Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub
[ocr errors]

mous and powerful aid to the ftate, in the prefent emergency; that voluntary fubfcriptions, for raising foldiers, and for giving a bounty to failors, have been opened in feveral places; and (our Author doubts not) that the fame fpirit will diffufe itfelf through both the British ifles. Finally, he questions not that fuch as are debarred, by infirmities and years, from perfonal fervice, will certainly exhibit, on the prefent occafion, their love for their country, and their zeal for its fafety.'-It was, probably, for the fake of this concluding paragraph, that the whole pamphlet was written; and, fo far as the Author's arguments may influence and animate us to purfue fuch meafures as will tend moft to the permanent fafety and best interests of our country (without any regard to minifterial or party views), we hope that this little sketch of political history has not been written in vain. Art. 37. Guatimozin's Letters on the prefent State of Ireland, and the Right of binding it (i. e. that Country) by British Acts of Parliament, &c. 8vo. 1s. 6d. E. Johnfon. 1779.

These letters have been much talked of, from their firft periodical appearance (in April and May laft) in one of the Dublin prints. They are written with great energy and fpirit; and they contain an earnest, nay a vehement exhortation to the people of Ireland, to perfevere in their new fyftem of coNSUMING, EXCLUSIVELY, the manufactures of their own country, as the most easy and probable means of procuring for themselves that redrefs of their national grievances which, he fays, they will ever look in vain for from the juftice or mercy of England. He enters particularly into the great question of England's right of imperial fovereignty over Ireland; which he denies; and he argues the point notably, if not convincingly +.-He is extremely fevere in his reflections on the English, whofe treatment of Ireland he avers to have been in the highest degree unjust and tyrannical. The Scots, too, are not overlooked.-Of our Northern countrymen he thus, in the bitterness of his jealousy, expresseth himfelf:

After fully, and, we think, fatisfactorily, explaining the peculiar nature, and prefent circumftances, of the linen manufacture and trade of Ireland, and lamenting, as a national reproach, the encouragement given by the Irish to the importation of linens from Scotland, which he fays are fhamefully worn by his countrywomen, he then proceeds4 But, in truth, kentings and gauzes are not the moft pernicious commodity imported from Scotland into this country. The men of Scotland, who are overrunning us univerfally, are infinitely more dangerous. I am an enemy to national reflections; but when the people of an entire country are all marked with the fame diftinguishing features of character, the observation on them ceases to be called national reflection. These men have a propenfity to emigration, and they carry with them into every country the vices of their own; religious hypocrify, fervility of manners, and political depravity di

The Freeman's Journal, we fuppofe.

+ Convincingly to the English reader, we mean :-fuch of the Irish who are difaffected to the british government, will, no doubt, be convinced.

F 3

ftinguish

[ocr errors]

finguish them from all the nations of the earth. The only fatif faction we have is, that the principles of thefe Scotchmen in England have contributed very much to the ruin of the British empire. England has pledged us in the bitter draught.'

[ocr errors]

But, he adds, I perceive my paper (welling along with my indignation and fo will the breaft of many a Northern reader; who will be ready to cry out, Enough of this Irish Indian ‡; away with bim.'

[ocr errors]

Art. 38. A View of the Evidence relative to the Conduct of the American War, under Sir William Howe, Lord Viscount Howe, and General Burgoyne; as given before a Committee of the House of Commons, Jatt Seffion of Parliament. To which is added, a Collection of Fugitive Pieces, that are faid to have given rife to that important inquiry. 8vo. 2s. 6d. 2s. 6d. Richardion and Ur quhart, &c. $779.

Praife is due to the Editor of this publication, for the care and attention which he has manifefted in digelling the very important ma terials of which it is compofed. He has introduced them by a proper fummary of the contents; he has pointed, by marginal notes, to the moft effential and liking facts; and he has illuftrated the evidence of the officers and other gentlemen, by the addition of many occa onal remarks and fridures, published as events occurred; and efpecially by letters from Bollon, New York, &c. which contain very pertinent but fevere comments on the conduct of our commanders in chief.

Speaking, in his prefatory advertisement, of the fugitive pieces in this collection, the Editor obferves, that they will be found to bear hard upon the commanders in chief. This, however, he justly adds, •hould not be attributed to any partiality in the collector, but to the nature of the fubject; as almost every effay that has appeared in the public prints, containing either reasoning or facts, has been a fevere cenfure on the conduct of the war.'

