peace and commerce; and the exclusively favourable influence which peace and commerce exercise, not only upon the arts of industry, but also upon literature and the fine arts.

This opinion appears premature. It is high in favour with the advocates of peace at all times, and by all means; but I do not think that history affords any record when peace and commerce, in conjunction, and exclusively of war, have exercised the beneficial influence ascribed to them. When commerce has been a party to the patronage of literature, and of the fine arts and sciences, she has generally done so in conjunction with, or under the influence of war. Drawing conclusions from the data furnished by past experience, it is more correct to say that most of the progress effected in those departments of study has been promoted, directly or indirectly, by war. This may appear a broad and startling assertion in the present state of public opinion in this country; but it may be not the less true, as there seems to be an unduly pacific bias in the received opinion.

After alluding to the stormy times which preceded the age of Pericles, and prevailed during the earlier portion of his career, when he was a successful general, the author gave the following quotation : "From the age of Pericles to the time of Alexander the Great, Athens, though almost constantly engaged in wars, had not neglected those arts which have associated her name with civilization. Her public buildings were continually increasing in number and magnificence, which was mainly due to Lycurgus the orator, who built the Panathenaic stadium, and provided for the security of the city by the magazines in the Acropolis, and by the dockyards in the Peiræus." He then remarked— Look now to the glorious galaxy of illustrious names with which this period of history is gemmed; a period, be it remembered, of intestine feuds foreign invasions, "thirty tyrants," and sparse breathing times of peace. There are Anaxagoras, Socrates, and Plato, in philosophy; Xenophon the historian; Eschines and Nicias in the fine arts. Where these more abstract pursuits, which are unnecessary to the ordinary routine of material existence, were so studied and adorned, we may be sure that the useful arts were not neglected; and that in the magazines on the Acropolis, the dockyards of the Peiræus, and the wooden walls of Athens was evidence of the practical ability of the Athenian mechanic. The buildings that remain testify to this-the works that are gone have no doubt carried away much testimony to the same effect; but it will be observed that with the exception of the thirty years' truce, in the time of Pericles, the normal condition of Athens, during its most civilized period, was that of war in one shape or another; and that

it was success in war that ministered to the triumph of the peaceful

arts.

The author enforced his views by reference to the Augustan age in Rome; to the Italian republics; to the eras of Elizabeth and Anne, in this country; and to the period of the American and Napoleonic wars; observing of the latter-Notwithstanding their alleged crippling influence on the commerce of this country, see that commerce diffusing itself all over the globe, and bringing the more important products of every clime to our island home. See, while strife raged abroad, the gigantic improvements introduced into the arts and manufactures; all the improvements in the machinery for spinning which have given fame or wealth to Arkwright, Strutt, Cartwright, and Peel; the adaptation of steam to mining and manufacturing purposes by Watt; the application of coal gas to artificial illumination, by Murdoch, Winsor, and Clegg; the formation of canals by Brindley and the Duke of Bridgewater; the foundation of the Royal Academy of Arts; the extension and improvement of periodical literature; this is all so recent, you do not require to have your memory refreshed with particulars, nor need I enumerate more of the names of those who participated in these great works.

After referring to the corroborative evidence afforded by the Egyptian and Assyrian remains, and commenting upon the general deductions to be drawn from the examples quoted by history, he observed-Nor let it be hastily supposed that the rapid advance recorded as having been made during the peaceful rule of Pericles or Augustus, was due entirely to that peace. What is called the peace of Europe has subsisted beyond the duration of that of Pericles; yet, in commercial England, with all the superior advantages we boast, we may look in vain for any adequate rivalry of Athens or of Rome. The attainment of excellence in any human pursuit of value is not to be compared to Minerva's birth; it is the slow growth of years, sometimes of generations. The consummate skill and grace, therefore, displayed by Phidias and his contemporaries, had been gradually matured through all the distractions of the Persian invasions and the preceding wars with Sparta and other states. The siege and ruin of the older Athens prepared a stage on which the excellence attained might be displayed. The inferior productions of the period of pupilage were swept away, and there was no impediment to the free scope of the master mind; just as the prairie-fire destroys the withered remnants of an exhausted season, from whose ashes spring fresher and more luxuriant manifes tations of productive energy.

The muleteer's path may, indeed, rudely sketch the general outline of the invader's course; but who can deny that after Hannibal or Napoleon bad constructed the broad military road for the passage of his troops, the intercourse, commercial and otherwise, along that route was greatly increased? So in the Highlands of Scotland, the rude and warlike people who inhabited those glens and fastnesses were inaccessible to the softening influence of civilization and of commerce, until Marshal Wade constructed his military roads through all their strongholds, and freed them from the contracting and jealous influence of isolation. "Had you seen these roads before they were made, you would hold up your hand, and bless General Wade." It is well known that the Romans also consolidated their conquests by the construction of magnificent military roads.

The muleteer-usually a contrabandiste, waging petty and personal warfare against the fiscal regulations of nations-pioneers the course of some great and successful warrior, in whose train the peaceful arts follow in triumphant security, ministering to his glory who prepared so spacious and safe a channel for the flow of their civilizing influence; and commerce herself eagerly treads the same path, doing homage to the grandeur of the warrior's achievement.

