of knowledge. Widely different from this was the institution of Civil Engineers, especially when it was consolidated by Mr. Telford's accepttance of the presidency. He immediately established the practice of recording in a summary manner minutes of their conversations, which did not fail to excite in the members attention to every object, in refutation or support, which otherwise might pass unnoticed. Other societies may have adopted the same practice for the advancement of knowledge; but probably it is peculiar to the institution of Civil Engineers that such practice has continued from the acceptance of the presidency by Mr. Telford to the present time, and with such growing conviction of its utility, that these Minutes of Conversations are now printed annually, for the use especially of those members who are precluded by distance or professional engagements from frequent appearance at the weekly meetings.

'In the year 1828, Mr. Telford exerted himself strenuously in obtaining a Royal Charter of incorporation for the Institution of Civil Engineers; after which they removed from their former apartments in Buckingham-street to the neighbourhood of Bridge-street, Westminster; and they have now again outgrown their residence, which is to be transferred to Great George-street; the vicinity of parliament being almost essential to civil engineers, for watching the progress of that peculiar but very important branch of legislation, afterwards carried into effect by them and by the auxiliary arts and manufactures, to which they impart a skilful activity. Mr. Telford's rule of selection has not been violated; yet such has been the real advancement of the profes sion, that the society had increased to 200 members at the time of his death.'-pp. 276-279.

Few men have been so fortunate in all the circumstances of life as Mr. Telford. Only a little before he had completed his laborious course of self-education, there was no tolerable horseroad whatever in many of the middle and southern parishes of Shropshire, and in some parts where there were both coal and lime, those articles were nearly useless, owing to the difficulty of bringing any carriage to them. He grew up just at the time when the talents of which he was conscious in himself, and which he had so wisely and sedulously cultivated, were sure of obtaining their reward. In the prime of life he found his proper place in the world, and he retained it to a good old age; retaining also his temperate habits, his equal temper, his cheerfulness, the love of his profession, and a benignity by which his fine countenance was characterised as strongly as by the intelligence that marked it.

To that benignity and to his secret liberality, this testimony is borne in a letter from Mr. George May to Mr. Rickman, dated Inverness, 20th February, 1838:

'I am aware that it would be utterly presumptuous in me to hazard any remarks on the general lineaments of Mr. Telford's character and disposition, respecting which your long and familiar intercourse with him entitles you to speak more confidently and authoritatively than any

other

other person. Nevertheless, there is one trait to which I may refer, because from it the observation of his most intimate friends was carefully excluded, but which, from the position I occupied, I could not escape from occasionally witnessing: I mean his active benevolence in every case of misfortune or distress that was presented to him. Numerous applications of this nature were incessantly made to him; and while in many cases the most liberal aid was afforded, I never knew an instance of unkind rejection. The possession of any talent, literary, scientific or mechanical, I always observed was an irresistible passport to his bounty; although he seldom failed to accompany it with a rebuke, more or less gentle, yet conveyed in his own peculiarly effective manner, on the indiscretion and irregularities which too often led to the application. But even without any claim of this sort, numbers, particularly of his poor countrymen, experienced the frequent effects of his benevolent aid; for, among other seemingly latent qualities, he ever retained that strong attachment to the land of his birth which is said to be peculiarly characteristic of the natives of the northern division of Britain.'-pp. 659, 660.

It is indeed observable throughout this work, that Mr. Telford never let an opportunity pass of bearing testimony to the merits of those who were employed under him, nor of promoting their interests when it was in his power; and no one who ever had the good fortune to travel with him but perceived how cordially he was welcomed by all the persons whose work he came to inspect. A pleasant companion, a constant and considerate as well as kind friend, it is seldom that one individual has rendered essential services to so many; and he had his reward, his life having been as happy as it was honourable to himself and useful to his country. He seems never to have been visited by any calamity-there was a blessing on him, his days were long in the land, and his good name will be as durable as the greatest of those great and numerous works which will perpetuate it.

ART. VI.-1. A Narrative by Sir Francis Head, Bart. Second Edition. 8vo. London, 1839.

2. Report on the Affairs of British North America, from the Earl of Durham, Her Majesty's High Commissioner, &c. &c. &c. (Presented by Her Majesty's Command) Feb., 1839. Folio. 3. A Reply to the Report of the Earl of Durham. By a Colonist. 8vo. London. 1839.

SIR

IR FRANCIS HEAD's Narrative is a very remarkable work:-not so much for its literary merits - though it has all the usual vivacity of his style-as from its being one of the most clear, unreserved, and honest accounts ever rendered by a public servant, of the acts, the principles, and the

2H 2

policy

policy of an important administration. Few provincial governors could have had to relate so interesting, so arduous, and so successful a struggle; but, beyond all doubt, no metropolitan government ever exhibited such rashness, such cowardice, such fraud, such folly, such a perverse imbecility-doing mischief even when it did nothing-as this work charges, and, we think, proves against the Colonial Department of Lord Melbourne's administration.

We admit that we form this strong opinion from what may be called an ex-parte statement ;-but such a vast proportion of that statement-full nine parts out of ten-consists of the official documents, the original literæ scriptæ, that we cannot hesitate (exclusive of any personal considerations) to give Sir Francis Head's account of the transactions our entire confidence. The only doubt, indeed, which has reached us is, whether he may not have been superfluously candid, and supported his assertions with superabundant proof; and whether, in his zeal to exhibit the whole truth, he may not have somewhat exceeded the limits of official confidence.

