The minister whose blundering head Who thought him wise and wary, There comes a shriek from plunder'd lands, Of Ganges or Cauvery; Their ill got wealth the robbers keep, The reptile, who from home and fame The broken-hearted Mary, If Joe, too, thro' the love of scrip, On, plundering M.P.'s on, ye bilks! on And let not Waithman scare ye; His hand upon his heart, and say, I am sure there has not appeared for months anything in periodicals equally worth, and equally fitted for, quoting, but the wiseacres passed it by. 14. The old rumour of Lord Lansdown's going into office again revived. I am sure there is no foundation for it; and for this reason:-Ministers can do very well without him; and he is but a mediocre man at best. He is a fluent speaker, and not without personal influence; but the former is nothing but "words, words," and the latter is now dispensible. Somerset writes me that the Duke of Wellington has been actually appointed; but will not assume the commander-in-chiefship till after the funeral. Nothing received yet from Spain. I am puzzled. 16. I was much amused this morning by "A Letter on the Affairs of Portugal, from a Dog in the Country to his Friend in Town."-The writer is evidently an employé of Ferdinand or Don Miguel; very probably a Jesuit spy. He is a shrewd "dog," nevertheless, and makes some capital hits at the "Eolian" policy of the Foreign Secretary. His acquaintance with the affairs of Portugal appears to be very intimate: he shows, in fact proves, that Miguel is the rightful monarch; and that to oppose his reigning, is to oppose the principle by which the house of Braganza mounted the Portuguese throne. "The revolution," he says, "which separated Brazil from Portugal is fresh in the recollection of all; and it is now notorious, that by the same act which constituted Don Pedro, Emperor of Brazil, he forfeited by the laws of his country, all title to the European dominions of his ancestors. It is certain, then, that on the death of his father, Don Miguel became the immediate de jure King of Portugal. But those who maintain the pretensions of Don Pedro, assert, that before accepting the crown of Brazil, he ceded his right to that of Portugal to his infant daughter. He possessed, however, no constitutional power of doing this. The laws respecting the Portuguese succession had expressly provided otherwise-declaring, "That in case the king of that realm should be called to the succession of another crown, or greater empire, having two or more children; then the eldest should reign in the foreign kingdom and the second in Portugal; which latter should be the only recognized successor and inheritor." This proves a strong case for Miguel. "This jeu d'esprit is the production of a distinguished Carthusian. We gladl y avail ourselves of our diarist's reference to it to acknowledge the debt." EDIT. In the person of his Royal Highness the Duke of York, we may justly say, in the language of Scripture, "there has fallen this day in our Israel a Prince and a Great Man." He has, from an early period of his manhood, performed a most important part in public life. In the early wars of the French Revolution, he commanded the British forces on the Continent; and although we claim not for his memory the admiration due to the rare and high gifts which in our latter times must combine to form a military genius of the first order, yet it has never been disputed, that in the field his Royal Highness displayed intelligence, military skill, and his family attribute, the most unalterable courage. He had also the universal testimony of the army for his efforts to lessen the distresses of the privates, during the horrors of an unsuccessful campaign, in which he acquired, and kept to his death, the epithet of the Soldier's Friend. But it is not on account of these early services that we now, as boldly as our poor voice may, venture to bring forward the late Duke of York's claims to the perpetual gratitude of his country. It is as the reformer and regenerator of the British army, which he brought from a state nearly allied to general contempt, to such a pitch of excellence, that we may, without much hesitation, claim for them an equality with, if not a superiority over, any troops in Europe. The Duke of York had the firmness to look into and examine the causes, which, ever since the American war, though arising out of circumstances existing long before, had gone as far to destroy the character of the British army, as the natural good materials of which it is composed would permit. The heart must have been bold that did not despair at the sight of such an Augean stable. In the first place, our system of purchasing commissions,---itself an evil in a military point of view, and yet indispensable to the freedom of the country,---had been stretched so far as to open the way to every sort of abuse. No science was required, no service, no previous experience whatsoever; the boy let loose from school the last week, might in the course of a month be a field-officer, if his friends were disposed to be liberal of money and influence. Others there were, against whom there could be no complaint for want of length of service, although it might be difficult to see how their experience was improved by it. It was no uncommon thing for a commission to be obtained for a child in the cradle; and when he came from college, the fortunate youth was at least a lieutenant of some standing, by dint of fair promotion. To sum up this catalogue of abuses, commissions were in some instances bestowed upon young ladies, when pensions could not be had. We know ourselves one fair dame who drew the pay of Captain in the dragoons, and