ACCOUNT OF BOOKS. 
labours, We shall pass over like- 
wise the fourth chapter for the same 
reason, observing only that Mr. 
Gisborne contests in it, but we do 
not think with success, the claim of 
the-sovereign to’natural, perpetual, 
and indefeasible allegiance ; though 
he is supported in his opinion by Sir 
W. Biackstone, and other writers of 
high repute. f 
The chapter on the duties of peers 
has a very just and important ob- 
servation on the custom of voting by 
proxy. 
‘* A considerate nobleman will 
make a very sparing and cautious 
use of his privilege of voting by 
proxy ; and will be scrupulous in 
receiving the proxy of another peer. 
Indeed, the idea of a person giving 
his vote in the decision of a question 
which he has not heard debated, 
and may never have considered, in 
enacting or rejecting a bill with tHe 
nature and object of which he is 
unacquainted, at a time too, per- 
haps, when heis in another quarter 
of the globe, and unable to learn 
the present posture of affairs and 
circumstances either at home or in 
the rest of Europe, is so plainly re- 
pugnant to common sense, is capa- 
ble of being so easily and grossly 
perverted to thé mancuvres of 
private interest, or of party, and so 
nearly resembles the Popish plan of 
putting one man's conscience into 
the hands of another, that the sur- 
render of this privilege would, ap-. 
parently, be at once honourable to 
the house of lords, and beneficial to 
the nation.” © 
Among the benefits resulting from 
the house of commons, as itis at 
present constituted, the following 
deserves to be recited from the sixth 
chapter : 
‘* It furnishes the means of a pae 
Vou, XXXVII, 
[*177 
tient and safe discussion of political 
grievances and popular discontents, 
before they are grown to such a 
magnitude as neither to be tolerated 
with safety to the state, nor removed 
without the risk of dangerous con- 
vulsions.. ‘The beneficial effects of 
a representative house of commons, 
in this point of view, are not. to 
bedescribed. In despotic govern 
ments, from the want of similar ine 
stitutions, the smothered embers 
accumulate heat in secret, until 
they burst into a general flame. 
The people, impatient at length of 
enduring the wrongs. over which 
they have long brooded in silent 
indignation, seek redress by open 
rebellion, as the only method by 
which they can hope to obtain it. 
In the ancient democratic states, in 
which the principle of representa- 
tion was not adopted, endeavours 
to redress glaring defects in the 
constitution were usually productive 
of ferments, tumults, and factious 
disorders, which rendered the ats 
tempt abortive, or terminated in 
hasty and impolitic resolves. But in 
Great Britain, the house of come 
mons serves as a conductor to draw 
of the lightning by a noiseless and 
constant discharge, instead of suf- 
fering it to collect until the cloud 
becomes incapable of containing it, 
and by an instantaneous flash to le- 
vel to the ground a fabric, whichages 
had been employed in erecting.” 
The three following chapters we 
shall pass over in silence, remarking 
only, that the eighth, which relates 
to the duties of naval and military 
officers, contains in the notes several 
important and striking facts derived 
from the best authority, and contri- 
buting very much to diversify and 
toenforce the reasoning. Thesame 
observation applies also to the thir- 
{*M ] teenth 
