When it was resolved to deprive Lord Thurlow of the Seals, none of the Ministers seemed willing to be the person to demand them, (which it was desirable should be done personally), from the ungracious reception which it was supposed he would meet with. At last Lord Melville was prevailed upon to undertake the task. He adopted the following plan for that purpose. The evening before, he sent a note to the Chancellor, informing him, that he proposed having the honour of breakfasting with his Lordship next day, and that he had some very particular business to settle with him. On his coming next morning, Lord Thurlow said to him, "I know the business on which you have come. You shall have the bag and seals. There they are," (pointing to a table on which he had placed them); " and there is your breakfast;" of which they partook very sociably together. Lord Melville said, that he never saw Lord Thurlow in better humour, and they parted apparently very good friends.

I shall now briefly detail a circumstance very little known, with which I became acquainted, by mere accident, but which I am happy to relate, as it places, in the strongest point of view, the distinguished talents which Lord Melville possessed as a war minister. It will also illustrate a point in his character, to which I have already alluded,—his facility in planning measures to be executed at a great distance, and in laying a foundation for events, capable of producing, at a considerable period after, the most important consequences.

*

Hugh Cleghorn, Esq. happened, during a residence at Neufchatel, to contract a friendship with the late Comte de Meuron, the Colonel Proprietor of the Swiss Regiment of that name; and fortunately discovered, that it would be possible to prevail upon him, to change the Dutch service for the British, by which means, we should be enabled to acquire

The

• He is still alive, and resides on his estate, near St Andrews in Fife. particulars of this important transaction were communicated to me by him and by William Soper Dempster, Esq., who gave material aid to the plan on Mr Cleghorn's arrival in India.

Ceylon, and thus increase the security of our Indian empire. This plan being detailed in a memorial to Lord Melville, then War Minister, and President of the Board of Controul, his discerning and decisive mind instantly seized the idea. The measures recommended by Mr Cleghorn were approved of, and he was immediately dispatched to Switzerland, with authority to act as the circumstances of the case might require. In less than a month from Mr Cleghorn's departure from London, a capitulation for the transfer of his regiment was settled between the Count de Meuron and him, and the former proceeded to India, which, after surmounting many difficulties, he at last reached. The instant he arrived in India, the Count dispatched his aid-decamp express with the necessary documents to Ceylon. Colonel F. De Meuron, (brother of the Count), who commanded the regiment, was permitted by the Governor to leave Columbo. That corps joined our army on the coast; and the island itself, deprived of its principal force, surrendered without a blow. The same corps afterwards formed a part of the gallant army, to which Seringapatam, (Tippoo Saib's capital), surrendered. It was owing to these circumstances, that we were enabled to annex the important possession of Ceylon to our dominions in India, and to avert those dangers, to which our eastern empire would have been unavoidably exposed, had that important island remained in the possession of an European enemy *.

⚫ It afterwards appeared, that the celebrated Marqnis de Bouillé had formed a plan, in conjunction with the Dutch government, for attacking our Indian empire from Ceylon. The plan of attack was found among M. Fagel's papers, upon the taking of Amsterdam, by the Duke of Brunswick. Spain was to furnish its quota, and all the native powers were to furnish theirs. Malantique. Governor of the Isle of France, managed the arrangements and correspondence with the native powers. Our Indian empire, therefore, was indirectly preserved from attack, if not from conquest, by the French Revolution, for nothing but the disturbances in France prevented the attempt.

