and the free enjoyment of our rights, as we come to understand them. Thus have we given a brief view of the fentiments of M. de Calonne fentiments which, in general, do honour to his intentions, his zeal, and his understanding. We were furprifed at the frequent coincidence which we traced between M. de Calonne's opinions, nay, even his words, and many of the more folid as well as the ornamental parts of Mr. Burke's publication; and for which we can fcarcely account, but by fuppofing fome communication of ideas to have paffed on the subject. However this may be, the national character feems to have undergone a total change in thefe illuftrious authors: the Englishman is light, flowery, and declamatory: the Frenchman is found, laborious, and convincing *. MONTHLY CATALOGUE, For FEBRUARY, 1791. SPANISH CONVENTION. Art. 16. The Subftance of the Speech of the Marquis of Lanfdown, in the House of Lords, on the 14th of December, 1790. By One Prefent. 8vo. PP. 23. IS. Debrett. THE Marquis of Lanfdown's objections extended to the policy of the conteft, concerning which he obferved,' In any event, as long as Spain held the revenue and commerce arifing from her colonies to be preferable to her manufactures, it was our intereft to be content with commercial advantages in Europe as a compenfation for fufpending our claims refpecting the South Seas, fince our rights. in that quarter might always be revived and brought forwards when opportunity called for it. Accord This policy was fo wife, that it was confidered by fubfequent minifters as fundamental and not to be departed from. ingly it was followed all through the reigns of King William and Queen Anne, and it governed the negotiations, fuch as they were, at Utrecht; where Lord Bolingbroke confidered it as the intereft of England to uphold, as high as poffible, the claims of Spain, with the idea of fecuring a preference to ourselves over the other nations in Europe. Sir Robert Walpole's opinion is notorious, for he fell a facrifice to it.-The Duke of Bedford, a warm minifter, who had projects of discovery, was fo cautious that he confulted the Spanish minifter here, as well as fent to feek the opinion of the court of Madrid; and found our right fairly acknowleged, but the exercife of Under this term, convincing,' our readers will not fuppofe that we include thofe topics, and opinions, on which we have expreffed our diffent from this able writer. it it deprecated as likely to be productive of war. He was not backward in infifting upon our large claims in thofe parts, and dwelt upon the good to arife to fcience, and to the world, and even to Spain, from proceeding in them; but, with great wifdom, he ftopped fhort, faying that amity with Spain was important enough to fuperfede every other confideration, where the rights of the king's fubjects were not immediately and intimately concerned.-Next came Lord Chatham; and, to his own intimate knowlege, being then fecretary of ftate, and without alleging his own opinion or conduct as authority, this principle was what governed Lord Chatham in the early part of the negotiation refpecting Falkland's Ilands; and it finally appeared to influence Lord North's conduct at the conclufion of that negotiation *,' If the question of right ought to have been left dormant, the ftipulated limitation of our fifhery, which is not to approach within ten leagues of the coaft, appears to his Lordship to deprive us of all fishery of confequence excepting that of whales; and he adds It was fingular to find the convention ftipulating, on our fide, that the most effectual measures fhould be taken to prevent our navigation and fishery being made a pretext for illicit trade with the Spanish colonists, when it was notorious that we could not prevent contraband upon our own coafts at home, close to the very feat of our government. How then was it poffible to prevent quarrels upon this fubject, arifing from the guardacoftas of Spain? The convention, in fhort, feemed big with evils, and this was the more to be lamented, as the Spanish poffeffions in the parts in question were probably not worth many years purchase to Spain. Before our engaging, therefore, in the difcuffion, it would have been wife had the matter been properly investigated, and the public opinion duly taken, as well as the value of the whole properly weighed; efpecially taking into confideration the confequences of war in regard to taxes which no man could tell, let our fuccefs be what it might.' Such were Lord Lanfdown's objections to a conteft, which every cool obferver may perhaps join him in wifhing had never become an object of difcuffion. N. Art. 17. Comments on the Convention with Spain. 