intrigue preceded the open steps of mingled treachery and violence by which he made himself master of the royal family, is already familiar to all our readers. Unless where he states what is known to us from other sources, or what he substantiates by authentic documents, every thing said by Don Pedro Cevallos is to be received with distrust. The creature, for many long years, of the Prince of Peace; a minister of Ferdinand as soon as the Prince of Peace was disgraced; a minister of King Joseph Buonaparte as soon as Ferdinand was dethroned; the deserter of King Joseph when adverse affairs drove him from Madrid; this time-server merits no honest man's regard. Besides, his longwinded exposure teaches us little or nothing that we did not know before.

Of the three, Mr. Agg's performance is the most valuable; as it contains a pretty full and accurate collection of the historical facts relating to this great and unexpected movement. The second part of the pamphlet is employed in stating the probabilities that the Spaniards would ultimately triumph, and realize the glorious and desirable event of driving the French from their territories.

It would remain for us to offer our speculations upon the prospect of futurity. But before our work can be presented to the public, the question will in all probability be decided by the fact. Would to God, the sentiments which we suppress were more nearly allied to hope!

ART. XXXIV. The History of the Penal Laws against the Irish Catholics; from the Treaty of Limerick to the Union. pp. 211.

THIS is a very useful perform ance. The people of this country are, to a lamentable degree, unacquainted with the mode in which Ireland has been governed. The history of it should be presented to them in all forms, and in all portions, in order, as speedily as possible, and as completely as possible, to render them acquainted with the interesting subject. It is impossible for the attention of any country to be directed to a subject in a more remarkable manner involving its highest interests, than the reformation of the moral and political condition of Ireland presents in respect to Great Britain at the present moment. Ignorance, too, is the main

ART. XXXV. Brother Abraham's Answer

TO a performance both witty and sensible, Brother Abraham makes a reply which is neither the one nor the other. The attempt,

By HENRY PARNELL, Esq. M. P. 8vo.

cause why reformation is delayed. One very remarkable feature in the government of Ireland, Mr. Parnell has here delineated for us; it is one which peculiarly deserves our attention, at the present moment; and we hope that this historical sketch, supported by authentic documents, will meet with that universal perusal which it deserves. We could have wished to give an abstract, presenting the leading particulars. But even this would have carried us beyond our limits, and we are anxious to recommend the detail, in all its fuiness, to every one of our readers. We can assure them they will contemplate a striking and a remarkable picture.

to Peter Plymley, Esq. &c. &c. 8vo. pp. 41. however, gave us real pleasure; for such a cause ought always to receive such a supporter.

ART. XXXVI. A Letter to his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales: with a Sketch of the Prospect before him, Appendix and Notes. By W. A. MILES, Esq. 8vo. PP. 284.

ART. XXXVII. A Letter to W. A, Miles, Esq. containing some Observations on a Letter addressed by him to his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. By PHILOPOLITES. 8vo. pp. 32.

THE former of these pamphlets is a very singular performance. It is a severe censure upon the whole politics of his present majesty's reign, but especially upon that part of it which has elapsed since the year 1790. There is contained some secret history, which is not a little curious. But the most valuable part, perhaps, of the whole, is a considerable number of documents, communicated in the appendix, tending to throw light upon the history of the origin and causes of the war into which we were, in an

evil hour, precipitated with the French revolution. The author has given his name to statements, than which more remarkable have been seldom presented against their rulers to any people,

The latter of the productions, of which we have given the title above, is an affected, frivolous, thing. If the letter of Mr. Miles demanded an answer, as it certainly did, it is much to be lamented that it should have fallen into such incapable hands as those of Philopolites.

ART. XXXVIIII. Scotch Reform; considered, with Reference to the Plan, proposed in the late Parliament, for the Regulation of the Courts, and the Administration of Justice, in Scotland: with Illustrations from English Non-Reform; in the Course of which, divers Imperfections, Abuses, and Corruptions, in the Administration of Justice, with their Causes, are now, for the first Time, brought to Light. In a Se ries of Letters, addressed to the Right Hon. Lord Grenville, &c. &c. &c. with Tables, in which the principal Causes of factitious Complication, Delay, Vexation, and Expence, are distinguished from such as are natural and unavoidable. By JEREMY BENTHAM, of Lincoln's Inn, Esq. Barrister at Law. 8vo. pp. 100.

EVERY thing which comes from the pen or from the mind of Mr. Bentham is entitled to profound regard. Of all the men, in all ages, and in all countries, who have made the philosophy of law their study, he has made the greatest progress. If the vast additions which the science of legislation owes to him be hitherto little known to his countrymen, it is owing to the indigence of instruction among them, and to the infinite smallness of the number who take any interest in the most important inqui

ries.

To a profound knowledge of the general principles of law, Ms. Bentham adds an intimate acquaint ance with its practice, both in his own and other countries; and it abundantly appears that his study

of what law ought to be, has not made him a sharer in the admiration, so common among its professors, of what law is. As most of the articles of the reform, proposed by Lord Grenville to be incorporated with the Scotch system of law or of law procedure, were founded upon analogies with practices and forms of the English courts, it was necessary for Mr. Bentham, in shewing that these were not the reforms which would be good in Scotland, to prove that they were not regulations which were advantageous in England. From this he has been led into a criticism on the courts of law and the modes of administering justice in England, which forms a piece of the most important instruction which was ever laid before any nation.

