whom he ought never to be known but by acts of benevolence; and as the appointment to military commands in his country is intended for his sole benefit, and the support of his government and interests, we proceed yet further to declare, that the Nabob has just claim to object to the appointment of any person of whom he shall disapprove to any command in his country, or to the continuance of any person in any such command, against whom he shall have cause of sufficient validity for his own conviction to object, and that in every such case the Governor and Council ought to conform to his objections. But the invariable application of this rule can only be admitted in a time of peace. In a state of actual war it might be productive of dangerous consequences, and the principle on which it is constructed must be therefore in such a season left to the equity of the Governor and Council, and the discretion of the Commander in Chief of the forces." P. 451.

MACARTNEY.

"The complaints stated in the seventh article, which we understand are in many instances well founded, are a disgrace to the government which has suffered them to continue. It will require a strict and steady hand to prevent a conduct of which the habit and frequency seem to have deadened the sense of its impropriety, among many of the military, as well as civil, servants of the Company. The crime of disobedience superadded in this instance to the baseness of usury, ought to be publicly and positively reprobated; wherever by legal evidence it could be brought home to the officer or paymaster, the punishment, no doubt, should be exemplary he should not have the subterfuge of ascribing his disgrace to the caprice, displeasure, or political views of the Nabob. His highness might render himself perhaps as much obnoxious by procuring the removal of men from profitable situations on reasons for objecting to them confined to his own conviction, as by the allowance of proofs, to satisfy the world that they were really not worthy of being continued in such trusts. He would never have occasion to step forward as actual prosecutor: that office would fall to the charge of some of his principal ministers or servants, as it falls in England to the attorney-general; nor does it appear essential to be more tender in committing the character of the Nabob than that of our own sovereign. We find that the acts of benevolence, by which only you think his highness should be known to the servants of the Company, if exerted in gratuities, whether pecuniary or otherwise, are utterly disapproved by the directors of the Company; the consequence of such benevolence having been thought pernicious to the service, and the strictest covenants exacted from the servants of every denomination to prevent its continuance. Decla rations such as these, which bear a meaning subversive of the orders and opinions of the Company, corroborated by our other observations on your replies, contribute to persuade us, that proper and becoming as they may have b thought, and necessary even as they may have been found, in the ight of preparatory discourses, to soften, and gradually lead the Nabob's mind to a further acquiescence with the real and just intentions of your government, it

would not be fair to consider them as forming part of the strict and serious covenants of a treaty, or as doctrines to become operative upon our conduct. We can in this view easily account for your assurance to the Nabob, that the appointment to military command in the Carnatic is intended for his sole benefit; such assertions may be supposed to have their use, and can be inconvenient only when construed literally, and made a ground for consequences or claims which the public interest will not allow.

"Thus it appears to us, that it might be of dangerous tendency, and what guides us much more than our own opinion, it is absolutely contrary to the views and instructions of the Court of Directors, to suffer the Nabob to possess any degree of influence over our army. The obligation, however, which you conclude from the above declaration ought to be imposed upon the Presidency of Madras, to conform to the desire of the Nabob in the removal of officers from their commands, would necessarily give such influence to his highness. It is the intention of the Company that the disposal of their officers and troops should remain in time of peace as well as war, with the President and Council, to whom, among other matters, they have delegated that high trust. It is their duty to remove all officers on reasonable grounds, and to be attentive to the objections, and even to the wishes of the Nabob in this and in every other respect. But the ultimate decision and determination must be in the Company itself, through the medium of its servants residing on the spot." " P. 465.

Two of the articles in this Appendix contain the particulars of his lordship's duels with Mr. Sadlier (a member of the Council at Fort St. George) and Major-General James Stuart. In both cases, we think his lordship acted upon an erroneous principle of exposing himself to the vengeance of men (particularly the latter, for nothing is said of the former) whose conduct was so very reprehensible, not to say criminal. Lord Macartney ought not to have placed himself on an equality with such a man as Stuart; and in doing so, we think he evinced more irritableness than judgment. The resolution of "never shrinking from responsibility," is no doubt necessary to every man of rectitude; but his lordship's practical application of it, at least in the latter case, was very absurd. The sword was General Stuart's profession, civil polity that of Lord Macartney; there was consequently no parity in their mutual risk; and his lordship's acceptance of a challenge, under such circumstances, evinced more romantic bravery than cool valour. The consideration of the second volume we must defer till our next.

(To be continued.)

The Duties of the Episcopal Office; a Sermon, preached in Bishop Skinner's Chapel, Aberdeen, on Sunday the 30th October, 1808, at the Consecration of the Right Rev. George Gleig, LL. D. F. R. S. E. to the Office of a Bishop in the Scotch Episcopal Church. By the Rev. Heneage Horsley, A. M. late Student of Christ's Church, Oxon; Prebendary of St. Asaph; and Domestic Chaplain to the Right Hon. Lord Viscount Duncan. 8vo. 2s. Hatchard. 1808. EVER since we became acquainted with the true situation and principles of the episcopal church of Scotland, we have taken every opportunity that presented itself of expressing our cordial satisfaction in every thing that tends to promote her interest and respectability. The occasion upon which this sermon was preached, we consider, in a particular manner, as one of those events in her history which cannot fail to raise her high in the estimation of all those, who wish to see eminent talents and eminent attainments connected with the greatest and most sacred office in the Christian church.

