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may receive the best and highest external recompence with which it can be required. I mean its manifestation to the world, and the homage of public acknowledgement and applause.

The second object is combined of justice and public policy. It is undoubtedly proposed by these ceremonials, to promote exertion by exciting a liberal and ingenious emulation, and by kindling the most generous, and at the same time the most manly ardour that can inflame young bosoms, the love of genuine and honourable fame.

It is here, too, that the only path which leads to that bright temple is discovered. The love of fame is not evinced, or at least will never be gratified, by a meré careless and inert desire to wear its feathers. That mistress must be won by constant and assiduous service; not by starts of energy which the very caprice of idleness can furnish; but by patient and stedfast exertion; by opposing repeated effort to repeated difficulty; awakening indolence by zeal, subduing fatigue and disgust by courageous and resolute perseverance; defeating seduction by principle, and finally terminating all contest, and triumphing over all obstacles, by the establishment of virtuous habits.

Since our object, then, is to excite diligence and promote study, it falls naturally within the scope of my discourse, to exhort you on that head.You are young, but not boys; your occupations, too, are of a manly cast, and must have tended to mature, although they could not add to your years. As men, therefore, I propose to address you, and instead of cajoling you with trivial and ineffectual declamation, or assailing you with dry and harsh admonition, I wish to satisfy your judgements, to speak to your understandings, and to persuade, by convincing you.

For this purpose I have only to remind you, that application and diligence in your present studies, during

the short period of your collegiate life, application and diligence I say, not extreme, but moderate, are conducive to the public good, and to your own individual benefits.

You are about to be employed in the administration of a great and extensive country, in which, it would not be much beyond the truth to say, that the English language is not known. You will have to deal with multitudes, who can communicate with you, can receive your commands, or render an account of their performance of them; whose testimonies can be delivered, whose engagements can be contracted, whose affairs, in a word, can be transacted, discussed, and recorded, only in some one or other of the languages which are taught at the College of Fort William.

Were it only for your personal ease, security, and comfort, the vernacular and colloquial language of Bengal would be infinitely valuable. But whoever considers the tediousness and delay, and, what is yet more material, the imperfection and error, which must attend the conduct, frequently, of trivial and ordinary, but often also, of complicated and important affairs, by the clumsy and unsatisfactory transposition of loose discourse, or intricate discussion, ore tenus, from one language to another, must acknowledge the important advantage derived from the ready use of the native languages.

Tediousness and error are not the only nor the worst evils resulting from ignorance of the languages of India. It creates almost unavoidable, and almost unlimited dependence on native and subordinate officers. How much prejudice to the interests of the Company, how much oppressive vexation, extortion, and cruelty, towards our native subjects; and how much loss of character, how much disgrace and ruin to the unfortunate European, whose ignorance has delivered him over to that helpless and dependant

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thraldom, and wedded his fair fame and his best hopes to the chances of so foul a connexion, making him responsible in his reputation and fortune for the corruption of a servant, whom this one defect has erected into his master, and into the arbiter of his fate; how much public loss and calamity; how much individual shame and ruin have resulted, and are daily resulting from this cause, a very short acquaintance with the affairs of India will too clearly show.

To these serious evils, the government of this country has determined to oppose the best remedies it can devise.

Instruction in these languages has been provided both in England and in Bengal, for the junior members of the service: Every imaginable facility is furnished, as you are now experiencing, to the diligent student, and amongst other incentives, we are this day employed, in one and not the least efficacious means to stimulate, and quicken study.

It remains for me to announce the last branch of that important system, the object of which is to diffuse a correct and intimate knowledge of the principal languages used in these provinces, throughout the civil establishment of this Presidency.

I have reserved, I confess, this point to the conclusion of my discourse, because it presents to you motives somewhat less enlarged than I have hitherto set before you, as more worthy of your generous time of life, and more congenial, I am persuaded, with your ingennous minds and dispositions. Yet it is no reproach, amongst higher considerations, and in aid of a virtuous love of duty, regard for the public good, and relish for fame and public esteem; it is no reproach, I say, to feel also those inducements of fortune and advantage which, in the world, are amongst the mature and legitimate rewards of merit.

