Gents Mag 1849 part 1 p.94
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Gentleman's Magazine 1849 part 1 p.94
have cost us such a painful expenditure of blood and treasure. It was not to be expected that any person of mature age could within a space of a few months overcome all the practical difficulties of such a language as the Chinese; but Mr. Barrow had already begun to converse in it, and he had acquired a complete knowledge of its theory. His papers on this subject in the Quarterly Review contain probably the best and most popular account of that singular language and character which was ever presented to the British public. Although Mr. Barrow ceased to be personally connected with our affairs in China after the return of the embassy in 1794, he always continued to take a lively interest in the varying circumstances of our relationship with that empire. On the occasion of the second embassy under Lord Amherst, in 1816, he was of course consulted by the ruling powers; but, unfortunately, although his advice was asked, it was not taken; and in consequence of the injudicious rejection of the proposal which his prophetic sagacity had suggested for getting rid of the vexatious question of the Chinese ceremony, Lord Amherst and his colleagues were compelled to abandon the personal reception of the mission for the sake of preserving the honour and real interests of the English in China, which would have been essentially damaged by the acceptance of the terms on which it was offered. Mr. Barrow was likewise consulted, and, we believe, it is to be hoped, has secured our future peace with that country. Lord Macartney was naturally anxious to secure the aid of such a man as Mr. Barrow in his next public service, his important and delicate mission to settle the government of the our newly acquired colony of the Cape of Good Hope. Mr. Barrow accompanied his lordship as private secretary, in Jan. 1797; and having been entrusted to conduct our first communication with the Caffre tribes, was occupied during the latter six months of that year in traversing the country in all directions, during which he travelled more than three thousand miles, usually sleeping in his own waggon. It would have been well for the public interests if the spirit, judgment, and humanity which he displayed in this service had more uniformly governed our subsequent transactions with that remarkable race. Lord Macartney, when he quitted the colony in Nov. 1798, left Mr. Barrow in the post of "auditor-general of public accounts, civil and military." He returned to England on the evacuation of the Cape in 1803, and shortly after published the fruits of his observations, under the title of "Travels in South Africa," printed in 4to. 1801. At the Cape Mr. Barrow had acquired the zealous friendship of General Frank Dundas, Lord Macartney's successor; who, after having unsuccessfully urged to Lord Hobart, the Secretary of State for War and Colonies, the claims of the late auditor for a retiring allowance, brought his merits under the consideration of his uncle Mr. Henry Dundas, afterwards Viscount Melville. At the house of Mr. Dundas at Wimbledon, Mr. Barrow was introduced to the notice of Mr. Pitt, who, though then out of office, encouraged him by expressing his approbation of his recent work, and suggested some further detail of the political, geographical, and commercial advantages of that part of Africa, considered as the "half-way house" to India. Mr. Barrow took the hint, and immediately set about the composition of the second volume of his "Travels," which was published in 1804. Lord Melville did not lose sight of Mr. Barrow; but, on taking office as First Lord of the Admiralty, in May 1804, he immediately appointed him, without solicitation, to the office of Second Secretary to the Admiralty, as the colleague of Mr. Marsden, and in the room of Mr. Tucker. Mr. Barrow was continued in office by Lord Barham, Lord Melville's immediate successor; but when the Whigs came into power, in Feb. 1806, he was informed by the Right Hon. Charles Grey, then appointed First Lord, that he must retire, and that Mr. Tucker was to be restored. The recapture of the Cape of Good Hope at this time brought Mr. Barrow's services in that quarter of the world more prominently before the government, and he was offered any colonial appointment that he might select for himself. Upon consideration, however, he determined not to leave England, and at the suggestion of Earl Grey, and with the expressed understanding that it would be favourably entertained by the premier, he was ordered to draw up a memorial of his various services, the result of which was a grant of a pension of 1000l. a year, to be abated from the emoluments of any place he might afterwards hold under government. In the short space of eight months the dissolution of the Grenville government brought Mr. Barrow again into the Admiralty, on Lord Mulgrave succeeding Earl Grey as First Lord. "From this day, the 8th April 1807, to the 28th Jan. 1845, I continued (he remarks) without intermission, as Second Secreatry of the Admiralty; when I retired, having completed altogether, from my first appointment in |
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