misunderstanding, in reference to the individual whose credentials will probably be ratified before the next session of parliament; but I can assure the house, that the delay in the recognition of this agent is the result of an accident, and not of any premeditated intention on the part of the government.

SOUTH AMERICAN MINES.

The Times Newspaper and the Mining Associations.

In the present state of society, a journal enjoying the public confidence exercises a real magisterial authority, which derives an additional accession of influence and respectability from the bias it gives to the public mind. It is not now, as in former times, merely the medium of communication for the sallies of a playful fancy; or the transient record of frivolities, unproductive of consequences, and which survived not the day that witnessed their first appearance; nor is it the mere vehicle of ephemeral satire, occasionally directed, with well-aimed precision, against some whimsical singularity of mind, but without ever inflicting a wound on the important interests of life:an accredited journal, at the present period, is one of the most powerful levers of society: it is an almost irresistible means of acting upon general and private interests, concerning which, in too many instances, and on subjects of the highest importance, the opinion is suspended, till determined by the elucidation of a favourite journal, upon such particular points as may appear of an obscure or questionable description. In short, a journal, such as it ought to be, (and to this character the Times may, in numerous instances, justly assert its claim,) is the first regulator, and the most decisive arbiter of public opinion that exists in our days. But the qualities requisite to fill with distinction so important an office, are not confined to

erudition, eminence of talent, or to the possession of the common feelings of humanity with these must be blended the firmness which separates itself from party spirit, from the intrigues of a particular set of men, from the influence of habit and prejudice, and which weighs, in the balance of impartial reason, every interest, concerning which it is the duty of those upon whom the specific office devolves, to convey information to the public.

This combination of qualities is so uncommon, and so few journalists have the happinesss to be gifted with it, that it would be a dereliction of sincerity to express any great degree of astonishment, if the stoicism of our respectable contemporary should not uniformly resist the impulse of irritation, or the suggestions of private interest. Some obvious contradictions, in the doctrine of this celebrated journal, had already proved, that its integrity, like all other things, is not imperishable, or that it is, at least, subject to occasional aberration.

Some observers, for instance, have imagined, that they perceived a remarkable variation of principles, in the manner in which the Times defends or attacks the crime of adultery; with which it associates different gradations of moral turpitude, accordingly as it is committed within the splendid palace, or the obscure recesses of a theatre: others, on the contrary, pretend, that the moral principles which direct the conscientious pen of the leading journal of England, are unalterable; but that their financial principles sometimes vary, according to circumstances. In short, a considerable number of persons assert, that, spoiled by the influence which its extensive circulation allows it to exert over the minds of the credulous, and intoxicated by the

adulation which it receives from the implicit confi dence, of its numerous admirers, it attacks and destroys in all the apathy of sportive wantonness, whatever incurs its displeasure, or is incapable of vigorously resisting its aggressions.

As to ourselves, who uniformly avoid all individual animosity, and who think it an honour to profess, on many points, the doctrines advocated by the writers of the Times; this journal had long been considered by us, as the avowed enemy of oppression, ever disposed to assail it, whatever form it assumed, directing all its efforts to the discovery of truth, appreciating its excellence, and recommending it to its readers. It appears, however, that we had taken of it only a distant view, and that our opinion resembled that which is formed of the moon, when examined with the naked eye. It then presents a surface of the most beautiful whiteness; but no sooner is it approached through the medium of a perspective glass, than it exhibits dark spots, cavities that reflect not one ray of light, and excites emotions of surprise and disappointment at the error which attributed to the aggregate appearance of this luminary a splendour emanating only from certain points of its surface.

This reflection is suggested by the injustice and tyranny with which the Times exercises the species of sovereignty it possesses, in its violent hostility against whatever is connected, directly or indirectly, with some of the associations which have been formed for working the mines in South America. That the Times should attack, with all the thunder of its artillery, the deplorable system of stock-jobbing and gambling pursued by the frequenters of the Exchange; that it should describe some of these enterprises

as lures, intended to deceive public credulity; and that it should reprobate all of them, as dangerous to the credit and commercial prosperity of England, is both just and praise worthy: for never shall we be disposed to impugn the right of any person actuated by honourable motives, to inflict the severity of moral justice upon transactions which so deeply interest the public welfare. We have too undisguisedly avowed and advocated this principle, to incur the suspicion of aiming at its destruction. But that, under pretence of tearing away the mask from fraud, or of interposing the shield of protection, for the defence of the general interests, the same anathema should be hurled against one intriguer, and against twenty persons of unimpeachable integrity; that one questionable transaction, and twenty others originating in sincere and honourable motives, should be indiscriminately comprehended in the same proscription; that the preponderance which inclines the scale of public opinion should, in connection with a spirit of violence allied to fury, excite odious suspicions against names of the highest respectability, and persons of the most unblemished reputation; this is the exercise of the very worst kind of oppression, and the assumption of a species of power of life and death, over every enterprise that, from some unassignable motive, has the misfortune to displease the dictators of the press. Such, however, has been the conduct of the Times, in reference to several respectable companies; and such, unimpelled by any other feeling than that of justice, is the charge we urge against this journal; for, abstractedly from the circumstance alluded to, we profess a most cordial and disinterested admiration of the talents and political principles by which it is, in general, distinguished.