London, 23d May, 1783. however just, however firm the conduct of The day before yesterday I had an audience this Englishman, he did not succeed in esof leave of the King (as they mean to despatch caping the ridicule which clings to the husme immediately). He kept me, I believe, pretty band of a pretty woman from the moment long, and went through many subjects, amongst he gives notoriety to an affair of gallantry.' Others your journey, with which I was amazed M. Dampmartin, it would seem, agrees with the poet: to find him so well acquainted. The first accounts he had had of it were from a German Gazette; then from the Leyden paper; then from your two private letters to Mr. Fox, both of which were shown to him; and he must also have heard of it from other quarters, from the particulars I found he knew. I told him that it was a measure of absolute necessity, and that you could not possibly do otherwise; which he seemed to assent to, and I was very happy to find him speak with so little rigidity on the subject. Both the Courts concerned have used friendly language. The opportunity I had of talking so long with the King has had the same effect with me as the successive conversations you have had used to have on you; that is, to convince me of his extensive knowledge of many things one would not expect him to be master of, and of his sound good sense in many thers. I know not from what circumstance it was, but I felt myself inspired with more courage to speak to him than I usually have to people that are placed even one step above me.' It will be remembered that Elliot had quitted his post at Copenhagen without leave, so that, considering the religious feelings of George III., his Majesty must have been strongly impressed with the point of honour, as then understood, to have taken so favourable a view of the affair. But George III., besides being personally insensible to danger, was disposed to regard the ordeal of single combat in much the same light as his grandfather, who was sadly mortified at being prevented from fighting a duel with his royal brother-in-law, Frederic William of Prussia.* But the notoriety was no fault of Elliot's, and the punishment he inflicted on Kniphausen, who was dismissed from a post of honour and irretrievably disgraced, was a useful moral lesson and a public benefit, as well as a satisfaction to private feelings. Elliot experienced no difficulty in procuring a divorce, and returned to Denmark as soon as his health permitted. Thus again (exclaims Lady Minto) he stood alone in life; his household gods lay shattered round him; the mother who would have mourned over him was gone; and though his family sorrowed for his sorrows, it was with a feeling not unmixed with congratulation at the severance of so deplorable a connection. "Thank God," says Isabella, after his return from Berlin, "you have got safely away from all those strange people!"" To reach this epoch we have been compelled to overleap the other less interesting events or scenes of the Berlin mission as well as much curious family history, intermixed with anecdotes of political and social life in England. In April, 1782, the Rockingham ministry was formed; and one of the first acts of Fox, on whom the foreign department devolved, was to recall Elliot, under the plea that he had made himself, or Mr. Dampmartin, who will not allow the become in his own despite, displeasing to the King of Prussia. The recall lady to be a fool, and says that she preserved the art of pleasing till the period at companied by warm expressions of regret, which he wrote, 1812, hazards a doubt as and promises of speedy preferment; but as to the exact fidelity of the foregoing narrathese were never fulfilled, although two tion. Did the weakness of Kniphausen vacancies occurred almost immediately, descend to such shameful cowardice? Did Elliot may be excused for suspecting their Mr. Elliot satisfy his anger and jealousy sincerity, and believing that the alleged with such brutal violence? Moreover, reason for his recall was a pretence. An * George III. manifested nothing more than formal disapproval of the duel between the Duke of York and Colonel Lennox (afterwards Duke of Richmond), although the heir-apparent (George IV.) was disposed to treat the affair as a case of lese-majesté on the part of the Colonel. One of the last cases of actual posting-a printed placard posted against was ae other change followed on the death of Lord Rockingham within four months. Lord Shelburne became Premier; Fox went into opposition; and Elliot received, through Lord Grantham, the offer of the mission to Copenhagen; 'an offer (he writes to his the walls, denouncing a captain of the Blues as a sister Isabella, September 29) which, con coward-falling under the notice of George III., in his rides, he exclaimed, What! what! a captain of my Household Brigade a coward!' An inquiry was ordered, and led to dismissal officer the brother officers who had sanctioned his refund of the challenge. sidering the circumstances of the times and my brother's political line, I think exceedingly handsome on the part of those who made it. I was very humiliatingly treated