It is at the same time a point of

justice on my part to promulgate, and give authentic notice of laws, which are to affect eventually the condition and fortunes of those on whom they are to operate. I am desirous, therefore, of explaining, thus publicly, the principles by which it is my firm resolution to regulate that important part of my administration which relates to the selection of Gentlemen for public trust and employment. I would speak more particularly at present to this point, as it may affect the junior part of the service; and I cannot declare too explicitly my determination to give the preference, in the first steps of their career, to those who shall have established, at the College of Fort William, a reputation for good conduct, diligence, and talents; three qualities, which cannot fail of being evinced, and as it were measured by their progress in the studies peculiar to this institution, that is to say, by their proficiency in the native languages of India. I shall consider this as a rule for the distribution of favour and promotion, both because the attainment in question is itself an essential and indispensable qualification for the public business of India; and because that rule of selection may be considered as reposing on the more general principle just estimated, namely, that the progress of a Student in the particular study assigned to him may be regarded as a safe general criterion of character, application, and abilities

The senior part of my audience will, I am sure, add the testimony of their observation and experience to mine, in affirming, that, with few exceptions, the distinctions obtained at early periods, in the free competition, and impartial judgment of great public seminaries, or other large societies of youth, has continued to attend the individual through life. They who have been remarked as good scholars, and as diligent and clever boys, on the forms of our public schools, have been eminent

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also on the benches of our Judges; in the cathedrals of our Prelates; on the floors of our Houses of Parliament; in the cabinets of our Sovereigns. Fame, in a word, and distinction, have continued to follow and illustrate their footsteps through every walk of life. You, who are fond of honour, therefore, and aspire to future celebrity, remember that the tunick of your youth discloses already, to the discerning eyes before which you stand, the texture of that robe which is to clothe your manhood. If it is now of coarse materials, if it is already soiled and tattered, we can anticipate a poor and sordid garment for your future wear. If we perceive the gloss and lustre of genius and virtue in the young samples now before us, we discern, thro' a short interval of time, the purple which is to adorn your manly years.

On this principle, then, rational in itself, and ratified by experience, my

choice, and I will venture to assure you, the choice of my successors, will be directed in confiding the great interests of this government to its ser

vants.

Let me now conclude, by tendering to you the last, but not the least inviting inducement to exertion; I mean, the assurance that your labours will be rewarded with success. You are too little aware of the advantages possessed by that age, out of which you are impatient to emerge, and which might in truth be more justly an object of envy and regret to those who have passed beyond it. You will purchase one day the experience which now tells you through my lips, not only that the enjoyments of your time of life have a livelier relish than those to which your inexperienced fancies as pire, but that your mental powers boast also in many points the same superiority, even in the graver pursuits of your seniors.

Of this encouraging truth, you have, on this day, more than one convincing proof, in the hardly credible

strides of youthful study. It is, indeed, matter of great encouragement to the young, and of wonder to the old; and makes not boys, but men admire, to see how much can be atchieved by the fresh faculties of youth, its happy facility, its keen edge, not wasted on the nuces et nugas; attracting, I allow, at that early period, but applied, in some rare instance, with the ardor of youth and the constancy of age, to the nobler pursuits of men.

On these foundations I rest my hopes of a still advancing progress during the ensuing year, and I leave with great confidence those gratifying expectations to be fulfilled by you.

Account of a Residence in MADRID, and Journey from thence to LISBON; by a BRITISH Officer.

[THE following account was received by a General Officer in this town, who has been so obliging as to communicate it to us. It appears to us interesting, as containing some particulars, both respecting the attack on Madrid, and the present state of Spain, which may not be generally known to our readers.]

Lisbon, 6th March 1808.

ACCOMPANIED my regiment to Spain, but left it at Talavera della Reina, in consequence of a severe attack of my old enemy, the jaundice, and the ophthalmia. I was not above two days at Madrid, when I was obliged to confine myself to bed, suffering severe pain in the leg I bruised at Shorncliff, which had not annoyed me when on the march. In consequence of the defeat of Castanos, my regiment, which was to have passed through Madrid, went to L'Escurial. The Spanish army under Don Juan was a few days after defeated at Somo-Sierra, and such was the rapidity of the enemy's movements, that the city was invested and summoned, before any one

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was aware of his being within several leagues of it. On its non-compliance it was bombarded for three days, and the fire as briskly returned by the inhabitants, though without the support of a regular force; the women, by their courage and example, stimulating the male mobility to deeds of valour. The French were defeated with great slaughter in their at tack on the gate de Antochi, and two generals, Grandmaison, and La Bruyere, killed, the latter by a woman.— The enemy penetrated into the Retiro, which they retained possession of all night, and next morning the town capitulated. Before, however, it was entered by the French, the Marquis de Perales, suspected of treason, was recognized in disguise, murdered, and dragged through the streets. Two others shared the same fate, one of them for distributing cartridges filled with sand. Napoleon and his brother remained at St Martins, two leagues from Madrid; 15,000 troops entered, and 35,000, under Marshal Bessieres, filed off towards Estremadura.

