cial and military power and has discovered a correct spirit of prophecy, in his annunciation of the solemn fate, which specdily and certainly awaits her. For ourselves however, we confess, that we can discover in the work in question no proofs of those talents, or of that extensive information, which the translator has discovered in it; and in place of important truths, we perceive only a repetition of those trite calumnies, and misrepresentations, which have been employed among the deluded nations of Europe, by every succeeding administration of France, with more effect against Great Britain, than has been produced by the very powerful arms of her numerous and combined opponents.

We should be disposed to say, that the quotation from Lord Bolingbroke is very happy, and appropriate to a work of this description, and that we entertain little doubt, that the prophecy of M. de Montgaillard in 1812 will prove to be as wholly unfounded, as that of his predecessor in 1732. It will be remembered, that Lord Bolingbroke, at the period just named, foretold the national bankruptcy and absolute fall of Great Britain, if her statesmen should continue to pursue the system, which had been adopted in the reign of Queen Anne and of George I. Yet we well know, that Lord Chatham, soon after this period, earried the maritime pretensions of Great Britain to a greater extent, plunged the nation into the most expensive wars, doubled the national debt, and still left her in a state of increased opulence and power. Succeeding statesmen, both in Great Britain and France, have also hazarded their reputations upon prophecies of a similar nature, and with as little good fortune. Mr. Hume, as sagacious an observer, at least, as M. de Montgaillard, gave it as his opinion, that whenever the national debt should amount to 100,000,000l. sterling, the nation must become bankrupt. Yet that event happened more than forty years since, and Great Britain is at least as firm and upright, and as much dreaded and hated by France, as she was then.

It is our design to consider, at some length, the positions of M. de Montgaillard, not on account of any intrinsic im¬

portance, which we have perceived in them, but because the relative situation of our own country and Great Britain, at this momentous crisis, renders it highly important, that no false estimate should be formed of her power, and no new prejudidices should be excited, and inflamed against her political conduct and character. It is not therefore so much for the purpose of refuting the work of M. de Montgaillard, which we should suffer to pass into oblivion, and which will meet a refutation from time, and events, more perfect than any we could give, as to correct the false notions, which many of our own citizens have imbibed, and still entertain, that we shall ask a little patient attention from our readers.

As a writer, M. de Montgaillard's style is loose and declamatory-he is full of repetitions, without method, and we may add, without either originality or profoundness. The general scope of his work appears to be to justify the wisdom and policy of the Berlin and Milan decrees-to reconcile the enslaved nations of the continent to the vast sacrifices and privations, to which, by force of arms, they have been compelled to submit, in order to carry into effect the continental system; or, in other words, the excommunication of Great Britain from the pale of commerce. Whether he was employed officially by the French Emperor, to endeavour to write down the nation, which his arms had vainly attempted to subdue, or whether his work is the voluntary tribute of a loyal subject to recommend himself to the notice of the Emperor, we pretend not to say, but one point is known to every man, that not a sentiment or turn of expression is permitted to be issued from the press in France, especially on political subjects, which has not the previous approbation of the Emperor's ministers, and perhaps of the Emperor himself.-This may therefore be considered as an official exposé of Bonaparte to Europe-a sort of appeal to all cabinets, and people—a public exhortation to perseverance in their system; and the reward offered is the same, which has been held out to the French people from the time of Louis XIV to the present time. "Withhold your trade from Britian, and she will

starve. Her soil is poor-her climate unkind-her productions miserable-she depends wholly upon you. Give up your luxuries, and Britian will fall."

