cruel game to the coming generation. Is that what is wanted to reign over a nation endowed with almost chivalrous sentiments, and, consequently, to enterprises, I might say adventures, such as are met with in romance, or in ancient history.

66

Every moment people repeat Vive Henri IV. Yes, honor to that great man, to that magnanimous sovereign; but was there ever less resem. blance between the founder of a family and his great, great, grand-children, than between him and the Bourbons of our days? Did Henry IV., after he had pronounced amnesty and pardon, ever place grey-beards, who had grown old in arms, who had distinguished themselves by their talents, their zeal, and their bravery (against him) under the order of young coxcombs (freluquets) of insolent fops, (museadins), who think they make their first essay in arms with honor, by insulting the veterans who have deserved well of their country for twenty years together.

"Or did he ever permit old dotards (gana ches,) figures from the other world, wig-blocks, (têtes à perruque), who seem to come from under the ground, to pretend to the titles, and even to the property, of their fellow-citizens, because the latter had with their lives and fortunes supported a contest against the universe, while they precipitately left their native land which was in danger!"

From the affairs of France, we shall now turn to those of our own country, which sustained a very considerable loss this year in the death of Samuel Whitbread, Esq. This distinguished personage was the only son of Samuel Whitbread, Esq. member for the borough of Bedford, by his second wife, Mary, third daughter of Earl Cornwallis, and was born in the year 1758. At a very early age, he was sent to Eton, and was contemporary there with the present Earl Grey, and many other persons of birth and talents, who have since shone in public life. His private tutor was Dr. Heath, afterwards head-master at that semiary. At a proper season he repaired to Oxford, and was entered of Christchurch, but soon removed o St. John's. On finishing his academical stulies, he visited many parts of his native country, and then prepared to make the tour of the contirent. The companion selected for him by his faher, was a gentleman of acknowledged talents nd acquirements, the Rev. William Coxe, A. M. 7. R. S. who has, by several works of great abiity and research, illustrated the modern history f Europe. After visiting France, Switzerland, nd Italy, he returned to England, and commencd his parliamentary career, in the eventful period f 1790, having been elected, at the close of a ontest of some duration, representative of the orough of Bedford.

It is unnecessary to enter into the merits of his

1815.

parliamentary conduct, as they are already record- BOOK XVII. ed in our preceding pages; but it was not to parliamentary duties alone that Mr. Whitbread's be- CHAP. IV. nevolent and disinterested labours were devoted. There was an undertaking which, though it may be supposed uncongenial to his general habits of life, and incompatible with the leisure and relaxation so necessary to him, he engaged in with his accustomed activity and perseverance. This was the rebuilding of Drury-lane theatre, a work, which, until he took it up, the public despaired of ever seeing accomplished. Owing, in a great measure, to his exertions and influence, that edifice was opened on the 10th of October, 1812. Mr. Whitbread, as chairman of the committee entrusted with this establishment, continued to watch over its concerns, and took great interest in its welfare; but he soon found, that he had accepted a charge in which there were many conflicting interests to reconcile, and that he had been invested with the perplexing duties of an umpire in disputes of the most intricate nature. The multiplicity of applications made to him in this capacity, served only to distract him in the impartial exercise of his judgment. Hence, in a great measure, arose that anxious despondency which preyed upon his spirits, and clouded his enlightened mind.

Mr. Whitbread was married on the 27th of January, 1788, to Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of the late Earl Grey, by whom he had three sons and two daughters. In all the relations and duties of social life, Mr. Whitbread was correct, amiable, and exemplary. His charities were of the noblest kind, for they were dispensed with that judicious discretion, which aimed to render the benefits resulting from them permanent. He seems to have adopted the maxim, that no money does so much good as that which is earned; he loved to encourage industry, and to excite in those whom he relieved that independent feeling which springs from a consciousness of being useful. Born to affluence, and to a rank in which the temptations to luxurious indolence are manifold, he laboured incessantly for the public good; the suspension of parliamentary duties was to him not an occasion of repose, but a change of occupation. He studied, with a view to their improvement, all the useful institutions of his country; he was a promoter of agriculture, and a patron of the arts. He carried the example of public-spiritedexertions among those who moved in the same exalted sphere with himself; and, if any thing can tend to compensate the heavy loss which society. has sustained in his death, it is the hope that such example will stimulate his survivors to be equally ardent and persevering in the discharge of those duties which their station imposes on them.

