natives who repaired to Paris 1789. folemnly declared, that M. de Bauffre mont, Abbot of Clairvaux, was accuftomed to fire at the peasants; and this cuftom was then so common, that it obtained the appellation of la Chafe aux Vilains."

The Swifs are (or rather were) so little accustomed to fay the thing “that is not," that we should be inclined to believe honeft Jean Jacob, did we not reffe&t a little upon the period when, it is flated, he fo opportunely appeared at Paris, with a complaint which the French Monarch had not then the power to redrefs, and which no man of common fenfe could, for a moment, credit. In fact, the happieft, the moft opulent part of the Swifs peafantry, were thofe that held their lands of the abbies and other religious communities, which, like the church-lands in England, were always let at lower rates than thofe held of lay-poffefors. To Term thofe perfons flaves is juft as accurate a defcription of them as if the fame appellation was applied to thote worthy farmers and tradefimen who hold lands, houses, &c. under our Bishops, or the Deans and Chapters of St. Paul's, Weftminfter, Winchester, Durham, and a hundred other religious eftablishments and feminaries. As to The Abbot footing at his tenants, as a hero, whom we had read of, did at bis prifoners, we would ask the Author if he believes it himself? What! a grave Clergyman, we will fuppofe in his canonicals, mounted perhaps upon one of the buttreffes of his cathedral, with a mufket in his hand, firing at his harmlefs auditors, and the Chapter charging bis pieces, for to fuch a length an excurfive fancy might carry this Author's ideas, or, as he actually, from report, ftates, hunting them through the woods, and firing at them for his amufement. The thing is impoffible! and though we have too much cha- ̈ rity, and too good an opinion of him, to fuppofe, that he for a moment believed the report, he certainly has neither confidered the motives, nor the information, of Jean Jacob, with his ufual accuracy, and is, unquestionably, mistaken.

We next arrive at the period of a new dynasty, termed the Capetian, when the Crown ceased to be elective, which drew around, and involved with it, a hereditary Nobility. The history of the States General, which rose with

the fourteenth century, and the convocation of the Notables fixty-eight years after, are curious as they inform the reader how thefe bodies, from whose powers, when called into action, after they had long lain dormant, such important confequences enfued, were firit constituted.

On the following paragraphs, in which the origin of defpötilm, which our Author attributes to the formation of a ftanding army of feventeen hundred men; and the progrefs of tyranny, down to the fufpention of the States General; we could make numerous obfervations, did we not foresee that we fhall want all the space that can be affigned to this article for matters which we deem more important, and which certainly will be more neceffary as the work dricends to our own times.

As the Author appears to delight in unkennelling and hunting down tyrants, we hall juft exhibit the mode in which he pursues the flade of Richlieu; as it feems that he has not done in this what is very frequent with him to do, namely, that he has not kept his object fufficiently in view to give, a clear idea of his character.

"Richlieu, great and fortunate Minifter, about this period (the fufpenfion of the States General,) undertook the management of affairs, and bereaved his country even of the hope of regaining any portion of her liberties. During his administration the Catholic Grandees were completely humbled. In fhort, the Crown was rendered wholly independent both of Nobles and People."

This, though of the graveft kind, is furely irony; for we are certain, from the tenor of the work, the Author is far from believing that Minifter fortunate who should render the Crown independent of the Nobles and People; that is, in other words, the Lords and Commons.

In the opening of the fourth Se&ion, our Author indulges himself in a way that alfo feems to afford him great fatisfaction; that is, in contemplating the vices of Monarchs. We find Lewis the Fifteenth, like Francis the Firft, fell a martyr to his debaucheries; that for more than three centuries the prople could not beat more than bre Regent that deferved their gratitude, and scarcely more than two Princes who were worthy of their attachment.

At length the eventful reign of the excellent, though unfortunate, Lewis

the

the Sixteenth opens. We find him, even in the first act of it, employed in a way which fhews more judgment and dif cretion than has always been difplayed by youths placed in his elevated fituation; that is, in felecting the Count de Maurepas, an ancient Nobleman of acknowledged abilities and integrity, for his Prime Minifter. To his, the characters of feveral other Minifters fucceed, which feem to be delineated with foirit; and allowing for fome patriotic fpecks, which, even at this early period, flain thofe of the King and Queen, the meafures which led to the revolution, and the means ufed to excite that event, are accurately de. veloped.

