selves, so industriously to depress the spi"rit of the country, to cramp its exertions, "and to infuse a despair of its success, we "shall say nothing. The success which 66 we announce, must be the severest pu"nishment, as well as the clearest convic“tion of their crime.—~We are not dis"posed to seize even the moment of such "exulting good fortune as this, to form an "alliance with ministers, so as to preclude "us from that most enviable privilege of a "free press, the exercise of a free judgment "to censure or applaud, as either shall seem "to us to be merited; and our jealousy of power is such, that we shall probably be "always more disposed to be severe in the "censure of ministerial offence, than ex"cessive in the praise of ministerial merit.

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The merit of a minister is indeed but a "matter of small consideration in a war like the present. This was a war, in the "hist instance, for safety; now, we trust, 66 safety is accomplished; and it is a war of "glory. When both these great objects "hall have been accomplished, and the na

tion shall look back to the services of "those who most contributed towards them, "the merits of individuals, whether minis"ters or others, will, we are sure, be left not unrecognised nor unappreciated, not unthanked or unrewarded. One thing, however, we cannot help remarking, as "fortunate, for the present ministers, that "amidst the charges of inactivity so con"stantly thrown on them by their opponents, the measures which they had se

cretly concerted burst upon these oppo"nents, equally unexpected and unpro❝vided against, as they did on the enemy, "creating among them a confusion that is

likely to be followed up, and which pro"mises to end in a total discomfiture.". So far the Morning Post; now let us hear the O acle, a paper said to be conducted, and in part owned, by a very near connection of a somewhat distinguished secondrate minister." It is with the greatest "satisfaction we are enabled to congratu"late the public on the success of our ex"pedition against the Boulogne flotilla."For the last two months we have known "that such a measure was in the contem"plation of government; and although we "have now and then dropt such hints as "must have convinced those who were in "the secret of our knowledge of the fact, "yet we cautiously avoided the publishing "of any communication which could in the

smallest degree convey such intelligence to the enemy as would serve to counter*act our intended plan of operations. In

"us the justice to recollect, that, in our "observations on the Boulogne flotilla, we "have repeatedly recommended the use of "fire ships. About this time twelvemonth, "when we were menaced with all the hor"rors of an invasion, we strongly urged the "measure; but the administration who "then governed our public affairs, would "listen to no plan which did not emanate "from their own temple of wisdom. "Hence originated the foolish and absurd. "stone expedition, which terminated as lu

dicrously as it began, and which entailed "on our national efforts ridicule and dis"grace.-Plans of greater solidity, and "founded in rational principles, have, hap

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pily for this country, been since adopted. 66 We have now to mention a most se"rious, spirited, and vigorous attack on the Boulogne flotilla in the middle of the night "of the 2d instant. Some fire ships sent among the enemy's squadron have suc"cessfully exploded in the midst of them! "At a late hour last night, none of the par"ticulars had been received at the Admi"ralty, although, from a variety of private channels, confirmed by some official abstracts, no doubt remained on the subject. "From the latter we are not only assured "of the success of our brave and enterpri

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sing little squadron, but-what is very "remarkable in such a perilous plan of ope "rations that we have sustained no loss "whatever! This information we have "from the very best authority.--The

manly audacity and successful gallantry "of our seamen on this remarkable occa❝sion alarmed and confounded the enemy, "who, in the midst of such a sudden at"tack, and such unexpected losses, were "panic struck and dismayed. Their con"fusion and fears were indeed so great, "that they were perfectly at a loss how to "act, or what to do. Their vessels became

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unmanageable, and for a considerable "time they were made the sport of the ele"ments.. -None of our brave squadron "having, by the last accounts, returned "from the expedition, much is consequent"ly left to rumour and conjecture in the "loose statement of facts. In addition to "the hasty sketch or rapid abstract which we have now given, we have to mention, as the only addition to these few facts, "that the master of a fishing smack has "been examined at Deal on the very im "portant news.

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His statement proves,

"that he was close in with the Boulogne "squadron when our fire ships blew up; "that its effects were grand and tremen"dous; and that it had the appearance of "ten thousand fire-works being let off at " once!' Such is the description which "this actor and spectator of the scene gives; and such is the flattering result of part of a contest, in which, single handed, "we were to have been destroyed and "swallowed up by the mock invincibles or "contemptible bullies of France !→→Some "few particulars, evidently written in the "hurry of the moment, may be seen in our "ship news. The rumours respecting the "damage sustained by the enemy, are, as "might have been expected, numerous and "various. In one place it is said that "forty-eight of the enemy's gun brigs have "been destroyed, and in another place one "hundred! Be that as it may, we may rest assured that some very serious punish"ment or chastisement has been inflicted 66 on our insolent foe; that, on account of "this disgrace, he will be less apt to boast "of his courage and capacity; and that "now, in all human probability, the me"naced invasion will be postponed till ano"ther season, or sine die.In confirma

tion of what we advanced respecting our "hints of a knowledge of the present ex"pedition, a knowledge which every friend

ever,

to his country would then carefully con"ceal from the enemy, we may now, howlike some of the first writers of the first ages, be permitted to quote our own lucubrations. In our paper of August 30th, we ventured these observations, "which have been completely verified.