It is, really, a melancholy retrofpect which is here given of our military exploits in attempting to reduce the revolted colonies; and Our Editor, with all his profeffed candour, appears to have been much affected by his view of the facts, details, and ftrictures, which he had been arranging: for he clofes the whole with a REVIEW OF the WAR,' which is written with a fpirit that may serve, alternately, to freeze and fire the blood of the indignant reader. His concluding paragraph is as follows:

Guatimozin, the nephew and fon-in law of Montezuma, was the last of the Mexican Emperors. He defended his country against the Spaniards, with admirable courage and fortitude, to the laft extremity. He was finally taken prifoner by Cortes, who completed the infamy of his bloody career in America, by putting this gallant young Prince, first to the torture, and then to an ignominious death. Such were the character and the fate of that hero whofe name is affumed by this patriotic affertor of the liberties of Ireland.

Among these are included the evidence of Mr. Galloway, late

a member of the American Congress.

The

[ocr errors]

The confequences of this man's † unaccountably weak and. wretched conduct are, thirty thousand brave men destroyed, thirty millions of money expended, thirteen provinces loft, and a war with the whole Houfe of Bourbon.-If fuch misconduct is to pafs without cenfure or punishment, there must be a radical weakness, either in the conftitution of the ftate, or in the minds of the people, and the total diffolution of this empire must be faft approaching for the people who fit in patient ftupidity, and fee themfelves become the victims of ignorance or treachery, cannot, and do not, deserve to exift as a nation.'

:

Art. 39. The Examination of Jofeph Galloway, Efq; late Speaker of the House of Affembly of Pennsylvania; before the Hufe of Commons, in a Committee on the American Papers. With explanatory Notes. 8vo. 2 s. Wilkie. 1779.

We believe that the whole of Mr. Galloway's very important evidence appears in this printed copy; with the addition of many ufeful and interefting notes, relative to the conduct of the war in America, the fituations and movements of the British troops,-the circumflances of the friends to government,-the proceedings of the Congress, their adherents, their forces, &c. &c. The result of this examination and enquiry is by no means favourable to the commander of the royal army. It is, indeed, in many. capital refpects, totally inconfiftent with the reprefentations given in the examinations of Lord Cornwallis, General Grey, and other evidences; according to which it appeared (as we obferved in our laft Month's Review I, page 478), that our commanders in chief had accomplished all that in their fituation could have been accomplished, for the good of the fervice. Mr. Galloway's evidence was not then before us.-After all, TIME holds out to us the truest lights, with refpect to the views, and motives, and actions of great men and, as the politician in the play fagely remarks, thofe who live longeft will fee mott.'

Mr. Galloway was a member of Congrefs; he came over to the royal army in December 1776; and continued with it till the evacuation of Philadelphia in June 1778: abandoning his estate and

+ Sir W. H-e.

In giving an account of the diftreffes of the Congrefs-party, many circumstances arife which cannot fail to fhock the humanity of the reader, whatever be his party. Among other particulars, Mr. Galloway faid, in examination, that in the year 1777, the Americans had loft, in the Canada expedition, in the feveral engagements with the British troops, taken prifoners, and by deaths in their military hofpitals, nearly 40,000 men. But in a note to this part of the evidence, it is faid the rebel ftates, fince the commencement of the rebellion, have loft in their military, hofpitals, and in battle, in their naval and land fervice, not much thort of 100,00 men; which amount to a fifth part of the white men in America capable of bearing arms.'-A dreadful reckoning, indeed! What have they not to anfwer for, whofe wicked politics have been the firft caufe of so much calamity to their fellow-creatures!

Art. Exam, of the Earl of Cornwallis.
F 4

property

[ocr errors]

property in America, to the value, as he declared to the Committee, of above forty houfand pounds Sterling.

Art. 40. De Primardijs Civitatum Oratio. In qua agitur de Bella Civili inter M. Britanniam & Colonias nunc flagranti, &c. i. c. An Oration concerning the Origin of States, in which the Author treats of the Civil War between Great Britain and her Colonies, By James Dunbar, Profeffor of Philofophy in the King's College, Aberdeen. 410. Is. 6d. Cadell. 1779.

As an academical difcourfe in praife of the late Earl of Chatham, this performance is entitled to fome commendation; being written, in general, with a confiderable degree of claffical purity. We could point out, however, feveral paffages, of which the conftruction might be rendered more eafy and perfpicuous; in a few, the expreffion is not agreeable to the Latin idiom; and the oration throughout, like most other productions of modern Latinity, is deficient in those unaffected graces of compofition which diftinguish and adorn the writings of the Auguftan age.

