Star.
London, England, 1831-05-24 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

Asiatic Journal. MAY.
The present number contains several extremely interesting commu-
nication& The Ist article is an acute examination of the article in the
last Edinburgh Revietv, against the Company's exclusive trade to
China. We have endeavoured to expose more than once some of the
fallacies current on the importance of opening the trade to Chine; and
the subject is very ably treated in this article.
" The account of fossil remains in New Holland," cannot fail to at-
tract the attention of the Geologist. Caves have Leen discovered in
that distant country in many particulars analogous to that discovered by
Professor Buckland. at Kirkdale, in the North of England.
The intricate subject of the nature of land tenure and revenue in India,
receives the most satisfactory illustration in a letterby Col. Tod, the able
author of the " History of ltajpootana." It is a communication
which has been elicited by, a side-wind criticism, which was directed
Realm Col. Tod.. opinion in a former number of this journaL We
think he has triumphantly ;moved the existence of something quite
.c.alogous to the feudal system, and rrimogeniture succession, to have
o the custom of India. He at once cleats away the obscurity
cithe subject by showing that the possession of the largeproprietors
lesetrided entire i.y law of pritro,teiiiture—the small landed posses-
! ens of the other classes were divided t qually among descendants. He
Hums, too, that the revenue from laud might descend by the same law,
while the land Itself followed another. •

The account of the missions in India agreeably surprised us. We
really suspected that little or no success had attended the pious labours
of the missionaries in the East : but we have here an account of 7500
converts at one place, and full details of similar success. Some learned
dissertations on the language and antiquities of India complete the
number.

