house to house-in churches and chapels-appeals were made and answered. The widow's mite went along with the prince's donation to alleviate the misery of those who count the relief of their suffering to be a paramount duty devolving upon England and reckon the enquiry as to its causes a national insult. But will it be so in future? Will there be no remembrance of past ingratitude? Will there be no manifestation of honest indignation at the constantly-recurring cry for help on the part of those who will not help themselves? We fancy that such a forbearance is more than can be expected from human nature. "Justice for England" is a cry that, in its turn, must be heard and attended to. Mr. Martin answers the charge against England of oppression by a reference to facts, of which he gives a summary in the preface to the third edition. We have not space for all of them, but we will quote one or two. Mr. Martin says, "The liberty or rather license of language granted to the newspaper press in Ireland has never been permitted to the British press, or accorded to the newspapers of Europe or America by their respective governments." This cannot be denied. The poor of Ireland are indebted to an English Parliament for a legislative provision for their support." This measure was strenuously opposed by Mr. O'Connell and his tail. "Ireland is one of the least taxed portions of the British Empire. Out of 52,000,0007, levied in the United Kingdom, scarcely 4,500,000l. is raised in Ireland, from a population equal to half the population of England, The total net revenue of Ireland, in 1846, was only 4,333,9337.-a sum barely more than sufficient to provide the interest of the portion of the national debt assigned to Ireland. Taking the annual revenue, in round numbers, of Ireland at present, as 4,600,000%., the expenditure as 3,600,000l., and the interest on debt at 4,200,000%., the deficiency is 38,200,000l. Ireland, therefore, costs the British exchequer at least this sum. Estimating the annual deficiency of Ireland at three millions sterling, the cost of Ireland to England, since the Union, amounts to 141,000,000l. This fact deserves consideration in both countries. "There are no assessed taxes whatever in Ireland—no land tax on lands and tenements-no stamp duties on stage carriages and railways-no tax on soap, bricks, hops, post-horse duties; and no window-tax or taxes on servants, horses, carriages, &c.-no property or income-tax. The produce of these and other taxes from which Ireland is exempt was, in 1846, nearly 13,000,000%. "Then the stamp duties, licenses, &c., are, in many instances, lower in Ireland than in England or in Scotland. The favour which Ireland has received from the Imperial Legislature may be illustrated by the article of spirits, which pays per gallon, in England, 7s. 10d.; in Scotland, 3s. 8d.: and, in Ireland, 2s. 8d. "In her local taxation, Ireland presents exemptions. Thus, England is taxed locally 12,000,000l., or 15s. per head; Scotland, 1,000,000, or 8s. per head; Ireland 2,000,000.-only 5s. per head! Such are some of the facts with which Mr. Martin meets the charge of injustice towards Ireland on the part of England. We are quite aware, however, that statistical facts, whilst they prove a particular point, may be no answer to a general charge for a nation highly favoured in the lightness of the monetary burden laid upon her may still be treated with great injustice in the repression of her energies, the partial distribution of power and patronage, and the intolerance of her national faith. But the energies of Ireland are not industrial; the paths which lead to fame and distinction are open to her children; and the English Government has of late certainly manifested no indisposition to give perfect facility for the complete development of all the religious sympathies of the Irish. Ireland has only honestly to say what will satisfy her as regards her religion; and, whatever we may think of the matter, the Legislature is quite ready to grant it. That there has unhappily been misgovernment every body must admit; but this has arisen not so much from the desire of the English to oppress as from the impracticability of the Irish themselves. Who can govern them?-what will satisfy them? Coercion begets rebellion-concession fosters insult-indulgence secures idleness and terrorism-the priesthood deal dishonestly and craftilythe landlords are reckless and improvident-agitators on every hand live and fatten on the elements of strife and discord which they continually nourish as necessary to their existence, and the peasantry murder for hire. What is to be done with such a people? English capital has been often introduced to institute a manufacture and beget a commerce; but the owners of it have been as often intimidated with the threat of assassination and driven from the country. Whoever attempts a reform or advocates industry is shot without mercy. Government after government in England is overthrown by the failure of some new political nostrum applied to the incurable disease of Ireland's social misery. With a batch of Irish members in the house, whose only employment is to complain of grievance and frustrate every honest effort made to alleviate it, the Legislature exhausts its wisdom in devising fresh expedients to meet the evil, and its patience in witnessing the deliberate efforts made to render them futile. If repeal were all that the Irish desired, it would be better for ourselves to give it at once. It is not repeal, however, but separation, that they seek; and this in self-defence we cannot grant; for, sooner or later, Ireland would fall into the hands of France, and we should have to conquer it over again or be ourselves invaded from its shores. The Irish cannot govern themselves-they never could. Give them all they clamour for at the present moment, and they would institute a faction fight from one end of the land to the other. Class against class, clan against clan, they would contend till no strength was left, and the very misery of their condition would both require and invite a conquest. We cannot help, in connection with this subject, offering a remark upon that which we should think must be obvious to all-the very dastardly and dishonest course pursued by the Roman Catholic priests. With a few noble exceptions, they