his freehold last night in Maidstone !"-" Down with him!"-“ Off, Sheil, off!"-" We 're not the Clare freeholders;""See how the viper spits!"-"How the little hanimal foams at the mouth; take care of him, he'll bite you ;"" Off, Sheil, off!" were the greetings with which this gentleman was hailed by the Brunswickers, while his own party cried out "Fair Play!" "Oh, you cowards, you are afraid to hear him!" Of what Mr. Sheil actually said, it is impossible to give any account, and the miraculous power by which the Sun newspaper of that night contrived to publish his oration in three columns, must be referred to some Hohenloe's interposition in favour of that journal. I heard but one sentence, which I afterwards recognized in print, as having been spoken." See to what conclusion you must arrive, when you denounce the advocates of Emancipation as the enemies of their country. How far will your anathema reach? It will take in onehalf of Westminster Abbey; and is not the very dust, into which the tongues and hearts of Pitt and Burke and Fox have mouldered, better than the living hearts and tongues of those who have survived them? If you were to try the question by the authorities of the illustrious dead, and by those voices which may be said to issue from the grave, how would you determine? If instead of counting votes in St. Stephen's Chapel, you were to count monuments in the mausoleum beside it, how would the division of the great departed stand? Enter the aisles which contain the ashes of your greatest legislators, and ask yourselves as you pass, how they felt and spoke, when they had utterance and emotion, in that Senate where they are heard no more: write Emancipatior' upon the tomb of every advocate, and its counter epitaph on that of every opponent of the peace of Ireland, and shall we not have a majority of sepulchres in our favour?" With this exception, I do not think that the Irish demagogue uttered one word of what appeared in the shape of an elaborate essay in the newspapers. After having stamped, and fretted, and entreated, and menaced the Brunswickers for half an hour, during which he sustained a continued volley of execrations, Mr. Shiel thought it prudent to retreat, and was succeeded by Mr. Larkin, an auctioneer from Rochester, who delivered a very clever speech in favour of radicalism, but had the prudence to keep clear of emancipation. His occupation afforded a fine scope for Brunswick wit. "Knock him down-going, going, gone!" and similar reminiscences exhibited the aristocracy of the mob. Mr. Larkin was not at all disturbed, but with an almost unparallelled sang-froid, drew a flask from his pocket, and refreshed himself for the next sentence, when the uproar was at its height. When he had finished, Sir Edward Knatchbull, the Member for the county, and Cobbett, who had been railing for hours at the long speeches, got up together. The Sheriff preferred Sir Edward, upon which Cobbett got into a fit of vehement indignation. He accused the Sheriff of gross partiality, and while Sir Edward Knatchbull was going on, shook his hand repeatedly at him, and exhibited the utmost savageness of demeanour and of aspect. His face became inflamed with rage, and his mouth was contorted into a ferocious grin. He grasped a large pole, with a placard at the head of it in favour of Liberty, and standing with this apparatus of popularity, which assisted him in supporting himself at the verge of his waggon, he hurled out his denunciations against the Sheriff. The Brunswickers roared at him, and showered contumely of all kinds upon

his head, but with an undaunted spirit, he persevered. Sir Edward Knatchbull was but indistinctly heard in the tumult which his own party had got up, to put Cobbett down. He seems a proud, obstinate, dogged sort of Squire, with an infinite notion of his own importance as an English County Member, and a corresponding contempt for seven millions of his fellow-citizens. He has in his face and bearing many of the disagreeable qualities of John Bullism, without any of its frankness and plain-dealing. He is rude without being honest, and offensive without being sincere. Cobbett was almost justified in complaining that such a man should be preferred to him. When he had terminated a speech, in which it was evident that he was thinking of the next election, at which the Deerings intend to dispute the county with him, Cobbett was allowed by the Sheriff to proceed. His hilarity was restored for a little while, and holding out his petition against tithes, he set about abusing both parties. In a letter published in the Morning Herald, he takes care, in his account of the meeting, to record the opprobrious language applied by the multitude to others; but he omits all mention of what was said of himself. "Down with the old Bonegrubber!"-"Roast him on his gridiron ;"-" D-n him and his Indian corn;" was shouted from all quarters. He was not, however, much discomposed at first, for he was confident of carrying his petition, and retorted with a good deal of force and some good humour on those who were inveighing against him. " You cry out too weakly, my bucks!" said he, snapping his fingers at them. "You cry like women in the family-way. There's a rascal there, that is squeaking at me, like a parson's tithe-pig." These sallies amused every body; but still the roar against him continued, and I was astonished to see what little influence he had with even the lower orders by whom he was surrounded. The Catholic party looked upon him as an enemy, who came to divide them, and the Brunswickers treated him with mingled execrations and scorn. At length he perceived that the day was going against him, and his eyes opened to his own want of power over the people. Though he afterwards vaunted that the great majority were with him, he appeared not to have above a dozen or two to support his proposition, and when he sat down, evident symptoms of mortification and of rage against all parties appeared in his countenance. Altogether he acquitted himself as badly as can be well imagined; and it seems to me as clear that he is a most inefficient and powerless speaker, as that he is a great and vigorous writer. Hunt got up to second him, and was received almost as badly as his predecessor, though his conduct and manner were quite opposite, and he did every thing he could by gentleness and persuasiveness to allay the fury of the Brunswick party. But after he had begun, Sir Edward Knatchbull interrupted him in a most improper and offensive manner, which induced Lord Radnor to stand up and reprobate Sir Edward's conduct as a most gross violation of decorum. Mr. Hunt went on, but, whatever may be his sway with public assemblies on other occasions, he certainly showed few evidences of omnipotence upon this. He seemed to be crest-fallen, and to have quailed under the force which was brought to bear against him. One story he told well, of Sir Edward Knatchbull having refused to pay him for four gallons of beer, when he was a brewer at Bristol, because he had sold him a less quantity than that prescribed by the law: altogether his speech, if it might