He then proceeded to review the opposite or commercial view of the question, observing-That commerce is essentially narrow-minded and soul-contracting in its influence; its vital principle is the love of gain; its rule of conduct self interest, not always "enlightened." It has been said of its devotees, that they are so engrossed in making friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, they have no leisure to attend to the other precepts of the gospel. It is manifest, then, that it is not accordant with the genius of commerce to encourage any arts or pursuits but those that minister to the love of gain. Essentially utilitarian in its nature, commerce has no imagination to gratify; inherently selfish, it has no noble deeds to record, no sympathy to crave or give; its most extended range of thought begins and ends in self.

If we search for the immediately exciting cause of national excellence in the fine arts, it is found to be religion or war, two of the most powerful agents to which men can be exposed, and both influencing the affections: the one swaying the mind through fear or love, the other through the love of glory, which, unlike the love of gain, requires sympathy for its perfect gratification. Hence the attachment of warlike nations to the fine arts, which are essentially dependent on sympathy for their perfect appreciation. Religion, particularly as theology, has not unfrequently incited nations to war, either from a sincere belief that the war was

necessary, or from a courtly, and not unusual, compliance with the prevalent vice or folly of the age. Under Paganism, Mahommedanism, and Christianity, wars and persecutions have flourished. When warriors have achieved success, then ministers of religion have vied with bards in pæans for the conqueror; they have swelled his triumph and ministered to his glory; and, in order to make their efforts more complete, they have enlisted the fine arts to their aid. Acting thus in conjunction, the influence of religion and war has been unrivalled, and the successful prosecution of the arts of peace, by any nation, has usually depended on these influences, conjoint or separate: it was so in Egypt and Assyria, in Athens and in Rome. The merchant prince of Italy warring with territorial potentates; the grandee of Spain fighting with the Moslem; the burgher of Ghent waging war with his suzerain or the invader, the fugitives who founded Venice, and they who fled to the marshes of Holland; these, and their descendants, with the spoils of war, or the fruits of agriculture, manufactures, and commerce, under the stimulus of a warlike era, enlarged and adorned their cities, indulged in luxurious palaces, paid tribute to religion, and commemorated their departed heroes. The rudest nations manifest their dawning love for art by decorating the weapons and person of the warrior chief. The most acceptable ornament of religious edifices has been the spoils of war, either as taken from the field of battle and hung up for trophies, or transmuted by affection and piety into decorative memorials of departed heroism, uttering through long years, to succeeding generations, the touching appeal, "Pray for his soul !"

But where a nation has been permitted to enjoy a long period of commercial prosperity, undisturbed by war of any kind, its encouragement of the fine arts, more especially, has been stinted and illiberal. I am not aware that those carriers of antiquity, the Phoenicians, have left any records of profuse patronage behind them; and certainly the two most commercial people of modern times have been singularly remiss; neither England nor America is noted for its encouragement of the fine arts. America, which has been less occupied by war, it might be expected would have earned a profusion of bays, had the highways of successful commerce been the highways of the peaceful arts. England has exerted most of her patronage during her periods of war; from the time of Alfred the Great to the peace of 1815, the eras of her poets, historians, and artists of every kind are coincident with her most warlike and successful monarchs. On the other hand, Mr. Fergusson, and other writers on India, inform us that whilst each of the other numerous dynasties who have conquered that

country has recorded its predominance in great works of public utility, such as improvements in irrigation, or in temples and palaces, the commercial government of commercial England has hitherto prepared no such records; and were her authority to be overthrown to-morrow, future antiquaries may search in vain for any memorial of her sway, other than traditions of the salt monopoly, that metempsychosis of the odious gabelle. Here, then, is a country in which numerous warlike nations hold successive sway, and are followed by a race of merchant princes. The warriors, each in turn, endeavour to develop the material resources of the country they have subdued, or to record their wealth and power. The merchant princes, under the influence of an unmitigated commercial spirit, grind from their conquest every advantage personal to themselves, and, until recently, have felt no compulsion to benefit the source of their own wealth and power by any reproductive works; and have deferred their patronage of the fine arts, whatever that may be, until they return home.

Then look at England's public monuments in St. Paul's and Westminster Abbey; exclude the warriors and the statesmen, and how many remain? Look at this town of Liverpool, the greatest commercial emporium of the country, and who are the men its people have delighted to honour? Of twenty-five docks, nine testify loyal attachment to the reigning family; they are the Clarence, Victoria, Prince's, George's, Albert, King's, Queen's, Coburg, and Brunswick; three commemorate former representatives in parliament, two of whom happened to be statesmen of eminence, they are the Canning, Huskisson, and Sandon docks; four have names of purely local signification, they are the Salthouse, Union, Harrington, and Toxteth docks; three are said to be grateful acknowledgments of services from peers and local landowners, they are the Egerton, Stanley, and Salisbury docks; one, the BramleyMoore dock, is a token of respect to a late chairman of the trust; and the names of the remainder, five in number, are the tribute paid by commerce to successful war; they are the Waterloo, the Trafalgar, the Wellington, the Nelson, and the Collingwood docks; not one commemorating a man of science or literature, a philanthropist, nor even maritime discoverer.

There are five public specimens of the sculptor's art in Liverpool; they are George III., Huskisson, Canning, Roscoe, and Nelson: one sovereign, three parliamentary representatives, and a naval hero. It does not appear to be the nature of commerce to be grateful to her own heroes. Columbus may be sufficiently noted in the pages of history, though another name than his has been bestowed upon the new world,