192 Notes of' the Monlh on [August, 



not within our knowledge ; but the number actually concerned is so far 

 from being unlimited that it does not exceed ten, and they are so far 

 from being detrimental to the constitution, that there is no obstacle 

 which the public will so easily get over. 



" That well-beloved man, our cousin," whom Sir R. Peel so modestly 

 recommended to the care of Sir George Murray, when colonial secre- 

 tary, has, we lament to say, not altogether prospered at the Swan River. 

 His subjects are angry, his royal domains turn out to be sand, and his 

 revenues are a fac-simile of Sir Robert's merits — nothing at all. 



Recent letters from the Swan River settlement confirm the intelligence of the 

 breaking up of Mr. Peel's establishment, and state, that the flourishing colony 

 of Clarence now only consists cf a few families. Mr. Peel himself was farming 

 on the Murray River in a small way, and the people whom he brought out with 

 him had been distributed by the Government throughout the colony. In other 

 respects the various settlements were in a thriving condition. 



Poor cousin Peel ! he was " farming on the IMurray River in a small 

 way." We have no doubt of its smallness. He had been farming on 

 the ]Murray interest before, and found the enterprise no bad one ; if he 

 had continued his original farming, he might have been one of the props 

 of the family name in the House by this time, and contrived some snug 

 sinecure for himself. But the kingdom of Australia was tempting, and 

 the future dynasty of Peel summoned his amliition to the Swan River, 

 which, we understand, is henceforth to change its name to that of " an 

 inferior bird, not distinguished for its brains," as the polite of speech say. 



The course of law has not run smooth with the Reverend Robert 

 Taylor — better known by the name of the Devil's Chaplain. He has 

 at the late Surrey sessions been tried on a charge of having, on Good 

 Friday last, in the Rotunda, Blackfriars-road, performed a most dis- 

 gusting burlesque of the Lord's Supper. He was found guilty ; and 

 sentenced to be imprisoned two years in the county gaol, to pay a fine of 

 £200, to enter into his own recognizance in the sum of £500 for his good 

 behaviour, and to find two sureties of £250 for the next five years. 



We believe that no one will deplore the results of the law in the 

 punishment of a criminal so utterly beyond the reach of any milder ap- 

 plication. But this wretched being has not even the poor excuse of being 

 an enthusiast. He is, like his friend Carlisle, a mere speculator. Carlisle 

 was a travelling tinman, who thinking that he could make more money 

 by selHng infidel tracts, than by crying pots and kettles, sold the tracts, 

 and after due discovery of the profits of the pursuit, set up as an 

 author in the same line. The culprit on the present occasion finding 

 that he could make money by collecting a mob of ragamuffins at two- 

 pence a head, adopted the expedient forthwith, and made the money. If 

 his trade is now stopped for a while, we can have no sorrows for the 

 deficiency of his purse. The speculation has failed, and there is an end 

 of all that can be said touching the manager. 



But on the general question of bringing men into court for their 

 personal opinions, there is this to be said — certainly no law can compel 

 any man to believe but according to his own will, and as certainly no 

 law that punishes for adopting any opinion, be it what it may, can be 

 justified. But as all laws are intended to preserve the peace of society, 

 a peace even to be disturbed very seriously by the propagation of 