The grievous delays and expence of our law proceedings have from an early period been a subject of universal complaint. Whoever is acquainted with English authors, from the revival of literature to the present day, will find the writers of every age vying with one another in execrating the practice of law, declaring such members of the community as are void of money to be virtually excluded from access to justice, and those who are rich enough to litigate, condemned to recover but the husk of what belongs to them, while the lawyers devour the kernel. The lawyers, however, have uniformly contended that all this delay and expence was unavoidable, and though an evil, was yet the cause that we escaped other far more enormous evils. As in human affairs unfortunately it most frequently happens, that whatever a powerful body are interested in maintaining, they too easily induce the credulous multitude to believe, so it has fared in the present instance; and a general opinion has long been pretty deeply impressed, that deplorable as are the evils attending our law practice, they are inherent in the thing, and though the price may be accounted high, we must be contented to pay it for the security which we enjoy.

among disinterested men will now set the question at rest, that of the delay, vexation, and expence, attending suits at law, a very small portion indeed is the work of necessity; by far the greater part is artificial, the mercenary work of the lawyers, contrived, accumulated and fortified during a series of ages, for the purpose of multiplying fees, and diminishing lawyers' trouble.

It is impossible to attempt an abridgement of this masterly production; for it is, in fact, itself an abridgement, and that a very condensed one. The author has set down rather the contents of chapters, than fully developed the mass of ideas which he brings forward. It is for this reason that the book assumes, to ordinary readers, a forbidding aspect, that the style appears obscure and crabbed; though it so often displays a picturesque force worthy of Milton himself, and a satirical poignancy which Montesquieu might envy.

The first letter is chiefly occupied in presenting a picture of the law of procedure, that is, the plan established for conducting processes at law. This, as it has been moulded by the lawyers, Mr. Bentham denominates technical procedure. This is very different from the course adopted by those who, in private families, or on other occasions where law is not called in, assume the task of examining and settling disputes. He disputes. To this last plan, which is the natural suggestion of reason, Mr. Bentham, in contradistinction to technical procedure, gives the name of natural procedure; and this he minutely compares with the technical process.

Mr. Bentham has exposed this interested plea in the most complete and satisfactory manner. He has not contented himself with those general views by which thinking men were already convinced that it was upon the whole unfounded. He has applied to it his powerful analysis. With all his knowledge of the circumstances he has gone into the very heart of the subject. He has shewn where the abuses exist, in what manner and for what causes they were introduced, and how they may be remedied. He tras proved, in a manner, which

With regard to the lawyers' plan, or technical procedure, he begins with observing, that "whether the Roman, the English, or any other system were resorted to, the established rules of evidence, occupied principally in putting exclusions

upon the light of evidence, were almost without exception adverse to the ends of justice." (p. 3.) After this he declares; "In looking for the causes of this, I saw reason to suspect, (and that reason gaining strength at every step) that what at first view had presented itself as the result of primeval blindness and imbecility, was referable, (perhaps, in a certain degree, to those causes) but probably, in a much higher degrec, to sharp-sighted artifice:That, to enable themselves to extract from it that profit which constituted their recompence and inducement for taking their part in it, and that with as much ease to themselves as the task of gathering in the profit admitted of, it was necessary for the founders and successive supporters of the system to give to it a direction, opposite at every turn to the ends of justice." (p. 4.) After some other observations, he declares; "In a word, on these points, as on all others, the reason why the system was, and is, so bad as men feel it, rather than see it to be, is, that the power found itself in company with the interest, and consequently the will, to produce as bad a system, as the people, with the legislature at their head, could, in their primeval, and as yet but little ameliorated state of relative ignorance and helpnessness, be brought, by the utmost stretch of artifice to endure." (Ibid.)

The author then turns to the plan of reform proposed for Scotland, and thus declares; "Finding in the system of reform put into your lordship's hands, (what I could not but expect to find in it as a matter of course), that the profit and ease of the man of law were as carefully provided for as ever, the interests of the people in their character of suitors as completely sacrificed as ever, to these original, and (with reference to the man of law) so much nearer objects; and

that all the advantage given to the suitor was that comparatively small, though in itself not inconsiderable portion, in which the licensed plunderer would be a sharer with him; finding in a word, that of all the devices tending to the sinister ends of the lawyers, there was not one, the full mischief of which was not reserved to the suitor, the full bencfit, to say no more, reserved to the man of law, it was my original intention," &c. Such is, in few words, the character assigned to that boasted reform which was intended for Scotland, and which has now given. place to another that might be described in the same terms.

He next delivers the outline of a treatise containing an elucidation of the modes in which, and the ends for which, this technical and justice-hindering system bas gained that universal empire which it enjoys. The regulation of courts of law, the forms and rules according to which they proceed have in all places been left almost entirely to the lawyers themselves, judges included, and presiding. In this country, as in most others, at the period of ignorance and inexperience at which courts of law were originally instituted, the judges were not paid by salaries, but by fees which they were allowed to extract from the causes which came before them. According to this arrangement, the interest of the judges, and the interest of the practising lawyers, in regard to every cause which came into court, were rendered exactly the same, that is, to extract from the parties, in the shape of fees, the greatest amount which they possibly could. To this end every rule of procedure was accordingly directed. "Multiplication of the occasions of extracting fees," says Mr. Bentham, "was the cause of factitious complication, intricacy, obscurity, unintelligibility, uncognoscibility, in the