The Sun.
London, England, 1812-09-30 00:00:00

.I,OIIN HORSE Etch,.

For the following masterly, delineation of the
character, conduct, and labours, intellectual and.
political, of this man, -Which is found'ednpon a lite
raf hini; lately ;published, but' of which ,oni y a pass -
ing notice is taken, we 'are indebted to Time Quar-
terly Reniew, ' •

[Continued froni our Parer of Yesterday.]

The Ishmael of literature and politics, his
hand was against very man hand, and every
man's handAvas against him. ` Oderint• duns me-
tuant' seems to have been his Mott-9, and provided
lie could excite surprise by, his paradoxes, and
,terror by his abuse, lie cared little.for public es-
teem, and looked to no mart:important-or more
salutary effect.

" His writings and speeches a.ie all composed
in a most.confident accus2tory tone.. It is not
enough for him to S;iiew that ins. adversaries ,were
wrong,
.but he is equally determined to prove that
they Must be dishonest. .Dis Sent from his opinion
was not mere intellectual weakness, but moral
guilt.• No man ever more resoltitely threw away
the scabbard in every attack. He seems', to have
considered the present order of things as one in
'which he could find no proper Place,' and he there-
'fore consoled himself by w\--aging irreconcilable
war against all those by whom it was upheld. He
does not appear to have acted 'on any particular
f:vstc7n,,or to have directed hls efforts towards any
particular obiect. In tact, the occasions which
allowed much active interference on his part: but
seldom occurred., pOpular election, conducted
with circumstances'of extreme party violence, or

.2,F,t2ciety formed to alter-the Constitution or
Con-
trout the Gverunient; Were hiS chief opportunities
for distinction, and' upon these be seized with
great eagerness, and availed-himself of theta With
:great ability. Eutthese brilljant moment's soon
passed ,away : tbe.election was decidedior the so-
ciety was suppressed, and be was condemned to
pass through a long intervatof, quiet and obscu-
rity. ,

Fr
' Oie of his e;arliest,.strongest, and most 'en-
duringfeelings, Was „antipathy to the House of
Coalitions: But, like most other innovators, he
seentB to have thought that there was no harm in
taking advantage of the present system, so long
as it taste,' Old Sarum, that tanding insult to
'the :theory or representat.o, that, bye-word
among reformers,lad the gingi.dar. honour of re-
turning the Rev. Mr. Tooke to Parliament, who
toOk his. Seat _(apparently) without any scruples as
-to t!ic number or 'quality of his constituents„; nor-
does his dislike to the present order of things . ap-
pear to have reached its utmost 'height till the
doors of the House had been finally barred against.
him by an act of the Legislature. . :
" We ,are aware that this character we have
been drawing, so far as we have hitherto prOceed,
ed in the delineation; is not 'particularly calculated
to 'excite affection or respect. Yet we own that
we are much more inclined to regard thissWaste of
his :gents, and this per Version of his feelings; with.
regret and compassion, than with severity and

