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dation proceed, if not from a conviction, in his lordship's mind, that Sir Arthur was the most able commander of the two; for otherwise, the recommendation would be ridiculous, as a military man is not directed to take advice from another less able than himself. And if this were the case, as it evidently must have been, on what plea, or on what principle, could Lord Castlereagh justify the appointment of Sir Hew Dalrymple to supersede Sir Arthur Wellesley; or, in other words, the least able commander to supersede the most able one? We do not see the possibility of avoiding the obvious inference to be drawn from the extraordinary letter in question; which already proves Lord Castlereagh's opinion of the superiority of Sir Arthur to Sir Hew, at the very moment when he appointed the latter to supersede the former. When this circumstance is coupled with the incapacity subsequently displayed, it forms a case so strong as to require some very powerful facts indeed to overthrow it.

The parliamentary campaign has opened, and we are glad to find, in the speech from the throne, that it is the determination of ministers to increase our military force. The necessity for that has been long manifest to us; and indeed has appeared to us so pressing as to call for the meeting of Parliament at a more early period for that specific object. Mr. Ponsonby, who leads the opposition, is as ill qualified for his office as any gentleman need to be; and if the newspapers should fail to supply him with materials for his speeches, we fear that he will soon be reduced to silence.

In the upper house, Earl St. Vincent, in a strain of eloquence peculiar to himself, though not extremely well adapted to the senate, pronounced the destruction of the country inevitable, unless ministers were speedily removed. The most satisfactory part of his lordship's speech, however, was the closing paragraph; in which he informed the world, that he was in his seventy-fifth year, and should probably never speak again in that house! It is to be lamented, indeed, that time and experience do not always produce their natural fruits; and that an old man may have retained the intemperance of youth without having acquired the wisdom of

age.

It was a matter of astonishment to us that Lord Grenville should have entered his protest against sending a single soldier to Spain. We should have thought, indeed, that there had not been one

man in the kingdom who would have regretted the expense of either blood or treasure, in the support of a cause, which is peculiarly the cause of a country in which Freedom has established her favourite seat.

The news from Spain, though disheartening in one point of view (for it will ever be a disheartening circumstance to an Englishman to witness the retreat of a British army), is encouraging in another. Sir John Moore's retreat and subsequent embarkation with a loss so comparatively small, when all the circumstances of his situation are considered, is highly creditable to his skill and perseverance, as well as to the fortitude and resolution of his troops. He must have created a very powerful diversion; and by drawing the main army of the enemy very far from the south of Spain, have left the patriots in that quarter ample time to assemble a powerful force. The news of the success of the Duke de l'Infantado in expelling the French from Madrid, and of their defeat at Saragossa by Palafox, will, we trust, be confirmed. The British army will, of course, be landed in a southern part, there to render more effective service than it has yet been able to perform. But the ultimate success of this great struggle must depend upon the Spaniards themselves, without whose cordial co-operation all our efforts must prove abortive. We confess, we dread the arts of Buonaparte more than his arms; and consider treachery as a more fatal weapon than either the sword or the musket. That Morla was bribed by French gold to betray the capital of his country into the hands of the enemy, does not, unfortunately, admit of a doubt. And there is too much reason to believe that Castanos also has sold his honour to the base destroyers of Spanish independence. The ruffian Buonaparte, who always acts as an assassin wherever he goes, has published a list of proscription, which, we hope, we may regard as a certificate of patriotism the Duke de l'Infantado may feel an honest pride at being placed at the head of it. But should the tyrant execute his threats, and murder a single Spaniard, whom the chance of war may place in his hands, for his fidelity to his lawful sovereign, and for the defence of his country's independence, we trust that signal retaliation will be inflicted on every Frenchman who may fall into the hands of the patriots. It is only by reprisals, and the fear which they inspire, that the savage heart of this abandoned ruffian can be made to relent. He was bred in the school of Robespierre, who was virtuous when compared with him: he has found the benefits of a

system of terror; and he will continue to enforce it, until he finds some power with sense and resolution enough to make him feel its effects. Forbearance, in such cases, is not only cowardice, but cruelty; it encourages crime, and lends a sanction to murder.

The correspondence which has been laid before Parliament, between the British 'minister on the one hand, and the French and Russian ministers on the other; while it demonstrates the firmness and wisdom of our cabinet, proves the absolute subserviency of the Russian emperor to the Corsican tyrant. This wretched prince is study ing French politics in the adulterous lap of a French prostitute. Madame Chevalier has successfully pleaded the cause of Napoleon in the court of Alexander! — Delirant reges, plectuntur achivi !— Are the kings of the continent resolved to justify, by their conduct, all the foul accusations of the regicides? Is the Russian empire to be sunk not only in slavery, but in disgrace, by the senseless profligacy of an ignorant boy? Will the Russian nobility suffer the murderer Caulaincourt to reign triumphant in the palace of their sovereign? Are French influence and French poison to extend to the remotest regions of the North, to infect all minds, and to spread death and desolation around, without restriction and without controul?

