ART. 24. Letters on the Existence and Character of the Deity, and on the moral State of Man. 12mo. 3s. 6d.

These Letters were publifhed at Philadelphia, in the year 1799; and therefore, in ftrict propriety perhaps, do not fall within our cognizance. We cannot, however, deny ourselves the fatisfaction of bearing teftimony to their merit, and recommend them to the serious perufal of all young perfons.

POLITICS.

ART. 25. Hints on the Policy of making a National Provifion for the Roman Catholic Clergy of Ireland; as a necessary Mean to the Amelioration of the State of the Peafantry. Addreffed to John Bagwell, Efq. Knight of the Shire for the County of Tipperary. 8vo. 48 pp. Ginger. Is. 1803.

15.

That the ftate of Ireland in general, and of the Irish peafantry in particular, calls ftrongly for amelioration, every friend to the United Kingdom will readily acknowledge; receiving alfo with welcome any hints which fhall be offered for promoting this excellent purpofe. Concerning the policy, and the practicability of meafures fuggefted, there will doubtlefs be, in many cafes, a diverfity of opinions. That the Union will exceedingly facilitate this amelioration, is (we believe) univerfally admitted; but this author juftly obferves, that "it cannot change, at once, the long-confirmed habits of fociety, or fuperinduce new ones." The fubftance of his forty-eight pages may be compreffed within a dozen lines by a reviewer, whofe motto is, or ought to be, "brevis effe laboro."-The Roman Catholic Clergy are to be appointed and provided for, by government, inftead of fubfifting miferably. upon the voluntary contribution of their flocks; the income of the parish prieft being 8ol. and in great towns 100l. a year; that of the bifhops, 3col. The number of parishes is about 1200. The whole fum required is about 120,000l. a year, to be raised by a tax of 10 per cent. upon all tythes; the deficiency being made up by a rate on the neat, or profit-rent of land. The tythes 800, among the 1200 parishes, are estimated at 500l. a year; and thofe of 400, at 300l. a year. Here then is the fum of 52,000; the remaining 68,000l. to be raifed by an affeffment of 561. upon each parish. In plain language, the incumbent of a living worth 5ool. a year, is to pay 50l. while all the landlords taken to gether, pay no more than 561. And this is called a provifion by government! We refer the confideration of it to the propofed charge-bearers; obferving only, that the author's "doctrine," on the fubject of the coronation oath, has indeed « fomething of a Machiavelian complexion." P. 19, &c.

Авт.

ART. 26. A fummary Account of Leibnita's Memoir to Lewis the Fourteenth, recommending to that Monarch the Conquest of Egypt, as condu cive to the Eftablishing a fupreme Authority over the Governments of Europe. 8vo. 89 pp. 25. Hatchard. 1803.

That the conqueft of Egypt had long been an object in the contemplation of France, even under the Monarchy, is well known; but the writer before us is, we believe, the first who has diftinctly pointed out to the public (at leaft in this country) the fource from which that scheme originated. The celebrated Philofopher Leibnitz, when Lewis the Fourteenth had prepared an expedition to Holland, endeavoured to perfuade him to change its deftination, and employ it against Egypt. To induce him to this measure, he fets forth the various advantages that would refult to France from the poffeffion of that country, and fhows the facility of the conqueft, and the mode by which it might be effected. The Memoir itself," the prefent author in his Preface obferves, "is fomewhat bulky," containing " numerous and prolix quotations from a variety of writers;" but he has given the general outline of Leibnitz's plan, the principles upon which it is formed, and the political object to which it is directed," which, as he justly obferves," are all that concern us at the prefent day." The expedition," he adds, "which in the fummer of 1798 failed under Buonaparte, and astonished the world by the ufurpation of Egypt, was only the eventual accomplishment and exact execution of this very plan; whence it will follow that the Memoir may be able to throw light upon fome circumftances of that expedition, which have not yet been explained." He also remarks that "Buonaparte is carrying the execution of this measure far beyond what was ever meditated by Leibnitz; fince the power and dominion which, according to the plan of Leibnitz, were to be divided between the crowns of France and Spain, will, by the fcheme of the First Conful, become eventually united and concentrated in his own perfon." This he properly ftates to be a difference of the first moment, and which it infinitely behoves this country to confider well." Several other judicious obfervations are contained in this Preface, and in a fort of poftfcript fubjoined to the tranflation (or rather abridgement) of the Memoir, in which the editor juftifies the conduct of Great Britain in the retention of Malta, with good fenfe and energy. The Memoir itself is chiefly curious, as it fhows how literally the fuggef tions of a German Philofopher made nearly a century ago, to a Sovereign of the Houfe of Bourbon, have been followed by the Corfican Ufurper of the throne of the Bourbons; and it fhould warn the British government againft any peace which fhall not put an end to all hopes of the future accomplishment of this project. In a note of the editor respecting the invafion of Syria by Buonaparte, (which was one of the fuggeftions in Leibnitz's Memoir,) a handsome and wellmerited compliment is paid to our gallant and able countryman, Sir Sydney Smith.