by the demigod of the blackguards..... future decree or order in Cabinet should be My brother seemed most decidedly con-valid without the countersign of the Prince. vinced of the rectitude and ability of a set The King signed whatever was required of I neither loved nor approved. He is the him, and the coup d'état was struck. The creature on God's earth I most love and ad- parties were so evenly balanced, and their mire; but I think he, like many others, has passions so violently excited, that there was been led away by the false glare of a me- every chance of their coming to blows. teor, in which there is neither consistency Now was the time for a representative of nor a spark of heavenly fire - a mere blaze England who did not shrink from responsikept up by the foul breath of faction and bility and took in the whole situation at a desperation.' glance. Lady Minto thinks it highly probable that the idea of collecting and preserving his correspondence occurred to him about this time, and was one of his chief occupations on his return to Denmark after the divorce. The collection, chronologically arranged and bound in volumes, terminates with 1784: The work was not ill suited to his frame of mind; it was an attempt to keep a waif from the gallant bark which had set out in "life's morning," with "youth at the prow and pleasure at the helm." Ten years had elapsed since his first going forth from home, and, as he reviewed their flight, what varied scenes must his memory have recalled! the Cossack tents on the Danube, his hairbreadth escapes by land and water, the brill iant Courts of Warsaw and Vienna, where he left so deep an impression, that years afterwards travellers found, in the title of his friend, a passport to the best society; the gallicised Munich, gay, vicious, and superstitious; the barrack-like Berlin, where everybody not on parade was ca rousing and gambling, and whence philosophy failed to banish ennui and indigestion; but where, across every scene, there flitted a phantom with fair face and golden hair, like the treacherous nymphs of her country's fables, luring the traveller on to trouble and sorrow." This very year 1784, however, afforded him one of those rare opportunities of distinction for which an English diplomatist of our time might watch and hope in vain. When he resumed his post, the King of Denmark was sunk in idiotcy, and the Queen-Dowager reigned supreme in his name. She was entirely devoted to the King of Prussia, and her sway was notoriously inimical to English interests. The overthrow of her and her party, long meditated, came to pass on the 14th of April, 1788, when the Prince Royal, the heir-apparent, having just attained his majority with the completion of his sixteenth year, took his seat in council, and desired to read a memorial which he drew from his bosom. It contained a statement of reasons (drawn up by Count Bernstorff) for an entire 'The person,' wrote Mr. Elliot to Lord Carmarthen, April 24th, 1784, who has principally the ear and confidence of the Prince Royal has made no secret to me of his apprehensions; and declared that it was the determination of their party rather to perish than to abandon the young Prince again into the hands of people whose passions are now too inflamed to know any bounds. For my own part, I have thought myself under the necessity of taking a decision without waiting for any instructions from home, as there was no possibility of their arriving before the conclusion of this important transaction. I therefore desired this gentleman to let his Royal Highness know, that, should the opposite party have come to any overt act of violence, I should have asked leave to appear openly in his defence; and, by the fortunate arrival of a number of English ships at this critical conjuncture, there was but little doubt but that I might have procured essential assistance from their crews and other persons attached to me in Copenhagen. Thanks be to God, the personal resolution, constancy, and prudence of the Prince Royal have alone overcome every obstacle.' The course he took was officially commended in the highest terms and warmly approved by George III., who was his own foreign secretary whenever his German interests were directly or indirectly concerned, and whatever affected Denmark more or less affected Hanover. Harris wrote in reference to these transactions that 'Hugh Elliot had not made half enough of his share in them.' His moral courage (a far rarer quality than physical) and his political coup-d'œil were still more strikingly displayed in 1788, when he ventured on the extraordinary step of ranging England temporarily against the Court and country to which he was accredited. The combinations had varied since 1784, and Prussia and England were opposed to Russia and France, when Gustavus III. of Sweden made his ill-advised attempt to check the grasping ambition of Russia in the North. With all his dash, bravery, resolution, eloquence, and faculty change of Government; and it was followed of kindling patriotic enthusiasm, Gustavus by a second instrument, providing that no must have succumbed without the timely, effective, and