was probably not much less fit for the service than some who at that period actually did duty; for, as we have said, no knowledge of any kind was demanded from the young officers. If they desired to improve themselves in the elemental parts of their profession, there was no means open either of direction or of instruction. But as a zeal for knowledge rarely exists where its attainment brings no credit or advantage, the gay young men who adopted the military profession were easily led into the fashion of thinking that it was pedantry to be master even of the routine of the exercise which they were obliged to perform. An intelligent sergeant whispered from time to time the word of command, which his captain would have been ashamed to have known without prompting; and thus the duty of the field-day was huddled over rather than performed. It was natural, under such circumstances, that the pleasures of the mess, or of the card or billiard table, should occupy too much of the leisure of those who had so few duties to perform, and that extravagance, with all its disreputable consequences, should be the characteristic of many; while others, despairing of promotion, which could only be acquired by money or influence, sunk into mere machines, performing without hope or heart a task which they had learned by rote. To this state of things, by a succession of well-considered and effectual regulations, the Duke of York put a stop with a firm yet gentle hand. Terms of service were fixed for every rank, and neither influence nor money were permitted to force any individual forward, until he had served the necessary time in the present grade which he held. No rank short of that of the Duke of York---no courage and determination inferior to that of his Royal Highness, could have accomplished a change so important to the service, but which yet was so unfavorable to the wealthy and to the powerful, whose children and protegés had formerly found a brief way to promotion. Thus a protection was afforded to those officers who could only hope to rise by merit and length of service, while at the same time the young aspirant was compelled to discharge the duties of a subaltern before attaining the higher commissions. In other respects, the influence of the Commander-in-Chief was found to have the same gradual and meliorating influence. The vicissitudes of real service, and the emergencies to which individuals are exposed, began to render ignorance unfashionable, as it was speedily found, that mere valor, however fiery, was unable, on such occasions, for the extrication of those engaged in them; and that they who knew their duty and discharged it, were not only most secure of victory and safety in action, but most distinguished at head-quarters, and most certain of promotion. Thus a taste for studying mathematics, and calculations applicable to war, was gradually introduced into the army, and carried by some officers to a great length; while a perfect acquaintance with the routine of the fieldday was positively demanded from every officer in the service as an indispensable qualification. His Royal Highness also introduced a species of moral discipline among the officers of our army, which has had the highest consequences on their character. Persons of the old school of Captain Plume and Captain Brazen, men who swore hard, drank deep, bilked tradesmen, and plucked pigeons, were no longer allowed to arrogate a character which they could only support by deep oaths and ready swords. If a tradesman, whose bill was unpaid by an officer, thought proper to apply to the Horse-Guards, the debtor received a letter from head-quarters, requiring to know if there existed any objections to the accompt, and failing his rendering a satisfactory answer, he was put on stoppages until the creditor's demand was satisfied. Repeated applications of this kind might endanger the officer's commission, which was then sold for the payment of his creditors. Other moral delinquencies were, at the same time, adverted to; and, without maintain*ing an inquisitorial strictness over the officers, or taking too close inspection of the mere gaieties and follies of youth, a complaint of any kind, implying a departure from the chaIracter of a gentleman and a man of honour, was instantly inquired into by the Commander-in-Chief, and the delinquent censured or punished, as the case seemed to require. The army was thus like a family under protection of an indulgent father, who, willing to promote merit, checks with a timely frown the temptations to licere and extravagance. The private soldiers equally engaged the attention of his Royal Highness. In the course of his superintendence of the army, a military dress, the most absurd in Europe, was altered for one easy and comfortable for the men, and suitable to the hardships they are exposed to in actual service. The severe and vexatious rules exacted about the tying of hair, and other trifling punctilios (which had been found sometimes to goad troops into mutiny), were abolished, and strict cleanliness was substituted for a Hottentot head-dress of tallow and flour. The pay of the soldier was augmented, while care was at the same time taken that it should, as far as possible, be expended in bettering his food and extending his comforts. The slightest complaint on the part of a private sentinel was as regularly inquired into, as if it had been preferred by a general officer. Lastly, the use of the cane (a brutal practice, which our officers borrowed from the Germans) was entirely prohibited; and regular corporal punishments by the sentence of a courtmartial have been gradually diminished. If, therefore, we