Page images
PDF
EPUB

even accused of any interested motives to myself.-Though ruined, and deprived as I am of my honourable and valuable office of Lieutenant Governor, earned by long and faithful fervice, all is not loft in the conteft: my character, I truft, is preferved to me unblemished.'

That Captain B. perfevered in the purfuit of his plan for remedying the abuses that he conceived had crept into the management of the Hofpital, with the fpirit of a reformer, and the zeal of an enthufiaft,' is indifputable; and it is equally certain that spirit and zeal are univerfally received as the genuine indications of an honeft intention,-whatever may be deemed of the prudence or policy of the purfuer. But prudence appears to have been little, and policy not at all, regarded by this honest man in office; who has, in courfe, experienced the common fate of reformers. To men of this defcription, however, the public gratitude is eminently due; for to fuch felf-devoted fpirits it is, that mankind are, generally fpeaking, indebted for all active and vigorous inquiries into public abufes, and for all great plans of reformation, in matters where the common interefts of nations, or the rights of particular inferior communities are concerned; nor fhould their failure in fome points (as perhaps, in the prefent cafe of Greenwich Hofpital) preclude them from our acknowledgments, in refpect of the general merit of their ultimate. and difinterested views.

In a prefatory advertisement, our Appellant farther ftates his reafons for this [large and expenfive] publication. He obferves, that several unauthenticated pamphlets have been diftributed, injuriously reflecting on his character and conduct; that the feveral prosecutions against him for a fuppofed libel have been mifrepresented, or but little understood; and that the evidence given at the bar of the House of Lords, in the feamen's caufe, has been mutilated, or retailed from memory only; he therefore feels it a duty which he owes to his own character, to the feamen, and to his country, to state and submit the proceedings at large to the candour and difcernment of the PUBLIC: to the end that THEY may know and judge on what ground the Lieutenant-Governor of a national inftitution was turned out of his office. He conceived it to be his indifpenfable duty to lay every fraud and abuse that came within his knowledge, before the general Governors, as foon as he could authenticate the facts, not doubting but a fair and efficient general Board would be held, agreeable to his request, that juftice might be done, and a reformation take place. But, inftead of that,' fays he, what has been the confequence? And what is the language now proclaimed to the public? That no abuses exift: and true it is, fome of them do not exist at the prefent moment, because, during the intermediate time of the reprefentation of thefe ftub

Q4

born

born facts, and the enquiry at the bar of the Houfe of Lords, one whole year had elapfed, in which time, though the torrent of abuses was politically checked, no permanent remedy was applied, either by the removal of the Landmen*, or the con❤ tracting Butcher +,-the two great fources of all the evils, heart-burnings, jealoufies, and difcontents, which grow in that Hofpital.'-The Captain here draws this inference- As the management of the charity is ftill under the fame influence, in the hands of the fame perfons, is it not rational to fuppofe that fimilar practices will be reiterated on the helplefs penfioners? especially, as the man who dared to attack abufes [he dared to attack Lord SANDWICH!] is facrificed, in order to deter others from pursuing fo dangerous a precedent.-A man difabled in the fervice of his country, and placed in Greenwich Hospital as a reward for those fervices, is, at laft, in the evening of his day, -driven out of his office in the face of the nation, without a fhilling in his pocket, his wife and family ruined, his goods and chattels fold by public auction, to pay the expences brought upon him by his merciless perfecutors and profecutors, whofe great object was to commit his body to a prifon, after they had deprived him of his office, worth near 10,000.-Yet it is fill to be hoped [the fpirit of our veteran Appellant, we fee, is not yet broken] the hour is approaching when a reform will take place, and that the lazy, luxurious landmen of the Hofpital, who have only fought the battles of the Borough of Huntingdon, will find themselves removeable by a virtuous minifter, or at least by a public writ of quo warranto, &c.'

