But fhould the French keep a fteady eye on the Auftrian Netherlands, and fhould it appear that these were made a facrifice to them by the Emperor, as the prince of Bavaria; then it would be the intereft of Britain, and the duty of adminiftration, to efpoufe the caufe of the confederacy. In the mean time, miniftry muft not have done any thing in this matter, that can be made a fubject of accufation or cenfure. If the privy council had interfered, and diverted his Majefty from his purpose of fupporting the league with the power of Hanover the oppofition would have had an ample field for cenfure and invective.

FORTIFICATIONS.

The patriotifm, the fpirit, and the good fenfe of the British nation, have rejected the Duke of Richmond's project of ere&ting new fortifications at Portsmouth and Plymouth, and fupported the natural defence for this commercial and free ifland; a naval force, and a conftitutional militia. The duke's project was both expenfive, and fraught, like the TROJAN HORSE, with latent flavery and ruin. The English parliament, ftruck with thefe circumftances, replied to his grace, in the fpirit of the ancient philofopher, who was tempted by the allurements of a courtezan, "We will not buy repentance fo dear." The whole history of Great Britain, as is juftly remarked by a celebrated hiftorian, philofopher, and wit, of a neighbouring nation, fhews the advantage and fuperiority which our infalar fituation and naval occupations and habits give us in contending with our ene. mies, on our proper element, the ocean. Even fo early as the Saxon invafion, we have a ftriking proof of the propriety and advantage of fighting our enemies, not by land, but by fea. Prince VORTIMER, by a wife appeal to a naval contest, redeemed the honour of the ancient Britons, and fufpended, for a while, the declining fortunes of his country. It was a neglect to imitate his example, that fubjected the Britons to the Germans. Had they difplayed the fame fpirit, in contending with the Saxons at fea, that fhone forth in all their encoun ters with the Saxons, by land, the character of Prince of Wales, and King of Great Britain, might, at this day, have been united in the fame perfon.

Of what avail were the moft ftupendous fortifications at two particular places, Portsmouth and Plymouth? Either the French are our fuperiors at sea, or they are not. In the first cafe, they have the option of landing at whatever port of Britain they pleafe; in the fecond, it is in our power to prevent them from landing in any harbour of the British channel. And, as it is impoffible for us to fortify every landing place, it is wifer, as well as practicable policy to concentrate our force into one moving battery, that fhall anticipate the defigns of the enemy, and drive the battle from our gates, by maintaining and strengthening our navy. If the French build new fhips, let us alfo build new fhips; it is in this line of emulation alone, and not by a land war with the firft military power in the world, that we can hope for fuccefs. And if, at last, the growing commerce and power of France Thould equip a fleet with which we could not con

tend

tend with fuccefs, the conduct it would then be proper to purfue;, would be to drive the country, to cut off the enemy's convoys, and, by all poflible methods, to improve the advantages which we enjoy in a country, not only fortified by the fea, but defended where it does not rife into hills and mountains, or extend into favannahs and mojaffes, which are fo many natural fortreffes, by thofe hedges, ditches, and dykes, which the hand of cultivation has raised in our fruitful plains. It is by thele natural advantages, and the fpirit of liberty, indignant even at the menaces of tyranny, and not by creeping within walls, and burrowing, like timid rabbits and hares, in holes of the earth, that Britain muft ultimately defend and maintain her freedom and fovereign independence.

But could fhe, in reality, find safety and protection from the hand of the mafon and pioneer, and, from the battlements of her fortifications, fmile at the threats of ambitious France, within thofe very walls fhe would nourish a ferpent, whofe mortal fting would prove fatal to all that is dear to her as a nation. The engineers of her fortreffes would be the grave-diggers of her civil constitution. And what would it fignify to Englishmen, whether they were ruled, with defpotic fway, by a prince of the Houfe of Bourbon, or of Brunfwick?

In the important decifion concerning this queftion, the minifter, to his great honour, did not interpofe his influence or authority. Mr. Pitt is not only a virtuous and indefatigable, but, what is of great confequence, a tractable and advifeable minifter. On one point, he is teady and inflexible, the fupport of the national credit, by an extenfion of commerce, an increase of revenue, and thereby the reduction of the national debt. On this bafis he builds his fame. In other points, (the odious fhop tax excepted, wherein he proved obftinate to the most convincing arguments of its oppreffion and partiality) he yields to public opinion, and receives hints and advice, even from his opponents.

NEW INDIA BILL.

THIS DISPOSITION in the minifter appears, as in other inftances, in the modifications to be adopted in the new India bill, intended to foften that claufe, which compels the fervants of the company to give a public account of their fortunes. It is alfo intended to itrengthen, to give vigour, promptitude, and efficacy to the British government in Indoitan, by increafing the power of the governor. general of Bengal. It were to be wifhed, that this vigour, promp-' titude, and efficacy, could be united with a more free and popular form of government; with trial by jury, and publicity in every judicial and executive concern. But it is found impoffible, as we have often had occafion to obferve, on the fubject of India affairs, to unite freedom with flavery, juftice with injuftice, lenity with oppreflion. If Britain will act on the principles of compaffion, of moral law, of justice, let her recal her military and naval force from Afia. If this be a flight of morality, and perhaps of policy, beyond her views' and inclinations, the must condefcend to mingle with the common