There is one part of a letter from Monsieur Champagny to Mr. Canning, in which the wily Frenchman has not exercised the usual circumspection of his cabinet. He has given the most formal contradiction to the assertions of loyalty and attachment so repeatedly made in the names of all the Catholics of Ireland. With "the Catholic insurgents," as he uncourteously calls them, "France has been in communication, has made them promises, and has FREQUENTLY sent them succours." This, indeed, is no news to us: but how strongly, and how systematically, has it been denied by the advocates for the Catholics! What will their pleader, Dr. Milner, say to this? For our part, we thank Monsieur Champagny for his candour, while we cannot but wonder at his imprudence.

The whole of this short negociation reflects honour on our ministers; and while they rigidly adhere to so wise, firm, and judicious a system of policy, they will, we are persuaded, secure the support and enjoy the confidence of the country.

JANUARY 21st. - The anniversary of the murder of the lawful KING OF FRANCE, by the friends and patrons of the usurper Buonaparte.

P. S.- Our army in Spain, it seems, has been obliged to risk an action under the walls of Corunna, before they could em

bark in safety. Notwithstanding the superiority of the enemy's force, the British troops have bravely sustained the honour of their country, and nobly supported the character which they acquired in Egypt, at Maïda, and at Vimiera. They sustained but little loss, considering the nature of the contest, and the magnitude of the force opposed to them. Sir John Moore fell in the field of honour, admired, beloved, and lamented. The patriot's tear will water his grave. We trust our gallant troops have, ere this, reached the harbour of Cadiz; for we can give no credit to a malicious report, that they have returned to this country to refit: the bare supposition is a gross libel on the government. We trust, also, that most powerful reinforcements will be dispatched to the south of Spain with more promptitude and celerity than have marked our military expeditions of late. We take it for granted, that the British admiral has not suffered the Spanish ships at Ferrol to fall into the hands of the French. Without vigour and decision, we repeat, the cause is lost. But we have not room for any farther observations on this allinteresting subject.

JANUARY 23d.

MISCELLANIES.

THE POET-LAUREAT'S ODE, AND THE NEWSMAN'S VERSES.

To the Editor of the Antijacobin Review.

CANTARE PARES.

AT the commencement of every year, the public are gratified, by immemorial usage, with various poetical productions. Of these, the most distinguished is the ode presented to their majesties by the poet-laureat. In humble imitation of this great example, the newsman, the bellman, and the lamp-lighter, each presents his tribute in verse to his worthy customers; and junior poets, to enliven the festivities of twelfth-night, compose poetical characters for little masters and misses. Thus, from the highest to the lowest, all the votaries of the Muse exert their talents at this festive season: but as the rank of their patrons varies, so vary their rewards. The laurel'd poet, who writes for majesty, receives one hundred pounds and a butt of sack for his annual offering; but it is said, that since that species of wine has no longer been in use, this part of the salary has been shabbily committed for 301., the estimated value of a butt of sack a century ago; and the want of the customary inspiring

juice has by many been assigned as a reason for the late lamentable falling off in the poet-laureat's strains. The newsman, the bellman, and the lamp-lighter, in return for their present to their worthy customers, receive with thanks a few half-crowns and shillings; and a sixpence purchases, for the king and queen of twelfth-night and all their little court, a set of new characters with poetical illustrations.

On reading Mr. Pye's Ode for the New Year in yesterday's paper, curiosity led me to think of comparing his production with those of his rival contemporaries; but such is the short-lived modern existence of poetry, that the verses of the bellman and the lamp-lighter were no longer extant. Oblivion too had wrapt her mantle round all the twelfthnight characters; and after a most laborious search, through both parlour and kitchen, only the newsman's verses could be found. They, however, sufficed for the experiment; and finding in some passages of the respective compositions of these great poets such a rivalry of excellence, and in others such a contrast of beauties, as left me at a loss to decide which was the worthiest to wear the bays, I hasten to communicate my observations upon them to you, and submit the point to your critical judgment.

It is unnecessary to prefix a copy of either of these Odes to my critique, for they are universally read; and the impressions their beauties make on the mind is so striking, that he who once reads can never forget them.

The argument, or general design of a poem, is the first subject of examination. Mr. Pye, in his Ode, lays down these propositions; that the sea, if it is not kept out, will come in; and if it is kept out, will not come in. He then illustrates these propositions by a simile, comparing Buonaparte to the sea; shewing that where he has not been kept out he has come in, and that where he has been kept out he has not come in; and concludes in a strain of highly-animated imagery, foretelling the success of the united exertions of Great Britain and Spain. The newsman, in his poem, takes a wider scope, and presents a greater variety of images to the view of his readers: he commences with observing, that

"Nations mourn a tyrant's dread controul,

And death and carnage paralise the soul;"

but trusts that his customers will call off their attention, from those appalling considerations, to his annual lay. He congratulates them, that while other people are slaves, they are free, happy, and rich; and after thus artfully introducing this encouraging reflexion, solicits a Christmas-box; hopes that those who contribute to make him happy, will be happy themselves, and long live to continue their benefactions.

From the foregoing view of the design of these poems, it appears that simplicity and and sublimity are the great characteristics in that of Mr. Pye;-a happy invention, and an artful arrangement of matter, in that of the newsman. The one is addressed rather to the stronger passions, the other to the softer feelings. The one resembles the ocean it describes, in a state of awful grandeur. The other