If we confider Mr. Dunbar's performance as a political treatise addreffed to the public, it is not eafy to difcover its object or defign; The first part of the difcourfe is evidently written with a view to introduce a panegyric on the Earl of Chatham; who, if called to the administration of affairs, would, in Mr. Dunbar's opinion, restore the ancient fplendor of the British empire. This obfervation neceffarily occafions a note, in which Mr. Dunbar laments the death of that great man. As to the Colonies, the Author concludes by advising that we should endeavour to recover and to retain them by benefits, not by injuries; and that Britons, if they cannot be the mafters, fhould be the patrons of the New World, “ Novi orbis terrarum patrocinium, fi non imperium, fuftineant Britanni. Atque volentes per populos dent jura, vamou affectent Olympo."

Art. 41. Obfervations on the National Debt, with Proposals for reducing the faid Debt, and for raising future Supplies, in an easy and eligible Manner, by which the National Credit, and the Property of Individuals, will be preferved and improved. Humbly addreffed to, and earnestly recommended to the Confideration of, every Poffeffor of Property, of what Nature or Kind foever, within the Kingdom. By a fincere Well-wither of his Country. 8vo, 6d. Dilly.

This finere well-wisher of his country may, for what we know to the contrary, be fome lygue of a landholder, although we rather fufpect it is only ad Parnafjum, who artfully endeavours to perfuade the ftockholders to give up one fiftieth part of their whole property every year to government, in order to leffen the enormous weight of the national debt. He, howeve, obligingly thinks they ought not to give up the whole, but ftop when they have, by thefe means, reduced it to fixty, eighty, or even to a hundred millions; for our

If we entirely abandon the imperium, it is not obvious what the Author meaas by dent jura. It belongs not to thofe who have the patrocinium only dare jura.

Author

Author does not prefume to draw the line abfolutely, but generously leaves it to their own discretion where to ftop in this respect.

This glorious and difinterested act of the ftockholders, as our Author allows it to be, muft, he hints, have its proper effect on the minds of the gentlemen landholders, and induce them also to contribute to the exigencies of government, perhaps one per cent. of their net yearly income, or at least one per cent. of what they stand charged at in the poors rates, which every one knows is not above one-fourth part of their property in many parts of England.

Time alone can fhew, with certainty, whether the holders of stock will think one per cent. of the net yearly income of a landed gentleman, as he may have been pleased to give it in to the affeffors of the poors rates, equivalent to two per cent. of their whole property; for it muft be remembered, that although the confolidated three and four per cent, annuities fell now for about fixty pounds, they coft many of the prefent proprietors upwards of one hundred pounds.

NATURAL HISTORY, &c.

Art. 42. The Natural Hiftory of English Song-Birds, including fuch foreign Birds as are usually brought over, and esteemed for their Singing: their proper Management, Diseases and Cures. To which are added, Figures of the Cock, Hen, and Egg of each Species, exactly copied from Nature. By Mr. Eleazar Albin. A new Edition, corrected, with feveral Improvements under the Article of Canary Birds. 8vo. 8vo. 3 s. plain, and 7 s. coloured. Lowndes. 1779.

Albin's Natural History of English Song-Birds is a work well known, and esteemed for the accuracy of the drawings. The prefent Edition, thus reduced, in fize and price, cannot fail of meeting with a due acceptance from the public,-and especially from young readers, who are bird-fanciers.-The engravings are neat; the history, &c. plain and intelligible to all capacities; and, on the whole, this is a very pretty book to be given, by way of prefent, to youth of both fexes.

Art. 43. Defcriptions and Figures of Petrifactions found in the Quarries, Gravel pits, &c.. near Bath. Collected and drawn by John Walcott, Efq, 8vo. 23. 6 d. fewed. Matthews, &c. Although the engravings are not very elegant, the enumeration and description of the many fubjects here collected, will, no doubt, prove acceptable to the curious enquirer into this extenfive branch of Natural History.

NOVELS and MEMOIR S. Art. 44. Shenflone Green; or, the New Paradife Loft: Being a History of Human Nature. In three Volumes. Written by the Proprietor of the Green. The Editor Courtney Melmoth. 7 s. 6 d. fewed. Baldwin. 1779.

12mo.

The idea of this entertaining tale was fuggefted by a paffage in the works of Mr. Shenftone, in which he fays, had I a fortune of eight or ten thousand pounds a year, I would build myself a neighbourhood.'-This plan Mr. Melmoth fuppofes carried into execution by a worthy knight, who has more good nature than penetration, and more money than wit, The narrative difcovers no inconfider

able

« VorigeDoorgaan »