life delightful. I can conceive a distressed, but virtuous man, surrounded by his children, looking up to him for bread when he has none to give them; sinking under the last day's labor, and unequal to the next, yet still supported by confidence in the hour when all tears shall be wiped from the eyes of affliction, bearing the burden laid upon him by a mysterious providence which he adores, and anticipating with exultation the revealed promises of his Creator, when he shall be greater than the greatest, and happier than the happiest of mankind. What a change in such a mind might be wrought by such a merciless publication !

But it seems this is an age of reason, and the time and the person are at last arrived, that are to dissipate the errors which have overspread the past generations of ignorance. The believers in Christianity are many: but it belongs to the few that are wise, to correct their credulity. Belief is an act of reason, and superior reason may, therefore, dictate to the weak. In contemplating the long list of sincere and devout Christians, I cannot help lamenting that Newton had not lived to this day, to have had his shallowness filled up with this new flood of light. But the subject is too awful for irony. I will speak plainly and directly. Newton was a Christian! Newton, whose mind burst forth from the fetters fastened by nature upon our finite conceptions Newton, whose science was truth, and the foundation of whose knowledge of it was philosophy — not those visionary and arrogant presumptions which too often usurp its name; but philosophy resting upon the basis of mathematics, which, like figures, cannot lie-Newton, who carried the line and rule to the utmost barriers of creation, and explored the principles by which all created matter is held together, and exists. But this extraordinary man, in the mighty reach of his mind, overlooked, perhaps the errors, which a minuter investigation of the created things of this earth might have taught him. What shall then be said of the great Boyle, who looked into the organic structure of all matter, even to the inanimate substances which the foot treads upon? Such a man may be supposed to have been equally qualified with Paine, to look up, through nature to nature's God.. Yet the result of all his contemplations, was the most confirmed and devout

belief in all which the other holds in contempt as despicable and drivelling superstition. But this error might, perhaps, arise from a want of due attention to the foundations of human judgment, and the structure of that understanding which God has given us for the investigation of truth. Let that question be answered by Locke, who, to the highest pitch of devotion and adoration, was a christian -Locke, whose office was to detect the errors of thinking, by going up to the very fountains of thought; and to direct into the proper track of reasoning, the devious mind of man, by showing him its whole process, from the first perceptions of sense to the last conclusions of ratiocination; putting a rein upon false opinion, by practical rules for the conduct of human judgment.

But these men, it may be said, were only deep thinkers, and lived in their closets, unaccustomed to the traffic of the world, and to the laws which practically regulate mankind. Gentlemen, in the place where you now sit to administer the justice of this great country, the never-to-be-forgotten Sir Matthew Hale presided-whose faith in Christianity is an exalted commentary upon its truth and reason, and whose life was a glorious example of its fruits; whose justice, drawn from the pure fountain of the Christian dispensation, will be, in all ages, a subject of the highest reverence and admiration. But it is said by the author, that the Christian fable is but the tale of the more ancient superstitions of the world, and may be easily detected by a proper understanding of the mythologies of the Heathens. Did Milton understand those mythologies? Was he less versed than Paine in the superstitions of the world? No: they were the subject of his immortal song; and though shut out from all recurrence to them, he poured them forth from the stores of a memory rich with all that man ever knew, and laid them in their order as the illustrations of real and exalted faith, the unquestionable source of that fervid genius, which has cast a kind of shade upon all the other works of man

"He pass'd the bounds of flaming space,
Where angels tremble while they gaze-
He saw-till, blasted with excess of light,
He closed his eyes in endless night."

But it was the light of the body only that was extinguished; the CELESTIAL LIGHT shone inward, and enabled him to "justify the ways of God to man".

Thus you find all that is great, or wise, or splendid, or illustrious, amongst created beings- all the minds gifted beyond ordinary nature, though divided by distant ages, and by clashing opinions, yet joining, as it were, in one sublime chorus, to celebrate the truths of Christianity, and laying upon its holy altars, the neverfading offerings of their immortal wisdom.

ERSKINE.

IN DEFENCE OF CAPTAIN BAILLIE.

