this instance? Harmoniously? Pleasantly? M. Malte Brun, the geographer, answers these questions in his descriptions of Norway:"A spirit of independence runs through all the proceedings of the Storthing, which has led to continual differences with the Swedish government." Indeed this fact is confessed by Mr. Laing himself, the vehement reviler of Sweden and enthusiastic advocate of Norwegian democracy. "This Norwegian constitution has been in operation now for a quarter of a century, going on smoothly, except when the royal finger is laid hold of by the Swedish counsellors of his majesty, and unadvisedly thrust into the machinery, when it gets an ugly squeeze, and is precipitately withdrawn." We contend, therefore, that whether we look to the cases of America, Holland, or Sweden and Norway, we find nothing to encourage us to approve of the project of a federal union between Great Britain and Ireland. Such a connection would be productive of nothing but contentions, collisions, and disasters; and Ireland would in all probability, in attempting to separate from the English crown, become the seat of war, when its fields would be trodden down by contending armies. The agitation for a repeal of the union is a pernicious agitation. By embittering the public mind it prevents the application of gradual ameliorative measures to Ireland. It is adopted by some in ignorance, by some in despair, by its leader we believe as the tortuous means of wringing concessions from the government. In whatever light it is considered it is dangerous and worse than useless. England will never quietly consent to the dismemberment of the empire. Steam navigation and railroads prevent the possibility of the recurrence of such an event as took place in 1782; and till the arm of England loses its strength, she will not permit any foreign power to interfere in the domestic arrangements of the kingdom. Notwithstanding agitation, Ireland has increased in riches and waxen stronger since the Union. Thrift and temperance are making rapid strides in the country. Even now, British capitalists are investing their money freely in those railways and public works so important to the prosperity of Ireland; and the Queen's Government, forgetting past animosities, are, in a spirit of charity and equality, devising means for the improvement of the people-which, after all, must be a work of slow and gradual accomplishment. The true glory of the inhabitants of Ireland is their British citizenship-the renown of the British arms, whether achieved in the Peninsula, at Waterloo, in India and China, or at the Nile, Trafalgar, and Acre, is shared by them. The object of every good subject ought to be to blend distinctions between the people of the United Kingdom; and to promote the feelings of harmony and brotherly kindness as well as the develop ment of all the resources of Ireland for the general advantage. Why should they not, as the illustrious author of the Fairy Queen, asked in the days of Queen Elizabeth Sith no less famous than the rest they bee, ART. VIII.-Richard the Third, as Duke of Gloucester and King of England. By CAROLINE A. HALSTED.. 2 vols. Longman. MANY people of England read the history of their country, in by-gone times as did Marlborough,--that is in Shakspeare. And certainly none have suffered through that medium so grossly as the hump-backed Richard. Miss Halsted, however, with chivalrous gallantry, has joined the array of antiquaries and patient miners in the depths of English annals, to unravel the barbarous mysteries of the middle ages in which the Duke of Gloucester figured; and manfully she comes forward to rescue from obloquy a man so "doomed to everlasting fame." It appears to us that the lady has managed this apology, defence, and British championship with consummate skill;-reading, the balancing of authorities, and the exercise of sound judgment recommending Miss Halsted's volumes to the student, and the man of unbiassed mind. Let us to proofs.— The mysterious death of the unhappy and care-worn Henry VI., which, as Miss Halsted remarks, has contributed more than most of the other events to sully the reputation of the Duke of Gloucester, is plausibly enough by her laid to the charge of King Edward. This is part of her constructive account: On the morning after Edward the Fourth's triumphant entry into the metropolis, Henry VI., his meek and suffering rival, was found lifeless in the Tower; and towards the close of the same day-that which preceded the departure of the victorious monarch into Kent-the corpse of Henry of Lancaster upon a bier, and about the bier more glaives and staves than torches," was brought from the Tower to St. Paul's, and there publicly exposed to view preparatory to being conveyed to Chertsey for interment. There were too many political motives for the expediency of the royal captive's death, not to favour the suspicion that it was hastened by violence; and a very cursory view of the leading crimes and miseries