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332 THE LEADER. [Ko r 468, j lAROHjL ^ i...
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PERSONAL MEMOIRS OF CHARLES IT. Personal...
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O f these, not the least important have ...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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The Fourth Volume Of Mr. Fox's Correspon...
the authority of Parliament . The colonists who took the . part of the mother country were called Tories by the Americans . *' The fact is , " continues Xord John , " that the oitl ground of the Tory party had been , from the accession of George III ., abandoned , and the Whig doctrines of the Constitution , as they "had been professed in the reigns of William III . and George L , were adopted by the leading statesmen of all parties , however they might differ as to the immediate questions of foreign or domestic policy . As to the remark of Lord North , it had no doubt some foundation , but tlie fact to which he alludes will bear a , very different interpretation . The Americans fcOTud not object to the Houses of Parliament as advisers of the Crown , but when the House of
failed In carrying the whole ltockingham party with him out of office . A personal antipathy to fox was , besides * deeply rooted in the royal bosom . The Prince of Wales * too , now caine upon the stage of politics , and , by evincing openly "his want of respect for his royal parent , aggravated , matters . " The King was shocked . by . the moxals , thwarted by the politics , and deeply irritated by the personal connexions of his son . " The new Government , however , made the concessions in relation to America that had been required , and the United States were regarded as free and independent . We sliall await the following volumes of this work with considerable impatience .
Commons voted taxes to be levied in America , they naturally deprecated the interference of Parliament in a matter which properly belonged to themselves , and appealed to the Crown on the ground of their charter . Lord North soon again returned to his favourite policy of vain and foolish appearances of conciliation . The name of Howe was popular in America . Admiral Lord Howe was sent tog oin Ms brother , General Howe , and a joint commission was given them to treat for pacification . 13 ut as their instructions merely empowered them to receive submissions and remedy grievances , after the convention , committee , or association of any province , ' which have usurped powers , ' should have been dissolved , these overtures were rather endeavours to divide the people of America , than to give them real satisfaction . They were , in fact , so considered . "
Lord Ivortli , though secretly of opinion that the system he was pursuing would end in ruin to the King an 4 to the country , continued still to obey the commands of his sovereign and observe a course of conduct tliat was due to weakness of character and a slavish , spirit of devotion , fatal to the welfare of the State . Mr . Burke and Mr . Fox , were however , so ill supported by the public opinion of their country , that they were constrained to abandon the contest , arid in 1776 absented themselves witn -their followers from the House when any qiiestion relative to America was in debate : Systematically , they made their bow to the Speaker , and formally
withdrew . They indeed only appeared Hi their p laces on the matters of private bills and particular interest . Xiord Mahon for this impeaches their Satriotisni ; Lord John Russell , ' defends it . [ evertlielesd , Mr : Fox attended in his placethough alone- —to oppose Lord North ' s bill for the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act , in respect ¦ to all persons suspected of high treason in America or on the high seas . He drew the attention of Parliament to the fact that France had long been secretly hostile to Great Britain , and that she was in treaty with tho members of the American
Congress , or with persons authorised and deputed from them . At length Mr , Fox triumphed , and the adminstrjvtipn of Lord North came to an ignomini- * oua end . The interval , however , comprises the first effort of ] V , Ir . Pitt / and the great popular triumph of Fox in his being elected for Westminster ; . Lord John ltusscll goes too much into detail in his description of the American , warfare . He should have epitomised where he has enlarged , and Hubprdinated these and other public transactions to his hero , JJufc as it is , Washington and Generals Howo and Burgoyne fill the pnges , and it is only in nn onfrtsiontil sentence that wo catch the name
of Mr . Fox . Thosanio fault ; prevails in regard to the pai'lia- ^ nientttry History of tho time ; for one paragraph bestowed on Mr . Fox , there are a dozen pages occupied with Mr . Bunco , and other politicians of tho period . This fli'st volume carries tho reader down to tho Sholbiu'iie administration , and the peace of 1783 . Previous to that , however , was the Koekingham administration , which succeeded that of Lord North , A whole system , sayd our biographer , had passed away ; and Gx'orgo III ., its inventor , was no ministerHenceforth ho had to
longer his own , roign as a constitutional King . Too long had ho attempted absolutism;—tho weapon that would not bond , broke in his hand . America , by ins isting on her own independence , had secured tho liberty of Grodt Britain . Tho afliiirs of Ireland now succeeded to those of America . Mr . Fox was in tho Cabinet , but found his position uneasy , owing to tho intrigues of Lord Sholburno . The death of Lord Kockingham on 1 st July , 1782 , brought their difibrcnecs to a climax ; and Lord Shelburno wns in powqr . Mr . ' Fox , accordingly " , resigned tho floals into tho King's hands . Unfortunately , he
332 The Leader. [Ko R 468, J Larohjl ^ I...
332 THE LEADER . [ Ko 468 , j lAROHjL ^ i 85 9 >
Personal Memoirs Of Charles It. Personal...
