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feftation of liberal ideas, and republican opinions. The republic will foon be destroyed if we continue to tolerate fervile ideas and royalift-opinions.”

For once, the author has spoken truth; for a truth it indifputably ́is, and a truth which cannot be too generally known, nor too strongly inculcated, that but for the Prefs the French monarchy had not been overthrown. The Prefs was the mighty engine which buried the throne beneath the ruins of the altar; which burft afunder, with gigantic force, the bonds of religion, the ties of morality, and the restraints of law; which murdered a King, brutalized a nation, and brought millions to destruction! Yet, with this dreadful example before us, fpeaking with a voice of thunder in our ears; flashing, with the brilliancy of a meridian fun, conviction in our eyes; appealing to, and appalling, at it were, every fenfe ;-the immenfe importance of the Prefs has not yet been fufficiently appreciated by any individual who has been entrusted with the reins of power in this country!

In the chapter on Police we are favoured with a Republican's ideas, on the best means of preferving freedom; and here it cannot escape the attention of the moft fuperficial obferver, that the very measures which the revolutionists represented as the moft tyrannical and odious under the monarchy, and which they laboured, in their speeches and in their pamphlets, to prove were vices inherent in, and peculiar to, that form of government, are the fame which are now ftated to be neceffary to the exiftence of the Republic. In fhort, the fact we believe to be, that the disposition and nature of the French are, (strange as the affertion may appear to the herd of modern philanthropists and reformers) to a certain degree, incompatible with civil or political liberty. Our author's fentiments on reformation and conversion are no lefs extraordinary than his opinions on other topics.

"At the beginning of the French revolution, the people of France manifefted a fincere wish to be converted; they perfecuted, without pity, malefactors of every kind; every citizen made it his duty, for the public good,

enquire into the conduct of his neighbour, and to denounce every infraction of the laws, and of morality. Never was the police better ma nagel; it feemed as if the golden age were restored.”

But this Civic Police, which is infinitely worse than the old fyftem, which the patriots have fo long ftigmatized, as a Syfteme d'Espionnage, foon ceased to exit. The fyftem which has been fubftituted in its place, which our author difapproves, and the new fyftem which he wishes to introduce, are thus described.

"The companies of thieves, rogues, fharpers, coiners, receivers, and fo many others who deferve the gallows, which are now to be found in Paris, are indebted for their existence folely to the fecret and immoral agents of the police. Most of those wretches have double wages; they are paid by the government, and by the thieves. There is not a fraud or a theft of any im portance committed in which the agents of the police are not concerned. In the prifons, and at the Bicêtre, their portion is called le porte-manteau du cavalier. At one period of the revolution, the principal thieves were to be

APPENDIX, VOL. VIII.

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found among the Judges and Jurymen; and in every caufe each judge had his porte-manteau.'

Speaking of his improved plan, he says ;

"There shall be a hundred Censors, all fubject to the orders of the prefect of the police. These fhall have a right to call in the armed force, and to arreft, in the name of the law, all perfons who disturb the public peace, all thieves, affaffins, fharpers, and women of the town; to enforce an obferv. ance of all the regulations of police, and to fine delinquents. They shall be obliged to learn, by every means which prudence shall fuggeft to them, not only all that is done, but all that is faid, in every house in Paris."

In short, the fyftem of liberty here recommended is a system of tyranny the most infupportable that the human imagination could devife; inafmuch as its inevitable tendency is to fcatter the feeds of fufpicion and diftruft among every clafs of fociety, and to render the whole community bafe and miferable. This fyftem had already been eftablished in France; the First Conful has renewed it, in a confiderable degree; and will, no doubt, ere long, reftore it to its primitive vigour and efficiency. The obfervations on the Liberty of the Frefs are confonant with the principles already expofed. A fingle propofition will fuffice to characterize them.

"No work whatever fhall be cried or exposed to fale in the streets, with out the permiffion of the government, because the government has the exclufive right de clamer et de proclamer.”

In the chapter on Education the author remarks that at prefent there exifts no regular uniform fyftem of instruction, in the republic; and he contrafts this defect with what he calls the National Education in England.