The principal contents of this volume, among other origi nal and authentic papers,' are as follow:

• Captain Baillie's Letters to the Earl of Sandwich, to the Secretary of the Admiralty, the Court of Commiffioners, and the Select Committee of Directors, with the answers; alfo his Memorial to the general Governors, pointing out abuses, and propofing remedies.

* It was one of the principal caufes of the complaint preferred by Captain Baillie, that landmen were provided for in the Hospital, in prejudice to the rightful claims of the feamen, for whom this molt noble charity was folely inftituted.

This butcher had been profecuted, at the inftance of Captain Baillie, and was twice convicted in a public court of juftice, of ferving the Hofpital with bad meat (i. e. bull beef instead of ox); for which fraudulent offence he was, on his fecond conviction, fined 500%. on fifty penalties. This fum was compounded with the delinquent butcher; and fresh contracts were made with the fame perfon. N. B. Our Author, in another part of this advertisement, ftyles him the Huntingdon Butcher." ...

A lift of landmen appointed by Lord Sandwich to offices of eafe and profit in the Hospital, in preference to the honeft claims of feafaring men; a lift of navy chaplains who actually receive an annual bounty from Parliament, as a reward for their fervice at fea, while beneficed clergymen, who have not been at sea, are faddled upon a charitable inftitution, principally fupported by the contributions of feafaring men; and alfo, a general lift of landmen in and belonging to the faid Hofpital.

Authentic proceedings in the court of King's Bench, in confequence of a rule granted to fhew caufe why an information should not be exhibited against Captain Baillie, for publishing certain libels, &c.

• Speeches of the counsel, and judgment of the court, taken in fhort hand, by Mr. Blanchard.

The whole evidence as given at the bar of the House of Lords, with fome occafional debates, in the courfe of fifteen days inquiry, &c.

The fpeeches of the Duke of Richmond, at the opening

and close of the evidence.

• Abftracts of the arguments of other noble Lords, with fuch papers and letters as are neceffary to corroborate the evidence, and elucidate the whole proceedings, carefully transcribed from original papers, private notes, or other authentic documents; all which have been collected with great labour and expence from numerous materials, in order to render the work as accurate and complete as poffible.'- We would not omit to take notice that there is, likewife, a general index; which will be of great use to the Reader, for occafional researches.

Among the speeches of the counsel in this memorable cause, we diftinguish thofe (in the court of King's Bench) of the Hon. Mr. Erskine, and Mr. Peckham; the former gained great applause by his very eloquent representation of the MERIT of Capt. Baillie's active and public-fpirited proceedings, in order to procure a reformation in the management of the Hospital concerns.

The Duke of Richmond's fpeech, at the close of the evidence in the Houfe of Lords, is a masterly performance. In the course of this oration, his Grace took notice of the plea urged by the profecutors of Captain Baillie, in excuse for their turning him out of his office," that he is a man of a vexatious temper, and of intractable manners."-In reply to this, the Duke very pertinently obferved that admitting Captain Baillie to be a man of that temper, and of thofe manners,before his being vexatious and intractable becomes a reason for punishing him in fo high a degree, or perhaps of punishing him at all, we ought to know upon what forts of matter he is vexatious, and in what fort of fociety he is intractable. Nothing in the world is fo vexatious against abufes as enquiry; nothing

[ocr errors]

fo intractable among gentlemen of eafy morals, as a man of rigid virtue. I confefs,' faid his Grace, I do not know any thing that can be such a nuisance as a man of ftern and uncorrupt integrity, in a fociety made happy and unanimous by a participation of jobs, by mutual connivance, and the perfect equality among themselves, that arifes from a thorough confcioufnefs, that not one of the company is a jot better than his neighbour.

I am perfectly fatisfied,' continues the Duke, that Captain Baillie, while he did great service to the poor penfioners, did infinitely disturb the tranquillity of the officers; and all they who are of opinion, that the government of Hofpitals, as well as that of kingdoms, was made for the pleafure of the governors, and not for the benefit of the governed, will think his conduct was atrocious.

