LORD AMHERST
Amherst came; I complimented him upon his speech. He seconded the Address.[39] He was sure to do it with propriety, therefore a congratulation was safe; as he is as certain of not exposing as he is of not distinguishing himself. He has a good heart, with a narrow mind; of all the young men he is the most borné in point of intellect. Nature seems to have determined upon confining him within proprieties. He was born to be a courtier, to live upon the terrace at Windsor, and wear the uniform; beyond that he will never get, unless Canning may want a tête-de-perruque to fill up a gap in any motley Administration he may have the forming of hereafter.
Tierney spent the whole morn.; I am very happy to discover that he has dropped the folly that made him tiresome and ridiculous this summer. To-day Mr. Grey came to assist Ld. H. in some calculations and in drawing up the Address; he is very pleasing when at his ease. We laughed over Tierney’s unsteadiness; one day his determination to make motions upon every great question, the next his abattement and timidity. Grey told a good answer of Mr. Beddinfield’s to Dundas. A few years ago the mob attacked ye King’s carriage and were going to commit some violence. Mr. B. was in the park; he immediately pulled out a pistol, and dispelled the rioters. The next day Dundas asked him what he would have bestowed upon him as token of favour. He said, ‘I wish only, Sir, that you would make me a Scotchman.’
He read the surgeon’s letter giving an account of his brother’s wound; the ball went through the knee, and was extracted from the hollow ham within. It seems to have been an escape. Grey was going over to see him, unless this good report had come.
Sunday, October 13th, ’99.—Ld. H. made a motion for peace. He was satisfied with himself, especially in his reply to Ld. Grenville. From his account I should fear that, tho’ it was able, it was too personal.
On that very night came the news of the strange reverse the Allies have experienced, 19,000 Austrians and Russians captured and slaughtered, Zurich retaken, and many other places in Switzerland; Hotze, the Austrian General, killed;[40] Suwarrow had crossed the St. Gothard to relieve that army, and when they were defeated he was advancing to assist. Ld. Macartney has just brought me the further news, which is that the cruel, bloody Suwarrow is totally defeated and probably taken prisoner. The monster who in cold blood cut the throats of women and children in Warsaw and the suburbs, and who exceeded his orders to make them more barbarous at Ismail, will not excite my pity even under the most rigorous captivity. There let him groan. The day of retribution ought to be in this life, to convince one that punishment is not withheld to a dubious period. These famous Russians, who have been so puffed since they have been subsidised, turn out to be the only fit food for powder, as nowhere do they fight; in Italy all the glory of the expulsion of the French from thence is due to the brave Austrians. Thus has this mighty horde of barbarians dwindled to a handful of tattered, ill-disciplined, worse-officered, half-starved savages.
PARIS FASHIONS
Ld. Macartney was present at the debate; he said Ld. H.’s reply was excellent, that it proved him to have very superior abilities, but he altogether disapproves so much of the line he has taken that he cannot be hearty in any praise.
Bonaparte has gained a great victory at Aboukir;[41] the tower is defended, but must fall. It is supposed Sr. Sidney Smith is in it. When he is Bonaparte’s prisoner it is to be hoped he will assist him to correct his narrative of the affair of Acre, as Sr. Sidney’s rhodomontades do not accord much with probability. It was an unnatural state of things that Bonaparte should have for a moment such a buskin hero for a competitor; whilst he was eclipsed, one might say:—
An eagle tow’ring in its height of pride