anfwered, and its fallacy, in our opinion, fully detected. Indeed his lordship, as this author obferves, towards the end of his pamphlet, "overthrows his whole fabric," by admitting diftinctly that" for the Houfe of Commons to preferibe any individual to the crown would be indecent and unconftitutional."-" Now, (fays the judicious writer before us) what is all this wafte of paper and of ink, but for the purpose of fhowing than an individual ought to have been prefcribed to the Crown? or will he contend that what would be indecent and unconstitutional in a Houfe of Commcns, is decent and conftitutional in a faction out of parliament ?"

A confiderable part of this able tract is alfo employed in a fevere caftigation of Mr. Cobbet; whofe alledged tergiverfations, in alternately vilifying and cajoling Mr. Fox, as it fuited the purposes of his own particular friends, are expofed in colours which, we conceive, it will not be eafy to efface.

The author difcuffes alfo, at fome length, the question" whether the old grounds of warfare between the leading men in oppofition now exift? (the contrary to which had been afferted by Cobber) and fhows that, on feveral material points ftill exifting, they muft ever difagree, or forfeit every pretence to honour and confiftency. But for this and other able difcuffions our limits compel us to refer to the work itself; which we confider as well worthy the attention of those who would form juft opinions of the state of parties in this country.

NAVY.

ART. 36. Obfervations on a Pamphlet which has been privately circulated, faid to be "A concife Statement of Facts, and the Treatment experienced by Sir Home Popham, fince his Return from the Red Sea To which is added, a Copy of the Report made by the Navy Board to the Admiralty, on investigating the Account of Expenditure for the Romney and Senfible at Calcutta in 1801, whilst under the Orders of Sir Home Popham. 8vo. 60 pp. 25. Ginger. 1805.

Controverfial writings on the conduct of an individual do not properly form a fubject of criticifm. In the prefent inftance, an opinion from us on the merits of the cafe would (even if the technical nature of the fubject admitted of one) be improper, while an investigation of all the tranfactions relating to it is depending in parliament. We will therefore briefly notice the contents of this publication, which manifeftly proceeds from fome friend of the late Beard of Admiralty, and is defigned as a juftification of the proceedings of that Board, in directing an immediate and ftrict inquiry into the repairs of certain fhips in the East Indies, while under the orders of Sir Home Popham. The amount of thofe repairs being very large, the Admiralty caufed an investigation to be made of the neceffity of that measure, and the œconomy oblerved in the execution of it. Of the harih mode in which this investigation was conducted, as well as other circumftances of perfonal ill-treatment, the officer accufed complained in a printed pamphlet privately circulated. The anfwer before us (though it interfperfes fome reflections on Sir H.'s defence) chiefly relies on the

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Report made on this fubject by the Navy Board to the Admiralty; in which feveral apparently strong objections are made to fome of the repairs in queftion, both on the ground of their fuppofed inexpediency, and of their large amount. It is, however, but juft to obferve, that this Report is profeffedly made on ex parte evidence, and without having obferved the ufual mode of calling on the party for explanations; fuch being, as the Commiffioners of the Navy conceived, the directions, or at least the intention of the Board of Admiralty. We may add, that a fubfequent explanatory Report has, if we mistake not, removed feveral imputations implied in the former, and afcribed the former errors to one member of the Navy Board, to whom the investigation had been intrufted by his brethren.

ART. 37. A few Brief Remarks on a Pamphlet, published by fome Individuals, fuppofed to be connected with the late Board of Admiralty, entitled, " Obfervations on the concife Statement of Facts, privately circulated by Sir Home Popham, &c". in which the Calumnies of those Writers are examined and expofed; together with Strictures on the Reports of the Navy and Victualling Boards; on fome Proceedings of the late Admiralty not generally promulgated; Hints on the Effects of the late Experiments against the Enemy's Flotilla, &c. &c. By Afchines. 8vo. 60 pp. 2S. No Publisher's Name. 1805.

