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Chronicle, and by no means with any personal reference to Mr. Erskine. I do not think that he ought to be excepted against, because he was the son of a lord chancellor of England; on the contrary, the circumstance is a recommendation; for the same reason that the appointment of Mr. Rose may be approved of, because he is the son of a gentleman of great political experience, of extensive commercial knowledge, and possessing a thorough insight into the best interests of his country. The proba bility therefore is, that the son, from his opportunities, must be duly instructed in those principles which he is sent to establish.

These are the reflections which have suggested themselves to my mind, upon the perusal of the article upon which I have animadverted, and which, from its spirit and tendency, seems to have been written rather with a view to lampoon the party whose cause it professes to support, that to expose the errors of their adversaries. In the present age, the minister who should select for a foreign ambassador, a man endowed with no other qualification than the mere retentive memory of all the musty treaties which human ambition, working upon human imbecility, has rendered obsolete, would deservedly merit the reproaches of his country. And the ambassador who should take upon himself to guide his conduct by the treaties of Westphalia, Ryswick, or Paris, would merit a dwelling in Bedlam. For the same reason, the appointment of any man to a diplomatic function, who should be more distinguished by his singularities than his prudence, would draw down ridicule both upon the minister and his country. Common sense is the only basis of any negociation which may now take place between this nation and other states; and that common sense points out, with intuitive demonstration, that no peace, no security, no independence, no respect, no power, can be maintained by this country, without reserving an absoJute maritime superiority in its own hands, to balance the inordinate growth of French power by land, and to hold a due equipoise of controul oyer neutral states, proportionate to the influence exerted by France. To these objects, the whole of our diplo macy should tend, and the men whose talents are best fitted to promote them, are the persons who ought to be preferred and employed.

GENERAL WHITELOCKE.

This most unfortunate commander is in London; and, for several days after his ar rival, it was stated, in most of the newspapers, that he had been put under an arrest, upon seventeen charges, which sir Samuel Achmuty had preferred against him. The intelligence excited universal satisfaction, as it was expected that the public would be made acquainted with the real causes of that disaster, which has reflected so much disgrace upon the British arms. At the same time that every one rejoiced in the measure upon this consideration, it was not forgotten that the general would thereby be afforded an opportunity of exonerating himself from the heavy reproaches cast upon his military character, in consequence of his defeat at Buenos Ayres. Many persons also were curious to ascertain the collateral circumstances which, no doubt, the general is prepared to adduce in his exculpation; and which he did not think it neces sary to include in his official dispatch, that produced the calamity over which the genius of our country mourns. For it appears to be utterly impossible that so fine an army could have been beaten by such a description of force as that opposed to it, without the intervention of some accidents, against which human wisdom, and the most consummate generalship could not provide. The public were, however, disappointed in these expectations, for general Whitelocke has not been arrested, nor has sir Samuel Achmuty brought any charge against him. It must not, nevertheless, be supposed that no investigation is intended to take place, or, to use a legal phrase, that the general himself will blink the question. His honour and reputation are so deeply implicated, that I am pursuaded he will voluntarily demand an inquiry into his conduct; for a man must have a heart as callous as a piece of adamant, if he can contentedly walk the streets while subjected to such contumelious and reproachful language, as that continually vented against general Whitelocke.

-Whether there be any defect in our articles of war; or whether such a case as that which befel our army at Buenos Ayres were never contemplated by our legislators, and, consequently, that no direct mode of proceeding can be instituted, I am not able to inform my readers. But of this I am certain, that as no difficulties stood in the way of the prosecution, and subsequent condemnation of a gallant admiral, for not

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a perfect reliance in the vigilance and activity of the present first lord of the admiralty, from the earnest he has already given of his administration, that I may safely predict, the Danish privateers, well-manned as they may be, will gain little else besides hard blows and salt water. The Danes will soon experience the difference between British and French amity; and when, perhaps, it is too late, the crown prince will repent of that panctilious obduracy, which has precipitated the fall of his country. If any ad ditional circumstances were necessary to justify the expediency and policy of the con duct of our government toward Denmark, the refusal of the crown prince to listen to all proffers of reconciliation, and the marked inveteracy of his resentment, would be sufficient to convict him of an undue connection with France, and of a clandestine intention to co-operate against us when the opportunity should have presented itself,

The arrival of the hereditary sovereign of France in this country, has been already noticed in an article in our last number, which I recommend to the attention of the reader. For the present, I must decline entering into any disquisition on the nature and object of this visit, having not yet had any opportunity of making inquiry respecting so unexpected an event.*

The only remaining articles of intelligence relates to the transactions of the Turkish government. These are detailed in the Vienna court gazette of October 14, 15, and 21st, and which I have inserted in its own words, as they do not require any com

ment.