The sermon itself is worthy of the son of the late bishop of St. Asaph; and contains those very sentiments relative to the nature of the Christian church, which were entertained by that very learned and active prelate. The subject of it is that well-known passage in the first epistle of St. Paul to Timothy, which begins with the words-"A bishop must be blameless," &c.

After having elucidated with much ability the more obvious and important purposes which are served by the institution and perpetuation of the Christian ministry, Mr. Horsley proceeds to set forth the sacredness and high responsibility of the office of a bishop. Speaking of the times in which our lot is cast, he says

"We live, my fathers and brethren, in an age when infidelity and heresy have raised their heads in every form, and advance upon us from every quarter; when Socinianism, deism, and even atheism itself, meet us when we would least expect them in the histories of states and empires, in systems of physical science, in books professedly of mere amusement, in those miscellanies which issue periodically from the British press, professing to teach the principles of science and criticism; and even in small tracts disseminated gratis among the very lowest of the people. The variety and extent of learning, the vigilance and firmness of mind necessary to counteract all this mischief, are qualifications that fall to the lot of but a very few men, comparatively speaking, in any church under heaven; and yet he who does not possess them, neither is

nor can be ready to banish and drive away all erroneous and strange doctrines contrary to God's word; and his flock may be tainted with heresy and profaneness, before he is aware that they are in the smallest danger. A thorough knowledge of the Scriptures, and of the earliest writings of the Christian church, is undoubtedly that kind of learning most necessary to every Christian clergyman. But learning alone, however extensive, will not, in an age like the present, when every thing is controverted, be sufficient to enable a bishop to discharge this part of his difficult and laborious duty, unless he possesses that discriminating judgement which, so far as it is not the gift of nature, results from an accurate and comprehensive view of Christianity, and distinguishes, almost intuitively, between questions that are frivolous and those that are important."

Apologising for the freedom with which he had urged upon his clerical bearers the momentous duties of their profession, Mr. Horsley subjoins;

"But I am speaking the sentiments of a late prelate, whose learning, science, experience, and zeal for truth, I believe all who knew him will admit, that even filial affection and reverence cannot prompt me to praise too highly. If the spirits in bliss know what is doing upon this earth, I am sure it will be satisfactory to his spirit to know, that his son has an opportunity of speaking his sentiments on the occasion of one of his Scottish friends raising another to that station which he long thought that other pre-eminently qua

lified to fill."

We have only to add, that had the bishop in the body heard his sentiments thus expressed, he would not have been displeased with the dress in which his son has clothed them.

The Plants, a Poem, Cantos the first and second, with Notes; and occasional Poems. By William Tighe, Esq. 8vo. pp. 168. 8s. Carpenter. 1808.

"L'HOMME d'esprit," observed Beaumelle, "teint d'une infinité des connoissances, nourri de la lecture des bons écrivains, admirateur éclairé de la savante antiquité, enrichit son siècle des trésors des siècles passés, joint l'étude au naturel; et de cette alliance naissent des chef-d'œuvres.”—Such is Mr. Tighe, whose poem will contribute to smooth contempt into complacence for the modern publications of what is termed poetry. To classical taste, extensive botanicalknowledge, and good moral principles, he adds much general reading and correct observation on men and things. The

author designs his work to contain four cantos, celebrating the rose, oak, vine, and palm, only two of which appear in the volume before us."The object of this attempt," he states, "is not only to bring together the most remarkable circumstances relative to each plant, from which the separate cantos derive their names, and to combine many of the ideas of association, which the review of each subject may naturally awaken, but also to consider the Rose as the emblem of Love, the Oak of Liberty, the Vine of Friendship, and the Palm of Religion."We hope the author will not forget the Olive as the symbol of Peace in this warlike age."The four affections here alluded to," continues Mr. Tighe,

seem, either singly or variously interwoven, to occupy and conduct the minds of the more susceptible and generous portion of mankind. The influence of the three former usually prevails in the early part of life; and they were, perhaps, designed by Providence to expand and prepare those souls, which do not suffer themselves to be too far perverted by the more selfish passions, for the reception of the last; into which all the views and thoughts of men should resolve, as into their ultimate object and true destination."- Under this impression he has here celebrated the Rose and the Oak. His Love however is "chaste as the roseate blush of virgin innocence," and his Liberty the "empress of the main who smiles o'er Britain's istes." The first canto opens with an invocation to love, the rose, and the nightingale. This is followed by the religious, civil, and natural history of the rose in various countries, diversified with numerous allusions to historical events, and moral reflexions, including also a description of the various insects which either feed or breed on rose-trees. The opening address to the nightingale is conceived with equal modesty and neatness: the poet declines "the vain attempt to seize a wreath unsought before," while he gracefully pourtrays the history of "this sweet bird of eve, companion of the rose," from the creation to the days of Rome. The description of all the varieties of the rose evince the author's botanical knowledge; and we know not that he has omitted the local situation of any, except the damask, and one or two other varieties which abound at Granada in Spain. Their growth there, indeed, perhaps exceeds that in any other part of Europe; and the delicacy of their odour and colour is not less striking. The following verses prove the rose to be an "associate of the human

race."