parts of that kingdom; who solicited two armies towards the destruction of the parliament of England, and the city of London; and did many other actions of hostility before the parliament and people had listed one soldier for the preservation and defence of the government."— Ibid.

"This itch of yours in making similitudes, enforces me to rectify you, whether I will or no. I will let you see how like King Charles was to Nero. Nero, you say, commanded his own mother to be run through with a sword. But Charles murdered his own father and prince, and that too by poison. For, to omit other evidences, he that would not suffer a duke that was accused for it, to come to his trial, must needs have been guilty of it himself. Nero slew many thousands of Christians, but Charles slew many more."-Def. Pop.

Splendide mendax! Milton must have known the falsehood of such an abominable calumny. And with respect to the latter charge, how many thousands did Cromwell slay at Drogheda? at Dunbar? or in rearing what Milton blasphemously calls "God's trophies," at Worcester. But we proceed.

"If you say Charles died as he lived, I agree with you; if you say that he died piously, holily, and at ease, you may remember that his grandmother, Mary Queen of Scots, an infamous woman, (Milton cannot be content with aspersing with his venom one generation alone,) died

1

on the scaffold with as much outward appearance of piety, sanctity, and constancy as he did. And lest you should ascribe too much to that presence of mind which some common malefactors have so great a measure of at their death; many times, despair and a hardened heart puts on, as it were, a vigour of courage and stupi dity, a show of quiet and tranquillity of mind sometimes the worst of men desire to appear good, undaunted, innocent, and now and then religious, not only in this life, but at their death; and in suffering death for their villanies, use to act the last part of their hyprocrisy and cheats with all the show imaginable, and, like bad poets or stageplayers, are very ambitious of being clapped at the end of the play."-Def. pro Pop.

Perhaps the reader has had enough of Milton's skill in ringing the changes upon the epithets of tyrant and murderer. Let us turn, therefore, to his Christian-like language to his antagonist.

"Now you begin to be personally concerned. Gallus gallinaceus, a cock," say you," has both cocks and hens under him. How can that be, since you yourself that are Gallus, and but too much gallinace 182.-VOL.

M

by report, cannot govern your own single hen, but let her govern you-so that if a gallinaceus be a king over many hens, you that are a slave to one, must own yourself not to be so good as a gallinaceus, but some stercorarius gallus, some dung-hill cock or other. For matter of books, there is no one publishes higher dunghills than you, et gallicinio tuo stercorio omnes obtundis : hoc unicum galli gallinacei habes."--Def. pro Pop. An.

"Thou jailbird of a knight, thou dayspirit, thou most everlasting scandal to thy native country! The most despicable slaves in the world ought to abhor and spit upon such a factor for slavery, such a public pander as thou art."-Def. pro Pop. An.

"You are not Eurylochus, but Elpenor, a miserable enchanted beast, a filthy swine, accustomed to a sordid slavery even under a woman."-Ibid.

"And, therefore, St. Lupus despises thee, the master not of a holy he-wolf, but of some hunger-starved thieving little wolf or other, as being more contemptible than that master of vipers, of whom Martial makes mention, who hast by relation, a barking she-wolf, at home too, that domineers over thee most wretchedly; at whose instigations, as I am informed, thou hast wrote this stuff. Be, therefore, in the name of God, the master of a wolf, lest a she-wolf be thy mistress; be a wolf thyself, be a monster made up of a man and a wolf; whatever thou art, the English mastiffs will but make a laughing-stock of thee."-Ibid

"Were you asked by Charles the younger, and that profligate gang of vagabond courtiers, and like a second Balaam called upon by another Balak, to restore a desperate cause by ill-writing, that was lost by ill-fighting? That may be, but with this difference, for he was a wise understanding man, and rid upon an ass that could speak, to curse the people of God: thou art a talkative ass thyself, and rid by a woman. And being surrounded by the heated heads of the bishops, thou seemest to represent that beast in the Revelation. But they say that after you had written this book, you repented of what you had done. It is well if it be so: and to make your repentance public, I think the best course you can take will be, for this long book that you have writ, take a halter, and make one long letter of yourself. So Judas Iscariot repented, to whom you are like; and that young Charles knew, which made him send you the purse, Judas his badge; for he had heard before, and found afterward by experience, that you were

an

now

apostate and a devil. Judas betrayed Christ himself: and you betray his church, you have taught heretofore that bishops were anti-christian, and you are revolted to their party. You now undertake the defence of their cause, whom formerly you damned to the pit of hell. Christ delivered all men from bondage, and you endeavour to enslave all mankind. Never question, since you have been such a villain to God himself, his church, and all mankind, but that the same fate attends you that befell your equal, out of despair rather than repentance, to be weary of your life, and to hang yourself, and to burst asunder as he did; and to send beforehand, that faithless and treacherous conscience of yours, that railing conscience at good and holy men, to that place of torment that is prepared for you. And now, I think, through God's assistance! I have finished the work I undertook."

