adversaries, we still think that there is much in the statements and predictions of this writer, that well deserves the attention of those august persons, their ministers, and advisers, to advance whose glory, security, and interests, we are very sure they were with the greatest good will and sincerity designed.-The author says in a note, that, though he speaks in the text of sovereigns, he ascribes all the blame to those confidential serrants by whom they are misled.

ART. V. Constitutions des Principaux Etats de l'Europe, &c.; i.e. The Constitutions of the Principal States of Europe, and of the United States of America. Vol. VI. By J. V. DE LA CROIX, Professor of Public Law in the Lyceum, &c. 8vo. Paris. 1801. Imported by De Boffe, London. Price 6s. sewed.

WE have already noticed the former labours of this learned

Professor, on the subject of the volume here presented to us *. At their commencement, we considered much at large the nature of his undertaking, the style of its execution, and divers peculiarities by which it was marked. If the state of things, which called forth his exertions, now exists only in recollection, still his volumes are convenient repositories of general information on matters of great moment, and as such possess considerable value. That which is before us, however, interests and instructs far less than those which have preceded it; because analyses of and criticisms on the ephemeral constitutions, which were of late so much the order of the day in France, have little power to arrest attention: yet the page occasionally discloses precious facts, which afford matter for reflec tion, and which furnish ground whence important inferences may be obtained.

The French people, we are told, received the constitution of the year III. (the Directorial) with suspicion and distrust, from the apprehension that it might prove, in practice, an instrument of oppression rather than a charter of freedom; yet so odious had been the late domination, that a change could scarcely happen which did not ameliorate the view of the fu ture, and excite considerable joy: though it bore no proportion nor resemblance to the exultation with which the limited royal form of government, devised by the constituent assembly, was welcomed and adopted. M. DE LA CROIX, however, is constrained to allow that the first stages of its course were happy beyond hope, in animating industry, reviving commerce, re+

*See Rev. N. S. Vols. vi. p. 481.; vii. p. 512.; ix. p. 48. The 4th and 5th Vols. however, we believe, were overlooked.

APP. REV. VOL. XXXVIII.

Ii

storing

storing credit, healing ills, and in holding out bright and cheering prospects. We have it, therefore, on the admission of this author, who is not behind-hand with any of the panegyrists of the chief consul, that things have not to this day reached the flourishing condition in which the 18th of Fructidor found them, under the directorial auspices. How is this fact to be explained? Was it because, until the usurpation of the directors, there was civil liberty in France, and that the country has since been a stranger to it, that prosperity advanced so rapidly during the years IV. and V., and so tardily in the VIIIth, IXth, and Xth? Have we here an unintentional, but a most flattering tribute paid to a free form of government? Did the portion of freedom, which the constitution of the year III. secured, produce beneficial effects which the extraordinary talents and exertions of the present chief magistrate are unable to equal, under a political regimen which is not founded on liberty?:

M. Ræderer, in his laboured apology for the 18th of Brumaire, vindicates the majorities of the councils previously to the 18th of Fructidor; and he asserts, in an unqualified manner, that the transactions of that day originated in wanton unprovoked aggression, on the part of the Directory. The present author, whose aversion to the Pentarchs is not inferior to that of M. Ræderer, deems the same majorities highly culpable. According to him, they were hastening most inconsiderately towards a counter-revolution; and their later measures had brought the state to the utmost danger, had banished confidence, checked the rising prosperity of the country, paralyzed industry, and revived dangerous intrigues. While he reprobates, in suitable terms, the horrible use which the Directors made of their victory, he admits that the conduct of the councils had rendered it necessary to adopt measures of violence. The French Journals of the time, and the proceedings of the councils, are more in favour of M. DE LA CROIX than of the Apologist of the 18th of Brumaire. Indeed, we would ask the citizen counsellor of state, if the members of the councils be all so completely sans tache as he makes them, why the gallant Pichegru is still a wanderer in foreign lands, an exile from the country which owes him so much on the score of defence and glory? The zeal of the supple advocate in traducing the Directory exposes the First Consul to censure. he magnanimous, is his reign to be that of equal justice? can this be, and Pichegru remain in banishment? Roederer was not contented to defend the ex-General in the aggregate with others, but entered into a particular vindication of him, and accounted for the charges that were exhibited against him.

M. DE

M. DE LA CROIX describes with accuracy the views of the people of France at the commencement of the revolution. Ar that period, he says, there was not a wish but to maintain the French monarchy; and the public desire went no farther than to purify the authority of the king, and to balance it with justice. France would have been satisfied with obtaining the suppression of unequal and arbitrary taxes, of degrading and burdensome services, of usurped rights, of exclusions which insulted merit, and of impolitic distinctions; thus bringing justice home to the cottage, and substituting in the tribunals fairness and information instead of pride and ignorance.

It was in the power of the constituent assembly to have obtained a charter of this sort: but that body cherished different views, which it considered as more elevated, and more worthy of its preponderance. By outstripping the hopes and the wishes of the people, it extended the circle of human claims, removed the barriers, which fenced the sovereign authority, deprived it of its power of resisting importunity and audacity, and of commanding obedience to those laws, the execution of which was committed to it.'

