"vernment which should succeed it." As the Convention did not embrace the case of Ney, the non-interference of the Duke personally in his behalf with Louis XVIII. is the next point on which many condemn his Grace: and information respecting the acts and character of Ney may, very probably, have been possessed by the Duke, which might privately lead him to think, that Ney was not a man for whom his influence could be justly used. Again, his Grace, being a reflecting man, would not have made any application likely to be refused. Interference was a very delicate matter; and we think, that as his Grace was not in a position with the court of France, as we will show, to ask a personal favour with a chance of success, that he was right not to ask any. Secondary influence might have been resorted to; whether any was used we have no data on which to decide. About this period the manner of the King of France to his Grace induced him to observe it more closely. Being summoned to attend the investiture of the Duke de Berri with the Order of the Fleece, his Grace walked up and bowed to the King, who deliberately turned his back on him. The Duke, with his characteristic caution, determined to prove whether the act was accidental or premeditated, and going round, again faced the King and again bowed. The monarch repeated the insult, on which his Grace instantly left the palace, with the determination never to re-enter it. The bearing of the courtiers was equally marked, showing that this conduct had been contemplated. Three weeks elapsed, and the Duke did not reappear at Court. The Comte D'Artois one evening called on him, and began by observing, that he had not been at the Tuilleries. The Duke instantly replied, that it was his intention not to go there again. The Comte trusted that the apparent manner of the King would not have such an effect, as it was done in a moment of irritation. His Grace replied in effect, "Sir, circumstances have, these last eighteen months, placed me, an English gentleman, in con"stant communication with Emperors and Kings, and I never "before received an insult, or would have suffered it to pass "unnoticed. The King of France knows that I have placed "him on his throne; he knows, too, that I hold a high and re"sponsible position as Commander-in-Chief of the armies "here, which, if withdrawn, would leave him in a condition

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"which it would be unnecessary to detail. I will never again, "Sir, enter the Palace of the Tuilleries." The Comte D'Artois burst into tears and said, "You have been insulted, but forgive us pardon us, it shall never again occur." His Grace rejoined, "As an English gentleman I can never reenter the Palace." The same evening the King sent to beg his attendance; he accordingly went and was most graciously received, and all the courtiers were most obsequious. After the Duke had retired, the King turned to the Duke de Dumas, and said, "You see the Marshal has made me the amende honorable." The anecdote has been related by the Duke de Dumas, and was made known to the Duke of Wellington many years after, who expressed no surprise at it, as he probably knew the character of the King. At that same period, was the trial and condemnation of Ney. Under the circumstances, the Duke could not at that time have made a personal application, or have interfered in any way with Louis XVIII. As a soldier, Ney deserved to die the death he met. As a matter of policy, it seems weak and vindictive to have shot him; it could only be productive of feelings of disgust and enmity, without any corresponding good being obtained.

The Allied Armies being garrisoned in France, that country was prevented from evincing discontent and revolution by any overt acts of insurrection. The long-continued wars had tired even that belligerent nation, and, for a time, the occupations of peace succeeded to the din of war. The vaunting self-love of France had been humbled to the dust, her military idol had been cast down, and her soil, on every side, been subjected to the armies of nations whose capitals she had invaded, whose princes she had supplanted, or whose commerce she had tried to ruin. Her renowned generals had been beaten by a handful of English troops led by the genius of Wellington, and some miserably-equipped allies, from Lisbon to Bourdeaux, and, subsequently, with the legions of indignant Europe, from the confines of Germany to Paris. France was subdued, and made to feel (most leniently) the humiliation of the restoration of territory and plunder, and the punishment of retribution. The great moral lesson was of more use to Europe than to herself; for, mentally, the nation was not in a fit state to profit by the punishment,

while the vengeance of wounded vanity and the irrefutable fact, that she was far from being the first in the game of war, rankled in the bosoms of her people, and too often showed itself in her intercourse with England and other nations.

The family of Napoleon fell with its Imperial master; but without the slightest hope of success, and with but little talent to support their pretensions, soon began again to plague the world, and have continued so to do from time to time.

The first attempt is but little known, and is as curious for its futility of purpose, as for its ridiculous presumption. It was as follows:-In 1816, Prince Metternich communicated to the Duke of Wellington, that a serious conspiracy existed in Italy, at the head of which was Lucien Buonaparte, and whose object was to overthrow the Pope and raise a republic in the papal territories. Its existence was known to Lord William Bentinck. His Grace selected the present MajorGeneral Sir Patrick Ross, to communicate the fact to Lord Castlereagh, and that officer committed to memory the names of all the conspirators, and proceeded on his mission. His Lordship gave no directions to the Duke through Sir Patrick Ross or otherwise, and the matter was allowed to wane away, after some secret measures had been taken by the Austrian Cabinet. The directions given by the Duke to Sir Patrick Ross, are proofs of his consideration for the lives of the misguided and unreflecting men who had been deluded into a scheme which would have fitted the inmates of a lunatic asylum.

