when compared, we have no respect for such opinions. Had Mr. Scott kept his work by him a little longer, until the love of his offspring had so abated, as to have suffered him to see it through no degree of false medium, Marmion would in every page have been above the censure of all but the envious and malign. We, however, are amongst those who cheerfully obey the humané precept of the Roman, and cannot be offended paucis maculis, with a few spots, when so surrounded with effulgence. What Voltaire said of Pope, we do not scruple, after the perusal of the Lay, and this more noble work, to say of their immortal author -We "never saw so amiable an imagination, so gentle graces, so great variety, or so refined a knowledge of the world," combined in any poet of any age. We have called him immortal, because no other date can be justly given to the wreath which he has woven. Extract from the Satitist. The story of Marmion is soon told in prose. Marmion, the pretended hero is a bad man, who debauches a nun, practices a forgery, courts an heiress, maintains a lie, combats a real rival, and a sham ghost, insults an aged nobleman, fights a tremendous battle, breaks a toledo, receives a home thrust, gets spilt from his horse, swills water, rants, shouts and dies. To conclude our review of this uncouth, anomalous and motley performance. We are terribly inclined either to fear, that this poor man is, alas! fast approaching to second childhood; or to guess that he indolently blurted out this doleful ditty and truly delectable romance merely to amuse those precious 'imps' whom he so sweetly moralizes in his Epistle to William Stewart Rose, Esq.; we rather choose to admit the latter charitable conjecture, since Mr. Scott expressly and candidly says, at the close, «To thee dear school-boy, whom my lay Has cheated of thy hour of play, To all, to each, a fair good-night, } THE ORDEA L. No. 26.] SATURDAY, JULY 1, 1809. [Vol. 1. RETROSPECTIVE ADDRESS. "That all these papers are happily imagined, or accurately polished, that the same sentiments have not sometimes recurred, or the same expressions been too frequently repeated, I have not confidence in my abilities sufficient to warrant. He that condemns himself to compose on a stated day, will often bring to his task an attention dissipated, a memory embarrassed, an imagination overwhelmed, a mind distracted with anxieties, a body languishing with disease: he will labour on a barren topick till it is too late to change it; or in the ardour of invention, diffuse his thoughts into wild exuberance, which the pressing hour of publication cannot suffer judgment to examine or reduce."-Johnson. THE present number of the Ordeal will complete one volume of a work, which the editors are confident to hope has been conducted in strict conformity to the principles upon which it was originally projected. As it is the present intention of the editors to discontinue the publication, custom obliges them to announce that intention with a certain degree of formality, though it will not follow that the publick will derive any peculiar interest in the disclosure. On the contrary, as the world received the annunciation of the work with frigid indifference, the editors will not be disappointed if they should dismiss it with undisturbed tranquillity. It is fortunate that the editors have never flattered themselves with the idea of being able to render the Ordeal a favourite publication; the meteorick flashes of wit and merriment were too transient to shed permanent effulgence upon their pages; and the lighter graces, which skim over the surface of literature, were too fragile to afford strength to the arm of satire, or vigour to political illustrations. Their aim was only to be useful, to establish a publication which might aspire to more dignity of discussion than is to be discovered in the common newspapers of the day, and at the same time to become the most eligible vehicle for the communication of literary and political proCc c Vol. I. ductions. It is not remarkable that an experiment should fail of the success anticipated by the projectors, and this day, will therefore, terminate the existence of the Ordeal. But the edi tors have frequently experienced flattering encouragement, in words, and they have not been entirely destitute of the support of munificent generosity. The acknowledgments which they are obliged to make for extraneous assistance are few in number. The review of Mr. Buckminster's sermon in the seventh number, the burlesque ode in the twelfth, and the Review of Mr. Carey's sermon in the fourteenth and fifteenth, are the principal communications for which they are under obligations to different correspondents. There are other matters however, of minor consideration, which might be referred to other names than those of the editors, which it would be difficult, perhaps impossible, to enumerate; and ineligible, perhaps indelicate, to disclose. It is peculiarly the pride of the editors to reflect, that their work has been conducted almost without assistance. It has generally been the production of individual effort, and laborious application; and therefore, they cannot but deprecate the lash of critical severity. But if the principles which they have espoused are firm, and the conclusions which they have adopted are true, the editors will not querulously complain if their language and style should be captiously derided. If the trunk be sound at the heart, it will do no harm to the tree to suppress the shoots of adventitious luxuriance. The state of the commercial and political relations of the U. nited States, when this publication was first commenced, was so