of inquiring what that majority may be, whether fourteen or eight concur in the verdict, and if he deems fit, giving effect to this in his sentence. There is as full and anxious a deliberation given to their decision as if unanimity were required; and it avoids the absurd impossibility of requiring twelve men to be unanimous in their verdicts on all evidence set before them.

3. There is also an important difference in the deliverance of the verdict of the jury. In England, the jury is restricted to "Guilty," or Not guilty." There may be cases in which the jurymen have a moral conviction that the accused is guilty, and yet cannot fix their minds upon the train of reasoning which led to this conviction. How are they to act? In either case, whether they return Guilty," or Not guilty," they do violence to their oaths, in which they swear to return a verdict according to their conscientious belief, and the evidence set before them. In Scotland this difficulty is avoided by the jury being at liberty to return a verdict of Not proven," in which, while the prisoner is acquitted, they silently record their conscientious belief and moral conviction in his guilt, though unable to find any legal proof for his condemnation. We are afraid to attempt to say how many prisoners in England may have been convicted as Guilty," when, if this simple expedient were made use of, jurymen might conscientiously acquit them.

4. Here, again, the excellence of the rule of majority is prevalent. We have heard cases when the jury in Scotland returned a verdict of "Guilty by a Majority," that the judge has inquired what that majority was, and whether the minority held the opinion of "Not guilty," or "Not proven." * The mind of a judge must be much relieved, when he has thus before him the full and unreserved opinion of his jury, and will, no doubt, give effect to it in his sentence. The jury have thus more liberty in their verdict, and the judge more confidence in his de

*The jury are not bound to give the judge all these particulars, but they almost invariably do so. Where, however, there is any necessity to withhold this information, the jury are left at liberty to give it or not, as best satisfies themselves.

6. It is thus apparent that the jury system in Scotland is far superior to that of England; in other words, that the "Unanimity required in Juries is not conducive to the Attainment of Justice," while the rule of Majority is. There may be other defects in the one and excellencies in the other, but from what has been said we have fully established a case for assimilating the jury system in England to that of Scotland; and, as a lesser consequence, successfully maintained the negative in this discussion. The rule of unanimity perverts the jury system from a conservative power to a destructive agent; it is found to obstruct the administration of justice, and to turn law into a lottery: the rule of majority is shorn of these destructive effects; it relieves the juror from all necessity for falsehood or perjury, of returning a verdict opposed to his conscience; it gives him greater freedom in arriving at his decision, and treats him more as a reasoning being; it relieves the mind of the judge from hesitation and doubt; the accused from haphazard and chance; and it satisfies the public, who confide in the excellence of a system so palpably demonstrated.

How comes it, then, that with the example of a superior system so near us, trial by jury in England is not improved?

It arises, first, from the Saxon mind being essentially prone to revere the "wisdom of our forefathers." It is slow to be reasoned into the belief that an excellent principle can be improved-that a good system can be made better. Once convinced of the goodness of a principle, it will wear it out. That this remark is just, may be instanced in the example of our republican brethren. True, they rejected monarchy, because unsuited to their normal condition; but, satisfied with the principles of law and justice they derived from their ancestors, they continued it in all its traditional forms and absurdities. Its forms and processes are still nearly the same in both countries, and energetic reformers are simultaneously struggling to improve them.

It arises, secondly, and of course, from the opposition of "vested interests," and

Nor is the history of one country a mere repetition of that of another; the influence of different eras and different races produce various effects, and thus the same laws which govern human actions are repeated in a multitude of cases; and as the physician wins experience from the observation of many diseases, so may the historical student, by the consideration of what has been, gain experience for the important crisis of to-day. Probability has been called by Butler, in his " Analogy," the very guide of life;" and this principle, teaching us to rely on likeness, and to argue the truth of the unknown from its similarity to the known, finds ample scope for its exercise in this study. How many occurrences are recorded in its pages, impossible to have been predicted à priori," and which, mirror-like, by their reflections, enable us to perceive the recurrence of similar circumstances.

66

Students of history, like those who watch in the red light of the beacon-fire, and learn to catch in the distance the first gleam of the foeman's spear, we, "the heirs of all the ages," are skilled by the wisdom of the past to encounter the movements or the dangers of the present.

In illustration of this point, let us look back at the extraordinary organization of the feudal system-that military slavery of the middle ages. Who would have imagined that in England this iron system, which imposed an equal servitude on the haughty baron as on his humble retainer, would, by its practical difficulties, afford room for the growth of the first germs of constitutional freedom-just as the bright wall-flowers flourish out of the grey old walls of some ruined keep? Yet the power which feudalism bestowed on the possessors of wide domains, and which enabled the armed barons to wrest the Great Charta from a feeble monarch, forced his more acute successor to cast himself into the arms of the people, and to employ their representatives in parliament as a counterpoise to the pride and insubordination of the nobility. Thus, from the defunct feudalism, as from the lion's skeleton in Jewish story, came forth the honied store of liberty and true government.