PERSONAL MEMOIRS OF CHARLES IT . Personal Memoirs of Charles II . By J . W . Clayton , Esq . 2 vols . Charles J . Skeet . Captain Clayton who is already favourably known bj his entertaining works— " Letters fiom the Nile " and " Ubiqxie "—has taken a bold step in the work before us . It having occured to him that no separate modern work was devoted to the simple biography of the merry monarch , thpujrh hundreds of historical -volumes of general history and others referring to special . portions of his reign would furnish ample materials for one , he determined to enter upon the task of its compilation . This
difficulty lay , of course , not in the scarcity , but in the abundance of matter at his disposal , and he has conscientiously compressed the largest amount of interesting detailinto the smallest conceivable space . The lively author of " Ubique" makes no pretensions to be a Dryasdust . lie has not ransacked foreign libraries , / provincial muniment-rooms and charter chests , or the dead stock of tlie second-hand book shops . His divining rod has disclosed no new springs . He has ¦ opened no new lights into tlie jiolitics , conspiracies , or court : life ofthe time . lie will earn small tlianks therefore from historical
students . But he has diligently culled a biography ; fiom the ; vast network of recognised historical hi g hways anid byeways , open to him as to all . lor statements of fact , he has laid under contribution the works of Whiteloc-ke , llushvorth , Ormond , D'Ewes , Thurloe , Burnet , Clarendon , Pepys , Grammont , King , Jesse , Strickland , Jameson , Lingard , Huddleston , and many others ; and has -drawn his deductions with good sense and liberality . The result is a book of no slight value to the multitude , who must truly , now-a-days , road as they run , and who can find no time to wander on their own account into the fascinating fields of , historical investigation .
O F These, Not The Least Important Have ...
O f these , not the least important have been Dr . Kane ' s narrative of the Arctic expedition , and the accounts of the embassy to Japan , and of the exploration of the Chinese Seas , and Bclu-ing ' a Straits . The volume before tis is an interesting and , as far as we can judge , a trustworthy addition to this important catalogue ^ In 1851 , Mr . Page undertook the command of an expedition , for the survey of the llio de la Plata , and its tributaries , an *! had
also .-committed to him the task of contractiuo- a treaty of commerce with ihe'Kepxiblic of Paragtsay . The latter task he achieved , although it woiud appear somewhat fruitlessly , for the State * are now blockading the "ports of that republic . As the result of the exploration of the rivers , we have the establishment of their navigability far into the interior ,. and . many , valuable hints-as to openings for profitable trading at various points in their
courses . On the arrival of the expedition at Bueno-5 Ayres Captain Page found Ur ^ i'iza , President of the Argentine Cbnfederation , wlio had been the emancipator of the republics from the power . of Ko ^ a s ; . besieging the capital , . that state having -rendered herself obnoxious to the sister republics further up tlie rivers , by attempting to use her positum at their mouth to her own exclusive commercial , advantage . Captain Page and his vessel , the . Water-Witch , we re detained till pacification was established bv
tlie agencv of the American ' representative . And his instrumentality towards tluV / most desirable object greatly facilitated tlie ' prog-re * : * of the treaties with the republics , which have made the rivers entirely open to England and France , as well as to America . After'this delay—a detention for four months- —the Water Witch started up tlie country . About tliiee years' sailing pi-uiluoed these results . ' Tlie river -TJr . ugi . iay , which 'i * the western boundary of the republic of the sainemune , and of which- the eliief seaport is jYlonte Video , was-fbuhd navicrable almost- to the north-west corner
of the state . The Parana was traversed . .. to its head , that is * , to the -point where it loses its name in those of its" confluents' The Paraguay was found navigable to a point two thousand jniles from Buenos Ayres . The whole western-frontiers of Uruguay and . Paraguay were found to be-in easy communication with the ocean . It was proved that ships can sail from the southwest to the north-west point of the Argentine of mileof the