In concluding an invective against atheism, in which its social ill effects are enumerated, the author volunteers the confession of the sceptical state of his own mind:

I ought to avow (he says) that the opinions which I imbibed in my infancy are so far effaced, that I believe only in the necessity of adoring the Divinity in his sublime works, in manifesting towards him our love and gratitude, of concurring with all our strength in maintaining the order which he has established, of shewing our respect for his power by resigning without murmur to his irrevocable decrees, of believing in his goodness, and of not fearing his vengeance on account of infirmities inseparable from humanity. All re. ligions, in which I shall see recommended beneficence towards our kind, submission to the laws, oblivion of injuries, respect for age, sobriety, and purity of manners, a rigorous probity, toleration for errors, and indignation against crimes, will have an equal claim to my regard; and I will belong exclusively to them, whenever the government prescribes to me such adherence.'

The late Bp. of Rochester (now Bp.of St. Asaph) has suggested that characters of this sort are not unknown among ourselves; and his Lordship was very particular in the cautions which he gave his clergy with regard to them. It is certainly matter of regret to us, to have our attention called forth by declarations in which Christian belief is left problematical: but we do not hesitate to assertthat the learned Prelate might have found more prominent objects for his censures, persons of more heinous delinquency, and whom circumstances more strongly point out

Ii 2

for

for episcopal reprehension. We pity the upright benevolent sceptic: but we should prefer him to the Gardiners and Bon nors of former days, and to the haughty self-sufficient bigot, the oppressive man of power, and the litigious contentious neighbour, of any and of all times.

Some readers may recollect the praises bestowed by M. DE LA CROIX, on the constitution by which the ancien regime was superseded; and his lofty tone, and triumphant exultations, when contrasting it with what he was pleased to represent as the superannuated and declining freedom of Britain. We do not refer to these circumstances, with the view of insulting the humiliating situation to which the author and his fellowsubjects are now reduced: we are far from contemplating it with satisfaction: we should envy no people the possession of real genuine liberty; we wish that the French had known how to have realized and maintained it; and we sincerely lament the disservice which their abortive attempt has caused to it. Genuine liberty is accompanied with blessings which are not confined to the circle within which it is acknowleged and adored. Who does not believe that the royal despotism of France was more mild than it otherwise would have been, in consequence of the freedom enjoyed by England? and doubtless, if free states were more numerous than they are, the freedom of each would be more perfect and more secure. It is far from our intention to retaliate on M. DE LA CROIX, for observations which were not well founded, and which certainly were not dictated either by the soundest judgment or the best spirit: but some passages in the volume before us did so strongly call to our recollection, by the force of contrast, those to which we have been just alluding, that we could not avoid the mention of them. Treating of the consular power, the author says, that is truly legitimate authority which, rising out of the ruins of anarchy, is sanctioned by public gratitude. Make me happy, and I will acknowlege you for my master...... This is what a people have always the right to say to the chief who has rescued them from oppression; and if this chief fulfils the condition, who shall have a right to violate this contract?-the most imposing and the most august that can be conceived, because formed between gratitude and courage.'-The futility of these observations is only equalled by their abjectness; they are below confutation; and we give them only as specimens of the language and opinions which French publicists now think it politic to adopt.

In the author's warm panegyric on the excellent and incomparable Montesquieu, we cordially unite; the sketch is highly interesting, equally just, and in a style which is above the usual manner of the Professor.

ART.

ART. VI. De l'Etat de la Culture en France, &c.; i.e. On the State of Cultivation in France, and the Improvements of which it is susceptible. By D. DEPRADT, Member of the Constituent Assembly. 2 Vols. 8vo. Paris. 1802. Imported by De Boffe, London. Price 10s. sewed.

TRA

RANQUILLITY being restored between Great Britain and France, and glory being no longer to be sought by the subjects of either state at the point of the sword or " in the cannon's mouth," they have leisure for commencing a more noble and Christian contest; and it would be happy for both nations, if the energies which have lately been displayed in depopulating the earth were henceforth succeeded by equal exertions for its amelioration. Peace, says Milton, has its victories, not less renowned than war. May this sentiment prevail; and may we and our neighbours be mutually emulous of acquiring the jocund and prolific laurels of peace!

Agriculture, on account of its primary importance, should become the first object of amiable competition; to which end, its actual state in each of the two countries must be attentively considered. We have given to the world a detailed account of British Agriculture in our several county surveys; and, till more ample statements are given, the work before us will serve to convey an idea of the actual and potential culture of France. It is dedicated to our countryman, Mr. Arthur Young, to whose writings M. DEPRADT confesses himself considerably indebted. We are reminded in the advertisement that, however well the new division of France into Departments may be calculated for the political administration, the old division into Provinces was more adapted to details of its climate and productions, and is therefore retained in this publication.

To encourage the French agriculturist in his exertions, and to prompt the French Government to lend him assistance, M. DEPRADT gives the most attractive picture of the Capabilities of France:

It is not here, (he says,) as in many other countries, in which the industry of man, striving with the fixed inclemency of the season and the roughness of the climate, is necessarily circumscribed within certain limits; and in which nature yields only to the combined efforts of wealth and art :-in France, under the smiles of a most genial sun, cultivation seems rather to sport than to exert itself, on a soil endowed with all the attributes of fertility. The territory of France is perhaps the best in Europe, the richest in point of soil, the most varied in respect of productions, and equally removed from the extremes of heat and cold.-There is not in all Europe a track of land of equal size, which can bear a comparison with that which extends from Calais to the Loire, from the heights of Nantes, Orleans, and

1i3

Nanci,