The Sun.
London, England, 1827-04-26 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

NAPOLEON IN THE OTHER WORLD.
p.p. 406. Loadon, 1827.
This is a well-written, but somewhat obscure
book, confused in its conception, laboured in its
execution, yet everywhere evincing marks of a
well-informed mind. It professes to be a ma-
nuscript, found by a Chinese at the tomb of Na-
poleon. On opening it, this Chinese discovers that
it contains a record of the conduct and conversa-
tions of Buonaparte in the other world, reported
(to use a characteristic phrase) by himself ; and
bearing, of course, on many of his most noted
achievements, extenuating some, denying others,
and indirectly, by comparing them with the acts of
his illustrious predecessors, giving them the
superiority. This, at least, we gather fi om a first
perusal ; but whether there be any further recon-
dite meanings contained in the volume, (and
we shrewdly suspect there are) we cannot say—
for the execution is so ill-contrived, the charac-
ters so numerous, inconsistent, and shadowily
pourtrayed, and their introduction—if we except
a select few—so perfectly superfluous, as to
defy all comprehension. Scarcely a man or
woman who has figured in the world, from the eighth
to the eighteenth century, even up to the present
1827—provided he or she be no longer living,
—is omitted in these pages ; they all too converse
with Napoleon, whom the author thus affords
himself an opportunity of vindicating. In the
opening a Genius is represented as showing Buoy. a-
parte the existing state of the other worlds, among
which is that allotted to conquerors. Here the
" illustrious departed" meets many of his old
companions, but by what act of justice he alone
escapes, while thousands infinitely less culpable
are represented as suffering, the author's own
conscience must decide. After going the
rounds of about two dozen upper hemispheres,
and contrasting with regret the good he did with
what he might have done ; after conversing with
Prince Schwartzenburgh, shaking hands with
Madame De Steel, and forgiving Lord Castle.
reagh, the penitent Napoleon, his purgatory com-
pleted, is permitted to enter the realms of ever-
lasting bliss. So far so good, that a penitent
should be forgiven is all perfectly natural,
but, unfortunately, Napoleon is represented
throughout the work, as little better than a
maudlin hypocrite ; his repentance therefore
looks more like indigestion than conviction.
We are surprised at this, for the author is mani-
festly well read, and even partial to his hero ;
bow comes it then that the impression left upon
his readers is that Napoleon was merely an ill-
used, inoffensive little gentleman, not a man
of iron mould," but one endowed with
le most simpering sensibilities. There are
some people (the class,'by the bye, is rather nu-
merous) whose very friendship is hazardous ;
who, with the kindest dispositions in the world,
ire yet, from a certain want of tact and fore-
thought, liable to perpetual misconstruction, and
who invariably ruin those whom they would most
wish to serve. Our author is one of these;
';is " curiosa infelicitas" is really extraordinary ;
he has written a book with the avowed object of
'ulogizing the Emperor, yet proves himself one
of his bitterest enemies. " Pol me occidistis
imici" said the ill starred wight in Horace; Ne-
soleon may say the same.
,It is not, however, so much in detached pas-
sages as in the tendency of the whole book that
this spirit evinces itself. The author seems to
have grappled with a subject too lofty for his
•omprehension ; and the translator—for it is a
translation, we perceive—is manifestly in the
same predicament. Another defect in the volume
,s its want of object. The conversations tell
'iothing—lead to no conclusion—point no moral
—they are simply specimens of Royal chitscbra,
(very royal indeed) and in the instance of she
nettle of Waterloo, are incorrect. Napoleon de-
•;erves a far better commentator. With all his
lefecta—and let it never be forgotten that
these were, for the most part, of a noble
stamp—he was a man of magnificent intel-
lect, and one in whom the better feelings of
nature preponderated. A dispassionate peru-
sal of the numerous volumes which record
his later (and in two instances) his early days,
will prove that he has been shamefully misrepre-
sented. He was the enemy of England, it is
true, but should that make him a demon ?
He was ambitious, but should no allowance be
made for an infirmity, which, dormant in the base,
quickens only in superior natures? He was ade spot,
but never yet did a warrior ascend the throne by
such guiltless means, or during his reign extend
so zealously the glory and the prosperity of
France. It has been the fashion to compare him
with Cesar ; no comparison, we think, can exist
between them. Success in the Roman's time,
especially in war, was as much the result of for-
tune as of skill ; in Napoleon's more scientific
sera it could only be obtained by desert. The mind
of Caesar, though versatile, was vain, trifling,capri-
cious, and in more instances than one, contemp-
tibly effeminate; that ofßuonaparte was profound,
inflexible,and,aboveall,comprehensive. Csesar was
a Dandy; witness hiscommentaries, which, though
fraught with a certain fashionable elegance of style,
are yet sleepy, insipid, and devoid of character.
The language of Napoleon, on the contrary, (to
say nothing of his National Code) was terse and
stern, always masculine in conception, and not
unfrequently sublime ; resembling in this last re-
spect the Chippewa American chiefs, whose
war harangues, as Hunter assures us, are models
of lofty thought. In fact the whole character
of this first of warriors will bear the most inqui-
sitorial scrutiny, and, if studied, with a view
to improvement, will inculcate the noblest moral.
It will show the lowly and the discontented that
the paths of ambition are fraught not so much
with danger as with misery ; that the super-emi-
nent in literature, in war, or in the cabinet, are
super-eminent also in sorrow ; and that even in
the midst of their proudest triumphs, in the
midst of those very successes which have drawn
on them the admiration and the envy of the
world, that even then—

