nufacturing country, he determined on attacking Russia. After a variety of intrigues in almost every court in Europe, he at length cemented an alliance, in which English money, as usual, was to be weighed out against foreign blood. The subject in dispute can now scarcely be mentioned without ridicule, as it wholly turned on the question whether Catharine or the sultan was to have possession of Oczakow. On this occasion, the good sense of the nation opposed the minister, and he was saved from the disgrace of a hopeless struggle, by the petitions of the merchants and manufacturers, joined to the successful remonstrances of his political opponents. A similar mistake had nearly involved him in a war with Spain; and with the recorded folly of a former contest relative to the Falkland's islands before his eyes, the eloquence of Mr. Pitt was brought into the field, for the purpose of demonstrating the propriety of a war with Spain, about the peltry of Nootka Sound. He must be allowed the merit, however, of having speedily seen and confessed his error, by entering into a convention with Spain; but this was not effected till a fleet had been fitted out, and great expence incurred. Two other of his grand measures were the restoration of the stadtholder, by means of a Prussian army, in the wisdom of which his colleagues and his enemies alike agreed, and the regency. On the king's illness, he again found it expedient to take constitutional ground, and, with a happy versatility, once more build his arguments on the privileges of the people. On this occasion, he strenuously denied the right of the prince of Wales to the regency; and though, as usual, he displayed an offensive degree of personal haughtiness, yet his law was sound, and his tenets constitutional. On this grand question, he enjoyed the last gleam of departing popularity. A great, new, and important scene now opened, which soon teemed with grand events. This was the French revolution. A great minister might perhaps have profited by this conjuncture; and Mr. Pitt began early to prognosticate that events never appeared more promising than at that precise time, no period of British history having exhibited so peaceful an aspect! England was, however, at that very moment, on the brink of the most terrible war she had ever witnessed. The convocation of the states general was soon followed by the demolition of the bastille, and that event by the first coalition, with a view either to restore the monarch to his original authority, or to partition France in the same manner as they had done Poland. Whatever might have been their secret resolves, for they are allowed to have at times assumed a very equivocal aspect, they in effect produced first the imprisonment, and then the execution of Louis XVI, in direct opposition, indeed, to both the spirit and letter of the new constitution. The English ambassador was now recalled, and the minister of France, by an express order, January 24, 1793, commanded to depart the realm in six days. The ostensible causes of a contest, accompanied by so many present, and pregnant with so many future evils, may be resolved into the opening of the Scheldt, and the decree of fraternity; the first of which was assuredly impolitic, and the second to the last degree offensive. How far they afforded a sufficient causa belli is left to the commentators on Grotius and Puffendorff, who will decide, as usual, according to national or party feelings. Never was a war less popular; for the bulk of the nation, which had formerly detested the French as slaves, most cordially rejoiced at their enfranchisement. They beheld with suspicion a considerable portion of the cabinet consisting of those who had favoured the contest with America; and, in addition to this, a certain degree of personal rancour prevailed against the minister, and continued, indeed, though with considerable abatement, till his dismission. He was openly opposed by men who truly and forcibly warned him of the consequences. Mr. Pitt, however, persevered; and having received a fresh addition to his party, by the accession of a powerful portion of the minority, who are said to have stipulated for strong and decisive measures, he carried on the war according to his own principles. From that moment all opposition ceased: for whatever his political enemies might be in talents, in numbers they were thenceforth insignificant. The contest was of course carried on with redoubled energy, and all the officers of the French marine, having been nobles, and consequently suspected, either withdrew or were dismissed; so that their ships of war, as well as their colonies, became a prey to the fleets and armies of England. Egypt, too, was reconquered from the foe, while Ireland, in the midst of a disastrous war, was firmly united to Great Britain. At length, after holding the reins of government eighteen years, Mr. Pitt, in 1801, suddenly retired from office. His motives were never publicly avowed; but his private rea sons, according to the confession of several of his friends, were founded on the system persisted in relative to Ireland. All parties seemed to rejoice at the nomination of Addington. From Cornwall to Caithness the people congratulated themselves on the change; and France from that moment happily ceased to have either friends or advocates within the precincts of Britain. A bill of indemnity having been carried by the new minister, the old one, thus absolved, retired to Walmer Castle, where he was occupied in a very honourable and becoming manner in disciplining the two regiments raised by the Cinque Ports. Though he himself had constantly rejected every proposition of peace, yet he afterwards lent the whole force of his great abilities and influence to the new minister, when the treaty of Amiens was debated in the house of commons. He then remained for some time in a state of political insignificance; but though the new war experienced his entire approbation, some of the measures were not deemed by him sufficiently energetic. He, however, did not make a direct attack on the ministry till March 15, 1804, when he accused the admiralty board of imbecility. He was again in a minority on the Irish militia bill; and he soon after cordially and zealously supported Mr. Fox's scheme