his tongue, and sheltered it from inclemencies and inconveniencies. That his Lordship is copious and incapable of any omissions, that he thoroughly understands how to enlarge upon the most trivial subjects; that his harangues abound with expletives, and that he is a perfect master of the rules of art or loci, I do not deny; but, I must. confess that I never left the House, after having heard him, without being forcibly struck with the idea that Baxter was inordinately prolix. Eloquence may be employed hke water in an inundation, without judgment and without advantage.

This will suffice at present for Lord Grenville. The cultivated mind of Mr. Windham cannot be treated with disrespect by any man who admires genius, talents, and erudition ; but, it is a subject of regret among your friends, as well as your political enemies, that they have not been directed by an equal share of discretion;* hence, they produce

津 "Much as I admire the character of Mr. Windham, I shall never point to prudence and discretion as his most prominent virtues," (so that you are, by the confession of your friends, an imprudent and indiscreet man, and therefore, very unfit to fill the functions of a statesman)" when he most disagrees in the sentiments of the public, his chivalrous nature seems to impose it as an obligation upon him the more to press ន

amusement or admiration, never conviction or respect. The general accomplishments of a gentleman, united to a considerable share of learning, and an high spirit, are perhaps, the best qualifications for popular debate. That these have furnished high and rapturous entertainment for numerous and mingled audiences, I will not contradict; but on questions of great importance, and in situations of considerable difficulty, they have always dissappointed your friends. It is not diffi cult to account for this failure: your brilliant imagination is not balanced by science; by that high, exalted reason, which is formed by the calm and patient study of philosophy, a profound acquaintance with history, and the strict discipline of mathematics. Rhetoricians have divided and subdivided the Art of Oratory into so many classes, that it is difficult to fix on that peculiar department in which you most excel; I should conceive, however, that without the least disparage.

and urge his own opposite opinions. Those opinions also he appears to me ofan to push to extremes." Plain Answer p. 43. I should not at all wonder if your own friends were in a short time to contrive that you should be caricatured as the Knight of the Woful Countenance, mounted on a Rosinante, and armed with the helmet of Mambrino. Cobbett would make an excellent Sancho, in point of attachment to his master, but unfortunately, he wants the honest Squire's humour.

ment to your abilities, your proper place is under the head of INVENTION, as that requires great skill, in Adjuncts, Conjugates, Contraries, Opposites, Similitude, Dissimilitude, Comparison, Ambiguity, Disagreement, Interpretation; in all of which rare qualities you are unquestionably, a profound proficient. In this consists the specific difference between Lord Grenville and yourself; he supplies, by common places, the want of genius and learning, which you possess In an eminent degree; and the happy talent of Invention, which is your own exclusively, enables you to accomplish with ease, what he is oblige ed to attempt by Herculean labours. But, this deci sive superiority on your part, is also attended with some trifling disadvantages, as the terms clearly imply; for, it sometimes leads you to speak what you do not mean, and to mean what you do not speak; so that your auditors often feel disposed to apply to your eloquence what Paterculus said of Curio's Ingeniosisime nequam et facundus malo publico.

That this disposition is not altogether without some foundation, I shall now proceed to demonstrate, taking my examples from your opinions and conduct since the commencement of the war.

Your steadfast and indiscriminate opposition to every measure which has been submitted by ministers for the defence of our country, has a tendency to induce foreigners to conclude, that you do not desire the country to be saved. At home, it has created a different impression. The people have too favourable an opinion of the Lieutenant Colonel of a battalion of Norfolk Volunteers, to harbour such an ungenerous sentiment. Hence, as they are aware you are not a fresh-man in the business of party, and that you condemn the very measures, which, when in office, you supported and extolled, they ascribe your present effusions of petulance to no other motive, than envy at the success of ministers, and a longing desire to supplant them. We have your own autho rity for believing that you are capable of passing the highest encomiums on what you secretly abhor; it is not unnatural, therefore, nay, it is an act of justice due to your character, to infer, that you secretly commend what you publicly decry. But, as a prejudice against measures may arise in the minds of those who are not so well acquainted with your versatile character, as others who have watched it more narrowly, I shall now expose the fallacy of your arguments, by facts which cannot be disputed; at the same time, I regret most sin

C

cerely that in the zeal of polemical discussion, your intemperance should have led you, not only to censure ministers, but to strive to divide, discourage, and even to insult the spirit and feeling

of the nation itself.

The principal shafts of your hostility have been directed against the military arrangements for our defence; and the Militia and Volunteers have furnished continual topics for your parliamenta ry raillery. It is, however, remarkable that while you were secretary at War, the English Mili tia were augmented beyond all precedent; and that of Scotland and Ireland instituted; so that it was not on the occasion of the projet at Lisle only, that you lent your namej countenance, and authority, to measures contrary to your opinion; but also on legislative acts of the highest inportance, of which you were the official organ. With respect to the introduction of the Militia system into Scotland, you cannot have forgotten the zeal with which you pressed that measure; for the melancholy affair at Tranent must ever be associated in your mind with the idea of a Scotch Militia. But, notwithstanding the fatal catastrophe to which the circumstance gave rise, I think it one that will ever do credit to its authors. Upon that occasion, you distinguished