corrected by Lord Holland, and revised by Mr. Fox, which is noticed in a former part of the present Number.

Pax optima rerum is the appropriate motto which this writer has selected with a view to persuade Britons that nothing but ruin can ensue from a continuance of the war, and that nothing but immediate peace, on any terms, can possibly avert ruin! The arguments adduced in support of this notable plan, are such as we have confuted a thousand times, and on which, therefore, it would be superfluous to offer any farther comments. We should think that the people of England, instead of adopting the motto of this wolf in sheep's clothing, will, from the experience which they have had of the blessed effects of the Peace of Amiens, the maiden effort of the bashful Addington, be rather disposed to reverse it, and to say, pax pes

sima rerum.

The author has the impudence to dedicate a pamphlet in which England is studiously reviled and degraded, in every point of view, to the Heir Apparent of the British Throne, whose first duty (next to that which he owes to his God, and which binds him to keep all his commandments under the penalty of eternal misery) is to uphold the honour and interests of this country. His Royal Highness will not feel much flattered by the appellation here bestowed on him, of THE PRINCE OF PEACE, when he recollects, that it is a title actually enjoyed by one of the most despicable minions which France has in her pay.

Thoughts on the relative State of Great Britain and of France, at the Close of Mr. Pitt's Life and Administration in 1806. 8vo. Pr. 64. 2s. 1806.

THIS pamphlet is written with great temper, moderation, and ta lent. It contains many just and forcible observations on the state of the Continent; and though the author greatly over-rates the intellectual strength and military skill of the Corsican Usurper, he justly appreciates the effects of his gigantic power. In the following. passage, the reader will perceive a perfect coincidence of opinion with ourselves, in all the remarks which we have made on the subject.

"On surveying the transactions of the late campaign in Germany, and peculiarly those which marked its close in Moravia; the astonishment and consternation which they excite, are infinitely heightened by the reflections, that the humiliations and reverses which the Austrians sustained, and the catastrophe that followed, are. attributable only to themselves. Whether we resolve it into the pusillanimity and misunderstandings of the

plate this woeful misapplication of public money, this strange bestowal of public rewards. An inquiry into the conduct of some part of the present Ministry, in respect to places and pensions, will do more to open the eyes of the public to their real merits, than a thousand such Inquiries into the State of the Nation, as that which has been published under their immediate sanction. Such honourable minds as those of Earl Spencer, Lord Grenville, and Mr. Windham, would, we are sure, disdain to countenance such proceedings. But they will do weli to look more closely into the conduct of their associates.

Generals,

Generals, or into the incapacity of the Ministers of the Cabinet of Vienna; or rather conceive it to have arisen from a combination of two causes, we find in it equal subject of regret. Never did Buonaparte, at any period of his life, neither at Acre, at Lodi, nor at Marengo, com. mit so much to fortune, as when he crossed the Danube into Moravia, in the end of November. Never did he offer to his enemies a fairer occasion to have arrested (to arrest) his victories; and to have obliterated (to obliterate) their past defeats or misfortunes. Even after the victory of Austerlitz, the Emperor Francis might have found inexhaustible resources for continuing the contest, and for eventually terminating it with honour. It is a painful, but it is a necessary task, to follow the progress of those events which produced the calamitous Peace of Presburg. rope will long retain the traces, and deplore the fatality which led to that ignominious treaty.

Eu

"It is evident, and indeed it is not contested, even by the French themselves, that subsequent to the defeat of Austerlitz, a very large army of Russians still remained entire. The road through Techen to Cracow lay open for the Emperor Francis's retreat. In the Imperial (Austrian) Poland, in Transylvania, in Croatia,, and in Hungary, new leries, and incalculable means for renewing the war, would have been found. The auxiliary armies, on their march from Russia, would have there met the Austrian Monarch, and have formed a guard for his tection. Even in the rigours of the season, in the winter itself, he would have found the best and most powerful Ally. Buonaparte could neither have advanced with safety, nor have fallen back without disgrace and confusion.

pro

"Before him lay Olmutz, one of the strongest fortified places in Europe, inaccessible, in a great measure, from the marshes that surround it ; garrisoned and provisioned for a siege. How formidable a barrier it presents against an invader, may be estimated by the ineffectual attempt which the Great Frederic made in person, to render himself master of it in 1758. Behind Buonaparte, about fifty miles in his rear, ran the Danube; while the Archduke Charles, at the head of an army which had repulsed Massena, was on his march towards Vienna, through the western provinces of Hungary. In Bohemia, the Archduke Ferdinand, after defeating the Bavarians opposed to him, might soon extend assistance to his brothers. Nor could it be doubted that the Prussian forces, who were advancing through Franconia, must have taken eventually a decisive part in the contest, by joining the Allies. Famine, cold, darkness, and all the diseases, as well as calamities, incident to a winter's campaign in an enemy's country, were about to assail the French, and to teach their leader, a second time, the mutability of fortune which he experienced before Acre.

