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tion of hearing any thing against the prerogative of the crown. Mr. Pitt the only man to save the country! No single man can save the country. If a nation depends only upon one man, it cannot, and, I will add, it does not deserve to be saved; it can only be done by the parliament and the people. Sir, I say, therefore, I cannot believe that there is back and a fore door to this Egerian grotto *). We have all heard, I dare say, of a classical exhibition in this town, The Invisible Girl **). Here, however, I hope we shall have no whisperings backwards and forwards, no speaking through tubes, no invisible agency. I hope, too, that we shall have` it declared, as it ought to be, that these opinions, which have been rumored about, are unfounded. I shall now address a few words to those gentlemen who would hurry us into war; and here, Sir, I must say, that of all persons living, the ExSecretary of War is the last man who can consistently call out for war. He despised the warning voice, of my honorable friend; he turned a deaf ear to his predictions, that we should only consolidate and strengthen the power of France. His answers always were as if he should despise the power of France, could he but see jacobinism destroyed. Is it not destroyed?

***)

Approach thou like the rugged Russian bear; The arm'd rhinoceros, or the Hyrcanian tiger Take any shape but that, and my firm nerves Shall never tremble The right honorable gentleman's wishes are gratified; jacobinism is killed and gone, and by whom? By him who can no longer be called the child and champion of jacobinism by Buonaparte. I remember to have heard jacobinism.compared to Antaeus ****), who gained strength at every throw: but Buonaparte proceeded like Hercules; he gave it a true

*) Nach der Sage hatte Numa mit der Nymphe Egeria in der nach ihr benannten Grotte Zusammenkünfte, deren Gegenstand Belehrung über die Einrichtung des Cultus war. **) Der Leser wird sich erinnern, dafs vor einigen Jahren ein akustisches Kunststück gezeigt wurde, welches die Stimme eines unsichtbaren Mädchens zu vernehmen gab. ***) Worte, mit welchen Macbeth im Trauerspiele dieses Namens von Shakspeare (Act. III. Sc. 4.) den erscheinenden Geist Banquo's anredet. S. den 2ten Theil des Handbuchs. ****) Antaeus, der bekannte Riese, der, zur Erde geworfen, mit jedesmal erneuerter Kraft wieder erstand, und den daher Herkules in seinen Armen erdrückte,

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fraternal hug, and strangled it. Did the French annex Piedmont, did they enter Switzerland with the Rights of Man? Did they talk of those rights when Buonaparte told the people of Italy they were a set of dolts and drivellers, and were unfit to govern themselves? But now the right,honorable gentleman seems in a greater fright than ever. He seems as if he had rather have the old ghost back again. Most whimsically he wants to unite all parties against France

Black spirits and white,

Blue spirits and grey *),

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all are welcome to him. The moderate jacobins he takes to his bosom; they were only misled by their feelings. The violent jacobins he appeals to as men of proud spirits. He wishes to sing Ça Ira to them, and to head them all. Oh! had I, he sighs, but plenty of jacobins here! But on what principle would they carry on the war? If they were able to curtail the power of Buonaparte, would not their views increase, and would they ever stop without making an example of the regicide republic? If they will speak out fairly, will they not confess this? Will the country, then, purpose consent to turn out the present ministers? the spirit of the country I wish to say a few words. I have heard from one noble Lord, with regret, what I hope was but a slip, that the spirit of the country is worn out. I think that noble Lord must retract that idea. Sir, I certainly looked to the rejoicings at the peace as an unmanly and irrational exaltation. Do I rebuke the people for rejoicing at the blessings of peace? No, Sir, but for rejoicing without asking about the terms. Did they rejoice that we had gained Trinidad and Ceylon? Would two farthing candles have been burnt less had we not obtained them? No, Sir, if they had believed that they had been fighting for civilized order, morality, and religion; and if, believing this, they exulted in such a peace, then it proves, that their spirit was worn out. But I allude to this, in order that the enemy may not be led into á mistake upon the subject. Sir, one of the disadvantages attending the present administration is, that they will not turn when they are attacked by the last administration. They are hampered by the votes they gave for the war. But from the period of the allegations that it was a war for the Scheldt,

*) Auch Worte aus der vorgedachten Tragödie, Act. IV, Sc. I.

I assert that it continued to be a war upon false pretences. The people were told that it was a war for religion and good order, and they found that peace was ready to be made at Lisle, without any reference to those causes. The right honorable gentleman says, what baseness, while religion was in their mouths, to consent to steal a sugar island. It is true, Sir, though it comes a little extraordinarily from that man who was one of the cabinet ministers at the time of the negociation at Lisle. It should appear as if there had indeed been great discord in the cabinet; there never was greater, says the honorable gentleman. They acted not merely like men in a boat, rowing different ways, but like men in the boat of a balloon. Up the Ex-Secretary of War was ascending to the clouds, whilst Mr. Dundas was opening the valve and letting out the gas to descend; while one was throwing out ballast to mount to the most chivalrous heights, the other was attempting to let drop an anchor upon a West India island. Each of these ministers was suffered to have bis favorite plan. The Ex-Secretary at War was allowed to nibble at the coast of France, the War Secretary of State to make a descent upon a sugar island; and thus they went on till the letter from Lord Grenville, that letter never to be' forgotten; and, I will add, never to be forgiven, made its appearance, and the people took a deep and settled disgust. Why did this not appear? And this, Sir, ought to be a lesson to us. The mouths of the people were shut and gagged, and the government were acting without knowing anything of their circumstances. Sir, in such circumstances, the integrity of their minds was disgusted, and they were glad to get rid of the war at any rate. Upon this subject I have dwelt the more particularly, because I wish Buonaparte not to mistake the cause of the joy of the people. He should know, that if he commits any act of aggression against them, they are ready to enter singly into the contest, rather than suffer any attack upon their honor and their independence. I shall proceed no further. I perfectly agree with my honorable friend, that war ought to be avoided, though he does not agree mith me on the means best calculated to produce that effect. From any opinion he may express, I never differ but with the greatest reluctance. For him my affection, my esteem, and my attachment, are unbounded, and they will end only with my life. But I think an important lesson is to