of those fearful times will show that political expediency was in fact the foundation of almost all the dark and daring deeds that sullied that degenerate era. Every malevolent and ireful feeling was doubtless re-kindled in Edward's heart, by the attempt of Falconbridge to release the Lancasterian monarch; and also by his setting fire to the metropolis. To the ill-timed insurrection, then, of this daring character, there is strong reason to conclude may, at least in a great degree, be ascribed the sudden and premature death of Henry VI. Warwick, the king-maker, was slain, and Margaret of Anjou was a prisoner and childless; the young Prince of Wales was numbered with the dead, and the ex-king himself was not only in close confinement, but alike incapable of active measures, whether in mind or body. Yet Falconbridge had proved, within eight days of the battle of Barnet, and almost before Warwick's unquiet spirit rested in the silent tomb, that the daring temperament of this mighty chief yet lived in his kinsman, and that King Henry's name alone was sufficient to render Edward's throne unstable. The vindictive feeling which influenced this sovereign's military conduct to those opponents who thwarted his views or opposed his ambition, when coupled with such palpable cause for indignation, affords the strongest ground for believing that the death of his unhappy rival was a matter previously determined upon by the Yorkist monarch, even if, as was alleged, nature, worn out and exhausted, had really anticipated the decree by a tranquil and natural dissolution. Next, let us note a passage where Miss Halsted is accounting for, and tracing the intimacy and love-affection that existed, as she argues, between Richard and Lady Anne Neville, the twain having been under the same roof in their early and susceptible days: -- That the Lady Anne Neville and her cousin of Gloucester were thus intimately associated in childhood rests not on mere surmise, but is proved, in one very striking instance, on the testimony of a narrative of historical value appended to Leland's Collectanea, the genuineness of the authorities connected with which have never been disputed. The circumstance here alluded to is the appearance in public of the youthful co-heiresses of the Earl of Warwick with their royal kinsman the young Duke of Gloucester, at the costly feast which celebrated the installation, as archbishop of York, of their uncle, George Neville, lord chancellor of England. That Richard came there with Warwick's family as a visitor to the archbishop's palace and not in state as a prince of the blood royal, is inferred from his extreme youth, and from no mention being made of any other near members of the reigning family likewise because his young cousins, as if in compliment to the youthful prince, were placed in a more honourable position than the would otherwise have been entitled to occupy; "sitting in the chief chamber," with the king's brother, although the name of their mother the Countess of Warwick occurs with "the estates sitting in the second chamber." Here, then, positive proof appears of their intimacy in childhood. Miss Halsted argues that Lady Anne could not have been sought for by Richard in consideration of her estates, for that she was attainted at the time. Moreover, let it be asked, why did Clarence "cause the damsel to be concealed," unless he suspected that the affection which had be en early formed for her by Gloucester would lead him immediately to renew his vows of attachment, and incline her to listen to them? He evidently anticipated the fact, and acted upon it; for no mention is made by the chronicler of the Lady Anne's desire to be concealed; no intimation is given of her repugnance to her cousin, or of her flying to avoid his overtures; but possitive assertion is made by him that avarice-the coveting her share of riches that were her birthright, and which he trusted, perhaps, from her attainder, he should exclusively possess in right of her elder sister-alone influenced the unworthy prince, whose greedy desire for power and riches led him first to rebel against and dethrone his elder brother, and even to deprive him in his adversity of his patrimonial inheritance; and now instigated him to separate from his younger brother the object of his choice, and cruelly to persecute and degrade the unhappy victim whom he has bound by consanguinity and misfortune to protect, because, as distinctly alleged by the chronicler, "he feared the division of the inheritance he wished to enjoy alone." Illustrative of the liberal and mild domestic rule of Richard, the treatment and education of his eldest son, the Earl of Salisbury, is adduced, taken from a curious document, relative to the family while residing at Middleham Castle. Here is a morsel: One item commemorates the sudden death and burial of Lord Richard Bernall, his governor, who, it would seem, expired and was interred at Pomfret, recently after a journey from Middleham,a