8vo. pp. 28. I s. Axtell. This writer takes up the merits of the convention where the Marquis of Lanfdown drops it. He examines how far the terms of the The matter of Falkland has frequently been mentioned in both houfes of parliament, but has never been fully flated. The truth is, that the negotiation was embarraffed by the danger of a general war, for which preparations were then making in France; a fac not easy to be believed at the time, but which is now well afcertained. The change of miniftry, which took place at this crifis, facilitated the conclufion of the pacification, which was effected on our fide by recurring to the fyftem fo particularly inforced by Sir William Godolphin.' treaty treaty maintain the glory of the country; a glory which we often expofe to hazard, by pursuing the object too eagerly, and for which we are contented to pay very exorbitantly, yet are never fatisfied with our bargain at laft! We are in hopes that the fevere conftruction here put on the articles of the convention, is confined to English ground, and, within that, to English minifterial oppofition: for every treaty into which we enter, undergoes a like condemnation; and had the public fcrutineers been always guided by found reafon and good policy, poor old England would, by this time, have had nothing left, about which the could treat. N. Art. 18. The Errors of the British Minifter, in the Negociation with the Court of Spain. 8vo. pp. 130. 2s. 6d. Debrett. The long detail of thefe errors extended through thirty-four letters in the Gazetteer, which are now collected together, to give the minifter a fecond blow, aimed with all their accumulated weight. N. IMPEACHMENT OF MR. HASTINGS. Art. 19. An Examination of the Expediency of continuing the prefent Impeachment; by Ralph Broome, Efq. Author of the Elucidation of the Articles of Impeachment against Warren Haftings, Efq. 8vo. pp. 96. 2s. 6d. Stockdale. 1791. To do fuficient juftice to this performance, we ought either to make a very long article from it, by exhibiting fatisfactory fpecicimens of the strength and manner of the author's reasoning, which would amount to a full analyfis; or, trufting to our credit with the public, in an inftance, however, where they can easily fatisfy whatever doubts they may entertain, to give it a very brief and emphatic character. The latter is abundantly moft fuitable to our present limits, efpecially on fo confined a fubje&t; therefore we have only to obferve, that as we really confidered Capt. Broome's last publi cation on this perplexed fubject, as a valuable acquifition, for bringing the merits of it within comprehenfion, we have now only to add, that, in our opinion, he very wifely recommends to the Commons of Great Britain an utter dereliction of the profecution of Mr. Haftings. This prudent conduct he pushes home, for reafons not more pointed and fevere against the managers of this fingular impeachment, than convincing to byeftanders; many of whom begin to apprehend that their arduous labours may poffibly terminate no better than the aftonishing feats of Milo, heretofore the Big Ben of Crotona. SLAVE TRADE. N. Art. 20. When the caufe of humanity is pleaded, there is certainly fomething invidious in the very attempt to argue against it. * See Rev. for Nov. laft, p. 334. Q3 Poffibly, indeed, indeed, humanity may fometimes be mistaken in the means ufed to attain its end, or may attempt impracticabilities; ftill, however, the motive claims refpect; and thofe who find it expedient to oppose any humane regulation obviously right, though fuch oppofers deem it ultimately wrong, ought to do it gravely, and with found reason. When a writer treats a ferious fubject with that levity which is too predominant in the pamphlet before us, the caufe fuffers more perhaps by fo imprudent an advocate, than from its intrinfic demerits. Indeed, fo much of this production as the author intends fhould be argumentative, overfteps the fubject of slavery, or the practicability of cultivating plantations by any other expedient; and refts on a loofe difplay of the importance of the Weft Indian islands to this country, and on alarming us with a defalcation of the revenue, fhould the planters be injured: he hence eafily arrives at his conclufion, that, therefore, the committee are politically wrong:-but having afforded the author an opportunity of aiming fome of his fmartness at us, for what we have occafionally dropped on this interefting fubject, we fhall endeavour to avoid the future ftrokes of his wit, by leaving him in full poffeffion of the field. POETRY and DRAMATIC. N. Art. 21. The Little Freeholder; a Dramatic Entertainment. 