and that she flattered herself, his disease had been rather less troublesome to him for some time past: "My dear child," said he, looking in her face with an earnest and animated expression, "Don't "talk of my disease: I have no disease "but old age. I know that Mrs. Drum"mond and my son are of a different " opinion; but why should I distress "them sooner than is necessary. I know "well that no physician on earth can do 66 me the smallest service: for I feel that "I am dying; and I thank God, that my "mind is prepared for that event. I leave "this world in peace and good will to all "mankind.-You know the dread I have "had of ou living my faculties; of that I "trust there is now no great probability, "as my body decays so fast.-My life "has been a long one: and prosperous, on "the whole, beyond my deserts: but I "would fain indulge the hope, that it has "not been useless to my fejlow creatures. 66 My last wise regarded my son and you, my dear child; and I have lived "to see it accomplished: I am now ready "to obey my Maker's summons."He then poured forth a short but solemn and impressive prayer. On leaving the garden, he said, "This is my last farewell to "this place: I think I shall never see it I go to town chiefly to satisfy "Mrs. Drummond, otherwise I could "willingly have remained here. But go "where I will, I am in the hands of Al"mighty God" "more. "He left Blair-Drummond in the beginning of Noverober; and the Court of Session meeting soon after, for the winter, he went thither on the first day of the term, and took his seat with the rest of the Judges. He continued for some little time to attend the meetings of the Court, and to take his share in its usual business, but soon became sensible that his strength was not equal to the effort. On the last day of his attendance, he took a separate and affectionate farewell of each of his brethren. He survived that period only about eight days. He died on the 27th of December, 1782, in the 87th year of his age. A letter which he wrote within a few days of his death to Lord Gardenstone, as a member of the Board of Trustees for Arts and Manufac tures, and a personal application which he made within the same period, to his friend Mr. Arbuthnot, the Secretary of the same board, in beh If of a very deserving man, who had fallen into indigence, bear testimony, that his mind was occupied, even in its last moments, with matters of public concern, and of private benefi ART. XII. Some Account of the Public Life, and a Selection from the unpublished Whitings of the Earl of Macartney. By JOHN BARROW, Esq. F. R. S. 2 vols. Quarto. GEORGE, EARL OF MACARTNEY, was the only remaining son of George Macartney, and the only male descendant of his great-grandfather of the same name, who was a Captain of Horse, and resided on an estate which be had acquired in the county of Antrim. At the revolution in 1683 he proclaimed at the head of his troop King William and Queen Mary, for which he was soon after obliged to fly into England and was attainted. On the settlement of Ireland, however, he was restored, and returned to Belfast, where he soon after died. George Macartney, the subject of the present memoir was born May 14th, 1737, at the family mansion of Lissanour. At an early period of life he was placed under the tuition of the Rev.-Dennis, whose library principally consisted of works in theology, heraldry, genealogy and chronology. Young Macartney's fondness for books led him imperceptibly, from want of others, to the study of such as were to be had: And to the early exercise of his memory on these subjects he used to attribute in a great degree the peculiarly retentive faculty for which, through every part of his future life, he was distinguished. At thirteen he was admitted a fellow commoner of Trinity College, Dublin, and proceeded Master of Arts in 1759. From Dublin he came to London, and entered the Middle Temple, but without any view to the practice of the Law. Shortly after this time he made the tour of Europe, and it is probable acquired that knowledge of the politics and character of different European courts, and of the strength and resources of different states, which qualified him so well for the public career which it was his destiny to run. into an exclusive engagement with A seat in the House of Commons was the first object of his ambition; and as he had formed intimacies with some of the leading characters of the time, to obtain it could be a matter of no great difficulty. Lordticle: Mr. Barrow has pleaded the Holland and Lord Sandwich, the cause of his client with dexterity latter of whom was then Secretary and zeal, and the issue of the busiof State for the northern depart- ness was a sufficient acknowledgement, had made an arrangement to ment of the policy as well as of bring him into Parliament for the the defensibility of Sir George's borough of Midhurst, but the affairs conduct. The new English minisof Russia having at this time as- stry, however, affected to be highly sumed a very interesting appear- indignant at the liberty which their ance from the recent revolution envoy had taken, and particularly which had placed Catherine on the at the introduction of a clause which throne, it was thought that Mr. Ma- they considered as a reservation in cartney's talents and political know- favor of Russia, and an infringeledge might be still more advan- ment on the navigation act. They tageously employed at the Court of refused to ratify the treaty: it was