But fuch of your Lordships who may be of different fentiments, and who reflect, that the greateft reformers have rarely been men of the best tempers, will pity the imperfections of human virtue; and will think Captain Baillie's moroseness rather the object of reprimand, than of the utmoft punishment the Admiralty had the power to inflict. They ought to have commended and feconded his zeal, and exhorted him to more conciliatory manners; and not have deprived him of his office with difgrace, while they continue to employ, truft, and caress a recorded cheat, who triumphs in the deftruction of Captain Baillie.'

In fine, the noble Orator acknowledges his perfuafion, that after the difputes which have arifen among the officers and penfioners, it would be impoffible for Captain Baillie to lead an happy life in Greenwich Hofpital;'-yet, in confideration that he has been very meritorious in detecting the cruel frauds of the Contractor for butchers meat, and profecuting him to conviction; that he has been at all times the true friend of the penfioners; that he has brought to light many abufes; that he has got many abuses rectified; and that the profecution of others has occafioned his being haraffed with expenfive fuits in Weftminfter-Hall, and his illegal difmiffion from his office,-his Grace recommends that fome provifion be made for him, fuch as his Majefty fhall think adequate to his defert-fuch as Lord Sandwich himfelf thought him deferving of, fubfequent to every complaint which has been alleged against Captain Baillie *.

Lord Sandwich acknowledged, to Mr. Murphy, in a converfation relative to a plan for the difmiffion of the Lieutenant Governor by refignation (some time before he was turned out, without any equivalent or compenfation whatever), that " he believed there might be a great deal of right, and a great deal of wrong in Captain Baillie." Vid. Mr. Murphy's evidence at the bar of the House of Lords, p. 122 of the prefent publication,

Nothing

Nothing, however, has yet, that we have heard of, been done for Mr. Baillie, in the way of recompence for the great lofs that he hath sustained by his difmiffion from his post. It appears, from a letter printed at the end of this volume, that the Captain hath humbly requested the command of a ship,his health being fuch as would, he hoped, enable him again to ferve his Majefty: but we do not understand that he hath been fuccessful in his application. The letter bears date in June $779. G.

FOREIGN LITERATURE.

(By our CORRESPONDENT s.) GERMANY and the NORTH ART. I.

O. Chrift. Biel NOVUS THESAURUS PHILOLOGICUS, five LEXICON in LXX. et alios Interpretes et Scriptores Apocryphos VETERIS TESTAMENTI, ex Autoris B. Mcto Edidit et Præfatus eft E. H. MUTZENRECHER. Pars Prima. A-E. Hage Comitum Sumptibus. J. A. Bouvinck. 1779. Large 8vo. Pages 690. This learned and moft ufeful work, compofed by an adept of the first rank in Grecian and Oriental literature, will undoubtedly obtain the applaufe and encouragement it fo highly deferves. It is the pofthumous work of the learned and laborious JOHN CHRISTIAN BIEL, a native of Brunswick, who acquired a confiderable reputation, in the republic of letters, by feveral philological productions of fingular merit, by the part he had in the celebrated edition of Hefychius, published by Alberti, and by his connexions and correspondence with Leibnitz, Bentley, and many other learned men of the first clafs in England, Holland, and other countries. work lay for a long time in MSS. for it was completely finished before the Author's death, which happened in the year 1745; but feveral learned men teftified their ardent defire of its publication, fuch as Ernefti, Michaelis, Teller, and others. This defire was founded on a fpecimen of the work, which was fubjoined to a differtation of the Author's, published in the year 1740, and the first volume, now before us, juftifies it fully. In this work, which is much more ample and rich in materials than those of Kefler, and the other authors that are mentioned by Fabricius +, all the words that we meet with in the Septuagint, in the other Greek interpreters, and in the Apocryphal writers of the Old Teftament, are exhibited in an alphabetical

This differtation is entitled, Exercitatio de Ligno ex Libano ad Templum Hierofolymitanum ædificandum petito.-Brunfvige, 1740. † In his Bibliotheca Græca.

order,

« EelmineJätka »