men, it must at the same time be allowed, that be bas virtues peculiar to himself. He possesses great learning, much general knowledge, a happy choice of words, and is capable of giving a luminous classi fication to his arguments. In addition to this, he is warm in behalf of those whose interest he espouses, and steady and sincere in his private friendships.

He has lived in habits of intimacy with many men of great eminence in the literary world, and his at tachment to Mr. Burke, during the latter part of his life, had something filial in it. He also cultivated the regard of Dr. Johnson, consoled him in his dis appointments, visited him in his illness, had his own servant constantly in attendance upon him during the malady that terminated his life, and we have been given to understand, it was in the arms of this person that the great Lexicographer of the English language resigned his breath*

As Secretary at War, Mr. Windham is entitled to great praise. He was daily to be met with at a fixed hour, when every military man, or any other individual whatsoever who had business at his office, was sure of obtaining an interview, and of experiencing the utmost attention and politeness.

The clerks in his department (more especially the inferior ones) enjoyed repeated marks of his regard, he having twice increased their salaries during his short administration, and thus exempted them from many pecuniary difficulties resulting from the late unexampled rise of provisions.

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In consequence of his official arrangements, business was trans with greater expedition than before, and two hours saved daily: the officers and soldiers of the army have also experienced many benefits that have ensued in consequence of his regulations. rodio

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L

........ SIR BENJAMIN THOMPSON,

COUNT OF RUMFORD, F. R. S. &c. &c.

NORTH America was originally settled by that portion of our sturdy ancestors which would neither submit to the gloomy tyranny of a Laud in matters of religion, nor the more specious despotism of a Strafford in the affairs of government. Equally spurning at the iron sceptre of the bigotted Charles I, and the gilded mace of lead which his son and successor, the profligate Charles II, waved over the heads of an indignant people, they preferred, to the smil ing hills and cultivated plains of England, the wild forests and the "howling wilderness" of the new continent.

Their first grand objects were to attain exemption from want on one hand, and from religious persecu tion on the other: the latter, which was more immediately, at their own command, was instantly realized; they accordingly introduced toleration: to obtain the second they became farmers. Wealth, happily for them, was pretty equally divided; none

It was formerly impossible to receive any intelligence at the Muster Master General's Office, respecting the fate of a poor soldier, without a fee being extorted from his wretched relatives: this odious custom was abolished by him.

It has been lately asserted in the French papers, that Mr. Windham countenanced and even employed the assassins who attempted the life of Bonaparte; but however violent his zeal may have been, no Englishman can ever believe him to have been capable of so base, treacherous, and immoral an action.-EDITOR.

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of them possessed large fortunes, and extreme poverty was then, as now, unknown. Even at this day, after the lapse of several centuries, the general mass of the inhabitants of the northern provinces exhibit great simplicity of manners, and enjoy a happy medium between overgrown wealth and overwhelming misery.

In such a state of society it was not possible that either the sciences, the fine arts, or elegant accomplishments of polished life should be cultivated. This omis sion has been urged as a reproach against the Americans; but the instances of Trumbull in painting, and Franklin and Rumford in philosophy, prove what a nation of this kind is capable of, when individuals, after having attained a certain degree of affluence, find time and opportunity to dedicate themselves to such pursuits as at once instruct, refine, and adorn mankind.

Sir Benjamin Thompson, commonly called Count Rumford, was born on the Trans-atlantic continent, at that period when it contained the colonies, and formed part of the dominions of Great Britain. The little town of Rumford, perhaps so termed from the circumstance of some of its first inhabitants having come from Rumford in Essex, was the place of his nativity, the scene of his early youth, and the spot from which, in his riper years, he derived his title, and by which he is now designated. His parents were in that happy class of society which we have alluded to above: they were neither too rich nor too poor for the enjoyment of happiness.

Their son Benjamin received the best education that could be afforded by an obscure country village in America, but there is every reason to suppose that he was more indebted to his own industry and ta lents than to the instructions of a master, for we do not believe that he visited England (perhaps not even Philadelphia) until after that revolution, which, by rendering bis country independent, made him in some respects a stranger to it!

The narrator of this has been informed by some. of his countrymen, that so precocious were the talents of Mr. Thompson, that he began to instruct others at a period when young men in general are only obtaining instruction for themselves. He also married advantageously early in life, and having always a turn for military affairs, obtained a majority in the militia of his native district. He had begun too to. cultivate the sciences with success; but as it is with

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science as with laws, to the former may be applied

what has been said of the latter:

"Silent Leges inter ARMA.”

We accordingly find, that no sooner had the unhappy contest between the mother country and the colonies assumed that serious complexion which it ever afterwards maintained, than Mr. Thompson retired within our lines, and ever after remained firm in the interests of Great Britain. His local knowledge, his good sense, his various information, and his superior attainments, soon made him known to, and rendered him respected by, the English generals. It was his wish, however, to visit the mother country,

which he had been taught to consider as the seat of literature and of science; he accordingly repaired. thither with the best and most respectable recom mendations, and was applied to and consulted relative to the immediate appearance and the probable result of the then bloody and uncertain warfare.

Mr. Thompson was no sooner introduced to Lord George Germaine (afterwards Lord Sackville), who then presided at the head of the American department, and who, with all his faults and demerits, must be allowed to have possessed great discernment, than that nobleman conceived a friendship for him, and ever after exerted himself in promoting his welfare. In his office he enjoyed an honourable post, and at his table he was a frequent and indeed a constant guest.

The war however was now drawing to a close, and the American department was doomed to experience the fate of American dominion, and be annihilated along with it.

Lord George Sackville, however, determined to make some little provision for his friend, and accordingly sent him over to New York before the final close of hostilities, where he raised a regiment of dragoons, obtained the provincial rank of Lieutenant Colonel, and became entitled to half-pay, which he still holds. Soon after his return his Majesty was pleased to confer on him the honour of knighthood, a mark of respect not so common at that period, and which, although it may have fallen into some tem

In 1784.

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