saving may be nine the next, is the man of the people. The rival orator, who will promise them to let half the sixpences remain in their pockets, will supersede the former. And thus were swept away all the colonies of all the republics of the ancient world—and thus were swept away all those of the modern—and thus will England, the more republican she grows, pay the penalty of her "reform" in saving her sixpences and losing her millions, in conciliating the economists of an age of meanness, malice, and hypocrisy, and leaving her shores naked, her arsenals at the mercy of chance, her colonies to the knavery of faction; and her hopes, her glories, and her freedom, to the clamour of obscure millions, who ought long since to have "fattened the region of kites with their offal." If we have empire we must pay for it. If we choose to shrink within the borders of our two islands, we may. But how long, then, shall we be able to save even the sixpences?—where will be the sources of our strength?—where the outworks which have so long kept the battle from our walls?—where the channels which have poured gold from every quarter, with one vast convergent tide into England? And in the day when some Russian fleet, or American, or Swedish, or Danish, or Greek—for such policy creates contempt, invites enemies, and makes every enemy formidable—shall be seen sweeping our seas, and burning our harbours; or, like the old piracies of the north, throwing swarms of flying robbers on our shore, and ravaging the land, what small consolation shall we have in hanging the "economists" wherever we can find them?—in exterminating the breed like their kindred rats and vipers?—and, before we die, avenging the land at once on the meanest and the most mischievous of its enemies?
But we must come to a close. The remainder, and the still more interesting portion of the volume, leads us through the early period of the Spanish war, the most romantic, chivalric, and gallant scene of arms displayed in Europe since the days of the Paladins. Mr Alison's style is as much fitted as his feelings for this magnificent period of national energy. He has one volume yet to write—it is for England and the great crowning triumphs of her war. We envy him his theme—this war of the giants of England and France—Wellington and Napoleon; Europe the field; the prize the world.
Printed by Ballantyne and Hughes, Paul's Work, Edinburgh.
