NELSON when a malignant influence at court cast its cold shade upon even NELSON's merits-he was ever prone to render service to those, who had distinguished themselves in the defence of the country he loved. This was true patriotism. Its pure flame burned in his heart in old age as in the season of youth. Time could not chill, nor sickness and infirmity quench it. * The homage of the heart so generally offered to our late lamented Sovereign, ought to afford great encouragement to his successors to act as he did, in discharging with sincerity and decision the duties cast upon a Constitutional Monarch. He gave reform to the people because the Constitution required a real representation, and reform only reduced the theory into practice. He withstood the attempt to destroy the independence of the House of Lords, because that independence is essential to our Constitutional system, which must otherwise sink into a wild democracy. He maintained an inviolable fidelity to the Church, because he appreciated the purity of its faith, and the beneficial effects of its influence through all the classes of society. Herein, also, he as faithfully observed the obligation of his coronation oath, as in administering justice in mercy. The description of the funeral ceremonies remind us of the following lines of Sir Walter SCOTT, in the poem of "Helvellyn :" When a Prince to the fate of the Peasant has yielded, And pages stand mute by the canopied pall: In the courts, at deep midnight, the torches are gleaming; "fallen," and one who is Let kings know that the A "CHIEF of the people" has indeed truly, because deservedly, lamented. source of his influence over the mind and feelings of his subjects was that unaffected kindliness of disposition, which caused him to break through the repulsive and chilling formalities of regal pomp and ceremony, to mingle with the common sympa. thies of mankind. Let them know that clemency stood by his throne that charity, warm-hearted and ever-active, accompa nied him wherever he went-that "the blessing of him that was ready to perish, came upon him"-that his hope, his pride, was to see the land prosperous and the people happy, and to transmit, unimpaired, to posterity that inestimable treasure of Constitutional Freedom, which is the inheritance of Englishmen. Therefore the shadows of death, which rested upon the mournful scene beneath Windsor's towers on Saturday, cast their gloom over every city, village, and hamlet in the kingdom, nowhere producing a more chilling sense of public bereavement than throughout this great metropolis, where rich and poor, high and low, mourned as for a father or a friend, making the day when the remains of WILLIAM IV. were committed to the mausoleum of England's monarchs-a day of national affliction and sorrow. With the tears of the illustrious and bereaved Partner of his Throne-his inspirer and companion in every humane and charitable work—the sympathies of the nation, to which her virtues have given a bright example, shall unaffectedly mingle. If any thing can console the royal sufferer for her irreparable loss, it is the universal expression of the public sorrow, which shows in what affectionate regard the memory of that Sovereign is held, of whose public and domestic life she was the solace and the ornament, and for whose preservation she would cheerfully have sacrificed her own existence. QUEEN VICTORIA's Entry into the City.-Nov. 10, 1837. * * THE spectacle which London presented yesterday, was, indeed, a splendid and interesting one. We speak not of the scenic effect of the decorated streets, or the pouring forth of the countless multitudes upon the line of the royal progress, though that was grand. We speak not of the pageantry of the royal procession, though that was magnificent; and, as to the fured ermine, gold chains, velvet gowns, and equestrian caparisons of civic knights and chivalrous aldermen, we leave them to be adequately described by more fitting historians. It was the unanimity of warm, unforced, enthusiastic sentiment on the part of the vast population that thronged to witness the entry of the QUEEN into the metropolis of her empire, which constituted next to the presence of Majesty-the great charm of the spectacle, and gave it a moral, and we may add, a sublime interest. Guards, to do honour to the state of royalty, and to give additional brilliancy to the pageant, were there; but never were guards, for any purpose, less required. What defence needed our maiden QUEEN within that rampart of free people, who were ready to defend her throne and her right against a world in arms? Forcibly were we reminded of that beautiful incident in the life of ELIZABETH, when, in answer to the Spanish ambassador, who inquired, "Where were her guards,”—she pointed to the people (who thronged to do homage to their glorious QUEEN), and exclaimed, “Behold the guards of the Crown of England!" The legions of "guards," not clothed in the livery of the camp, that attended VICTORIA yesterday were numerous, and not less loyal and devoted than those with which her great predecessor, ELIZABTEH, was surrounded. May her reign be equally distinguished for the maintenance of those enlightened and protestant principles, which have given England its proud pre-eminence in freedom and civilization among the nations. May her reign be equally glorious for her people, and more happy for herself! * Such scenes we owe to the great blessing which this country, under PROVIDENCE, enjoys, of an undisputed title to the Crown. Long may England possess that blessing, and be grateful to the SUPREME DISPOSER of events for the public peace, security, and happiness, with which it is accompanied. On HER MAJESTY's first Speech to her Parliament.