be so called, when he was not allowed to utter a connected sentence, was a complete failure; but I am convinced that no estimate of his ability can be formed from this specimen of him, as his voice was stifled by the faction to which he was opposed. Indeed both parties seemed to repudiate Cobbett and Hunt, as their common enemies. Before Hunt had finished, there was a tremendous and seemingly a preconcerted cry of question from the Brunswickers; Hunt went on speaking, and immense confusion took place. Mr. Calcraft interfered in vain. Mr. Hodges and Lord Radnor then moved an amendment, declaring that the measure should be left to the discretion of the legislature; and amidst a tumult, to which I never witnessed any thing at all comparable, the Sheriff put the question. It has been stated in the newspapers that the Brunswickers had a great majority; the impression of a vast number of persons was quite the reverse. They were indeed so well disciplined, that their show of hats was simultaneous; while the liberal party hardly knew what was going forward. The Sheriff omitted to put Cobbett's amendment, which seemed to be forgotten by every one but himself; and having announced that there was a large majority for the petition moved by Mr. Gipps, retired from the chair. The acclamations of the Brunswickers were reiterated; the whole body waved their hats, and lifted up their voices; the parsons shook hands with each other; the Methodists smiled with a look of ghastly satisfaction; and Lord Winchilsea, losing all decency and self-restraint, was thrown into convulsions of joy, and leaped, shouted, and roared, in a state of almost insane exultation. The whole party then joined in singing God save the King in one howl of appropriate discord, and the assembly broke up.

Thus terminated the great Kent Meeting; to which, however, I conceive that more importance, as it affects the Catholic Question, is attached than it deserves. I have not room left for many comments, but a few brief observations on this striking incident are necessary. The triumph of Protestantism it not complete. The whole body of the clergy, who are in Kent exceedingly numerous, were not only present, but used all their influence to procure an attendance, and the utmost exertions were employed to bring the tenantry of the antiCatholic proprietors to the field. No exertion was made upon the

other side. Lord Camden boasted that he had not interfered with a single individual; yet it is admitted, that at least one third of the assembly were favourable to the Catholics. The spirit of Lord George Gordon may, by the metempsychosis of faction, have migrated into Lord Winchilsea; but while he is as well qualified in intellect and in passion to conduct a multitude of fanatics, his troops are of a very different character. Will the legislature shrink before him? Or will it not rather exclaim, " contempsi Catilinæ gladios,non partimescam tuos?" Will the Government permit such precedents of popular excitation to be held up? and does it never occur to the Tory party that the time may not be far distant, when republicanism may choose Protestantism for its model, and by rallying the people, act upon the same principle of intimidation? If the Catholics are to be put down by these means, may not the aristocracy be one day put down by similar expedients? Will the House of Lords stand by and allow all the opulence and the rank of a large county to be trampled upon by the multitude? for it must occur to every body, that Lord Winchilsea was the only nobleman on the side

of the Petitioners, while the rest of the Peerage were marshalled on the other. Do the patricians of England desire to see a renewal of scenes in which the nobles of the land were treated with utter scorn, and the feet of peasants trod upon their heads? Let statesmen reflect upon these very obvious subjects of grave meditation, and determine whether Ireland is to be infuriated by oppression, and England is to be maddened with fanaticism; whether they are not preparing the way for the speedy convulsion of one country, and the ultimate revolution of the other.

MY PUBLIC.

"Tout le monde méprise les harangères; cependant, qui oseroit risquer de les offenser, en traversant la halle?"-CHAMPFORT.

"Hold your tongue, and eat your pudding."-PROVERB.