We confess that the free admission of the public behind the scenes of Downing-street is a novelty;-and one, we will add, which we should regret to see drawn into a precedent. The diplomatic intercourse of nations, and all internal and colonial government, would be disturbed and endangered by such a practice. We have lately seen, for instance, our Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs encouraging a surreptitious and disingenuous publication of State Papers-we have seen him promoting to high official functions the irregular* hand which had been employed in this publication. We have seen this irregular employé quarrelling with his superiors, and finally with his patrons; and the newspapers are loaded with the pros and cons of the obscure intrigues -(not the less obscure for their attempts at explanation)-and the pitiful recriminations of these misallied partners in mischief. This is a scandal, of which it was reserved for the present Foreign Office of England to give the first example that we have ever heard of in the history of diplomacy. Something of the kind occurred between the profligate court of Louis XV. and that heteroclite adventurer D'Eon, but that was a mere pettifogging squabble of private interests: while our recent instance involves public ques tions and might have led to national calamities. We give no

opinion

*We say irregular-not out of any disparagement of Mr. Urquhart's position or abilities, but simply because he had not belonged to the diplomatic profession when Lord Palmerston (unluckily, as it turns out for his Lordship) chose to bring hirn forward in a very unusual way. Such irregular appointments, though octasionally justifiable by the talents of an individual or the specialty of a case, seldom fail to produce results unpleasant both to the patrons and the protégés.

We have no call at present to enter in detail upon the Portfolio itself. There

can,

opinion whatsoever on the merits of the case as between Lord Palmerston and Mr. Urquhart. We address our censure exclusively to the unprecedented and dangerous example given by the Foreign Office in its patronage of the Portfolio.

But Sir Francis Head's publication, if it be an exception to what ought to be the general rule, is assuredly one not merely justified, but as we think, necessitated by every consideration of private honour and public duty. The ministry had made themselves accessaries to such libels on him and on the colony he had so brilliantly governed and so happily saved, that his explanation had become indispensable both to himself and to the country. It has been neither spontaneous, nor officious, nor premature-it has been forced from him-he has been dragged, as it were, from the modest and dutiful silence in which he had determined to bury both private wrongs and public errors, by circumstances which, as it appears, he could neither control, evade, nor resist.

Sir Francis Head was superseded in the government of Upper Canada at the moment when he had, by a kind of moral magic, evoked a spirit of loyalty which few but himself suspected to exist, and extinguished a rebellion which most men considered as all but invincible. His ministerial thanks were official discountenance and parliamentary sneers. Lord Glenelg could barely open his eyes to see him, and Lord Melbourne, in his place in parliament, criticised his style and depreciated his measures by a sneering and contemptuous apology.

The criticism on what Sir Francis pleasantly calls his gait of writing, even if it were just, was unworthy the gravity of Lord Melbourne's station. So fastidious a critic should have recollected that Dionysius himself did not turn pedagogue_till after he had given up public affairs. We admire as little as Lord Melbourne can do, what is called flippancy in either speaking or writing on state affairs; and we must admit that Sir Francis Head's dispatches do sometimes urge disagreeable truths with a force of illustration and a kind of dashing sincerity which were very likely to startle the slumbrous routine of Downing-street; but these lively passages are neither indiscreet in substance nor disrespectful in form, neither meant as epigrams against the minister, nor claptraps for the people-they are the natural im

can, however, be no doubt that it owed its importance and vogue to the insertion, in the early numbers, of some very extraordinary documents, which had been filched from the Russian Emperor's archives, and which must have been known to have been thus obtained by the Noble Viscount, who still holds the station of Foreign Secretary to the Queen of England. In the subsequent numbers-after Mr. Urqu hart's editorship had ceased-real documents were, we believe, introduced with shameful garblings, and more shameful insertions;-but it is indeed hard to say what was the most shameful part in the whole business.

pulses

pulses of the writer's mind; and moreover, as it turns out that the ministers selected Sir Francis for the government of Canada chiefly, if not solely, on account of this very 'gait of writing,' the sneers were somewhat ungenerous and very indiscreet. But the censure of Sir Francis's measures implied in Lord Melbourne's speech of the 2d Feb., 1838, was a more serious consideration; and he naturally addressed to his lordship a letter, in which, after a long and full vindication of his conduct, he requested to be allowed to present the details of the case before a committee, either of the privy council, or even of the ministry itself. This was refused-properly enough-if Lord Melbourne had not made the insinuations complained of.

At an interval of three months, Sir Francis again solicited permission to vindicate and explain his administration by publishing his dispatches to the Colonial Office. This was again refusedLord Melbourne assigning as a reason, that the publication would be very inconvenient:' in this his lordship showed more than his usual foresight.

Sir Francis, on this second repulse, informed Lord Melbourne that he bowed to his decision, and should not only refrain from publishing his dispatches, but if any member of either House should move for them, he authorised the government unequivocally to declare that such a motion was not sanctioned by him. But the publication of Lord Durham's Report totally changed Sir Francis Head's position.

I found that, although I had thus obeyed the decision of my late employers almost at the expense of my character-Her Majesty's Government, without consideration for my feelings, had recommended the Queen to transmit to both Houses of Parliament, a Report containing allegations against my conduct and character, of a most invidious description; and, notwithstanding Her Majesty's Government knew perfectly well that, having bound me hand and foot to silence, I was defenceless, they actually accompanied Lord Durham's Report with their own volume, containing 400 closely-printed folio pages, in which not a single line of even those printed documents in their possession, which they knew would vindicate my character, was admitted; and it further appeared from the newspapers, that when Lord Durham's allegations against me were officially presented, there was not, among Her Majesty's Ministers, one individual who, in either House of Parliament, stood up to utter a single word in my defence.'

It was then that Sir Francis resolved to defend himself: but before he had time to take any step, the Duke of Wellington--with the sure tact and high principle of both public and private justice which distinguish that illustrious mind-saw that the time was come when the truth must be told, and moved for Sir Francis Head's dispatches; and Lord Melbourne-truckling, as