JOHN CARTWRIGHT, ESQ. THE family of John Cartwright, Esq. (or, as he is more generally called, Major Cartwright) is of great antiquity in the county of Nottingham. By the female line, through a descent of five generations, he is sprung from the Pierrepoints (which give him relationship by blood to the late Duke of Kingston and the present Duke of Portland): one of his ancestors represented the borough of Thetford, in the reign of Charles I. and a younger branch of his house has represented the county of Northampton in several parliaments. Clarendon makes mention of an ancestor of Mr. Cartwright's, who was Comptroller of the Navy, and commanded a squadron of King Charles's ships. Sir Hugh Cartwright,' another ancestor, had been so strenuous a supporter of the royal cause, that he was obliged, on the elevation of Cromwell, to retire to Antwerp. Mr. Cartwright is a younger brother of the gentleman who spent so many years in Labrador. He is also brother to the Rev. Edmund Cartwright, author of Armine and Elvira, and other poems. There are some of our readers to whom these circumstances may most recommend him; but the proper merit is in himself. Mr. Cartwright is mild in his manners; of a temper warm, but governed; ardent and steady in his affections; elevated in his sentiments; daring and indefatigable; possessed of all that is essential in politeness, yet negligent of frivolous forms and fashions, with a strong sense of moral and religious obligations, as appears in all his writings. While but a boy, he left his father's house to engage in the service of the King of Prussia, whose heroic deeds had stimulated his youthful ambition: but he was prevailed upon to return and enter into the service of his own country; and accordingly embarked in 1758 (he being then of the age of 18), and became a lieutenant in 1762. He was present, in 1758, at the capture of Cherbourg and the destruction of its naval basin; and, in 1759, was in the glorious action on the French coast, when Sir Edward Hawke defeated Conflans. When Lord Howe, who commanded the Magnanime in the above action, was selected by the admiral to make an attack on that part of the French fleet which escaped into the river Vilaine, only one lieutenant and two midshipmen were taken by his lordship out of his own ship, to attend him on that important service. Mr. Cartwright was one of the latter. It was while with his lordship that he showed his daring spirit, by leaping from a 74-gun ship into the sea, as the ship was under sail, in order to save the life of a young gentleman who had fallen overboard. He distinguished himself under Sir Hugh Palliser and Admiral Byron, at Newfoundland, for five years successively, by his able and upright administration of justice in the extensive districts committed to his jurisdiction; by supplying the defects of the laws, in cases of difficulty, with judgment, address, and firmness; and in being the proposer of several reformations. He will also be remembered in that settlement, as the discoverer of the country to the very centre of the island, to which he penetrated through unexplored woods and retreats of hostile savages, with the view, amongst other generous purposes, of rendering them friends, and affording them the means of becoming Christians. In 1771, he was obliged to quit his ship for the recovery of his health; but sickness could not repress the activity of his mind; for he soon wrote a manly pamphlet on the rights and interests of the adventurers in the Newfoundland Fishery, against the neglects of the Legislature, and the oppressions of Governors; which he presented to the Secretary of State. He drew up a plan for a perpetual supply of English oak to the Navy, by cultivating the royal forests. In 1774, he could no longer suppress his feelings for the sufferings of America; and wrote his first Treatise |