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the House. I asked her how her friend the duke, and the banker's widow, were going on? "I can neither," said she, 66 answer your "questions positively in the affirmative or negative. For there is a "mysterieux patelinage on the part of the female belligerent that perfectly baffles my penetration. It reminds me, indeed, of a scene "in Plautus, or rather of a passage in Calderon, where I was most fortunately relieved by Lady D., else would have been cured for life of all tendency to make impertinent questions. Before my bath, "did" the Park for an hour, as Theodore Hook has it. By the way, nothing shews his vulgarity so much as his frequent mention of our usages. Made a very good pun on Hope's gate; Ashley says the best I ever made. He was asking Liddell, Howick, and Captain Fitzgerald what motive Hope could have to laying out 30,000l. in building a gate for the public? I replied, that was his way of propagating his name. I dont believe Hope wrote that clever book, Anastasius. Why, if he did, has he not written another? I am sure the author is dead; and would not be surprised if the first report of authorship (Byron's) was, after all, the true one. Mem. Forgot to drop card at Fife House, or to give John, Stanhope's pamphlet.

7.-Peel should never wear a black cravat, his features are not aristocratic; and it gives him the look of one of his father's cotton spinners. Met Lauderdale with my Lord Wharncliffe: his hands. were so dirty that I felt great reluctance in touching them. Why does he not wear gloves, and get a decent coat? I wonder Mrs. Coutts lets him come near her. Am glad to see my hint has made Henry Grattan somewhat modest: his brother James is a well-meaning good fellow. Betted with Turnpike Lowther one hundred to ninety to beat him with Merlin to Richmond, and give him four minutes law: Fitzroy Somerset to be umpire. Lord Palmerston, an affected conceited creature, has given the coup de grace to Hume's reputation. Did ever any man receive such an insult, and bear it so meekly? I solemnly declare I felt for Hume, or rather for humanity, to see it so humbled; not a soul to interfere, not a single "hear" when he replied; the more remarkable as contrasted with the cheers for almost every word uttered by Palmerston, who really would be less than nobody but for his office. The Greeks have had ample revenge as far as poor Joey is concerned. I gave old Tierney a seat in my cab up from the House, and expressed to him my sympathy with Hume's feelings. "Your benevolence," he replied "is more creditable than "called for. Did Hume feel for himself, I would have felt and interposed as it is, I am glad I was not in the House. It has been "said that I am jealous of Hume: jealous of what? Ask your father "of the battles I have fought, and the victories I have won, in that "House, from men, too, whose very name is sufficient to make the "humblest of their followers respectable. On this score, I might talk "for hours with the garrulity, if not the honied eloquence, of old "Nestor in the Iliad; but fuimus Troes, and, alas! fuit Ilium, and I "alone remain. I have been reproached for cunning by your friend "Tilney Long Wellesley;---cunning! cunning! good heavens, is it

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cunning to remain out of office---from honorable adherence to the "principles which have guided my public life, and from still adhering "to a party who treated me, as an individual, with base ingratitude? "What did they do when they got into power in 1806?-Made the "present Marquis of Lansdowne, then Lord Henry Petty, Chancellor "of the Exchequer; an office which my peculiar studies peculiarly "fitted me for. What did I do when Lord Henry was turned into "ridicule, and his gross ignorance of finance exposed by a man "as shallow as himself, Lord Castlereagh, who, with Lord Hawkes"bury, now Liverpool, offered me the place on their return to office "if I joined them then? Why, I stood up and rebutted all objections, "and convinced, by argument, the House of the soundness of Petty's "propositions-was this cunning? If it were, I boast of it; and advise you to imitate it. I will say nothing now of Sheridan: he is dead; "and let those imitate his virtues, who never can have a millionth part of his temptations to error. As to Canning and Castlereagh, "I assure you Canning's biographer can make out a better case than "is generally believed. Wellesley is completely out as to Castlereagh's character: Castlereagh was a cunning man whenever his bullying did not carry him through; his whole system of govern"ment in Ireland was a deep diabolically cunning scheme of Machia"vellian politics. Wellesley's letters, nevertheless, do him credit; "and show him fit to have the management of his children. He is "somewhat, indeed, of a Nimrod in education, but that is a good "gentlemanly fault. But I have wandered from Hume; a most "useful man as long as he confines himself to the calibre of his "intellect; but a most mischievous one when he attempts to rise "above the natural mediocrity of his character. He appears destitute "of the finer feelings of society, else he could not so often be "forgetful of what he owed to his own character, and to that of the "House. He has now but little chance of being honored either with "the detestation of his enemies, or the esteem of his friends, or even "with the pity of either. Did he hearken to the suggestions of prudence, he would, therefore, confine his future efforts to subjects "commensurate with his power." I was really affected by Tierney's manner: he is an old friend of my father; and a man whom he justly considers as the possessor of the finest official intellect in either House of Parliament.

