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By the Rev. C. Benson, Mr. Nichols is preparing for publication, Queen Elizabeth's Entertainment; by the Countess of Derby, at Harefield Place, in 1602. With an Introduction and Notes. Also, a new Edition of the most interesting Portions of the Eliza bethan Progresses. POLITICAL RETROSPECT. HAVING been requested by several correspondents to make the Register depart ment of the Remembrancer more complete, and not to confine it to matters of ecclesiastical interest; it is our intention to conclude every future Number by a brief retrospect of the principal political occurrences of the preceding nonth, and to subjoin such observations as passing events may suggest. But not wishing to revert to the year that has closed, we shall confine ourselves for the present to such general remarks upon the situation of the country, as may serve to explain the principles upon which this portion of the work will be conducted. The domestic concerns of the country, are those upon which we shall be always most disposed to dwell; and as we are in a state of profound peace with every foreign power, and attention is universally directed to what is passing at home, we anticipate no objection to the preference which we express. Internal divisions were scarcely heard of during the war,and therefore it is evident that the present unsettled state of the country is to be considered in the first instance as the effect of peace. War expenditure, monopoly prices, fictitious capital, and unbounded paper credit, supported thousands and tens of thousands in ease or in opulence, who have subsequently been compelled to contract their dealings, to refund their accumulations, and in many instances to beg their bread. This is the principal source from which sedition has recruited her ranks. Some few disciplined troops she may have always possessed in our land, but zeal could not supply what was wanting in number and respectability; and men laughed at the venomous hut impotent serpent which it would have been more prudent to stifle. For when one of those accidents befel as to which a trading and manufacturing people must be exposed, the machinery of mischief was ready prepared, and was set to work in an instant. Hence all the excesses of SpaFields and Smithfield, hence the more dangerous proceedings in Lancashire and Yorkshire, hence the present state of unparalleled excitation by which the public mind has been continued for upwards of half a year, by circumstances apparently of the most unimportant nature. Having carefully studied the signs of the four last years, and having lent a patient ear to the most contradictory statements, we cannot believe that any large portion of the popu lation of these kingdoms is disaffected to the throne or constitution. But we must believe that there are incessant efforts to bring them to such a state; that the illdisposed form an active and well disciplined phalanx eager to take advantage of every trifling event, and skilful in availing themselves of every false step on the part of their opponents. We believe also that their efforts have been thus far successful. They have perplexed many an honest half. reasoning man; they have flattered his self-importance until he thinks that nothing is above his capacity, but they have not furnished him with the means of deciding apon one single question. They have made him the dupe of his own violent but honest feelings. They have persuaded him that he has no friends among those whom he used to trust; and that every thing may be gained if he will submit to their controul. One effect equally injarious and alarming, has resulted from these proceedings-the different ranks and conditions of society are estranged from each other-the rich are divided from the poor-the servant is against his master-and the links which have hitherto bound society together are stretched to the very utmost, and may suddenly be dissolved. These are the quarters from which danger may be anticipated: and if there is no necessity for political despondence; yet supineness and indifference were never more criminal; anxiety and exertion never were more urgently demanded. We proceed briefly to enumerate some of the objects to which they should be directed. The financial, agricultural, mercantile, and manufacturing distress appears to be slowly but decidedly decreasing. The state of the revenue sufficiently demonstrates that home consumption is not materially diminished; and we cannot be very poor while we eat and drink in such abundance. It is neither to be expected nor wished that prices should again be as high, or profits as enormous, or credit as unbounded as it was during the war. All these after an interval will find their natural level: and a rigid adherence to principles of political economy and finance which all parties agree in extolling, will hasten the arrival of that happy season, in which the hazardous speculations and the lavish expenditure of one year shall no more regularly lead to the insolvency and ruin of the next. The main reservoir of sedition being thus insulated and dried up, it will only be necessary to drain those minor springs whose abundance and ferti lity must be reckoned among the charac teristics of the age. For it may be very' fairly said, that according to our statement of the case, there is au evident disproportion between the cause and the effect; and in truth, we have rather described the nanner in which certain events have been brought about, than the sources to which they may be ultimately traced. A free constitution is not without its alloy; and commotions always may be excited under a popular government. But here, it may be justly said, we have had nothing to excite them: no notorious grievances, no daring inroads upon established customs, no general or well grounded dissatisfaction; no mighty demagogues of domineering strength, of great talents, reputation, experience, or riches. The inference from all this is, that the evils of the present hour must have arisen from a multiplicity of minor and unperceived causes, and only can be permanently cured by their re moval. It is probable that the relative numbers' and strength of the rich and of the poor have undergone no material change during the last thirty years. Throughout the whole period both have been rapidly in creasing; and the advance of both may have been equal: but in all other respects important changes have taken place. They live much more apart from each other than in former times. How slight is the copnection between the great capitalist and the poor! He may subscribe to the relief of their wants, and the education of their children, but he seldom condescends to any real interchange of sentiment except with his regular companions. It is nearly the same with the great merchant; he knows that his porters and labourers work, and are paid; and beyond this his knowledge concerning them does not extend. The manufacturer has a more immediate connection with the poor; and yet, in too many cases, it is a connection of employ ment alone; and he seems to regard them rather as machines, than as fellow-creatures. In some sequestered and wellregulated spots, the ancient close communication between different classes is kept up; and it is here, if any where, that, the influence of the superior is most effectual, and that subordination is not looked upon as an evil, which is only to be en dured till it can be thrown off. This circumstance alone is sufficient to authorise our observations; and to make us hope once more to see the day, in which the opinions, the amusements, the principles, and, above