This declaration of de Torcy, which must be confessed to be not entirely devoid of foundation, is particularly worthy of attention at present, when we see a family dethroned, made prisoners, and their sovereignty usurped, all on the pretext of a forced "renunciation!" But what are "fundamental laws" to a man who barters states, and transfers oaths of allegiance, with all the indifference that a jockey changes his horses.

Mr. Coxe certainly discovers rather too much leniency in treating of the character of the licentious Abbé du Bois, tutor of the Regent Duke of Orleans. We would not, indeed, have him to adopt the malignant censure of St. Simon; but as a divine it was his duty to have pointedly stigmatised the infamous life of this abandoned priest, and also the corrupt see of Rome, which made such a man an archbishop and a cardinal! Surely it would not have detracted from the merits of his hero, to have expressed his own detestation of Du Bois's crimes. That he should pardon the extravagant licentiousness of the Regent, is much less extraordinary, as many of the prince's vices were derived from his tutor. To discriminate truth from falsehood, justice from injustice, may not indeed be essential to such hybrid compositions as "Memoirs," although it is the first object of history. Yet the writer who betrays either negligence or laxity of moral rectitude, in extenuating the vices of ambitious intriguers, can never extend the fame of the truly illustrious dead. Morality, like chastity, is still revered even by those whose lives are the least, influenced by it. We would not, however, be understood to reflect on our author's own moral principles, but rather on his indecisive or vague manner in detailing the history and progress of Cardinal Du Bois and the Duke of Orleans. He has, indeed, very justly rested their defence, in a great measure, on the notorious falsehood of some of the charges brought against them by the diabolical spirit of the saintly Madam Maintenon. This is another instance of the evil consequences, as well as the defeat of malignity. Madam Maintenon, like some English female saints of the present age, blended the offices of religion and all the exterior characters of piety with several atrocious vices. In order to advance her favourite Duke of Maine, she accused the Duke of Or leans with poisoning three French princes, and with a design to destroy the whole royal family. The profound cunning with which this odious insinuation was propagated, made a strong impression on Lewis XIV; but its extravaNo. 128. Vol. 32. Feb. 1809.

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gant falsehood was soon detected; and its malignity not only defeated itself, but became a veil to all the excesses of Orleans and Du Bois. Popular opinion, which ever runs to extremes, not satisfied with proving them much injured individuals, metamorphosed them into virtuous and enlightened statesmen. Historians, it appears, still admit the delusion. As to Du Bois, or any other minister who takes bribes from foreign states, there is but one reward for him; that is, to be suspended on the gibbet of eternal infamy.

A considerable part of these Memoirs are appropriated to narrate Mr. Walpole's labours and negociations at Paris, relative to the creation of the Marquis of Vrilliere, who married a bastard daughter of the King of England, a duke and peer of France. The whole of these proceedings, it may be readily believed, are contemptible enough, and serve only to show the weakness and littleness of statesmen, as well as the inanity of pompous negociations. To Mr. Walpole's honour, he firmly resisted this business, which had so long and so deeply interested our embassador, Sir Luke Schaub, at the French court.

We here find some additional proofs of the infamous character of Bolingbroke, who bribed the Duchess of Kendal with eleven thousand pounds, by which means he obtained the favour of the King. Lord and Lady Bolingbroke were both constantly employed intriguing in France with the party hostile to this country; and Sir R. Walpole would never have consented even to the restoration of his family estate, had not the King threatened him with dismission if he persisted in refusing. Hence the origin of Bolingbroke's "unceasing enmity to the character and administration of Sir Robert," who prevented his complete restoration. Archbishop Herring, in a letter to Mr. Etough, observes, "Bolingbroke was so abandoned in all respects, that I always and shall reverence Sir Robert Walpole for setting his face against him." An intrigue of Lady Bolingbroke's, to give up Gibraltar, drew forth the following remarks by Lord Walpole, in a letter from Paris. "To serve Lord Bolingbroke's ambitious views, there is certainly nothing so black nor base that that dear couple [Lord and Lady Bolingbroke] will not say or do; though his lordship is the greatest poltroon that was ever known." Several other anecdotes are related of the baseness of this man, whose talents procured him a temporary reputation, but whose writings are happily sinking into oblivion. Of his historical character we shall have occasion to speak hereafter.

The most gratifying details in these volumes are those of Mr. Walpole's negociations and communications with the virtuous Cardinal Fleury. Both these statesmen were sincere in their desire of peace and friendship between France and England; both reposed implicit confidence in each other's integrity; and both endeavoured to check intriguing and deception. The good cardinal, however, was easily persuaded by Mr. Walpole to preclude one of the ablest statesmen then in France, the Marquis de Torcy, from the councils of his sovereign. Torcy was supposed to be hostile to England on account of his frank declaration of the nullity of Philip's renunciation of the French crown. Walpole called him a Jansenist; and the cardinal acquiesced in the charge, and never admitted him into office.

With respect to the existence of the secret treaty between Austria and Spain, in 1725, which gave rise to a controversy still undecided, and which was positively but evasively denied by the German and Spanish embassadors in London, we have the following facts, which seem to settle the question. To the assertion that Mr. Walpole firmly believed in the existence of that treaty, is added the following statement in a note, which also tends to illustrate the accuracy and the truth of the writings called historical by little Mr. William Belsham.

