The Sun.
London, England, 1847-04-12 00:00:00

S N
APRIL 12) 1847.

was a variation of hue, more like that of a chame-
lion than that of a turn-coat. His Parliamentary
jack et fluctuated in colour like the " dyes " of an ex-
piring dolphin, and ultimately became as dappled as
thejacket of harlequin. Hence, therefore, does the
Quarterly look thus " darkly, deeply, beautifully
blue.' Such, indeed, was the aptitude of Lord Sid-
mouth for coalition with any Government, that he
was once likened by either Canning or Windham
to the small pox, seeing that every Administration
must " have him once." From the import-
ance of the epoch in which he appeared,
more than from any intrinsic eminence as a states-
man, the career of Sidmouth is one of peculiar inte-
rest. The contemplation of his parliamentary life
throws, moreover, much light upon his renowned
contemporaries. Henry Addington, the eldest son of
Dr. Anthony Addington (a distinguished physician and
an intimate friend of the great Earl of Chatham), was
born May 30, 175,5; and was educated successively
at Winchester and. Oxford. In 1772 he commenced his
legal studies at Lincoln's Inn, and was called to the
bar in 1784. Previously, namely, in 1781, he had
been married, and scarcely four years afterwards was
snugly introduced to the House of Commons by being
elected representative of the pocket-borough of De-
vizes. Upon this latter incident the Quarterly pro-
nounces an eulogium on the old rotten-borough-mon-
gering system—an eulogium as impudent as laugh-
able. "We cannot," says the reviewer, " allow the
old system to be defrauded of the merit of having
introduced Lord Sidmouth into Parliament, where he
probably would never otherwise have arrived. The
instances of ary of our eminent statesmen having been
the produce of populous constituencies are very rare."
Surely the West Riding of Yorkshire is forgotten.
Surely the manufacturing districts of Manchester are
forgotten, and the populous district of Stroud, and
scores of other constituencies! But if rotten boroughs
were really the only channel through which legisla-
tivegenius.could flow, then, say we, the Parliament now
sitting is one of the grandest phenomena of the 19th
century. On entering Parliament, however, Adding-
ton took no effort to improve himself by participation
in " the athletic struggles of debate." His tacitur-
nity was confirmed by his nomination to the Speaker-
ship in 1789. " For the chair," says the Quarterly,
"he was eminently well qualified—a commanding
figure, a handsome and dignified countenance, a clear
and sonorous voice, a gracious manner, an imperturb-
able good temper, youth, health, and strength, with
unwearied diligence and patience, and a peculiar
aptitude for that species of formal business in which
the Speaker is so particularly engaged." As the
Reviewer very truthfully acknowledges, this splendid
portrait exactly tallies with the qualifications of the
present Right Hon. the Speaker of the House of
Commons, Charles Shaw Lefevre. A facetious anec-
dote is about this period quoted of Dundas and Pitt
entering the House one evening considerably flushed
with wine. Next day Addington rallied the latter
with having so disturbed the clerk at the table, as to
have given him a violent headache. Pitt replied
thereupon " that he thought it an excellent arrange-
ment that he should have the wine and the clerk the
headache." An anecdote this, enshrined afterwards
in the " Rolliad :"

" P.—l cannot see the Speaker ! Hal, can you ?
D.—Not see the Speaker ! hang it, I see two."
When the Quarterly, by-the-way, indulges in
panegyrics upon the extraordinary genius of William
Pitt, we can freely sympathise in those panegyrics,
though we must, of course, mourn the egregious
misapplication of such vast intellectual powers ; re-
membering well, as Byron has said, that
tt, lei), had his pride,

And, as a high•soul'ct'minister of state, is
Renown'd for ruining Great Britain gratis."