desperate, that every friend of the country hung down his head in despair. The turpitude of Mr. Jefferson was every day be coming more evident; and a ruinous embargo, like a wasting sickness, consumed the property of the publick, in a proportion infinitely greater than the nominal amount. These two subjects then it became most important to discuss; and the review of Mr. Giles's speech on the embargo laws in our former numbers, and the Letters of Marcus Brutus, were composed in conformity to such intentions. There is a virulence of political invective supposed to exist in these few letters, which is not authorized by the facts on which the philippicks are founded. Those who assert that every political transaction in this country should have its measured share of approbation or of censure applied to it, that just so much and no more than it intrinsically deserves, should be the quantity of either which is bestowed, know nothing of the state of politicks in the United States; and those who imagine that mere reasoning and solid argument are calculated to convince men in a republican government, of the truth or errour of opinions, know nothing of human nature. The liberty of the press would be useless unless great latitude of political investiga tion be allowed; where a whole assembly is constantly brawling, he must have the lungs of a Stentor, who expects to be heard distinctly amidst the tumult. It is salutary to the community that such ardent investigation should be encouraged; otherswise the natural sensibility of rules to the opinions of the people, would grow callous to the touch of luke warm censurers. For example, to the spirit which was excited last winter in the northern states, but particularly in Massachusetts, may we attribute the sudden deviation from the course of policy which the then administration were pursuing, and which if it had been much longer followed would have made a wreck of the honour, the hopes, and the prosperity of the country. Now, if the daring spirit of enquiry and investigation which was exhibited in this state had not been promoted and encouraged, if the cold and inanimate expression of disapprobation which other parts of the country adopted, had been practiced in this, perhaps we might now be sinking in despondency, or at best, be groping our way to commercial and political distinction, with infantine exertion.. The nature and propriety of the opinions we have invariably maintained, as they were never the result of any party co-operation or advice, might perhaps sometimes deviate from the gen eral sentiments of contemporary politicians of the same class.The shades of difference, which may be found to exist, will not be fairly produced as a contradiction to federal opinions, or as a wilful opposition to prevailing sentiments. What we have written we have written; and we shall not shrink from the most scrutinizing investigation of the integrity of remark by which we have always been animated. Thus, we have held that the claims of Great Britain, in what is called the rule of war of '56, but more especially the doctrines set up by the Orders in Council, are intrinsically unsound in principle, and flagrantly unjust in practice. But that the American embargo was not a measure in the least calculated to enforce our rights in respect to that subject, by any appeals which could be made by means of it, to the interests of Great Britain, was a doctrine in our opinion equally true and conclusive, from various chains of argument. To the right of searching neutral merchant vessels, as claimed by Great Britain, we have paid considerable attention, and have maintained that the doctrine heretofore held by Mr. Madison is unsound. We do not deny the conduct of the British officers to be oppressive and frequently outrageous; but we have asserted that a practical rule, which shall exempt Americans from impressment, is the only remedy on which we ought to insist; for right is clearly on the side of Great Britain. The most unfortunate affair of the Chesapeak was a subject on which Mr. Jefferson contributed to involve the country in peculiar difficulty. Not for the proclamation against British vessels of war, for that was unavoidable; he could not do less to gratify the exasperated malice of the populace, and he could not do more if he had been inclined, for the warlike power of the United States was inadequate to enforce any orders or directions which the British squadron had refused to obey. The difficulties connected with that attack, which have it is to be hoped been brought to a final determination, were in our negociation with Great Britain, in regard to the reparation for the wrong. It is well understood that many of the claims of Mr. Jefferson's administration, in negociating a treaty of commerce, were never acceded to by the British ministry; particularly on the question of impressments from American merchant vessels. The attack upon the American frigate, was supposed to afford an opportunity for enforcing our old claims of the immunity of the flag in merchant ships too favourable to be omitted. Accordingly our minister at the court of St. James was required to demand, as an item in the amount of reparation acknowledged by Great Britain to be due, the concession of the general principle of exemption. Now, as the demand included, in its very nature, an unattainable concession, which could not be granted to us without manifest injustice to herself on the part of Great Britain; and as it never should have been required, as a recompençe for an aggression which did not involve the principle in question, so we have always opposed the administration for mingling the unjust |