"Such were the circumstances, and such the aspect of affairs, at the time when the Emperor of Germany thought proper to accept an armistice, and to conclude a peace. My profound respect for the probity, the virtues, and the upright intentions of that unfortunate Prince, would impel me to draw a veil over his weakness; if the misfortunes to which it has already given birth, and the more incalculable evils which must result from it to Europe, did not forbid me to sacrifice to a false delicacy, the truth of history. Francis the Second has consummated what Louis the Sixteenth

Sixteenth began! As the latter of these sovereigns surrendered France to revolution and anarchy, so has the former delivered over Germany to pillage, spoliation, and subversion.”

If this true statement of the cause of the failure of the Confederacy formed by Mr. Pitt, do not completely excuipate that Minister from the false and calumnious charges preferred against him by the writers and the scribblers of the day; we confess our inability to ascertain the meaning of the term exculpation. We have already said, that the author overrates the abilities of Buonaparte, and we repeat the assertion; indeed he appears to us to have taken success as the criterion of merit; and to ascribe to the talents of an individual, events which have proceeded from a combi. nation of circumstances, many of them fortuitous, but chiefly deriving their united force from the treachery or imbecility of those whom the Usurper has had to encounter. Certainly the facts above stated are alone sufficient to destroy his conclusion; since if Buonaparte really possessed the qualities which he ascribes to him, he never would have placed himself in a situation in which his ruin was only averted by the pusillanimity or folly of his enemies. We most solemnly protest againt the appellation of Great, which he assigns to the Corsican Usurper; first, for the reason already stated; and secondly, because no man, so steeped in guilt, so drenched with the blood of the innocent, so overwhelmed with crimes as Buonaparte is, can possibly, without a nonstrous perversion of language and of sentiment, be so described. Indeed, in our opinion, suc cess in the accomplishment of a plan, however grand, however gigantic, cannot be considered, with a view to ascertain the merit of the person by whom it has been accomplished, distinct from the means by which that success has been obtained; and we shall ever contend, that goodness is an essential constituent of greatness. Besides, whoever knows Buonaparte, must know, that the qualities of his mind are as opposite to every thing which constitutes greatness, as those of his heart are remote from goodness. Of his conduct the following is a succinct, but pretty accurate delineation :

"Combining the two extremes of despotism and of democracy: an Emperor in France, but in act a Jacobin; ever affecting to offer peace, while he lets loose the ravages of war; courting the people, at the same moment that he insults the Sovereign, or outrages the Government ; brandishing in one hand the sword, but dexterously concealing in the other the wires of anarchy or revolution; converting the press to every nefarious use, though exclaiming against the abuse of that weapon, when directed to expose his own violations of faith or treaty; greedy of glory, but regardless of reputation; he resembles nothing which Europe has beheld in past times, and can neither be compared to Attila, to Clovis, nor to Charlamagne. We might be led to fancy that Milton, in describing the King of Terrors, by prophetic anticipation pourtrayed this new Monarch, sprung like a phantom from the ashes of the French Revolution, shadowy, undefinable, and terrific.

The other shape,

If shape it might be called, that shape had none,
Distinguishable in member, joint, or limb:
Or substance might be called, that shadow seemed:
For each seemed either; black it stood as night,

Fierce as ten furies, terrible as hell,

And shook a dreadful dart. What seemed his head,
The likeness of a kingly crown had on.”

In our apprehension, Shakespear, in this case, had a more prophetic spirit of anticipation than Milton, for certainly if Napoleone Buonaparte had sat for the following portrait, drawn by the hand of our bard, the likeness could not have been more correct or striking.

"A murderer, and a villain :

A slave, that is not twentieth part the tythe
Of their precedent Lord :-a vice of kings:
A cutpurse of the empire and the rule;

I hat from a shelf the precious diadem stole,
And put it in his pocket!"-

We cannot concur with our author in thinking that the death of Buonaparte will have no sensible effect on the stability of his empire. Nor do we conceive how, when he ascribes so much to the personal qualities of the founder of that empire, he can maintain that the absence of those qualities will not affect it. We admit, indeed, that every means has lately been adopted for giving it strength and stability; but so many millions are interested in its destruction, who are now restrained solely by the fear imposed by the sanguinary and ferocious spirit of the usurper from attempting it, that there are surely solid grounds for believing that his death will be productive of some material change.