ART.

ART. 27. Letter from a Gentleman in Barbadoes to his Friend in London, on the Subject of Manumiffion from Slavery, granted in the City of London, and in the Weft India Colonies. 8vo. 34 PP. Mawman. 1803.

The object of this publication is to fhow that a practice which has prevailed of manumitting in England flaves from Barbadoes, and other colonies, by a deed attefied before the Lord Mayor of London, is írregular and not warranted by the Act of Parliament by which it purports to be authorized, 5th Geo. 2. chap. 7. The author infers that fuch flaves, if found again in the West Indies, might fill be legally claimed by their refpective mafters. In point of ftrict law he appears to be right, as the Act of Geo. the 2nd confiders negroes as property (in the Weft Indies) and fays nothing of manumiffion. But when this author extols the humanity of the laws of Barbadoes, which require the depofit of 2001. (and in cafe of a female 300l.) before the manumiffion of a Negro can be made legal, by way of providing for their maintenance, we cannot but revolt against fuch a doctrine. Surely fom mode of employing, and confequently maintaining, perfons in fuch a fituation might be found, without impofing fuch a restraint upon benevolence.

ART. 28. The Speech of the Earl of Moira, delivered in the House of Peers, on Wednejday, the 9th of March, 1803, on the prefent Situation of Public Affairs. Evo. 6d. or 11s. 6d. per hundred.

At a crifis like the prefent, it is of importance that the fen iments of all diftinguished political and military men, on the present state of affairs, fhould be made known. The fpeech before us is not, we believe, published under the fanction of the Noble Lord by whom it is faid to have been delivered, but has, if we mistake not, been copied from the public papers. It feems, however, from every private account we have heard, to be in fubftance accurate; and is, as might be expected, able, fpirited, and highly patriotic.

ART. 29. A fhort View of the Caufes which led to and justified the War with France. 8vo. 1s. 6d. Hatchard. 1803.

This is a plain, but perfpicuous, and, occasionally, an animated detail of the perfidy and audacity of our great enemy, from the period of his figning the Treaty of Amiens, from which it manifeftly appears, that the prefent conteft (may it be fuccefsful!) was on our part unavoidable. We are among thofe who are delighted with the fimple tatement in his Majesty's declaration, contrafted with the turgid, and falfe rhapsodies of the Firit Conful.

INVASION.

INVASION.

ART. 30. Important Confiderations for the People of this Kingdam, publighed July 1803, and fent to the Officiating Minister of every Parish in England.

This small tract, which has been adopted, we obferve, by the affociation at the Crown and Anchor, and reprinted by them, contains fo judicious and excellent a statement of the grounds and reafons of the war, and of the true preffure of the times, that we are willing alfo to give our aid to increase its notoriety and celebrity. We therefore reprint the following paffage as an excellent specimen of the whole.

