rilous chances of the Revolutionary contest, it is
probable all their efforts would have been unsuccessful. But when, by the
firmness of George III., and the talent of Mr Pitt, the contest for
political supremacy was at an end, and government was rested on its true
basis--that of property being the ruling, and numbers the controlling
power--when the Tory party, freed from the influence of their old Jacobite
recollections, had rallied with sincere loyalty round the throne, and the
Whigs, having lost the glittering prospect of a return to power and
corruption, had been driven to seek for support in the passions of the
people, what a marvellous display of public virtue and strength did the
empire afford! Search the annals of the world, you will find nothing
superior, few things equal, to the patriotism, public spirit, and generous
devotion of the latter period of the Revolutionary war. Its unequalled
triumphs prove this; the biographies of its great men, which are daily
issuing from the press, show from what a noble and elevated spirit these
triumphs had sprung. They conquered because they were worthy to conquer.
The burning patriotism of Nelson; the prophetic courage of Pitt; the
spotless heart of Collingwood; the stern resolves of St Vincent; the
steady judgment of Eldon; the moral firmness of Castlereagh; the
unconquerable resolution of Wellington, shine forth as the most
conspicuous ornaments of this brilliant period. But these men, great as
they were, did not stand alone. They were in prominent situations, and
have thence acquired immortal fame; but they were followed and supported
by hundreds and thousands, animated with the same spirit, and possessing,
if called forth, the same abilities. England at that period seemed to have
reached that epoch in national life, "brief and speedily to perish," as
Tacitus says, when the firmness of aristocracy had given invincible
resolution, and the energy of democracy inexhaustible vigour to the state;
when we had the tenacity of nobles without their pride, and the vehemence
of the people without their licentiousness--"Si monumentum quaeris,
circumspice."

The Emperor Nicholas, therefore, judged too hastily when he condemned all
free countries and constitutional monarchies as necessarily the seats of
corruption. It is no wonder he thought so from the experience he had of
them, and that which the greater part of such governments, in his time,
had afforded. If we had judged of constit