The title of the above pamphlet fhows it to be defigned as an anfwer to that which we have just noticed. As we profefs not to enter into the merits of this difpute, we fhould have been content with announcing the title and fubject of the tract, but that fome important errors appear to us to pervade it; errors which might give a falfe colour to the fubject of debate. It is in the first place affumed that the Reports of the Navy and Victualling Boards on the tranfactions in queftion (though this author admits them to be ex parte statements and complains of them as fuch) were intended as final Adjudications, and confequently as condemnations of Sir H. P.; and it is alfo reprefented that the order for stopping his half pay was in the nature of a punishment. Now thefe Reports were profeffedly only statements, of the facts, fo far as they had appeared to the respective Boards upon the ex parte examination hitherto taken; and left it to the Admiralty, either to direct further inquiries, and a reference to the parties concerned (which always takes place before the account is paffed) or to call on the parties for their exculpation by any other proceeding fo that the Reports were rather in the nature of a bill of indictment (which always proceeds upon ex parte evidence) than a trial and condemnation. Neither is the ftoppage of half-pay (though a temporary inconvenience) confidered as a punishment, but as a neceffary measure to fecure the crown, in cafe the expenditure in queftion fhould not hereafter be properly accounted for; and in the mean time, to compel the parties who have expended public money, to come to an account. We do not mean, from this explanation, to infer that the officer accufed may not have been harthly treated; but that his defender has acted very unjustly in the reflections which he has caft on the subordinate Naval Boards; as indeed might be shown in a particular

2

inftance,

inftance, did our limits permit. The ftyle of this author is, in many places, ridiculously turgid, his metaphors (of which he is very fond) generally incongruous, and his language obfcure. He is oftentatioufly profufe of claffical quotations; but they are often inaccurate. we in the place of Sir H. Popham, we fhould fay-Non tali auxilio, Ec.

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ART. 38. Strictures on the Tenth Report of the Commissioners of Naval Inquiry. By Allan Macleod, Eją. To which are jubjoined, an Appendix, containing the Subftance of that Report; and Lord Melville's Letter of 28th March, 1805, to the Commiffioners, together with their Anfwer. 8vo. 96 pp. 2s. 6d. Ginger. 1805.

Whatever may be our private opinion of the motives which occafioned, or the fpirit which has, in fome inftances, accompanied the naval inquiry, we cannot approve either the language or the reafoning (if it deserve that name) of the publication before us. It is certainly competent to any writerfto efpoufe the cause of the noble lord, who has lately fallen under the cenfure of the House of Commons, and there is an apparent generofity in undertaking the defence of any individual fo attacked and fo purfued. On the other hand the writer who queftions the juftice of proceedings inftituted, by either Houfe of Parliament, fhould, at leaft, adopt a temperance in argument, and a decency of expreffion, which Mr. M. appears to have forgotten. We do not find that he has taken any new ground in difcuffing the act of parliament which the noble Lord in queftion and his paymafter were accufed of having violated. We must also remark that his cenfures on a late Firft Lord of the Admiralty, and the Commiffioners of Inquiry, reft more upon affertion than proof; and they are conveyed in a ftyle and manner that difcredit only the author of them. When the labours of the Commiffioners of Inquiry fhall be completed, then will be the proper time for examining their conduct, and determining whether or not the mode in which that inquiry has been conducted, and the effects which it has produced, entitle all the parties concerned to the unqualified applaufe of their country.

ART. 39. Naval Anecdotes for the Years during which the Right Honourable the Earl of St. Vincent, K. B. prefided at the Board of Admiralty. By a Recorder of Facts. 8vo. 55 PP. 2s. Ogle. 1805.

The object of this pamphlet is profeffedly to fhow that the conduct of that Board of Admiralty at which the Earl of St. Vincent prefided, was fo capricious, arbitrary, and (in many inftances) unjust, that the perfons who chiefly compofed that Board, ought not ever to be restored to power. To prove this, the author gives feveral inftances of what he confiders as improper conduct; fome of which, it must be confeffed, are but trifling; others relate to perfons in fubordinate fituations, but who, (the author infers) would have acted in a more becoming manner, had they not been influenced by the dread of their fuperiors in office. This feems to us but a loose inference. Some circumftances, however, which are here related, if true, prove an intemperate haftinefs of judgment certainly unbecoming a

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board of fuch importance and dignity. We allude particularly to the circumftance firfl mentioned, the condemning of task work previously to any inquiry, (which hafty opinion the Lords of the Admiralty were obliged afterwards to retract) and the orders given with regard to the block contract; which, as they are here reprefented, appear to have been equally unjuft and impolitic. The meafures of the late Board of Admiralty respecting the contracts for fhip-building are alfo very ftrongly arraigned; but this part of their conduct is, we believe, likely to be inveftigated in parliament. On this, as well as most of the other naval questions difcuffed in the pamphlet before us, we must leave the decifion to other tribunals than that of criticifm.

TRAVELS.