SUCH, my Lords, is the case. The defendant—not a disappointed malicious informer, prying into official abuses, because without office himself, but himself a man in office ;-not troublesomely inquisitive into other men's departments, but conscientiously correcting his own; doing it pursuant to the rules of law, and, what heightens the character, doing it at the risk of his office, from which the effrontery of power has already suspended him without proof of his guilt; a conduct not only unjust and illiberal, but highly disrespectful to this court, whose judges sit in the double capacity of ministers of the law, and governors of this sacred and abused institution. Indeed, Lord Sandwiche has, in my opinion, acted such a part * * * (Here, Lord Mansfield observing the counsel heated with his subject, and growing personal on the First Lord of the Admiralty, told him that Lord Sandwiche was not before the court.) I know that he is not formally before the court, but, for that very reason, I will bring him before the court: he has placed these men in the front of the battle, in hopes to escape under their shelter, but I will not join in battle with them: their vices, though screwed up to the highest pitch of human depravity, are not of dignity enough to vindicate the combat with me. I will drag him to the light, who is the dark mover behind this scene of iniquity.

I assert that the Earl of Sandwiche has but one road to escape out of this business without pollution and disgrace; and that is, by publicly disavowing the acts of the prosecutors, and restoring Captain Baillie to his command. If he does this, then his offence will be no more than the too common one of having suffered his own personal interest to prevail over his public duty, in placing his voters in the hospital. But if, on the contrary, he continues to protect the prosecutors, in spite of the evidence of their guilt, which has excited the abhorrence of the numerous audience that crowd this court; IF HE KEEPS THIS INJURED MAN SUSPENDED, or DARES TO TURN THAT SUSPENSION INTO A REMOVAL, I SHALL THEN NOT SCRUPLE TO DECLARE HIM AN ACCOMPLICE IN THEIR GUILT, A SHAMELESS OPPRESSOR, A DISGRACE TO HIS RANK, AND A TRAITOR TO HIS TRUST.

But as I should be very sorry that the fortune of my brave and honorable friend should depend either upon the exercise of Lord Sandwiche's virtues, or the influence of his fears, I do most earnestly entreat the court to mark the malignant object of this prosecution, and to defeat it: I beseech you, my Lords, to consider, that even by discharging the rule, and with costs, the defendant is neither protected nor restored. I trust, therefore, your Lordships will not rest satisfied with fulfilling your judicial duty, but as the strongest evidence of foul abuses has, by accident, come collaterally before you, that you will protect a brave and public-spirited officer from the persecution this writing has brought upon him, and not suffer so dreadful an example to go abroad into the world, as the ruin of an upright man, for having faithfully discharged his duty.

My Lords, this matter is of the last importance. I speak not as an advocate alone-I speak to you as a man-as a member of a state, whose very existence depends upon her naval strength. If a misgovernment were to fall upon Chelsea hospital, to the ruin and discouragement of our army, it would be, no doubt, to be lamented, yet I should not think it fatal; but if our fleets are to be crippled by the baneful influence of elections, we are lost indeed! If the seaman, while he exposes his body to fatigue and dangers, looking forward to Greenwich as an asylum for infirmity and old age, sees

seas no more.

the gates of it blocked up by corruption, and hears the riot and mirth of luxurious landsmen drowning the groans and complaints of the wounded, helpless companion of his glory-he will tempt the The Admiralty may press his body, indeed, at the expense of humanity and the constitution, but they cannot press his mind—they cannot press the heroic ardor of a British sailor; and instead of a fleet to carry terror all round the globe, the Admiralty may not much longer be able to amuse us with even the peaceable, unsubstantial pageant of a review.

FINE AND IMPRISONMENT! The man deserves a palace, instead of a prison, who prevents the palace, built by the public bounty of his country, from being converted into a dungeon, and who sacrifices his own security to the interests of humanity and virtue.

And now, my Lords, I have done :- but not without thanking your Lordships for the very indulgent attention I have received, though in so late a stage of this business, and, notwithstanding my great incapacity and inexperience, I resign my client into your hands, and I resign him with a well-founded confidence and hope; because that torrent of corruption, which has unhappily overwhelmed every other part of the constitution, is, by the blessing of Providence, stopped here by the sacred independence of the judges. ERSKINE.

ON THE UNION.

SIR, I in the most express terms deny the competency of parliament to do this act. I warn you do not dare to lay your hand on the constitution. I tell you, that if circumstanced as you are you pass this act, it will be nullity, and that no man in Ireland will be bound to obey it. I make the assertion deliberately, I repeat it, and call on any man who hears me, to take down' my words; you have not been elected for this purpose, you are appointed to make laws, not legislatures; you are appointed to exercise the functions of legislators, and not to transfer them; and if you do so your act is a