St. Petersburg. The old treaty of re-written; the objectionable clause commerce of 1734 had long since was left out; it was again sent to died a natural death; and Catherine England: in short it was thrice was so little disposed to renew it, «Sent bootless home and weather-beaten that she had given a flat refusal to back," Lord Buckingham, on the ground that it was not intended to enter before it was definitively settled, and then with his majesty's ratification was transmitted an announcement that Mr. Hans Stanley was apappointed embassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the Court of St. Petersburgh. Sir George felt very acutely this ungrateful treatment: in one of his letters he says "nothing in heaven could bribe me to pass the last six months over again; mortified and dejected as I am, I have long since disclaimed the least hope of applause for any ministerial endeavours, however judiciously conducted or fortunately concluded," &c. But eventually he enjoyed his triumph all the British merchants resident in Petersburg expressed in a public letter "their entire and unreserved approbation of every article" in the treaty, and on his return to England, Mr. Stanley resigned his appointment of Minister extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the Court of Russia, and Sir George Macartney was immediately appointed to succeed him! An acknowledgement thus wrung from the Ministry of his upright and wise conduct, and of the futility of their own charges against him was a triumph which he could hardly have expected. Sir George had been received in the most flattering manner by the Empress, who presented him with a magnificent gold snuff box enriched with diamonds on his departure. An anecdote occurs here-we have many others in store-indicative of his disinterested spirit: notwithstanding that he had contracted a personal debt of 6000l. in order to support his ministerial character with appropriate splendor, he declined accepting the service of plate which it is customary for ambassadors to be presented with; he declined the equipage money, and every other emolument except their Majesties' pictures. On the first of Feb. 1768, Sir George was married to the Right Hon. Lady Jane Stuart, second daughter of the Earl of Bute. Having refused the honor of ambassador to Russia, he was now chosen member for Armagh, and went over as Chief Secretary of Ireland with Lord Townsend who was the first resident Lord Lieutenant of that country; here he remained about three years, and supported the cause of government with great zeal and disinterestedness, having waved the acceptance of a place of 2000l. a year in order to accommodate the Lord Lieutenant. On his return, he was made a Knight of the Bath: about two years afterward she was further rewarded for his services in Ireland by the appointment of Governor and Constable of the Castle and Fortress of Toome, with a salary of about 1000l. a year. In Oct. 1774, he was returned a member of the British Parliament for various Scotch boroughs, and in Dec. 1775 was appointed Captain General and Governor in Chief of the Southern Caribbee Islands of Grenada, the Grenadines, and Tobago. On the 10th of June 1776, his Majesty was pleased to advance him to the peerage of Ireland, by the title of Lord Macartney, Baron of Lisanoure in the county of Antrim. On his arrival at Grenada he found the island distracted by party and religious feuds: the Scotch party and the French bore inveterate enmity against each other. This rancour he endeavoured to appease, and succeeded in restoring harmony among these theologic zealots. He contrived by his address and judicious conduct to conciliate all parties, and he actually composed and established a militia of those very men who, before his arrival, had been endeavouring to tear each other to pieces. It was a part of this militia which, together with the garrison, made so gallant though ineffectual a defence against the lity by vigour, inaction by activity, and out, of confusion to invoke order. On the 14th of Dec. 1780, Lord Macartney was nominated Governor and President of Fort St. George; the nomination of the directors had the concurrence of the proprietors, and he was sworn in the next day without even the ceremony of a ballot. On the 21st of June 1801, after a passage of four months, he arrived before Pondicherry. The army was at this time under the command of Sir Eyre Coote, and the naval forces under that of Vice Admiral Sir Edward Hughes, from which latter Lord Ma Count d'Estaing when he attacked the island with a very superior force. By the capture of Grenada, Lord Macartney suffered considerably in his private fortune, and he never received any compensation whatever. The loss of his papers was irreparable: having made it a rule from bis outset in life to write down whatever new matter of information he collected, whatever observations occurred in the course of his reading, it must be presumed that these papers contained documents and remarks of no ordinary value. To add to his misfortune, the Supply, store-ship, in which Lady Macartney had taken her passage for Eng-cartney first learned intelligence of land, took fire at St. Kitt's where it stopped to collect the convoy, and every article on board, including duplicates of many of these' papers, was consumed. His Lordship remained but a short time as a prisoner of war at Limoges, before he obtained, through M. Sartines, the permission of the king of France to return to