of Mansfield, was educated in sentiments by no means favourable to his political advancement; but, from his firft entrance into public life, he futfered no fymptoms of his original attachments to appear, excepting a certain biafs always difcernible, throughout all the varia- ' tions and viciffitudes of his political career, in favor of prerogative. His perfon was graceful, the tones of his voice exquifitely melodious, and his ftyle of oratory clear, dignified, calm, and perfuafive. To this hiftorical portrait that of Mr. Pitt may be exhibited as a just and ftriking contraft. This celebrated statesman was introduced early in life into the house of commons, where he foon distinguished himself by the animation of his eloquence and the fuperiority of his talents. His reply to the political veteran Horace Walpole, who had on fome occafion affected to mention him with contempt, as an unpractised and youthful 'orator, is not yet forgotten: "Whether youth could be justly imputed to any man as a reproach, Mr. Pitt faid, he should not determine; but he would affirm, that the wretch who, after having feen the confequence of repeated errors, continues ftill to blunder, and whofe age has only added obftinacy to ftupidity, deserves not that his grey hairs should secure him from infult; and much more is he to be abhorred who, as he has advanced in age, has receded from virtue, and who deliberately devotes the remnant of his life to the ruin of his country." As a public speaker, he poffeffed fuch commanding force and energy of language, as ftruck his hearers with aftonishment and admiration. The power and effect of his oratory have been compared to " the lightning which flashed from heaven, blafting where it finote, and withering the nerves of oppofition." His ambition was open and undisguised; bnt he disdained to seek the gratification of it by any mean or degrading compliance. On the contrary, he was pertinacious in his opinions, imperious in his deportment, fearless and resolute in his conduct. All attention to pecuniary confiderations he seemed to think beneath the dignity of his character, ever maintaining an inviolable integrity in the midft of temptation. And in that theatre of political corruption in which it was the fhameless boast of the minifter, that exery man had his price, the public virtue of Mr. Pitt was univerfally acknowledged to be "pure as the icicle pendant from Dian's temple."

We meet about this time with an inftance of severity to an unfortunate emigrant greater than has been ufually thought confiftent with the mild spirit of a British adminiftration:-the duke of Newcastle was minifter.

Dr. Cameron, brother to the celebrated Cameron of Lochiel, had been engaged in the rebellion of 1745, and, after the decifive victory of Culloden, had effected his efcape to the continent. Notwithstanding his being attainted by act of parliament, he ventured, after an interval of nine years, to return incognito to Scotland, in order to tranfact certain affairs of great confequence, but of a na

ture entirely private and perfonal-relying, in cafe of exigence, with fatal indifcretion, on the mildness and equity of the British government, now raifed far above the apprehenfion of danger, on the temper of the times, and the general refpectability of his own character. Being, however, by fome means difcovered, he was apprehended and brought to his trial at the Old Bailey; and his perfon being legally identified, he was convicted, and fuffered the death of a traitor with admirable firmness and refignation. It is remarkable, that even the populace were melted into tears at the melancholy fpectacle of his execution; generously lamenting the exceffive rigour of his fate; which can never be juftified upon any public principles of neceffity or utility, and which bears the odious afpect of an act of obdurate and fanguinary revenge.'

The beginning of the war, in which we were fo successful, was, it is well known, unfortunate: the confequent execution of admiral byng our author reprefents as the facrifice of a victim defiined to divert the indignation and refentment of an injured and deluded people. Mr. Pitt was foon after fully establifhed prime minifter, and though he entered fo deeply into the affairs of the continent, was known to have declared that he entered into office with the German war tied like a millftone about his neck.-The enthusiasm of the nation for that fceptered infidel the king of Pruifia, whom they were pleased to call the Proteftant Hero, is one, among many inftances, which thews how prone this nation is to be the dupe of religious pretenfions.

During this reign the affairs of India began to rife into a magnitude and importance before unknown; the recital of our fucceffes there is prefaced by our author with a fuccinct account of the manners and history of the Hindoos.-The late king did not live to eftablish peace, but he died, as it were, in the arms of victory; his character is thus drawn by our author:

The character of this monarch it is not eafy either to mistake or mifreprefent. Endowed by nature with an understanding by no means comprehenfive, he had taken little pains to improve and expand his original powers by intellectual cultivation. Equally stranger to learning and the arts, he faw the rapid increase of both under his reign, without contributing in the remoteft degree to accelerate that progreflion by any mode of encouragement, or even beftowing, probably, a fingle thought on the means of their advancement. Inheriting all the political prejudices of his father— prejudices originating in a partiality natural and pardonable- he was never able to extend his views beyond the adjuftment of the Germanic balance of power; and refting with unfufpicious fatisfaction in that fyftem, into which he had been early initiated, he never rofe even to the conception of that fimple, dignified, and impartia conduct

conduct, which it is equally the honour and intereft of Great Britain to maintain in all the complicated contefts of the continental states. It is curious to remark, that the grand objects of the two continental wars of this reign were diametrically oppoine: in the firft, England fought the aggrandizement-in the fecond, the abafement of the house of Auftria. And in what mode the confequent advancement of Pruffia, at an expence to England fo enormous, to the rank of a primary power in Europe, has contributed to the eftablishment or prefervation of that political balance, upon the accurate poize of which many have affirmed, and perhaps fome have believed, that the falvation of England depends, yet remains to be explained. In the internal government of his kingdoms, this monarch appears, however, to much greater advantage than in the contemplation of his fyftem of foreign politics. Though many improper conceffions were made by the parliament to the crown during the course of this reign, it must be acknowledged, that no violation of the established laws or liberties of the kingdom-can be imputed to the monarch. The general principles of his adminift ation, both civil and religious, were liberal and juft. Those penal ftatutes which form the difgrace of our judicial code, were, in his reign, meliorated, and virtually fufpended, by the fuperior mildness and equity of the executive power. And it is a well-known and memorable declaration of this beneficent monarch, "that, during his reign, there should be no perfecution for confcience fake." Though fubject to occafional, fallies of paffion, his difpofition was naturally generous, and easily placable. On various occafions, he had given fignal demonftrations of perfonal bravery; nor did the general tenor of his conduct exhibit proofs lefs ftriking of his rectitude and integrity: and, if he cannot be ranked among the greatest, he is at leaft entitled to be claffed with the moft refpectable princes of the age in which he lived, and his memory is defervedly held in national esteem and veneration.'

