promises but little respect to the rights of those who are doomed to perpetual ignominy by the most enlightened of all political constitutions, to its eternal honour be it spoken, it is decreed, that natural children should have half the property which the law allows to legitimate children, and the whole if there are no legitimate children*. May we not then indulge the pleasing hope, that the period is not far distant, when the august bodies, in whose hands is deposited the legislative authority, will, without losing sight of the land-marks which our forefathers have set, deem it as unwise, as it certainly is unjust, to defraud of all political rights a set of beings, who seem hitherto fated to complain of grievances, which become more galling from being unpitied, more intolerable from being

unmerited.

* See Gattau, Tableau des Etats Danois.

ESSAY IX,

ON THE QUALIFICATIONS REQUISITE IN AN AMBASSADOR.

THAT the French have not only become masters of the destiny of their neighbours, but even established themselves in universal power, as much by the effects of intrigues as by the force of arms, is one of those propositions which needs only to be stated in order to be fully admitted; and we are afraid it is not less abundantly clear, that we have as much augmented the resources and dominions of France, and completed the ruin of our allies, by the conduct of our diplomatic affairs, as that we are still able to baffle and defy all the attacks of that overgrown power chiefly, or rather solely, by the means of our naval greatness.

It would certainly therefore be no very great absurdity of reasoning to conclude, that as it is a distinguishing feature of the policy of France, in respect to her foreign relations, to employ none but men of the most manageable and imposing characters, the expediency of England exercising an equally vigilant anxiety in

the appointment of its ambassadors, would be obvious even to those who are but superficially acquainted with this most important branch of politics. Yet, if we look with an impartial eye to the history of our late continental wars, the events and termination of them will but too forcibly demonstrate, that no such vigilant anxiety was displayed for the general good of the community.

As it is then an established opinion, that able men in this country, with but very few exceptions, have not been of late years nominated to diplomatic stations, to which circumstance we presume a great portion of the late and present miseries of Europe may be safely traced, the attempt in us may be pardoned to exhibit a short sketch of those parts, natural and acquired, which we humbly conceive are indispensably necessary for the representatives of our sovereign to possess, in order that they may be qualified to discharge their high functions with credit to themselves and honor to their country. An enquiry into the causes which have led to that ignorance so manifest and so deplorable in our foreign policy, would doubtless be more curious and interesting than the picture we are about to present to our readers; yet it will be assuredly recollected, that any such enquiry, even if it were conducted with

all possible decorum, would inevitably entangle us in discussions of too personal a nature, to be touched, much less to be dwelt upon in the form of a sober and dispassionate essay.

From the vast range of knowledge necessarily embraced by the science of politics, we should be justified in considering, that no one could expect to make any great proficiency, unless he brought to it a considerable portion of inquisitiveness, understanding, and discernment. Yet it is worthy of observation, that in no study have we more smatterers and fewer adepts This observation may particularly apply to our diplo matists in general. In those days when France was only counted among the great powers of the continent, without possessing the least ascendancy over them, it was customary for those who were enrolled in the diplomatic corps, first to become pupils before they aspired to be masters. But when France began to swallow up every other state that it could bring within its grasp, by a singular defect of foresight, we seemed more supine than ever in guarding against the return of past evils, by not taking care to meet its ambitious despot with his own arts, and to fight him with his own weapons; or, in other words, to remove all inferior men from their diplomatic stations.

Some persons we know, and sensible ones too in other respects, have persuaded themselves, that a natural sagacity and a good reasonable judgment, are qualifications sufficient for the post of an ambassador. Possessed of these, he may step forth, they think, like Minerva from the brain of Jove, all provided to become a fit representative of his sovereign. But those who are disposed to embrace this opinion take little or no account of the retrospect and comparison which is necessary to be made in all political matters, in order to acquire that reasonable good judgment, or of the infinite modifications and new combinations it is capable of undergoing. In this assertion we would not be understood as saying, that no man can execute the office of an envoy with success, unless he early discover that decided predilection for it which Pascal did for mathematics and Vandyke for painting. All we profess to urge is, that he would assuredly expose his ignorance and presumption, who should imagine, that the duties of an ambassador* are to be properly discharged, and

* They who are curious about the primitive origin of terms, will not perhaps think the following note to be impertinent. In the acts of the 5th general council, the Apocrisarius of the monastery of Mount Sinai, a sort of resident in the imperial city in the name of foreign churches and bishops, is called by the Latin translator, Ambassiator; and Saicer observes, in his Thesaurus Ecclesiasticus, tom. I. p. 456, that in pro