— A MORNING Contemporary lately quoted a passage from the speech delivered (before the late general election) by Lord John RUSSELL, to his constituents at Stroud,-in reference to that part of the QUEEN's speech on proroguing parliament, in which her MAJESTY alluded to the mitigation of the severity of the criminal law, as an auspicious commencement of her reign. The passage is as follows: "It was much remarked when her Majesty delivered her gracious speech from the Throne, upon the occasion of the prorogation of the late parliament, that when she came to that part of the speech, in which she declared that she hoped the mitigation of the severity of the criminal-law would be an auspicious commencement of her reign, she threw aside, as it were, the copy of the speech from which she was reading, and spoke the words without reference to the written paper, in a way and with an emphasis which showed that they came truly from the heart." * We have no doubt that our young and amiable QUEEN spoke the native and genuine feelings of her heart, when she uttered the sentiments of mercy which graced what was, in a twofold sense, her "maiden speech" to the assembled parliament. In marking with her august approbation the principle of clemency, as an active element in legislation, VICTORIA produced an extraordinary impression upon the minds of those who heard her, because she spoke the language of a sincere and sensitive nature, and trusted less to the artificial grace of studied elocution, than to the charm of truth. The godlike attribute of mercy, "which becomes the sceptered monarch better than his crown," she spoke of as she felt it, and in a manner likely to make others feel. To us the spectacle of a young and lovely girl, crowned with the imperial laurel of one of earth's mightiest monarchies, addressing the assembled estates of her realm, and teaching them how to value mercy in the exercise of power, has something in it touchingly beautiful and impressively grand. * For our part, we have never argued in favour of such a reform as the public demand and must obtain, on the ground of expediency alone. If we were to rely upon that ground, as some do, the statistics of punishment and crime, as they appear on record in this and various other countries of Europe, would irresistibly establish our case; but we see in these statistical proofs only the practical acknowledgment of the incapacity of princes and parliaments to legislate against the Divine command, without evincing in the failure of their laws the folly of their pretensions, and the impotence of their power. We have denied the right, which the legislature assumes, of enacting the punishment of death for any offence which it pleases -in its contemptuous disregard of the Sixth Commandment. We are glad to observe that in a recent speech, delivered at a public meeting by Earl FITZWILLIAM, the same high ground is taken. * * * "With one exception, (said his lordship) I entertain great doubts whether men have any right to take the lives of their fellow-men, for what they please to constitute a capital offence. And I never can understand the reason upon which a community, which, after all, is only a collection. of individuals, is invested with a right, which individuals themselves have not. I cannot understand, that the taking away of life being prohibited by the law of GOD, upon what ground and upon what principle it can accrue to the community."— Let us remind the public, that the proposition to restrict capital punishment to cases of actual murder, was defeated by a majority of only one last session,† notwithstanding the strenuous exertions of her Majesty's ministers, and their law officers, to retain upon the statute book laws which are equally opposed to what reason teaches, and DIVINE WISDOM commands. Exclusion of Lord BYRON's Statue from Westminster Abbey.Aug. 23, 1838. HAVING stated our opinion fully upon the propriety of the refusal, by the Dean and Chapter, to allow the statue of the author of "Don Juan" to be placed in Westminster Abbey, we need not go farther into that question at present, inasmuch as our arguments remain unanswered. But, incidental to the main question, a point of debate has arisen touching the poetic merits of Lord BYRON, respecting which we cannot avoid making a few observations. * * We think the justifiable, and all-sufficient ground for refusing his statue a place in the temple of our holy religion, is, that the poet prostituted his great talents to the ignoble service of the sceptic school, and threw a dangerous fascination around doctrines detrimental to man's eternal interests. We want no other reason than this, to justify Dean IRELAND in the course which he has adopted. If this does not afford a full and satis[t See p. 258.] |