But when the Quarterly grovels down into absolute
idolatry (p. 502), and strives to aid in apotheosising its
idol, the gorge rises. Influenced by the atmosphere
of ceremonial that always surrounds, Mr. Speaker
Addington gradually acquired a pomposity of speech
and demeanour that clung to him ever afterwards. It
was in 1798 that he so far forgot his duty, as to
connive at the duel between his friend Pitt and Mr.
Tierney, who then exchanged shots on Wimbledon Com-
mon. And, towards the conclusion of the year 1800,
he and Pitt met for the last time " in the unleavened
cordiality of private friendship." Ambition and vanity
then began to estrange them from each other, and
their jealousies were consummated by differences
respecting the Roman Catholic question. From the
animosity of George 111. to any concessions in that
quarter, it is notorious that Pitt resigned, and that
Addington was, in 1801, called upon to form an
administration. Here it was that the new first Lord
of the Treasury received the memorable nick-
name of THE DOCTOR from Canning,—Addington
having earned his diploma by recommending a pillow
of hops as a soporific for the mad old king. Never
was such nepotism as that of the Doctor, on grouping
together his ministerial colleagues : such cramming in
of cousins and brothers-in-law, and uncles, and what-
not : such snug family arrangements as to the emolu-
ment derivable from sinecures ! Among others there
were, Tilley Addington, Bond, Golding, Adams, and
Bragge, afterwards known as Bathurst. In sarcasm
at once of this favouritism in the distribution of the
sugar-plums of office, and of the stumbling delivery
of the unfortunate Doctor, Canning sung—
" Cheer him when he hobbles vilely,
Brother Bragge and Brother Miley
Cheer him when his audience flag,
Brother Miley—Brother Bragge !"
From the other facetiat and pasquinades perpetrated
by the witty Canning upon the Addington Adminis-
tration, the reviewer selects three : we transcribe
them for the amusement of our readers, with two at-
tributed to Pitt.
"In allusion to those specious orations with which
Addington used to captivate the country gentlemen,
Canning quoted 'I do remember an apothecary . . .
gulling of simples!' On another occasion, when Ad-
dington was loftily enumerating his various measures of
national defence, Canning interjected, loud enough to be
heard, Oh, most forcible Feeble!' The relative merits
of Addington,' he said, might be determined by the
Rule of Three inverse:—
. Pitt is to Addington—.
As London is to Paddington!'

..
And we have half forgotten a French epitaph which
concluded—

Cy git
Ministre par lutsard et Medeein malgre lui.'
Mr. Pitt himself would in private indulge a smile at his
successor's somewhat prosy orations. We heard very
lately from one of the company still happily surviving,
that about this time Pitt, who was expected to a dinner-
party, did not come in till the second course, 'begging
pardon for being so late, as he was obliged to hear Ad-
dington out; and the Doctor, you know, travels with his
own horses!' As we are on these light matters, we may
add another specimen of that quiet, dry humour which
Mr. Pitt possessed, but seldom indulged in. On his
Additional Force Bill,' in 1805, he had a meeting of
country gentlemen—militia colonels, we think—to con-
sider the measure. One of these gentlemen objected to
a clause for calling out the force, which he insisted
should not be done except in case of actual invasion.
Pitt replied, That would be too late;' but the gentle-
man
they came t
anstillinsisteo otdabontbeher
la
case of
to renderactualin theva forceiior. B
myaonrde
disposable; the same gentleman objected again, and in-
sisted very warmly that he never would consent to its
being sent out of England—' except, I suppose,' rejoined
Pitt, ' in case of actual invasion.'
The latter anecdote is as familiar as No. I. of
Joseph Miller, and it has not even the credit
of being neatly told. About this period of Addington's
biography the writer gives an account of the official
labours and industrious regularity of King George
111., which it may be interesting to extract:—

"The King saw his Ministers once a week at levee, when
those who had any business that could be transacted ver-
bally- went into the closet; and on any emergency he was
always accessible; but the greater part of his commmi-
cations with them was in writing. The Minister sub-
mitted the matter in the third person, and a simple form :
bomurittladoersytyocsrcomnsa
jidesetrya,tsion,
The King has received or, "fhe
ap-
proval;' and the King replied invariably (or nearly so)
as,ac Morr. . transmits
Addington
King returns the warrant'—' The King is much Pleased'
—or, The King regrets,' and signed without any supple-
mentaryin a similar style:
words, George IL,' or 'G. R.'
forsuy
His Majesty was very methodical and punctual in
his arrangements, and he expected ordinary business to
be transmitted in dispatch-boxes over night, to be ready
for his inspection at a fixed and . early hour of the
, morning. Boxes from the 11oni© and Foreign Offices