modio do route Isporam
Lurgit amari aliquid plod in ipsia floribus angel.

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SPIRIT OF THR PUBLIC JOURNALS.

While the ministerial negotiation is pending,
ministerial places are still filling up.` Mr. Scar-
lett is appointed Attorney-General, stepping in
this case over Sir N. Tindal—an unusual, but
not unprecedented proceeding : and only un-
usual, because divided or broken Administrations
are so. Mr. Canning's offer of the Attorney-
Generalship to Mr. Scarlett is attributed to the
force of early recollections, as well as the eminent
professional skill of the gentleman promoted:
there may, perhaps, also exist the further desire
of conciliating the Whigs, by thus volunteering
the advancement of one of their party. Mr.
Scarlett has likewise this prospective or contin-
gent advantage from the nature of the office of
which he has accepted—that should an Admi-
nistration be formed, in the present shaking and
confusion of parties, of which he may not make
one, he can, if he be not already satiated with
professional fame and emolument, recur to the
practice of the bar. The situation of Sir J.
Copley, now Lord Lyndhurst, and Chancellor,
would be different; it is not in his power
rerccare gradum."—The Hon. W. Lamb,
the son of Lord Melbourne, is mentioned as the
Irish Secretary ; and it shows a singular degree
of scrupulosity on the part of Lord Lansdown,
that his Lordship is said to be contented with
the appointment, if it were likely to be perma-
nent ; but the situation of Mr. Lamb's father
rendering it not improbable that the son may
soon be called to the House of Peers, it is doubt-
ful whether he would be succeeded in the Secre-
taryship by one of a similar opinion on the Irish
question. Having, then, presented our readers with
a real and a rumoured appointment in the course of
one day, we think that we have done much, consi-
dering the rate at which the Mi..istry is filled up.
We shall probably attempt no more in this day's
kitunal. The Duke of Devonshire paid a visit to
Ins Majesty yesterday; and Lord Dudley first
transacted business at the office of the Foreign Se-
cretary. The rumours, at an hour subsequent to
that at which the preceding was written, were—
that the Duke of Devonshire declined office except
in conjunction with the Marquis of Lansdown, with
whom the negotiations were still open. Mr. Scar-
lett's acceptance of office is entirely with the appro-
bation of the Whigs.—Times.
The clear and intelligent letters of our Lis-
bon Correspondent may, in general, be safely
consulted by all who seek to form their opinions
respecting the state of affairs in the Peninsula,
on an accurate representation of facts. We can-
not, however, refrain from pointing out an error
in the reasonings of our Correspondent, who
seems to conceive that the Emperor Don Pedro
exceeds his authority by the appointment of Dr.
Abrantes, General Rego, and other Portuguese
subjects, to offices within the kingdom, on the
ground that by a former compact with his father,
the exercise of power in both Brazil and Portu-
gal could not be enjoyed by the same individual
Monarch. Now, it is explained by Don Pedro
himself, that his resignation of the Crown of
Portugal was, at the moment of signing the
Charter, prospective only, not simultaneous with
that act—and not an absolute, but a contingent
resignation—contingent on the performance of a
certain act by Don Miguel, viz.—his formal
espousal of the infant Queen, to which a visit
on the part of his Royal Highness to Brazil,
where the Princess resides with the Emperor,
must be an essential preliminary. Until Don
Miguel completes this act, and thereby guaran-
tees in a solemn manner his adhesion to the Act
of Settlement through which the Crown descends
to his wife directly from her father, Don Pedro
feels, and not unreasonably, that the regal power
has not departed from. himself, _and that it is
only delegated to the Princess Regent, to be
exercised " in the name and on the behalf" of
the hereditary King of Portugal. If it be said
that the act of separation is, on this
.principle,
rendered a nullity, the- answer is, either that
Don Pedro has not yet made his- option between
Portugal and Brazil, or that, having made it in
a certain form, and surrounded it by certain
securities, to be exacted from persons who might
otherwise disturb the peace and welfare of the realm,
he only waits the accomplishment of those defined
securities, and, the perfectiomeg of those constitu-
tional forms, before he transfers the powers of so-
vereignty to bands, by which they might be admi-
nistered without endangering the State itself. The
nominations to office which have now been promul-
gated by the Emperor, will bring with them a test
of the present condition of the kingdom. If they
are not obeyed, nor the authority which issues them

