Philosophy 0/ Contemporary Criticism, No. XXV JI. [Feb. 1, 



32 



altlioiigh he is considered as not fully 

 answering tlie c\pectalions excited by 

 Ills foiiiier work. 



An iiielTcctuiil and unworthy attempt 

 is made, in the succeeiling paper, to 

 throw ridicule on Air. litntham, who 

 M ill, no doubt, be very willing to allow 

 his adversaries the full benefit of their 

 jnerriment, while he carries with him 

 tlie judgment and approbation of a 

 less facetious class of men. His pub- 

 lication, <m the Art of Packinr/ Special 

 Juries, particularh/ in Cases of Libel 

 Imw, however lightly it may be treat- 

 ed by this jocular erilic, contains very 

 just animadversions on a practice, 

 vvhicli, especially in political questions, 

 aflects, beyond a doubt, the pure ad- 

 ministration of justice. Even in all 

 civil causes, such is the difference be- 

 tween the special and the common 

 jury, that a party is frequently known 

 to decline proceeding to trial, if the 

 special jurors, whom he has himself 

 liad a considerable share in selecting, 

 should happen not to attend in a suffi- 

 cient numlter. WiMi respect to the 

 judges, — of whom Mr. Bentham is 

 accused of entertaining too unfavour- 

 able an opinion, — we shall not go be- 

 yond the truth in asserting, that their 

 education, professional habits, and si- 

 tuations, seldom fail to give a decided 

 direction to their opinions. We are 

 anxious that they should maintain 

 their respectability; and, when the 

 means of preserving and increasing it 

 are pointed out, the hint should not be 

 received with scorn. JMr. Bcntiiam's 

 0})position to the special-jury system 

 is not founded, as the reviewer asserts, 

 on the principle that every man prac- 

 tises all the wickedness that his situa- 

 tion admits of; but upon the very 

 sound doctrine, that where the door is 

 opened, corruption will not be long in 

 making its way, and that it cannot be 

 too carefully excluded, both from the 

 jury-box and the bench. 



A dissertation succeeds on the 

 panegyrical oratory of Greece, which 

 is evidently the work jf a man well 

 acquainted with that portion of clas- 

 sical literature of v, hich he treats. It 

 forms, ou the whole, an entertaining 

 paper; but the style of its composition 

 is decidedly inferior to its matter. 

 This is a serious failure in a critique of 

 this nature, which should be discussed 

 with something of the dignity, grace, 

 and correctness, which distinguish the 

 objects of its remarks, 'J'he style of 



this article, on the contrary, is flat and 

 awkward, and not seldom obscure. 

 To us it bears many marks of being 

 not an original piece of English com- 

 l)osition, but a translation from the 

 French or Italian. 



The seventh article consists of a 

 long detail of the military operations 

 on both sides during the late war with 

 the United States ; and the apparent 

 object is to throw the whole blame of 

 the reverses sustained by our forces, 

 on the governor of the Canadas, Sir 

 George Prevost. Neither party, in 

 fact, had much to boast of in this war. 

 Victories on land were counterba- 

 lanced by defeats upon the lakes. 

 The arms of each country appear to 

 have been successful while confined to 

 defensive measures, and to have been 

 foiled when they invaded the hostile 

 territory. In retaining her Canadian 

 colonies, England, however, carried 

 Iier point ; the observations of the re- 

 viewer are intended to show the best 

 means of their future preservation. 

 The influx of Americans into these 

 pro\inces naturally excites his jea- 

 lousy; nor can we foresee how this 

 evil, if an evil it be, can possibly be 

 avoided ; nor how even the vigorous 

 and watchful administration, of which 

 he speaks, can winnow the republicans 

 from the population, and settle the 

 woods and wilds of Canada with ap- 

 proved Tories and enemies to Ame- 

 rican freedom. With so many and 

 glaring examples before our eyes of 

 the path in which the settlements in 

 that great portion of the globe are 

 destined to walk, it would be nothing 

 short of insanity to think that we hold 

 the Canadas with a very tenacious 

 grasp, or that, if they are to continue 

 attached to us, we can retain them by 

 the force of our arms. Our only sure 

 hold upon them consists in the wisdom 

 and moderation of their government, 

 and in the aocommodatiou of their po- 

 litical system to the increasing powers 

 and capacities of the people. If this 

 be not granted, they w ill soon be able 

 to command it, or to call to their aid 

 a ver3' prompt and etfcctual ally, 

 against whom all resistance would bo 

 vain. 



The Sermons and Miscellaneous Pieces 

 of the Rev. R.W. Mayow, of Ardwick, 

 near Manchester, who died in 1817, 

 call for no particular notice. He ap- 

 pears to have been a very worthy man, 

 Avith considerable abilities, and .some 

 eccentricities ; 