REVIEW. -- Outline of the Plan of a Proposed Colony, to be founded on the South Coast of Australia ; with an Account of the Soil, Climate, Rivers, &c. with Maps. Ridgway and Sons, Piccadilly. London. 1834.

THE formation of a new colony by Englishmen, is a subject well calculated to awaken a deep and lively interest. It is in effect sowing the seed of a great and extended empire,-laying the foundation of a new nation, in which the religion, the language, the institutions, and the manners of the northern country, will exist, and will exercise an influence upon the destiny of unborn millions. Upon the soil in which this seed is sown, and the plan adopted in order to raise it to maturity, will depend its healthy growth, and the nature of the results which flow from its planting; and according as these are well or ill suited to the purpose, we may expect a prosperous and moral, or a poor and dissolute people. When, therefore, a new colony is to be founded, these circumstances demand the severest scrutiny on the part of all those interested in its welfare, either immediately, or from a general desire for the happiness and virtue of mankind.

The condition of England at the present time, in reference to the amount of unemployed capital and labour at home-and of her colonies, in reference to the field which they offer for the employment of this capital and labour--is such as to draw attention to such a project. There are comparatively few individuals who do not

find that the means of profitably employing either their capital or their labour, are every day diminishing, while the profit upon their employment becomes less. Competition is constantly narrowing the trade of each individual, and at the same time reducing the amount of his profit. First one article, and then another, becomes the subject of an effort to increase the amount of business transacted, by a reduction in its price, until at last all are sold at a rate which barely affords to the fair tradesman a remunerating profit. Accumulation, therefore, becomes impossible, except to the holders of large capitals; and the number of small capitalists is constantly reduced to the required amount, by the failure of those possessed of the least degree of prudence and frugality. Under such a state of things it is not a matter of wonder that many leave this country for others, where capital, instead of being in excess, is among the chief objects in demand; and seek in the United States, or in the British colonies, that reward for their exertions which here they have found it impossible to obtain.

But it may be truly stated, that to persons thus circumstanced, there does not exist any country to which they can resort, without enduring privations and inconveniences, which form no inconsiderable deduction from the advantages which they may ultimately reap. The Englishman who settles in the United States, becomes by that act an alien and possibly an enemy to the country which has been the land of his birth, and the home of his ancestors; and is, probably still, the residence of those in whose welfare he is, next to that of his own children, most deeply interested. He will also almost uniformly be disgusted with manners which are totally opposed to every thing to which he has been accustomed, and which are at variance with all his feelings and habits. If, on the other hand, he should settle in Canada, there is thedis advantage of an ungenial climate; the possible exposure to the evils of war in the event of a rupture with America; the the deprivation of society, and a difficulty in employing the capital which he may possess, in consequence of the want of labourers to perform the different works in which it might be invested. With regard to the penal settlements in Australia, though there he would find a genial cli mate, and might also possess many advantages which Canada cannot offer; he would be able to obtain no labourers but such as had been convicts; and his children would, therefore, necessarily grow up exposed to the corrupting influence of this depraved

class. The colonies of the Swan River and the Cape demand no notice; the latter on account of the existence of slavery; and the former because, owing to the preposterous regulations which were adopted for its management in the first instance, years must elapse before it can become prosperous, if, indeed, it be not doomed to a speedy extinction. It thus appears that, though the circumstances of England, at present, be such as to force out many persons who have no prospect at home but total ruin, there is no place to which they can direct their steps without many very serious drawbacks upon their anticipated prosperity, and that therefore there is room for another colony.

There is a plan now in agitation for the foundation of a colony upon the south coast of Australia, on principles which, in the opinion of its promoters, will not only ensure its ultimate success, but will prevent its passing through that period of weakness and of suffering which every modern colony has hitherto encountered; and will also prevent the existence of any of those circumstances to which we have adverted, as countervailing in some degree the advantages which other colonies offer. This, which in the pamphlet before us, published by the provisional committee, is claimed as the result of their plan, is an assumption, upon the correctness of which we do not pretend to decide; but claims of such a nature, supported by reasons of certainly some weight, and put forth by the respectable gentlemen of whom that committee is composed, deserve some notice. We shall therefore lay before our readers a concise statement of the grounds upon which these expectations are based.

The first point to which the attention of every body would be naturally directed, is the quality of the soil of the proposed site of the colony. Upon this point, the committee have published a body of evidence; all, they state, which can be collected upon the subject. We will content ourselves with quoting two paragraphs from their pamphlet,- -one containing some general reasoning upon the subject, the other extracted from the work of Captain Strut, by whom the nost interesting feature of the geography of Australia has been discovered, viz. the river Murray, which, from its source near Lake St. George, to its mouth in Encounter Bay, runs more than one thousand miles, and is navigable for more than onethird of that distance.

"With regard to the soil of the colony, there does not appear any reason for supposing that the immediate coast differs in any great degree from