The origin of the revolution is then traced to different fources: ift, in the natural progrefs of the human mind: here men of letters are complimented with the idea that they may be confidered as the arbiters of the deftiny of nations. 2d, in the extention of literature and philofophy. "Kouffeau," fays our Author, born and educated within the walls of a republic, was infpired with high notions of liberty: fuch were the charms of his eloquence, that he taught the fubjects of one of the most abfolute monarchies in Europe to fpeak and think like himfelf." Yet we believe it will not be denied that, abstractedly confidered, he appeared in times peculiarly fortunate to his genius, at a period when circumstances had well difpofed the people to receive and to profit by his inftructions.

The age of Voltaire forms an epoch in the history of the country; "the teady and enlightened friend to humanity, he was equally eager to aflift the oppreffed and affail the guilty. Sometimes," the Author allows," he condefcended to fatter delpotifm," but then we learn," it was to difarm it of its rage. The arrows with which he affailed fuperftition inflicted the mot deadly wounds; yet they now and then took an oblique direction, and glanced against the buckler of religion."

We might obferve to this apologift for the impious verfatility of an ingenious Atheist, that thefe arrows fometimes took a much more unlucky turn with respect to the archer, and that thofe were periods to him of the utmoit importance, namely, the hours of ficknefs, pain, and death; they then pierced his own bofom:

VOL. XLIV. JULY 1803.

"He died, and made no fign:

"O God forgive him!" Among the other worthies who endeavoured to render their country.deferving of liberty, we find the names of Bailly, Button, Condorcet, Diderot, D'Alembert, Turgot, Neckar, and Calonne. The two latter are itated to be writers of another kind, who confpired fometimes involuntarily against the established defpotifm. The liberty and profperity of England, which, by its free constitution, had been enabled to combat with, and not unfrequently to humble, the Monarchy, and the example of America, are fuppofed," though in an inferior degree, to have operated in favour of the French revolution.

After fome obfervations on the defection of the army, which we find partly arofe from the tyranny of an arbitrary government, odious even to foldiers, we arrive at the fate of the Court. From this part we fhall extract the characters of the King and Queen; as, while they exhibit a fair fpecimen of the beft ftile, they ferve to thew the fpirit of the writer.

"The King poffeffing many virtues, but feeble, irrefolute, and uxorius, excited pity, and even contempt. Vibrating between the violent counfels of his confort and the timidity of his own nature, he appears to have been eminently capricious, for he was by turns tyrannical and compliant.

"Maria-Antoinetta, while Dauphinefs, had acquired the refpect of the nation by refuting to countenance the mistress of the reigning Monarch. On various accounts this beautiful, but imprudent, Princess now experienced its hatred. Until her time, the Queens of France, restrained by certain formalities, had never dined in company with the other fex, and, in confequence of a

range inconfitency, her Majesty was accufed, by the inhabitants of a gay and debauched capital, with having overleaped the bounds of punctilio, and even of decorum, by living and converfing familiarly with her courtiers and favourites. But it cannot be denied that fome parts of her conduct were fubject to more ferious reprehention. Her expences were enormous, ber demeanour haughty, her averfion to every thing that bore the name of liberty was confpicuous, and the manner in which the governed the Prince expofed both him and herself to unF

ceafing

ceafing fufpicion. The people were jealous of her early partialities, and imagined that the was a better filter than a wife, and more attached to Auftria than France; they even pryed into, and loudly arraigned, her pleafures: in addition to this, the recent tranfaction about the diamond necklace, in which her character was unfortunately implicated with that of the debauched Cardinal de Rohan and a female adventurer of the name of La Motte, had generated fufpicions which were revived from time to time by the clamours of difcontent and the virulence of party zeal.”

We might here appeal to the fenfibility of the reader, and, refigning our critical task to his feelings, afk him if these are correct likeneles of these murdered Monarchs? We can for ourfelves only fay, that we exceedingly lament that obloquy should till purfue their memories, and that now an Englifhman fhould be found who, in loading them with follies and vices which we believe had never any existence but in the distempered brains, in the heated imaginations, of artful demagogues, and in the cankered bofoms of hireling Gallic writers, as devoid of principle as of genius, feems, we hope unintentionally, to apologize for their murderers. We muft, in confequence of our limits, fuffer to pafs without obfervations, remarks upon the injuftice of the Nobles; degeneracy of the dignified Clergy; injuftice of the Prelates; the Baftille; Lettres de Cachet, &c.; though in many inftances they feem

to demand them.

This Section concludes with a fummary of grievances, many of which, we are inclined to think, were imaginary; but which, as a punishment to the French, they now feel and know are unfortunately realized.