On the 11th of July, the Prince-regent prorogued parliament by a speech from the throne.

CHAP. IV.

1815.

BOOK XVII. Its substance was a brief recapitulation of the extraordinary events which had occurred since the commencement of the year, and which had terminated so much to the glory of the allied arms, but had left a state of affairs in which it was necessary that there should be no relaxation in our exertions, till those arrangements were completed which should afford the prospect of permanent peace and security to Europe. The restoration of the kingdom of Naples to its ancient sovereign, the reception of the King of France in his capital, and the renewal of peace with the United States of America, followed by a negociation for a commercial treaty, were mentioned with satisfaction.

A disturbance of an alarming nature broke out, in the latter part of the year, among the numerous sailors of the Durham and Northumberland seamen, chiefly occupied in the coal-trade. Their object was to obtain an advance in their wages, and also to fix a certain proportion of able seamen to be employed in every coaster. The coalowners not acceding to their demands, they began to use measures of force, which were the more serious from the method and order with which their operations were conducted, displaying an organized combination similar to that in the naval mutiny. They took entire possession of the river Tyne, by a chain of boats, which did not allow a vessel to put to sea without a regular permit. The efforts of the local magistrates, and conciliatory propositions from the merchants, proving insufficient to restore obedience, whilst the sailors, in other ports, were also manifesting a disposition to combine for similar purposes, government resolved to interpose with effect to quell this dangerous spirit. A strong force, military and naval, was collected at the disturbed ports, which was so judiciously applied, that no resistance was attempted on the part of the sailors, and their coercive system was immediately broken up. Reasonable offers were then made to them, which they accepted, and tranquillity was restored. Not a life was lost on the occasion, and a few of the ringleaders, only, were apprehended, to abide the sentence of the law.

The sister-island, which seems fated never long to enjoy a state of internal quiet, was, in this year, the scene of disturbances, which, in various parts, seriously outraged the public peace, and were not effectually suppressed by all the exertions of authority. It is observable, that in the many years of disturbances in Ireland, the particular subjects of grievance, and views of the malcontents, have been perpetually varying; so that it would seem, that from some unfortunate cause, a spirit of resistance to the established order of things is constantly in existence in the mass of people, ready to be called into operation on any cccasion by which the passions are temporarily excited. In the present year, the great object of

popular attack has been the tythe system, always, indeed, a topic of complaint, and likely so to con tinue, while tythes are exacted with rigour from the lowest classes, for the support of a religious establishment of which they are not members. The purpose of the insurgents was distinctly announced in a proclamation posted by them on the bridge of Clonmel, commanding the Irish people to lay aside all their trifling feuds of Caravats and Shanavests, and to adhere to the great point of cutting down the tythe proctors, and those who gain by tythes. The principal seat of the disturbances was in the counties to the south and south-west of Dublin, as those of Tipperary, Limerick, Waterford, and Kilkenny, in which violences were exercised that rendered mili tary aid and extraordinary magisterial powers necessary for their suppression. Of these the principal was the renewal of the insurrection-act, which gave authority to the justices of peace, in any county, assembled at an extraordinary session, to signify to the lord-lieutenant the disturbed state of that county, who, thereupon, was to issue his proclamation, by which the same was publicly declared. This was done on September the 25th, with respect to the greatest part of the county of Tipperary, at the requisition of forty justices of the peace. Shortly after, a meeting of forty-nine of the magistrates of Limerick unanimously agreed to make a similar application to the lord-lieutenant with respect to that city and county. Various corps of troops were concentrated in this quarter of the island, of which Limerick was the principal station. In King's county, the rioters assembled in force, under the denomination of carders, and perpetrated various outrages, which the magistrates found themselves unable to suppress by the civil power. They, therefore, in a meeting held on October the 8th, at Clara, resolved to apply to the lord-lieutenant for military aid. In this instance, as in most of the other acts of vi olence, the acquisition of fire-arms appeared to be the great object of the insurgents; a circumstance denoting plans of serious resistance to the government. The murder of a very respectab magistrate, near Cashel, in November, occasioned a peculiar alarm in that part of the country; and, notwithstanding the unanimous exertions of the gentry and magistrates, and the ready assist ance afforded by the Irish government, much remained to be done at the close of the year for the restoration of a state of public peace and security.

