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Received orders to go by Oporto to Almeida, and confer with the Bishop; endeavour to prevail on him to come to Lisbon, and place himself at the head of the government.'

General Anstruther reached Oporto at five in the afternoon of the 15th, and having intimated his arrival, eight o'clock the same evening was the time appointed for his waiting on the Bishop. General Anstruther states,

'The Bishop met me in the outer room, and after some time we retired to the inner. I then told him the purport of my visit, and urged many reasons-patriotism-finishing the work he had begunconfirmation of all that had been done in Oporto, &c.—to induce him to accept the situation of president of the regency: was a good deal surprised, after all I had heard, (more especially from Decken, whom I was careful to see before I went to the Bishop,) to hear him declare at once that he would accept. The only reservation was in regard to the manner of his appointment, which he said must be by the election of the members originally named by the prince. All this appeared very reasonable, and is exactly what Wellesley said should be done. Very little conversation on other topics. Wrote an account of my interview with the Bishop to Sir Hew Dalrymple; also private letters to him, and to Murray-gave my opinion that the Bishop's proposed mode of election is reasonable, but that he would accept on any terms.'

We see here how immediately all shadow of the Oporto intrigue vanishes, upon the arrival there, and communication with the Bishop, of an able and upright man, who had no schemes of his own in his head, nor any other motive of action than the desire to execute with diligence and fidelity the public service entrusted to his management. At Lisbon, happily, a man of like ability, and of a similar character, had been charged by Sir Hew Dalrymple with the task of arranging the reconstruction of the Portuguese government. General Hope, who was called upon to undertake this duty, stipulated that the quarter-mastergeneral should be associated with him in it; but as Lieutenant-Colonel Murray soon perceived that, independently of the inconvenience with respect to his other duties which would result from his absence from head-quarters, he could also better contribute to assist General Hope's labours by remaining there, he did not go to Lisbon, and General Hope communicated by letter with him for Sir Hew Dalrymple's information. 'Two of the letters which passed on this subject will be sufficient to show that at the very same time when all trace of Colonel Napier's mysterious and widely-spread but imaginary intrigues, involving Machiavelian ministers in Britain, a meddling ambitious priest, and generals, both Portuguese and Spanish, in the Peninsula, had vanished before General Anstruther at Oporto, the same happy

result

result had been effected by General Hope's presence for a few days in Lisbon.

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Lieut.-Col. Murray to Lieut.-Gen. the Hon. John Hope.
'Ayras, 12th September, 1808.

My dear Hope,-I submitted to the General, this afternoon, your letter containing the result of the inquiries you have hitherto been able to make into matters relating to the proposed government of this country, and the opinions you had been led to form in consequence. Sir Hew is strongly inclined to agree with you in the opinion that it would be most acceptable to the country, that the vacancies in the regency should be filled up in the constitutional manner, care being taken, however, to ascertain previously how far the members of the late regency are inclined to coincide with the General respecting the proper persons to be chosen.

'There seems to be no reason for deviating from the principle of exclusion towards those members of the late regency who accepted office from the French. It may, however, be given to be understood by the other members, that this exclusion does not proceed so much from any mistrust of those persons on our part, provided they themselves are satisfied with them, as from the actual temper of the public, both in Portugal and in other countries, where the private character of these persons, even if favourably known to their former colleagues, can of course have less weight than it might have here. The General approves entirely, therefore, of your bringing together the members of the late regency (with the above exclusions), and of your communicating confidentially with them in the view of ascertaining their sentiments, and learning what line they can be brought to adopt.

It is right you should be informed, that the Monteiro Mor has written a letter to the Admiral, inclosing a protest against every part of the Convention, drawn up in strong language. The letter, Sir Hew tells me, goes to point out what ought to have been our conduct. This appears to me to be a part of the same system adopted by General Freire, and to have its origin partly in disappointment that more striking vengeance was not taken against the French, partly that they themselves were not called upon to take a share in the negotiations, and partly from a desire to shift off ali present odium and after-responsibility in the transaction from their own shoulders.

'Sir Hew desires me also to mention to you, that in one of the publications by the junta of Seville, it is stated that they have taken the provinces of Alemtejo and Algarve under their protection, and that deputies from these provinces had waited upon them with instructions to make proposals to that effect. Whether this fact should have any weight in regard to our conduct towards the Monteiro Mor or not, I leave you to judge. Perhaps it might be used to alarm the Portuguese for the independence and integrity of the kingdom. The connexion which the people in the north formed, I believe, with Gal

licia puts all parts, however, very much upon the same footing in this respect.

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Major Pinto dined to-day at head-quarters. He appeared less pettish than formerly about the Convention, and seemed disposed to communicate cordially respecting the military arrangements both for General Freire's army and for the British. In the course of conversation he expressed a decided opinion against either De Castro or Mello being replaced in the regency. 'G. MURRAY.'

(Signed)

General Hope to Lieutenant-Colonel Murray.

'Lisbon, 16th September, 1808.

My dear Murray,-You will be so good as to inform the General that I have had, this forenoon, another conference with the members

of the former regency. We were this time joined by Don Miguel Forgas, the secretary named in the act of regency to replace the Count de Sampaio. I submitted to him, with the permission of the other persons present, the substance of what had passed at the former conference, of which he declared his approbation. I then informed them that it was the General's intention to address, in the first instance, a proclamation to the people of Portugal, in which he would call upon those members of the regency, who had not disqualified themselves in the opinion of the public, to resume their functions. I imparted the substance of the proclamation, having no translation; and with a very few additions which they suggested with some earnestness, and which I thought it of no moment to reject, it obtained their entire approbation. These additions tend solely to give some degree of importance to the efforts made by the provincial governments, and to flatter the national feeling by attributing, but in very general terms, some part of the success to the Portuguese army. I trust, therefore, the General will not disapprove of my adopting them.