acknowledged, it is plain that a spirit has found its
way into the councils of the Regent, which must
be put down by force, if no other means be acces-
sible, and which will probably induce Don Pedro
to chow himself ere long at Lisbon. In the mean
time we are informed that Spanish letters have been
received within this day or two from Cadiz, which
assert in terms sufficiently positive, the approach of
a hostile attack by Ferdinand on the Portuguese
frontier. We are unwilling to put faith in such
sinister augeries, but at least they are worthy of
notice.—ibid.

The new Ministerial arrangements proceed but
very slowly, if they can even be said to proceed
at all. The whole, we were told, would ap-
pear in Friday's Gazette ; and failing that, that
at all events in Tuesday night's Gazette public
expectation would be set at rest ; but lo ! when
Tuesday's Gazette appears, not a single appoint-
ment is announced, unless the elevation of Sir
_ .

John Copley to the Peerage may be virtually so
considered. We are justified then in concluding,
that up to that time at least, not a single ap-
pointment, except that of the Duke of Clarence,
had taken place. But though nothing has been
done, sufficient seems to have been undone.—
Mr. Canning's aspirants for office seem, as it
were, to run the gauntlet of the state ; and a
Noble Lord or Right Hon. Gentleman, is no
sooner named to one than he is as speedily dis-
placed and nominated to another. But Mr. Plun-
kett's destination, or rather no destination, seems
the most extraordinary of all. To the astonishment
of every body, the Learned Gentleman was to have
been snatched away from his surveillance ofthe Ca-
tholic Association in Dublin, to preside over the
Rolls Court in England. But after a little con-
sideration and pulse-feeling, this idea is aban-
doned, and we are now told that Mr. Plunkett

i 3 to be made a Peer, but to hold no office:L.

This announcement, though made through the
same demi-official channel as the rest, we can

haruly credit. To raise a man from the office
of Attorney General to the Peerage, without
any other apparent object than to obtain an elo-
quent debater in the House of Lords, would be
a step entirely without precedent, as well as
without any thing like sufficient reason. Besides,
how is Mr. Plunkett's solitary elevation consis-
tent with the supposed neutrality of the new Ca-
binet upon the Catholic Question ? Or how is
it that Mr. Plunkett can consent to be singled
out alone for office, while the 'Whigs, to whose
ranks, notwithstanding his Attorney-Generalship,
he is generally supposed to belong, are excleded, or at
least, in abeyance ? Whether the Whigs come into
office or not, Mr. Canning will have succeeded in
dividing them, and thus in some degree neutralising
their future opposition. One advantage at least,