urged and incited the people to an outbreak: exactly at the period when failure was evident, they were just as urgent in exhorting the people to peace: they then come before a Government whose liberality amounts to a folly, and claim as a reward of their laudable efforts the approbation of the Crown. Some of these priests were as furious in their denunciations of English injustice, and as energetic in their appeals to Irish passion, as the laymen who are now awaiting in prison their judgment for broken laws: others of the priests, who did not openly commit themselves, gave a tacit consent by their silence to the deeds of their bolder brethren. Yet, at the very time. when their condemnation of rebellion has neither place nor value, they come forward with an empty protest, deplore with hypocritical sorrow the errors of their unhappy countrymen, and demand general pardon as the reward of their own self-denying efforts to preserve the peace. Out upon them!-out upon such base dishonesty and crafty cunning! They may gull Lord John and his compeers, who, on the subject of Romanism, have a remarkable capacity for being be-fooled; but they will neither deceive the English nation nor their own flocks. They have already lost the respect and affection of the poor creatures whom they first excited and then betrayed. We suppose, however, that they will care little for this, since they know what is the exact measure of the relation between M'Hale craft and Whig simplicity, and are perfectly aware by this time of the benevolent intentions of the Government. An endowment will place them at once beyond the necessity of consulting the wishes of their people; and also, if we mistake not, aid them in ultimately accomplishing the ambitious objects which they have in view. But we are forgetting ourselves: the public are wearied with the Irish question: it has been submitted to a kaleidescope process; and its several details have been presented in every possible variety of combination of which they are capable. We can say nothing new or striking on a subject so completely exhausted. For matter, the work before us contains more than we could possibly adduce within the limits which we possess; and, in reasoning, it anticipates all we might suggest and confirms all that we have ever thought. It is a valuable work, enhanced in its claims upon our notice by the peculiarity of the time and circumstances in which the third and amended edition makes its appearance. Scholia Hellenistica in Novum Testamentum, Philone et Josepho, Patribus Apostolicis, aliisque Ecclesie Antique Scriptoribus, necnon Libris Apocryphis, maxime deprompta, instruxit atque ornavit Novi Testamenti Hellenistice illustrati recens. Editor, THOMAS GRINFIELD, M.A. Londini: Pickering, 1848. Two Parts or Vols., 8vo. In the thirteenth volume of our journal (p. 489), we introduced to our readers the Rev. Thomas Grinfield's truly valuable Hellenistic edition of the New Testament. The present work, of which the possessors of that edition will do well to avail themselves, is an independent publication, which is calculated to throw much light on the phraseology of the New Testament, by apposite quotations from the Jewish writers, Philo and Josephus, from the apostolic fathers, and other writers of the ancient Church, as well as from the apocryphal books of the Old and New Testaments. A copious table of parallel passages, cited from the Old Testament in the New, appropriately terminates this laborious undertaking, which reflects the highest honour on the industry and research of its learned and reverend author, who has devoted more than twenty years to the study and preparation of this most valuable contribution to the critical study of the New Testament. Loyalty and Religion the Safeguard of the Nation. By the Rev. B. BANNING, M.A., Vicar of Wellington, Salop. London: Painter, 1848. THIS is a sermon preached, as we are told on the title, before the members of a Friendly Society, and is especially appropriate to the times in which we live; when, although as has been sufficiently proved, loyalty is the predominant feeling of the nation, there are many bad principles and bad men at work in the humbler ranks of society. It is a clear and scriptural exposition of the command to "fear God and honour the king" and it is written with the simplicity which is the language of all honest men. Poems. By J. H. RÖHRS, late Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge. London: Madden. 1848. In these utilitarian days, when everything, from the cooking of a potato to the propulsion of a railway train, is performed by steam, and when verses, as far as our latter experience is concerned, are the result of the same process, a volume which "breaks not to the hope" the promise held out in the titlepage is a boon as welcome as it is unexpected. The tissue of the volume before us is not of uniform fineness; nor do we sympathise with the feelings which have dictated some of the lyrics, though all breathe the spirit of poetry; and especially we object to the sentiment of those in which the author vents his wrath against capital punishments. No man rejoices more than do we that our criminal code has been modified to the limiting of the extreme penalty of the law to one or two enormities of crime. At the same time, we cannot evade the fact that the present age has produced a Thurtell, a Burke, and a Courvoisier; and that there is no barrier between the knives of such members of the community and our throats half so effectual as the "gallows;" and, though our author pathetically laments the expenditure of time and timber on its construction, we still think it a useful although not very ornamental variety of architecture (we are warranted in the use of the word by the author's prefixture of "The Architects of the Gallows" to one of his lyrics). Nevertheless, Jesus College has reason to be proud of her son; for, although the volume before us is marred by blemishes which a little care might have obviated, a broad and deep vein of the true gold of poetry runs throughout. He is singularly happy in his epithets, and his verses are remarkably smooth and harmonious. The following extract from a poem entitled "Musings on a November Day and Night" will, we hope, justify our eulogy :— "'Tis a drear cold time, half rain, half snow, |