ll? 
     
    
   
   
    
     114 
     
     PORTRAIT CF E5 GLAND. 
     
    

    
     States have been often compared to the 
     
     natural body, the government to the head, 
     
     the middle classes to the trunk and arms, 
     
     the poorer to the legs. Popular as such 
     
     comparisons have been, there is little 
     
     ground for them. The interest of one or 
     
     two classes has been supposed to be con- 
     
     cerned in keeping them up, and the others, 
     
     not being aware how much depends upon 
     
     letting a figure be taken for a reason, have 
     
     acquiesced. There is some truth, however, 
     
     in the analogy, especially as regards the 
     
     sophisticate or dressed condition of the 
     
     body politic ; and as the “ upper” classes 
     
     have long been fond of the image, we will 
     
     accommodate at once their old notion and 
     
     our unqualified one,by drawing a portrait, 
     
     the likeness of the most melancholy part 
     
     of which it will be impossible for them to 
     
     deny, whatever they may say to the rest. 
     
     Cruikshank, if we had thee near us, thou 
     
     shouldst draw it betterthan we. 
     
    

    
     First, then, there is the crown of the 
     
     head,——a real crown,—in very splendid 
     
     condition, all gold and jewels, worth, pro- 
     
     bably the subsistence of all the labourers 
     
     in the county of Kent for a dozon years. 
     
     This is to be imagined painted in great 
     
     lustre,fittiug for the incrusting pencil of 
     
     Rembrandt, and casting a. light into the 
     
     surrounding darkness. 
     
    

    
     Under this comes the head, or the legis- 
     
     lature,—no very great head in point of 
     
     brains, but capitally conditioned as to 
     
     cheeks,—-round, rosy with beef and 
     
     wine, the expression lofty, the eyes looking 
     
     down,—-the whole face lordly, as 
     
     representing lords, and the character “ no- 
     
     torious as the sun at noon-day.” 
     
    

    
     Next comes the “ order,”-——the aristo- 
     
     cracy,—typified by the upper part of the 
     
     body, and all over orders and ribbons, as 
     
     rich as can he, panting with asthma. The 
     
     two arms representing the army and navy, 
     
     hung on either side, one red, the other blue, 
     
     each with its epaulet, and one with a 
     
     sword in its hand, threatening the pheno- 
     
     menon’s own legs. 
     
    

    
     Underneath this is the “ part abdomi; 
     
     nous,” the clergy, (magister artis venter) 
     
     plump, round, strutting in black cloth, 
     
     distended with dropsy. As the swelling 
     
     descends, the regions becomes clothed in 
     
     scarlet, typifying the fox-hunting part of 
     
     the “squire archy.” The pockets, the 
     
     monied interest, stuffed with bank-notes 
     
     and c0pper,swing apart like a Dutchman’s; 
     
     for the merely monied is not a flesh and 
     
     blood interest. It consists of the pocket 
     
     and nothing else. The cloth of this part 
     
     of the dress is good plain broad-cloth, and 
     
     the flaps are closely buttoned. 
     
    

    
     Lo, then l adreadful change; for the 
     
     thighs, the farming and mechanical “ in- 
     
     terests,” are shrinking within their shab- 
     
     bier clothing, especially the one to the 
     
     left, which is in green. The other is in 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     THE BRITISH AMERICAN 
     
    
   
   
    
     Manchester cotton. Compare these with 
     
     the condition of the waistcoats and the 
     
     flaming chest,—-to say nothing of the 
     
     crown. 
     
     But who can help thinking of the crown 
     
     and all, when he sees the legs P Gorgeous 
     
     is the crown, plum and arrogant the 
     
     cheeks, gallant the shoulders, flaming the 
     
     chest, prodigious the abdomen, shahby the 
     
     thighs ; but the legs are bare, shivering, 
     
     wasted away, and the feet are in the mud ! 
     
     All their blood is dratvn upwards : there is 
     
     repletion in the head: in the thighs weak- 
     
     ness and shabbiness ; in the legs famine ! 
     
     Oh! what a support to all that upper 
     
     splendour! What a contrast! What a 
     
     contradiction ! What a shame ! 
     
    

    
     This is England, " the pride of the 
     
     world l” —Taller. 
     
    
   
   
    
     TAXATI ON. 
     
    
   
   
    
     It is taxatian which takes the bread from 
     
     the labourer, in order that it may be pour- 
     
     ed in accumulated heaps into the lap of 
     
     the unproductive sinecurist, placeman and 
     
     pensioner ; it is taxation that enables the 
     
     great landed proprietor, the fundholder, 
     
     and the capitalist, to roll in splendour and 
     
     luxury, whilst the poor and destitute manu- 
     
     facturers and labourers are not able to ob- 
     
     tain, by the sweat of their brow, the means 
     
     of protecting themselves from penury and 
     
     want ; it is taxation which has called into 
     
     existence the severe and oppressive Corn 
     
     Laws ; it is taxation which has been the 
     
     principle cause of our manufacturers having 
     
     recourse to the use of steam power in all 
     
     their operations ; whereby manual labour 
     
     has been rendered comparatively useless ; 
     
