Rye-house near Newmarket, instead of Ware, and confounds the Lord Mayor with Guy Fawkes by celebrating the show on the 5th of November. We can spare room but for one more brief extract, which we hope will leave an advantageous impression of our author's nice discrimination of words and polished English. Cowper says, "Knowledge and wisdom, far from being one, Have oft-times no connexion; Knowledge dwells How much more neatly and convincingly is this antithesis put by Mr. Brookes: "Dr. Brewer says that it was customary for the Gauls to send their sons into Britain to be instructed by the Druids in law, astronomy, and poetry. The same writer, in his English History, page 3, says that the Druids were very celebrated for their wisdom. We are sorry to see such an assertion. We grant that they were better informed, and that they possessed more influence than any other class of men in Britain; but they were certainly not celebrated for their wisdom, unless burning their fellow-countrymen and deceiving the people with the loggan-stones prove it. Dr. Brewer should have known that what we know is knowledge, and that the right use of knowledge is wisdom-that of knowledge the Druids possessed more than any other class of Britons, but that of wisdom they had precious little." We read on the title-page, "The right of translation is reserved," which appears to us an excellent idea. Foreigners are usually considered to misunderstand us, and if they can have the advantage of consulting this work in their own tongues, it is not too much to say that they will have views of our manners and customs, as well as our history, such as no one ever before presented to them. We trust they may appreciate the boon as it deserves. THE CORNWALLIS CORRESPONDENCE a. A WORK of this kind is difficult to estimate. In one opinion, it may be exceedingly dry, and possess more cry than wool; in another, the more the detail of apparently unimportant matter, the greater will the value be considered. For if the main question, or questions, are of sufficient interest, the more minutely the evidence is brought forward and sifted, the more likely will it be to elucidate the truths sought to be established. It generally happens, however, that the leaning inclines to the latter, and not to the former category. Authors, and especially biographers, are apt to be diffuse upon their favourite theme; and readers have, in ninety-nine per cent. of cases, more reason to complain of diffuseness than of concentration, of too much even of a good thing, rather than too little. If there be an error in these ponderous volumes, of one thousand seven hundred and sixty-three solid pagination, it will thus be found on the side of amplitude; and the critic, who prefers pith and conciseness to expansion and illustration, may fancy that some of the Correspondence might have been spared without injury to the political and historical facts which are set forth and explained in the selections of Mr. Ross. That he has taken much "Correspondence of Charles, First Marquis Cornwallis. Edited, with Notes, by Charles Ross, Esq. 3 vols., 8vo." (London: John Murray.) pains with his labour of love is apparent throughout; and if he has thrown a considerable literary burden upon the public shoulders, it must be acknowledged that he has also cast considerable light upon many very interesting points of our history, and produced a valuable and standard contribution for every good library in the country. It is true that the lights are side-lights, and may not be always received ad literam as incontestable data; yet, when compared with what we may call contemporaneous cross-lights from other aspects, they must serve well to clear up national concerns, rectify the judgment upon men and measures, and generally tend to keep history, which partakes so much of romance and imagination, if not of falsehood and misrepresentation, at least a trifle more within the bounds of accuracy than we occasionally see it, even at the present enlightened day. Quantum valeat. All such publications are most acceptable in these respects; and we have only to balance the relative value of similar revelations rescued from ancient repositories, and modern statements brought forth from the portfolios of recent actors in important situations. The latter, perhaps, are not entirely so trustworthy as the former. They may, and much of them must, have been foreseen to meet the public eye, and hence a colouring which detracts somewhat from our implicit faith in them, while still admitting their claim to keep us correct in our national annals. But the Paston Letters, the Losely MSS., and other works of the same description, flash upon us as unreserved pictures, never meant for communion beyond the family or confidential social circle, illustrating old feelings and manners as a collateral charm, and to be received as bona fide truths wherever the intelligent writers were in a position to acquire a knowledge of them. Dear to us, and of inestimable popular worth, are the contents of those worm-eaten old muniment-chests, very many of which remain to be explored, ransacked of their treasures, and, in the cant expression of the time, "ventilated" for the information and benefit of generations yet to follow us! To the present, however.