After a flight but pleafing sketch of the state of literature and the arts during this reign, Mr. Belfham takes leave of his readers with a conditional promife of refuming the pen; thus, fays he, have these Memoirs been brought to a determinate period; perhaps at fome future time, if in future time the truth may be fafely fpoken, to be refumed. We rejoice to find that he has fince paid fo bold a compliment to the present times as to determine that the truth may be fafely fpoken, and while it becomes us to apologise for the late notice we have taken of the prefent volumes, we are glad to find that we fhall foon meet him again upon the fame ground. The extracts we have given will fhew that our author's fentiments are free and spirited, yet candid and temperate. He fhews himfelf fincerely attached to the existing conftitution: and his principles are thofe of an old whig, not of a modern democrat; he has

made

made great ufe of parliamentary fpeeches; his ftyle, without being ftrongly marked, is dignified and easy, and his frequent quotations of admired authors fhew a predilection for those ftudies of the belles lettres, which contribute fo eminently to form the taste.-We think it would improve his style as an hiftorian, if he mentioned the fovereigns and nobles of Europe in a more fimple manner. His most Christian majesty, his faithful majesty, his grace, &c. are expreflions fitter for a court than for a hiftory, which they encumber too much with epithets, befides that the events which history has to relate are frequently fuch as do not set off the dignity of these titles; as when we read that his Neapolitan majefty efcaped in the darkness of the night through a poftern, with great difficulty.' A more ferious defect is the abfence of references, and the want of a well digefted table of contents. The memory ought to be aflifted as much as poffible in reading history; contents of chapters, marginal indexes, and a running title of contents, are all very ferviceable to this end, and are more important than the beauty of a page. These volumes have only an alphabetical index.

With regard to the general approbation of the work it is not in our power, on the prefent occafion, to lead the opinion of the public, but we are happy to follow it.

The Doctrine of Equivalents, or an Explanation of the Nature, the Value, and the Power of Money, together with their Application in organifing Public Finance. By George Craus furd, Efq. Part I. 8vo. Rotterdam, printed by C. R. Hake, 1794•

WHEN a horfe is let for a certain time, the owner confi

ders a certain fum as an equivalent during that time for the intereft on the first purchase, the expence of keeping, and the rifque and labour attending the animal. Thefe cir cumftances are variable, and confequently the equivalent in the mind both of the hirer and the letter will vary. If we purchase fish at the market, in the fame manner feveral variable circumftances are confidered by both buyer and feller, before they determine on the equivalent. In the common concerns of life thefe things are fo often brought forward, that no one hefitates in fixing the value, the price, or the equiva lent of a commodity: and though the estimate of one may differ from that of another, in this principle they all agree, that, in bartering money for a commodity, or one commodity for another, there is a value or an equivalent at the given time for the labour, the rifque, and the fum expended by each perfon,

who

who makes the exchange. Clear as this may appear to every capacity, it is very extraordinary that, in treating of the va lue of money, fuch difcordant opinions fhould be maintained by many of our best writers on finance; and we are compelled to agree with our author, that a confiftent theory is not to be traced out on the principles laid down by Mr. Harris, Mr. Hume, fir James Stuart, Dr. Adam Smith, or any other writer on this fubje&t.'

Where then is the difficulty, and on what rock have these authors fplit? A general pofition with them is, that by increafing the quantity of money in any country, the value of every object in money must also increafe.' Surely a very light infight of what paffes every day before their eyes must have fhewn them the fallacy of this pofition; for a quicker or flower circulation, where the quantity of money is given, being in its effects of the fame confequence as increate or decrease of quantity, muft deftroy their hypothefis. Dr. Adam Smith, in his Wealth of Nations, has fallen into another mistake, by making a ground lefs diftinction between gold and filver, call ing the latter only the ftandard. To obviate thefe mittakes, we auft inquire what money is in itleif, and how we are to eftimate its price or value: and we fhall find, that the metals can be confidered only as a measure or equivalent, of which more or less is ultimately required for the production of each object from a combination of caufes; and that its real value or price is its rate of intereft. This combination of caufes our author undertakes to inveftigate; fhewing the principles by which the fpecific quantity of the precious metals, to which all things are entitled, is regulated, the means by which thefe proportions are always kept up, and how the multiplication of objects in each clafs of industry originates.

The firit part only of the intended work is as yet before the public, and in the first chapter the proportional or relative value of different objects, before the introduction of the precious metals, as a reprefentative fign, is clearly and fatisfactority investigated. In the early stages of fociety, the labur employed in procuring an object would be confidered: as civilitation advanced, a relative value would be established between met ls and corporeal value, folely by competition, as there could be no fixed standard of value between them; and the cultivation of certain ipots of ground becoming annually productive, would introduce a new train of ideas. Hence the three following circumftances required an attentive inveftigation: The labour employed, or difficulty in procuring by competition each object, the probable ratio of annual increate from its natural powers, and independent of that aliitance from labour, or other materials, which are required in order