nation's riches; and it was feared, not without some substantial grounds, that the English people might be disposed to read the same lesson, in equally expressive terms, to some of their own princes, the catastrophe of which might close in the same manner as had been exhibited in France. An immediate adjustment of the bonds was certainly the most efficient method of stifling the clamour of the claimants; but, although advisable in one point of view, it was attended in another with the greatest danger and embarrassment to the parties concerned; for, on the return of the claimants to the continent, rejoicing in the success of their application, the whole host of the holders would tread in the same steps, and repair instantly to England to substantiate their claim upon the royal Princes. In the mean time, the claimants then in the country shewed by their proceedings that the threat of an appeal to the laws was not an idle breath; and it was judged neccessary and higly politic that an immediate stop should be put to them. Accordingly, without a single moment's notice, the whole of the claimants were taken up under the Alien Act, and being put on board a vessel in the Thames, it set sail immediately for Holland; but, for a particular purpose, it cast anchor at the Nore, under pretence of waiting for the necessary papers from, the Secretary of State's office.

And here begins the gravamen of the charge which we make against the constituted authorities of this country, in the commission of an act which might have been tolerated under the tyranny of a Nero, or the ferocious despotism of a Russian autocrat. The charge is one dark and dreadful;-dark in the secrecy and mystery which still hangs over the transaction;— dreadful as it implies the commission of an act which could only have been engendered in the head of a fiend, and which the hands of fiends could alone have executed. We know not on what head to attach the enormity of the crime; but for the sake of the country which could have nurtured such a head in its bosom, we should hail an official and authentic denial of the fact, as the happy removal of a stain upon its character,

which now adheres to it with the most obstinate tenacity, extending in its inflictions to the very highest quarters, and implicating individuals in the estimation of foreign nations, which were heretofore accustomed to regard the British character as a compound of all that was noble and dignified in human

nature.

It was openly declared in a certain quarter, that the act was one of mere accident-one of those casualties against which no human foresight could prevail. But it is not customary to throw the veil of secrecy and mystery over a mere accident; for where an evident desire of concealment is manifested, there is generally something more than accident or casualty behind. The particulars of the tragical catastrophe were known but to few; and it was not the interest of those few to divulge all they knew upon the subject. Rumour, which is generally very busy on occasions of this kind, obtained but a very partial insight into the affair; but still such a sufficiency was gathered as to sanction and confirm the suspicion, that accident had very little to do in the affair, but that the whole was a deep-laid, diabolical plan to prevent the unfortunate holders of the bonds from giving any further trouble on the score of their claims.

In some cases, presumptive evidence is as strong as positive proof, and it were natural to presume that the crew of the vessel in which the bondholders were embarked must have had some very powerful reasons for taking to their boat at night, and landing on the nearest shore but most extraordinary it was that, before they reached it, not a vestige of the vessel which they had just left was discernible above water-it had sunk, and every soul on board perished. If accident had any share in this catastrophe, it must be attributed to a Power which distributes the evil and the good in this world according to its own wise and inscrutable dispensations; but if it sprang from premeditation and design, on the head of man let the whole weight of the ignominy rest; and when the day of retribution comes, the spirits of the victims will rise from the deep, the hour of vengeance is arrived, and woe to those on whom its weight may fall!

Speaking finally of these bonds, it was a question of no trifling import to his late Majesty, how far his liability extended to the liquidation of those which were still outstanding, and for which no provision had been made by either of his royal brothers deceased. The validity of the documents had been repeatedly acknowledged, either by payment in full, or by compromise; and as several of the bonds appeared so late as 1829, it is not improbable that many others are still in existence, the payment of which might have been demanded, and which must have fallen solely on his late Majesty. It may be important to remark, that when the question of the payment of the Prince of Wales' debts was agitated in parliament, shortly after his marriage, it was stated by the Duke of Clarence, that this foreign loan was put a stop to by the Secretary of State. We have fully exposed the particular measures which that minister adopted for effecting the end in view.

CHAPTER IV.

THE French Revolution, an event in comparison with which all the revolutions of states and empires recorded in the annals of history sre insignificant, was at this period in full activity, and although the details of the circumstances which led to that great occurrence, must be sought in the History of France, yet it has in such an especial manner influenced the state of these kingdoms, that some notice of it is absolutely necessary. Human affairs are generally gradual in their progress, from infancy to perfect maturity, but the Revolution in France resembled the shock of an earthquake, or the eruption of a volcano; nothing could resist its impetuosity.

On the minds of the people of England the impression made by the passing events in France was various. The general opinion, however, was favourable to the Revolution, and even its most criminal excesses, seen through a distorting medium, were viewed by the multitude with a favourable aspect. Nor was this at all strange. Attachment to the British constitution naturally generates an abhorrence of despotism, under every possible form and shape; to this principle may, probably, be attributed the praise which many men of superior intellect, bestowed on what they considered the efforts of the French nation to shake off the shackles of tyranny, and to establish a new government, on the basis of civil liberty. But such men must have contemplated the Revolution in the abstract, and have looked to remote consequences, which their ardent imagination represented to them as certain, without descending to any minuteness of inquiry into the motives in which it originated, the means by which it was accomplished, or the effects which it actually produced. But while the love of freedom led many, certainly without due consideration, to admire the French Revolution, the admiration of others flowed

from a very different source-from a revolutionary ardour, and a fondness for innovation-which led them to look on all resistance to power as commendable, to confound revolt with liberty, and to convert conspirators into patriots. Amidst this general predilection for the new politics of France, there were some few who viewed them with horror, who considered the principles broached by the leading members of the National Assembly, and adopted by the majority, as striking at the very root of society; and who foresaw that those proceedings, instead of producing such a change in the condition of the French people, as every friend to rational and well-regulated freedom must desire, would bring forth the most calamitous consequences, and terminate either in popular anarchy, or in unqualified despotism. Amongst its most ardent admirers were an assembly of persons, who had associated themselves for the purpose of commemorating the British Revolution of 1668, of which Lord Stanhope was President. On the occasion of the anniversary meeting in 1789, one of the most distinguished members, Dr. Price, a dissenting minister, equally eminent for his talents and his zeal, strongly declared his admiration of the new principles which had been promulgated at Paris and Versailles; and the committee resolved to congratulate the members of the Society on the glorious success of the French Revolution, and to express their ardent wishes, "that the influence of so glorious an example may be felt by all mankind, until tyranny and despotism shall be swept from the face of the globe." The Doctor moved an address to the National Assembly of France, in which the Society offered to that assembly their congratulations on the revolution in that country, and on the prospects it gave to the two first kingdoms in the world, of a common participation in the blessings of civil and religious liberty. They expressed particular satisfaction with which they reflected on the tendency of the glorious example given in France, to encourage other nations to assist the inalienable rights of mankind, and thereby introduce a general reformation in the governments of Europe, and to make the world free and happy. The resolutions of their