"See how skilfully the English government have employed this refource in order to cherish a fpecies of fanaticifin among the people, and to perfuade them that the English conftitution is the chef-d'œuvre of the human mind. Hence arife a national spirit, and an idea of excellence and fuperiority over ail the other people of the earth. And hence the love of their country and the happy harmony which fubfifts between private and public interest.”

It is very ftrange that as Citizen Le Brun had fufficient penetration to difcover the happy effects of the British Constitution, he should recommend to his countrymen the adoption of a fyftem diametrically oppofite. RELIGION is the grand cement of the British Conftitution; and FEAR GUD, HONOUR THE KING, is the favourite text of Britons. How can atheists and regicides then expect to rival them in greatness or in happiness?

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It would naturally occur to a common mind, that fuch a people as this were juft objects of competition and envy; but our author only thinks them fit fubjects for hatred and malice. One effential part republican education, he ftates to be this" To inspire them with that hatred which every inhabitant of Europe ought to entertain for thofe perfidious Ilanders, whofe only happiness consists in the mifery of the Continent." The Cur which thus fhews his teeth but cannot bite is only an object of contempt.

The

The Chapter on the Education of Women is of a piece with the reft of the book. The author is a ftrenuous advocate for Polygamy, and on this fubject he displays as much logical acuteness as on other points.

"One grand recommendation of this plan is, that it will greatly con tribute to the confolidation of our extraordinary Republic. The permiffion to have two lawful wives would deftroy all the ridiculous and chivalrous relics of an abfurd feudality. The wives of our citizens, like the Roman matrons, would retain their maiden-names; they would be called Portia, Livia, Octavia, &c. and the feudal name of Lady would foon difappear. The men, relieved from the degrading chains of our infipid gallantry, would thew themselves worthy of rational freedom, and their opinions would no longer be regulated by the circles, and boudoirs.-The habit of leading a peaceful and retired life would render the conduct of the women more regular, their fidelity would no longer be fufpected; for they are very clearfighted in this refpect; one would not fail to court the good graces of the other by communicating her criminal connections to their common husband."

He maintains alfo, that Bigamy would be the best remedy for Proftitution.

Among all the evils afcribed to English gold we never, till now, heard that it had been employed to promote gaming in France, with a view to corrupt the morals of the people. Yet Citizen Le Brun affures us that this was really the cafe; and that, out of the fund, fupplied by the English for this purpose, the Directory had an allow ance of from eighty to a hundred thousand livres per month; but then, in return, we drew from Paris "more than half a million of livres monthly, which ferved to maintain the troops of the Eme peror !"

According to this enlightened citizen, none but blackguards possess courage. In 1792 the Sans-culotifme recruited our armies and performed wonders. The Duke of York muft recollect them on the fands of Dunkirk, where the English grenadiers, difperfed, by our little Carmagnoles, threw themselves on their knees, and humbly begged their lives." If this lying citizen will take the trouble of applying to the few French grenadiers that escaped from Holland, he may learn in what manner they are accustomed to treat the Conful's best troops. We fhould have thought too that the brilliant exploits of the gallant army of CONDE might have exempted the French nobility (who were in all ages renowned for their courage) from the charge of cowardice which he has the impudence to prefer againft them; and that the fevere drubbing which many English Lords have given tơ French Citizens, might have taught the vain-boafting blockhead a leffon of humility and of prudence. But he is writing to a nation of dupes, whofe native vanity may very poffibly lead them to receive as gofpel-truths every thing which he advances, however falfe or prepolterous, against the enemies of the Republic.

He charges the partizans of the English oppofition with having adopted

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adopted the beatly mode of cropped heads for the purpose of evading the powder-tax, and the ridicule which he cafts upon the whole of their drefs is not mifplaced. The custom of cropped heads, he tells us, is on the decline in France.

"Many perfons have returned to the ufe of powder from cleanliness. They found that their ridiculous obftinacy in going without it fubjected them to great inconvenience. There inceffantly iffues from the head an oily humour, which is extremely offenfive, and which frequent wathing will not remove. The Romans corrected this smell with perfumes and effences; but can any one believe that if powder had been known in those days, they would not have ufed it? They certainly would, and the more readily, because the conftant ufe of effence burnt their hair, and rendered them bald at an early age. The debauchee Cæfar, only wore a crown of laurels conftantly, because the perfumes had deftroyed all his hair.

