SELECT. ART. I. Views of Society and Manners in America; in a series of Letters, &c. By an Englishwoman. 1. (From the Scotsman.) 2. (From the London Literary Gazette.) ART. II. A Vision of Judgment, by Robert Southey, ART. III. Theology explained and defended, in a series ART. IV. [Sketches of the living Poets.] The Reverend ART. V. Lord Byron. (From the same.) 439 440 442 443 447 453 456 459 Voyages (From the 464 ART. VIII. Pope, Byron, and Bowles. (From the Lon don Magazine.) 477 APPENDIX. Negotiation for Louisiana. 491 LIST of late Publications. 504 ART. I.-Storia della guerra dell' Independenza degli Stati Uniti D'America, scritta da Carlo Botta. The work, the title of which is placed at the head of this article, first appeared in the year 1809, at the Italian press of D. Colas in Paris. Its appearance, if we are correctly informed, excited no eclat, and of course attracted few readers and no critics;—a circumstance to be accounted for, not from any want of merit either in the writer or in the book, but from the multitude of rival publications-from the more recent and eventful story of the French and Italian revolutions-from the interesting character of passing events, and lastly, from the spirit and temper of the Imperial government, which assuredly did not. favour the currency of a story, in any language, which even tended to show the competency of man to govern himself. In Italy, the reception of the work was not better-probably worse, because though commenced at an æra of comparative liberty, it did not appear until that æra had passed away; leaving only impressions unfavourable to that and every new and similar attempt at reformation. What is more difficult to account for is, that standing in the relation it does to the United States, it should have been so long in reaching us; and that, even after its arrival, it should have been so slow in making its way into our vernacular tongue. The first literary notice of it in this country, (that we recollect to have seen,) was that of the Analectic Magazine of May, 1815, and it is but now that we find the work VOL. III. 33 in a course of translation. The truth probably is, that (as in other cases) we were waiting the permission of some English artist to read it at all,-and the advice of some British or Scotch reviewer, to know whether, after translation, it was worth reading. Fortunately, we are at last awakening to a sense of our own wants, and to a desire of supplying them from our own resources. Cary & Son, have found a translator in Mr. Otis; and Mr. Otis, a friend and patron in Mr. Jefferson. In a letter of the 8th of July last, speaking of the original, this gentleman says," I am glad to find that the excellent work of Botta, is "at length translated. Its merit has been too long unknown "with us. He has had the faculty of sifting the truth of facts, "from our own histories, with great judgment; of suppressing "details, which do not make a part of the general history, and "of enlivening the whole, with the constant glow of his holy "enthusiasm for the liberty and independence of nations.* Neu"tral, as an historian should be, in the relation of facts, he is never neutral in his feelings, nor in the warm expression of "them on the triumphs and reverses of the conflicting parties, "and of his honest sympathies with that engaged in the better 66 cause. Another merit is in the accuracy of his narrative of "those portions of the same war which passed in other quarters "of the globe, and especially on the ocean. We must thank "him, too, for having brought within the compass of three vo"lumes every thing we wish to know of the war, and in a state 66 so engaging that we cannot lay the book down." 66 Now, if this be not the mere bienséance of an old politician, who finds it easier to praise than to blame,—if it be really the fact, that Mr. Botta has been fortunate enough, in sifting events and characters, to get rid of every thing foolish or false, and retain only what is valuable and true; if, besides, he has been able to breathe into his narrative that vis vitæ that living soul which gives to history much of its usefulness and all its charms --which not only keeps us wide awake while we read, but so interests us in the narrative, that we cannot lay it down-there is certainly room for national congratulation, as well as for individual triumph. Without, however, feeling too much respect * M. Botta is an Italian Physician and Sçavant. His politics, like those of his country, have been marked by an accommodation to circumstances. During the better fortunes of Bonaparte, he was the fast friend and warm admirer of that adventurer :-When forced to abdicate, the glow of the Doctor's enthusiasm abated :-When re-instated on the throne, the Doctor was among the first to send in his adhesion, and was accordingly rewarded with the rectorship of the academy at Nancè. These facts rather shake our belief in the sincerity of his zeal, for the independence of nations, which certainly made no part of the code Napoleon. for what the logicians have, somewhat unhappily, called the árgumentum ad verecundiam, (and which turns out to be only the authority of names,) we profess to bring to the inquiry, a sincere desire to find in Mr. Botta all that is good, and an honest intention to bestow upon him whatever of applause he may appear to merit. With these few remarks, we proceed to examine the material parts of the work, viz. the facts and opinions it details; and subsequently, its style and arrangement. Mr. Botta's first volume is altogether