will result to the public from a negociation with
them, even should it fail—viz. that we are sure to
learn from them the whole history, both public and
private, of the intrigues into which they have been
admitted. The Whigs, like some of the weaker
sex, are such notorious tatlers, that there never was
such a thing known as their keeping a secret for
eight-and-forty hours. This is proved even now by
their over-eagerness in announcing their own eleva-
tion before it has taken place, and when, in fact,
perhaps it never may. But only let the negociation
fail, as it perhaps will, and Mr. Ridgway's counter
will swarm with Whig pamphlets. Each 'Whizling
Lord and Gentleman who can brandish a grey
goose quill will give us his edition of the matter;
and we shall have a short account of a short ne-
gociation" from one; " a vindication of Whig con-
sistency" from another; and, at all events, a. little
world of matter of fact, en.; eloped in a much larger
world of verbiage.—Morning Herald.
Up to a late hour last night, nothing farther
had been done in the negociation. We are happy,
however, to be able to state, that the arrange-
ment with Lord Lansdown and the Duke of
Devonshire is not at all broken off. The Noble
Marquis was expected in town last night.—
We have elsewhere alluded to the appointment
of Mr. Scarlett, as Attorney-General, which was
known yesterday forenoon. We are enabled to
state, that he accepted of this appointment with
the entire approbation of the leaders of his party;
and of none mere, we understand, than Mr.
Brougham. It is said that Mr. Calcraft also
has accepted office under similar circumstances.
We trust that by to-morrow we shall be enabled
to communicate the result which nine-tenths--
aye, nineteenth-twentieths—of the public so
eagerly desire. There is only wanting the union
between Mr. Canning and the Marquis of Lans-
down to complete the satisfaction felt by the
country at the political extinction of the men
who have so long pressed as an incubus on the
Government. We are sure that should the ne-
gociation ultimately fail, the party understood to
he chiefly the cause of the failure will suffer
greatly in public estimation. The satisfaction
expressed at the appointment of Mr. Scarlett
serves to prove the keen satisfaction with which
the public receives every approximation to a closer
intimacy between the individuals of parties, di-
vided from each other only by name and by old
recollections, and now identified for all practical
purposes. The public do not, and will not, un-
•derstand the division into parties of men united
in principle, and opposed only as to the mode of
proceeding to give effect to one of their principles.
Still less will they understand how Statesmen, who
admit that they cannot, by remaining in opposition,
advance the cause which they have most at heart,
should, by refusing to take place, weaken thereby
the men whose views are in accordance with their
own, and infuse courage into the party whose return
to power would unquestionably be one of the greatest
calamities to which the country was ever subject.
If the leaders of the Whigs do not take a decided
course on this occasion, individual Members will un
questionably follow the example set by Mr. Scarlet
and Mr. Calcraft, which has given so much satisfac,
tion.-21forning Chronicle.

The announcement yesterday of the appoint-
ment of Mr. Scarlett to the office of Attorney-
General; for which the public had been for some
days prepared, gave very general satisfaction.—
The professional eminence of Mr. Scarlett, the
extent of his business, and the skill and judg-
ment which he displays in his mode of conduct-
ing a cause, pointed him out as the most fit per-
son for the distinction which he has received.
Sir N. Tindal has at once paid a high compli-
ment to Mr. Scarlett's merits, and given a proof
of his own good sense and modesty, by waiving
all claim to the appointment. Sir John Copley
having been gazetted as Chancellor, and Mr.
Scarlett named to the Attorney-Generalship,
there remains now of the Law Appointments but
the office of Master of the Rolls to be disposed
of. It is understood that Mr. Scarlett's appoint-
ment has no connexion with the negociations be-
tween Mr. Canning and Lord Lansdown. The
appointment, however, being, as it is, highly ac-
ceptable to the public and the profession, must
strengthen Mr. Canning's Administration.—lbid.
Mr. Scarlett has accepted the appointment of
Attorney-General, and Sir N. Tindal has con-
sented to retain his situation as Solicitor-
General. The conduct of the latter is highly
creditable to him, in thus waiving pretensions,
the rig-id assertion of which might have created
some embarrassment. We understand that both
the political and legal friends of the Learned
Gentlemen, have unequivocally expressed their
approbation of the frank and conciliatory course
he has pursued. In most cases, to have allowed
of the nomination of an Attorney-General, pass-
ing by the Solicitor-General, would have been an
implied admission of inferiority : but, in this
instance, the long-standing of Mr. Scarlett at
the bar (who practised as a Counsel when Sir
Nicholas Tindal was in his cradle almost), and
,the high station he professionally occupies, re-
move all scruples on that head. The accession
of Mr. Scarlett, on the other hand, as well as
the acquiescence of Sir Nicholas Tindal in his
appointment, may he regarded as a most satis-
factory indication of the manner in which Mr.
Canning's Government is likely to be supported.
We believe, indeed, we may say, that on no
former occasion was there ever manifested so
general and entire an abandonment of personal
motives and considerations on all sides, in the
efforts that have been made, and are still making,
to strengthen the Administration. Mr. Canning,
throughout the arduous and delicate task
imposed upon him, has exhibited a signal
instance of this public and disinterested feeling ;
and his own generous and liberal conduct has
been met by a corresponding spirit in other
quarters.—New Times.
A Morning Paper of yesterday indulged in a
-very rational hypothesis, founded upon the ap-
pointment of Lord Dudley to the office of Fo-
reign Secretary, and the intimation that this ap-
pointment would probably be
,only a temporary
arrangement. " And now, shrewdly ob-
serves our contemporary, " what, if, after •all,
Mr. Canning should not mean to retain the
chief place for himself ! It he has merely acted
like a gallant officer on board a ship, who assists
the Commander-in-Chief to get rid of a piratical
crew, by whom the management of the vessel had
been usurped, and then retires to Ins previous
station ! What, in that case, will be said of
him ? We have heard that Lord Dudley, a per-
son who, we believe, for the good of his country,
ought to be forced into situations in which he
must exercise his powerful talents, talks of only
retaining the Foreign Seals till Mr. Canning,
having formed the Ministry, can resume them ;
and that Mr. Canning means to give up the first
place in the Treasury to one of the Whigswe
probably need not mention whom !" There is
every reason, public and personal, why Mr. Can-
ning should wish, if the arrangement be found
practicable, to resume the Seals of the Foreign
office. His admitted competency, beyond that
of any man living, for the discharge of the ar-
duous duties attached to the office—the series of
great and important. musure2, of which his

