may be necessary to reconcile the two advantages; but order and system, the circumstance that each department has its proper place where it may be found,--will render the whole scope of a measure more manageable in the hands of those who are dealing with it; will enable them to see more readily where alterations are needed; and will facilitate the adaptation of amendments to the general scope of the measure. Mr Coode justly says.

A little attention will convince the reader, that if the essential parts of legal sentences were kept distinct and conspicuous in a bill, the difficulty of criticising a measure while in its progress through parliament must be greatly diminished; that it would be comparatively easy to show the excesses or omissions of each enactment, and to call the promoters of a bill to account; while it must be in the same degree difficult for sophistry to cast a doubt about the elements of a measure, all of which were exposed so simply and conspicuously. The question of a member, for what case does this enactment apply? or, is this enactment absolute and without condition? or, who is to have this right; to be compelled to this sacrifice; to exercise this authority? or, when, where, and how is it to be exercised? calls the attention at once to the enunciation of the case, the condition, the subject, the action respectively. The smallest inconsistency between the answer of the conductor of the bill and the expression in the bill of either of these elements, will at once compel the insertion of modifications, accordant with his explana tions. The unfair and unavowable legislation, which now sometimes passes in the confusion of an intricate phraseology, would be prevented at once.'-(P. 44.)

We have avoided the subject of Local Legislation, as apt to lead to the consideration of defects peculiar to itself, with which it would be impossible to deal within our limited space; but we feel bound to notice a feature in the general legislation of the country during the last session, calculated to abbreviate and simplify future local bills. Three acts were passed intended to contain general formulas for the clauses most usually to be found in local measures. There are certain provisions which every local act, for the accomplishment of any one particular class of objects such as railways or harbours-contains, or ought to contain. By embodying the corresponding clauses in a series of Public acts, instead of separately re-enacting them in each new local statute, it was believed that two objects might be accomplished in regard to future local legislation, brevity and uniformity. These acts are appointed to be cited by abbreviated titles, which announce pretty distinctly their objects:• The lands clauses consolidation act,' The companies' clauses 'consolidation act,' The Railways' clauses consolidation act.' To prevent confusion, a separate series was passed applicable to Scotland. The design of these measures is worthy t

VOL. LXXXIV. NO. CLXIX.

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of unmixed commendation. How far they may accomplish their purpose, can only be judged of, after a course of experience of their operation.

We have already intimated, that it did not form any part of the plan of this article, to enter on the discussion of any definite and systematic measures for the reform of those evils, a part only of which we have pointed out. In Mr Symonds Report, a scheme of bold and ingenious arrangements is set forth, which our limits will not allow us to notice, further than to express our belief, that it aims at a change much too radical and extensive to be safely adopted, until it has stood the test of further and more thorough examination and criticism. This gentleman had the merit of having attracted attention to this subject in 1835, in a work entitled The Mechanics of LawMaking; and he even then presented his opinions in a complete and systematic form. Mr Coode, whose little work is more cautious in its clear and exact suggestions, considers that nearly all that is desired may be accomplished, by ridding the present forms of their superfluous and obscure phraseology; and confiding the mechanical part of legislation to persons who have studied, and who comprehend the nature of their task. In this opinion he is supported by the scope of Mr Gael's more elaborate work, which furnishes a chart of rocks and quicksands to be avoided by the draftsman who desires to put his meaning into language which cannot be either mistaken or misapplied.

ART. VI. 1. The Expedition to Borneo of Her Majesty's Ship Dido, for the Suppression of Piracy: with Extracts from the Journal of James Brooke, Esq. of Sarawak, now Agent for the British Government in Borneo. By Captain the Hon. HENRY KEPPEL, R.N. 2 vols. 8vo. London: 1846.

2. Enterprise in Tropical Australia.

London': 1846.

By G. W. EARL, 8vo.

3. Trade and Travel in the Far East. By G. F. Davidson. 8vo. London: 1846..

4. An Address, with a Proposal for the Foundation of a Church, Mission-House, and School at Sarawak, Borneo. By the Rev. C. D. BRERETON, Rector of Little Massingham, Norfolk. 8vo. London: 1846.

5. Discoveries in Australia; with a Narrative of Captain Owen Stanley's visits to the Islands in the Arafura Sea. By J. LORT STOKES, Commander R.N. 2 vols. 8vo. London: 1846.

AT r the conclusion of the Chinese war in 1842, Captain Keppel, then in command of H.M. S. Dido, was ordered to the Malacca straits, a station in which the island of Borneo was included; his principal duties being the protection of trade, and suppression of piracy. The first of the above works, comprises in part the narrative of his proceedings in the execution of the latter branch of his duty. But the greater portion is composed of Extracts from the Journal of Mr Brooke, containing details respecting the foundation of his little Sovereignty on the coast of Borneo, to which so much observation has been lately, and most deservedly directed.

