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    . . x . i i .-n . thev could possibly act : —that of attempting to put down therefore , m t ^ . ^ fP ^ r ^ ich manifested their baneful influence , at certain particular and "g £ *^ 2 g ^ J £ bRespective countries . ¦ ^ SE ^****** reader ' s consideration on the same sub-^ V"Z » in nreceding chapter , referred to the influence of the writing of the ^^ S ^ BS ' ^ SSSSS ? ggsfe-arSESSSSS s S fiS P S ^ t ^ sfmanifited In their synods and councils ; the inquiries and investi gations , gSeBSBSSSSEKIJSs ? of

    Kese and * aXu ^ nl'lourTes influence , gradually drew civU power into relisSfeJM ss ^ ss ^ strti = ^ h ^ es ^^^ of JW . thority , was , then originally ^ almost necessVy result of Christian influence on heathen ' % *^ £ & ™* ment It was the embodiment of the protests , appeals , rights , and privileges which SdOhflb 2 ? oat of the struggle Christianity had to make for some centuries against Wand firmly-established systems of political misrule and oppression . The more widely the gospel scheme became extended , the more political power and influence it ™ nfe £ ed upon * hose who were the delegated instruments of guiding and directing its public movements and concerns . The active and stirring members of the Church had religious constituencies , augmenting in number and authority year after year ; and ^ gradually increasing power sapped the foundation of the old bulwarks of cml JoKt ^ and made them yield to the remonstrances and , moral force of these zealous and rational innovators . The clergy arid their flocks were , in fact , a Christian republic , Sounded on a novel set of political principles , rising into authority and independence amidst the mass of barbaric and heterogeneous elements , which the old civilisation of

    the world presented . ' Mr Blakey gives a pretty full account of the anti-papal movement , which was much more potent and significant in the early ages of our modern history than is generally supposed . After speaking of early political satires , he gives the following summary of the views on this subject of the late distinguished . Signor Kossetti ,- ^ hose-theories on the political significance of early Italian literature have excited , during the last thirty years , much attention : — ~ There has beerua good deal of light thrown in recent times , on the general question as to the allegorical character of the chief Italian poets of the fourteenth century by the publication of Signbr Rossetti ' s works . He has with great learning-and candour devoted many years to the consideration of the subject . The general conclusions to which he has arrived , relative to the double or political meaning of these poetical effusions be statedfrom his own work , in the following terms .

    , may , The greater part of these literary productions , hitherto looked upon as mere works of amusement , as romances , love verses , or even formal and ponderous treatises , are writings which embody certain hidden doctrines and mysterious rites , transmitted from early ages ; and that these portions of their contents , bearing the appearance of fantastic fables , contain a mass of unknown history , expressed in particular symbolical characters or terms , calculated to preserve the memory of the secret labours of our ancestors . The obscurity which pervades these works is remarkable , and purposely effected by profound study . ' The most eminent literary men of various ages and languages in Europewere pupils in this mysterious school , which , never losing sight of

    , its principal object , sought out distinguished talents in order to induce their possessors to co-operate in the bold design . The modern civilisation , or political progress of European states , is mainly attributable to the incessant labours of this school , which produced a vast number of works fitted for the instruction of nations , and for preparing the public mind for great changes and events . It was chiefly by the unwearied activity , and innumerable proselytes of this school of reform , that the seeds of a deep hatred against Rome were disseminated throughout Europe for many centuries , which prepared the way for that explosion of opinion and doctrine which shook the Vatican to its centre , and ushered in the Reformation in the several countries of Christendom .

    The foregoing passages are from the first volume . In the second our author sketches the history of political writing from the year 1400 to the year 1700 , beyond which the prebent volumes do not extend . He adopts the same plan here that he did in his Philosophy , giving ^ brief summaries of the systems of the various men , with the dates of their lives and labours . This plan gives the work , at all events , the utility of a handbook , to which the general reader may refer occasionally , when he would learn the place of a political writer in the history of his science . We extract the following , because it is by no means generally known how important a place the Treatise of Buchanan ' s holds in literature *—though Dryden , by the way , has had the liberality to indicate Milton ' s obligations to its author : ¦—George ; Buchanan . — " De Jure Regni apud Scotos . " This work of Buchanan ' s is worthy of especial notice , for the bold political statements it contains . It made a deep impression upon the political mind of Europe , at the time of its first appearance . The leading object of the work is , to show that the royal authority of every country ia derived from the people ; and that if kings and rulers do not perform their duty , but act falsely to tbe nation , they may be deposed and killed .

    Buchanan says , in reference to his book , " De Juro Regni , " " I have deemed this publication expedient that it may at once testify my zeal for your service , and admonish you of your duty to the community . . . . Yet I am compelled to entertain some slight degree of suspicion , least evil communication , the alluring nurse of the vices , should . lend an unhappy impulse to your tender mind ; especially as I am not ignorant with what facility the external senses yield to seduction . I have , therefore , sent you this treatise not only as an advice , but even as an importunate , and somewhat impudent , exhorter , to direct you at this critical period of life , safely past the dangerous rocks of adulation ; not merely to point out the path , but to keep to it ; and If you , should dGviate , to reprove and reclaim your wanderings ; whiqh monitor if you obey , you will ensure tranquillity to yourself and your family , and transmit your glory to the most remote posterity . " Buchanan ' s work ia written in the form of a dialogue ; and in that portion of it devoted to the consideration of the origin and nature of government , we find the

    following passage : — » B . Is there , then , a mutual compact king the p 2 ? M . Thus it seems . B . Does not he who first violates the compact and doe ? anything against his own stipulations , break his agreement ? M . He does . B . s ^ H ^ -rsyfis- iWS ^ s £ > T * ^^^^^^^^^^ X ^ i ^ who his inflicted heavy and intolerable injuries upon us ? M . There is . B . mat S the nature of a war against the enemy of all mankind , that ia , against a tyrant ? M NoneSn be more jfst . B . Is it not lawful in a war just commenced , not only for the whole people , but for any single person to kill an enemy ? M . Itmust be confessed B What , then , shall we say of a tyrant , a public enemy , with whom all goodmen are in eternal warfare ? May not any one of all mankind inflict on him < my nenaltv of war ? M . I observe that all nations have been of that opinion ; for Theba E , eSoUed 7 o ? having killed her husband , and Timoleon for his brother ' s , and Cassius