Lord Melville was a great friend to decision in business, and it was with him a favourite maxim, "That delay leads to procrastination,-procrastination to neglect, and neglect to oblivion." He considered it extremely desirable, in a free constitution, that there should be parties steadily opposed to each other, that the measures of those in power might be vigilantly scrutinized, and when unable to stand investigation, successfully resisted. Hence he occasionally gave as a toast,

"A strong administration, and a firm and able opposition." The celebrated John Wilkes had the highest opinion of his oratorical powers. He thus discriminated to me the talents of the principal speakers in the House of Commons. "Fox has most logic, Burke most fancy, Sheridan most real wit, Pitt excels in command of words, and ingenuity of argument, but Dundas, with all the disadvantage of being a Scotsman, is our greatest orator. There is (he added) much sound sense, and no rubbish in his speeches." At first he had great difficulty to obtain a patient hearing, owing to his Scotch pronunciation and dialect. But these defects were soon forgotten, from the force and ability with which his sentiments were delivered. As it was late in life before he got into Parliament, he thought it better, not to take any particular pains in correcting those national defects; and the House became so much accustomed to them, that they proved no material detriment to his success as an orator.

VII.

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE SPENCER PERCEVAL.

A short while before the death of Mr Pitt, one of his particular friends said to him, "What would become of the coun

try, if we lose you? Where could we find a successor ?" Mr Pitt answered, in one word, " Perceval."

The merits of this young lawyer, for at that time he had not attended much to politics, were not known or appreciated. But when he became a statesman, I do not recollect any individual, who made so rapid an improvement in the new line he had entered into; and he proved, (even by the admission of those who were opposed to him), that his parliamentary talents were well adapted to his ministerial rank and situation. He spoke without the disagreeable cant of the bar; was never tedious; was peculiarly distinct in matters of business, and explained his financial measures with clearness and ability. His style, when in opposition to Lord Grenville's administration, was singularly acute, bold, sarcastic, and personal; but after he became a minister, he adopted a tone more suitable to his official character, and delivered his sentiments, without that passion and vehemence, by which his elocution had been formerly distinguished. He found, however, that a minister, however great his talents, was liable, without experience, to fall into great errors. His agreeing to the appointment of a committee, regarding the rate of exchange with foreign countries, which was the means of introducing the bullion question, was one of the most unfortunate mistakes that ever a minister committed, and more especially his permitting Mr Horner to name, with very few exceptions, the members of the committee. The consequence was, that when the committee was preparing its report, Mr Perceval was outvoted in regard to the principles which the committee were to recommend; and the bullion report was presented to the House with all its deformities.

In fact, we had just then completed the greatest political discovery of modern times, "That nothing could so greatly contribute to the prosperity of a nation, as to be independent of other countries for its medium of circulation." Sir James Steuart, in his immortal work on Political Economy, had long be

fore inculcated that doctrine *. From necessity we had fortunately adopted it, and we had derived from it the most important advantages. The bullion committee, on the other hand, had accumulated in their report the ancient dogmas of the old school, and proposed to have our currency regulated by the narrow notions of Dutch and Hamburgh merchants, to which the committee unfortunately gave all the sanction of parliamentary authority. Had not the greatest exertions, therefore, been made, to arrest the mischief, the most ruinous consequences might have been anticipated. It is demonstrated to the plainest understanding, that money, whether copper, silver, gold, or paper, is merely an affair of convention; and as we despise those nations who have not advanced from the gross invention of copper, to the higher improvement of gold, so we ought to pay but little attention to the sentiments of those who, with all the experience we have had, both in prosperous and adverse circumstances, of the beneficial results arising from a circulation in paper, and the ruinous consequences of a standard exclusively of gold, cannot yet elevate their minds to comprehend, the astonishing advance that is made in political improvement, when paper, properly regulated, supersedes gold, and " a home money" is created, by which we are rendered independent of other nations for the materials of circulation,-materials which can only be obtained by immense sacrifices of real wealth.

It may be proper to add, that nothing can be more groundless than the assertions of those who contend, that we were bound to return to cash payments, within six months after the conclusion of a definitive treaty of peace; for Parliament had declared, in its resolutions on the 14th and 15th of May 1811, No. 16, "That though it was highly important that the restrictions on the payment in cash of the Bank of England should be removed, yet that such removal should not take place, until the political and commercial relations of the

• See book iv. p. 2. ch. 7, vol. ii, p. 157, 4to edition.