ENGLAND AND HER COLONIES.

THE Colonists are a part of us. They have as little thought of leaving us as an affectionate wife thinks of leaving her husband. The married pair may have their little disagreements, but their partnership is for "as long as they both shall live." Our differences with the Colonists have been aggravated by the class of persons with whom they have been brought officially into contact. The administration of the Colonial Office has been generally in the hands of men of rank, or of men who aspire to rank; and although these high persons are fair representatives of the interests which they have been educated to understand, they are not the fittest to conduct our relations with communities of Englishmen with whom they have imperfect sympathy, in the absence of a well-informed public opinion to guide them. The Colonists are socially their inferiors, out of their sphere, and without personal point of contact. Secretaries of State lie yet under the shadow of the old impression that Colonies exist only for the benefit of the Mother Country. When they found that they could no longer tax the Colonies, or lay their trade under restraint, for England's supposed advantage, they utilized them as penal stations. They distributed the Colonial patronage, the lucrative places of public employment, to provide for friends or for political supporters. When this, too, ceased to be possible, they acquiesced easily in the theory that the Colonies were no longer of any use to us at all. The alteration of the suffrage may make a difference in the personnel of our Departments, but it will not probably do so to any great extent. A seat in the House of Commons is an expensive privilege, and the choice is practically limited. Not every one, however public-spirited he may be, can afford a large sum for the mere honor of serving his country; and those whose fortune and station in society are already secured, and who have no private interests to serve, are, on the whole, the most to be depended upon. But the People are now sovereign, and officials of all ranks will obey their masters. It is with the People that the Colonists feel a real relationship. Let the People give the officials to understand that the bond which holds the Empire together is not to be weakened any more, but is to be maintained and strengthened, and they will work as readily for purposes of union as they

worked in the other direction, when "the other direction" was the prevailing one.

After all is said, it is on ourselves that the future depends. We are passing through a crisis in our national existence, and the wisest cannot say what lies before us. If the English character comes out of the trial true to its old traditions bold in heart and clear in eye, seeking nothing which is not its own, but resolved to maintain its own with its hand upon its sword the far off English dependencies will cling to their old home, and will look up to her and be still proud to belong to her, and will seek their own greatness in promoting hers. If, on the contrary (for among the possibilities there is a contrary), the erratic policy is to be continued which for the last few years has been the world's wonder; if we show that we have no longer any settled principles of action, that we let ourselves drift into idle wars and unprovoked bloodshed; if we are incapable of keeping order even in our own Ireland, and let it fall away from us or sink into anarchy; if, in short, we let it be seen that we have changed our nature, and are not the same men with those who once made our name feared and honored, then, in ceasing to deserve respect, we shall cease to be respected. The Colonies will not purposely desert us, but they will look each to itself, knowing that from us, and from their connection with us, there is nothing more to be hoped for. The cord will wear into a thread, and one accident will break it.

THOMAS FULLER.

THOMAS FULLER, an eminent English clergyman and biographer, born at Aldwinckle, Northamptonshire, in June, 1608; died in London, Aug. 16, 1661. He was educated at Queen's College, Cambridge, and was presented to the living of St. Benoit's, Cambridge; where he came to be noted as an eloquent preacher, and was also made Prebendary of Salisbury. After some years he went to London, where he received the lectureship of the Savoy. Upon the outbreak of the civil war between the Parliament and Charles I. Fuller warmly espoused the royal cause, became a chaplain in the army, and suffered some inconveniences during the Protectorate of Cromwell. After the restoration of Charles II. he was made chaplain-extraordinary to the King, regained his prebendary, of which he had been deprived, and it was in contemplation to raise him to a bishopric; but he died before this intention was carried out. His principal works are "Historie of the Holy Warre" (1636); "Holy and Profane State," proposing examples for imitation and avoidance (1642); "Church History of Britain from the Birth of Jesus Christ until the Year MDCXLVIII” (1655), and "History of the Worthies of England," published in 1662, soon after his death. This last work is the one by which Fuller is now best known.

THE KING'S CHILDREN.

(From "The Worthies of England.")

KATHERINE, fourth daughter to Charles the First and Queen Mary, was born at Whitehall (the Queen mother then being at St. James), and survived not above half an hour after her baptizing; so that it is charity to mention her, whose memory is likely to be lost, so short her continuance in this life, — the rather because her name is not entered, as it ought, into the register of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields; as indeed none of the King's children, save Prince Charles, though they were born in that parish. And hereupon a story depends.

I am credibly informed that at the birth of every child of kings born at Whitehall or St. James's, full five pounds were