In the fixth Section, the flage is crowded with a fplendid affembly of Nobles and Clergy, contrafted with the plain apparel of the third Estate, at the convocation of the States General. Were not the occafion of this meeting too folemn, and its confequences too dreadful, we should agree with the Author that it was calculated to produce "a theatrical effect." Would to God it had not produced any other! This Section, which begins fo aufpicioufly, terminates with the taking of the Babille. In this formidable prifon, the horrors of which have been fa

often, fo feelingly, and fo accurately defcribed, there was, itrange to tell! at the time of its dilapidation, only feven prifoners! Upon this circumftance, and the note on Secret Imprifonment, we fhall have occafion to make fome remarks in the courfe of this difquifition.

The reign of anarchy, which commenced from this event, feems not to have wanted materials to fan its flames. The atrocious circumflance which the Author forbears to mention in the text, but which he favours us with in the note to page lxxxix., we as ardently hope as he does, never occurred, and moreover believe, that the idea was generated in the hot and enthusiastic brain of fome enemy to France, and drawn forth there for fome finifter pur pofe.

Paffing over the vifionary fchemes which are termed facrifices on the part of the Nobility, the folemn mockery of the benediction of religion, the finging Te Deum upon the abolition of tithes, and the ftill more folemn mockery of complimenting the King, who was then virtually a prifoner to his rebellious fubjects, with the title of " Reftorer of Liberty;" we obferve and lament the operation of a real grievance, in the famine that prevailed in Paris, and the fatal confequences that enfued from it. The frantic march to Verfailles, and return with the Royal Family, present features of horror and atrocity unparalleled in hiftory. "This proceeding," faith our Author, after glancing lightly at the Duke of Orleans and the Count de Mirabeau, characters that, in our opinion, if mentioned at all, fhould not have been treated lightly, "remains involved in mystery, which can never be folved but by fuppofing the infurrection to have originated folely with the populace of the capital, who were undoubtedly agitated by want, and inflamed by fulpicion, to an unufual degree of violence."

We fhould have imagined that it did not require the fagacity of the Author of this work to have accounted for it upon other principles: he has already allowed the writers to have ftimulated it. Is he now disposed to say, that the people were unprepared? that no means had been used to inflame their minds, and to produce the fufpicions at which he hints? Has he never heard of fuch vices as treason, falichood, and malig

nity? Indeed, has he not depicted thefe odious propenfities of the human mind from their firit germ, till they hot, branched, and flourished, in the Tree of Liberty, the ripe harvelt of the fruit of which the French are now enjoying even to latiety. If with a difcriminating eye he has marked there things, though we are led to think he has glanced obliquely when he attempted to look up. ward, Can he not rationally, we had like to have faid, we mean philofophically, account for the ebullition of the public mind, and the furor that poffeffed the bofoms of the Parifians? Mult we not fuppofe that, on this occafion, there was fomething like a little management in the withholding bread from the people till Lewis and the lovely and unfortunate Queen were captured, and dealing it out to them profufely the moment after?

Of the flight of the King, treacherous in its plan, though, probably, as to the authors of it, fuccefsful in its event, we are inclined to agree with our hiftorian, that the capital exhi. bited the fame degree of courage and refolution as it had evinced two years before, when its citizens marched against the Baftille: indeed we wonder, as they advanced in the climax of crimes, they did not exhibit upon this occafion, if poffible, a feries of fill greater enormities.

The characters of the orators of the National Affembly, though favourably, we hope juttly, drawn, we fhall neither object to, nor endeavour to parallel with thofe of the traitors and regicides of other nations; indeed the task would be difficult. Many already have, and the reft, it is devoutly to be hoped, will, in due time, meet their reward.

In the next Section, when defcanting upon the prefs, the learned labours of thefe Gentlemen are noticed; for we find that "every printing-houfe in the capital teemed with their productions, and in addition to innumerable band and pofting-bills, and regular periodical works, it has been estimated, that during the first years of the revolution, no less than one hundred and fifty pamphlets iffued weekly from the fhops of bookfellers." It is alfo ftated, that at this period "newspapers to the amount of about forty, from one half Denny to a livre, were regularly published;" and there is in pages cxii, &c. a curious note, in which the titles of twenty-eight of these elaborate pro

ductions are given. From this information, we are the lefs inclined to wonder, that authors not over nice, with refpect to their principles, became partizans in a revolution to profitable to themselves.

The rife of the Jacobins, a fect which feems to have poffeffed all the vices, una.oyed by any of the good qualities, of the Jefuits, now attracts the attention of the reader. "Such," days our Author, "was its influence, that the Legislative Body was frequently guided by its decifions;" (we fear it had an influence ftill more extenfive;) "the foldiers were permitted to leave their barracks to frequent its galleries; while the Red Cap of the Prefident was, by turns, feen encircling the brows of the Mayor of Paris elected by the people, and (alas!) the Minifter of State elected by the King."