federation ; and . that some hundreds * common frontier of Brazil and Bolivia , far up in the very centre of the continent , are also-accessible . These summary results of the expedition we have gathered from the narrative , aided by the large and well-executed map which is appended to it . The book is enlivened , too , b y u . profusion ot creditable woodcuts , representations of the principal ports of Guaeho and colonist life , & c . work of
THE RIVERINE REPUBLICS . La Plata , The Argentine Confederation , and Paraguay , Being a . narrative of the exploration of the tributaries of the liiver La Plata-, under the orders of the United States Government . By Thomas J . Page , U . S . Navy . London : Triibner . Thus vague general notion which nine-tenths of newspaper readers have of the South American Republics is that they ni'c fragmentary and insignificant remains of the great'empire ' of the Spanish Main , that they ore all , deeply indebted to English bondholders , that their population have degenerated into worthless half-castes by constant intermarriages with the Indians , and that they are constantly either fighting against each other , or electing ,
deposing , tyrannised over by , and intriguing against , dictators of their own , These states naturally ^ divide themselves into two classes ; those lying along the north shore of the continent , and watered by the Amazon and its confluents ; m \<\ those lying along the shores of-the Parana and Paraguay , which' boar you , from Monte Video and Buenos Ayros , away up behind Brazil , into tho north of the central part of tho continent . Tho range of the Andes running close to the western shore ot South America , is , speaking goiioxully , entirely "watered by rivors that fall into tho Atlantic . And all trade with the interior that cannot bo conducted by tho channel of the Amazon , mu « t pass along the
liivor Plata , the navigability of wlioso branches for two thousand miles into tho interior , Captain l ' ngo has practically established . Many valuable volumes of this character have , in recent years , issued from tho American press ; whether-at tho expense and instigation of . . the federal Oovcrnmont , which has boon latoly voting 41 appropriations , " for much less meritorious objects , wo know not ; at all events they have booii tho results and records of discovery « n < l exploration , \ iuclovtuke ' n by orders given ' from Washington ,
The inaiin excellences of this are ^ commercial nature , indications ti , > the enterprise < - >* traders of new markets for fabrics , now n ^ tous of production of profitable material * . 'J m the general reader , , interested only in traveller * . descriptions' of scenery , men and nuiiincrs , it wiii prove far from uninteresting . As partial i-onfinnntion of our commendation , we exlnirt the following description yf- "n wait / .. with a hulv oi Coneepeion : "—
" ¦ > V 6 wore invited on tho first evening ot our arrival to a ball at tho eoninmnduhto ' s , whuro wort assembled all tho beauty and distinction oMIw V ««^ - The floor of tho ball-room wus of tilo , tlio llj , 'lit » wllow ; indeed , there wan little to meet a cosmopolitan bhjiidard of elegance , but the good-breeding iuhI »««• ° tact of tho people nmdo it an occasion of t ; 'U ( 0 ' 11 "" to us all . TJioro is no villujyo or region o 1 Hio « . ' «»" , { so small or remoto as not to . huvo Its ' upm-r u-i Tho knowlodtfe of tliis fact placed mo in a diU'innm . Uoiny tho " ISofior Commniulimtu , " 1 wua cxi » ve w » w select , ns a partner for tlie waltz , tho most " "tinguished lady present . When all looked alike , ll v "' impossible to discriminate ; ft mistako v « iul « i m » been a national insult . Jn this qunndnry , I ' « u myself in tho hands of tho commaiuhuite . wluxl » it oil'to a fonnidable row of females at tho nyvv < - " <' of tho room , fVoin whonoe he brought torlh a \ n > n t > assuring mo she danced divinely . This I l ' . « ? t doubt , for what woman in Spanish Aniorini inn waltz , and waltz woll ? but was who ono ot a clu « » ° often found in this country , that M novor t »; tl | J * , i 1 o " The music began } ott » wo startup , iblljjwe ^ M > i »« offlcors of tho Water Witch , and all the be I ; a beaux of tho town . Hound and round , wli I « n « whirl— " Bravo , Hofior Coinmnndanto ! ' —thfli "' able oxolamution of our host as wo naasyd-- jik msound ftilntly in n » y ear ; on , on wo How } I liolynb 4 -
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 12, 1859, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_12031859/page/12/
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