"In consequence of the armistice concluded between Russia and the Ottoman Porte, the navigation of the Black Sea is become free; but the advanced state of the season will permit only a small number of vessels to profit by this liberty The Russian officers and soldiers, prisoners of war, have been released from the slave prison, where they were confined at Constantinople. They will be conveyed to Odessa in Ragusian vessels. The Turks have nominated Silistria as the place for carrying on the negociations for a definitive treaty of peace; but many obstacles seem to stand in the way of the approaching opening of the congress. The Janissaries, after some fresh motions towards a rebellion, on the first of September, received their pay, which had been in arrear for a considerable time. The 10th of September, General Gar danne, ambassador from France to Persia, passed over from Tophana, to Scutari, on his journey to Tehran, by the way of Bagdad. This minister is accompanied by Mzer Mahmoud, envoy from the Shah of Persia, the French officers destined for the East Indies, commercial agents, and missionaries."

The following are the articles of the armistice concluded between the Turks and Servians: The first states, That there shall be a cessation of hostilities for an unlimited time. 2. That orders should immediately be expedited to both armies to cease lo tilities. 3. The armistice to extend to the two armies in Bulgaria, as well as de troops in and on the frontiers of Servia. 4. The two armies to remain in their respec tive positions. 5. Either party to break the armistice at pleasure; but five or s hours to elapse before resuming hostilities. 6. The soldiers of each army prohibit from going into the camp of the other. The armistice is signed by George Petrow commander-in-chief of the Servian army of insurrection, Issrailow, general of a ch sion of Russian troops, and Ibrahim Pacha, of Macedonia and Romelia.

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According to the last advices, Wallachia is entirely evacuated by the Russians They are preparing also to abandon Moldavia; the troops are already marching wards the frontiers of that principality. The quarter-master-general de Suchtel has proceeded from Bucharest to Jassy, to accelerate the evacuation. Prince Pro sorowski has at present the command in chief of the Russian forces in that country. On the other hand we are informed that the grand vizir has gone into winter quarte at Adrianople and in the environs."

DIPLOMATIC CORPS.

An article appeared in the Morning Chronicle last week, upon the subject of choice of our foreign ministers, which must not be allowed to pass unobserved. seems to have been the main object of the writer, to gloss over the diplomatic appo ments made under the late administration, and to cast an indirect reproach upon

*For the last six weeks, the editor of this review has been confined to his bed by a most painful illness, and he is not yet able to quit his room.

present ministers, for their nomination of Mr. Rose, jun: to execute a certain special mission to the United States of America. The manner in which the writer of the article in question has discussed the point, shews that his zeal has outstripped his prudence, otherwise he would not have committed the credit of his party so egregiously as to publish the names of the persons who were selected to fill the situations of our residents abroad, and to challenge his contemporaries to dispute their talents and capacity. It certainly is not judicious to provoke an investigation of this kind, unless the writer is sure that his favourites are without blemish, or, in other words, that they are sufficiently accomplished to go through, without derogation, the ordeal of a public scrutiny. But this is the concern of the partizan, not ours; and if he will voluntarily expose his friends to the lash of criticism, he must not complain of the chastisement that is inflicted upon him, since he himself has put the rod into our hands. I shall apply the touchstone of truth to the fallacies contained in this laboured article of the Morning Chronicle; and, indeed, it is a duty which I owe to myself to expose then in a proper light, because, at the period of those diplomatic appointments, I was, I believe, the only writer who denounced them to the public.