land

herd of tyrants. But, if we credit the reports of the parliamentary debates, a celebrated and moft ingenious member of the Houfe of Commons, contends, that vigour and dispatch are by no means characteristic of arbitrary government: So that he combats the principles of the India bill, now in agitation, not only on moral and conflitutional ground, but alfo on that of political expediency. A pofition fo paradoxical certainly affords room for the utmost exercife of ingenuity and refinement. The newspapers have not detailed, either with precifion or confiftency, the reafons on which Mr. Burke refts this fingular opinion. He is made to reafon, in fupport of his pofition, from the debility of the Turkish government; and here it is neceffary to his argument, to fuppofe the Turkish government to be an arbitrary one: and yet, he is made to fay, in the fame fpeech, that the Turkish goverment is not arbitrary; that it contains various principles of freedom; three of which, he fays, appeared in a cafe that lately happened at Smyrna. Nay, he affirms, that there never was a government on earth, in which there was not fome balances that diltinguished it from an arbitrary government. If there never was any fuch thing as an arbitrary government, the question concerning the comparative energy of mixed, and of defpotic forms of government, is cut off at once. Mr. Burke therefore muft mean, that governments are more or less energetic, in proportion as they are lefs or more arbitrary. Now, is this the fact? The hiftory of the world fhews the contrary. We fhall just refer to one inftance; Britain has loft her colonies; Spain, Portugal, and Holland, which is, in reality, a very arbitrary government, have retained their's.

That there is an energy in the fpirit of liberty, which is not to be found among the flaves of monarchs, is true. But let us attend to the particular point on which Mr. Burke makes this reasoning to bear. His object is to fhew, that a free government, a government that confifts of multiplied checks and counter-checks, is better adapted to the control of diftant dependencies, than a monarchial government. If Mr. Burke means to maintain this doctrine, he ought to defend it by other arguments than thofe that have appeared in the newspapers.

Again, if Lord Cornwallis, or whoever unites in his perfon the character of governor-general and commander in chief in India, acts in a fummary and compendious manner in his government, he is as refponfible for his conduct to the British legiflature, as four, five, or any number of men are: And, as he is jolely refponfible, he i, likely to be more circumfpect, than if the merit or demerit of his measures were to be divided amongst a number of colleagues. Oligarchies are the most tyrannical and cruel of all forms of governments: a matter which is proved by the miferies of nations, and which may be eafily accounted for on the moral principles of hu

man nature.

And, on this occafion, it would be unpardonable in a Review that pretends to unite the political aspect of affairs, and state of fociety, with the progrefs of the fciences and arts; or, in other words, with the expanfion of the human mind: it would be unpardonable, on this occafion, to pafs over in filence the TRIUMPH OF VIRTUE, fo

con

confpicuously displayed in the confidence which his countrymen, without exception, repofe in the EARL OF CORNWALLIS; a nobleman, to whom the British nation turns their imploring eye, when they with to unite the profperity of Britain, with the alleviation of those miffortunes which afflict the fons and daughters of Afia. This is true praife! this is the most exquifite and glorious enjoyment, that can poffibly fall to the fhare of any mortal! The law, which enacts that the oppreffors of India fhould account for the acquifition and difpofal of their fortunes, has dwindled into the farce of auricular confeffion. When the point in difpute between miniftry and oppofition, relates only to the rights of human nature, and a matter of compaffion, matters are easily compromifed.

FISHERIES.

About an hundred years ago, when the Scottish nation were full of the project of fettling a colony, and commanding the trade of the world at DARIEN, on the ifthmus of Panama, Mr. Harley, afterwards Earl of Oxford, was wont to tell Scots gentlemen, in conversation, and to advise his correfpondents in Scotland, that it was very fingular, and apparently ill judged, to put themselves to fo much trouble and expence, in laying a foundation for induftry abroad, when their own fhores furnished an inexhaustible fund of wealth and national greatness. The propriety of cultivating the fisheries on the Scottish coaft has at all times been obvious; and now it is to be hoped that it will be made a fubject of ferious confideration, and that parliament will fupport and carry into effect whatever prudent and practicable meafures may be pointed out by the patriotism and good fenfe of the committee of fisheries.

1

Communications for THE ENGLISH REVIEW are requested to be fent to Mr. MURRAY, No. 32, Fleet-ftreet, London, where SubJeribers for this Monthly Performance are refpectfully defired to give in their Names,

THE

ENGLISH REVIEW,

For APRIL, 1786.

ART. I. The Hiftory of Ancient Greece, its Colonies, and Conquefts; from the earliest Accounts till the Divifion of the Macedonian Empire in the Eaft. Including the Hiftory of Literature, Philofophy, and the fine Arts. By John Gillies, L. L.D. 4to. 2 vols. 21. 2s. boards. Cadell, 1786.

H'

ISTORICAL compofition hath affumed a different form, in modern times, from what it displayed in antiquity. The Greeks, who fet the firft models in all the arts, gave alfo the earliest examples of elegant hiftory. When they began to record their tranfactions, they were deeply tinctured with credulity, and the love of the marvellous; and, partly from the want of authentic materials, partly from the influence of imagination over a people of fuch exquifite fenfibility, they were more ftudious to adorn fables than to inveftigate truth. The ornaments of oratory, and even of poetry, were not rejected by hiftorians; by the beauties of fancy, and embellishments of file, they endeavoured to make atonement for their want of research and information: and the mufe of hiftory, as is said of the angels, frequently covered her eyes with her wings. Among a people who were governed by orators, eloquence was the first qualification of an author; attic ears were only to be charmed by the happiest and most harmonious combinations of language; the works of Polybius, the moft judicious and matterly of all the Greek hiftorians, are pronounced, by a celebrated critic, not to be legible, on account of the bad arrangement of words.

* Dionyflus of Halicarnaffus.

ENG, REY. Vol. VI. April 1786.

When