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A reference was then made to what had passed on the 13th; and it was agreed that, immediately after the proclamation, the regency would assemble, and proceed according to what was then fixed.

I lastly proposed the measure of electing the Bishop of Oporto into the regency, and re-stated the grounds on which that appeared to be a politic and desirable step. To this a ready assent was given; and it was agreed that the regency, as soon as installed, should write him a letter, highly expressive of their esteem, and press his coming to Lisbon to take his place in council. I find that the regency has no president, but that the members rank according to their precedency in the state; and that the Marquess of Abrantes was only first member in virtue of his possessing a more elevated title than any other member. A small verbal alteration has therefore been made in that part of the proclamation which regards him.

A note of our proceedings was made out, a copy of which I send for the General's information; and I remain, my dear Murray,

• Yours very faithfully,
(Signed)

'JOHN HOPE.'

We

We have not room, in our present Number, to carry further our remarks upon Colonel Napier's work; but we propose to ourselves to continue them in a future publication—which, though not in accordance with our custom, we think justified in a case of this grave description. Neither shall we pause now to make any remarks on the style in which the book is written; except to say of it, generally, that it is not the style which we should deem most suitable to history. It is quaint without being natural, and unequal without the grace of variety. We must add one word, however, on Colonel Napier's dedication :—

To Field-Marshal the Duke of Wellington.

This History I dedicate to your Grace, because I have served long enough under your command to know why the soldiers of the Tenth Legion were attached to Cæsar.'

This dedication is short, which is good. It is addressed to the Duke of Wellington, which no one can deem a fault. But, on the other hand, we think it is affected; and we further think, that it suggests a parallel between Cæsar and the Duke of Wellington, where no parallelism can be found in the characters or in the conduct of the two men. Let it be remembered that Cæsar, from the earliest time when we have any knowledge of him, was always occupied in seeking after inordinate power by irregular means. He was actively factious in the city, and sought to attach to himself as many followers there as he could of the same description. Nor did he omit in the camp to play a similar game. That the tenth legion consisted of excellent soldiers there can be no doubt; but by the general's treatment of them he made them the soldiers of Cæsar and not of Rome. The Duke of Wellington esteemed valour and other military virtues in the troops under his command as much as Cæsar did; but he did not select any particular division as an object of his marked favour, and lay the foundation, by that means, in his army of an emulous attachment to his own person, with the view of rendering that army an instrument afterwards in advancing projects of personal ambition.

Our readers will have seen that we have a graver charge, however, than any defect of style or error of judgment, to bring against Colonel Napier as an historian. We mean the propensity, which is throughout discernible, to accommodate everything to the bias of his own opinions, and the bent of his own prejudices. In some articles of manufacture a single flaw, in but one piece, reduces the price of the whole set; how great an abatement then must there be made from the value of an historical work, in which such a defect as we impute, we believe not unjustly, to our author, is to be found, not in one book, nor in one chapter, nor connected with one particular branch only of the subject treated of, but in

terwoven

terwoven in an inseparable manner with the whole tissue of the work; and which the labour of a lengthened commentary upon every page could hardly separate from the thread of genuine history? The necessity of showing that we have not made such a charge lightly, must be our excuse for having so far exceeded the limits which, in ordinary circumstances, we should have assigned to the examination of a small portion only of so voluminous a work. That our opinion of the work is not singular, the following observation upon it from Mr. Coleridge's Table Talk will sufficiently show:

I have been exceedingly impressed with the evil precedent of Colonel Napier's History of the Peninsular War. It is a specimen of the true French military school: not a thought for the justice of the war-not a consideration of the damnable and damning iniquity of the French invasion. All is looked at as a mere game of exquisite skill, and the praise is regularly awarded to the most successful player. How perfectly ridiculous is the prostration of Napier's mind, apparently a powerful one, before the name of Buonaparte! I declare I know no book more likely to undermine the national sense of right and wrong in matters of foreign interference than this work of Napier's. p. 119.

ART. V.-1. First and Second Reports of the Commissioners of Public Instruction for Ireland. 2 vols. fol. 1835. Printed by Order of the Houses of Parliament.

2. Second Report of the Commissioners of National Education in Ireland. 1835. Printed by Order of the House of Commons. 3. A Tour round Ireland in the Summer of 1835. By John Barrow, jun., Esq. Post 8vo. London. 1836.

SIX

IX centuries and a half have rolled away since the connexion between Ireland and England began, yet, to most of the English people, Ireland to this day remains an unknown country. Though the subject of more frequent discussion than all other parts of the empire combined, the notions which are generally formed of it are vague and unsettled. Its very name is associated with recollections of violence, agitation, and bloodshed, of which few perhaps comprehend the cause-still fewer expect to see the issue. An impression thus comes to pervade the public mind, that it is a country different from every other on the face of the globe that the elements of society are there destined to remain at perpetual strife: and that it is a region where general tranquillity, industry, and order, can neither be expected to prevail nor continue. To lend what assistance our limited space will

permit,

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