FORMERLY, when " My Public" was rarely addressed, save from a tub, or from the footlights of the stage, it was a modest well-behaved sort of public enough; and, except now and then a little rioting at a Jew-bill, or the burning of a Popish chapel or so, it kept the peace with his Majesty's lieges as a discreet public should do. But now that it has grown into consideration, that it has become " a power," and begins to go for something in congresses and cabinet meetings, it has become, like its brother irresponsible aristocrats, a little capricious and tyrannical. Like Mrs. Quickly, "it is neither fish nor flesh; no man knows where to have it;" while it is so puffed up with perpetual eulogies, and with the constant deference and mouth-honour with which it is treated, that there is nothing of which it does not believe itself capable. "The public," says Dumont, "is a tribunal worth more than all the other tribunals put together;" and he does not seem singular in his opinion if we appeal to facts. If an actress quarrels with her part, or is angry that the manager is not her professed admirer, she files her plea before the public in the columns of the "Times" or the "Morning Chronicle." If an author gets a smart hit from the reviews, he straightway calls on the Editors to answer interrogatories before the same authorities. Does a gentleman get his nose pulled, or a horsewhip waved over his shoulders, he forthwith fires- a letter to the public in all the papers; and if a swindler is dissatisfied with the law, or the commentaries of Sir. Richard and his brother beaks, he without loss of time intreats the public to suspend its judgment till the day of trial. Every page of the advertisements of a journal teems with a villanous cajolery of "My Public." It is, forsooth, an humane public, a charitable public, a discriminating and judicious public, and above all, a religious public; and, the poor dupe takes all this for granted, and is ready to go to logger-, heads with any one who presumes to think for himself, and does not bow the knee before its arrogated infallibility. That so discreet a writer as the commentator on Bentham should fall into this error, at first sight surprised me; but to say of the tribunal of public opinion, that "it is worth all the other 'tribunals put together," is no such excessive eulogy. It may come to a decision sooner than the Court of Chancery, without being very expeditious; it may proceed upon. principles more nearly approaching to common sense than the maxims of our courts of law, without being hyperlogical; and it may be more consistent and rational than the "great unpaid," without being justly

set down for a conjuror. But I am more inclined to be of opinion that Dumont was merely sarcastic; and that he meant slyly to infer that public opinion possesses accumulatively all the errors and absurdities which are boasted of, as the peculiar excellencies of our judicial system. To this conclusion I am the rather led, inasmuch as the whole paragraph has an ironical air. "Though susceptible of error, (continues the acute writer) this tribunal is incorruptible. It tends perpetually to instruct itself; and it contains all the wisdom and justice of the nation." Now, as to the incorruptibility of the public, I don't know with what face such a plea can be advanced in favour of a community whose political system is so based in corruption, that if the constitution were in reality what it is in theory,-if the actions of all its wheels and levers were not perverted and disturbed by the grossest abuses, the machine would confessedly come to a stand-still in an hour. Look, in the name of all that is good, at the doctrine which is preached in the high places,-look at the individuals, who, on the bench, in the pulpit, in the senate, and from the press, set the tone of public opinion, and prompt the judgments of this boasted tribunal; and say, if you can, that the genius of peculation is not the lord of the ascendant. But if it be asserted, that Dumont was not thinking of Armata when he wrote, I answer that the public of that country is at least as good as that of most other communities; and that there is no civilized community in which the greatest good of the greatest number is the object of its professed teachers. That "My Public" has a tendency to self-instruction, I admit that is to say, it comes at the truth when every body knows it, and not before; i. e. after the wise and the learned have for centuries been endeavouring to beat into its noddle, that twice two make four; and have been fined, and imprisoned, and spit upon, and burned for their pains. But when all is said and done, to what does this boasted enlightenment amount?-to the exchanging one set of errors for another; and, like the hind wheel of a chariot, eternally following in the career of intelligence. It is sitting at the round table of knowledge, and living on the scraps and orts of philosophy, after the good and the wise have discarded them, as no longer fitted for their purpose. Then, as for "the wisdom and justice of nations," what is this, but a flourishing phrase to express the sentiments of a congregation of all the fools and knaves of the community ? Taken separately, there is scarcely one man in ten thousand of the aggregate which constitutes a public, whose opinion a person of sense would take on the boiling of a potatoe; if indeed, on being closely pressed, they were found to have any opinion they could fairly call their How then can the accumulation of all these individual absurdities, of these truly negative qualities, make one positive sum of truth? All the first judgments of "My Public" are mere prejudices, adopted on the ipse-dixit of the fashionable authority of the day; and more than nine-tenths of its opinions are either absolutely false, or sophistically employed to gloss over some political wrong. What, for instance, can be more silly than that commonest of all public mistakes, the judging by the event, the placing criminality in punishment, and idolizing every sort of roguery that is successful? With "My Public," to be unfortunate, is ever to be in the wrong; and even kings are not exempted from the bitter consequences of this fatal presumption.

own.