anger.
" There is nothing that has so unfavourable an
effect upon the heart and understanding, nothing
teat so completely sours the milk of human kind-
ness, as long disappointment and immovable ru-
straint. By a step taken so early in life,- that he
was excusable at least if he did not at once per-.
ceive all its consequences, he was debarred from
the fair exercise of tbose talents with which he
was most highly gifted, and cut off from the at-
tainment of those objects of which he was natu-
rally Most desirous. • We all know the vast share
accident has in forming the greatest, the wisest,
and most virtimus7men ; and we shall ;dot do jus-
tice to the character of Mr. Tooke, if we blame
him for what he was, without considering what,
tinder more propitious circumstances, he might
have been. He was, as' we have already had occa-
sion for remark, the enemy of almost all the emi-
nent men of his tiriie. But if his fetters load been
-struck off, if he had been suffered ,to come down
into the arena, ti.-nd -contend with them upon equal
terms, a malignant and- impotent hostility might
have given place to manly emulation and general
rivalry. Let;us not, however, be misunderstood
as meaning to approve the conduct of those who,
having once engaged in a profession in which the
best faculties of man may be employed to -the best
purpose,. instead of bending their minds to the,
accomplishment of its important dnties,. waste
their days in unbecoming endeavours to ..mix in
struggles which they ought to, shun., and in una-
vailing aspirations _after a greatness' which .they
have, renounced. •
" . have only ventured to offer an
fect excuse arising from the. general weakness of
the huMan•character, and to plead, as it. were, in
mitigation of that heavy censiir. which must at
any rate fall upon talents idly wastod or Mischie-
vously applied.
"Remarkable howtver as those talents were, we
do' trot think they were cf the. first :order. In fa-
vimrable situations he might have been more emi-
neat, and would undoubtedly. have been more
useful ; but under no circumstances' could he, have
really been a great in-an. Promptitude, acuteness,
and Y activity, not .grandeur and apprehensions,
were the charaCteristics of his mind. All . its
,operationS , were confined to a narrow sphere.
What lie saw, he saw clearly, but yisicin did
-not extent far. Wholly occupied in the. s'quabblu
of 'the day, and anxious about the. petty point
which it Was his immediate desire to carry, he
seems to have preserved no just seas 'e of _the
lative magnitude of objects, and behaved as if the
fate of mankind had depended upon :the event of
the Middlesex or Westminster election.
" A iew questions of merely 51oniestic and na-
tional.policy (-none of them except. parliamentary
trefornl, of. much importance) Seem to have en-
grossed all his attention.' In the treatment of
them he' always displayS -infinite subtlety and in-
genuity, • ails' often a great deal of wit ; but his•
chief merit after all, seems to have consisted not
so much in the choice and. temper of his weapons,
'as in the deterity with which he handles them.
His topics. and arguments were the topics and ar-
guments of an ordinary man, only stated with
ruorevaddress and urged with more earnestness and

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force/ but ti-ot- di awn (like thoSe o
friiin-the inexhaustible stores of _an exuberant,
cleVftted; and comprehensive. mind. Hi:-ystrengl-li
lay in "the argtillenhlnt ad hominent and in a
sort. &ingenious speciA pleading upon de-
tails. In these he delighted to dwell, and stewed
.no .desire to escape. from them to More general
and impart'ant sp:ecniattion. Hewas,better pleas
ed in the detection of error than in the investiga,
tiort of truth ; more .an:k-lous to confute and.
an_adversary than to' establish any doctrines
of his own. His speeches and political writings,.
those at least dint are known to be his, are few
and inconsiderable. It is to the nanie .of the writer-
alone that they are indebted for having survived,
the Occasians that gave them, birth ; 'and we should
search them.in: vain for any truces of that sublime
eloquence and profound wisdom which .adorn the
Works. of: the author of -the 11eflexions:. If we
were to pursue any farther
.comvarison which,
perhaps, it is hardly fair to institute, we should
" say, that while it was the .tendency of Mr. Burke's
mind to give dignity and interest even-ta matters
of a secondary and fagitiVe kind, by trea'vg theta
in reference to general principles and' i e int -
portant subjects, it was itilr. Tooke!s. disposition
•
rather to narrow the• ground, and to &scot I to
that . which was temporary and .personal;„
even-when engaged in the coniiderationofones-
. tions, which it was natural to treat upon'a-More
enlarged scale.

(To be cd.tinued.)

yr, 0:4 TI al NS' •o? '4 Saturday's Gazette.