ART. 40. Travels to the Weftward of the Allegany Mountains in the States of the Ohio, Kentucky, and Tenu Jee, and return to Charlestown through the Upper Carolinas, containing Details on the prefent State of Agricul ture and the natural Productions of thefe Countries, as well as Information relative to the commercial Connections of these States, with thofe fituated to the eastward of the Mountains, and with Lower Louifiana, undertaken in the Year 1802, under the Aufpices of his Excellency M. Chaptal, Minifter of the Interior, with a very correct Map of the States in the Country Weft and South of the United States. By F. A. Michaux, M. D. Member of the Society of Natural Hiftory of Paris, and Corref pondent of the Society of Agriculture of the Seine and Oife; faithfully tranflated from the original French, by B. Lambert. 8vo. 75. Mawman. 1805.

This title page is fo circumftantial, with refpect to the work itself, the author, and the tranflator, that little feems to remain with us more than to tell the reader whether he is to receive as much as he is promifed. However, what is not always the cafe with elaborate title pages, the bock itfelf is really entertaining and inftructive with refpect to thofe fubjects which the author more immediately and particularly inveftigated. Thefe fubjects are all thofe which relate to the ftate of American agriculture, in a part of America but seldom visited. His obfervations on these points are very judicious, and his book a useful addition to the travels in America. The map is neat, and the tranflation unexceptionable.

ART. 41. Narrative of a Vayage to Brafil, terminating in the Seizure of a British Vogel, and the Imprisonment of the Author and the Ship's Crew, by the Portuguese, with general Sketches of the Country, its natural Productions, colonial Inhabitants, &c. and a Defcription of the City and Provinces of St. Salvadore and Porto Seguro, to which are added a Correct Table of the Latitude and Longitude of the Ports on the Coaf of Brafil, Table of Exchange, &c. By Thomas Lindley. 8vo. 6s. Johnfon. 1805.

If this Narrative be the plain authentic ftate of what was inflicted on the author by the Portuguese, and we fee no reafon to doubt it,

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they were, in that inftance, not only perfidious allies but cruel and perfecuting enemies. The author endured the feverett perfecutions and hardships, from being confidered in the light of an illicit trader, and though he efcaped after a fevere and tedious imprisonment, the expoftulation of our minifters, both here and in Portugal, could obtain him no redrefs. He has produced an interefting and entertaining volume, and gives us minute defcriptions of places with which we are very lit le acquainted. His book will be useful for future navigators, both as a nautical guide and as a caution against perfidious friends. The idea which this work muft convey of the Portugal government in the Brafils is contemptible in the extremeft degree.

MISCELLANIES.

ART, 42. Characteristic Anecdotes from the Hiftory of Ruffia. With Notes, Chronological, Biographical, and Explanatory. Forming a useful Manual of Ruffian Hiftory. Tranflated from the French of the Connillor of State, Claufen. By B. Lambert. 8vo. 5s. Oftel, 1805.

This is a very entertaining volume, which, commencing with the very early hiftory of Ruffia, records fome of the inftances of generofity, Courage, and virtue, of that great people. It does not indeed quite answer the promife of the title page, for the notes are unimportant, and it is amufing rather than ufeful. We give an anecdote as a fpecimen.

"The Emprefs Catherine, ordered a veffel to be launched in her prefence. She was feated in an arm-chair, on a pier, forty feet high, The hip-wrights had imprudently left one of the mafts inclined in fuch a manner, that the veffel in its progrefs muft have overturned the royal feat into the fea. Admiral Greig, who was with the Emprefs, inftantly perceived the danger, and had only time to remove the chair with her. The Princefs, fomewhat aftonished at this method of conveyance, foon faw the maft graze the fpot from which he had been removed; then turning to the Englishman, with an ineffable fmile, "Sir," faid fhe," for the first time in your life, you have felt the fenfation of fear!"

ART. 43. The Spirit of the Public Journals for 1804, being an inportant Selection of the most ingenious Eays and Jeux D'Elprits that appear in the Newspapers and other Publications; with explanatory Notes, and Anecdotes of many of the Perfins alluded 17. Vol. VIII. 8vo. 6s. Ridgway. 1805.

The public journals for 1804, if this publication be allowed to exhibit a fair fpecimen of their contents, do not appear to have been much enlightened by genius, or enlivened by wit. There are not many things in this volume which will agreeably detain the common reader, particularly if he should happen to poffefs any very anxious curiofity about a variety of political characters. A large part of