-The Marquis Cornwallis was, from 1776 to 1805, (an epoch of mighty import, though eclipsed by the more marvellous crisis of the "hereafter" which immediately succeeded, and seems yet in train for no less amazing development,) engaged in transactions of the utmost magnitude, and the influence of what he performed as a leading character is felt in every quarter of the British empire, especially in all that relates to India and Ireland. He was born in 1738, entered the army, and served with Granby in Germany. His command as a Lieutenant-General in the American war, and surrender with his force at York Town, may be passed over as no very brilliant commencement of a memorable career. But it was the prelude to his being Governor-General of India, whither he went (with the Garter) in 1786, and conducted the intricate affairs of that vast empire with successful ability till 1793. His reign, however, shewed but the beginning of the end we have since witnessed; for though he chained the tiger Tippoo, it was left for his successors to destroy the savage animal, (whose grandsons now dazzle the court fêtes of Victoria with priceless gems); and by the defeats of Holkar and Scindia, in turn, paved the way for the falls of Scinde, Oude, and other states, Begums, Nabobs, and Raos. Ireland was the next theatre for his services, and between the rebellion of 1798 and reparation of 1801, as Lord-Lieutenant and Commander-inChief he put down insurrection and consummated the Union. His next great employment was the definitive negotiation of the Peace (truce) of Amiens, concluded in March, 1802. In 1805 he returned again as Governor-General to India, reaching Calcutta in July; he died up the country at Ghazepore, Benares, on the 5th of the ensuing October, falling as an autumnal leaf exhausted and withered at the age of sixty-seven years, many of them spent in the discharge of the most arduous and most important duties. These, indeed, were great missions for one man to conduct; each a theme to which a separate and lengthy review would fail to do justice. The personal repute and fame of the noble Marquis, no doubt essential in the view. of an attached memoir-writer, are yet of minor general importance; and the records in proof of their bright and substantial essence may be passed over without loss to the individual whose distinguished merits are confessed by common consent, though, as with all who have filled eminent stations in directing great events, amenable to difference of opinion and censure from opposite counsels. The memory of Cornwallis may despise such stains, or rather misconstructions. He was placed in the highest trusts by William Pitt and Henry Dundas, and many passages in this Correspondence demonstrate that the strictest integrity in the performance of these momentous functions was prescribed and acted upon to the letter by the much-abused statesman whose jobbing, corruption, and depravity have formed the chorus of thousands of denunciations and diatribes. The carrying the Union, indeed, was a measure in which support was bought at enormous cost, and bribery did its "possible;" but that was for a grand national object, (untainted the hands through which it was administered,) and in their individual or private exigencies for patronage it is absolutely refreshing to see how firmly undue applications were resisted, or how adroitly (when circumstances compelled) they were parried. The highest royal and the most intimate friends' recommendations are frequently met by refusals on the score of the public weal, or the force of exclusive rules; and these instances reflect a glory upon the parties who had principle to guide and firmness to preserve them in the midst of every trying appeal. It is impossible, within the compass of this Magazine, to enter into a minute consideration of the topics suggested under every head we have mentioned, or truly to discuss any one of them thoroughly. Elaborate essays might be composed without exhausting the subjects. What, then, can we do with a mere Notice, so as best to afford a fair idea of the work, and apply some of its points to useful application at the present hour? It is no easy task, and must be desultory; but we will go along thoughtfully, and try to fulfil it to the satisfaction of our readers. Of course it will be felt that the statements in the private letters are the most reliable for our purpose; and we are sorry to say that a number of the letters from which Mr. Ross expected to obtain the best information relating to the Union, he found to have been purposely destroyed, right and left, in almost every quarter where he sought them. Perhaps such may turn up about 1959, in a rummage among the Londonderry papers; but till then we must be content with the luminous sparks thrown out by the corrupt particles visible in the correspondence of the Lord-Lieutenant Cornwallis. They are abundant enough, and the destruction of the rest only negatively attests the utter baseness that prevailed when passion or prostitution mimicked Irish patriotism, or adopted English views alike for the gratification of selfish objects and personal ambition. But we are forerunning our plan. We overleap the American campaign. The surrender of Cornwallis with some 5,000 men at York Town, virtually and happily ended a war which never could have been carried on to another issue. The after-war of words with Clinton, &c., is not now worth a doit, and so we let it sleep in a hundred pamphlets and more in the British Museum. He returned, a prisoner, in 1782, and there was some trouble in arranging that he could take an active part in public affairs, till Benjamin Franklin agreed to his being a free agent. Till 1785, with the exception of a short demi-political or quasi-official mission to Frederick the Great of Prussia, he lived quietly at Culford, Suffolk; but in that year was appointed Master-General of the Ordnance; having for some time declined a seat in the Cabinet and the office of Secretary of State which Pitt offered to him. His refusal of this brings us to one of the "suggestive" points to which we have alluded in our preliminary observations. He declined the flattering offer of the Secretaryship of State, "assigning as his reason that, having no habit of public speaking, he did not feel equal to the defence of the measures of government." In any other country in the world this would appear to be a poor excuse for not undertaking an office for which, in every other respect, he was even pre-eminently qualified. And again, in the year 1792, when Lord Cornwallis was about to leave India, and Pitt again wished him to accept the seals of Secretary of State, he writes in answer : "I will freely own to you that if anything could induce me to come forward in a station of business and responsibility at home, it would be the allurement that would be held out to my vanity by being enrolled as a member