England, where he was immediately exchang ed. We are now arrived at that period of Lord Macartney's life in which the powers of his mind and the qualities of his heart had the amplest room for expansion: India was the great and splendid theatre in which he was to display the incorruptibility of the patriot and the various wisdom of the statesman. . The enormous and unblushing abuses which for many years had disgraced the administration of government in the Carnatic; the scenes of plunder, perfidy, and violence which had been exhibited in that ill-fated country rendered it necessary that some man of emi. nent talent and integrity should be sent to fill the vacant presidency of Madras; to restore confidence, if possible, to the native princes, by stemming the torrent of corruption and of fraud; to supplant imbeci the war with Hyder Ali; of his bold invasion of the Carnatic, the illsuccess of the British arms, and the general gloomy appearance of our prospects in every part of India. Hyder Ali's detachments had approached to the very gates of Madras: the neighbouring country was abandoned both by Europeans and natives; the nabob of Arcot and his family had been compelled to take refuge in the town; all supplies, except by sea, were cut off, and those rendered precarious by the activity of the enemy's privateers. No assistance was to be expected from the native princes of India who had entertained but too wellgrounded a suspicion of our ambition and ill-faith; the presidency of Bengal was engaged in an inauspicious war with the Mahrattas, and could promise no permanent assistance; and, lastly, as the consummation of all, the British army itself had shown a very serious disposition to mutiny on account of the arrears of pay which were due to it. Such was the inauspicious crisis at which the government of the Carnatic was assumed by Lord Macartney. But it was not his character to despond; he met the danger boldly and manfully: money was distributed among the troops in payment of their arrears; provisions were obtained for the army; the subjects and allies of Great Britain were inspired with confidence in her resources; and while it was his object to impress the enemy with dread of her power, he desired only to obtain an equitable peace without extension of territo ry. As hostilities had now commenced between Great Britain and Holland it was evident that the Dutch, would purchase amity of Hyder Ali by annoying the English. Accordingly the first step that Lord Macartney took was to get possession of the two Dutch forts of Sadras, and Pulicat, the one being to the north the other to the south of fort St. George: within the first week of his arrival Sadras surrendered, and the fall of Publicat soon followed. Sir Eyre Coote defeated Hyder Ali on the first of July near Porto Novo; and at this seasonable moment of superiority it was that Lord Macartney endeavoured to conciliate the Princes of the Peninsula, and made overtures to Hyder Ali himself. The reply of that great warrior sufficiently indicates the distrust which had been engendered by former transactions with the company's government. "The governors and Sirdars," he observes, "who enter into treaties, after one or two years return to Europe, and their acts and deeds become of no effect. Prior to your coming, when the governor and council of Madras had departed from their treaty of alliance and of friendship I sent my vakeel (agent) to confer with them, and to ask the reason for such breach of faith; the answer was that they who made these conditions were gone to Europe." Lord Macartney had received strong assurances from the Nabob of the Carnatic, of the pacific disposition of the Mahrattas: he immediately sent propositions to the court of Poonah, offering the restoration of certain provinces and islands which he knew had either a political or religious value in their eyes. This proposition had so good an effect that no hostilities were afterwards committed by the Mahrattas against the English, and it paved the way for that peace which, through the mediation of Scindea, was shortly after made with them by the government of Bengal. The revenues of the Carnatic for a period of indefinite duration, and not less than five years were assigned exclusively into the hands of Lord Macartney; the Nabob had already received the most convincing proof of his Lordship's disinterestedness and integrity in his rejection of one of the highest bribes that was ever proffered to a governor of Madras in a single sum, namely two lacks of pagodas or 80,000l. As the war in the Carnatic had in a great measure been carried on in defence of the Nabob's possessions, it was deemed just that a large portion of the revenues arising from those possessions should be appropriated to the support of it. After infinite difficulty Lord Macartney obtained this assignment. Concerning the justness of taking the revenues of the Nabob, for it is quite an abuse of terms to call the assignment of them voluntary, it would be useless to deliver an opinion, unless that opinion were backed with those reasons for it which would involve a long historical disquisition. Mr. Barrow has defended the measure, not on the principle of necessity merely, but on that of equity: Lord Macartney did the same; and so high an opinion do we entertain of his honesty, that we believe if he could not have defended it on the latter ground he would not have attempted to defend it on the former: To this investment, however, was owing the |