Before we proceed, it will not be irrelevant to remind the reader of the letter that I addressed to the late Mr. Fox, upon the appointment of our foreign ministers, in the 13th number of the first volume of this work. I had adverted to the same subject during the life of Mr. Pitt ;* and when "All the Talents" took upon themselves the management of our affairs, after the death of the Great Patriot, it was natural to expect, that men of such high promise would be particular in detaching a portion of those talents to represent us at foreign courts. Anxious for the honour and character of our country, both of which I apprehended would suffer under such a partycoloured piece of Mosaic as the late ministry, I did not hesitate to remonstrate with Mr. Fox, for the want of judgment and respect towards the feelings, both of this nation and of foreign countries, which he had displayed, in the appointments of Mr. Adair, (whom I shall no longer call Bobby Adair) of lord Douglas, and of Mr. Erskine, not forgetting the precious choice of Jemmy Green to the consulate of Morocco. At the time when the several animadversions were written, the party might have justified the wisdom and patriotism of their leader, if they had been justifiable; for they were fairly and openly challenged. But, whether these gentlemen were so conscious of their weak side, or whether they were so busied in striving each man to secure for himself a slice of the good things which had devolved to the party by the death of the great statesman who had controlled their insatiable propensities, it is most certain that the challenge was never accepted, that the appointments passed on their part sub silentio, and that we considered ourselves as the undisputed masters of the field. This, however, our opponents are not willing to allow, and, therefore, they revive the controversy, in the false hope that our former reasonings have sunk into oblivion, or that a change of ministry will necessarily occasion a change also in the estimation which the people had before entertained of public characters. But this is a mistaken hope. The same causes which provoked the public indignation at the appointment of such men, operate with equal force to strengthen their reflections now. The times, indeed, are altered, but the men remain, and they would have remained unnoticed, if it had not been for this ill-judged attempt to extol the reputation of a censured and degraded ministry, who, for endeavouring to split the vessel against a rock, are happily put under the hatches. As long, however, as I can wield a pen, that constellation of state empirics shall not attempt to creep once upon deck without an effort, on my part, to thrust them down again; and this object cannot be better attained, than by a manly exposure of their quackeries, ignorance, and follies. Let us begin in the north.

According to the Morning Chronicle, the marquis Douglas, who was chosen by Mr. Fox to be our minister at the court of St. Petersburg, was better fitted than any other man in the united empire for that situation, on account not only of his rank, but also of his talents and splendid acquirements. To the rank of his lordship no exception is made, and it is extremely edifying to see the Chronicle advert with reverence to hereditary nobility, as entitled to a preference in the enjoyment of important

* See No. 6. of Vol. 1.

offices in the state, especially when we recollect that it was not wont, a few years ago, to treat this branch of our political establishment with much respect. But we may be permitted, I hope, to remark, that, though talents and splendid acquirements shine with greater lustre when attached to hereditary rank, yet they are not necessarily the effects of that rank. It is a fair presumption, that they who are gifted with opulence, ease, and leisure, should possess great acquirements, because their means are proportionally greater than other men's; but as to talents, they spring up, indifferently, from a dunghill as well as a cultivated garden. Of the wonderful endowments of lord Douglas, however, no one had ever heard a syllable, until the Morning Chronicle blazoned forth his praises in March, 1806, in the following strain. Lord Douglas, with the advantage of being the representative of one of the first families in Europe, is a man who has turned his attention to foreign affairs, and knows the character and manners of foreign courts. The marquis of Douglas, had he chosen that sphere, would have been one of the best speakers in parliament, and we have no doubt that he will discharge the duties of a foreign minister with honour to himself, and advantage to his country." Such was the character given to his lordship by his friends. As I happened to be abroad at the very time that his lordship was, and to fall into some of the societies which he frequented, it was natural that I should feel a considerable degree of surprise on reading so high a panegyric, especially as it differed materially from the representations that I had heard made by foreigners respecting him. Accordingly, I could not refrain from observing, that if, as the Chronicle stated, the noble lord had only turned his attention, and not constantly fixed it upon our foreign relations; if he had not deeply studied human nature, and made the science of public law the foundation of such knowledge; if his travels over foreign countries had merely consisted, to use lord Chesterfield's admi rable words, in counting the mile stones; and if he had explored the characters and manners of foreign courts in the coteries of women of fashion caly, or in the conver sationes of the cognoscenti; his lordship would do better to remain at home, "for the honour of himself, and the advantage of his country." And, as to the other ground of recommendation, that his lordship would have been one of the best speakers in parliament, if he had chosen the line of a parliament-man, it was answered, that the best speaker in parliament might be one of the worst negociators out of it; "for I think with Old Hodge, that great talkers do the least ye see," and with another grave old gentleman, a great negociator is his day, who said, that discretion in speech is more than cloquence; and to speak agreeably to him with whom we deal, is more than to speak in good words, or in good order."*

These, then, were the qualifications of lord Douglas, as recorded in the Morning Chronicle; and, from all the information that I can collect, the display of his abilities has been equal to the expectations which might have been formed from such qualifications. I do not deny the merits of his lordship; on the contrary, I am willing to acknowledge all, and more than what has been stated in the party paper; but it is not unreasonable to require some proofs of these great talents having been properly applied. Hitherto we have seen none. Whence it may be inferred, that those who censured the late ministry for appointing his lordship to take a distinguished part upon a stage that was the most troubled and important which Europe had ever witnessed, do not deserve those reproaches which the writer in the Chronicle has so profusely lavished upon them. But the zeal of this writer has furnished us with an irresistible weapon of offence against his own arguments. He admits, that lord Douglas is remarkable for certain singularities, but these, he philosophically tells us, have no influence upon the principles, or general character of the man. This is a novel doctrine, the absurdity of which will be best exposed by plain allusions. If it be granted that