of an administration, the uprightness of whose principles, and the wisdom and vigour of whose conduct, I so deeply respect. I have, however, always been of opinion that no man who has a regard for the consideration in which he is to stand with his country, should produce himself even in the House of Lords [no compliment, by the way, to that House, and quite inapplicable in the present day] as an efficient member of Administration, without possessing such habits of Parliamentary debate as would enable him to do justice to a good cause, and defend his measures as well as those of his colleagues. This maxim of orator fit, which has produced so much bad speaking and so much ennui in this world, may be true in some instances, but he is not to be made e quovis ligno, and I should doubt whether the timber ought to undergo the seasoning of above half a century.” It is worthy of note that an experienced statesman, of tried ability in the most responsible positions, and eminently qualified to serve his country, should feel inadequate to the appointment simply because he had not the qualification more forcibly than elegantly expressed as "the gift of the gab." Does it not lead us to suspect that we permit too much to depend upon this comparatively unimportant facility. To be able to speak lucidly and forcibly, or even eloquently, is no doubt a considerable accomplishment; but still it seems to carry more weight than it intrinsically deserves in promoting men, otherwise of inferior talents, to the direction of public affairs. It would not be difficult to designate ministers who can do nothing but speak, are fit for nothing but spouting, are clever in parliamentary debate, but poor creatures for aught else which the welfare of the people requires from their leaders. It is true that there may be specimens who can neither speak nor act-from such guides and rulers may Heaven protect us! As a test for the wisdom of counsellors or the genius of politicians it is nought. Having at the present moment been engaged in cabinet-making, the next salient point we shall touch, as linking times with times, refers to matters so long ago as 1784, when Lord Cornwallis was affronted by Plymouth being given to Lord G. Lennox, and the Grenadier Guards to Lord Percy, by which he deemed himself overlooked and neglected, nay, insulted. The death of Lord Waldegrave led to the promotions, and the angry Marquis writes the strongly-worded letters addressed to his friend Lieut.-Col. Ross, which we find in the first vol., pp. 176 and 167. Thus indignant, his Lordship determines to leave town for two or three months as soon as the court-martial is over, and, Parthian like, discharges his last arrow at the head of the chief minister, William Pitt, himself. The remonstrance relates all his grievances, and explains the political quids and quos of his qualified adherence to the North and Fox coalition Ministry. Wonderful how breaches may be healed in official and political life, even when far wider and more desperate than this. It is like lawyers in court, or sparring with gloves on, though the most hideous blows are given and the deepest wounds inflicted, or sham fights in Hyde-park, or practical jokes only more readily excused, or like love quarrels, as of Captain Wattle, of whom the knowledge we "attain" was that in their little squabbles "He kicked Miss O'Roe, and she kicked him again." Well, the foregoing breeze was settled in two days more. Mr. Pitt's explanations and assurances satisfied the incensed Earl; he thankfully reaccepted the Constableship of the Tower, and every unpleasant idea was "erased from his mind." We can well imagine a few similar scenes having been acted within the last month, but it is no business of ours, and we have only to add that the reconciliation of 1784 was straightforward and sincere, and within eighteen months (after the flying visit to Frederick the Great), the noble Lord sailed, as Governor-General and Commander-inChief, for India. Our new relations with Prussia might render this visit another of the points for our passing connection of the relative dates; but our limits tell us it must be brief. Lord Cornwallis is instructed that it will be most expedient to listen to what the King may say, and not to say anything direct on our part; "because former transactions have convinced this (the English) court of the great caution necessary to be observed in every transaction with so artful as well as so experienced a character in every branch of political intrigue." Oh, hero-worship, how art thou suspected! oh, Carlyle, how art thou implicated! Yea, the instructions go on to contrive how letters may be safely sent, as the Prussian post of Frederick the Great is " by no means to be trusted." Other statements seem to be apropos alike to both periods. The Prussian prime-minister declares that no doubt could be entertained of his royal master's sincerity after the eventual engagements which had been already formed on the principle of the mutual interests of the two courts, which coincided so perfectly in every point." To weaken the French influence at Berlin was the great object at that time, and "civil words" are the order of the day; in short, our conduct is to be "as respectful and attentive as ever to the Court of Berlin. In short, we should make it as useful as possible, without ever trusting it for a single moment." The interview between the Earl and the King, the former listening, as advised, to what the latter was pleased to state, sheds a singular light upon European "ideas," many of which, though modified by succeeding events, and altered by relative changes, remain in full force, and will revive in other shapes, and remain for yet many years to come. For example, his Majesty observed that— "Austria had hold of Russia, both by the Empress and her favourite Potemkin,; that the Emperor flattered the former with conquests on the Turks, and even with the possession of Constantinople, and the latter with promises of being Hospodar of Wallachia and Moldavia. He said if Russia could be got over, he was ready to |