uncompromising aid of Elliot, | tice of eight days, in which interval the Prussian who, in the thick of the crisis, writes thus declaration arrived, and I was confessed to have to his official chief at home: The pressing circumstances of his Swedish Majesty, and the immediate danger to which the balance of the North was exposed, left me no time to wait for further instructions than those contained in your lordship's dispatches. Indeed, the very positive though general instructions given me, to prevent by any means a change in the relative situation of the northern nations, invested me, as I conceived, with full power to act according to the exigency of circumstances.' He accordingly left Copenhagen for Sweden, and the urgent necessity for his presence there, with the ensuing results, cannot be better told than in his own animated words: • On my arriving in Sweden, after a search of eleven days, I traced the King wandering from place to place, endeavouring to animate his unarmed peasants to hopeless resistance. His very couriers were ignorant of his abode. At length, exhausted with fatigue and illness, I reached the King at Carlstadt upon the 29th of September. Here I found his carriage ready to convey him to a place of greater security; without generals, without troops, and with few attendants, he was devoid of every means of defence. The King's own words were, that "I found him in the same situation with James II., when he was obliged to fly his kingdom and abandon his crown." He was on the point of falling a victim to the ambi tion of Russia, the treachery of Denmark, and the factious treason of his nobility. In the sincerity of distress the King also added, "to the mistakes of his own conduct." Backed as I presumed myself to be by the joint concert of the Kings of Great Britain and Prussia, I did not limit the expressions dictated by the animating conviction of the reality of my powers, and replied with confidence - "Sire, prêtez-moi votre couronne, je vous la rendrai avec lustre." On further explanation, the King consented to adopt all those measures which I thought most suitable to his situation.' In a narrative which he subsequently sent to Lord Carmarthen, he says: been no less the saviour of Holstein than of Gothenburg, Sweden, and its sovereign. To so circumscribed a period had the distresses of the King.reduced the possibility of retrieving his affairs, that, had I reached Carlstadt twenty-four hours later than I did or been less fortunate in concluding the first armistice before the expiration of forty-eight hours, Gothenburg must have fallen; and I have the authority of the King, seconded by the voice of the whole country, to say, in that case there would have been no safety for the sovereign in his own dominions, and that nothing less than a successful war, carried on by foreign powers, could have rescued Sweden from a dismemberment by Russia and Denmark.' Eleven days after Elliot's first meeting with Gustavus, the rescued monarch could announce that the storm had blown over, and truthfully as well as gracefully declare, Je ne puis assez louer Elliot; il vient de fairé un grand coup qui fait honneur tant à son jugement qu'à son courage, et qui, en sauvant la Suède, conserve la balance de l'Europe et couvre l'Angleterre de gloire.' No sooner was his Swedish Majesty out of one scrape than he was hurrying in the excitement of the sudden rise of his fortunes into another, when Elliot stepped in and compelled well as counselled moderation. It was in reference to his intervention to prevent the threatened renewal of hostilities that the Prince Royal (the de facto King) of Denmark, in the presence of the military suite, called him 'l'ami commun du Nord.?' as The cavils raised at his exceeding his instructions by what might have turned out an actual declaration of war in the name of England against an ancient ally and friendly power, were speedily silenced by the warm approval of his government; and his services on both these memorable occasions being of a character to merit either reprimand and dismissal or promotion to a far more elevated sphere, we cannot help associating him in some sort with the village worthies in posse to whom Gray does tardy justice in his Elegy. The man who rode on the whirlwind and directed the storm at Gothenburg was born for great achievements. It was no spirit of vanity, it was 'I knew, my lord, how decisive the appearance of an English minister, at that trying moment, would be at Gothenburg-it reunited the well-disposed, and disheartened the disaffected. An early acquaintance with the art of war and intuitive self-knowledge or an instinct supescience of engineering enabled me to point out rior to reason, that inspired his lifelong the most important positions for defence; and the voluntary offer of assistance from the gallant yearning for a career in which military English seamen, then in that harbour, ready to genius would have been enhanced by statesman the batteries under my command, would, manship; and in the minister of a succesI trust, have helped to render the Danish attack sion of second-rate Courts may have lain of a very doubtful