sides a delineation of the characters which compose our female Council: among the subjects which we were anxious to discuss, are the Ministerial Arrangements-the riots at Hayleybury College,—the Friends of Government versus Mr. Bowring and Sir Robert Wilson-the probable proceedings of the Congress at Verona-the state of France, Spain, and Greece. To some of these topics we may recur with more advantage hereafter. We regret, that we have been unable to insert a letter to the Bishop of Peterborough on the subject of his examination questions:"-and "a communication upon the notable scheme of a Repeal of the Union between Great Britain and Ireland."

As it is, we have given our readers too much matter in the present number; and we beg to enter our protest against our being obliged to follow this precedent, and afford the same quantity always for the future.

In answer to an inquiry, when we shall put into execution that extension of our plan, at which we have often hinted, we have now to say, that in our next report, we shall submit to public consideration the prospectus of a weekly newspaper, which will take high political grounds, and be conducted, as we imagine, on a new and enlarged principle. As it will be in connexion with our present work, we shall thus be enabled to turn a greater share of the attention of our Council to literary and social concerns; and we shall have a more efficient vehicle for some of our political communications, a fresh channel which may draw off a part of the public matters, by the multiplicity of which we are now absolutely encumbered.

LONDON:

PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES,
Northumberland-court.

CONTENTS

OF THE

COUNCIL OF TEN,

No. VII.

The Congress at Verona

The Council of Ladies-Introduction-Plan and Objects of the
Council-Characters-Laws and Regulations.

Comparative View of Life and Happiness in Europe and the
East.-No. II.

Page 253

273

292

Hunt and the Radicals.-Las Casas v. Sir Hudson Lowe.-
Mr. O'Meara v. the Editors of the London Journals

303

Letter to the Bishop of Peterborough, on the subject of his Examination Questions .

312

The New Marriage Act, and the New Vagrant Act

Meeting of the Council-President's Speech-Notice of a contem

360

THE CONGRESS AT VERONA.

IN writing these four words, " the Congress at Verona," we

feel that we are opening to ourselves a door of unlimited and interminable discussion. A thousand objects of inquiry-the gravest and most interesting, perhaps, which can occupy the human intellect-rush across the mind, and almost overwhelm it with their vastness and their importance. To view the question in all its lights, and examine it in all its bearings, is a task, which we are at this moment most incompetent to perform. A subject, such as the assembly of the mightiest potentates on the habitable globe, naturally and necessarily involves, if treated in its most comprehensive shape, a consi-deration of the present state and the future prospects of all Europe-a glance at the general aspect of affairs, prospective and retrospective-at the signs of the times—at the peculiar characters, and the separate interests, of the respective mo-narchs; and the probable result of their meeting in a common: council-at the great political structure, as it exists in the nineteenth century; at the degree of harmony in its parts, of strength and solidity in its foundations-at the situation of the various kingdoms which compose it, their internal con- · dition, their comparative weight and consequence, their rela-tion to the universal fabric-at the whole foreign policy of

England;-at the best means of preserving the balance of power, and preventing the preponderance and domination of a single state-in short, not merely at the concerns of Great Britain on the European continent, but at the hopes and destinies of civilized man; and at the chance, whatever it may be, of establishing the tranquillity of nations upon a sure, and wide, and durable basis-of advancing political freedom, political security, and political happiness throughout the world.

All these things, and more than these, ought to be included in a discussion, which pretends to treat, amply and worthily, of the present Congress at Verona; but we should have little opinion of the wisdom of the man, who should affect to dogmatise upon all these things in the midst of the existing uncertainty, fluctuation, and change. We should be rather inclined to pity his temerity, and smile at his presumption. For ourselves, we freely confess, that we are startled at the full measure and dimensions of the subject ;-that we dare not grapple with its gigantic magnitude. We acknowledge, too, that the data, which are before us, seem neither of that kind, nor of that extent, which might enable us to reason upon just and stable principles, or arrive at a safe and satisfactory conclusion. Yet who, but an arrogant enthusiast, would attempt to penetrate the intricacies of such a labyrinth without a clue?

Again, we hear daily and hourly of dissolution and rumours of dissolution. While, therefore, we are settling the affairs of Congress in our council-room, the Congress itself may have broken up, and its dignified and mighty members have separated in mutual anger and disgust. The spark of dissension may have fallen upon those materials of combustion, which must always exist, in a greater or less degree, among powerful and haughty sovereigns, whose interests neither are, nor can be, altogether identified: the ignited mass may have already burst with an ominous explosion, and scattered the assembly of monarchs to various quarters of the continent. While we are limiting the power, and apportioning the territories of the several states, their very political existence may be put again to the decision of the sword. While we are fondly dreaming of differences adjusted, peace confirmed, and order restored,