of this pamphlet, we believe to be accurate; and his observa. tions are well founded.

A View of the Treaty of Commerce with France: figned at Vers failles, September 20, 1786, by Mr. Eden. 8vo. 25. Debrett.

This author is a declared enemy to the treaty in queftion, which he infifts will be immediately pernicious, and ultimately ruinous to the nation. He endeavours to fupport his opinion by a variety of confiderations, too tedious to be minutely detailed. In the first place, he defcribes the danger which he fuppofes will arife to thofe manufactures in which we excel. On this fubject, his notions are founded upon the evidence delivered at the bar of the houfe of lords in June 1785. In the next place he paints, in colours equally exaggerated, the danger to the manufactures in which we are excelled. Admitting that the fuppofed danger, in this cafe, may not be chimerical, it will be difficult to allow a fimilar poffibility to the author's preceding propofition. Upon principles which muft operate reciprocally, he nevertheless dooms Great Britain to all the danger, and generously compliments France with all the advantages, which can be fuppofed to refult from the full operation of the treaty. This is a mode of reafoning which we cannot but highly reprobate. The author is a little more moderate in confidering the operation which the French wines, vinegar, and brandy, will have on the wines of Portugal, and the liquors of Great Britain. But with respect to this fubject, likewife, his apprehenfions feem to be governed by the most unfavourable fentiments of the public conduct; and we cannot avoid remarking, that he makes not the fmalleft allowance for the advantage, in point of health, which the people of this country will enjoy, in confequence of the operation which he apprehends. In regard to the fuppofed calamitous effects of this treaty, the author involves Ireland in the fame predicament with Great Britain. We are forry to obferve, that with a degree of industry well calculated for difquifition, he unites unjuftifiable prejudices, and conjures up, by the help of a fertile imagination, fuch dangers and terrors as cannot, according to fair and unbiaffed reafoning, lay claim to any probable contingency. The peculiarity of his fentiments extends to his language, which is not untainted with affectation, or a yet more blameable corruption. We fhall inftance only witto nations,' and 'fentimonious interment.' It is remarkable, that amidst the numerous and mixed operations, of which we may fairly fuppofe a treaty of fuch a nature to be productive, this author has not allowed it fo much as the chance of a fingle advantage: a glaring proof of that prejudice fo confpicuous through the whole of the pamphlet.

A Woollen Draper's Letter on the French Treaty. 8vo. 1s. French.

The commercial treaty with France is a fubject of great importance, and muft accordingly be productive either of very beneficial or pernicious effects on the interefts of the nation. The real well-wishers of their country will be inclined to examine this measure with all poffible candour and impartiality; but numerous, we fear, are the motives which will influence others to condemn it, and even to reprobate it in the severest terms. Several claffes of manufacturers, in particular, will be agitated with hopes or fears refpecting its eventual operation. But men whofe opinions are governed by the views of private intereft, are certainly not the fitteft perfons to decide concerning the utility of fuch a treaty. On this account we ought to be extremely cautious in admitting the objections of those men who feem peculiarly interested to oppofe that important defign, In an enquiry relative to commerce, the title of A Woollen Draper may be efteemed a very favourable fignature; but as we have often found wolves in Jheep's clothing, we must acknow lege that we are a little diftruftful of this author's fincerity, however fpeciously urged. He expreffes the ftrongest apprehenfion that, if the intended treaty fhould take place, our woollen manufactures would be abfolutely fuperfeded in the home-market by thofe of the French. But before he affirmed the certainty of fuch an event, he ought to have fhewn by what means the French could procure an additional quantity of wool, fufficient to afford fo great an increase of their manufactures especially as we have been informed, and we believe upon good authority (we ufe the modeft manner of the Woollen Draper), that, without the importation of British wool, the French could not fupport their woollen manufacture, even in its prefent extent. The argument which the author draws from the oppofition to the treaty with France, in the year 1713, can never be admitted as any proof of the pernicious effects of fuch a measure. It is unquestionable that the people, at that time, were more actuated by prejudice than by a difpaffionate inveftigation of the fubject; though there certainly were some very important objections to that treaty. Happy will it be, should not vain apprehenfions be permitted to influence the public opinion in an affair of fo great national importance as the prefent treaty. The interefts of our woollen manufacture merit, no doubt, the most attentive confideration from thofe who have projected it; and we hope they will be fufficiently protected against the hurtful confequences, which, if this author does not really apprehend, he at least affects to anticipate, with a degree of plausibility, not unlikely to produce fome effect on the minds of fuch readers as have not either the inclination or opportunity for a complete difcuffion of the fubject.

