cil to gain ground during an age in which the ordinary arm of the law was insufficient to make its authority duly respected, and in which general turbulence and insubordination were increased by political ferment and civil commotion. It is probable that the long absences of Henry V. from England invested it with a greater degree of importance. After every minority, and after every appointment of a select or extraordinary Council by authority of the legislature, we find that the ordinary Council acquired a fresh impulse and further powers. Hence the next reign constitutes a new era. A Council was nominated by the Lords during the minority of the young king, selected principally from their own body. Immediately upon this nomination, the Lords of the King's Counsaille' produced in Parliament a schedule containing provisions for the good gouvernance of the land,' in which are included the following important articles concerning their jurisdiction.

Item, that alle the billes that shul be putt unto the Counsail, shuld be onys in the weke att the lest, that is to seie, on the Wednesday, redd byfore ye Counsaill, and their ansueres endoced by the same Counsaill. And on Friday next folowyng declared to the partic suying.

Item, that alle the billes that comprehende materes terminable atte the commune lawe that semeth noght fenyd, be remitted there to be determined; but if so be that ye discrecion of the Counsaill feele to grect myght on that on side, and unmyght oo that othir.

Item, that the Clerc of the Counsail be sworn, that every day that the Counseille sittith on ony billes bitwix partic and partie, that he shall, as fer as he can, aspye which is the porest suytur's bille, and that first to be redd and answered, and that the King's Serjeant to be sworne treuly and plainly to yeve the poor man, that for suche is accept to the Counsail, assistense and trewe Counsaill in his matere, so to be suyd, withoutc cny good takyng of hym, on peyne of discharge of their offic."

Nearly the same provisions were agreed upon again in parliament in the 8 H. VI. Thus the Council settled and defined its principles and practice. The exception, reserved to their discretion,' of interfering whenever they felt too much might on one side, and too much unmight on the other, was in itself sufficiently vague to embrace almost every dispute or trial. And when, in addition thereto, they allowed themselves to be moved by any other cause reasonable, they left themselves the power in fact of acting whenever they pleased.

This authority, so largely expressed, had been in fact exercised without controul by Parliament; and the question will now suggest itself whether the Council had usurped the lawful powers of the estates of the realm, or whether the latter had gained upon the ancient prerogative jurisdiction of the advisers of the

Crown.

Crown. On this question, so far as respects the period anterior to the reign of Edw. III. it is extremely difficult to form any decided opinion. Parliament' and Council' are terms used in early records, with a latitude of meaning which throws great perplexity on the investigation. And the constitution of Parliament itself, when the word is understood to designate the supreme legislative assembly, is still involved in so much obscurity as to perplex every inquiry with which it is connected. So long, however, as the King possessed the power of summoning the temporal Peers of Parliament from amongst the barons and bannerets at his pleasure; and so long as the Commons neither had nor claimed any participation in the judicial proceedings of parliament, or in any acts bearing a judicial character, the distinction between the Council in Parliament, and the Council out of Parliament, was not always forcibly defined.

Under the Lancastrian kings England had changed much more than her ruling dynasty. The territorial parliamentary baronage, united with a titular nobility, had acquired an hereditary and indefeasible right to the rank of Lords of Parliament. A House of Lords now existed, invested with functions entirely distinct from that of the Council of the King's advisers, and who had annulled the authority of that Council in Parliament by possessing themselves of all the functions of judicature. To the Commons also now belonged the unquestioned right of sharing in the enactment of every law. Certainly their concurrence in any judicial proceeding was unknown to the ancient Constitution. Yet when they had obtained an authority which made them coordinate with the other branch of the legislature, it was not wholly unreasonable that they should endeavour to claim a voice in the judicial functions of the court of which they had become an essential portion. Parliament was the supreme remedial court of the kingdom, and as no public statute altering or amending the general course of common law could now pass without their assent, as one of the estates, it was easy to contend that they were entitled to concur in any act, ordinance, or judgment, by which the course or practice of the Common Law in any particular or individual case was altered or amended,

Happily for England this reasoning was successfully resisted. Had it prevailed, the entire judicial functions of the ordinary courts would have soon been absorbed by Parliament, or rather by the Commons, and the union of the legislative and judicial functions would have worked the entire subversion of the law. Indeed without reference to constitutional considerations it may be said that numerous bodies can never be trusted as the arbiters of the disputes of individuals, except in those rare cases which, from

from their importance, or from their connexion with affairs of state, impress the throng of judges with a sense of their responsibility, so deep as to silence passion, prejudice, and selfishness. By chance they may come to a right judgment, but there is very seldom any certainty that they will act upon principle. Unable, or unwilling, as they will always be, to submit to the tedious and irksome task of long and patient investigation, such suits as are of minor importance (and how few will appear otherwise before a crowd of legislators!) will be decided, without reflexiou, by the zeal of any favourable or adverse partisan, or the hot and hasty impulse of the assembly. It was, therefore, fortunate for the country that the parliamentary authority of listening to the case of any petitioner who alleged that he was remediless at the common law, became vested in such courts as were better calculated for the administration of substantial and impartial justice. These were indeed long imperfect and of slow growth; as upon some future opportunity we propose to show. It is time, however, to close our present inquiries: we are aware, from the nature of our materials, that they will still leave the mind in doubt upon several cardinal points: some new lights, we trust, we have thrown by our patient researches-and we think that it is rendering some service to the community merely to bring materials together and throw out suggestions of elucidation on so important and so interesting a subject.