of national defence, which was outvoted. The minister's small majority having dwindled to thirty-seven, on the army of reserve suspension bill, Mr. Addington with a few of his friends soon after retired, and Mr. Pitt resumed his former post. The additional force bill, the first measure of the new ministry, was carried with great difficulty, Fox, Windham, Grenville, and all the Addingtons having voted against it. In this dilemma, Mr. Pitt was soon' after strengthened by the accession of the new lord Sidmouth, who, after being ennobled, accepted the office of president of the council. On the meeting of parliament, January 15, 1805, Mr. Pitt strenu ously defended the war with Spain, and carried the motion for an address by a majority of 207. The next objects that engaged his attention were the Irish habeas corpus suspension bill, and the budget for 1805, two articles of which were contested with no common warmth. One of these, the salt duty bill, was carried by a majority of thirty-eight; but the other, the horse duty bill, was combated with equal spirit and success by its opponents, and at length lost by a majority of three. During the recess, the minister was surrounded with difficulties. But he employed his time and talents in forming a third coalition against France; which, in conse quence of the surrender of Ulm, and the defeat at Austerlitz, proved more inauspicious than the two for mer. From that period, the necessity of a change in the cabinet seemed to be generally allowed. In the mean time, the gout, a predisposition to which he inherited from his father, and which was perhaps greatly increased by his own manner of living, assailed a constitution never very strong. In addition to this, the total miscar riage of all his schemes, and the melancholy aspect of foreign affairs, are said to have preyed upon his mind to such a degree, that he is supposed to have died broken-hearted, at his house near Putney, between four and five on the morning of January 23, 1806. Thus died, in the 47th year of his age, William Pitt, leaving to his country a legacy of misfortunes, and to himself a doubtful fame. The virtues and abilities of his father had produced a kind of national partiality in his favour, while yet a boy; and the frankness and ingenuousness of his own conduct, during his early youth, rendered him dear to the people. Impelled by a towering ambition, he disdained to serve, like all other statesmen, an apprenticeship in any subordinate office, and he accordingly refused to accept an honourable post under Rockingham. When the earl of Shelburne succeeded to power, that nobleman, wishing to attach so promising an orator to himself, raised him all at once to the important office of chancellor of the exchequer; but he had reason to repent his temerity, as, like a great man of antiquity, he soon discovered "many Mariuses in one Cæsar." As a financier, no man who ever presided at the exchequer has obtained more praise. He has been blamed, indeed, for some of his pecuniary schemes; but, on the whole, his plans were supposed to be laid, and the objects of taxation were chosen, with great judgment, so that the produce was in general coequal with the calculation. VOL. VI. NO, XXXIV. During the American war, depreciated manufactures, neglected agriculture, and a ruined commerce, rendered it extremely difficult to furnish the necessary supplies; yet such was the continued good fortune, or, according to some, the peculiar good management of Mr. Pitt, that, though several manufactures droop ed, yet others have flourished, and the national exports rather increas ed than diminished during his ministry. As a speaker he was perhaps unrivalled. His person was unpre possessing, his action tame, and his features so unmeaning, that no painter, sculptor, or medalist, could ever contrive to obtain a likeness; yet such was the happy choice of his words, the judicious arrangement of his thoughts, and the fascinating effects of his perennial eloquence, that his wonderful powers were acknow. ledged even by those who were most prepossessed against his person and arguments. When employed in a good cause, he was irresistible; and in a bad one he could dazzle the judgment, lead the imagination captive, and seduce the heart, even while the judgment remained firm and unconvinced. Nor ought his generous scorn of wealth to be omitted. Amidst a corrupt circle, and at a time when some men appear to have attained the heroic age of pecuniary baseness, he was wholly exempt from this mark of modern degeneracy. His debts, which do not exceed forty thousand pounds, and which only amount to a deficit of 2000l. per annum, during an administration of twenty years, are to be paid by the public. All his failings appear to have arisen out of one master passion; that ambition which soared above every other consideration but its own immediate gratification. While out of office, he exercised the tribu nitian power with the vehemence of one that had given hostages to his country, and sworn eternal war against abuses of every kind. When in power, no minister was ever 3 more dictatorial; his arrogance extended even beyond the pale of the empire, and became proverbial in foreign courts. He defended peculators and delinquents of every sort, and so little scrupulous was he on the head of consistency, that one of his quondam associates in reform, Horne Tooke, was tried for his life at the Old Bailey, while several pupils of his own school, Muir, Palmer, Skirving, &c., were transported to Botany Bay, where nearly all of them perished. So much for the reformer! As a minister, it remains to be proved that his wars were just and necessary: till that has been accomplish ed, the enormous loans raised, the prodigious expenditure that took place, and the immense additions made to the national debt, during his reign, appear to be but poorly balanced by a judicious selection of taxes, and the ingenious adoption of a sinking fund, originally conceived by Dr. Price, which, whatever relief it may afford to posterity, will contribute but little to the solace of the present age. Notwithstanding the early tincture his mind received in favour of freedom, and the voluminous addition he made to the acts of parliament, it will be difficult perhaps to find one single