hand has traced the outline, and which his mind
must fill up—his own knowledge of his own
plans, and of the means by which those, yet in-
complete, may be best accomplished; as well as
those necessary to secure stability for what is
already done—his thorough acquaintance with
the views and principles of foreign Cabinets,
adverse or friendly to the foreign policy of this
country, as directed by himself—all constitute
powerful motives to induce him to resume
the station he has relinquished. The country
would hail with unmix3d satisfaction such an
arrangement; : th: Right Honourable Gen-
tleman
himself would feel that, in making
it he was securing for the country, in their
fullest extent, the benefit of his services as a
Minister. But where is the necessity, or ex-
pediency, of sacrificing to this object, the high
dignity of the office in which the confidence of his
Majesty has placed him ? On the contrary. would
not the union of the two functions of Prime Mini-
ster and Foreign Secretary, give to the latter a sim-
plicity and singleness of action eminently beneficial?
In the separate exercise of their duties, he would
have to impress upon another his views, as the head
of the Government; but in their conjoint exercise,
his task would simply be to carry into execution,
himself, his own plans. Besides, the most effective
Government must always be, that where each de-
partment is directed by an individual best qualified
for the discharge of its duties. Now, without nam-
ing persons, we will take upon ourselves to affirm,
that there are more than two or three among the
public men now living, equally competent to the
management of our finances as Chancellor of the
Exchequer; but we should be sorely puzzled, if we
were put to it, to specify the individual who could
supersede Mr. Canning as Foreign Secretary, and
leave the country no cause to regret the change.—

INSOLVENT DEBTORS' COURT, APRIL 2.5,

:3IRORTANT CAUTION TO ASSIGNEES Or INSOLVENTS'

ESTATES.

Mr. HEATH made an application to the Court, by
way of motion, relative to the following circum-
stances :—The Learned Gentleman said, that in De-
cember, 1823, an insolvent was discharged, when
Mr. Thomas Ewbank was appointed assignee, in
which capacity he had received 7354 Ils. 2d., which
he had neglected to appropriate in the manner pre-
scribed by Act of Parliament, namely, to divide it
among the creditor,. Some time since, the Court
issued a peremptory order for the money to be paid
into the hands of the provisional assignee, which was
not complied with, and a warrant was then issued
against Mr. Ewbank, upon contempt; but, on his
going before Mr. Justice Holrovc!, the warrant being
deemed informal, the Learned Judge discharged him.
He Heath) therefore, now appeared before the
Court de 110VO, to move for a rule to be served upon
Mr. Ewbank, calling upon him to pay into the hands
of Mr. H. Dance, the provisional assignee of the
Court, the sum of 7351. 11s. 2d.; and, in default
thereof, for him to chew cause why a warrant should
not be issued against him for contempt. The mo-
tion was founded on the 46th section of the 53d
George 111.
The CHIEF COMMISSIONER—Take a rule to spew
cause.

It is proper to remark, that assignees are bound
to make a return to the Court every three months,
whether they possess any assets or not. Any assig-
nees r.-:.thhohling money after an order of Court to
pay it in, or declaring a dividend, are liable to be
proceeded against and imprisoned for contempt,
and pay a heavy per centage upon the assets, &c.
withheld.