cliffe, Knt. LL.D. the Friend of the Earl of Strafford, by Dr. Whitaker, the learned Hiftorian of Whalley and Craven, may be expected before the end of the prefent month.

Dr. Drake has in the Prefs, under the title of the Gleaner, a Selection of Effays from fcarce or neglected periodical Papers with an Introduction and Notes. It will be fpeedily publifhed in 4 volumes octavo.

Mr. Pratt's Poem of The Lower World, occafioned by the Speech of Lord Erskine, for preventing wanton cruelty to animals, is in the prefs, and will be prefented to the public very fhortly.

Mr. Pratt will speedily publifh a fecond edition of the Poems of Jofeph Blacket, the first having been difpofed of by private circulation for the benefit of the Author. The new impreffion will contain many additional pieces, to which will be affixed an engraving of the Author, by Cooke, from a drawing by Mafquirier.

Dr. Stock's Life of Dr. Beddoes is in the prefs. It will comprize an analytical account of the Doctor's numerous writings, both published and unpublished.

Mr. Dymock, of the Grammar school of Glasgow, has in the Prefs a new Edition of Decerpta ex P. Ovidii Nafenis Metamorphofeon Libris, with Notes, and an explanation of the proper names at the end of the Volume, for the ufe of Schools.

Dr. Toulmin of Wolverhampton has in the Prefs, a work entitled, Elements of the Practice of Medicine.

A Statement of Facts refpecting the late Infurrection in India, delivered to Lord Minto, the Governor General, on his arrival at Madras, by Mr. William Petrie, the fecond in council, will very shortly be laid before Parliament and the public in one Volume, 8vo.

A fecond edition of Dr. Wordsworth's Reafons for declining to fubfcribe to the British and Foreign Bible Society will ap pear in a few days. It will be accompanied by an Anfwer to a Letter to Dr. Wordsworth, in reply to his Strictures on the British and Foreign Bible Society, by Lord Teignmouth, Prefident of that Society.

An Efay on the Principles of Philofophical Criticism, applied to Poetry, by Jofeph Harpur, L. L.B. is nearly ready for Publication.

ERRATA IN OUR LAST.

Page 222, line 6, for Sceva read Seeva

226, 21, for SURGU SIDDHUNTU, read SURYA SIDDHANTA,

THE

BRITISH CRITIC,

For MAY, 1810.

"Iniqua eft in omni re, prætermiffis bonis, malorum enumeratio vitiorumque felectio."

CICERO.

It is not fair, in any cafe, to pafs by what is good, for the fake of enumerating faults, and felecting errors.

ART. I. A Letter on the Genius and Difpofitions of the French Government, including a View of the Taxation of the French Empire. By an American, recently returned from Europe. 8vo. 253 pp. 6s. Philadelphia printed. London reprinted for Longman and Co. 1810.

THE

HE variety of important matter contained in this tract, the diftinguished ability with which it is written, and its tendency to promote that reconciliation and union between Great Britain and America, which are fo effential to the interefts of both, appear to demand a much more detailed account, and to fuggeft many more obfervations, than we can usually be ftow upon works of temporary intereft. Neither will the form of this publication, which is epiftolary and immethodical, allow us to give a regular analysis of its contents. We can therefore only fet before the reader the leading objects which this author appears to have in view, ftate a few of the ft iking facts detailed by him, and exhibit fome fpecimens of his energetic ftyle and language.

In a fhort advertisement prefixed, the author informs us, that the sketch which he has drawn of the French finances is collected from "original documents of unquestionable auFf. thority;"

BRIT. CRIT. VOL. XXXV. MAY, 1810.

thority;" and he relies with confidence on the accuracy of his information, and the authenticity of the facts introduced by him, having long refided in Europe, and had frequent intercourfe with many of its molt enlightened ftatefinen. Though this affertion, it must be admitted, is only the ipfe dixit of an anonymous writer, yet the letter affords, in our opinion, abundance of internal evidence to its truth.

66

The laws and liberties of America, as well as the character of its internal adminiftration, of its moral habits and foreign relations, depend, in a great degree, (fays the author) upon a proper understanding of the genius and difpofitions of the French government;" upon the fentiments which he wishes to fee univerfally predominant-of cordial deteftation for the profligacy, and of timely refiftance to the machinations of that power, which, circumfcribed by no law, and checked by no fcruple, meditates the fubjugation of America, as of every other country.

His object therefore is to fhow, that it belongs to the nature, as it is the fyftematic plan, of the government of France, to grafp at univerfal dominion; that the evils entailed upon France by this gigantic defpotism are no less galling than thofe, which the inflicts upon the conquered territories, affecting equally the luxuries of the rich and the neceffaries. of the poor. He adds, that his countrymen thare equally with the British the hatred of the cabinet of St. Cloud, and are equally marked out for deftruction.

On the first of thefe topics it is obferved, that the fituation of France, the martial character of her population, and the intriguing spirit of her rulers, peculiarly qualify her for the attainment of univerfal empire. The obitacles to the accomplishment of this end, before the Revolution, arofe from the civil inftitutions, established habits, and limited forms of government common to France and the other itates of Europe; between which a balance of power had been eftablifhed, and was preferved by an equilibrium of weakness in their military conftitutions.