find in the modern British officer more information, a more regular course of study, a deeper acquaintance with the principles of his profession, and a greater love for its exertions---if we find the private sentinel discharge his duty with a mind unembittered by petty vexations and regimental exactions, conscious of immunity from capricious violence, and knowing where to appeal if he sustains injury---if we find in all ranks of the army a love of their profession, and a capacity of matching themselves with the finest troops which Europe ever produced,---to the memory of his Royal Highness the Duke of York we owe this change from the state of the forces thirty years since. The means of improving the tactics of the British army did not escape his Royal Highness's sedulous care and attention. Formerly every commanding officer manoeuvered his regiment after his own fashion; and if a brigade of troops were brought together, it was very doubtful whether they could execute any one combined movement, and almost certain that they could not execute the various parts of it on the same principle. This was remedied by the system of regulations compiled by the late Sir David Dundas, and which obtained the sanction and countenance of his Royal Highness. This one circumstance of giving a uniform principle and mode of working to the different bodies, which are after all but parts of the same great machine, was in itself one of the most distinguished services which could be rendered to a national army; and it is only surprising that, before it was introduced, the British army was able to execute any combined movements at all. We can but notice the Duke of York's establishment near Chelsea for the orphans of soldiers, the cleanliness and discipline of which is a model for such institutions; and the Royal Military School, or College, at Sandhurst, where every species of scientific instruction is afforded to those officers whom it is desirable to qualify for the service of the staff. The excellent officers who have been formed at this institution, are the best pledge of what is due to its founder. Again we repeat, that if the British soldier meets his foreign adversary, not only with equal courage, but with equal readiness and facility of manœuvre---if the British officer brings against his scientific antagonist, not only his cwn good heart and hand, but an improved and enlightened knowledge of his profession, to the memory of the Duke of York, the army and the country owe them. The character of his Royal Highness was admirably adapted to the task of this extended reformation in a branch of the public service on which the safety of England absolutely depended for the time. Without possessing any brilliancy, his judgment, in itself clear and steady, was inflexibly guided by honor and principle. No solicitations could make him promise what it would have been inconsistent with these principles to grant; nor could any circumstances induce him to break or elude the promise which he had once given. At the same time, his feelings, humane and kindly, were, on all possible occasions, accessible to the claims of compassion; and there occured but rare instances of a wife widowed, or a family rendered orphans, by the death of a meritorious officer, without something being done to render their calamities more tolerable. As a statesman, the Duke of York, from his earliest appearance in public life, was guided by the opinions of Mr. Pitt. But two circumstances are worthy of remark. First, that his Royal Highness never permitted the consideration of politics to influence him in his department of Commander-in-Chief, but gave alike to Whig as to Tory the preferment their service or their talents deserved. Secondly, in attaching himself to the party whose object it is supposed to be to strengthen the Crown, his Royal Highness would have been the last man to invade, in the slightest degree, the rights of the people. The following and lote may be relied upon. At the table of the Commander-in-Chief, not many years since, a young officer entered into a dispute with Lieutenant-Colonelupon the point to which military obedience ought to be carried. "If the Commander"in Chief," said the young officer, like a second Seid, "should command me to do a "thing which I knew to be civilly illegal, I should not scruple to obey him, and consider myself as relieved from all responsibility by the commands of my military superior."--"So would not I," returned the gallant and intelligent officer, who maintained the opposite side of the question. "I should rather prefer the risk of being shot for "disobedience, by my commanding officer, than hanged for transgressing the laws and "violating the liberties of the country."---" You have answered like yourself," said his Royal Highness, whose attention had been attracted by the vivacity of the debate; "and "the officer would deserve both to be shot and hanged that should act otherwise. I trust "all British officers would be as unwilling to execute an illegal command, as I trust the "Commander-in-Chief would be incapable of issuing one." 66 The religion of the Duke of York was sincere, and he was particularly attached to the doctrines and constitution of the Church of England. In this his Royal Highness strongly resembled his father; and, like his father, he entertained a conscientious sense of the obligations of the coronation oath, which prevented him from acquiescing in the further relaxation of the laws against Catholics. We pronounce no opinion on the justice of his Royal Highness's sentiments on this important point; but we must presume them to have been sincerely entertained, since they were