all, the religion, of the rich and the poor may not be distinct and separate, but one and the same. On these accounts we shall always take the liveliest interest in every legislative attempt at improving the condition of society; convinced that something may be accomplished, (although much less than legislators are commonly willing to believe) by alterations in the poor laws, and more especially in the administration of them; and by simplifying several parts of our criminal jurisprudence; those parts especially which leave young offenders without adequate punishment, or punish them by making them the associates of the old and the infamous. It is also to be hoped that the country will take warning by the past; and withdraw that resistance to the execution of the law of libel, which has rendered it of late years no better than a dead letter on the Statute Book. The imposition of fresh restraints is a questionable measure; but the strict enforcement of the existing law can only be objected against by those who are enemies to peace; and the public officer who shall have courage to discharge this branch of his duty, will be entitled to the blessings and thanks of his country, and will ultimately be numbered among the best friends to the liberty of the press. But this system, and every other system will be incomplete and ineffectual, unless the government are supported by the bigher orders of the governed in administering our invaluable laws with discretion and firmness, and in furthering those measures which have at last been adopted for reuniting the people to the Church. It is not enough that magistrates should be as vigilant as they have been hitherto. In the metropolitan county, and in all populous districts, we assert, without hesitation, that enough is never done. The burden is heavy, and it is shifted from one shoulder to another, until, in some unlucky moment it is dashed against the ground. Unless this is amended, unless the duties of the magistrate are universally discharged with that minuteness, promptitude and disinterestedness, which the constitution requires and expects, unless public-houses cease to be the hot-beds of sedition and infidelity, unless the poor are educated systematically in the principles of the Establishment, are duly provided with Church room at convenient hours, and are retained in the communion of the Church by the zeal and piety of her pastors, we can look forward to nothing better than discontent, threats, and plots, on the one side; or than fear, and suspicion, and military rule upon the other. On Foreign Politics, with which this country was never less entangled than at present, we shall make but one remark, Those nations who are truly desirous of obtaining a constitution like our own, and who seek it in that quarter from which ours was derived, are entitled to our best wishes for their success. May it be purchased at less expence of blood and treasure, and with less deviation from the ordinary rules of law and religion, than in many instances it has cost! May they know when they have obtained enough; and are bound both in prudence and in conscience to be satisfied! And may this country long continue a mere spectator of the strife; giving assistance at all times by an upright and honourable example; and giving advice when requested, from the vast stores of her experience : but never venturing to interfere in quarrels which are none of hers; unless the independance of Europe is manifestly endangered, and the character of a neutral becomes equally dangerous and disgraceful! With regard to the parties which divide the senate and the country, we shall not deny, because we see no reason to be ashamed of the partialities which we entertain. But our remarks will be directed invariably to measures, rather than to men; and those persons, and those only are the objects of our admiration, who in whatsoever political party they may happen to be enlisted, appear to be under the influence of correct and Christian principles. NOTICE TO CORRESPONDENTS. Observator; A Churchman; A. O.; and J. S., shall appear. A. S.; I. M.; and Jhuoa, have been received, and are under consideration. S. I. S. C. will observe that a part of his recommendation has been attended to; the remainder is under consideration. THE CHRISTIAN REMEMBRANCER. No. 26.] ON HOPE. FEBRUARY, 1821. It is a common remark, that the [VOL. III. has not always been entirely successful) against the spiritual enemies, internal and external, that have been joined in a league of opposition to his true welfare. He can look back and behold, with joy and thankfulness, in his temporal circumstances, in the situations wherein he has been placed, in the friends and associates amongst whom he has been thrown, in the course of events that have befallen himself and his connections, numerous tokens of providential guidance, and numerous significations of the kind and gracious superintendence of that Omniscient eye, which has accompanied him through all the wanderings and amidst all the checquered varieties of life. But he has also the pleasures of hope in perfection; and this is what I wish chiefly to observe. Christianity has made his, in the season of old age, what belonged naturally to him in the flower of his youth. The advantages, delights, and glories of the world, those objects of hope, which fill the soul and nerve the energies of the youthful adventurer on the ocean of life, have indeed lost their charm for him; they have already begun to fade, and as they now appear, have nothing powerfully fascinating or exciting in them. Even if they retained their splendour, they could hardly any longer be the objects of his hope; for he feels every day that he is leaving them behind, and that, without having any power to delay his K it, to admit the probability that it should now forsake him; and although there will occur intervals of comparative gloom, as long as he remains encompassed with the infirmities of flesh, yct these are but the occasional exceptions to the general tenour of his feelings: the sustaining principle ever lives within him: its activity may be for a while suspended, its power may be, by the overwhelming force of untoward circumstances, or by reason of the weakness of human nature, somewhat diminished: but it will ever and anon revive with undecaying vigour, and will diffuse over the whole course of life one general complexion of peace and cheerful course, he is moving gradually ness. Nor is the Christian's hope exposed to disappointment: he, who during a long life" has walked in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless,"who, according to his best ability, and as far as altered circumstances of the church and of the world allow, has imitated the example of that ancient piety, which" departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day,"-this venerable man, as he sinks under the burden of years, gratefully acknowledges that he is by perceptible and rapid steps advancing towards the objects of his desires, and is inspirited by the full assurance that these objects will not elude his grasp that, when once attained, they cannot fall short of, but must infinitely exceed in value any estimate which he has been led to form of them. He has learned from an infallible Oracle that " eye hath not seen, that ear hath not heard, that it hath not entered into the heart of man to conceive those good things, which God has reserved in heaven for them that love Him," he is confident therefore that his largest expectations will be more than answeredthat his loftiest hopes will be more than fulfilled. Nor has the certainty he feels that himself shall |