Maximilian Robespierre, to whose virtues an altar, in the name of public gratitude, was erected in the Champ de Mars, now appears upon the scene. We meet in his character a faint refemblance of Richard the Third, as drawn by Shakspeare; the fame hypocritic affectation of humanity when a candidate for power; indeed combined with far more fanguinary propenfities when he had attained the fummit of his withes. Danton and Marat follow as his train bearers. We now learn, what we must confefs is new to us, that this triumvirate owed their preeminence to the open hoftility of the Queen to the new Conftitution, and the weak, wavering, and fufpicious conduct of the imprisoned Monarch.

The character of the Feuillans, and of the fecond Affembly, follow; among whom we find the names of Briffot, Condorcet, &c.: they feem to be well drawn, and naturally lead to the reflection, that we muit lament in those men a perversion of thofe profeffional talents that ought to have taught them to have promoted obedience to the laws of fociety and the laws of their country; which, on the contrary, their mad, their fanguinary ambition led them equally to violate.

The chara&er of Duomouriez is comprised in a very few words; in which, notwithstanding the fize of the work, we think one of the excellencies of the Author confifts. "This Minifter, bold, infatiable, and ambitious, must be allowed to have poffeffed genius; but he was deficient in wisdom, and even his integrity began foon to be F 2 fufpected."

fufpected." The characters of the five other Minifters, La Coite, Duranton, Claviere, Degrave and Roland, whom the Author compliments with exhibit. ing a marked resemblance to our patriot, Sir Jofeph Jekyil,

"Who never chang'd his principles or wigs,"

are alfo delineated.

We at length, after fome toil, come to the laft Section of this Introduction, which, like a long avenue and immenfe veftibule, we hope will conduct us to a building remarkable for its grandeur, elegance, proportion, and the barmony of its parts. We have, by gradual steps, afcended to the hall, and find it adorned with pictures representative of the state of Europe: among which our guide particularly directs our attention to one which exhibits a likeness of France in the year 1791; and we are defired to confider how the fituation

of this piece bore upon every other in this quarter of the globe.

In the course of his explanation, he compliments a few of his countrymen who had fagacity enough to discover, probably in the countenances, but certainly in the principles and policy, of the members that compofe the piece which reprefents the British Cabinet, the impending ftorm, "and who boldly prefaged, that the fame men who had lo zealously, but impolitically, contended against liberty in one hemifphere, would not, unmoved, behold her triumph in another."

The combinations againft France; Treaty of Pilnitz; the strength of France; hoftility of the Nobles, &c.; form the remainder of this section, which concludes with a general with for war, of which we are now prepared to contemplate the events, and appreciate the advantages.

(To be continued.)

IT will be within the recollection of fuch of our readers, who have a turn of mind for noticing and examining public tranfactions as they occur, and become topics of general converfation, that the idea of employing dogs to hunt, run down, and poflibly to devour men, as foon as the intelligence of the unnatural incafure reached England, excited an univerfal fenfation of horror and difguft. Both in Parliament, and from the prefs, the fubject was taken up with a degree of public fpirit, humanity, and compaffion, becoming a Christian nation, dif tinguished for its love of religious and civil liberty, for the mildness of its government, and for the amiable character of its Sovereign, who has conftantly tempered juftice with mercy.

No wonder, then, that the government of Jamaica, and every individual acting under it, and having a fhaie, either in a legislative capacity, or in carrying into execution, a favage warfare, unprecedented in the glorious annals of British history, should be defirous, even at a remote period, when

the difgraceful expedition for fubduing the Maroons was almost forgotten, to exculpate themselves, in the eyes of their fellow-fubjects. How far the prefent work may produce this defirable effect, we leave it to the public to decide, after a candid statement of the reasons affigned in the fecond volume for adopting fuch an extraordinary step.

The Frontispiece exhibits the Portrait of a Black Spanish Chafieur of the land of Cuba, with two Dogs muzzled, and another loofe; in the back-ground is a view of a Maroon town, or camp, the landscape by E. J. Smith, and the figures by Jofeph Smith; both of them fo well executed, that the fkill of the artifts is calculated, on the first bluth of the business, to prejudice the reader againit proceeding to an investigation of the defence with which the volume opens. The ingenious advocate who has undertaken it has acquitted himfelf moit ably as the friend of Colonel Quarrell, of the Houfe of Affembly of Jamaica, of Lord Balcarres the Governor, and of his Majelty's Council

in