expressed at the hazard of drawing down upon his Royal Highness an odium equally strong and resentful. In his person and countenance, the Duke of York was large, stout, and manly; he spoke rather with some of the indistinctness of utterance peculiar to his late father, than with the precision of enunciation which distinguishes the King, his royal brother. Indeed, his Royal Highness resembled his late Majesty, perhaps, the most of any of George III.'s descendants. His family affections were strong; and the public cannot have for2 x VOL. II. gotten the pious tenderness with which he discharged the duty of watching the last days of his royal father, darkened as they were by corporeal blindness and mental incapacity. No pleasure, no business, was ever known to interrupt his regular visits to Windsor, where his unhappy parent could neither be grateful for, nor even sensible of, his unremitted attention. The same ties of affection united his Royal Highness to other members of his family, and particularly to its present Royal Head. Those who witnessed the coronation of his present Majesty will long remember, as the most interesting part of that august ceremony, the cordiality with which his Royal Highness the Duke of York performed his act of homage, and the tears of affection which were mutually shed between the royal brethren. We are aware, that, under this heavy dispensation his Majesty will be chief mourner, not in name only, but in all the sincerity of severed affection. The King's nearest brother in blood was also his nearest in affection; and the subject who stood next to the throne was the individual who would most willingly have laid down his life for its support. In social intercourse the Duke of York was kind, courteous, and condescending, general attributes, we believe, of the blood royal of England, and well befitting the princes of a free country. It may be remembered, that when, in "days of youthful pride," his Royal Highness had wounded the feelings of a young nobleman, he never thought of sheltering himself behind his rank, but manfully gave reparation by receiving the (wellnigh fatal) fire of the offended party, though he declined to return it." We would here gladly conclude the subject; but, to complete a portrait, the shades as well as the lights must be inserted; and in their foibles, as well as their good qualities, princes are the property of history. Occupied perpetually with official duty, which, to the last period of his life, he discharged with the utmost punctuality, the Duke of York was peculiarly negligent of his own affairs, and the embarrassments which arose in consequence, were considerably increased by an imprudent passion for the turf and for deep play. Those unhappy propensities exhausted the funds with which the nation supplied him liberally, and sometimes produced extremities which must have been painful to a man of temper so honorable. The exalted height of his rank, which renders it, doubtless, more difficult to look into and regulate domestic expenditure, together with the engrossing duties of his Royal Highness's office, may be admitted as alleviations, but not apologies, for their imprudence. A criminal passion of a different nature proved, at one part of the Duke's life, fraught with consequences likely to affect his character, destroy the confidence of the country in his efforts, and blight the fair harvest of national gratitude, for which he had toiled so hard. It was a striking illustration of the sentiment of Shakspeare :-- "The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices The Duke of York married to Frederica, Princess Royal of Prussia, Sept. 29, 1791, lived with her on terms of decency, but not of affection; and the Duke had formed, with a female called Clarke, a connexion justifiable certainly neither by the laws of religion nor morality. Imprudently, he suffered this woman to express her wishes to him for the promotion of two or three officers, to whose preferment there could be no other objection than that they were recommended by such a person. It might doubtless have occurred to the Duke, that the solicitations of a woman like this were not likely to be disinterested; and, in fact, she seems to have favoured one or two persons as being her paramours--several for mere prospect of gain, which she had subordinate agents to hunt out for, and one or two from a real sense of good-nature and benevolence. The examination of this woman and her various profligate intimates before the House of Commons, occupied that assembly for nearly three months, and that with an intenseness of anxiety seldom equalled. The Duke of York was acquitted from the motion brought against him, by a majority of eighty; but so strong was the outcry against him without doors, so much was the nation convinced that all Mrs. Clarke said was true, and so little could they be brought to doubt that the Duke of York was a conscious and participant actor in all that person's schemes, that his Royal Highness, seeing his utility obstructed by popular prejudice, tendered to his Majesty the resignation of his office, which was accepted accordingly, March 20, 1809. And thus---as according to Solomon, a dead fly can pollute the most precious unguent--was the honorable fame, acquired by the services of a lifetime, obscured by the consequences of what the gay world would have termed a venial levity. The warning to those of birth and eminence, is of the most serious nature. This step had not been long taken, when the mist in which the question was involved began to disperse. The public accuser, in the House of Commons, Colonel Wardle, was detected in some suspicious dealings with |