belonging solely to a free government, is essential
to its existence. It is the legitimate medium between the people and the
crown. It is the peaceful organ of that public voice which, without it,
would speak only in thunder. It is that great preservative principle,
which, like the tides of the ocean, purifies, invigorates, and animates
the whole mass, without rousing it into storm.

The reign of George the First, was a continual effort of the
constitutional spirit against the remnants of papistry and tyranny,
which still adhered to the government of England. The reign of the
second George was a more decided advance of constitutional rights,
powers, and feelings. The pacific administration of Walpole made the
nation commercial; and when the young Pretender landed in Scotland, in
1745, he found adherents only in the wild gallantry, and feudal faith of
the clans. In England Jacobitism had already perished. It had undergone
that death from which there is no restoration. It had been swept away
from the recollections of the country, by the influx of active and
opulent prosperity. The brave mountaineer might exult at the sight of
the Jacobite banner, and follow it boldly over hill and dale. But the
Englishman was no longer the man of feudalism. The wars of the Roses
could be renewed no more. He was no longer the fierce retainer of the
baron, or the armed vassal of the king. He had rights and possessions of
his own, and he valued both too much to cast them away in civil
conflict, for claims which had become emaciated by the lapse of years,
and sacrifice freedom for the superstitious romance of a vanished
royalty.

Thus the last enterprise of Jacobitism was closed in the field, and the
bravery of the Highlander was thenceforth, with better fortune, to be
distinguished in the service of the empire.

The reign of the third George began with the rise of a new influence.
Jacobitism had been trampled. Hanover and St. Germains were no longer
rallying cries. Even Whig and Tory were scarcely more than imaginary
names. The influence now was that of family. The two great divisions of
the aristocracy, the old and the new, were in the field. The people were
simply spectators. The fight was in the Homeric style. Great champions
challenged each other. Achilles Chatham brandished his spear, and
flashed his divine armour, against the defenders of the throne, until he
became himself the defender. The Ajax, the Diomede, and the whole tribe
of