1820.3 England and Europe. 485 



For nearly fifteen years from the accession of the Protestant ministry 

 under IMr. Percival in 18075 the course of government was strictly 

 opposed to the Popish demands. The question was urged evefy year, 

 and every year the answer was the same : " The British constitution 

 excludes no man, whose pi-esence in the legislature is compatible with 

 the public safety. Let the Papist give the pledges essential to the 

 public safetj', and let him enter like the rest. If his religion refuses 

 those pledges, he must not be suffered to enter and do evil." 



The prosperity of England during this period makes the most bril- 

 liant period of her history. In the period from 181.5, the pressures 

 arising from the gigantic public expenditure, and the.natural revulsions 

 of a state of universal peace instantly succeeding a state of universal 

 war, tried the substantial vigour of the country. It was found still 

 salient, indefatigable, creative. New sources of commerce rapidly sup- 

 plied the failure of the old; the partial alarms of the manufacturers were 

 exchanged for a conviction that the triumph of British Commerce was about 

 to establish itself upon a more magnificent scale of supremacy than even 

 the prowess of the British sword. Our ships rushed to every shore ; the 

 most secluded corners of the earth were laid open by the sagacious 

 intrepidity of British enterprize ; and commerce almost lost its name in 

 the new grandeur and lofty ambition of an intercourse which united the 

 ends of the world, founded great civilized communities in the wilder- 

 ness, poured the knowledge, the arts, and the religion of Europe, 

 on the desolate and darkened savage, and laid the foundation of that 

 boundless and hallowed edifice, in which a more glorious day shall yet 

 see joined the whole scattered family of man. 



But in 1823 a new influence was brought into the government. The 

 death of Lord Castlereagh opened the cabinet to Mr. Canning, and for 

 the first time since the daj' of triumph, a spirit of Popery was felt in 

 the public councils. Its result was instantly felt in the check of public 

 prosperity. 



It is remarkable that at the precise period of IMr. Canning's accession to 

 the cabinet, the prosperity of the empire had attained a singular height. 

 The distresses of war, and the exhaustions of the first years of peace had 

 been obliterated. The country was pronounced on all hands to enjoy 

 the most vigorous resources, with prospects of their increase almost too 

 dazzling for the sober views of statesmen and philosophers. Undoubt- 

 edly never in the memory of man was the public consciousness of 

 national wealth, successful enterprize, and enduring energy, so xmiversal. 

 The difficulty seemed to be, how to discover new conduits for this over- 

 flowing opulence. And we are to recollect that this was not the lan- 

 guage of mere enthusiasts or ingenious speculators, but of our public 

 men, of our statistical writers, of every man who had eyes to look round 

 him, and a tongue to express his surprise and congratulation. Canals 

 were dug ; manufactories erected ; immense tracts of land brought into 

 sudden cultivation ; the command of that colossal instrument of sove- 

 reignty over the rude force of the earth. Steam, that sets at nought the 

 winds and the waves, that searches the bowels of the earth, that levels 

 the mountain and uplifts the valley, that gives at once preternatural 

 speed, and preternatural strength, that can weave the finest texture of 

 the loom, and build a pyramid, was pre-eminently ours, and was hourly 

 increasing in its superb applical)ilities to the uses of man. A new era 

 was pronounced to be opening upon the human race, and England was 



