to have seen or heard of such an example of weakness, pride, and self-sufficiency. SECT. 5. Of the Austrian Generals. Marshal Lacy was the Emperor's military favourite. He was certainly an able man, and well calculated for conducting the official management of an army in the departments of adjutant and quartermaster general; but, for actual service, Marshal Laudohn is unquestionably the superior officer. I understand that neither of them, though the first is of Irish, and the second of Scotch extraction, entertain the least friendly feeling towards England. On the contrary indeed, Lacy is a decided partisan of France. Laudohn has the Scotch features distinctly marked in his countenance. He speaks no English, and very little French. SECT. 6.-Sir Robert Murray Keith. He was descended from an ancient family in Scotland,was bred to the military profession, but preferred the diplomatic line, and was the British minister at Denmark, when Queen Matilda was in such danger from the conspiracy against her. For his services on that occasion he was promoted to the superior embassy at Vienna, where he is much liked and respected. He holds the English character very high, and says, that of 600 English who had been recommended to him, not one, (with a single exception), was ever detected in a lie. He is a zealous patriot, indefatigable in business, and punctual to a minute. He has great quickness in decyphering, and soon discovered what was meant by the following characters, without having seen the key, Drzť mzl wk bke jkofolw fk kozw frqg xbjrok The Key. abcdefghijklmnopqrstu w x y z He considers Vienna to be the centre of European politics, and often complains that the British ministers, neither pay the ne cessary attention to his communications, nor are sufficiently regular in writing to him. He says, that he has been sometimes a month without receiving a single dispatch. "It would be better, he remarked, to send me packets of old newspapers, than to leave me totally neglected." On my arrival at Vienna, I received from him the following friendly note: Sir Robert Keith presents his best compliments to Sir John Sinclair, and assures him of the most hearty welcome to Vienna, where he will spare no pains to make his stay agreeable. He has ordered a servant to carry the last English newspapers to Sir John's lodgings. On the whole, none of the foreign ministers could rival, in regard to abilities, our own ambassador, Sir Robert Murray Keith; nor was it possible to have any representative more truly anxious to fulfil the duties of his office, or to promote the interests of his country. At some courts they are not fond of having able foreign ministers sent to them, lest they should make important discoveries. Frederick the Great pitched on a very able man to reside at Vienna. The Emperor treated him very ill, upon which Frederick sent a person tinguished for his deficient intellect, and to him the Emperor behaved with all the politeness and affability imaginable. SECT. 7.-Baron Born. dis This celebated mineralogist was a person of first rate abilities, but distinguished by the greatest simplicity of manners. In the course of his mineralogical investigations in the winter season, he contracted a disorder, by which, for above sixteen. years, he had been tortured every winter, with almost intoleIable pains in his limbs, rendering his existence, at that season of the year, almost intolerable. I have seen him bite the table with anguish; and in his agony he exclaimed, “ Si j'étois un Anglois, je me tuerois *." * If I were an Englishınan, I would kill myself. He said, that the system of amalgamation, (which is by far the best process that has ever yet been discovered, for extracting metals from ore), was invented by the Arabians. It answers for gold, silver, copper, lead, and perhaps tin; but not for iron. It makes copper so pure, that it resembles the copper brought from China, in colour and other properties. Baron Born's process, not only extracts a greater quantity of metal, but he will do, with half an ounce of mercury, what the Spaniards at present can hardly effect with fifteen ounces. He calculates, that it will add at once to the produce of the Spanish mines two millions of florins, (German), or about L.220,000 sterling. By his exertions, the mineral productions of the Austrian dominions were raised to about sixteen millions of florins, or L.1,700,000 sterling *. The only means of restoring the value of the British mines, now so much depreciated, would be, by the introduction of the same processes in this country. Baron Born informed me, that they make iron as well with charred peat or turf, as with the charcoal of wood, at St Gallens in Styria. Works for that purpose might be established in the Highlands of Scotland, in districts where ironstone and peat abound. I received from this distinguished mineralogist, a copy of his Treatise on Amalgamation, which I got translated by Raspe, a German mineralogist, into English. But unless "a board "for mines" were established, to direct the public attention to improvements in the art of mineralogy, the efforts of any private individual will be of very little avail. An account of the mineral productions of the Emperor's dominions in Germany, an. 1783. SECT. 8-Dr Ingenhouz. The Doctor was a native of Holland. He lived much in London, and was particularly intimate with that respectable physician, Sir John Pringle, who was President of the Royal Society. The Empress Maria Theresa having desired Sir John to recommend a physician to inoculate her family, he sent Doctor Ingenhouz. This makes him very attentive to the English. He is famous for his skill in the modern discoveries of electricity, fixed air, &c. The Doctor has always some curiosities to shew his friends, as an apple, which smells very pleasant, and is so enormously large, as to weigh a pound; also green-frogs, which are as handsome as such an animal can be; and amusing, from the manner in which they hunt flies in the glasses in which they are kept, &c. Miscellaneous Hints. It was stated by Baron Born, that the first drawn, or purest coal tar, is found, by the people in the Tyrol, to be an excellant remedy for curing the wounds of cattle and horses. It is called stein-oil in that country. In the Emperor's gardens near Vienna, I was struck with the wool of the Cactus melicactus. It grows to perfection in Jamaica and our other West India Islands, and it is said, might be converted into a species of fine cloth. The Austrian muskets are primed at the mouth, and thus the tedious process of priming is avoided. This is accomplished, by making the touchhole larger than is usually the case. But as sometimes more powder gets into the lock than is necessary, they have a guard to protect the eyes of the soldier from the flame. I was surprised to see the streets often filled with felons loaded with heavy chains, guarded by soldiers of the police, and employed in sweeping the streets. They were dressed like monks; and until I heard the rattling of their chains, I thought that it was a new order of that fraternity. AUSTRIAN CORRESPONDENCE. 1.-PRINCE ESTERHAZY, Ambassador from Austria to the Court of London. There is no part of the Continent, where the exertions of the Board of Agriculture, for the improvement of that art, were more highly appreciated than in Hungary; nor is there any district in Europe possessed of greater natural advantages for the practice of improved husbandry. Nothing indeed is required, but skill and capital, and easy access to foreign markets, to render Hungary one of the most productive and thriving countries in Europe. I had frequent discussions with Prince Esterhazy, both on the improvements which might be made in the vast possessions belonging to his family there, but also on the means of meliorating the financial circumstances of the Austrian empire; and had at one period an intention of taking another short excursion to the Continent, for the promotion of these objects. The following letter will explain, how zealously the Prince entered into my views: MY DEAR SIR JOHN, I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your obliging letter of the 22d ultimo, inclosing a document the value of which I fully appreciate, and for which I feel particularly obliged, but still more so for the offer of your personal services in aiding the execution of your valuable views, founded upon such extensive experience for improving the agricultural and financial state of a country. I am exceedingly happy, that at your advanced age you are in the enjoyment of good health. I am, my Dear Sir John, yours truly, Chandos House, December 17. 1821. ESTERHAZY. |