SPECTATOR'S LIBRARY.

DteLoltAcy, A Residence at the Court of London; comprising Incidents, Official and Personal, from 1819 to 1825; amongst the former, Negotiations on the Oregon Territory, and other Unsettled Questions between the United States and Great Britain. By Richard Rush, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary from the United

States, during the above years. Second Series. In two volumes Bentley. EocLastAirricAL HIsTORT, The History of the Church of England in the Colonies and Foreign Dependencies of the British Empire. By the Rev. James S. Si. Anderson, Chaplain in Ordinary to the Queen, Chaplain to the Queen-Dowager, &c. Vol. I. . •Itirinyton•

BIOGRAPHY,

Lives of the Queens of England, from the Norman Conquest ; with Anecdotes of their Courts, now first published from official Records and other authentic Documents,

private as well as public. By Agnes Strickland. Vol. VIII Coiburn • TRAYELs,

Days and Nights in the East. From the original Notes of a recent Traveller through

Egypt, Arabia Petnea, Turkey, and Greece. By Miss Plumley Newby.

MR. nusn's RESIDENCE AT THE COURT OF LONDON.

Ten continuation of Mr. Rush's journal of private remarks and public business during his residence at the Court of London appears to be a species of contribution towards peace and good-will; with no indis- position perhaps to bring himself forward as an original negotiator upon the Oregon question, in this time of demand for diplomatists. With the exception of a chasm of about two years, (1821-23,) the period of the memorandums extends from 1819 to 1825, when the em- bassy of Mr. Rush closed. The work consists, as heretofore, of an in- termixture of anecdote and conversation, with accounts of official inter- views and copies of diplomatic papers. The predominance of some of these would seem to indicate that the publication is chiefly intended for an American public ; with whom such formal affairs as letters of congra- tulation, cards of invitation, and directions from the Master of the Cere- monies, may have the attraction which London fashions possessed for country ladies some hundred years ago. The long reports and protocols respecting negotiations that excited but little attention in England may have a more real and solid interest in the States. The only English topic of present importance is the discussions on the Oregon question : but the claim of a natural right to navigate the St. Lawrence is curious for its coolness ; as a proposal to abolish privateering anti private war on the ocean (that is, the capture of merchant-ships) is, abstractedly speaking, creditable to its authors ; although America by the latter com- pact would get more than she gave by the former. The commerce of America is her assailable point. It was a 'cute notion of Jonathan to exempt this by treaty from all attack. How he would have chuckled had John Bull consented to free America from all dread of blockade or loss upon the ocean!

What may be called the social and personal narrative—the descriptions of dinners, parties, great men, and their discourse—may want some of the freshness that distinguished the first series ; but it is still interesting from the nature of the subject, and often from the character of the speakers or the nature of their remarks. There is something of historical interest about some of the topics—as Queen Caroline's trial. The quiet, equable, and unaffected style, too, may challenge praise ; though it is devoid of force or grace, and not without its weaknesses. To many, the book and even the duller parts of it will have a more practical interest, as being a pretty clear account of the manner in which diplomatic busi- ness is carried on, and the way in which the corps diplomatique try to pick up information, or more properly reports, in society. Readers with a critical turn may find a further attraction in the indication it offers of the American character. Mr. Rush himself appears to be an able, indus- trious, clearheaded man of business, and a very worthy unaffected indi- vidual, quite removed from Yankee coarseness or Transatlantic inflation. But the want of tone in his book is remarkable ; especially if it be con- trasted with the Malmesbury Correrndence, or some other late pub- lications of much less value and finish, but emanating from English gentlemen. There seems, in fact, a want of good taste. The shows of things-

" the state Of beaming diamonds and reflected plate,"

are often dwelt upon as it were for their intrinsic qualities, not as illus- trations of ancestral accumulation or modern wealth, or for the purpose of critical remark. There is nothing of the tufthunter in Mr. Rush the individual, but there seems a national grain of it in the American envoy, such as the before-quoted moral satirist indicates in his couplet- " Say with what eyes we ought at courts to gaze,

And pay the great our homage of amaze?'

