assurance that it should be granted. The Duc de Richlieu was at the congress of Aix la Chapelle when the request was formally made to him, and his reply was never received. "It is with some surprise, therefore, as well as great regret, that Lord John Russell has learnt the decision of the Baron Pasquier, so opposite to the conduct of the French government to Sir John Dalrymple before the Revolution, and to Mr. Fox in 1802. And if there were any case in which a request of this nature might be properly granted, he should suppose it would be when the dispatches are already published, and when those dispatches, so published, are supposed to cast a stigma upon the ancestor of the person making the application. And he might expect that such a request would be favourably entertained at this time, as, if rightly informed, the Count de Hauterive, who presides over the Archives, is himself an author, and obtained the favour of Napoleon, then Emperor of France, by a very able pamphlet in support of the Continental System. "Lord John Russell feels very grateful to M. le Comte de Caraman for his obliging offers, but he has no farther request to make." I have only further to add, that unless I had been permitted to hunt Sir John Dalrymple through all his extracts, (some of which he allows himself to have been at first incorrect,) it would have been impossible for me to ascertain whether he had misquoted or omitted. But the truth is, the French gentleman who is entrusted with the care of the Archives, from which the charge against the Whigs was made, would not approve of the political tendency of the refutation. CONTENTS THE FIRST VOLUME. The Restoration. - Clarendon and Southampton's Ad- ministration.—The Characters of the King, the Duke Hume.- Beginning of the Second Dutch War. joins Opposition. His Character. War becomes unpopular. Peace with Holland. - Ruin of the - Cabal Page 37 Prorogation for Fourteen Months. - Temple's advice to the King. A Parliament. Lord Russell moves an Impeachment against Lord Danby. - Non-resisting Test Bill. Motion for a Dissolution of Parliament. -Fails of Success. Another long Prorogation. — Motion on the Danger of Flanders. - Letter of Lady CHAPTER V. Duras to Paris. Meeting of Parliament. - Speech of Mr. Sacheverel. Motion of Sir Gilbert Gerrard, seconded by Lord Russell. Hesitation of the King. CHAPTER VI. CHAPTER VIII. - Elections. Meeting of Parliament. - Choice of a Speaker. — Impeachment of Lord Danby. He sur- renders himself. Quarrel between the Houses. Character of Danby's Administration.- New Coun- cil. Lord Russell a Member of it. Its Inefficacy. Insurrection in Scotland. Parliament dissolved. Execution of Langhorne.—Trial of Sir G.Wakeman. – King's Illness. — Return of the Duke of York.— Disgrace of Monmouth and Shaftesbury.— Proro- gation of Parliament. — Meal-Tub Plot. Retire- ment of Essex and Halifax. Their Characters. Petitions for the Meeting of Parliament. Abhorring |