HEBERT'S SPEECH.
Fro THE EDITOR OF THE "Srscrieroz.") SIR,—Mr. Conrad Gill (Spectator, August 28th) is undoubtedly correct in stating that the information supplied through spies to Lord Grenville re the proceedings of the "committee of nine" was open to great suspicion. The English Envoy at Genoa, a brilliantly clever man, was afterwards among the many who were tricked by the infamous Mehee de la Touche. The third Lord Holland, who knew Mr. Francis Drake, said of him that he was "amazingly credulous," adding: "I never met with a man who took such pains to be deceived. He had folios of false intelligence." It is curious to see how little notice is taken in France by present-day historians of the reports of Mr. Drake's spies. It is to be hoped for the credit of human nature that some of their accounts may be regarded as exaggerations. It would, however, be interesting, and also profitable, to ascertain their value as history.—I am,
The Residency, _Kashmir.
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