* Lord Bacon. Nothing can be more entertaining than the ceremonious account which lord Bacon gives of the conference between the foreign embassadors and the ministers of Henry the seventh.-See his life of that prince. No one has written so well as lord Chesterfield upon the qualifications of a foreign minister; but by comparing his letters with the essays of lord Bacon, the reader will find, that there is scarcely a new idea in lord Chesterfield relative to the rules of prudence, and of conduct in public life.

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none among us is without some particularities, it does not follow, that we are all remarkable for singularities; and I conceive, an odd fish should be the last upon earth whom we ought to select to represent the nation abroad, where the rules of decorum prescribe, that the representive, without forgetting the dignity of his character or his duties, should conform, as much as possible, to the habits of the court to which he is sent; or, as lord Chesterfield expresses it, when at Rome, to do as Rome does. Much depends upon the exteriour qualities of a foreign minister; and, therefore, if he cannot divest himself of singularities, which, in defiance of the most splendid interiour endowments, must reuder him ridiculous in society, he ought not to be entrusted with a foreign mission. For when the representative of a country is looked upon with derision, when he is considered as a burlesque representation of the majesty of a state, the state itself incurs the risk of falling into contempt. If Algernon Sydney had followed the advice of Oliver Cromwell, when he was sent ambassador from the commonwealth to the king of Sweden, he would never have been able to have effected the purpose entrusted to his charge. In one of his official dispatches to Sidney, Oliver the saint instructs him, "in the midst of the most solemn and interesting part of a conference with the ministers whom he may have to deal with, to run into a corner, and have a little talk with the Lord, which he would find marvellously refreshing, and a great help to business." Sidney neglected the admonition, and, without being singular compelled the victorious Swede to raise the siege of Copenhagen.

There is a wide distinction between particularities and singularities, the former of which are not always observable; but the latter are invented for the express purpose of observation. For instance, when I sit down in my study to prepare my review for the press, there are two requisites necessary, without which, my pen is sure to lag; these are, a favourite chair or tripod, and my snuff-box stationed close by the inkstand. Now these are particularities, frivolous in themselves, which no one was acquainted with until this day, and which I can, and do often dispense with, especially when I am from home. But, whenever I appear abroad, if, instead of dressing myself as other men do, I should rig my carcase with histrionick buskins, and display a tail as thick and as long as the tail of a kangaroo, it is most certain that I should be the laughing-stock of all my countrymen: and, if they should turn me into ridicule, what may not be expected from foreigners, at the sight of such an human baboon, exhibiting himself in their country? Suppose when general Andreossy went to St. James's, as the ambassador froin France, that he had appeared in a red cap, with his neck bare, à la guillotine, and in a pair of half boots, without stockings, as I have seen some of the mad-caps of the French legislature habited, what would the court have thought of such a singular animal?-Why both the collared gentry and the sanscullottes would have taken him for a devil, the representative of the great devil, notwithstanding that every one of them might have known that he was a man of irreproachable character, a profound mathematician, and the best writer in the world upon the subject of a canal. Again, it is possible, that one day or other, we may send to a foreign court, remarkable for etiquette, a minister of vast acquirements, and endowed also with a handsome leg and thigh. If it should happen, that this distinguished personage should prize himself more upon the symmetry of his leg, than upon the furniture of his upper works, and take it into his cranium to go to court in a smart pair of white leather breeches, and hussar boots, of the Bond-street cut, what consternation would such violation of the established rules of etiquette create, among a circle of princes, princesses, counts, countesses, barons, and baronesses, every one of whom could trace their genealogy for centuries back; to Peleg, grandson of Salah, who was the grandson of Noah! Could we wonder that such an ambassador should ever after go by the name of P. LEG? Another case; Whenever I go to town, I am almost certain of meeting, at the west end of it, north of Oxford-street, a gentleman, who, from his dress, and the episcopal rotundity of his wig, I take to be a dignified clergyman. As he walks along, I have observed his head in constant motion, and in a direction different from that of his body. Every step he takes, the head, beginning at the chin, making a jerk upwards, describes the quadrant of a circle, not unlike the heads of the little Chinese mandarins, which were formerly

*See Milton's State Papers, and Hollis's life of Sidney,

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