"I have, in the Memoirs of Sir Robert Walpole, asserted, 'that the papers and documents submitted to my inspection fully display the proofs on which the reality of the secret articles was 'formed,' and which occasioned the public declarations of the King and ministers in parliament; that the Emperor and King of Spain proposed to attempt the recovery of Gibraltar and the restoration of the Pretender. I flattered myself, that the documents I had inserted in the Correspondence, and the proofs I had given in the Memoirs, would be sufficiently decisive, in the opinion of any reasonable and unprejudiced person, to certify (as far as was compatible with the nature of such evidence) the existence of the secret articles. The only contradiction to these proofs was the simple disavowal of the Emperor; but his assertion can be of little weight in this instance, as he equally denied other secret stipulations, which were afterwards proved. In fact, the confidential letter from Count Zinzendorf, the Emperor's favourite minister, to Palm, confirms beyond a doubt the secret resolutions of the Emperor.

"Do they say there is a secret engagement entered into in the 'offensive alliance concerning Gibraltar? That is the greatest un'truth, as the treaty itself shows. Do they say an agreement is made concerning the Pretender? That is likewise the greatest ' untruth that can be imagined. Let them ask all the Jacobites, 'whether they have heard one word from us or from Spain that

' could be construed to mean such an enterprise, so LONG AS WE 'DON'T ENTER INTO A WAR? but then we shall help ourselves as well as we can. In short, the mad English ministry shall never bring us to any thing through fear: our measures are so taken, that certainly we shall be able to oppose the aggressor.'

"These words, if they mean any thing, prove the point in dispute. For it cannot be supposed that the Emperor intended to assist the Pretender, unless he entered into a war with England; and that war could only be avoided, on the part of England, by acceding to the treaty of Vienna, which stipulated the restitution of Gibraltar, and contained articles inimical to the commerce of England, and the subsisting treaties in Europe.

"It is needless to quote any more of this extraordinary letter, which contains only vague assertions of the Emperor's peaceable desires; yet Mr. William Belsham cites this very letter as an historical demonstration, that the intelligence upon which the court of London relied in this instance was wholly erroneous, from whatever quarter, or with whatever view or intention it might have 'been communicated.' I must however remark, that this author, with his usual inaccuracy of quotation, when a passage militates against his own opinion, has omitted two threatening sentences; the first beginning with, In short the mad English,' &c.; and the second, which thus concludes the letter: What then is the cause and reason for making war? The augmentation of 30,000 men goes on, and we are sure of many friends.'

"The same author, after citing the sentence of the Memoirs, at the beginning of this note adds, If this cloudy jargon be intended to convey a belief of the reality of this design, let him produce those papers and documents which he pretends to have been submitted to his inspection, and which shall outweigh and supersede the positive and confidential declaration of the imperial prime 'minister to the imperial embassador, actually resident at the court ' of London.' Mr. William Belsham's Two Historical Dissertations, page 82.

"I am unwilling to deluge the public with more state papers, after having published two thick quarto volumes; but it will be a sufficient answer to Mr. Belsham's challenge, to subjoin the fifth article of the secret treaty, which was communicated to Platania and Carraccioli, the two Sicilian abbots, by King Philip himself: 5 Their Cesarean and Catholic majesties, foreseeing that the 'king of England will oppose the execution of such designs, as well in regard to his particular interests, as not to lose his umpireship in Europe, for which reason he will undoubtedly engage the English nation, and unite the Dutch and other princes in his league, they 'oblige themselves to seek all methods to restore the Pretender to the throne of Great Britain; to which end the Catholic king was to make use of the pretence of the restitution of Gibraltar, which he was to demand immediately as soon as the peace of Vienna was 'published.'

6

"The free remarks which these ecclesiastics made on the secret articles, inflamed the resentment of Philip, and he banished them from Spain. They then retired into France, enjoyed the protection

of the French government, and imparted much useful intelligence to Mr. Walpole. I trust this document, in addition to those already published, will show the futility of opposing vague conjectures and perverted reasoning against positive fact."

(To be continued.)

P. 250.

An Elegiac Tribute to the Memory of Lieut. Gen. Sir John Moore. By Mrs. Cockle. 4to. pp. 16. 2s. 2s. Chapple.

1809.

WHATEVER we may think of a general who in a panic suffered himself and his troops to be hunted two hundred miles by a force which he could have two hundred times annihilated; who, after having his army reduced by the sickness of disappointed valour, the unnecessary fatigues of a precipitate retreat, and the effects of inclement weather on their almost naked bodies, at length charged, fought, and conquered the enemy, even when he had concentrated his forces! a general, who spent months at his head-quarters as ignorant of the situation of his allies or his enemies as of the hour of his conception, and only occupied himself in writing vindictive letters against a country which he ought to have known was mountainous, sterile, inhospitable, by nature, thinly inhabited, and destitute of every kind of military accommodation or resource, and against a peopleignorant, obstinate, prejudiced, but brave, honest, patriotic, and generally virtuous; whatever we may think of a general who threw his gold into the rivers instead of freely dividing it among his brethren in arms, who burnt his magazines of clothing at the very time that his soldiers were ragged, and exposed without food or sleep to the most intense cold and storms of snow, and who precipitately abandoned all the impregnable passes in the country of his allies to their enemies; we cannot withhold respect from the philanthropy, genius, and patriotism, evinced in this elegant "Elegiac Tribute to the Memory of Sir John Moore." He fell into the arms of immortal Fame and fruitless Victory at the moment he was about to be enveloped in a cloud of disgrace. His memory will be hallowed by the patriot Muse, while his country perpetuates his name in marble. Yet posterity may perhaps recognise some analogy between his fame and his victory, and the tribute of the poet greeted as in the appropriate sphere of fiction.

In thus frankly expressing our opinion of a brave man,