sake expose his capital to be destroyed; and that in consequence of his having resolved to grant the terms demanded by the English, one of which was, the departure of the French embassy, he had sent the Ambassador his passports, and required him to lose no time in making use of them. Sebastiani prepared to obey the order, and told the French merchants to shift for themselves as well as they could; when, to the surprise of every body, the English squadron changed its course, and instead of sailing straight up to the Seraglio Point, bore away for the Princes' Islands, and took a station three miles from any spot from whence offensive operations could be undertaken. There the squadron was kept wind-bound for 12 days. A negociation was indeed begun; but the opportunity for action being lost, of course it failed.

4. On the distinctness of the orders given by Lord Howick to Mr Arbuthnot, there never has been a controversy. He was to require the removal of Sebastiani; but he was to insist peremptorily on the restoration of the Hospodars, and the passage for Russian ships of war with stores and transports through the canal of Constantinople, according to treaty. He was told, that peace or war would be the consequence of the answer of the Porte; and that, if satisfaction on these two points should be refused, he was to declare his mission at an end, and signify to the British admiral that hostilities were to commence.

5. With regard to time, these orders, with a squadron to enforce their execution, followed, within six days, Lord Howick's first despatch to Mr Arbuthnot, written immediately on his being made acquainted with the state of affairs at Constantinople;-a despatch in which Mr Arbuthnot was distinctly informed, that his whole preceding conduct in support of Russia had been approved, and that both orders and squadron would be sent to him in four or five days from the date of it. By the papers laid before Parliament, it appears that Mr Arbuth not received this first despatch on the 22d of January, but that he did not stay to receive the second; having judged it expedient to quit the residence in the night of the 29th. Whether, in this, he was right or wrong, is nothing to the present question. The Government could do no more than they did: they could but send him a force, adequate to the object to be attained-adapted in its quality to the end desired-accompanied by precise instructions how to use it ;-and it has been seen that they did send it in six days after they had received the information that rendered the measure necessary.

Here we close our remarks on the conduct of foreign affairs during the short administration of 1806, so far as they concern

the charge brought against Great Britain of abandoning Russia, and, with Russia, the common cause of Europe. We think it has been clearly proved, that Russia separated herself from this common cause, by the pursuit of objects incompatible with it in every shape, and in every sense. But we cannot dismiss the subject, which is become doubly interesting at the present hour by the events which have recently occurred, and the prospects which are opening before us, without some observations on the policy to which the slightest reflection upon the transactions we have developed obviously and irresistibly points. A Revolution, we can call it by no other name, has taken place in the military state of Europe, by the destruction of the mightiest combination of its armies that it ever put forth against a single state; and we see that state, in return, advancing to avenge its own injuries; and, we will hope, to restore peace to the world, on solid and equitable foundations. Let not our hopes, however, incline us to reject our knowledge. The days of magnificent promise, and of sanguine expectation, are again arrived-and with them the hazard of rash enterprize and ruinous disappointment. Without discouraging Russia from the pursuit of her present path— without suffering a doubt of her motives to arrest our hand, wherever we can extend it with effect, let us not, in the cordiality of our present exultation, disdain the lessons of the past. If the time be favourable to the reestablishment of our connexions with the Continent, it is highly necessary that we should fix some definite principles on which they may rest, that the true benefits to be derived from their renewal may not be lost in visionary projects and unfruitful triumphs, or be utterly cast away as soon as a moment of reverse shall rekindle those passions and jealousies and interests, which a moment of good fortune has extinguished.

It is for this reason that we must be more than ordinarily cautious in our advances on this doubtful ground: and, without depriving our system of the power of expansion, necessary to embrace any advantages which may present themselves in times so full of uncertainty, we should do well to take our ideas of good rather low, so that all we may effect beyond them may be counted as clear gain. There is no other state but Russia that can yet be said to be out of hazard of French conquest and occupation-and we shall do well, therefore, to look to Russia alone in our present projects for the restoration of the ancient system of Europe. Then we should take great care to stipulate for nothing we cannot be sure may be performed. England and Russia cannot deliver the world-But they can maintain their alliance in spite of it. A treaty for such an alliance, taking for its basis the principle of joint war and joint peace, would appear

therefore to be sufficient, in the present state of things, to constitute a foundation on which any political edifice of larger dimensions, might hereafter be raised. If an alliance be formed with her upon a more extended scale, and embracing objects exposed to the risk of failure, such failure will inevitably, as in former instances, draw along with it the loss of the whole alliance; and we shall have nothing but the coalition of 1805 acted over again :-Whereas, if our alliance is limited to a community of relations in war and in peace, but rendered strong enough to endure until France shall be forced to recognize it,— whether we fail or not in reducing France to accede to the whole of our demands, we are sure of success in the destruction of that system of Continental exclusion through which alone she can seriously affect our existence: For, let it ever be recollected, that the efficacy of what is called the Continental System, depends upon its completeness in all its parts. It is indeed the deepest and most mischievous contrivance ever yet devised for the gradual extinction of England. If then Great Britain and Russia can maintain their intercourse, it matters comparatively but little at what period they make their treaty with France. By the very fact of a joint treaty, signed between the allies as one party, and France as another, the Continental System is at an end: and the world is all before us, as well as before our

enemy.

But a still more important consideration remains. We should enter into no concert with any power whatever, to the stipulations of which, all States called Independent may not accede without prejudice to themselves. Any treaty or engagement, therefore, involving, or leading to acts of partition of other countries, would, in the present moment, be the height of absurdity, as well as wickedness. It is only from the voluntary union of the principal States of Europe, produced by a sense of their wrongs, and a just hope of redress, that the world can expect relief. If Russia is influenced by a remote hope of adding to the acquisitions she has made since the peace of Tilsit-if Sweden tells us that she will not stir without some prospect of compensation for the robbery committed upon her by Russia in the seizure of Finland-and fixes that compensation in the states of a power that asserts her right, and expresses her readiness to embark with us in the great work in hand, -from that moment the principle of disunion is planted in our confederacy and the same errors that have already dissolved five of these incoherent masses, will, by sure consequence, destroy the sixth.

These principles are not only good for Great Britain in making her engagements with Russia; they are those which

must govern Russia in her contracts with every other state. By this time, she must be well aware that without Austria it is idle to talk of making any durable impression on the French power. Let her look to this in her arrangements with Prussia and Saxony; in her plans for Poland; in her speculations towards the Danube and the Mediterranean; and beware of consolidating the Austrian and French interests, and converting what is now perhaps but a mere family alliance, into an effective national union.

We are aware that these notions are much too moderate for some of our high-fiying politicians, whom the Russian successes have again brought forward upon the scene. It may be so;--but we have an old-fashioned veneration for Experience, and still are steady followers of the divinity of Prudence.

believe also, that so much substantial good is truly within our reach, as to feel a more than common share of dislike to all gaudy projects that may lead us out of the path which conducts. to it.

QUARTERLY LIST OF NEW PUBLICATIONS, From November 1812, to February 1813.

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A Treatise on the Culture of Wheat, recommending a System of Management, founded upon successful Experience. 8vo. 7s. 6d. Farmer's Magazine; a Periodical Work, exclusively devoted to Agriculture and Rural affairs, (Published Quarterly.) No. 53, being No. I. of the 14th volume.

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