The voyage I made to China,' says this extraordinary person-in language which conveys an idea of the swelling magnificence and importance of his views opened an entirely new scene; and showed me what I had never seen before-savage 'life and savage nature. I inquired, and I read, and I became more and more assured that there was a large field of discovery and adventure open to any man daring enough to enter upon it. Just take a map, and trace a line over the Indian Archipelago, with its thousand unknown islands and tribes. Cast your eye over the vast island of New Guinea, where the foot of European has scarcely, if ever, trod. Look at the northern coast of Australia, with its mysterious gulf of Carpentaria ;a survey of which, it is supposed, would solve the great geogra'phical question respecting the rivers of the mimic continent. Place your finger on Japan, with its exclusive but civilized

people it lies an unknown lump on our earth, and an undefined line on our charts. Think of the northern coast of China, 'willing, as is reported, to open an intercourse and trade with Europeans, spite of their arbitrary government. Stretch your pencil over the Pacific Ocean, which Cook himself declares a 'field of discovery for ages to come! Proceed to the coast of South America, from the region of gold dust to the region of ' furs ;—the land ravaged by the cruel Spaniard, and the no less 'cruel Bucanier; the scene of the adventures of Drake, and the descriptions of Dampier. The places I have enumerated are mere names, with no specific ideas attached to them; lands and seas where the boldest navigators gained a reputation, and where hundreds may yet do so, if they have the same courage ⚫ and the same perseverance. Imagination whispers to ambition, that there are yet lands unknown which might be discovered. Tell me, would not a man's life be well spent-tell me, would it not be well sacrificed-in an endeavour to explore these regions? When I think on dangers and death, I think of them only because they would remove me from such a field for ambition, for energy, and for knowledge.'

We have inserted these striking sentences of Mr Brooke's Journal without introduction, because, in truth, they serve by themselves as the best of introductions to the narrative of his under takings, and furnish the best key to the character of the writer. He affords a fresh exemplification of the truth, that great things are rarely accomplished in new and strange fields, except by men with a strong tendency to romance in their composition. His powerful imagination first opened the road which he has followed with eminently practical conduct and sagacity. Every page of his Journal bears the impress of vivid and almost passionate sensibility; his whole heart and soul are in each successive portion of his Narratives. Chivalrous almost to Quixotism, he sets out as the very Knight-Errant of justice and humanity, among Tribes abandoned to the extremest evils of barbarous oppression. He makes his way among them, as if really possessed of those magical powers which his simple observers attribute to him; beats down opposition; wins over suspicion; draws to him the hearts of races of men so outwardly different from ourselves as to seem like inhabitants of another planet, by appeals to those feelings and principles which form the basis of our nature every where; and lights up, like a new Prometheus, in the hearts of Savages the common fire of humanity. He founds a little state, enacts laws, conquers neighbouring chiefs, establishes an asylum for the oppressed; becomes famed, courted, and feared, over a considerable district of this great Island;-all by the force of a resolute will and clear head, and an armed power consisting of a yacht's

crew and six six-pounders !' Yet his narrative exhibits no consciousness of having done great things, but rather that perpetual craving after more extensive success, and a wider field of action, which has so strongly characterised the most distinguished missionaries of humanity-most of whom, like those of religion, have never sought or found rest on this side of the grave. The greater his success in rescuing some portion of his fellow creatures from their miserable lot, the greater is his impatience of all the remaining iniquity which is done under the sun. As his Journal commences, so, after six years of most successful endeavours, it ends, with longings after greater things to be accomplished-Oh, for power to pursue the course pointed out!'

We have spoken of Mr Brooke and his great and humane undertakings somewhat abruptly, and as if presuming that they were already familiar to our readers; and, in fact, so general is the interest which Captain Keppel's work has excited, that we suspect there are few now to whom his name at least, and that of his Settlement, have not become known. To those, however, who have not yet acquired this knowledge, a few prefatory explanation may be acceptable.

Mr Brooke is the son of a gentleman in the East India Company's civil employment, and commenced life as a Cadet in that excellent service. After fighting through the Burmese war, he made a casual visit to China; and it was on that voyage, that the passion for exploring and mastering the great Asiatic Archipelago first took hold of his soaring imagination. For eight years he cherished his projects with all the peculiar tenacity of his character. He fitted out a vessel, the Royalistbelonging originally, as we believe, to the Yacht squadrontested her powers, and those of his crew, by three years' cruising in the Mediterranean, and elsewhere; and, having trained his men and himself into a thorough comprehension of, and mutual reliance on each other, set sail as independent as a Bucanier of old, though with far different objects, and made the coast of Borneo on the first of August 1839.

Except the interior of Australia and Africa, there is no portion of the earth which presents such a blank on our maps, as this vast island. Borneo, or Bruni, is properly the name of a kingdom and city on its north-western coast-a great and wealthy state in the days of the old Portuguese navigators, but now much decayed. Palo Kalamantan is (or was) the general name of the island among the Malays. The climate is equatorial, that is to say, moist to excess; and subject to showers at almost all periods of the year, but with a very small range of temperature; generally resembling that of Ceylon.

The perennial rains nourish a great number of fine rivers, up