These experiments(meaning the fre65 quent adventures of the Boulogne squa"dron out of their harbour) may so far "be productive of more confidence on "the part of the French seamen; but it

is a confidence which will ultimately "lead them to their ruin. Should the

flotilla continue outside some day's long"er to brave our squadron, we are apt to believe that some fire ships sent among them would effect their destruction!? The event now noticed has somewhat confirmed the truth of our observations; and we may, without too much arrogance, assume to ourselves the singular merit of the suggestion, it being well "known that the editors of all the other papers remained totally silent on that particular plan of operations.But while we congratulate the country at large on our present success, what must that croaker of discord and despondency,

"the Editor of the Morning Chronicle, 66 say, when he hears that the object of his "daily scurrility and most bitter invec"tive, Lord, Melville, was an anxious speċ"tator of the interesting scene? Does not "the success of this experiment-part, we

hope, of a greater and more extensive "plan-disarm that writer of his wanton "ridicule and illiberal attacks of a noble"man, whose services merit the thanks " and applause of every true friend of his "country? Were his lordship's late fre

quent excursions to the coast, therefore, "in vain? Were they so very incompati"ble with the duties of the First Lord of

"

the Admiralty? We do not presume to 66 say, that Lord Melville was the sole plan"ner of these operations; but we cannot help believing, that he was in the faithful "discharge of his duty, as First Lord of the "Admiralty, when concerting with Mr. "Pitt and Lord Keith on the measures

about to be adopted. His lordship was "in the L'Aimable, which had not returned "to port yesterday morning."It was not my intention to have added a word by way of comment; but this closing observation forces me to say, that, it is evident that the intention of the ministerial creatures was, if the expedition had succeeded, to give the whole of the praise to their masters, to the exclusion of the efficers who risked fame as well as life in the expedition. This is as cheering a prospect for officers of the navy as Mr. Pitt seems to give those of the army, where he appears, if we may believe his newspapers, to have, in many respects, kindly taken on him the office, or, at least, the functions, of the Commander in Chief.- -The truth is, that Mr. Pitt and his partner are mere pedlers in war as well as in politics; and now that they are left to themselves, nothing but mischief and disgrace can be expected as the result of their projects.-Their failure, their utter failure (tor such it was) in their late silly project, will do infinite injury to the cause of the country. Their creatures have accused those who think and speak like me of creating despondency: they, the two grand commanders, it is who are creas ting real despondency, and urging on the efforts of the enemy. -There appears lit tle doubt but that Lord Keith was pressed on to the attempt by the childish impatience of the projectors If he was not, how came he to make it at a moment obviously not calculated for success, as is fairly to be concluded from his own official relation? This is a question to which the country has a right to expect a distinct answer.

VOL. VI. No. 16.]

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«curity.

[PRICE

377]-

INCAPACITY OF HENRY THE SIXTH.

(Continued from p. 466.) . SIR,In the short examination of Hume's History, into which your correspondent directly led me, I do not know that in candour and fairness, I can impute to the author any graver fault than inaccuracy and negligence. Of the interval which passed between the imprisonment of Somerset and the issuing of the commission to the Duke of York, to which he refers in his margin, he might, indeed, have received a sufficient intimation from old Stowe and Hollingshed, who quaintly say, that the Duke in the Tower" spent his Christmas

without great solemnity;" but the uncer tainty and confusion of those Chroniclers, and especially the latter, who seems perplexed and bewildered among the contradictory accounts of that period; and the bad success of Rapin, some of whose dates a comparison of his narrative with that of the better-informed Carte, would at once shew to be erroneous, probably taught caution to their wary successor. So he wrapped himself up safe in snug generalities. He left all the circumstances to the imagination of the reader, wh, if he should be wrong, and afterwards come to discover it, could not fix any positive blame on his guide; and, if no officious person should interfere to set him right, might canter on delighted and satisfied with the beauties of the road which he was travelling. In regard to one, point only our popular histo-. rian has ventured to be a little explicit; I mean that of the commission issued to the Duke of York. But he has been eminently unfortunate; and the probable source of that mistake, which I partly pointed out in ny former letter, is amusing." Some," observes Hollingshed with apparent doubt, "do write, that whilst the King was sick, "the Duke of York bare all the rule, and "governed as Regent or Viceroy, by autho

