time; and it was not till the actual hour when they had gathered the whole mass of destruction, which a touch was to let loose on Prussia, that they condescended to take the bandage from their eyes, and send them back to their insulted country. The negotiation had begun on the 20th of February, 1806. Lord Lauderdale received his passports on the 6th of October; on the 9th, Napoleon was in sight of the Prussian army, and on the 14th he fought the fatal battle of Jena. In three hours he drove the Prussians from the field with the loss of 60,000 killed, wounded, and prisoners; and followed up the battle by the capture of all the Prussian soldiery, the surrender of all the fortresses, the seizure of the capital, and the pursuit of the king,-the total subjugation of the Prussian monarchy! Then was paid the long arrear of vengeance for the blood and chains of Poland.

Fox was now dead, and the guidance of this disastrous administration had fallen into the hands of Lord Grenville. No compassion was felt for the growing embarrassments of a man who had abandoned the principles of his master. The honourable portion of the country rejoiced to see the cabinet bewilder themselves from day to day, until there was but one false step more to be made-and they made it.

The whigs had come into power under a pledge to the Catholic question. They found the king adverse to its discussion. They endeavoured, in the first instance, to elude it, and yet retain the Catholics. They endeavoured, in the second, to grant it, and yet retain the king. They failed in both. The Catholics pronounced them deceivers: the king gave them that practical proof of his opinion, which of all things they dreaded most,-he dismissed them. And thus, in the midst of general joy, perished the coalition ministry; leaving no record of their existence, but in two bonsmots of Sheridan.

On Lord Henry Petty's iron-tax being withdrawn, some one suggested a tax on coals, to make up the

deficiency. "Poh," said Sheridan, “do you want to raise a rebellion in our kitchens? The cooks are worse than the blacksmiths. Tax coals instead of iron! that would be jumping out of the frying-pan into the fire."

But it was the Catholic question that excited his chief displeasure. None more thoroughly knew the secret of cabinet sincerity. He looked upon the question as a tub to the whale, and had no forgiveness for the sport in which his own office was to be wrecked. "Why did they not put it off, as Fox did," said the angry ex-treasurer of the navy; "I have heard of men running their heads against a wall; but this is the first time I ever heard of men building a wall, and squaring it, and clamping it, for the express purpose of knocking out their brains against it."

But the deed was done; a Protestant ministry was established by the king. The coalition was totally broken down; and Lord Grenville, exiled from power, never to return, was left to learn the bitter lesson, that no man can abandon even political professions with impunity.

All the laurels on this occasion remained with the king. Those who doubted his capacity, were now brought to their senses by the fact, that he had capacity enough to turn out the two most assuming administrations in the shortest time known. The Fox and North coalition, pronouncing itself an assemblage of all the public talent of England; and the Fox and Grenville coalition, formed on the same contempt of public opinion, and making the same boast of matchless ability, were each turned out in little more than a year. The single step between "the sublime and the ridiculous,"* was never shorter than in the latter instance. Insolence is not made to be forgiven; and the titles of "the broad-bottomed ad

*The pithy maxim on this subject, which has been so often given to Napoleon's knowledge of the world, belonged to Paine. His celebrated phrase, la nation boutiquière, belonged to Barras,

ministration," and "All the talents," threw this conclave of self-sufficiency into national ridicule.

But it was the insincerity that sharpened, as it ought, every weapon of public scorn. The pen and the pencil were equally keen; and if popular applause were the object of ministerial dreams, never was vanity more universally chastised.

The following lines were attributed to Canning:

ALL THE TALENTS.

When the broad-bottomed junto, all nonsense and strife,
Resign'd, with a groan, its political life;

When converted to Rome, and of honesty tired,

It to Satan gave back what himself had inspired;

The Demon of Faction, that over them hung,
In accents of anguish their epitaph sung;
While Pride and Venality joined in the stave,
And canting Democracy wept on the grave.