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be learnt from the arrogance of Buonaparte. He says he is an instrument in the hands of Providence, an Envoy of God. He says he is an instrument in the hands of Providence to restore Switzerland to happiness, and to elevate Italy to splendor and importance. Sir, I think he is an instrument in the hands of Providence to make the English love their constitution the better; to cling to it with more fondness; to hang round it with truer tenderness. Every man feels when he returns from France that he is coming from a dungeon to enjoy the light and life of British independence. Sir, whatever abuses exist, we shall still look with pride and pleasure upon the substantial blessings we still enjoy. I believe too, Sir, that he is an instrument in the hands of Providence, to make us more liberal in our political differences, and to render us determined, with one hand and heart, to oppose any aggressions that may be made upon us. If that aggression be made, my honorable friend will, I am sure, agree with me, that we ought to meet it with a spirit worthy of these islands; that we ought to meet it with a conviction of the truth of this assertion, that the country which has achieved such greatness, has no retreat in littleness; that if we could be content to abandon every thing, we should find no safety in poverty, no security in abject submission. Finally, Sir, that we ought to meet it with a fixed determination to perish in the same grave with the honor and independence of the country.

GILLIE S.

Dr. JOHN GILLIES wurde zu Brechin in der Grafschaft Angus in Schottland um das Jahr 1750 geboren. Er studirte zu Glasgow und legte sich hier mit vorzüglich glücklichem Erfolge auf griechische Literatur und das Studium der Moral, aufserdem aber liefs er sich die Cultur seiner Muttersprache sehr angelegen seyn. Nach Beendigung seiner Studien auf der Universität wurde er Lector des Herrn Hope, eines der jüngern Söhne des Herrn Hopeton. Mit diesem jungen Manne brachte er einige Jahre in Deutschland zu und besuchte in dessen Gesellschaft auch die berühmtesten Städte Frankreichs und Italiens. Zu bedauern ist es, dafs er die auf seiner Reise ge

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machten Sammlungen der Welt nicht durch den Druck bekannt gemacht hat. Was seine gelehrten Arbeiten betrifft, so sind diese, aufser einem, zwar in seinen frühern Jahren geschriebenen, aber vortrefflichen Aufsatze, betitelt: Defence of the study of classical Literature, vorzüglich folgende: eine Übersetzung der Reden des Lysias und Isokrates, (Orations of Lysias and Isokrates, translated from the Greek, London 1778, 4.) nebst einer historischen Einleitung über die Geschichte, die Sitten und den Charakter der Griechen, vom Schlusse des Peloponnesischen Krieges bis auf die Schlacht bei Charonea, ein Werk, welches ihn als einen geschmackvollen Schriftsteller und gründlichen Kenner des Alterthums auszeichnet. 2) History of ancient Greece, its colonies and conquests from the earliest accounts till the division of the Macedonian empire in the east, London 1786,2 Vols. 4. nachgedruckt Basel 1790, 5 Vols. 8, ein Werk, das in jeder Rücksicht alle vorhergehenden und namentlich Goldsmith's Grecian history hinter sich läfst, ob es gleich dem Deutschen Übersetzer nicht an Gelegenheit zu Berichtigungen gefehlt hat. 3) View of the reign of Frederick II. of Prussia; with a parallel between that Prince and Philip II. of Macedon, London 1789, gr. 8. eine Schrift, welche durch den Tod Friedrichs II. veranlasst wurde, dessen Hof der Verfasser besucht hatte. Sie ist zwar in den militärischen Artikeln nur ein Auszug aus den historischen Werken Friedrichs, und in den übrigen Abschnitten gröfstentheils nur nähere Erörterung der in den Mémoires des Grafen von Hertzberg enthaltenen Notizen, verdient aber doch als ein Beweis der Achtung, die ein Ausländer für das Verdienst des grofsen Königs hegt, und wegen der scharfsinnigen, glücklich durchgeführten Parallele jener beiden merkwürdigen Männer alle Aufmerksamkeit; (siehe das 4te Heft der Nikalaischen Anekdoten von König Friedrich II.) 4) die letzte uns bekannt gewordene Frucht seiner gelehrten Bemühungen ist eine Analyse der Werke des Aristoteles nebst einer Übersetzung der politischen und ethischen Abhandlungen des Stagiriten; das Werk erschien 1798 und wurde mit vielem Beifall aufgenommen.Seitdem lebt Gillies vorzüglich in London. Seine Einkünfte bestehen theils in einer Pension, welche ihm der Graf Hopeton giebt, theils in dem Honorar, welches seine literarischen Arbeiten abwerfen, und endlich in 200 1. welche er als Historiograph von Schottland erhält, zu welcher Würde er nach dem Tode Robertson's erhoben wurde. Er ist auch Mitglied der

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