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"rity committed to him by the Lords of "the Realm, then assembled in council.* Stowe, or his editor and continuator Howe for him, shortly says, that during the King's sickness the Duke" governed as Regent." Rapin, who had thoroughly explored the vast storehouse of Rymer's collection, then newly given to the world, plainly states in few words what he readthere;-that," be"fore the Parliament sat, the Council em"powered the Duke of York to hold it in "the King's name." But Carte choosing to go further, fared a little worse. with a very laudable spirit of inquiry, had recourse to the original documents. Finding, therefore, the Duke of York indifferently denominated in the Parliament-roll, sometimes" the King's Commissioner," and sometimes" the King's Lieutenant in "the present Parliament," and possibly construing the record from his recollection of the above-mentioned passages in Hollingshed and stowe, he seems to have confounded an appellation, which means only a temporary representative of the Sovereign in his legislative capacity, with the title of Lieutenant of the Kingdom, which implies a general delegation of the royal functions. Accordingly, he tell us, that the Council appointed Richard "Lieutenant of the Kingdom, with powers to open and hold the "session." Carte stood high in the esti matron of Hume, who speaks of him as* having by his diligence and industry given light to many passages of the more ancient Eglish History." But this is in a note where he had taken up two pages in confuting him, and thought, perhaps, that he had thereby shewn his own superior information. Where he follows him, he is guardedly silent: indeed, he takes disingenuous pains to conceal what he borrows.

* See the note of two pages in chap. xiii. under the year 1291

Thus, on the present occasion he copies the very words, but without the slightest acknowledgment; omits the reference to the Parliament-roll and the Patent-roll, which, as be never professes to have consulted, he could not have quoted without betraying himself; substitutes another reference of his own to Rymer, where however, unfortunately for him, there is not a syllable that could have given origin to the mistake; and so fixes the proof of his own plagiarism by the very attempt to disguise it.

These little artifices of book-making, and their unlucky result, may perhaps, only excite a smile in you, Sir, and your readers. But, in entering on the sequel, which I have promised, I fear that I can do no less than charge positive and systematic misrepresentation. It is certainly on a very suspicicus point, that I bring the charge. It relates to the conduct of Parliament. In my former letter, it was mentioned, that seve ral preparatory steps took place before Richard was created Protector, and that of these there is no trace whatever in Hume: nay, the obvious, direct, and necessary inference of his text is the very contrary: it is precisely what your correspondent drew, that there was no delay at all. Now, were these preparatory steps important, or could they be known to the historian? They were ;-two different applications of the Commons for the appointment of a new Council, which would in effect have been, and actually became a Council of Regency; after a pause of four days, the deputation of twelve lords to see the King at Windsor, on that and other business with special instructions referring to Henry's malady, and clearly meant to afford some test of his capacity; a very circumstantial and curious report of the King's condition; and not till after an interval of two days more, the nomination of the Protector and Defender. Now, here are pretty strong marks of deliberation and circumspection, not of precipitancy and party-zeal; of a sincere disposition to provide with their best judgment for the exigency of their situation, not of an eagerness to seize the opportunity of making a revolution. And all this is to be found more or less distinctly in the Parliamentary History, and Cotton's Abridgment of the Records, both of which Hume perpetually cites, and even in Carte's History, which he does not cite, but which, as we have seen, and shall presently see again, lay open before him. Yet passing over all this, he merely states the nomination, which too he takes as a complete and absolute act, though all the details of the power to be conveyed

to the Protector yet remained to be settled; and then, he adds a reflexion the very reverse of that which the facts would have suggested;" Men," he says, who this "entrusted royal authority" (which by the way they did not entrust, and expressly refused to entrust) " to one, who had such ❝evident and strong pretensions to the "crown, were not surely averse to his ta"king immediate and full possession of it." This however, is not all. The historianí then proceeds to intimate a censure on the "timidity" and "irresolution" of Richard, manifested in the articles, which he the next day submitted, when the details were to be taken into consideration. But by some accident or other, he has wholly forgotten to notice the answers of the lords to the respective articles. It is true, that here again he has copied the words of Carte without acknowledgment; but a skeleton of the an swers is exhibited by Cotton and the authors of the Parliamentary History. Even there appear two references to precedents, for which an ulterior search was also to be made. Even there is preserved an expla nation of the titles conferred upon the Duke of York, and the motive for conferring them rather than others; namely, because they "implied no authority of governance ;” and even there is to be found the saving clause, that all this was not to be of any prejudice to the Prince of Wales.-Hume adduces both these authorities within two or three pages before and after the passage in question. They could not therefore, have escaped him here. But, if he had fairly brought forward what they contained, his reflexion on the Parliament must have ap peared most unfounded, and the whole characfer of the proceeding diametrically op posite to that which he wished to insinuate. The men who displayed so much anxiety (and more indeed than has yet been stated) to tread in the steps of their predecessors, to limit the authority which they gave, and fo secure the rights of an infant Prince then not six months old, surely were averse to Richard's taking immediate and full pos session of the crown. In the trust which they reposed, and the restrictions to which they subjected it, there is every indication, that they were alike guided by principle, and what they believed to be the doctrine and spirit of the English Constitution.

The termination of this first Protectorate is involved in such doubt and uncertainty by Hume, it is not surprising that your corres pondent did not understand it to have been terminated at all till the beginning of 1456. We are informed, that "Henry having so

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