The cause of Catholic emancipation had been so much injured by differences among the Cathe lics themselves, that the efforts of its friends in par liament were, in this year, faint and unpromising and it does not appear, that the subject was a tated with zeal in Ireland, unless it were in th assemblies of the party at Dublin. An aggrega

meeting of the Catholics was held on January 14, when Lord Fingal, being called to the chair, declined taking it, alleging, that faith had been broken with him respecting the veto; and he quitted the room in the midst of tokens of disapprobation from the rest of the company. Mr.. O'Connor being then unanimously nominated to fill it, resolutions for unqualified emancipation were then moved and carried by general acclamation. The renewal of a petition to parliament was agreed upon; but the former leaders of the question, in both houses of parliament, refused taking upon them that office, though they still declared themselves friends to the fundamental principle.

At a meeting of the Irish Catholic association at Dublin, in December, the copy of a letter was read, addressed to the right Rev. Dr. Poynter, by Cardinal Litta, on the part of the pope, and dated in April, from Genoa, whither the papal court had then retired, in which the opinion of his holiness was given, concerning the three principal points at issue between the Catholics of Great Britain and Ireland, and the government; namely, the oath of allegiance required; the mode of appointing bishops to vacant sees; and the revision of rescripts, &c. from Rome. With respect to the first, the pope grants permission to take one of three forms of oath annexed, each of which solemnly engages the juror to obedience and fidelity to the king, to the disclosure of any plot against the government, and to abstaining from any attempt to disturb the public tranquillity. As to the second, his holiness, besides an earnest exhortation to all who have been accustomed to nominate bishops, that they should be extremely careful to admit none into the number of candidates who are not of approved fidelity to the king, does not hesitate to permit that the list of candidates be exhibited to the king's ministers, that if any of them be disliked or suspected, they may be expunged, provided a sufficient number be left for the pope to choose from. With regard to the point of revising, sanctioning, or rejecting rescripts from Rome, it is affirmed to be inadmissible, even as a matter of discussion; for, although that power has been claimed and exereised by some Catholic sovereigns, "it is an abuse which the holy see, to prevent greater evils, is forced to endure, but can by no means sanction." Some explanation and assurances are, however, given in another form, which, it is hoped, will be deemed satisfactory by the British government.

In the result, it appeared, that even the pope's allowance of a kind of veto respecting the nomination of bishops, could not reconcile the Irish Catholics to that measure. An address to the prince-regent was drawn up by the Catholic prefates of Ireland, and transmitted through the me

СНАР. ІV.

1815.

dium of the lord-lieutenant, in which, after their BOOK XVH. congratulations on the success of his majesty's arms, and their grateful acknowledgments for the relaxation of the penal laws, against those of their communion in the present reign, which they hope will terminate in a total emancipation, they express their surprise and alarm, that, under the pretence of securing the loyalty of their body, an intention has been manifested of compelling them, in direct opposition to the dictates of their consciences, on the event of Catholic emancipation, to submit to the interference of persons of a different religious persuasion, in the appointment of the principal ministers of their church. Such a measure, they affirm, would only substitute, for one mode of servitude, another still more galling and oppressive. This address was received by his royal-highness in September. In the mean time, the court of Rome appears to be in considerable embarrassment on the subject; and the pope declined giving an answer to the Irish Catholics, till it should be known whether parliament designs completely to emancipate the Catholics. He had, however, observed, that the letter from Genoa was conditional, and by no means compulsory; whence it is much to be doubted whether he will think it expedient finally to sanction the veto.

A return of prosperity to various branches of trade and manufacture, which had suffered from war, was the first consequence of the peace with America, from which country large demands were received for supplying the wants incurred by a long suspension of intercourse; and it was gratifying to observe, that mutual connections and interests appeared at once to reunite two nations who had been so lately plunged in bitter animosities.