PRICE SD.

went almost every night ;—from other departments as
occasion required. Once a week he had returns of the
state and distribution and movements of every ship and
regiment of the navy and army in particular forms,
which he examined and observed upon, and certain of
them were retained for his own use. These and other
routine communications from the various departments
usually, we believe, reached the King on Thursday
morning, because, as the levee was on Wednesday, he
might there receive any verbal communications explana-
tory of the papers that were to be looked at next day.
He was very careful never to cause any unnecessary de-
lay, and in order, we presume, to prevent the possibility
of his dispatch-boxes being delayed in their transit for
any undue purpose, he carefully noted the hour and
minute that he received and sent them. Business extra-
ordinary or of any immediate interest was received at all
hours, and dispatched with like regularity and celerity.
No clerk in a public office or banking-house was ever
more assiduous or accurate in the daily discharge of his
duties than King George III."
With all his constitutional idiotism and bigotry
the old monarch was exact in public buiness, even to
punctilio. As everybody knows, the most memorable
transaction of the Addington Cabinet was—The
Peace of Amiens ; but, as everybody does not know,
the rupture of that famous treaty by the presentation
of the celebrated message of the Bth March, 1803
(announcing the pretended hostile preparations of
France, and calling upon Parliament for additional
means of resistance), was effected in a grotesque
Oanning-smiled up6n the -presentlition of
the message, and Addington, without explaining the
cause of Canning's merriment, complained of the cir-
cumstance to Lord Malmesbury. We well remember
the cause of that merriment, says the writer in the
Quarterly Review—
" When Addington brought down the message—
whether he had happened to be with the King sad had
not time to change his dress, or whether, as was thought
at the time, he meant to give more pomp and solemnity
to the occasion—he presented himself at the bar in the
WINDSOR UNIFORM, and marched with the message up
the House with a peculiarly erect and military air. In
this sportive exhibition Canning's eye caught the pride,
pomp, and circumstance of glorious war;' and he made
himself and others very merry with the Doctor—Doctor
Caius—in his belligerent character."
Shortly afterwards the Doctor's administration
was falling to pieces, and the Doctor appealed to his
predecessor to combine with him in forming another
Cabinet—Pitt taking a subordinate position. " Pitt!"
exclaims the Reviewer, in a paroxysm of just indig:
nation, "Pitt ! who at five-and-twenty had refused
any secondary place—Pitt! who had been twenty
years First Minister—Pitt! to become a subordinate,
and that, too, in a rickety Ministry, of which, with
an inferior share of authority, he was to bear all the
burden! " Oh ! the impudence of the Doctor ! Such
was the decadence of power with the Addingtonians,
that, on the Naval Inquiry Bill the division was 130
for the Opposition, 201 for the Ministers. The
writer hereupon gives us another pleasant anecdote :
" The Scotch Members dividing against Addington
on this occasion," says he, "Sheridan, on entering
the House, addressed him in a stage whisper, altering
only ene syllable in the despairing ejaculation of
Macbeth—' Doctor! the Thanes flee from thee. "