introductory, and intended as a summary of the colonial history, from the first settlement of the country, to the beginning of the war of the revolution. After informing us that America was discovered by the genius and intrepidity of Italians, he goes on to state the time at which the first emigrants left Europe; their motives for leaving it; their numbers; the portion of country they chose to occupy; their social condition; the maxims and conduct of the parent state; and lastly, the political tenets and views of the colonists, growing out of all these circumstances combined. This multitude, (he says) driven out of Europe by religious and political disturbances, and departing principally from England in the times of the last Stewarts, landed in that part of North-America, extending from the 32d to the 45th degree of north latitude, and there founded the colonies of New-Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut, and Rhode Island, which took the name of New-England. To these, were afterwards added, Virginia, New-York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, New-Jersey, Maryland, and the two Carolinas. The security which these distant and desert regions presented to their minds, was preferable to the endearments of their native climate and country. Here they exerted themselves with admirable industry and fortitude, according to the custom of those whom the fervour of opinion agitates and stimulates, in subduing the wild beasts, dispersing or destroying pernicious or importunate animals, repressing or subjecting the barbarous and savage nations that inhabited this new world, draining marshes, controlling the course of rivers, clearing forests, furrowing a virgin soil, and committing to its bosom new and unaccustomed seeds; and thus prepared for themselves a climate, less rude and hostile to human nature; more secure and more commodious habitations; more salubrious food, and a part of the conveniences and enjoyments proper to civilized life. Nor must it be understood, that in departing from the land in which they were born, to seek in foreign regions a better condition of life, they abandoned their country on terms of enmity, dissolving every tie of early attachment. Far from this-beside the customs, the habits, the usages and manners of their common country, they took with them privileges granted by the royal authority, whereby their laws were constituted upon the model of those of England, and more or less conformed to a free government, or to a more absolute system, according to the character and authority of the prince from whom they emanated. They were also modified by the influence which the people, by means of their organ, the parliament, were found to possess. For, it then being the epoch of those civil and religious dissentions which caused English blood to flow in torrents, the changes were extreme and rapid. Each province, each colony, had an elective assembly, which, under certain limitations, was invested with the authority of parliament; and a governor, who, representing the king to the eyes of the colonists, exercised also a certain portion of his power. To this was added the trial by jury, not only in criminal matters, but also in civil causes; an institution highly important, and corresponding entirely with the judicial system of England. And, in point of religion, the colonists enjoyed even greater latitude than in their parent country itself; they had not preserved that ecclesiastical hierarchy against which they had combated so strenuously, and which they did not cease to abhor, as the primary cause of the long and perilous expatriation to which they had been constrained to resort. 'It can, therefore, excite no surprise, if this generation of men, not only had their minds imbued with the principles, that form the basis of the English constitution; but even if they aspired to a mode of government less rigid, and a liberty more entire; in a word, if they were inflamed with the fervour which is naturally kindled in the hearts of men by obstacles which oppose their religious and political opinions, and still increased by the privations and persecutions they have suffered on their account. And how should this ardour, this excitement of exasperated minds, have been appeased in the vast solitudes of America, where the amusements of Europe were unknown, where assiduity in manual toils must have hardened their bodies, and increased the asperity of their characters? If, in England, they had shown themselves averse to the prerogative of the crown, how, as to this, should their opinions have been changed in America, where scarcely a vestige was seen of the royal authority and splendour? Where the same occupation being common to all, that of cultivating the earth, must have created in all, the opinion and the love of a general equality? They had encountered exile at the epoch when the war raged most fiercely, in their native country, between the king and the people; at the epoch when the armed subjects contended for the right of resisting the will of the prince when he usurps their liberty; and even, if the public good require it, of transferring the crown from one head to another. The colonists had supported their principles; and how should they have renounced them? They who, out of the reach of the royal authority, and though still in the infancy of a scarcely yet organized society, enjoyed already, in their new country, a peaceful and happy life? The laws observed, justice administered, the magistrates respected, offences rare or un |