The unsettled condition of Europe, and the financial embarrassments which pressed upon many of its states, in consequence of past disasters, impeded the return of the British commerce to its usual channels, and promoted a spirit of vague speculation, which, after the American market was fully stocked, occasioned numerous failures; so that much distress was undergone in the latter part of the year, by the trading portion of the community. This source of private calamity was unfortunately coincident with an extraordinary decline in agricultural prosperity, immediately proceeding from the greatly reduced price of corn and other products, which bore no adequate proportion to the exorbitant rents and other heavy burdens pressing upon the farmer. may be added, that seldom had there been a more general depression of spirits in any class of people, than was apparent about the close of the year among that most useful part of the comma. nity; and that the number of farms thrown up in

It

BOOK XVII, consequence of the insolvency and despair of the occupiers was truly lamentable.

CHAP. IV.

1815.

A circumstance took place, in the royal family, which occasioned some embarrassment. This was the marriage of the Duke of Cumberland, to a daughter of the reigning Duke of Mecklenburg Strelitz, niece to her majesty, and relict of the Prince of Salms Braunfels. The marriage was The marriage was first solemnized at Berlin; but it being determined by the great law officers of the prince-regent, that in order to render it valid in this country, it must be repeated here with the ceremonial of an English marriage, the same took place in August, at Carlton-house. Although the union was fully sanctioned by the consent and presence of the regent, objections to it had operated so strongly

upon the mind of the queen, that she declined any concurrence in the uuptials, and did not admit the bride to her presence. It appears, that the lady had previously been an object of attachment to the Duke of Cambridge, and that an intended marriage between them had, from some cause, been obviated. A correspondence was made public, in which the queen seems to express, at least, no disapprobation of an union between her son the Duke of Cumberland, and the princess her niece; but, of this document, different interpretations were given. The impression made by this event on the public in general, was shewn by the result of a motion in parliament for an addition to the duke's income on the occasion, and which was lost by a majority of one.

IN resuming the affairs of France, we must not omit to notice, that the King of Bavaria, on hearing of the conviction of Count Lavalette, to whom he was nearly related, demanded, through his minister, his full and entire acquittal, in virtue of article 12 of the convention of the 3d of July, which guaranteed the lives and properties of all those who had taken any part in the revolution. This positive and well-timed demand staggered not only the French ministers, but the king himself; nay, it staggered even the Duke of Wellington, who made that convention. The fact is, that the question admits of no discussion. The duke, in that very act, solemnly guaranteed the lives and properties of the individuals in question; and, in his letter to Marshal Ney, which we have already inserted, it is plain that he shrunk from his duty in maintaining them. The trials of these men was a mere farce; for their condemnation was previously determined upon by the king and his ministers. In the trial of Ney, whenever his advocate urged a point of law in his favor, he was hissed and coughed down; and the president of the chamber of peers, who was a violent ultra-royalist, authoritatively dismissed, but with out attempting to find even the shadow of an ar gument, the important plea which resulted from the 12th article of the capitulation of Paris, al

though the chief of Davoust's staff swears, that "bis orders were to break off the conferences, had a refusal of it been made." The French attorney-general, however, objected to the article, as being "the work of foreigners," when, at the same time, he must have known, that, had it not been for "the work of foreigners," his master would not then have been in the Thuilleries.

It was the opinion of a great many officers of the British army, that, by the convention of Paris, the safety of all those who had taken part against the king was guaranteed; and that, consequently, the trial and execution of Labedoyere and Ney was unjust, and in violation of a solemn convention. The manifestation of this opinion gave, it is said, great offence to the Duke of Wellington who put an opposite interpretation upon the covention of Paris. Sir Robert Wilson, and others, who could not be suspected of attachment to the friends of Bonaparte, zealous for British hover, made every effort to save Ney. Their opinions and exertions being well known, naturally excit ed the hatred of the Bourbon government, which caused them to be watched. Sir Robert and ba friends were acquainted with the intended escape of Lavalette, and took measures to conceal him. Mr. Bruce next procured the measure of Lava lette, which Hutchinson transmitted to a French