On the 10th of May, 1804, Addington was no longer
Prime Minister. After Pitt's death, on the 23d
of January, 1805, Addington organised the
famous " piebald Administration, called All the
Talents." Previously, on the formation of Pitt's last
administration, Addington had been elevated to the
peerage as Viscount Sidmouth. On the demise of
Fox, Sept. 14, 1806, Sidmouth again changed office,
and in the following spring the fabric of the Talents
was in ruins. It is amusing to find the Quarterly
sneering at the Dean of Norwich for, inasmuch as he
justifies the antagonism of Lord Sidmouth to the
second Copenhagen expedition in 1807, by quoting
Mr. Jefferson, and then to find this same hypercritical
Quarterly giving a counter-quotation half way down
the very same page,. from whom on earth does the
reader imagine ? Why, from Citizen Fouche !
Fouche, a wretch we would not believe on his solemn
oath, sworn upon the four Gospels, on his deathbed I
We were prepared to hear the Reviewer characterise
Lord Sidinouth's whole political life as "a
whirl of inconsistencies," but we were scarce])
prepared to find him the deliberate apologist
of the Peterloo massacres ! Having recorded
that Henry Addington otherwise Lord Sid
mouth, otherwise the doctor, died on ThursdaN
the 15th of February, 1844, we shall close this epi
tome of his career. The biography which we have
just noticed at such length is altogether a delightful
gossiping paper, and breathes as much of the spirit
as of the intelligence of the Quarterly Review.

COLBURN'S UNITED SERVICE.
This is a most interesting and instructive number,
not only to the professional but also to the general
reader ; it contains subjects suited to every taste,
although, of course, the greater number relate to the
distinguished services to which it is especially devoted.
It opens with an article by Lieutenant-General
O'Kounoff, on the " New Employment of Artillery,
and the Revolution it is destined to produce in the

System of Modern Tactics." Anything proceeding
from the pen of so distinguished an officer, on a
subject of such paramount importance, must prove
in the highest degree interesting to those who are
desirous of becoming acquainted with all the detail,

of the profession to which they have devoted them
selves. Napoleon was well aware of the great value
of his artillery as an element of victory; and it was
perhaps to this knowledge, and the use he made
of it, that many of his most successful efforts may
be attributed. The science is as yet, however,
in its earlier stages, and we may consider it as more
susceptible of improvement than any of the other
arms used in modern warfare. Each day adds to our
knowledge of projectile forces. New explosive com-
pounds have recently been discovered, the full effects
of which it is as yet impossible even to speculate on.
Many inventions have been announced, which, if at
all in accordance with the claims put forward in their
behalf, must occasion a complete change in the art of
war. All the improvements that have taken place,
the introduction of new and more destructive wea-
pons and instruments have had the effect of rendering
wars less frequent and less bloody. The triumph is
more speedily achieved. The Generals can calculate
with greater certainty the result that can be attained
with the materiel at their disposal. Victory no longer
is obtainable by strength of body, or mere brute
force but by the skill and judgment of the general. We
can scarcely look for any great additional strength
being given to our cavalry or infantry. New evolu-
tions may be introduced, other tactics may be disco-
vered, but we cannot suppose that men can be pro-
cured of greater steadiness and fortitude, of more iron
frames, vigorous action, and unflinching bravery than
the gallant veterans who have so well maintained the
honour of their country at all times and seasons. We
may hope that whenever this hour of trial may arrive
the sons may emulate the deeds of their sires, rival
their exploits, and become equally meritorious sol-
diers, but they can never surpass them. In that re-
spect we fearlessly assert that we have reached the ne
plus ultra. There cannot either be a very great im-
provement in their armament. The firelock and
bayonet will still be retained in the hand of the
foot soldier, and form his chief weapons of offence and
defence. The sabre, the lance, the pistols or carbine,
of the dragoon, but it is otherwise with the ordnance.
There is no assignable limit to the career of discovery.
It is to that vast and unexplored field that the atten-
tion of men of science will be directed. New inven-
tions will be brought forward. More deadly corn
pounds will be produced, and in all human probability
the day will come when, in the words of our author,
"The art of battles will be based upon the efforts of
artillery, which will henceforward, from a secondary,
become the principal arm of modern armies." We
have four chapters on this all important subject; the
first is introductory, and the General compares the
battles of Eckmuhl, Wagram, Austerlitz, and Boro-
dino as illustrations of the system of attacking the
centre, which, if successful, effects the most signal re-
sults, leading to the entire disorganization of
the defeated army, but which from its ex-
traordinary difficulty has fallen into disuse,
and that, by what are termed "movements of
conversion," or attacking the extremity of