New-York tribune., 1909-06-19

tanning Hitherto Unpublished Letters, JelN
= Esprit. etc. Edited by Captain JosCeIlne
Ragof Illustrated In Two Volumes. svo.
423-468. E P Dutton & Co
These two volumes contain mass Of hith-
erto unpublished letters. the greater part Of
which would seem to have been preserved
among the papers of the Bagot family. They
include large number Of epistles from the pen
Of George Canning-epistes which give slgnlh-
cant glin7pses Of the man and the politician
While these cannot be said to form a connected
story of his career they are exceedingly useful
contributions to the full and competent hiogra-
plv which is Yet 10 be written. Much the same
NAV he said Of the accompanying letters writ
ten by his friends men whom he loved and
trusted and who stood in close relations 10 him
and some Of whom served under him in the
Foreign Office. Among these long time trlends
was Sir Charles Bagot, who, when British Am
bassador at St Petersburg and at The Hague,
conducted much Of the interesting correspond
ence here reproduced
Canning was. know. an eloquent speaker
and the Duke Of Wellington is quoted as saying
that he thought him to be reader az Wrluhs
even than At speaking. His letters and other
documents printed in these volumes reveal the
high qualities Of their writer-they are remark
ably clear. acute and easy in expression. and
mastery in rnarshalIed statement. They are
the natural utterance OF the type of man de-
scrfbed by Cyrus Redding: There seemed to
M about him something Of the char
acter Of his eloquence. classical, tasteful, can
did and conscious Of innate power. A hand
some man in feature compact in person, mould
cd between activity and strength HIS
counreranca indicated frmness Of character.
with good natured cast over all Irish humor
often bubbled through the staJesman's grave IN
struction and sober recapitulauon. The editor
IA kes occasion to present the correct version "l
the story Of Cannings last joke, the famous
..rhyrning dispatch" sent by the Foreign SecTe-
tarv 10 Sir Charles Basot, then ambassador at
The Hague Negotiations between the British
and other governments with regard 10 duties TO
Ia levied on ships and goods had resulted in the
making Of a satisfactory convention with
France The Netherlands government failed TO
e,-ince anv readiness for reciprocity and the eZ-
aenarating attitude of Falck, its representative
in London. resulted in the levying Of an extra
duty Of "a per cent against Dutch shipping III
an official dispatch couched in the most formal
and stately terms Canning communicated this
Intelligence to Bagot This proper dispatch
having been duly forwarded, the Secretary's IT.
resistible spirit of fun came to the surface II
had often been stirred, no doubt by the proNok-
ing Fack. He sent TO Bagot, the same day, a
..serarate secret and confidential" dispatch in
NhlcN
who had not in his possession the particular
code in which il was written The whole en-
bassy. apparently toiled over it in vain, and it
was not until the anxious Bagot had begged
for the code which at last arrived that the
troublesome communication read:
In matters Of commerce the fault of the Dutch
The FTench are with equal advantage content,
So we clap on Dutch bottoms just 20 per cent.
~ TfTA
CHORUS of English custom house officers and
G-ngiishI-We clap on Dutch bottoms just 20 per
cF,rench1ITous frapperc. Falck Grcc 20 per cent
YOU have fretted me to fddlestrings." wrote
Bagot to Canning in a private letter, and
have great mind not to give you the satsfac-
ton of knowing how completely your mystifca-
ton of rpe has succeeded. Tierney and
were up by cockcrow to make out Ia pjaudifc
d6p6che. and it was not till after hour of
most indescribable anxiety that were put
out of our fear BY finding what it really was
and that you Pyramus' We're not Pyramus. but
only Bottom the weaver" The ambassador
records that he got some fun out Of it himself:
Il afterward put the fair de-cypher into Doug
lass hands. who read it twice without moving
q muscle or to this hour discovering that it
was not prose, and returned it to me, declaring
that 1t was oddly worded; but he had always
had a feeling that the dispatch must relate 10
discriminating duties Perhaps the quaintest
phase of this affair is in the popular belief that
the rhyming dispatch the sole conmunica-
tion made on the subject 20 the ambassador at
The Hague. Even J. A. r. Marriott, Canning $
biographer gives -apoogetically-th view Of
II. The publication by Captain Bagot of the
formal official dispatch leaves the matter clear
at last.
Early in his diplomatic Charles Bagot
( acted as British Minister to the United States.
on hearing that ae had accepted the appoint
ment Canning wrote TO ilim dn July 1870 that
the hardest lesson which British Minister
has to learn in America is not what TO do, but
what TO bear" That Bagot thought that lie had
q great deal Of discomfort to bear is shown in