But the principle of American diplomacy is the most remarkable de- duction to be drawn from the volume : and this may be characterized as an unscrupulous and Jacobinical selfishness, pursued without regard to truth or to the rights of others. However bad or base a gentleman may be, the spirit of chivalry, and the habits of courtesy enforced through many ages by the conflicting claims of various orders, have given rise to a certain high tone of feeling, which prevents him from encroaching upon an- other's rights or possessing himself of what others have as much title to as himself, at all events without some pressure of an overwhelm- ing necessity. The same feeling more or less pervades the mass of society : but, to illustrate our meaning by a common instance, there are persons who will "poke their noses" into people's houses without a shadow of claim for being there, or persist in inconveniencing others in public places by monopolizing more than their share of the common right. This may arise from ignorance or brutality; but a selfish calculation is probably at the bottom. If properly repelled at once, they lose nothing, according to their estimate of loss; and if a common but mistaken de- licacy, or an unwillingness to contend, lets them retain any thing, it is all clear gain. Such is American diplomacy. In the volume before us, Mr. Rush was instructed to open a negotiation upon various matters, and claim a tight to navigate the St. Lawrence,—a claim totally new, and at

once denied by the British Government : but, instead of closing the dis- cussion and bowing the ambassador out, we began to argue, The Oregon question was not quite so barefaced, but there was as much of art and unscrupulous advantage-taking. Canning, at the time of the French invasion of Spain to rescue Ferdinand the Seventh from the Cortes, suspected that an intrigue was on foot to establish a French kingdom in South America, under the protection of the Holy Alliance. To meet this, he applied to Rush, with the view of England and America joining in a declaration of principles ; one of which was, that " they could not see the transfer of them [the Spanish Colonies] to any other power with in- difference." Rush had no orders ; but he offered to join on his own re- sponsibility, if Canning in return would recognize the new States. The scheme of France, however, went off : what orders (if any) the Govern- ment of Washington sent to Rush, do not appear ; but what they did was to take this advantage of a confidential communication. In the next Presidential message it was announced-

" Whilst alluding to discussions between the United States and Russia, then commenced with a view to arranging the respective claims of the two nations on the North-west coast of America the President also declared, that the occasion had been of proper for asserting, as a principle in which the rights and interests of the United States were involved, that the American continents, by the free and independent condition which they had assumed and maintained, were henceforth not to be considered as subjects for future colonization by any Euro- pean power."

This cool claim to the whole of the two continents was one main rea- son for then negotiating the Oregon question ; which Canning formally opened when in bed with a fit of the gout, though Huskisson and Stratford Canning were the two negotiators. What Canning thought of the papers left with him, may be inferred from Mr. Rush's account. Any one but an American would, amid his pleasantry, have seen Caming's estimation of the thing, and said nothing about it-

" Yesterday, before night came on, Mr. Canning's servant brought me a private note. It was familiarly written; telling me that he remained as when I saw bun; but that, when I had left him, he naturally looked at my memorandum; and when he did look at it, how could he help exclaiming, What is here ! Do I read Mr. Rush aright ?

"The United States will agree to make no settlement North of 51, on Great Britain agreeing to make none South of that line." "'So far all is clear,' continues Mr. Canning in his note: the point of con- tact is touched, and consequently the point of possible dispute between the United, States and Great Britain. But the memorandum goes on- " Or North of 55."

"'What can this intend?' continues his note. Our Northern question is with Russia, as our Southern with the United States. But do the United States mean to travel North to get between us and Russia? and do they mean to stipu.. late against Great Britain, in favour of Russia; or reserve to themselves whatever Russia may not want?' "The note ends with saying, that he had given me only his first thoughts, and hoped I would help him to clear the perplexity of them.'"

In reply to Mr. Rush's answer, our Foreign Secretary again wrote-

" Under this date, (the 18th,) I received a second familiar note from Mr. Can- ning, written from his bed; in which he says that he would take my explanation, 'like the wise and wary Dutchman of old limes, ad referendum and ad con- siderandwn: " This playfulness was characteristic of Canning, but thrown away, if not misplaced. The tone and position of the British negotiators were also firm and decided. The error lay in admitting the preliminaries, or at least the St. Lawrence claim • for what was the result? An offer to negotiate this, to which the Americans had no more claim than Mr. Rush to a right of room in his neighbour's house, in return for the navigation of the Columbia, to which we had as good a right ass- they. As an impudent person who intrudes himself into a room is shown the door as soon as his character is known, so no totally unfounded claim should ever be listened to in negotiation. Its discussion, or even. a protest against it, gives it a footing ; and after a time there is a sem- blance of precedent. Any risk from such a course must be run, bat, there is seldom much danger. Witness the present effects of Peers and John Russell's speeches.