The French having received information of my being in the city, I was compelled to change my lodging seven times, till I found a secure retreat in the house of when on the point of being apprehended. Housekeepers were obliged to give in a return of all persons residing with them, and daily and nightly patroles ordered to take up all persons suspected, and unable to account for themselves. The inhabitants, on account of the frequent assassinations of French soldiers, were ordered, after sunset, to carry their cloaks suspended on one arm, and not to carry knives, on pain of death: Six persons were afterwards hanged, for no other reason than having knives found on their persons.

Jan. 1st, I left my bed for the first time since the 22d of November, having been attended during that period by a physician and two surgeons. On the 10th, I was sufficiently strong to April 1809,

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walk out, and employed myself till the 24th in reconnoitering the strength of the garrison, in obtaining as much information as possible,and in planning my escape, which I on that day effected in the disguise of a peasant, with only four dollars. King Joseph, the day before, made his public entrance in great pomp, but was very ill received; neither could I perceive any Spaniard take off his hat, nor hear a single acclamation, except from Generals Oudinot and Belliard, behind whom I had taken post: I left Madrid about three o'clock, with a couple of wallets (which are there called Foreas,) over my shoulders, and blanket over my coat; took with me a groom of Lord William Bentinck, and directed my course towards Salamanca, where I knew my regiment had previously been: I frequently passed detachments of cavalry and infantry, afterwards L'Escurial and Guadarrama, which were full of troops. At the latter place I was obliged to conceal myself in a wood contiguous to the great road, till about three thousand passed. I had afterwards to pass a chain of posts, several of which were not many hundred yards from me: then crossed with precipitation the great road, struck to the left, and lost myself in the mountains. In the house where I stopt for the night, I found a Spanish artilleryman, (wounded at the battle of Baylen) whom I persuaded to accompany me to the army: next day, on entering a village called Naval Pascal, the artilleryman having fallen behind, I was pursued by the inhabitants, armed with pikes, sticks, and stones. They believed me to be a Frenchman, and in spite of every argument I could use, I would have been murdered, but for the timely interference of the vicar, who, on my leaving him, gave me a letter of recommendation to the Alcalde of the next village. I perceived Segovia on my left, and on entering Alcas Cades, saw a party of the enemy escorting

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three Spaniards, whom they were going to shoot. Being then within six leagues of Salamanca, I was informed that the French were in possession of that place, and their outposts were very near me. I consequently turned to the left, with the intention of going to Cividad Rodrigo, where General Cuesta, it was said, was reassembling a fresh army. I again lost myself in the mountains of Estremadura, and was almost starved. Many days I wandered from eight in the morning till six in the evening, without sustenance; and frequently, when with difficulty I had gained admittance into a house, I was obliged to play on the flagelet to induce them to give me something to eat. Generally, however, after a few hours, and when they were convinced that I was really an Englishman, they became very kind and offered me every thing they had. On my reaching Sexaresia, about six leagues from Cividad Rodrigo, I was informed of Sir Robert Wilson being at an advanced post five leagues distant. I therefore hastened to Martin del Rey, and, to my inexpressible joy, found part of his legion there. He acquainted me that my regiment had embarked, and advised me to go to Lisbon. I accompanied him to Cividad Rodrigo on the following day, and at his request furnished him with a copy of a journal I had kept from the period of my arrival at Madrid, copies of which he transmitted to Mr Frere at Seville, and Sir J. Craddock, who has also forwarded one to Lord Castlereagh.

On the evening of my arrival at Lisbon, I waited on the commander in chief in my peasant's dress, when, about five o'clock, I was unexpectedly assaulted by an ill-looking fellow, who seized me by the neck, crying out justitia. I was immediately surrounded by a number of men with pikes, and followed by a crowd, who conducted me to a dark place resembling a prison. Then, as they became gross

ly familiar, I could not forbear threatning them with my stick, which was immediately forced from me, and a number of pikes pointed at my breast. Under pretence of my carrying a knife, they pinn'd me against a wall, and proceeded to search my person, which manoeuvre they performed so roughly, as to force the buttons from my pantaloons. They then conducted me to the Intendant General of Police, who escorted me to the house of the Juge de district. There I was stript to the shirt, and then sent under a fresh escort to the General's, who recognized and liberated me, after I had been a prisoner five hours. That I might not be again insulted, I slept at the General's, and next morning, under the protection of an orderly dragoon, rode to the ambassador's (Mr Villiers) at Belem, who politely offered me clothes of every description, and has since made a formal complaint to the regency, of the hardships I experienced. I found here three officers and a hundred men of my regiment, and there are so many men and officers of other regiments, that we are formed into two fine battalions. It is said the troops here are immediately to take the field; for what purpose I know not, as we are too weak to resist any serious attack on the part of the enemy. Another report is, that the army will immediately return; in which case, detached officers will, of course, not be allowed to go home.

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