R-ver-OfTec, Se.-yt. 26, 1812.
sth West Inc Ha. Regt., Capt.. 1). Roberts,. from 54th- Foot,
to be Captain-of a Company, vice Smith,.'who exchanges.
.11;ti Ceylon Regt. Lieut. C.Olonel A. M'Gregor Mlrrrav, from
6th. Foot, to be .L.icutenant-Colonel,.viee Cainpbeit, who
e
xchange.,
sth Garrison Battalion, Capt. .1. -Johnston, from the 25th
tiz be Captain of a Company, •rice Graham, who
changes, .
RoyaliVeteran Batt. Brevet-Major C. Caldwell,' from 21st
F6'oc; be Major,. vice Morris, placed on .the Retired

11th Ditto,...Lieut. Thos..Granger, . from 4th Royal Veteran
Battalion, to be :Lieutenant, vice Kemble, plwted on t-4,:a
• Retired List. Pavrnastitr David Wainwright, fi•oin the l'ith
Royal Vet.ran aaitation, to be Paymaster, vice Scott,
tetires . .2 • _ _

12th Ditto, Capt. C. Abrams, from Half-pay of 10th Foot.i!fl
he; Paymaster, vice I.Vaimvrif.-r,ht, appoint,!4 to the 11th _
Royal Veteran. Battalion: John Comins BnlkAey,
to he ,Assistant-Surr,ean, vice Dobyns, deceased.
Nova,gpeotia Fencibl,:s.--Lieut. Col. H..C. Darling, from the
Am!!rican Staff, to he Di eut. Colonel, vice Baynes, appoint-
ed to thecomrnand of the Glengary Fencibles.
• Royal Stall Corns.--Hospital-Mate•David Jearrard to be
sistant.LStirgeori.
Royal' Wekt India Rangers.—Assistant-Surgeon It. Ayl:on,
Ist .We4t3lndia Regiment, to be Suro•con vice Thor tub
appoiate,ilto the 100th. Foot.
• Cape Regiment, Peter Rousseau, Gent. to be Ensign, without
pt,lPdha's-e; vice'l!,l"lnnes, pr,lmoted.
The King's German Legion, ed Itegt. Dragoons, Cadet-Ser
jeaut F. Kuster, from-the Duke if Brunswick Oels' Cavalry,
to be Cornet; vice.Delitiel,:appointed to Battalion of
the Line. r' .
The Duke of Brunswick Oels' Corps, Light InfantrY, titll.l;.:
W. Koch' to be Captain of Company, with, tempOr'ary
rank..
To be Lieutenant:, Ensigns GreiShami F. Ritter
Bolin, vice Koch, and Charles •
To be Ensigns, Serjeants ' vice Griisham,,and
vice Ritterholm. - •
Watteville's. Rt.lgielent, E.- petfichotly,. Gent. to be-Ensigr..,
vice May, pronitged. '
th er..l.!d riot,
Lieutenant Hazen, of 70th PO.,t, are: supsetsWe,.),
absent witlivut lease.

..„
The midtrra,•ntloced itppoitainettL,
(if the 21stsuly• La t, and havt:

viz. ' , . • .
Ensigzi James fiehtlersou, .from the Londonderry 7ili~ia, t 4
tie 1L:1A.76h the .100th Foot. • . . .
Hospital-Mate James Kiv:x t be Assistant-Surpaa in tfic
32d Foot.'

We understand application has been made to
the Contractors of the Lottery, for a certain
Number of Tickets, to be divided into small Shares
for.an Election purpose.; and a desire that they
would take the opinion of tile great Law Officers,
on the legality of .tfieir being given to the Wins
and Children of the Electors ' - all opinion has been.
taken, and the answer is as follows :—" We are
" of opinion, that legal Stainpt Shares may with
" safety be given before an Election, not only to
the Wives and Families of Electors, but eireii
" 'to Electors themselves, as no precise Value call'
" be fixed to them ; for they may he.the .Shares
" of. either• of the Twenty Thousands, Three
" Thousands, One Thousands, or any other of
" the -numerous Prizes with which the Scheme
q abounds ; and as it is at the same time helping
the'Revenue of the Country, no action would
P. G."