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    THE EARL OF DUNDONALD'S ATJTO-BIOGKAPHY.*

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    KECENT NOVELS.*

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    ^ reference to the fair flowers , and the ripe and wholesome fruits . Dr Johkson says of himself , that he performed a long and painful voyage round the English language for eight long years- he toiled incessantly to make it what it is j he stamped upon it the power arid dignity of his own lofty mind . It is replete with the clear intelligence and vigour of the ungoty mind which modelled it ; and who can read the compilations ^ of his splendid genius without admiring the lofty grandeur of his style ; the purity and correctness of his language ? his ideas shine out in all the simple majesty of truthand his words bear the

    , intrinsic merit of the pure ore of the English language . Grieved , indeed , and mortified would the great linguist have been , could he have foreseen that the whole surface of that language he laboured so lon ° - and arduously to render clear and comprehensive , should be so overgrown , in this boasted age of literature and improvement , by a host of mongrel words and unintelligible and unsightly slang , so that a glossary of the English language for the use ot Englishmen will soon be found necessary for the clearer elucidation often thousand and one slang words and cant expressions

    now in daily and hourly requisition . It is strange , indeed , that in allthe expensive course of education and accomplishments which the young people of this polite age receive , before they can make out their letters patent to the term finished , they must seem to have learned the first rules of the English grammar to speak and write the English language with propriety .

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    rpHAT England has passed through an age of corruption which JL might parallel in many of its phases the worst examples of Continental despotism , is clear from the exposure made by the late Earl of Dundonald of the enormities as affecting himself , committed during the Castlereagh , Oroker , and Ellenborough dynasty . We may build on this fact a well-grounded hope that , notwithstanding the passing abuses of the Italian administrations , or the doubtful conditions of the Gallican dictatorship at present existing , or even the enormous tyrannies still prevailing in Austria and Russia , there yet remains a future for all these countries , in which the principles of liberty may shine as brightly as they now do in our native land .

    The second volume of the Earl of Dundonald ' s biography lies before us , and , together with his recent demise , is calculated to impress a character on public opinion not at all favourable to that of our Government less than fifty years ago . If in the course of less than half a century , we have made such advances out of a despotism so odious , that , were the same public crimes attempted in our days , they would be at once pronounced intolerable , and proved to be impossible ; what may be not hoped henceforth by other countries that have already cast oft" the chains of false traditions and their allegiance to despotic absolutisms , and entered upon new paths that

    promise progression , and already present visible signs of commencing- improvement ? Painful as are the incidents of Lord Dundonald ' s life , and shameful as they are to the administration of our country , they take from , this point of view a more cheerful aspect , and lead forward to prospects that are abundantly encouraging to those sentiments which animate the friends of the human race and the advocates of international reform . Though it may have been only too clear that Astrea had long ago left the earth , and still remained absent at a very recent date , yet there is reason to believe that her return is decreed , and will not be now much further

    delayed . In our former article we sufficiently described the case of Lord Gambier in the Aix Roads , and the trial of his Lordship in consequence of his attempting a signal illustration of that noble rulo of polioy , " How not to do it . " That samo rule was further illustrated in the trial itself , when every attempt , was made to prevent the truth from appearing . Wince the publication of his first volume , his Lorship had received permission to inspoot tho doouments at the Admiralty , formerly refused , so that , therefore , he was able to place the wholo statement before tho reader in thy most aoourate form . This wo find dono in tho present volume . It is muoh to the credit of tho Palmbrston Government that thov have so readily granted what was so sturdily refused by their

    predecessors . Tho aocmittal of Lord Gambior had boon based on a chart made by Mr . Stokes , tho master of Inn flag-ship , this chart , inoorroot as it was , was subsequently tampered with . After a lapse of eight yearn from tho court-martial , matorial alterations had been made by permission of the Board itself , and under tho direction of one of its officers . Facts of this kind , of oourse , only made Lord Dundouuld more anxious to inspect all available documents . But his cimo seemed hopolosw , as thu Admiralty perainted in tho statement that thoc . o wanted wore lost or mislaid ,

    or roturnod to the parties interested . However , when Lord Dundonald had obtained pornuMtuon to inspoot tho promiscm , ho met with a new astonishment . " Tho reader , " he reoorda , " may judgo of my Hurpriso on discovering , i , n its proper place , bound up amongst the Naval ltooords , in tho usual ollioial manner , the vety vlutrt t / to possession qf which had Leon denied hg a former Board of Admiralty , " To this lot uh add anothor quoted sentonoo or two . "It " is , theroforo , only after tho lapse of fifty-one years , and in my own eighty-fifth year , — a postponement too late for my peace , but not for my justification , —that I am , from ofiloial dooumonts , and proofn doduood from official documents , which wore from the , first and still aro in the

    possession of the Government , enabled to remove the sti gma before alluded to , and to lay before the public such an explanation of the fabricated chart , together with an Admiralty copy of thu chart itself , as from that evidence shall place the whole matter beyond the possibility of dispute . It will , in the present day , bo difficult to credit the existence of such practices and evil influences of party spirit in past times , as could permit an administration , even for tho purpose of preserving the ¦ pt'cstiqc of a Government to claim as a glorious victory (!) a neglect ' of dtity which , to use the mildest terms , was both a nayal and a national dishonour . "

