clusion that a
_sensible house dog_ is more like the people he has left at home than
most of his new companions, and that it (the house dog) would be nearly
as _capable_ of solving problems on national character."

Indeed!!

Is it possible that the Reviewer should still remain the dupe of such a
vulgar error? That at one time it was the custom to send to sea _the
fool of the family_, is certain, and had the Reviewer flourished in
those days, he would probably have been the one devoted to the service--
but _tempora mutantur_. Is the Reviewer aware that one-half, and
certainly the most successful half, of English diplomacy, is now carried
on by the admirals and captains, not only in the Mediterranean, but all
over the world. Is he aware that when the Foreign Office wishes to do
its work cheaply and well, it demands a vessel from the Admiralty, which
is made over to that office, and is set down as employed on "particular
service:" that during that service the captain acts from instructions
given by the Foreign Office alone, and has his cabin piled with
voluminous documents; and that, like the unpaid magistracy of England,
we sailors do all the best of the work, and have nothing but our trouble
for our pains. Nay, even the humble individual who pens this
remonstrance was for months on this very service, and, when it was
completed, the Foreign Office expressed to the Admiralty its
satisfaction at his conduct during his short diplomatic career.

_House dogs_! Hear this, ye public of England! A sensible house dog is
to be preferred to St Vincent, Nelson, Collingwood, Exmouth, and all
those great men who have aided their country as much with their pen as
with their sword; as much by their acuteness and firmness in diplomacy,
as by their courage and conduct in action.

Now, Mr Reviewer, don't you feel a little ashamed of yourself? Would
you really like to give up your name as the author of this bare-faced
libel? Would you like openly to assert that such is your opinion, and
that you will stand by it?

No liberal, high-minded man, whatever his politics may have been, has
ever refused to do justice to a service which has been the bulwark of
England. Lord Brougham has lately published a work containing the lives
of celebrated persons in the reign of George the Third. I will just
quote a few passages from his life of Lord St Vincent.

"The present sketches would be imperfect if Lord St Vincent were passed
over in si