Enough of business diplomacy. Those who wish to pursue it further must have recourse to the volumes. We will draw our quotations from the social parts.

MACKINTOSH AND CANNING ON PARLIAMENTARY senaurio.

After dinner I had renewed conversations with Sir James Mackintosh. Alluding to the style of speaking in the House of Commons, he characterized it by saying, that "the true light in which to consider it was as animated eonversaticm on public business"; and he added, that it was "rare for any speech to succeed in that body which was raised on any other basis." He thought Mr. Brougham the first man in the House for various and universal information on political subjects; Mr. Canning and Mr. Plunkett, on the whole, the first orators. Mr. Canning, he said, excelled all the rest in language. * • I converse with Mr. Canning on the speaking in the House of Commons. I mention to him Sir James Mackintosh's remark: he accedes to it; says it is true as a general rule, that their speaking must take conversation as its basis, rather than anything studied or stately. The House was a business-doing body, and the speaking must con- form to its character: it was jealous of ornament in debate, which, it it came at all, must come as without consciousness. There must be inethed also; but this should be felt in the effect rather than seen in the manner; no formal division set exordiums or perorations, as the old rhetoricians taught, would do. First, and last, and everywhere, you must aim at reasoning; and if you could be eloquent, you might at any time, but not at an appointed time. To this effmt he ex- pressed himself, though I do injustice to his language. Foremost as a speaker in the House of Commons for his day, perhaps in its moat brilliant sphere of oratory, I listened with interest whilst such a master casually alluded to its rules.

A BUSY DIPLOMATIST.

August 19.—Go to St. Paul's, the present season allowing some few intervals for sight-seeing. One of the Foreign Ministers told me soon after my arrival, that he had been eight years in London without seeing the inside of Westminster Abbey; declaring that he had never been able to command the time for it, other engagements always stepping in with prior claims--if not of business, those of ceremony, which he was not at liberty to forego.

HR. RUSH BEHIND TIME AT LORD CASTLEREAGH'S COUNTRY-HOUSE.

An accident to my carriage obliged us to stop on the road; and the consequence was, that, although the speed of the horses was increased after repairing the accident, we arrived after our time. The fifteen minutes usually allowed at

English dinners had far more than run out. As we drove up, we saw that the servants had all left the hall, and we feared that the company had gone to dinner. Entering the dravringroom, we found this not quite the case but they were on the eve of going, and we had been waited for. As I advanCed to Lord Castle- h to make the explanation, he at once put all apology aside by saying, play- v, "Never mind: it is all as it should be: America being farthest offi you had a right to more time in coming I " This relieved us; and our associates of the corps, who were standing by, inanxious silence at our dilemma, all witnessed the ingenious excuse which the good breeding of our host suggested for our very late arrivaL

WELLINGTON ON BATTLES.

.General Moreau was s ken of, who fell at Dresden. I said that when he was

in the United States, I once passed an evening in his company; and that he spoke of his sensations of delight on gaining his first victory, saying that he then "felt on a level with his profession:" The Duke remarked, that were he to .mk- of his feelings when it had been his fortune to gain a battle, he would say that they had generally been .painful; for there was grief for those who had fallen; and next, it imposed instantly the necessity of doing more, as no com- mander could remain quiet after victory: a larger view opened to him, often causing anxiety from the difficulties to be overcome for insuring farther advan- tages. I said, that it was a remark of Moreau's, made on the same occasion, that the fault with most commanders, however brave, was backwardness in taking the last step to bring on a battle, especially when armies were large; arising from deep moral anxiety, and, after all, the uncertainties of the issue. The Duke said it was a just remark.

The Archduke Charles of Austria being spoken of, the Duke repeated in effect what I had heard him say to my distinguished countryman General Harper, of Maryland, namely, that he probably had more military science than any of the of Europe contemporary with him. The conversation proceeding, the generals

Duke remarked, in this connexion, that a general might stand too much upon the rules of science while an engagement was going on: there could not be too much attention to them in all his arrangements beforehand, he said; but the battle once began, "the main thing to think of was hard fighting."