    The evidence is full and complete ; and what is better , the public have it all before them . Here is the official French chart , which was rejected for one since declared to be notoriously inaccurate , and now confessedly cooked up for the occasion . This chart , shows an entrance of two miles , without shoal or hindrance of any kind , between Isle d'Aix and the Boyart Sand , instead of one mile , as falsely and purposely stated in Mr . Stokes ' s fabricated chart . The rise of tide marked on the chart was from ten to twelve feet ; in reality , it was from eighteen to twenty feet . Yet the defence of the cominander-in-chief was that there was not sufficient water at half-flood to float the ship ! " A singular circumstance , " says Lord Dundonald , " connected

    with the rejected chart should rather have secured its reception , viz ., that it was taken by mv own hands out of the Ville do Varsovie , French line-of-battle ship , shortly before she was set fire to , and therefore its authenticity , as having been officially supplied by the French government for the use of that ship , was beyond doubt or question . I also ' produced two similar charts , on which were marked the places of the enemy's ships aground at daylight on the 12 th of April , as observed from the Iniperieuse , the only vessel then in proximity . " Lord Pundonald thought it was a singular circumstance , that notwithstanding the chart was flung under the table and rejected by the court , he found it bound up amongst the Admiralty records . . .

    The rejected chart would have proved what was inconsistent with the acquittal of Lord Gambior . The ship's log would' have proved tho " same , and the testimony of eminent officers went to the same effect . The point was , that there was plenty of channel room to keep clear of the batteries on tho Isle d'Aix , together with abundant depth of water ; and that the commander-inchief , in ordering all the ships to come to an anchor , in . place of sending a portion of the British ships to the attack of the enemy ' s vessels aground on the north-west part of the Palles Shoal , on the morning of the 12 th of April , had displayed a " mollessc "—as it was happily termed by Admiral Graviere—unbecoming the commander-in-chief of a British force , superior in number , and having nothing to fear from about a dozen guns on the fortifications of Aix ; which , had the ships been sent in along the edge of the Boyart , could have inflicted no material damage , either by shot or shell . _ . _

    The fabricated chart was produced , the judge-advocate on the trial said , " to save a great deal of trouble . " To which Lord Dundonald rejoins , " No doubt tho trouble of confirming the Commanderin-chief's neglect of duty in not following up a manifest advantage , as would have been shown had the court allowed the Neptune Franeoise itself 'to have been put in evidence ; for it would have shown a clear passage of two miles wide , extending boyond reach of shot , instead of tho one mile passage in Mr . Stokes ' a accurate outlines of the French chart , and no shoal where lie had marked only twelve feet of water ! That the president should have allowed this to pass , after having himself detected the imposition practised on the courtis a point upon which I will not comment . "

    , Wo must reserve for another number the further history of Lord Dundonald ' s persecutions ; the intercut now attached to his name and deeds will fully authorise such continuation . At tho moment at which we are no \ v writing , this deeply-wronged Englishman is receiving the honour of burial in Westminster Abbey .

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    A NEW novel , by Mr . John Saundera , author of " Love < n Martyrdom , " is just published , amd , in our opinion , likely to achieve considerable popularity . Tho poetical aspirations of tliw writer aro well known , and much interest and curiosity hns consequently boon raised relative to this , his first essiiy at prose fictitious narrative . Tho work boforo u . s , which i « couched in lanuungo ii (» t only effective and characteristic , but singularly cluwto and poetical , in constructed upon tho excellent principle of gradually developing tho characters and incidents *; tho interest gaining almost uneon-Huiouwlv u » on tho reader , irrowinsr stronger and stronger with every

    Hucuoodingr chapter , till lii » attention is completely absorbed ,, un «» his mind prepared for the final dcuonvment . This mode of working out tho plot in fictions of thus kind may bo considered too drainntu ' by some reviewers but is , iii fact , the only method by which im author can hopo successfully to arouHc and retnin tho oxe » lonu » u and nympnthios of Ium vodderH . This , Mr . Wuundcrs has cornplotuu succeeded in doing ; his story , which in many of its olouiontH «« thoroughly original , i « built up and curried to a climax in tlio hiohi . masterly manner , and tho very most is made of the u " I r !! < V , i ' winch it is compoHod . His oliamctorH aro all cnvofully and BKimuij

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    * ZTh « Autobiography

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    944 , The Saturday Analyst and Leader . [ Nov . 17 , 1860

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    The fihaduw In tlm Ihuw . Bv John Bimmlori * ,. iiutUov of " Lovo n Wnrl > « loin . Londoni Loolnvood and Co . —Valentine / Juvali an Autoblo ^ rafhu f ''" . /*" CeiUitri / . Kriltod by tho nutuor of " Mary Powell . " London , i IClolinrcl Jjon w . Lalt in Oeyloti . Uy William Ualton , nuthvr of "Tlio Wlillp IS oph «« ' . "• ' /!!! Tl « or , "*« . Wllli IlliiHtrntlHiin by Harrison Wolr , Londoni Orl Tlih anil 1 'nunn-Kiiwrton ' t Annual '/ on Hoys , 1801 , London i Dod worth and llnrrlopn .

    The Earl Of Dundonald's Atjto-Biogkaphy.*

    rHE EARL OF DUNDONALD'S AUTO-BIOGKAPHY . *

    Kecent Novels.*

    KECENT NOVELS .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 17, 1860, page 944, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2374/page/8/