issue, had those very prepa- hid-if not a Marlborough or a Wellingrations not had the more desirable effect of in- ton - a Wolfe, a Hastings, or a Clive. If ducing the Prince of Hesse to treat for an armis- | the second Pitt had been endowed with the men as 725 a or same knowledge of would have found more fitting employment the first, he teem with important events, and there is for Elliot than sending him on a secret and interest attached to them and the personat romantic and dramatic as well as obscure mission to Paris in 1790 and 1791, ages by which they are influenced historical or than appointing him minister at the brought about. The Queen, Caroline Court of Saxony in 1792, where he re- who cumulated the characters of Maria mained till 1802. The collected Correspon- Theresa's daughter, Marie Antoinette's sisdence being no longer available, we know ter, and Lady Hamilton's friend - was then of no event worth mentioning that occurred simultaneously at feud with her quondam during this ten years' mission, if we the visit of Nelson and Lady Hamilton to except Dresden recorded in the amusing and graphic pages of Mrs. Richard Trench. These have already been transferred to this Journal, and we shall merely add one short extract: 'Mr. Elliot, our Minister at Dresden, is a very pleasing man, about forty; his style of conversation and tone of voice are highly captivating. He has a large family a charming daughter who marries Mr. Paine this week.' of little cherubs, and This was the only surviving child by the first wife. His second is described as a beautiful girl of humble birth, whose personal qualities justified his choice. That such was the family estimate of her may be collected from one of his brother's (Lord Minto's) letters from Dresden. 'I have, since I beautiful children, better hope of his happiness have seen Hugh's wife and than I ever had before. She is very handsome - her face and head remarkably pretty, insomuch that the celebrated Virgin of Raphael in the gallery, one of the finest pictures I ever saw, is her exact portrait; while two of the children are so like the cherubs looking up, that I told Hugh it was a family picture. I find her sensible and pleasant, and they are both generally liked, and on the best possible footing here.' War having been declared between England and France after the short Peace of Amiens, in May, 1803, Elliot, then in Eng land on leave, was sent as minister to Naples at twenty-four hours' notice, Lord Nelson giving him a passage in the Victory.' The first step he took showed his characteristic decision and sagacity. He insisted that the King, Ferdinand IV., who had re tired to Caserta to avoid a personal interview, should return to receive his credentials. 'It was right,' he said, 'to show that the presence of a British minister in the capital of Naples, a British man-of-war in the harbour, and of Lord Nelson's fleet in the Mediterranean, were circumstances calculated to restore confidence to the King.' minister, and with Napoleon, whom she lover, General Acton, the virtual prime hated and feared personally and politically. Elliot sided with Acton, whom he deemed the only man in the kingdom capable of securing its independence, and the resulting situation is thus succinctly stated by Lady Minto. Acton and Elliot became equally obnoxious to France, and the drama by a enacting at Naples was thenceforth marked between Bonaparte and the sovereigns of double plot: - the external struggle the Two Sicilies, and the internal struggle No combination that could be formed out between the Queen and Sir John Acton.' of such materials as Naples was capable of supplying could check, much less resist, Napoleon, then (1804-5) rapidly approaching the culminating point of the 'vaulting ambition that o'erleaps itself. The coarse language, propos indécens, he used regardshe would rather spend her life ministers exasperated her into vowing that ing her in the presence of the Neapolitan Naples as his slave, - esclave de ce maudit mountains of Scotland than throne it in on the venged herself, woman like, by a fling at Corse, de ce Corse rusé. She partially reJosephine on hearing of the institution of the Order of the Iron Crown: 'Josephine aussi crée un ordre - une étoile qui se porte sur la poitrine. Moi je lui donne la devise, Honni soit qui mal n'en pense.' by Napoleon, Elliot writes: The first feeling of a gentleman on reading such a letter, addressed to a princess, wife of a sovereign, daughter of Maria Theresa, chastisement on the writer. The arm and must be a strong desire to inflict personal not the pen would give the fittest answer.' That Napoleon was utterly destitute of After reading a letter addressed to her chivalrous or even gentlemanlike feeling, sufficient to refer to his treatment of the The chapters devoted to this mission case) posthumous retribution. Speaking * No. 221, Jan, 1862, pp. 44-46. Numbers of her letters lie before me, some written in moments of intense agitation, others on the most trivial occasions; but in almost all there are some characteristic traits which account for the influence the Queen obtained over those whom she could not dupe. She carried into her intercourse with the persons in her confidence the charm of a kindly bonhomie, of a high spirit, and of the indiscretion which looks so like, but is not, trust. Love of children was a marked feature in her character, and there are not, among some hundred letters, half a dozen without a kindly mention of Mr. Elliot's youthful family - "Comment vont les chers, les intéréssans enfants?" "Que les chers enfants prient pour moi." "Mes amitiés à l'excellente Madame Elliot et à la petite charmante colonie." "Je suis touchée de l'amitié des enfants." These and similar phrases recur perpetually in letters containing the most important information, and often half illegible from the emotion of the writer. 