;

A Short

A Short Review of the Political State of Great Britain, at the Commencement of the Year 1787. 8vo.

15. 6d. Debrett.

Free obfervations on the character and conduct of eminent perfonages, when written with the appearance of impartiality, feldom fail of being received with avidity by the public. In perufing fuch productions, the reader anticipates the fatisfaction which will be reaped in a future age, when the actions of demifed kings and princes, and of celebrated statesmen, shall be canvaffed without fear of offence, and be praised or cenfured, without the imputation of perfonal affection or diflike. The author of the prefent pamphlet has availed himself of this general principle in human nature, and fets out with obfervations on the higheft character in the kingdom. Our limits will not permit us to gratify our readers with what occurs on this interefting fubject. We muft, therefore, refer them to the work; informing them only, that the scope of the author's remarks is to ascertain the caufes of the fovereign's great popularity. amidst the unfortunate incidents in his reign. We meet afterwards with obfervations, equally free, on the character of a certain heir apparent. But to give a fpecimen of the author's manner, we shall extract the characters of Mr. Pitt and Mr. Fox, as delineated by the author of the pamphlet.

Awkward and ungraceful in his perfon, cold and distant in his manners, referved and fometimes ftately in his deportment; Mr. Pitt is not formed to captivate mankind by the graces of external figure or addrefs. Diftinguished by no uncommon fenfibility to the attractions of women, it is not from that fex he can expect the enthufiaftic fupport, and more than masculine exertions, which his great political antagonist has repeatedly experienced on the most trying occafions. Little attached to amufement or diffipation, whatever form it may affume; and even, when he unbends to convivial feftivity or relaxation, confined and private in its indulgence; his hours are dedicated to an almost unremitted application to the functions of his office. Parfimonious of the public revenue, and tenacious of the exhausted finances of a treafury drained by preceding profufion, his conduct, as minifter, forms a ftriking contraft to the facility and prodigality of former adminiftrations. Difinterested in his diftribution of offices, and felect in his choice of thofe on whom he confers employments, the nation has not regarded his abilities with more admiration than it has conferred applause and veneration on his principles. Endowed with talents unexampled for fwaying a popular affembly; perfpicuous and clear amidit all the energy and fire of oratory; ampie, yet not prolix or diffufe; except from repetition, yet leaving no part of his fubject untouched, or unexplained. Animated in debate, though cold and fevere in converfation; copious in his diction, and felect in every figure or expreffion with which he chufes to enrich or adorn his fpeech; addreffing himfelf as much to the judg

ment

ment as to the imagination; and gaining, by the mingled force of language and of conviction, a ready entrance to the heart: fuch is the prefent minifter of the English people, and fuch is the impartial portrait of his virtues and his defects!'

• At the head of that great band denominated the " Oppofition," and compofed of fo motley materials, as no longer to be reducible to any fixed colour or form, appears Mr. Fox; and, near him, co ordinate, but not co-equal, his once great antagonist, though now his friend and fellow-labourer, lord North.It would be mockery to regard the duke of Portland, however refpectable and excellent in his private cha racer, as other than the pageant of a party, round whom the chieftains affemble:-the lord Rockingham of 1787; and diftinguished by nearly fimilar endowments of heart and of understanding with that departed marquis. If I place Mr. Fox foremost in this lift, it is, that though inferior in nominal rank to lord North, he is far fuperior to him in all thofe qualities which demand, or which acquire dominion over the minds of

men.