ART. V.-Travels in South America, during the Years 1819-2021; containing an Account of the present State of Brazil, Buenos Ayres, and Chile. By Alexander Caldeleugh, Esq. 2 vols. 1825.

EVERY species of authentic information regarding the southern portion of the great continent of America is the more particularly welcome at this moment, when the long depressed energies. of so many millions of people are at length roused into action, and the whole frame of society, in all its members, is assuming a new attitude. Such a crisis can scarcely ever arrive without painful convulsions, and there was nothing in the previous state of the South American provinces to warrant an expectation, that they would in this respect form a splendid exception to the general history of mankind. Accordingly, lamentable as the fate of this fine but unfortunate country may have been, in the best of times that are gone by, it probably was not, at any period, in so deplorable a condition, as in that intermediate state which, for the last fifteen or twenty years, has called into play all the bad passions, and provoked a fierce and desolating warfare between the adherents

of

of the old government on the one hand, and the revolutionists on the other; and encouraged the native Indians to revenge their ancient injuries on both, just as the situation and successes of either party best suited their means of attack and their marauding purposes. One thing, however, let us hope, as we reasonably may, that whatever be the issue of the struggle, and that issue is now scarcely matter of doubt, the condition of the chequered population wilk be, ultimately and permanently, improved.

The post which Mr. Caldcleugh held of private secretary to our ambassador at the court of the Brazils may, perhaps, have led us to form unreasonable expectations as to the value of that part of his work which relates to this empire, from the supposed advantages of his official situation; but (for it is as well to confess it ap once) we have been a good deal disappointed. On many subjects, on which we looked for much information, the book is meagre and unsatisfactory; and on others there is a vagueness and generality of expression, which prevent our placing implicit reliance on his authority. What, however, he saw and heard, we have no doubt he has faithfully described to the best of his abilities; and though the book is heavy, and languid, and they who read for the sake of deep research, or glowing narration, will be disappointed, yet it is but fair to add, that he has seen and heard much, and has added considerably to our stock of information concerning several parts of South America.

We know how difficult it is to convey, by any description, an adequate idea of the mixed grandeur and soft repose, the sublimity and the beauty, of a mountainous country enriched with the exuberance of a tropical vegetation; but we scarcely recollect so complete a failure as our author's attempt to describe the splendid and magnificent scenery, which bursts upon the view, on passing through the gigantic granite portal into the great harbour of Rio de Janeiro; the tame and formal manner, in which the features are here enumerated, without the least warmth of colouring, or glow of feeling, conveys not the least idea to the reader of this extraordinary assemblage of beautiful objects. For a successful description of this we must refer him to the pages of the Bavarian travellers, Von Spix and Von Martius, which we barely glanced at in a former Number. The grand chasm in the granite ridge through which the voyager sails into the dark blue arm of the sea, generally unruffled as an inland lake;-the verdant banks, forming an agreeable contrast with the numerous white houses, chapels, churches, and forts, with which their sloping sides are studded; -the succession of wooded knolls, stretching to the distance of eighteen or twenty miles, till lost in the grand cluster of the Organ Mountains, with their peaked summits,-are all pourtrayed by

these

these travellers in the most vivid, but at the same time, faithful colours.

With the same success, warm in their language, grouping the whole in the most animated manner, yet minutely true in detail, as some of us can testify, have they described the first appearance of the country as they passed out of the city, opening before them in every richness and variety of vegetation; the night-scenery from a rising ground which overlooks it, is also made the subject of a very spirited sketch; and they have given a very characteristic outline of the succession of animated beings, which fills up a day's space, and enlivens the depth of a tropical forest. This last is so much in the best manner of Humboldt, that we cannot refrain from transferring it to our own pages; and we do so with the less scruple, as the only department of natural history with which Mr. Caldcleugh appears to be acquainted, is the far less interesting one which concerns the inanimate creation, geology and mineralogy.

The naturalist, who is here for the first time, does not know whether he shall most admire the forms, hues, or voices of the animals. Except at noon, when all living creatures in the torrid zone seek shade and repose, and when a solemn silence is diffused over the scene, illumined by the dazzling beams of the sun, every hour of the day calls into action another race of animals. The morning is ushered in by the howling of the monkeys, the high and deep notes of the tree frogs and toads, the monotonous chirp of the grasshoppers and locusts. When the rising sun has dispelled the mists which preceded it, all creatures rejoice in the return of day. The wasps leave their long nests which hang down from the branches; the ants issue from their dwellings, curiously built of clay with which they cover the trees, and commence their journey on the paths they have made for themselves, as is done also by the termites which cast up the earth high and far around. The gayest butterflies, rivalling in splendour the colours of the rainbow, especially numerous Hesperia, flutter from flower to flower, or seck their food on the roads, or, collected in separate companies, on the sunny sandbanks of the cool streams. The blue shining Menelaus, Nestor, Adonis, Laertes, the bluish white Idea, and the large Eurylochus with its ocellated wings, hover like birds between the green bushes in the moist valleys. The Feronia, with rustling wings, flies rapidly from tree to tree, while the owl, the largest of the moth kind, sits immovably on the trunk with outspread wings awaiting the approach of evening. Myriads of the most brilliant beetles buzz in the air, and sparkle like jewels on the fresh green of the leaves, or on the odorous flowers. Meantime agile lizards, remarkable for their form, size, and brilliant colours, dark-coloured poisonous, or harmless serpents, which exceed in splendour the enamel of the flowers, glide out of the leaves, the hollows of the trees, and holes in the ground, and, creeping up the stems, bask in the sun, and lie in wait for insects or birds. From this moment all is life and activity. Squirrels, troops of gregarious monkeys,