'Almost as numerous are the words of praise and affection lavished on Lord Nelson : "Que fait-il, où est-il, mon héros le brave et digne Nelson?" The sight of an English sloop, a vessel of war, carrying despatches to Nelson, and beating out of port in a high sea, and in the teeth of a heavy gale, brought an admiring note from the Queen : - " Je l'ai suivi avec mes lunettes, et mes vœux accompagnaient le vaisseau et les matelots Anglais. Courage, enthousiasme, sentiments de devoir, sont des qualitiés qui font un grand peuple." Queen Caroline attached great importance to personal interviews with all those who, however remotely, were engaged in her service. Not content with letters from Lord Nelson, or with the information conveyed in his despatches to Mr. Elliot, she frequently chose to see the officers in command of the vessels despatched by him to carry his correspondence to Naples. On some Lazzaroni, who were crying out at the pitch of their voices, "Ah! poor fellow, he cannot escape; we must have patience - he will perish!" "What are you saying?" exclaimed Lord Nelvil with impetuosity - "of whom are you speaking?” "Of a poor old man," was their reply, "who was bathing below there, not far from the wall, but who has been caught by the storm, and has not strength enough to struggle against the waves and regain the shore." The first movement of Oswald was to plunge into the water; but reflecting on the alarm that he might cause Corinne when she came up, he offered all the money he had about him, with a promise of doubling it, to any one who would save the old man. The Lazzaroni refused, saying, "We are too much afraid; there is too much danger; it cannot be done." At this moment the old man disappeared under the waves. Oswald hesitated no longer, and plunged into the sea, despite of the waves which broke over his head. He, however, struggled happily against them, reached the old man, who in another instant would have been lost, caught hold of him, and brought him safe to shore.' It is stated in an original note to this passage that 'Mr. Elliot, the English minister, saved the life of an old man at Naples in the same manner as Lord Nelvil.' The mission to the Court of the Two Sicilies terminated in 1806, and he remained unemployed till 1809, when he was appointed Governor of the Leeward Islands. In one of these, Tortola, he gave a marked proof of firmness and love of justice by refusing to respite the execution of a planter, highly connected, who had completed a series of revolting cruelties by the murder of a slave under the most aggravating circumstances. 'His victims,' wrote Elliot, one occasion Mr. Elliot informed her the captain have been numerous. Some of them were would not be able to wait upon her, having no suitable dress in which to appear before her Majesty. Her answer was short: -"Que me fait l'habit? Je veux voir l'homme, présentez le." In one of the Queen's notes she begs Mr. Elliot to come to her, to hear from herself the expression of her admiration for the humane action he had so gloriously performed.' This action has been described by a pen which insured it the widest renown and will transmit it to the latest posterity. We translate from Corinne: The weather began to change when they (Oswald and Corinne) arrived at Naples; the sky darkened, and the storm, whilst announcing its coming in the air, strongly agitated the waves, as if the tempest of the sea responded to the tempest of the sky. Oswald had preceded Corinne by some paces, because he wished to procure torches to conduct her more safely to her dwelling. As he was passing the quay, he saw even buried in their chains, and there have been found upon the bones taken from the grave chains and iron rings of nearly forty pounds weight.' Seven of the jury, who could not help convicting him, recommended this man to mercy! In 1814, Elliot was recalled to receive the appointment of Governor of Madras, for which he sailed in May, with his family, having first been sworn a member of the Privy Council. This government gave him no opportunity of acquiring distinction; at all events, nothing remarkable is recorded of it. After mentioning its termination in 1820, Lady Minto goes on to say: For the remainder of his life Mr. Elliot resided chiefly in London, where some still survive who remember the charm of his society. One who knew him well described his conversation as "a shower of pearls and diamonds," so |