"Painters may say what they will as to the injury which powder, does to the beauties of nature; there is nothing unpatural in ftarch; and it is easy to be feen at all times whether a head is black, brown, or fair. Muft we fell our fhirts, because the ancients did not wear any? ?"

This is the most rational paffage in the book. In another place, after inveighing againft riches in general, he excepts from his cenfures the agents of government, who he fays fhould always display a fuperior degree of opulence and magnificence, because the time is not yet come when a frivolous multitude, reftored to reason, will be in a fituation to judge of men by their merit rather than by their ftation."

His reflections on the fovereignty of the people are not amifs; but they strike at the very root of all his principles; and are utterly incompatible with the fundamental bafis of the exifting constitution in France. Probably he was aware of this, when, after ridiculing the folly of the constituent affembly, in flattering the people, and in pretending to confult their will in the formation of laws, he fays, that "by dint of willing (à force de vouloir) they willed fo many fine things, that it has been neceffary to do every thing anew four times, and that it will foon be indifpenfibly requifite to begin again for the fifth

time."

In contrasting the conduct of the exifting tribunals with that of the ancient parliaments of France, the author is compelled, in fpite of his prejudices, and in spite of himself, to pay a tribute of juftice to the latter.

"In regard to bufinefs, attend, I entreat you, to the business which the Presidents and Judges of the parliament of Paris had to tranfact. They took their share in the registration of edicts, which, frequently gave rife to very long difcuffions. During a confiderable part of the year, they remained on their feats from four in the morning to two in the afternoon, and further held what you fenators call evening fittings, which often took up a great part of the night. And they did not gain twenty-five thoufand livres a year, by holding a station which coft fome of them three hundred

thousand,

thousand, and others eight hundred thousand livres; most of them did not gain more than fufficient to pay their poll-tax."

The political reveries of Citizen Le Brun tend to prove the abfurdity of a Legislative Body and the neceffity of a Military Chief for a republican government; in other words, to pave the way for the deftruction of the prefent fenate and tribunes of the republic, and to concentrate the whole power, executive and legiflative, without modification or controul, in the hands of his Confular Majesty, King Buonaparte, who, already indeed enjoys it, in point of fact.

The chapter on Diplomacy is intended to prove that the French understand this fcience better than the English; and the reason affigned for this alledged fuperiority is, that the means employed by the former are women, and thofe of the latter gold.-Though we have already extended the ufual limits of our work, we fhall give the whole of the laft chapter of this book, both because it proves the justice of the author's claim to the virtue of moderation; of which he boasts in his motto; and because it tends to fhew the real defigns of the Conful, not only upon this country, but upon the Continent of Europe.

"Every nation, as I have before obferved, is a burden to its neighbours and feeks to encrease its own enjoyments at their expence; but there is one nation which labours to cruth all others; which multiplies, by its artifices, the motives, the occafions for war, and will not fuffer the world to enjoy either peace or truce. The favourite maxim is, that being mafter of the fea the land alfo fhould be its property..

"The Jefuits held nearly the fame language; they pretended, that, as they directed the confciences of kings, fubjects ought to be their slaves. It was when the power of these political monks was at the highest, and when they were on the eve of realizing their plans, that the diplomatic corps of Europe annihilated them for ever. They caufed them to be expelled from their houses, and they abolished their order, either with the bayonet, or parliamentary decrees.

"Let the English be treated by that corps with ftill greater rigour;"greater rigour than annihilation; well done Citizen Le Brun, that was spoken in the true fpirit of a French Republican!" let all the ports of Europe, by its means, be shut against them."-It is eafy to be seen that Buonaparte dictated this chapter;-he has fince nearly realized the notable plan which his minion here recommends." They are mafters of the fea; well, then, let them fail upon it; let them combat the waves, and when they hall approach fome jhore, or be cast upon it by a form, let them be purfued, without pity, like wild beafts, to whom fire and water ought to be refufed.

"Let us reduce them to play the part of buccaneers; and, while they fkim the feas, let us force Germany to make a peace, or difmember it in concert with the King of Pruffia. In vain will the Emperor re-conquer bis dominions, there will ever remain in them a germ of divifion, which will be ready to pulb forth on the first symptom of difcontent, and which will afford bim occupation until the extinction of his race.

Let us follow the councils of wisdom, by rendering bomogeneous the

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