The political motives, which might have urged France to publish such a work at this time, are very numerous; and intelligent men will consider it, only as a desperate effort to divert the attention of the suffering nations of the continent from the internal picture of distress, which is perpetually staring them in the face. For the first time for seventy years has Great Britain acquired and maintained a respectable, and much dreaded footing on the continent. That nation of shopkeepers, which has been so often the theme of French ridicule and abuse-which the French rulers and people have represented as cowardly and pusillanimous on land, still maintains armies in the very territories claimed by Francethose armies which the Emperor in the face of all Europe declared he would drive into the ocean more than three years ago. The example, thus afforded to the world, of the possibility of resisting successfully the power of France, has struck him with dismay. He no longer dares to lead his armies in person against these Islanders. His ablest and oldest generals have been defeated. He has lost five hundred thousand men since his entrance into Spain, and he is now acting upon the defensive, against the very army, which he threatened to annihilate. Nor is this all-These events have roused the spirit of the North. Sweden no longer acknowledges his supremacy. Russia consults the interests of her people, and refuses to execute the continental system. Under this disastrous reverse of his hopes and schemes, what resource had he, to quiet the clamours of his own oppressed subjects, and to stifle the discontents of his subjugated states, but to assure them, that he is just about to conquer Great Britian, and to obtain the object of their fondest hopes, peace and free trade with her? Such is undoubtedly the object of this pamphlet, which we consider as nearly official, but if we needed any proof, that the system of the Berlin and Milan decrees sits

most heavily upon the people of the continent, we might derive it from this pathetic appeal to their patriotism to persevere in their privations, because their reward is at hand.

. We shall now take up M. de Montgaillard's work in the order in which it is written, and make such quotations, and brief remarks upon his assertions, his reasoning, and his principles, as shall appear to us to be just. We would however observe, that from the nature of examinations of this sort, it will be impossible to be as brief, as one could wish, since many pages are sometimes required to refute a single false position, contained in as many lines.

In the introductory part of the work, we find its scope and object plainly developed; and the reader will be better enabled to estimate the fairness of the statements and reasoning which follow, if we present to him one or two short extracts from this introduction.

"Nature has decreed," says he," that the French Empire should be the centre of strength and protection to all the nations of the continent. Such a political order is fixed and immutable. It is therefore owing to circumstances essentially false, corrupt, and weak, that the sceptre of the seas has been momentarily placed in the hands of England."

We do not, we confess, see the connexion of these two prepositions, although we see enough of immeasurable ambition, and of Gallic arrogance. If France, from her central situation among the feeble and divided nations of the continent, is well placed to give them law, and render them tributary to her power; or, as our author expresses it, to "afford them protection," still we do not see why it follows, that the sceptre of the seas is “momentarily" and unnaturally swayed by Great Britain. We do not perceive why Great Britain does not possess as permanent advantages to command the sovereignty of of the ocean, as France enjoys for the control of the European continent. Her insular situation-her great population, necessarily forcing her hardy people into navigation-her fortunate position, extremely well calculated to enable her to close up the Baltic, and the German ocean, as well as to watch and

blockade the few ports along the shallow coast of Franceabove all, the adventurous spirit of her people, displayed for many ages, appear to us to be as solid," and immutable, and fixed" causes, of her maritime power, as the situation and fertility of France, as well as the restless, military character of her subjects are of her authority upon land.

We are not however so ready to accede to the first position, though constantly advanced by Frenchmen, and of late years too often admitted by writers of other nations. We do not believe,. that the political power of France has been decreed by nature to be fixed, and immutable. If this had been true, the sceptre of the continent would have been long since constantly swayed by that ambitious, unprincipled, and warlike people. Under Charlemagne, France possessed this power, and it was, compared with that of other nations, more absolute and gigantic than it is at the present day. If nature had decreed, that it should be fixed and immutable," we should not so soon have seen that empire crumbling into atoms, as numerous and as feeble as those into which (we trust) the next generation, if not the present, will see that which now exists split up, and divided. What is there naturally, more permanent in the power and resources of France than in those of Austria or Spain? If we should take history as our guide, we should be much more disposed to predict the resuscitation of German power, and the division of France once more into separate military clans, than the continuance and permanence of the present ill-jointed, ill-assorted empire of Napoleon. We will give one other specimen of the spirit in which the prefatory remarks of M. de Montgaillard are made.

"We must examine," says he, " into the naval power and commerical riches of England-we must strip, to the eyes of Europe this phantom of prosperity which had seduced every government, which oppressed all people, and which would have bound the Universe under the most shameful and inflexible laws, if, amidst every prodigy and every kind of glory which can honor the human mind, Providence, in his eternal justice, had not signalized and marked out to the people of this world, the avenger of their rights and the protector of their liberties."