420 
national laws. There are three parties 
then—the individual—the collective nation 
—and foreign nations. With reference to 
individuals are involved the questions of 
property—of personal rights and duties—of 
marriage and sexual intercourse—of parents 
and children—of guardians and wards—of 
contracts and engagements—of reparation 
and punishment. The law of nations em- 
braces the constitution of civil power—the 
legislative—the _executive—administration 
of justice—civil liberty ;—while interna- 
tional law comprises treaties, ambassadors, 
wars, aliens, neutrals, rebels, &c. 
Here is a most spacious field of argument 5 
and Mr. Thomas’s attempt is to comprise 
it in the briefest compass—contenting him- 
self, for the most part, with laying down the 
results, without discussing the principles, or 
detailing the arguments that establish them. 
His purpose, he says, is to render the know- 
ledge of general rights and obligations more 
easy and familiar to all who cannot devote 
to their consideration a laborious and tedious 
attention, and to accomplish this he has 
stripped off all ornament—all encumbrances 
—and occasionally even the skin; and 
wonders the same thing is not done in every 
department of literature. He is in loye 
with skeletons. ‘This is his style. 
The duties of a sovereign are— 
1. To reign oyer his subjects according to the 
Jaws, upon which his authority depends. It is 
not contemplated that a king shall have the power 
to do harm to the community. 
2. To acquire the knowledge of useful govern 
ment—and watch over and advance the prosperity, 
security and glory of all his subjects to the 
utmost of his power—and for this purpose, to 
maintain honourable peace, to enter into prudent 
treaties, to practice justice, moderation, and ya- 
lour, select good and wise ministers, to be ac- 
quainted with the constitution, real condition and 
circumstances of the nation, to promote social 
harmony, to provide for the popular wants, to en- 
courage industry and population, to reward pa- 
triotic and learned men, to remedy all imperfec- 
tions, to inquire into alleged abuses within the 
scope of his royal jurisdiction, to ascertain the 
defects in the laws, and to encourage religion, 
morality, and useful education—considering the 
happiness of his people, the supreme law of the 
state, regarding his crown as the glorious gift of 
his people, not as inherently derivative from his 
ancestors, and desiring the happiness of his sub- 
jects, rather than the gratification of his private 
ambition. 
3. To lay out the taxes as intended by the 
legislative. 
4. To protect every subject from injury and 
wrong, so as such defence do not more harm than 
good to the state. 
5. To prevent the spread of obviously-wicked 
notions, 
6. To use his prerogative, on all occasions, for 
the public benefit. 
7. To listen to the respectful complaints of his 
subjects, and be accessible to them. 
8. To be just, merciful, virtuous, generous and 
accomplished. 
Monthly Review of Literature, 
[Ocr. 
9. To overcome his passions, and dismiss 
eaprices from his mind, 
10. To observe international law, to keep his 
public parts with good faith, and to undertake only 
just enterprises against enemies. ° 
1]. Sovereigns of fine courage will pursue un- 
dauntedly that which is virtuous, &e. 
All which—like the greater part of the 
book—has the air of an ipse dixit :—such 
and such a thing should be done, as if the 
expression of it were sufficient to establish 
its propriety. 
OF what use, we would ask the author, is 
it to tell us, that “ all states, whether large 
or small, weak or powerful, are naturally 
equal and independent ?” ‘The weak will 
obey the law of the strongest. Or of what 
use to add——“ and have aright to send am- 
bassadors to such nations as receive them ?” 
The right, if there is any, is equally such to 
those who do not receive them. But it is 
all matter of compact. 
In cases of sieges, he says, ‘fa summons 
should precede the assault ;” but in a page 
or two before, he observes, in hostile acts, 
“deception is not perfidy.”” The writer 
will say, he is talking of stratagems in one 
place, and sieges in another—but does that 
make the matter consistent ? 
But in sieges, “ the lives of the besieged 
must, upon capitulation, be spared, except- 
ing by way of exemplary punishment, when 
the laws of war have been shamefully in- 
fringed upon;” and yet in another place, 
he of course insists upon the terms of a con- 
tract being strictly observed—and what is a 
capitulation, but a contract ? 
Sometimes we cannot comprehend him 
at all—for instance—the existence of an 
universal-‘monarchy is at the least a highly- 
improbable event ; and the very proof of 
its accomplishability might necessarily de- 
monstrate its usefulness. 
Establishing the benevolence of the Deity 
—all nature transcendantly glows with mo- 
tives of gratitude to him. What does he 
mean ? 
When the author quits his tabular form— 
we have strings of sentences of this kind :— 
The body of man is made up of several organs 
of life, motion, and enjoyment, which gradually 
develope themselves until their maturity; after 
which they decay, and become insufficient to per- 
form the demands made upon them. Death; 
which puts an end to all suffering, ensues. It 
occurs but once. We do not perfectly understand 
it. We ought not to condemn it. It is doubtless 
a wise appointment, 
This, we presume, is what Mr. Thomas 
calls in his dedication condensing, and in 
his preface—his proem, we mean—contrasts 
with wire-drawn writing. 
The Rector of Overton. 3 vols. 12mo. 
1828.—The well-meaning, but utterly use- 
less and unamusing production of some haf 
witted lady, who knows no more of the 
world which she professes to deseribe, and 
its ways which she proposes to correct, 