Much uneasiness was, about the same period, felt in England, at some dissensions of a religious character which had taken place, more particularly in Central France. Sir Patrick Ross was again selected to proceed to that country and make a report to the Government of the actual state there of the Protestant Church. After a very careful investigation, a masterly state-paper was delivered to the Government, which traced the proceedings of, and towards that Church, from the revocation of the Edict of Nantes to the days of the existing dissensions, with such minute precision, as to call for the highest approbation of the Cabinet. The Duke expressed his interest in so great a question, and forwarded, with the caution requisite on so delicate a subject, the necessary investigation.

A

It is hardly possible within the circumscribed limits of a Review, to give more than an outline of twelve large volumes; we only trust that we have given enough to induce every one who wishes to be informed of the history of that eventful period, to read the volumes. Colonel Gurwood has shown his good taste and judgment in compiling the work as he has. The simplicity of its arrangement, the unblemished truth of the details, which impress themselves on the mind of the reader, give to it a charm, which no other work, within the compass of our reading, possesses. As soon as the mind becomes once warmed with the subject, it is never oppressed by the long-continued similarity of the matter. memorandum of operations which has riveted the attention, is relieved by a discussion, a reproof, the account of some active warfare, indignant complaints of the neglect of his soldiers, an argument on sheep, rice, camp-kettles, or a staid communication to some Crowned Head, or Minister of State; so that the daily events, great and small, are marshalled as they transpired, giving a life and reality to the work, and almost carrying the reader back to the time. While thus employed, he feels that he is deriving information of the period from the only true and unadulterated source; and as the narrative proceeds, the character of the Duke is naturally developed by the facts and his own delineations; while the disquisitions on great events to the then rulers of the world in their different departments, instruct while they entertain, and .must improve every attentive reader, by informing him of the nature of great affairs, and the method of conducting them, with men of every grade, from the Imperial Autocrat to the private soldier.

Colonel Gurwood has been the cause of a history being given to the world, free from all conjectures, not dependent on doubtful authorities, or veiled by the bias of a compilera history of facts, written by the chief actor, of matters which men's outward senses could judge, of which the records were penned at the time they occurred. No other such history exists. The nearest approach to it are the Commentaries of Cæsar. The public must know that such a vast compilation could not be completed without a great degree of labour and expense to him. But when the original edition is all sold, we trust that it may be diffused by a periodical publica

tion of the volumes at a price which will enable the middle orders of society to possess them. We say this because we believe that they would have a tendency to instil into the mind the highest principles of action, and the most perfect method and manner of conducting the affairs of life.

The remainder of our task is purely critical. The style of a warrior in active command of armies under the greatest difficulties, would be shielded from criticism: that of the Duke of Wellington invites it. After much consideration, we think it among the purest specimens of the unornate style in our language. Excepting when technical terms are used, the words are the purest English. The object appears to have been to express in the clearest and shortest way the idea intended to be conveyed, and always to keep the ideas single. His Grace never attempts to strengthen them by antithesis, or supports a reason by comparison; he never uses an epithet, or intrudes an expletive; the most simple terms are always selected without producing baldness, or sinking to vulgarity. Elegance and force are combined in many of the letters and more important documents, which being the vehicle of truths and high-minded intentions, become models of composition. His style and his mind are in perfect keeping, as far as we are able to judge from the volumes,—the latter intent on his objects, the former conveying the results of its various powers. It cannot be considered as the highest style, but as the highest of its class, and admirably adapted to its purposes. By persons of congenial minds, it would be pronounced perfect; by others, it would be pronounced the style of a mind which never looked beyond the fact. There is no attempt at euphony; but the fitness of the terms and their proper positions make the want of it scarcely perceptible. Not one of the artifices of composition is ever practised. It is, perhaps, the natural style of a high, powerful, matter-of-fact intellect, polished by habitual intercourse with the highest classes, and perfected in ease and force by long and continual practice.

At the commencement of these observations we gave, in general terms, the impression produced of the Duke of Wellington, from the perusal of these volumes. It is now our duty to enter more into detail.

War is a scourge of God, and the details even extracted in