disinterested law introduced by him in favour of liberty. On the contrary, in all his fiscal regulations, he utterly excluded the intervention of a jury between the king and the subject. The custom house and the excise office are, unhappily, therefore to be considered as the archieves of his legislative trophies. Est istud quidem honestum, As to his achievements, in every thing strictly pertaining to himself, for the triumphs of the navy are to be attributed to Howe, St. Vincent, and Nelson, he completely failed, and the three coalitions formed during his ministry all ended in dis grace. His triumphs, however, in the senate were complete; his majorities were decisive: his opponents, despicable as to numbers, possessed nothing but foresight, and were always out-voted, though never out-argued. Before his time, a formidable minority in the house of commons was viewed with despair by a minister; he was the first who braved a majority, and thus furnished the executive power with a dangerous precedent. Gifted with all the powers of eloquence, his talents were not practical; evincing great personal integrity, he was supported by many who were honest, and by nearly all who were corrupt. While he spoke he appeared fitted to rule; but when he tried to act, the mistake was evident. Eager after power, by a series of fortunate occurrences he continued in office twenty years, and while, like Noy and Strafford, he turned his back on the tenets of his youth, like Cromwell, he died at a period when his embarrassments appeared to be irremediable. He was well versed in all the arts of finance, yet under him the national debt was raised to a gigantic magnitude, and paper substituted for gold: boasting of his love of liberty, he found the press free, and the constitution entire; he has delivered over the one in fetters, and placed the other in jeopardy. Magnanimous himself in the midst of danger, he has left his sovereign for a while bereaved, if not stript for ever, of his continental dominions, and the continent itself crumbling beneath the colossal power of an insatiable enemy. With his debts paid, his remains interred, and his monument erected at the public expence, it still remains for history finally to decide on the merits of a man who, for the welfare of his country, according to some, ought never to have lived, while, according to others, he ought never to have died. For the Literary Magazine. ON BETEL AND AREKA. FEW travellers or voyagers in the Indian seas omit to make particular mention of the custom universally prevalent in these countries, of chewing betel. This substance is, in some degree, the substitute for tobacco. I have seldom seen it mentioned but in terms of disgust and abhorrence; in such terms as to leave us to suppose that in general it resembles, in its effects, tobacco, except that these effects are more conspicuous to observers, and more disgusting. The following is a more particular account of this substance than I have ever before met with. The areka or surrapi of China is chewed by the Chinese after wrapping it in the leaf of the betel or paung leaf. This is a shrub similar to woodbine or ivy, which clings to the areka tree. The latter is a species of palm, that generally attains the height of thirty or forty feet, is perfectly straight, of the circumference of a full grown poplar, with protuberant rings on the bark at equal distances. It possesses no branches but at the head, where it spreads itself, and to them is suspended the fruit or nut of the areka, erroneously termed beetle-nut, envelloped in an outward coating of numerous filaments, being in size about an English walnut, but more conical. This husk is not unlike the rind of a cocca-nut, but more soft and pliable. The properties of the areka are unparalleled as a beautifier and preserver of the teeth. Its astringency gives them strength, and it is unexceptionably the finest antiscorbutic known. Many Europeans who had bad teeth, and were frequently troubled with the tooth-ache, have, by the use of this substance, been permanently relieved, and the appearance of their teeth wonderfully improved. The most offensive breath has been overcome; as the areka possesses one of the most agreeable odours to be met with in the east. Highly and justly is it esteemed in China, yet in Europe it is scarcely known. Though its virtues are so great, it is, notwithstanding, neither cultivated among agriculturists nor private gentlemen in India: it is the casual inhabitant of every wood or jungle, like many of our most valuable herbs, which grow spontaneously in the fields, unheeded or disregarded but by the professed botanist. It The saliva produced by chewing this nut is of the most beautiful red the eye can witness or the imagination conceive; and were there a possibility of extracting the dye, its richness would be unexampled, and displace those that are now held in the highest consideration. But the colour of this nut is only imparted in its green state: when it becomes hard it will not disclose this valuable property to aqueous, spiritous, or oily menstruums; and no means as yet employed have succeeded. has been infused, after levigation, in spirits, and acts as a great corroborator of the stomach, and facilitator of digestion. As a styptic, it may not be inferior to Peruvian bark. It is perfectly tasteless, except that aromatic effluvia arise after it is chewed. The betel's growing round the areka may be the cause of the leaf of this vine being wrapped round and chewed together with the areka nut, as if nature indicated the propriety of blending them, in order to correct the bitterness of the betel by the aromatic flavour of the areka. The anodyne property of the former renders it a peculiar favourite of the natives. Its intoxicating nature procures alleviation to the poor distressed Indian, softens the acuteness of poignant reflection, and delights the imagination with Utopian bliss. No wonder these inoffensive mortals should seek a softener of their cares which nature has allotted them. In no quarter of the earth has Providence omitted to scatter her boun ties: she has every where provided an asylum for the afflicted, a solace to the oppressed, and the means of comforting and exhilirating human nature under the severest trials. |