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9.---What makes Alexander Baring so affected in his manner and language? He makes himself, notwithstanding his sense, infor-' mation, and wealth, absolutely contemptible. Only to think of the head of the British Merchants aping the manners of a "carpet "knight," lisping his sentences, and hemming out every syllable! This is doing the amiable aristocrat with a vengeance. As he is a great loan contractor, I would advise him to contract a loan of Mr. Huskisson's manliness of tone, and decision of manner: it will greatly improve him.-Great bruiting at Brookes's of war with Spain.

11.---Brookes's full about the King's Message. General expectation of a general war: I think they are premature: no fight at

present; Spain will cross and recross, and wont come to the scratch, as Tom Cribb says. Spring Rice got a hint from Canning not to touch the treaty of Limerick to-night. Hear saltpetre rose 50 per cent., and consols fell 6. Think Canning is bamboozled by Villele and Co.: he is still gouty. Lord Liverpool not able to leave his room. Mem. To set off to Lord Foley's on Wednesday. Expect good sport.

12.-Every body talking about war and Mr. Canning: the effect, the sensation, of his splendid speech is tremendous. The very suddenness of the business has aggravated the general ardour-Canning waited for the moment to strike, and then struck home like Fabius in Ennius,

"Non ponebat enim rumores ante salutem,"

but waited for fact, and then came down armed with the consciousness of strength and moral indignation. It was an epoch in a man's life to have heard him; it reconciles me to the loss of several days hard running. Heavens! he surpassed even himself! the chaste elegance, the graceful simplicity, the harmonious tones of his opening speech; and the sublime energy of his reply, will haunt me to my grave. What a burst of feeling when he spoke of the Portuguese charter! " May God prosper that attempt at the extension of consti"tutional liberty; and may the nation to which it is extended, prove "as fit to receive and cherish it, as she is to discharge her other duties "among the nations of Europe." I shall never forget the deep, moral earnestness of his tone and the blaze of glory that seemed to light up his features. He was equally grand when, in his reply, he said, "I do not believe that there is that Spain of which our ancestors were so justly jealous, that Spain upon whose territories it was proudly "boasted that the sun never set." But when in the style and manner of Chatham he said, "I looked to Spain in the Indies, I called a new "world into existence to redress the balance of the old," the effect was actually terrific. It was as if every man in the House had been electrified. Tierney, who before that was shifting in his seat, and taking off his hat and putting it on again, taking large and frequent pinches of snuff, and turning from side to side, till he, I suppose, wore his breeches through, seemed petrified, and sat fixed, and staring with his mouth open for half a minute. Mr. Canning seemed actually to have increased in stature, his attitude was so majestic; I remarked his flourishes were made with the left arm; the effect was new and beautiful; his chest heaved and expanded-his nostril dilated-a noble pride slightly curled his lip; and age and sickness were dissolved, and forgotten in the ardor of youthful genius; all the while a serenity sat on his brow, that pointed to deeds of glory. It reminded and came up to what I've heard of the effects of Athenian eloquence. That Hume to be so mad-so insensible-as to propose an amendment at such a time, to an inflamed, infuriated, glowing assembly. Even the reiterated laughter he occasioned, did not atone for his folly; the very people in the gallery-reporters and all, disguised their contempt for him as little as their admiration of Mr. Canning. It was a glorious night.

TO ROBERT WILMOT HORTON, ESQ. M. P. &c. &c.

SIR,

It has been rumoured, that certain individuals connected with His Majesty's Government have expressed no little astonishment, that the West India Proprietors resident in England should now betray symptoms of dissatisfaction at the Order in Council for Trinidad. They are reported to assert, that they had always proceeded with regard to that measure, upon the belief that the provisions contained in it met with the most perfect approbation of the West India Body in England; that they were warranted in that supposition by the silence maintained on the subject, by the representatives of the West India interest in Parliament; and that it is consequently somewhat ungracious, that they should now, for the first time, receive remonstrances and complaints, which might have been preferred with far more propriety and decency two years ago.