• Not more liberally endowed by nature with the graces of external figure, or with the elegance of manner and addrefs, than his rival Mr. Pitt, he has yet an unknown and undefcribable fomething, which pervades the darknefs of his complexion, and fheds a fort of luftre acrofs his faturnine features. Whether it can be termed a fmile, I will not venture to affert; but it certainly has the effect upon the heart, which smiles are calculated to produce, that of infpiring confidence, and exciting complacency. Defcended from a monarch, diftinguished by this peculiar and characteristic excellence of face, he may perhaps claim an hereditary title to it. Son to a nobleman, as much marked out by public obloquy and accufation, whether justly or unjustly acquired, as lord Chatham was by general favour and admiration, he cannot look for protection to paternal virtues, or plead the patriotifm and difintereftedness of the houfe of Holland.

Unequalled in the arts of attaching mankind to his perfon and fortunes; fteady and fervent in his friendships; open and avowed in his enmities; never abandoning thofe, under any circumstances, to whom he is bound by political ties, he is defigned by nature for the chief of a party. Educated in the fchool of political learning, brought into the fenate before he had attained to manhood, and joining a long experience to the vigour of natural talents, he may be confidered as confummate in all that detail of knowlege, only to be acquired by an early initiation into the myfteries of a democratical government. Poffeffing powers of eloquence, lefs copious and brilliant, but perhaps more folid and logical, than thofe of Mr. Pitt, he is equally formed to captivate, to convince, and to fubdue. Skilled either to entrench himfelf in almoft impregnable fattnefies, or to carry the thunders of the war into the lines of the enemy,

he

he can with the fame facility imitate Scipio or Fabius: he can adopt the confular dignity, or the tribunitian rage. Abandoned in the more early ftages of his life to the frenzy of play, and to all the diffipations of youth and unlimited profufion, a portion of thofe defects and errors accompanies his riper years, and fullies the luftre of his high endowments. So far from being like his more fortunate rival, indifferent to the company, or fuperior to the blandishments of women, Mr. Fox does not bluth to appear with the companion of his fofter hours, in a phaeton in Hyde Park, or in the first rows of a crowded theatre. Convivial in his nature, and open to focial pleasures, he confirms his political triumph over the mind, by his private and perfonal conqueft of the heart. Bold and decided, even to temerity, in his conduct as a minifter, he is capable, by turns, of aggrandizing, or of diminishing the power of the crown; and of justifying, by reafons and arguments the most plausible, the measure, of whatever nature, which he shall have seen fit to adopt.-Generous and beneficent in his difpofition, placable and forgiving in his temper, his political enmities extend not beyond the limits of a debate, or the walls of a house of commons. Equal to his antagonist in all the fublime talents requifite for the government of an empire; fuperior to him in modern and polite knowlege; in an acquaintance with Europe, its manners, its courts, and its languages: he is inferior only in one requifite, an opinion of his public principle, generally diffused among the people. When to this great and inherent defect, is fuper-added the unquestionable alienation of his fovereign, both to his perfon and his party; we may lament, but we cannot be surprised, that abilities fo univerfal and fublime are left unemployed, and are permitted "to waste their fweetness on the defert air."

The only member of oppofition, celebrated by the author, is Mr. Shn, for whom he evidently betrays a particular regard; a circumftance from which, joined to another confideration, the author of the pamphlet cannot remain entirely unfufpected.

By a tranfition naturally enough to the author's plan, he has introduced the prefent fituation of lord Rodney and Mr. Haftings; at what he conceives the unmerited treatment of each of whom, he expreffes a liberal indignation. Many of the obfervations in the pamphlet have no claim to novelty; but it is written with spirit and elegance, though not free from affectation; and fometimes fullied with redundancies, which we should not expect to find in fo fmall a production.

Reply to a Short Review of the Political State of Great Britain, at the Commencement of the Year 1787. 8vo. Is. 6d. Bell.

The oftenfible motive to this publication is, that the author of the Short Review' discovers inconfiftency, and betrays prejudice, in fome parts of the characters which he has drawn.

We