    " trimporSuce of Buchanan ' political works generally , Sir James Mackintosh remarks " The science Which teaches the rights of man , the eloquence whichkindles thHpirit of freedom , had for ages been buried with the other monuments of the wisdom S relics of the genius of antiquity . But the revival of letters first ^ unlocked only to a few the sacred fountain . The necessary labours of cnUcism and lexicography occupied the earlier scholars , and some tune elapsed before the spirit of antiquity was transfused into their admirers . The first man of that period , who united eSnt learning to original and masculine thought , was Buchanan ; and he , too , sSmstoTv ? been the first scholar who caught from the anciente the noble flame of rSnean enthusiasm . This praise is merited by his neglected thoughuicomparable tract ' De Jure Regni , ' in which the principles of popular politics , and the maxims of a free government , Ire delivered with a precision , and enforced with an energy , which no former age had equalled , and no succeeding has surpassed . Mr . blakey should have given us the date of the De Jure , &c . It was

    published in 1579 . . i «•• i Mr . Blakey does not , we observe , give every writer his fair proportional space , according to his literary importance . Algernon Sidney has only halt a page—less than the eccentric John Gilburne . Jeremy Taylor has but a paragraph—though the Liberty of Prophesying deserves much more . Mr . Blakey , too , should have been much fuller in pointing out the difference between " Republicanism , " as it was conceived by the Sidneys and Miltons , and what is now called " Republicanism" in Europe . It is just his deficiency in such points as this which prevents us from being able to pronounce his book a hig h- ^ lass one-r-though , let us repeat , we respect his intentions and his industry , andthink that he deserves credit for selecting a . supject so much in need of illustration . We shall conclude with a paragraph , which we do not insert because it has a tendency to magnif y our office of journalists , but because it really contains what is substantially true—though expressed somewhat magniloquently : — . . _ >

    And here we shall take the liberty . of making a remark or two on the political writers of our own country , to whom we are , at this hour , under such weighty obligations . We are apt , as a nation , it has been often said , to set a high value on our literary labours , in almost every department of human inquiry ; and not , perhaps , without some good grounds for this national partiality . But making due allowance for whatever may be overcharged in our estimates on this point , we think it will not be denied by any qualified to sit in judgment on the question , that the political literature of Great Britain , taken as a whole , and for the three centuries now under

    consideration , is superior to that of any other country . It is more varied in its character , more profound and searching in its inquiries , more systematically arranged , and more copiously and elegantly illustrated , than anything we can find in the other countries of Eurbpe . IF dislplays a " m ^ we can recognise elsewhere . Take the speculations of any one of the continental states , and contrast its political disquisitions with those of our own land , and we shall soon perceive the superiority of the latter in all that appertains to originality of conception , logical order , subtile analysis , and above all to the susceptibility of applying all political writing to the practical concerns of legislation and government .

    There was likewise a vigour , and a capacity for sustaining efforts , displayed in the English mind which ore not discernible in the political history of other nations . ¦ Indeed , when we contrast the personal courage , the lofty independence , the indomitable will , and the total disregard of consequences , when notions of duty were present , which stimulated the great majority of our writers to maintain their respective ideas of general polity , we cannot but see that they stand alone in the great theatre of political contention . They afford an interesting manifestation of the vast superiority of that national intellect , which is alike at home , whether in matters of theory or in practice . They have proved shining lights to all other nations . As a country we stand on a commanding eminence as cultivators' of political knowledge . The writers of England have stemmed the tide of intolerance and ignorance , and burst asunder the fetters which would have confined our minds as well as our bodies in hopeless subjection . The vindication of general liberty , and the preservation of everything valuable in society , have been the fruits of their pen . Amid the fierce controversies of the day , and the collision of intellects , they have invariably been guided by the loftiest ideas of personal freedom , and national independence .

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    A BATCH OF BOOKS . The History of British Guiana . By Henry G . Dalton , M . D . Longman . Robert Blake : Admiral and General at Sea . By Hepworth Dixon . Chapman and Hall . Detached Thoughts , Extractedfrom the Writings of Archbishop Whately . First Series . Blackadcr and Co Later Years . By the author of " The Old House by the River . " Sampson Low and Son * Studies from Nature . By Dr . Hermann Masius . Translated by Charles Boner . Chapman and HalL Talpa ; or , the Chronicles of a Clay Farm . By Chandos Wren Hoskyns , Esq . Third Edition . Lovell Reeve . The History of British Guiana is a book which must have cost the author vast labour , and which essentially deserves to bo classed among the useful works of modern literature . Doctor Dalton arrived at the tiolony , with the purpose of residing there , in the year 1842 . Naturally desirous to know something of the

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    between the and THE LEADER . [ Saturday , tst * ¦ ¦ - ^ ¦ . . . . , » . j * \

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 13, 1855, page 44, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2073/page/20/