The Life of Thomas Muir, Esq. .Advoersie, nun". of Huniershill,
le. By PETZIMACCLXZIE. SIMPLIN and ItisasnALL.
Nothing could be more seasonable than this publication,
bearing, as it does, directly on the grand question of reform,
which now absorbs the attention, not only of this kingdom,
but of the whole civilised world. It is the life of a man who
MI a victim to that system of persecution by which reform
was stifled in this country, after the demand for it had been
stimulated by the first revolution in Ireland, and which would,
assuredly follow a failure of reform in the second instance,
with all the aggravated atrocity that would spring from the
presumption of a final victory. It is a specimen of the
manner in which the Dundasses and M'Queens of that
period could, without remorse, violate all the sanctities of
public and private life, in order to wreak a sort of instinctive
vengeance on the purest morality and patriotism that ever
adorned the country.
The reply made by corruption to the abstract reasonings
of liberty is, that "the system works well ;" that, although
it may have entailed on posterity a debt of eight hundred
millions, nevertheless it is, at the worst, only a fiscal one ;
and that it is, in fact, the means of securing that constitu-
tion which guarantees life, liberty, and property, to indi-
viduals. This is, we confess, a practical argument, and
therefore, instead of dealing in general reasonings, we are
enabled, unfortunately, to present to our readers a particular
case in point—one which embodies all that is pure, talented,
and noble in patriotism, on the one hand; on the other, all
the malignity, sophistry, and chicanery, that were ever ar-
rayed on the side of political guilt.
although the elder generation of public men in this coun-
try is familiar with the character of this great man, whilst
all Scotland honours him with a deepening veneration, we
shall, for the sake of our young readers, briefly sketch the
outlines of a career as romantic in its details as it was
august in its principles. For many particulars we must,
however, refer to the work before us, which faithfully and
enthusiastically records those facts which we have the means
of confirming from private sources.
Thomas Muir, of ancient and honourable family, residing
on his paternal estate, was a profoundly educated and elo-
quent member of the Scottish bar; a man of unimpeachable
morality and ardent piety, who, for lending a volume of
Paine's Political Works to a friend as a matter of curiosity,
and with a declaration that " it might be dangerous to per-
sons of weak minds," and for arguing that the house of com-
mons was venal and corrupt,—in other words, for saying and
doing no more than is now said and done by the bulk of the
community, and for saying and doing which the present mi-
nistry have been heaved over the great sand bar of corruption
into the haven of power and reformation—by the spring tide
and concurring movement of a united people—was prose-
cuted by the Dundas faction, convicted by the evidence of
the scullion, the priest, and the hair-dresser, whom the
dainties of the treasury had enticed from the crumbs that fell
beneath his table ; found guilty by a jury packed according
to a law (now, happily for Scotland, repealed) composed of
a majority of placemen and others, whose names yet rot
upon the pension-list; sentenced by judges who rivalled
Jeffreys in the scurrility of their language and the iniquity
of their decisions,—sentenced—to what? A man of genius,
learning, piety, patriotism—a man seemingly ordained by
the hand of GOD to rank among the saviours of mankind—
for no other reason than lending a volume, and advocating
parliamentary reform—to be transported for fourteen years
to Botany Bay ; a sentence which was actually carried into
effect alter he had ate, drank, slept, and worked in irons,
among common felons, on board the bulks in the Thames.
During this ignominy, we learn that he had no other con-
solation than was afforded by his pocket Bible and his con-
scious rectitude; whilst his persecutors," in purple and fine
linen," were chanting hypocritical strains over the downfall
of the atheistical reformers.
We must refer to Mr. Mackenzie's work for the details of
his voyage to Sidney; his rescue thence in a vessel despatched
by the immortal Washington : his shipwreck and miraculous
escape on the coast of America ; his entertainment by a
tribe of Indians less barbarous than the faction that had
transported him ; his journey alone, and on foot upwards of
four thousand miles across the American continent ; his de-
tention by the Spaniards at Mexico, and transmission to Eu-
rope in irons ; the capture of the Spanish vessel by Lord St.
Vincent ; his escape, under the supposition that he had been
killed in the action ; and his Onal deliverance by the interpo-
sition of the French goverohent, which received hint with
public honours. All these things, with his death in conse-
quence of the wounds he had received, we can only glance
at, as simple and undeniable facts which blacken the admi-
nistration of Pitt with colours that only suit its true charac-
ter ; showing the real spirit of the party, and what public
men may expect if the present opportunity for reform should
be lost. We have at last fairly thrown the monster; and,
while it is down, it will only be our own fault if we do not
destroy it.
When we read the overpowering arguments and com-
manding rhetoric of Thomas Muir's defence, and bear in
mind that he died at the age of thirty-three, we are indig-
nant at the loss which literature has incurred ; but we are
convinced that he did not murmur at his martyrdom when
v e read the prophetic language with which he addressed
tl:e judge on receiving sentence " Were I to be led this
. moment from the bar to the scaffold, I should feel the same
cal:tmess and serenity which I now do. My mind tells me
that I have acted agreeably to my conscience, and that I
1.4% e engaged in a good, a just, and , a glorious
cause which, sooner or later, must and will prevail, and, by
a timely reform, save this country heal distruction."
.It is gratifying to read of the sympathy extended at the
time to the sufferer, especially of the exertions made in Par-
liament to procure a reversal of the proceedhlgs, and, abovie
an, to find among the most protninent speakers on that mt.

elision our noble premier, then Mr. Grey, and the Lord Higb
Commissioner, then Mr. Adam.

The motion was supported by Sheridan, Fox, and others,
in a way that could only be answered by the votes of a pro-
fligate majority. In the Lords, Earl Stanhope singly divided
on behalf of justice and humanity.
In the first year of William and Mary there were noises
than four acts passed reversing the proceedings against Ald.
Cornish, Alice Lisle, Algernon Sydney, and Lord W. Rus-
sell. It now remains for ns only, by a solemn legislative
act, to reverse the sentence of Thomas Muir, to honour the
bills drawn by him on thejustice of posterity, and to sestina
a stigma on the unprincipled lawyers of the High Court of
Justiciary as may make them wither in conspicuous infamy,
and convince all who suffer in a righteous cause, that the
God of Nature, who stimulated them to make sacrifices,
will assuredly raise up others to appreciate them and to vin-
dicate their fame.