Some means of defending the country against invasion are suggested, into the merits of which we cannot enter; though the plan for allowing an annuity to the families of such as might in such an event, fall in the field, however laudable, would, we fear, entail such an expence, as a country, already labouring under a vast weight of taxes, could not possibly bear. But nothing could exceed our astonishment on reading the passage, in which the author declares the 'sentiments of the Common-Council of the City of London to be almost decisive of the character of a minister. Alluding to the division in that body, on the motion for erecting a monument to Mr. Pitt; he observes: " This nearly poised division of sentiment on the merits of a minister, so soon after his decease, in a meeting composed of the principal municipal magistrates and delegates of the first commercial city in the world, who must be, supposed capable of well appreciating his title to praise, is deserving of notice." We could scarcely persuade ourselves that the author was serious. Docs he really believe the Common-Council to be composed of competent judges of the merit of a statesman? If he do, his credulity, or his ignorance (we mean on this point) must be great indeed. Besides, does he not suppose that the accession of Mr. Pitt's political opponents to power must have had a material influence on the decision? We suspect he knows but little of city politics.

Without denying that the present administration possess a considerable portion of intellect, we must totally dissent from his position, that with the exception of Lord Hawkesbury, Lord Castlereagh, and Lord Melville, the late ministry possessed no talents; and that they will soon relapse into oblivion: an oblivion which in all probability will never be disturbed." This is the dictum of party, and not the language of truth. The late debates in Parliament must surely have convinced the author of his error;

for

for in them the whole country will admit the weight of ability was greatly on the side of opposition. But, we believe, no one, before him, ever ventured to question the talents of Mr. Canning. Those, too, of Mr. Percival have shone conspicuous. While, on the side of ministry, with the exceptions of Messrs. Fox, Sheridan, and Windham, what display of abilities have we witnessed?

After the remarks on the press, which we extracted above, our readers will probably partake of the surprize which we experienced on reading the following passage.

But, I repeat it, if we desire to remain at peace with Buonaparte, let us beware how we venture to treat him, with the same freedom as we do George the Third! He is made of other materials, he cannot stand the severity of the press, whether it be applied to his person, his title, or his actions. He will resent with the sword the insults offered by the pen. Those who know the secret history of the infraction of the late peace, know that the asperity of our diurnal publications operated deeply to produce, and to accelerate the final rupture. They know that the heart of Napoleone was ulcerated, if I may so express myself, by the corrosives of the British press."

This is followed by an advice to the government, to discourage all attacks upon him; and a more notable scheme for destroying the freedom of the press, for poisoning the sources of history, and for depriving future ages of the most salutary lessons and the most wholesome examples, could scarcely be devised. If the nation will submit to be so silenced, its independence will not be worth defending, it will be fit only to become the tributary slave of Napoleone Buonaparte. How would our ancestors have blushed for the degeneracy of an Englishman who had broached such degrading sentiments as these! But this writer need have no apprehension on this score; the trial of Peltier may have convinced him that the meek, the mild, the benignant state-doctor Addington took care to provide a permanent remedy for all the evils resulting from the liberty of the press, if employed in a manner offensive to the sanguinary assassin of Jaffa. As nothing, however, which we could say on this subject, will be received in good part, or be secured against the charge of prejudice, we shall oppose to the author the sentiments of one of the most distinguished, and most honourable members of the present administration.

"The topic here alluded to (the character of Buonaparte) is so closely connected with this subject (the subject of peace with France), that the argument is evidently defective without it. An opinion indeed prevails, and is insisted upon by persons of much apparent wisdom and gravity, that any inquiry into the conduct and merits of the First Consul is unbecoming and improper; unsuited to the dignity of a great assembly, and incapable of being made conducive to any useful purpose. To many, however, it may seem that just the contrary of this is the fact; that in the history of the world, an instance can hardly be found of any one, whose personal qualities were so much a subject of general concern, and consequently so proper an object of inquiry; and that the occasion of all others, when such an inquiry must be most proper and necessary, was that in which we were preparing to sign a treaty of peace with the person in question, founded expressly upon our confidence in his character, and entrusting to the issue of our judgment in that respect, the whole of the interest, welfare, independence, and even existence of a great empire."