"Here lies in the tomb that we hollowed for Pitt,
The consistence of Grenville, of Temple the wit,
Of Sidmouth the firmness, the temper of Grey,
And Treasurer Sheridan's promise to pay.

"Here Petty's finance, from the evils to come
With Fitzpatrick's sobriety creeps to the tomb;
And Chancellor Ego,* now left in the lurch,
Neither laughs at the law, nor cuts jokes on the church."

Then huzza for the party that here's laid at rest-
"All the talents," but self-praising blockheads at best:
Though they sleep in oblivion, they've died with the hope,
At the last day of freedom to rise with the Pope.

The national feeling had been strongly aggrieved by the debate on giving a public monument to Pitt. On this occasion, it could not be expected that Fox should give any peculiar homage to a government which he had been opposing for so many years; but his tribute to Pitt's personal abilities and virtues did himself honour. This manly example, however, was lost upon some of the speakers; and Windham attracted no trivial resentment by a volunteer attack

* Erskine.

upon the memory of the great minister. It was a public cause, for England loved the name of Pitt, and looked upon it, as she still does, as a sacred part of her glory. Some stanzas of a poem which imbodied the general sentiment had unusual popularity :

ELIJAH'S MANTLE.

When by th' Almighty's dread command,
Elijah, call'd from Israel's land,

Rose in the sacred flame,
His mantle good Elisha caught,
And, with the prophet's spirit fraught,
Her second hope became.

In Pitt our Israel saw combined
The patriot's heart-the prophet's mind,
Elijah's spirit here:

Now, sad reverse!- that spirit reft,
No confidence, no hope is left;
For no Elisha's near.

Is there, among the greedy band
Who seize on power with harpy hand,
And patriot pride assume,

One on whom public faith can rest-
One fit to wear Elijah's vest,

And cheer a nation's gloom?

Grenville!-to aid thy treasury fame,
A portion of Pitt's mantle claim,
His gen'rous ardour feel;
Resolve o'er sordid self to soar,
Amid Exchequer gold be poor;

Thy wealth-the public weal.

Windham !-if e'er thy sorrows flow
For private loss or public wo,

Thy rigid brow unbend;
Fears over Cæsar Brutus shed;
His hatred warr'd not with the dead-
And Pitt was once thy friend.

Illustrious Roscius of the state!
New-breech'd and harness'd for debate,
Thou wonder of thy age!
Petty or Betty art thou hight,
By Granta sent to strut thy night
On Stephen's bustling stage.

Pitt's 'Chequer robe 'tis thine to wear;
Take of his mantle too a share,

Twill aid thy Ways and Means;

And should Fat Jack and his cabal,
Cry," Rob us the Exchequer, Hal!"
Thou art but in thy teens.

Sidmouth-though low his head is laid
Who call'd thee from thy native shade,
And gave thee second birth-
Gave thee the sweets of power and place,
The tufted gown, the gilded mace,

And rear'd thy nameless worth;

Think how his mantle wrapp'd thee round:
Is one of equal virtue found

Among thy new compeers?

Or can thy cloak of Amiens stuff,
Once laugh'd to scorn by Blue and Buff,
Screen thee from Windham's jeers ?

When Faction threaten'd Britain's land,
Thy new-made friends-a desperate band,
Like Ahab, stood reproved:

Pitt's powerful tongue their rage could check;
His counsel saved, mid mankind's wreck,.
The Israel that he loved.

Yes, honour'd shade! while near thy grave,
The letter'd sage, and chieftain brave,
The votive marble claim;
O'er thy cold corse-the public tear
Congeal'd, a crystal shrine shall rear,
Unsullied as thy fame.

CHAPTER XIV.

The Spanish War.

THE deliverance of Europe began, when, to human eyes, it was ruined beyond hope. The continent was at peace-the dreadful peace of slavery. The sword was the only instrument of dominion. The final struggle had been made, for even that mutilated independence which nations could enjoy, in perpeY