This weaknefs (according to the prefent author) depended. chiefly upon two circumitances; namely, the limitations which agriculture, commerce, manufactures, &c. impofed on the amount of the military force; and the doctrine (in thofe times strictly true) that " money conftituted the finews of war." In every country (he obferves) the fyftem of finance was more or lefs regular and equitable, and the idea of fupporting armies upon the territories of an enemy feems never to have been entertained. The former fyftem of volunLary levies, he alfo remarks, was incompatible with the plan of boundless

boundless aggrandizement. From these shackles France, he obferves, was released by the Revolution.

Without ftaying to inveftigate the caufes of that event, the author examines what facilities it furnished for the fubjugation of the continent. Among thefe he places, first, the total change which it operated in her relative fituation, by the deftruction of all thofe interefts by which the old government was influenced and checked. He confiders France as thus" loofened from the political firmament, and prepared to purfue any direction which her new rulers might give." They were enabled to build a new fyftem, retaining the invigorating elements of the old, but endued with a diftempered energy far more formidable. He therefore deems the French power not the work of chance, but the refult of a deliberate project for the fubjugation of Europe, framed and acted upon even before the reign of the Directory. This, he declares, was acknowledged by all the actors in the scene of the Revolution, with whom he had occafion to converse; and he describes with great force and eloquence the arts, as he terms them, of" fraud and menace, of violence and feduction, by which they beguiled the weakneis, enfnared the cupidity, confounded the judgment, and overpowered the fortitude of mankind.”

The author proceeds to fhow, that the French, from the firft dawnings of their Revolution, were more favourably fituated than the Romans for the attainment of univerfal empire. He then enforces ftrongly the important but melancholy confideration, that " it is not to the character and talents alone of the prefent ruler, that we are to afcribe the career which France has run fince his acceffion." In his opinion (which too many circumstances confirm) Bonaparte and his immediate predeceffors were conquerors from neceffity as well as choice; fince to disband the armies was impoffible, and it was equally impoffible to maintain them within the French territory. The mode in which this system of military dominion is fupported over a people among whom (the author declares) the Revolution has extinguifhed every principle of civil fubordination," is ably detailed in this part of the work. A part of this defcrip ion we will extract, as containing material information in itlelf, and affording a good fpecimen of the author's style and language.

"Throughout all France, the note of military preparation drowns every other indication of activity-and the thirft of conqueft appears to fuperfede every other defire. In the capital, all the faculties of thought and action which either individuals or

Ff 2

public

public bodies can furnifh in aid of the general defign, are applied and difciplined with a regular and effective fubferviency, which to me was truly aftonishing. I found on all fides, an unity of views, an activity in planning and fyftematizing the devices of ambition, an eagerness for the iffue, and a fanguine affurance of fuccefs,--almost incredible, and more like the effects of revolutionary frenzy, than thofe of a concert between the infatiable ambition of an audacious tyrant and the active talents and natural propenfities of a body of trembling flaves. From the commencement of the Revolution particularly, emiffaries have been fcattered over Europe in order to study and delineate its geographi cal face. The harveft of their labours, now depofited in Paris, has furnished the imperial government with a knowledge of the territory of the other powers, much more minute and accurate than that which the latter themselves poffefs. The Depôt de la Guerre occupies, unremittingly, feveral hundred clerks in tracing maps. and collecting topographical details, to minifter to the military purposes of the government. All the great eftates of Spain were marked and parcelled out long before the laft invafion of that country, and it is not too much to affirm, that thofe of England are equally well known and already partitioned.

"The idea of unlimited fway is ftudiously kept before the public mind, and the future empire of France over the nations of the earth, exultingly proclaimed, in all the fongs of the theatres and in public difcourfes of every defcription. Even the gaunt and ragged beings, who prowl about the ftreets and infeft the night.cellars of Paris;-the famifhed outcafts,-many of whom are men of decent exterior and advanced age, beggared by the Revolution,-who haunt the Boulevards and public gardens, in order to enjoy, under the rays of the fun, that enlivening warmth which their poverty denies them at home,-and who, by their wan and melancholy afpect, excite the horror and compaffion of a ftranger-all appear to forget, for a moment, their own miferies, in anticipating the brilliant deftinies of the empire, and contemplating Paris, in profpeftive, as the metropolis of the world. The inhabitants of the country and of the provincial cities, whofe condition the war renders miferable beyond defcription, and who fecretly invoke the bittereft curfes on their rulers,-are, nevertheless, (for fuch is the character of this extraordinary people) not without their fhare in the general avidity for power; and, when the fenfe of their wretchednefs does not prefs too ftrongly upon them, can even confent to view the exten fion of the national influence and renown in the light of a per fonal benefit."" P. 24.

The conduct of Bonaparte towards Spain and the northern powers is next reviewed by this author, in order to make the true fpirit of his government the more apparent. His designs refpecting Spain were, it feems, the common topic of

converfation