Here, then, is a lesson for all time, that even in the darkness and gloom of the dun

at hand; and from the examination of the slow and uncertain foot-prints of freedom in her past progress, we may recognise the first signs of her approach in countries now prostrate beneath despotism and superstition.

Again, what race of monarchs were more haughty than the Tudors? Arbitrary and severe, they considered the lives, the religion, and the welfare of their people as completely at their disposal. And yet, within forty years, we find monarchy overthrown, the king beheaded, the religion of the state altered-and the majority of these changes caused by the influence of the House of Commons, the representatives of the people.

Yet to the historical student these extraordinary contrasts offer no anomalies, no sudden contradictions. He has watched the silent progress of events, has marked the few large drops which foretell the coming storm, has seen afar the dark wave cresting itself aloft ere it falls in foam with thunder sound on the flying pebbles of the beach.

The gradual advance of the English constitution becomes apparent in this research, often impaired by the arbitrary restraints of royalty and by the servility of parliament, yet still progressive-the growth of that noble tree which should overshadow the whole land.

We discover that even Tudors were forced to have recourse to mean exactions to raise the sums refused them by their parliaments; that Elizabeth, with sagacious prudence, yielded to the demands of her Commons; and we perceive the new impulse given to theology, philosophy, and literature by the great thinkers and writers of that extraordinary era, which extends from the Henrys to the Protectorate of Cromwell.

With what deep interest must the historical student observe the contrast between the France of the seventeenth and the France of the eighteenth century! How richly stored is the period with counsels and warnings for posterity! The France of Louis XIV., so essentially despotic, the very bed-chamber of the "grand monarque" crowded with a brave and long-descended nobility, who rivalled one another in servility and adulation during the royal toilette; an enforced uniformity to a richly endowed state religion; and a boasted civilization, which was the patron of art, science, and literature. Republican France,

As in nature, there is a uniform and perfect organization-nothing without a use and an aim-so analogy teaches us to expect that all the events of history are parts of one great system.

The rise and falls of empires, the result of mighty wars, the fate of monarchs, the gorgeous pageantry of the past, were all arranged and foreseen in the providence of God. There is nothing incongruous, nothing accidental in the long and varied scroll of history, though few of the sequences of the Divine order are perceived by our finite minds. Let the rustic be placed, for the first time, amidst the din of a busy factory, and as he looks in bewilderment at the apparently inextricable mass of wheels, pinions, bands, and cylinders, it is impossible for him to trace the general plan of the machinery, beyond remarking the effect of some particular cog-wheel on an adjoining one, so ignorantly and unconsciously do we watch the occurrences and the eras of history; and whilst the woof of divine love and the warp of divine power are woven into the web of his glorious purpose, we perceive only a few golden threads. The clue to this aspect of history is found in the revealed word of God. In the language of Bishop Butler, the Bible is the history of the world, but in this light, that it is God's world. Thus, the origin and decay of some empire is dismissed in a single chapter, whilst the minutest circumstances in the progress of the Jewish commonwealth are recorded. Thus we are taught that the facts of history are of comparative importance according to the relation they bear to the plan of the divine dealings with mankind.

How forcibly does this appear when our attention is drawn to the preparation of the world by its Divine Ruler for the advent of "the desire of all nations!"

For the rapid spread of the gospel, for the wide development of the Church, for the urgency of its missionary operations to Jew and Gentile, it was necessary that there should be extraordinary facilities of communication. The rapid stream that poured from the mountains of Judæa must not be

stayed or checked by opposing barriers. The message of the Saviour must not be interrupted by the difficulties of various languages and obscure dialects. And for this object was the analytic and copious tongue of Greece diffused over all the civilized world. It was for this that Homer chanted his glorious epic, and the "Iliad" became the bible of antiquity. It was for this that the philosophers and the sophists unwittingly enshrined within this noble language the choice gems of their acute intellect; that Alexander won an oriental empire. The heralds of salvation must not be stayed in their mission by the conflicts of barbarous tribes; the band of apostles and teachers in the early church must not be exposed to the dangers of war or the hostilities of neighbouring nations. To accomplish this end, the stern republic of Rome subdued her foes, surpassed her rivals, and, with a quenchless thirst for aggrandisement and empire, drew beneath her sway the richest and most populous countries of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Wheresoever the eagle-standards of the legionaries flew, there also followed the Greek as a trader and a teacher, and both unconsciously prepared a way for the approach of Christianity. History in more modern times is full of such examples of the wisdom and foresight of God. Nor is it necessary to dwell on such well-known cases as the connection of the fall of Constantinople and the awakening of the Reformation. The superintending hand of God is everywhere seenin the early struggles of Protestantism, in the decay of the wealthiest states of Europe beneath the blight of Romanism, and, in fact, on whatever page of history the Christian student may cast his eyes.

He, then, who has gathered from its study sagacity and judgment for the every-day requirements of life; who has been cheered and encouraged by its pictures of manly fortitude and womanly patience, and who has found fresh proofs of the glorious truth that there watches over him a God of infinite wisdom and love, will not feel that the advantages derived from this pursuit are either few or insignificant.