As ministers, particularly those connected with the Colonial Department, must be well aware, that at the very first promulgation of that Order in Council to the House of Commons, the "compulsory manumission clauses" were protested against by Lord Seaford, the Chairman of the West India Body in London; and that more than one remonstrance against that particular clause, and against the "enforcement" of any part of the "Order," have been presented to His Majesty's Government, it is impossible to believe that any obseṛvation of the kind could have proceeded from them. The rumour might have been left to die unnoticed, because unbelieved, had in not been for the appearance of a pamphlet, in which similar charges have been conditionally made against the West India Body. The pamphlet is evidently written by a defender of Government, and this circumstance renders him deserving of a reply, as otherwise it might be supposed that the West Indians acquiesced in the justice of his accusations, and the public might be induced to believe, that amid the numerous calamities by which the Colonies have now long been assailed, that of having forfeited the protection of Government, must now take a place. Feeling that those accusations are utterly unfounded, and that the writer of this pamphlet has almost egregiously mistaken the conduct of the English West India Proprietors, it is with no fear of having undertaken a difficult task, that I enter upon an explanation; and I take the liberty of addressing myself to you, Sir, because repeatedly and properly as you have repelled the charge of being the partizan of the West Indians, I am convinced you will be glad, when appealed to, to give your testimony to the correctness of my statements; which have for their object to shew, that the West Indians have behaved fairly, manfully, and openly with the Government, and are far from having, as this writer insinuates, betrayed either their own, or the interest of their fellow subjects abroad.

The pamphlet to which I allude, is entitled, "Remarks on an

"Address to the Members of the New Parliament, on the proceedings "of the Colonial Department, with respect to the West India Ques❝tion," and professes to be written "by a Member of the last Parlia"ment." He first of all shews, that the measures taken to enforce the Order in Council, are to be considered as those of the whole Executive Government, and not merely those of the Colonial Department; and next, that the Order in Council is adapted to the end for which it was brought forward, and is consistent with the resolutions of the House of Commons of 1823,-both of which propositions are denied by the author of the Address..

In the progress of his reasonings, the member of the last Parliament goes somewhat out of his way to make the following remarks:

"Is he (i. e. the author of the pamphlet) not aware that, by inevitable "implication, he stamps the West Indian members of the last Parliament, as the "most ignorant, incautious, and imbecile body of men who ever were got together to repre"sent an interest? If they have omitted to do justice to their own cause, by point“ing out the practical defects of those enactments and instructions which for two "years and a half have been public documents on the table of the House of "Commons, and have remained there without commentary, much less disparage"ment, where was their sense of public duty-of personal interest, fairly and "rationally understood-of manly responsibility, for who is there that will "pretend to deny that they were virtually responsible for the fair interests of the "West Indians being duly discussed and understood in Parliament? If they have "shared the opinions of the writer of this address, how can they reconcile it to themselves not "to have had the manliness to avow them? What inference, therefore, is to be drawn "from their silence, and from this address-writer's accusations? Why, that his "accusations are utterly unfounded; as it is too monstrous to believe that, if "they had the shadow of foundation, they would be first communicated to the "world in a pamphlet published in October, 1826, when three long Sessions of "Parliament had elapsed without one syllable of a kindred nature being uttered "within the walls of Parliament."

As it is now pretty well ascertained, that the West Indians at home are united in the intention of opposing by every constitutional means the enforcement of the "compulsory manumission clauses," it is of course clear, that they do to a certain extent "share the opinions" of the author of the address, and are consequently exposed to the censure so lavishly bestowed upon them in the preceding extract. Of that censure, a very few words will suffice to demonstrate the folly and injustice, and to make the charge of ignorance and incaution recoil on him who brought them forward.

In the first place, it is perhaps necessary to observe, that the West Indians do not even now object to the resolutions of the House of Commons of 1823; but they contend that the Government, in founding upon those resolutions a provision for emancipation, invito domino, have violated both their letter and their spirit. The author of the remarks makes a most awkward attempt to prove, that such a measure ought to have been contemplated as the necessary result, whereas, by every principle of grammatical and logical construction, Parliament is thereby pledged to do nothing more than to " enforce" measures of amelioration, and declare that they look to the negroes' (not partici