anything to such a danger, that if the Catholics, in addition to
their present just demands, were to petition for the perpetual
removal of the said Lord Hawkesbury from his Majesty's councils, I
think, whatever might be the effect upon the destinies of Europe,
and however it might retard our own individual destruction, that the
prayer of the petition should be instantly complied with. Canning's
crocodile tears should not move me; the hoops of the maids of honour
should not hide him. I would tear him from the banisters of the
back stairs, and plunge him in the fishy fumes of the dirtiest of
all his Cinque Ports.



LETTER VII.



Dear Abraham,--In the correspondence which is passing between us,
you are perpetually alluding to the Foreign Secretary; and in answer
to the dangers of Ireland, which I am pressing upon your notice, you
have nothing to urge but the confidence which you repose in the
discretion and sound sense of this gentleman. I can only say, that
I have listened to him long and often with the greatest attention; I
have used every exertion in my power to take a fair measure of him,
and it appears to me impossible to hear him upon any arduous topic
without perceiving that he is eminently deficient in those solid and
serious qualities upon which, and upon which alone, the confidence
of a great country can properly repose. He sweats and labours, and
works for sense, and Mr. Ellis seems always to think it is coming,
but it does not come; the machine can't draw up what is not to be