specified sum being inserted for "ye Lord Richard's costs from Middleham to Pomfret," [and another expenditure for " the Lord Richard's burial." Various entries connected with this nobleman show the entire association of the young prince with his tutor, and it also proves that Middleham was their fixed abode during Gloucester's active military career. The cost of the young Edward's primer and psalter, together with that of the black satin with which they were covered, are specified in this remarkable fragment, which also demonstrates the nature of the amusements in which the illustrious child was permitted to indulge. These latter items are particularly pleasing, and altogether invaluable, as relates to the private history of Richard Duke of Gloucester, from pourtraying the lenity of his domestic rule, evinced by the encouragement which he gave to the pastimes of the period, such as payment for a pack of hounds, the wages of a resident jester, the election of a king of rush-bearing, and a king also of Middleham, mummeries evidently connected with the district where he resided. Other items are still more important, from the proof they afford of Richard's attention to the comforts and rights of his personal attendants, and those of his offspring. These, together with the frequent and munificent alms offerings of himself and his family to the religious houses in the vicinity of Middleham, attest his strict observance of the devotional ordinances of the period, and display in a remarkable manner the admirable regularity and perfect order which characterized his domestic establishment. These passages relate to the early career of the Duke of Gloucester. We hasten for a moment to glance at two of the most important passages of his history belonging to the period of his protectorate and his sovereignty,-viz. his alleged usurpation of the crown, and the murder of his nephews. The coronation of Richard seems to have been conducted not only on a most magnificent scale, but to have met with the warmest popular approval. Miss Halsted thus collects and reports: No personal fear was evinced by Richard, no deception practised on the multitude: bold and decisive, gorgeous, magnificent and wholly unopposed, the enthronement of Richard III. is the best reply to all the calumnies that proclaimed him a dark and a stealthy usurper. Friends and foes were mashalled side by side, and the kindred of the deposed sovereign shared with the relatives of the new monarch the most dignified and honourable places, both in the procession and the banquet. A daughter of the house of York, the sister of the late and aunt of the rejected king, occupied with her husband and son the most prominent places about the persons of Richard and his queen; while the heads of the royal house of Lancaster; the Duke of Buckingham, and Margaret Countess of Richmond, were selected to fill the most favourite positions, and upheld the trains of the illustrious pair. No single observance was disregarded that could give effect or add weight to the ceremony, neither was there any display of despotism or partiality that could convert the solemn rite into a compulsory act, or one of abject servility to a tyrant; peers and prelates, judges, knights, and citizens, all united with one accord in honouring the choice of the legislature, and in confirming the elevation of King Richard III. Miss Halsted is successful in her effort to cast great doubt upon the popular story of the two young princes, said to have been murdered in the Tower at the instigation of Richard. The extract begins with part of the testimony furnished by Fabyan, who wrote about sixty years after the reported event. He says, after describing the accession of the Lord Protector," King Edward V., with his brother the Duke of York, were under the sure keeping within the Tower, in such wise that they never came abroad after.” And again, that "the common fame went that King Richard put unto secret death the two sons of his brother." Rous of Warwick is the next contemporary authority; but, although coeval with King Richard, it must not be forgotten that he, like Fabyan, wrote the events which he records after that monarch's decease; and the fact of his having dedicated his work to King Henry VII. is alone sufficient to demonstrate his Lancasterian bias, even if proof did not exist that his character of King Richard, when exercising sovereign power, was altogether opposed to that which he afterwards gave, when writing under the auspices of his rival and successor. "The Duke of Gloucester, for his own promotion, took upon him the disinheriting of his lord, King Edward V., and shortly imprisoned King Edward with his brother, whom he had obtained from Westminster, under promise of protection; so that it was afterwards known to very few what particular martyrdom they suffered." This writer, however, places the death of the princes during the protectorate: "Then ascended the royal throne of the slain, whose pro |