a century, they had wholly disappeared; and thus the editor's
flippant assertion, that Earl Cornwallis was one of the few statesmen
who inculcated the necessity of forbearance and concession, exhibits
nothing but his Whiggish ignorance on the subject. The misgovernment
of Ireland, if such existed, was to be laid to the charge of neither
the English minister nor the English people. The editor probably
forgets, that during that whole period she was governed by her own
parliament; while her progress during the second half of the 18th
century was memorably rapid, and prosperous in the highest degree,
through the bounties, privileges, and encouragements of every kind,
which were constantly held out to her by the _British_ government. And
that so early as the year 1780, she was rich enough to raise, equip,
and support a volunteer army of nearly a hundred thousand men--a
measure unexampled in Europe, and which would probably task the
strength of some of the most powerful kingdoms even at this day. And
all this was previous to the existence of what is called the "patriot
constitution."

Walpole has the art of painting historic characters to the life; but
he sadly extinguishes the romance with which our fancy so often
enrobes them. We have been in the habit of hearing Pascal Paoli, the
chief of the Corsicans, described as the model of a republican hero;
and there can be no question, that the early resistance of the
Corsicans cost the French a serious expenditure of men and money. But
Walpole charges Paoli with want of military skill, and even with want
of that personal intrepidity so essential to a national leader. At
length, Corsican resistance being overpowered by the constant
accumulation of French force, Paoli gave way, and, as Walpole
classically observes, "not having fallen like Leonidas, did not
despair like Cato." Paoli had been so panegyrized by Boswell's work,
that he was received with almost romantic applause. The Opposition
adopted him for the sake of popularity, but ministers took him out of
their hands by a pension of L1000 a-year. "I saw him," says Walpole,
"soon after his arrival, dangling at court. He was a man of decent
deportment, and so void of any thing remarkable in his aspect, that,
being asked if I knew who he was, I judged him a Scotch officer--for
he was sandy complexioned and in regimentals--who was cautiously
awaiting the moment of promotion." All this is in Walpole's style of
fashionable impertinen