12mo. PP. 63. Is. 6d. Murray. 1790. A piece of low humour; too low, we believe, to be hazarded on the boards, or trufted even to the taste of the upper gallery. The characters and dialogue are drawn from the kitchen; and the wit and fun, fuch as they are, remind us of the Catchpole conversation fcene, which had nearly damn'd Goldfmith's Good-natured Man, on the first night of its reprefentation. Art. 22. Better Late than never. A Comedy. In five Acts. As performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury-lane. By Miles Peter Andrews, Efq. 8vo. pp. 70. 1s. 6d. Ridgway. 1790. We learn, from an advertisement, that this comedy is chiefly indebted for its fuccefs to the united abilities of all the performers. We believe the intelligence; for it certainly is not happily adapted for a cool perufal in the closet. 0. Art. 23. Elegiac Verfes to the Memory of the Rev. Henry Stebbing, D. D. addreffed to his Son. 8vo. pp. 12. 2s. Dilly. 1791. We cannot but applaud the piety and affection which animate this poetic tribute justly paid by a grateful nephew, to the refpectable memory of a moft worthy uncle. The verfes have the air of juvenility; and, accordingly, we hear that they are the writer's first publication. This may, perhaps, fufficiently apologize for the * Something, indeed, relating to the latter point, he derives from other fources, in an appendix; where he copies a fenfible letter, (fo far as it goes,) from the public papers: to which he adds the queftions ftated by the privy council, and anfwered by Dr. Wright, late of Jamaica, defect defects of a compofition, in which the HEART feems to have had the greateft fhare. The miniature print of Dr. Stebbing, prefixed to the elegy, will, no doubt, be accepted, by thofe who knew and admired that very eminent preacher, as a proper equivalent for the unufual price of fo fmall a poem. Art. 24. Carmen Sæculare, pro Gallica gente tyrannidi ariftocratica Art. 25. Carmen Sæculare, &c. A fecular Ode, on the French If the grandeur and fublimity of this fapphic ode do not come up to our wishes, nor correfpond altogether with our ideas of the dignity of the fubject; to which, perhaps, the pen of a Horace alone could do juftice; we ftill acknowlege with pleasure that it exhibits proofs of the claffical taste and erudition of its author, Dr. Geddes. We do not think that the poem gains any thing by its appearance in English. Pe...e. Art. 26. Ainfi va le Monde, a Poem. Infcribed to Robert Merry, Efq. A. M. &c. By Laura Maria. Second Edit. 4to. pp. 16. Is. 6d. Bell. 1790. "Fine feathers," fays the proverb, "make fine birds:"—but naturalists remark that birds of the gayeft plumage have not always the sweetest fong. So in poetry, fine words, fine lines, fine titles, fine names, may make fine poems: but, without fomething else, are not fufficient to make good poems. Scarcely a month paffes, in which we are not obliged to iffue this decree: but in these days of univerfal herefy, our decrees are regarded no more than the bulls of the Bishop of Rome. This poetic addrefs to Mr. Merry, gives us, however, a favour able opinion, in a general view, of the literary abilities of the fair writer, Mrs. Robinson. MEDICAL. P.....e. Art. 27. Oratio Anniverfaria in Theatro Collegii Regalis Medicorum It is a task of difficulty, as Dr. Ah juftly remarks, to fay any thing new in favour of thofe, whofe praises have been celebrated by the most diftinguifhed pens, to enumerate circumstances already recorded, and to give luftre to virtues which have before been embla. zoned!-yet fuch must be his task, who, in giving the Harveian oration, undertakes to give the panegyric of thofe eminent names, Among the imperfections in the verfification, we were fomewhat furprized at an inftance fo very obvious, as brood, given as a rhyme to board! Q4 who |
