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of our affairs, in Sicily, was such as to make his loss be felt in comparison with General Fox; and though we do not deny that the latter was too infirm to lead an army in the field, we do deny that he was too infirm to conduct the affairs of Sicily. If his talents were not of a high order, they were at least respectable; and he had the merit of not being above taking the advice of wiser men: he generally agreed with, and always yielded to, Sir John Moore's opinion; and hence the English interests were far better supported during his command than they had been before. Nor was it at all surprising that Mr Charles Fox, just come into power, and at a most critical period, himself in ill health, and his mind occupied with the unhappy condition in which Mr Pitt had left England, it is not surprising that Mr Fox, who was aware that every sort of intrigue and deceit was practised in the Sicilian Court, and had proof that the former generals, and ministers, and admirals, were not always pulling together, should thus have acted. It was quite natural, and prudent also, in Mr Fox to unite the two offices of minister and general in the person of a brother, whose honesty of intention. and good common sense he was quite sure of, until time was gained to settle a definite system of policy in that part of the world. Wherefore, in reply to Mr James Moore, we could wish that he had taken a lesson from both the objects of his sneer; that is, that he had, with Mr Charles Fox, given some strong "proof of fraternal affection;' and, with General Fox, taken advice from wiser men than himself.

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When Sir John Moore arrived in England, from Sicily, he was immediately sent to Gottenburg, for no other purpose but to get him out of the way, while troops were sent under Sir Arthur Wellesley to Portugal. This expedition to Sweden was one of the most impudent and criminal actions ever committed by a faction in power; the design and the execution were alike scandalous and stupid; and had the troops been committed to the charge of a less able, resolute, and prompt man, ten thousand of the finest soldiers of England would have been sacrificed. The contradictory instructions given by the Ministers, and the silence observed by them when Moore represented the real state of affairs, were proofs of their bad intentions, and bad faith, as well as of their absurdity; and if any doubt could be entertained upon this head, the orders which reached Sir James Saumarez three days after Moore's departure from Gottenburg,-orders prescribing the employment of the army to bring off the Spaniards under Romana, from Holstein,-would have set that doubt aside. But how can any impartial person entertain a doubt, that both folly and faction were at work, when it is considered, that had

the King of Sweden been only one degree less insane than he was, the English Ministers would have deliberately commenced campaigns, commenced regular military operations by land, against Russia in one extremity of Europe, and against Napoleon in the other extremity, at one and the same time! The absurdity is apparent; and the personally insolent treatment Moore received from the Ministers upon his return to England, -treatment which his biographer scarcely seems to be conscious of,-sufficiently disclosed their secret anger, that he had, by his prompt return, baffled their plots. We will not, however, dwell longer upon this portion of the book, except to say, that the story of Sir John Moore's proceedings at Stockholm is as ill told as every thing else, although not so injuriously. If the whole particulars of that scandalous affair had been publicly laid before the Parliament, at the time of Sir John Moore's death, it would have shaken that wicked and imbecile Ministry to pieces, and have saved the country from the after misfortunes. and disgrace of the Walcheren expedition; and it would have avenged Sir John Moore's injuries upon the heads of his ungenerous adversaries. But our author speaks of the treatment which his relation received with a degree of mildness, which contrasts wonderfully with his virulence against all who have held opposite politics to his own. "When Ministers deem it proper to employ an officer who held a superior situation in a subordinate one, PERHAPS some conciliatory explanation should be made. But this is not a case for a brother to judge.' This is the way that one of the grossest affronts ever offered to a commander is noticed,—an affront aggravated by the manner of doing it,-offered by men, too, who after death were the most virulent calumniators of the hero they had used so shamefully. Perhaps! And it is not for a brother to judge!-In God's name, then, who is to judge? Who is to defend the reputation of a man who cannot defend himself, if his own brother will not! Perhaps! We had rather be a dog and bay the moon,' than speak so tamely of the wrongs of such a brother.

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We come now to the expedition to Spain, which terminated Sir John Moore's earthly career: the particulars of it are too well known to need any further illustration; and had such been needed, the writer before us is not qualified to supply it. That which was required he has not done. He has not published the whole of his brother's Journal and letters, which would have formed a complete body of evidence, and have been infinitely interesting, as showing the progress of the General's opinion from day to day. He has not done this, and we have nothing further to say. But we cannot dismiss Mr Moore, without teaching him the danger of his one-sided manner of reasoning, when he

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launches out into vituperation of Napoleon. Speaking of that monarch's injunction to the Court of Lisbon, to declare waragainst Great Britain, to confiscate British merchandise, and to seize, as hostages, all the English merchants residing in Portugal, he adds, This uncivilized proceeding was a regression to the usages of the barbarous times. And again, when noticing the Emperor's instructions to his generals in Spain, he quotes from Napier's History of the Peninsular War, an order that ' every Spaniard taken with arms in his hands should be shot;' but he neglects to quote the remark, added by Colonel Napier, that this related to Spaniards living within the French lines, and consequently, de facto, French subjects. This order, however, he calls ruthless.

