a good character from his master. He had his discharge from the mouth of Canning himself, the day before yesterday; and the same notification was made to Mr. Robert Smith, yesterday. The only other circumstance I have yet heard connected with this, is that Wellesley Pole has been complaining very much that Canning did not bring matters to bear with the Ministry, and that he is now considered, both by the Marquis, his brother, and by Canning, as perfectly free to do what he can in that way for himself. Whether this is a deep measure on the sudden effect of some ill humour; and whether Canning, in reducing his establishment thus abruptly, points towards Government or Opposition, I have heard nothing yet that enables me to guess. But very erroneous ideas these men must have of party connexion, or, indeed, of political morality, who consider their parliamentary association as held together, and as dissoluble without any reference to opinions.

I dare say your Lordship will receive from others a more correct and particular account of this occurrence; but it is so odd a one, and so much deserves to be well understood and watched, that I have taken the chance by my report of it, of contributing to give your Lordship a full account.

I beg you will present my compliments to Lady Grenville, And am ever, my dear Lord,

Most sincerely and faithfully yours,

F. HORNER.

It will presently be shown that the writer was correct in his surmises and suspicions.

It was, "a deep

measure It "pointed to Government."

1 A letter, dated July 26, from Lieutenant-Colonel Allan to Lord Sidmouth, throws a little light on this transaction.-"Life of Lord Sidmouth," Vol. II., p. 107.

LORD GRENVILLE TO MR. FRANCIS HORNER.

MY DEAR SIR,

Dropmore, July 25, 1813.

It is a great disappointment to us not to have the pleasure of seeing you before you set off for the west. I hope you will make this place in your way on your return, if you possibly

can.

Living in a time of strange events, yet I have been seldom more surprised than by that which you mentioned in your letter. What I most lament in it is, the discredit which it throws on all party connexion, the upholding which, on its true foundation of public principle, I take to be essential to the benefit of a parliamentary constitution. Otherwise, the mere fact of a party being thus dissolved, shows abundantly it could exist to no good purpose. How Pole is to come into office I do not well understand, as his pretensions are said to be so high. Canning, if he is to be had singly, would, I suppose, be a very desirable acquisition indeed, to a government so unusually weak as this is, in House of Commons debate. Ever, my dear Sir, most truly yours,

GRENVILLE.

P.S. I have been not a little surprised by the Speaker's speech, if we are to take the newspaper report of it as correct. Does your recollection furnish you with any instance of a Speaker remarking to the Throne on motions made, but rejected in the House of Commons? How is the King (or Prince Regent) to know that such matters passed there, and by what authority has the Speaker to assign grounds of such decisions?

The speech which had excited these remarks, and which created considerable surprise in other quarters, was

delivered by the Speaker, Mr. Abbot (Lord Colchester), and referred to the Catholic Question in terms totally different from the opinions professed by Lord Grenville, and his friends.

In the Autumn of 1813, the aspect of affairs abroad attracted the serious consideration of the more reflec

tive Whigs. Their opposition to the war in the Peninsula had its foundation in the apparently hopeless character of the contest-campaign passing after campaign, in which a brilliant victory was almost sure of being followed by a retreat, always disheartening, sometimes disastrous; and England appeared to be drained of her resources, to assist a people whose civil and military chiefs were more inimical than the enemy; but since Lord Castlereagh's accession to the Cabinet, such support had been sent to Lord Wellington, and such arrangements had been entered into with the principal continental powers, opposed to the ambition of the French Emperor, that a most important change had been effected, equally adverse to him in Germany and in Spain.' The Russian war had been a terrible blow to Napoleon; but, immense as had been his loss. in the dreadful retreat from Moscow, the energy of his

It is hard to say whether the alacrity of the nation in submitting in the twentieth year of the war to fresh burdens, or the boundless generosity with which supplies of every sort were sent to the insurgent nations of Germany, or the efforts made to strengthen the victorious army of Wellington in Spain, or the diplomatic activity which hushed separare interests, and reconciled jarring pretensions in the conclusion of the alliances with cabinets, were most worthy of admiration.-— "Alison's History of Europe," Chap. LXXIX.

character, stimulated by the necessity that existed for bringing forward all his military resources to crush the nationalities which that disaster had encouraged to rise against him, shortly brought him again into the field, with an army almost as powerful as the one he had lost. A spirit, however, had been excited among the peoples against which he then marched, that neither his genius nor his resources-great as both still were— could again subdue; and the prospect that opened to Europe, in consequence of the vigour of the resistance the great conqueror now encountered, was observed with intense satisfaction by all genuine patriots in England-by none with more real pleasure than by Lord Grenville. A letter written by Francis Horner to John Allen, dated 25th October, 1813, conveys the impression made on a congenial mind, by this favourable change. "Your account of the view which Lord Grenville is expected to take of continental affairs, in a speech upon the first day of the Session, has relieved me from an anxiety which I felt on that subject; for I have had fears that we were to make the same false step respecting this German war, that has been so fatal to the party, and deservedly so, with respect to the Spanish cause. That the financial difficulties of the country will be increased by our embarking so deeply with the Allies, as I think we ought to do, is true, and ought not to be disguised; that the sanguine expectations professed by the friends of Government, of a speedy settlement of the affairs of Europe, have apparently no just foundation, in the present aspect of them,

ought likewise, in my opinion, to be stated. But I cannot hesitate now in believing that the determination of the French military force, and the insurrection of national spirit in the north of Germany, form a new conjuncture, in which the Whigs ought to adopt the war system, upon the very same principle which prompted them to stigmatize it as unjust, in 1793, and as premature, in 1803. The crisis of Spanish politics, in May, 1808, seemed to me the first turn of things in a contrary direction; and I have never ceased to lament that our party took a course so inconsistent with the true Whig principles of continental policy, so revolting to the popular feelings of the country, and to every true feeling for the liberties and independence of mankind. To own that error now, is a greater effort of magnanimity than can be asked for; but the practical effects of it will gradually be repaired, if a right line of conduct is taken with respect to German affairs."

The Whigs were certainly in a false position regarding the war in the Peninsula. They ought to have been in opposition, not to the war, but to the mismanagement that had for so long a period made it appear a waste of blood and treasure. Lord Castlereagh's interposition falsified all their predictions from such data, and gave to their unfavourable representations, a factious and partizan appearance. He equally disappointed them with respect to the present war. His

"Horner's Memoirs and Correspondence," Vol. II. p. 157.