     it is taxation which causes the unequal dis- 
     
     tribution of the productions of nature to 
     
     such an extent, that one part of the com- 
     
     munity not knowing what to eat or drink, 
     
     revel in every thing that nature, art or 
     
     riches can supply ; while the other part of 
     
     the community (and that the productive 
     
     part,) are labouring incessantly from morn- 
     
     ing until night, with the only hope of being 
     
     able by such means, to keep their families 
     
     foom utter starvation, or from the work- 
     
     house ; and unless the legislature strike at 
     
     once at the root of the evil, and adopt 
     
     measures to lessen the burdens of the peo- 
     
     ple, by an immediate and extensive reduc- 
     
     tion in the taxes, every effort to alleviate 
     
     the distresses ofthe country will be totallv 
     
     ineffectual and unavailing. Why does the 
     
     labourer receive so small a portion of na- 
     
     ture’s bounty as a remuneration for his la- 
     
     bour? Is the earth less fruitfu than usual? 
     
     ls the land less productive. than formerly, 
     
     or are the cultivators of the soil more in- 
     
     dolent than their forefathers, and less in- 
     
     clined to reap the blessings which Provi- 
     
     dence has so bountifully bestowed ; or 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     rather is it not the unproductive part of the 
     
     community, who destroy too great a share 
     
     of the produce of the country, and thus 
     
     deprive the labourer of his fair proportion 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     520.15 
     
    
   
   
    
     of nature’s choicest gifts. It may be true 
     
     that the great landed proprietor, the fund. 
     
     holder, and the capitalist, only enjoy what 
     
     they have the means to purchase, but itj. 
     
     also true that all the wealth of this and 
     
     every other nation, is produced by the la. 
     
     hour ofthe people, and by that means only; 
     
     therefore whenever the unproductive part 
     
     of the people bears too great a proportion 
     
     to the productive part or labourers, or, in 
     
     other words, when there are too many 
     
     drones to be kept out of the honey pro. 
     
     duced by the bees, the inevitable conse- 
     
     quences ofsuch a state of things, is extra- 
     
     Vagance, wantonness, and luxury on the 
     
     one hand, and misery, wretchedness, and 
     
     poverty on the other. That such is the 
     
     situation of the country at the present mo- 
     
     ment, is too evident, when we contrast 
     
     the splendid mansions, the costly furniture, 
     
     and the sumptous living of the great, with 
     
     the miserable hovels, the naked children, 
     
     and the half-starVed and famished appear- 
     
     ance of our labouring poor. Such being 
     
     our situation, no measure for our reliefcan 
     
     be efl'ecred unaccompanied by a serious 
     
     reduction in the expenses of the state.- 
     
     Bolton Chronicle. 
     
    
   
   
    
     EUROPE. 
     
    
   
   
    
     THE WAR IN” PORTUGAL. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Blacl-wood’s .Magazine.-—The nature of the 
     
     present contest in Portugal is totally mis- 
     
     understood by the British public in three fun- 
     
     damental particulars. 1n the first place. it it 
     
     always assumed by the revolutionary press 
     
     that Don Miguel is an usurper, and that the 
     
     title of Donna Maria, as the daughter of the 
     
     elder brother, is indisputable, But this th 
     
     Portuguese lawyers, proceeding on the con 
     
     stitution of their country, and the precidc 
     
     of their history,dcny. They assert that by 
     
     the law of Portugal, when a Portuguese King 
     
     accepts a foreign Crown. his right to the 
     
     throne of Portugal, ceases by the very fact of 
     
     that acceptance; that the father of Donna 
     
     Maria had accepted the crown of Brazil before 
     
     her birth, that he could not communicate in- 
     
     heritable blood to the crown of Portugal to hit 
     
     daughter any niorethau the Pretender coull 
     
     convey a right to the English crown after the 
     
     revolutitn of 1688; and, therefore, that the 
     
     legal succession opened to Don Miguel as the 
     
     heir, whose birth was prior to the forfeiture of 
     
     the crown for the el ier branch by that circum- 
     
     stance. As we are not Portuguese lawyers, 
     
     we cannot determine whether this opinion ‘ 
     
     well or ill founded. It is enough t. say, that ll 
     
     is the opinion ofthe Portuguese bar, and that 
     
     their law being a matter of fact to us, must be 
     
     judged of by their opinion. In the next place 
     
     whether Don Miguel is the legitimate Kingol 
     
     the Portuguese or not, one thing is perfectly 
     
     clear. that he is the King of their choice; 3}“ 
     
     this title it is diflimilt to see how the Englfll 
     
     King,whosc titic stands on the revolution!” 
     
     I688, which excluded the elder branch of W 
     
     Stuarts. or the French monarch, who stands 0| 
     
     the revolution of the barricades, which excll 
     
     ded the elder branch of the house of Bonrbo 
     
     canwith any consistency refuse to aknowledl 
     
     Don Miguel has been now for five years!!! 
     
     session of the crown of Portugal,and during ll 
     
     that time there has beenno sort of attempt on 
     
    
   
   
    
     = 
     
     C