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Now, with respect to the first passage, we suppose that Mr Moore does not know that the English Government, before the war was declared in 1803, seized all the French merchant-ships in the English waters, and threw the crews into prison. We suppose that he does not know of this regression;' nor that other slight regression,' the bombardment of Copenhagen; but he cannot be ignorant that his own brother, Captain Moore, was ordered to capture the Spanish frigates in time of peace; that immense treasures, private as well as public, were then seized, or destroyed, and many of the unfortunate owners slain,which we take to be also a regression,' if that is the right. term. And, with respect to the ordering of the armed Spaniards to be shot, when taken within the French lines, we can again give him a parallel from his own family. We recollect Sir John Moore says, that while at St Lucia, a boat was captured with four men coming from St Vincent's, and that he ordered them to be shot; and in another place, that he hanged his prisoners ;proceedings which, simply stated, must appear very barbarous and unjustifiable.

Ay, but they were brigands!

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True; but the French gave the same name to the Spanish peasants who opposed them.

But the brigands of St Lucia violated the usages of civilized warfare, and committed the greatest atrocities!

True, again; but the Spaniards also violated those usages, and tortured, as well as murdered, their prisoners : for example, they had, just before the period of this order, placed Colonel Réné, a man travelling unarmed, between boards, and sawed him in two: while alive.

But the Spaniards were fighting for their independence!

No doubt; and the coloured brigands of St Lucia were fighting for their personal liberty, the gift of God, the birthright of man 1

But if the brigands and republicans in the West Indies had not been put down by us, their example might have extended to Jamaica and Barbadoes, and our power in those places would have been shaken.

True; and if the Bourbons of Spain had not been driven away, the example of legitimacy might have extended to France, and have shaken the stability of things in that country.

Oh! but we were a very paternal government!

Were we, indeed? Then why did Sir John Moore declare that the West Indies was the only place in the world where industry and cultivation were no benefits to the inhabitants, because all went to the pampering of the many, at the expense of the few! Besides, Napoleon desired to ameliorate the bad government of Spain, and the English at St Lucia desired to restore and confirm black slavery!

Thus we see that the argument cuts both ways; and Mr James Moore must be content to restrain his indignation, or direct it against war in general, which necessarily occasions such violent proceedings.

We have now finished a disagreeable and a painful duty, and we have performed it unsparingly, because it is a duty. We have bared all the deformity of the work before us, that men may shrink from it; and we have not touched upon its merits, because they are so few, and of such a nature, that they can in no manner be felt as a counterpoise to its demerits. Mr Moore has exhibited his brother to the world, neither as a very amiable nor a very great man; and yet he was both. We do not mean to say, that no indications of Sir John Moore's real character have been given; it was impossible for his biographer to go so near the fire without being a little warmed; he could not face the bright flame without reflecting some rays of light and heat himself; he could not quench it entirely, nor could he bring away even an ember that did not glow and sparkle. The few letters, and the fewer abstracts from Sir John Moore's Journal, which he has given, are full of sense and spirit; and redolent, if we may use the expression, of that kindness of disposition, which was so remarkably blended with his daring courage and stern resolution. But it is not enough to show us that, upon one occasion, Sir John Moore expressed affection for his mother; that at another he was pleased at the success of his brother, or that he expressed now and then a deep love of his country;-it is not enough, we say, to do this, as it has been done in this work, accompanied with the spume of the author's own hatred of men and things. The taskand it was an easy one-should have been to show, that patriotism, disinterestedness, courage, frankness, gentleness, and kind

ness, were the component parts of Sir John Moore's nature; that it was not once, but always, that these qualities predominated; that it was not in one or two letters, but in all his correspondence, in his Journal, in his conversation, in his actions, that they were displayed; that in sickness and in health, in weal and woe, in danger, and in difficulty, and in prosperity, in every climate, and in all circumstances, he was still the same undaunted assertor of what was right; that his life was one clear, full, and strong current of honour,-never stagnating, never defiled, never broken, never deviating from the straight line; that his ambition, his daring, his capacity, and his honesty, were all on the same level, and that level so high, that few could reach it.

His failings, whatever they were, escaped the observation of his nearest acquaintances, but it would appear that they were not hidden from his brother!

We now take leave of the work, and deeply do we regret that it has ever appeared. Instead of a vivid description of Sir John Moore, we find in it the vapid discussions of his biographer; the enlarged views, penetrating observations, and manly feelings of the former, are suppressed, to make way for the narrow prejudices of the latter; the happy, graceful, colloquial manner of the Journal, has been superseded by a dry, contracted, and yet ambitious narrative. The loss sustained by this exchange cannot be judged of by the reader, from the few examples exhibited of the General's writings, because his Journal is not of that showy, dazzling nature which claims a sudden admiration. It is not a torrent, broken by picturesque waterfalls, but a deep, full, navigable stream, bearing in security on its bosom a thousand vessels laden with riches;-a stream whose value is only known when you quit it for the dangerous ocean of conjecture. Its great beauty consists in the natural turn of the expressions, and in the quantity of information conveyed in an agreeable manner, always full, yet never tedious; above all, in the irresistible conviction produced, that you have the most secret thoughts of the writer before you, and that those thoughts are worth having. This is the charm, the merit of the Journal; this is what should have been given whole, or, at least, in such a manner, that those who have read the original should not turn away in disgust from the copy; some resemblance should at least have been preserved. This has not been done. Through all the book, we have sought for some enlarged traits, some striking indications of what Sir John Moore was; we have sought earnestly, but we have sought in vain; and are forced, by the bitterness of disappointment, to cry out, in the words of the Holy Book-Cain, Cain! where is thy brother!

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