The grounds of the war are, by no means, as our enemies pretend, to be fought for in a defire entertained by his Majeły to keep. the land of Malta, contrary to the Treaty of Peace, or to leave unfulfilled any other part of his facred engagements: they are to be fought for in the ambition of the Conful of France, and in his implacable hatred of Britain, becaufe, in the power and valour of Btitain alone, he finds a check to that ambition, which aims at nothing fhort of the conquest of the world. His Majefty, ever anxious to procure tor his people profperity and eafe, eagerly feized the first opportunity that offered itfelf for the reftoration of Peace; but not without remembering at the fame time, that their fafety, for which it was his peculiar duty to provide, was not to be facrificed to any other confideration. This peace he concluded with the most fintere defire, that it might be durable, and that the conduct of France would be fuch as to authorize him to execute, with fcrupulous punétuality, every one of the ftipulations of the Treaty but fcarcely was that compact concluded, when the First Conful, at the very time that his Majedy was furrendering to France and Holland, the great, and numerous conquefts he had made from them during the war, began a new fort of hoftility upon the weak and defenceless states on the continent of Europe: Piedmont, a country equal to all Scotland, was added to? rance; Hcl land, which had, at the making of the peace, been recognized as an independent nation, became, more than ever, the object of French rem pacity and defpotifm; was compelled to furnish fhips and flores fo1 French expeditions, and to feed and clothe French armies; the only uf of which was to keep her in a ftate of flavish subjection, and to rendes her fhores an object of serious alarm and real danger to Great Britain; Switzerland was invaded by a French army, which compelled the people of that once free and happy country, to fubmit to a government framed at Paris, the members of which government were chiefly composed of men, who had betrayed the liberties of their country, and who were nominated by the Conful himfelf. Notwithstanding, however, all these and several other acts of aggreffion and tyranny, fome of which were highly injurious to Great Britain, and were fhameful violations of the Treaty of Peace, till his Majetty earneitly eadeavoured to avoid a recurrence to arms; but the Conful, emboldened by our forbearance, and imputing to a dread of his power, that which he ought to have imputed folely to our desire to live at peace.

manifefted

manifefted his perfidious intentions, again to take poffeffion of Egypt, whence we had driven him in difgrace; again to open a road to our poffeffions in India, there to deftroy one of the principal fources of our wealth and our greatness.

"Not contented with thus preparing for our deftruction from without, endeavouring to cut off our intercourfe with the reft of the world, fhutting, as far as he was able, all the ports of other countries against us; gradually deftroying our navigation, commerce and trade; hemIning us up in our own ifland, and expofing our manufacturers, arti. zans, and labourers to the danger of starving for want of employment; not contented with thefe malignant endeavours, and feeming to regard us as already within his grafp, he audaciously interfered in the management of our domeftic concerns; required us to violate our laws by banifhing thofe fubjects of the French Monarch, who had fled hither for fhelter from his unjust and tyrannical government; demanded of us the fuppreffion of the liberty of fpeech and of the prefs; and, in a word, clearly demonftrated his refolution not to leave us a moment's tranquillity, till we had furrendered our conftitution, till we had laid all our liberties at his feet, and till, like the Dutch, the Italians, and the Swils, we had submitted to be governed by Decrees fent us from France.

"Befides the motives of ambition, the defire to domineer over, and to trample upon all the rest of mankind, the First Conful has a reason, peculiar to himself, for withing to reduce us to a state of poverty, weaknefs, fubmiffion, and filence; which reafon will be at once evident, when we confider the origin of his authority, and the nature of his government. Having fucceeded, through a long courfe of perfidious and bloody deeds, in ufurping the throne of his lawful fovereign; having under the name of Equality, eftablifhed in his own perfon and family, a government the molt pompous and expenfive, while the people are pining with hunger, and in rags; having, with the word Liberty continually on his lips, erected a defpotifm the most oppreffive, the moit capricious, and the moit cruel that the Almighty, in his wrath, ever fuffered to exift; having by fuck means, obtained fuch an end, he feared, that while there remained upon the earth, and efpecially within a few leagues of France, a people enjoying under a mild and legitimate fovereign, all the bledings of freedom; while there remained fuch a people, fo fituated, he dreaded, and not without reafoo, that their fentiments and their example would, by degrees, penetrate through his forelts of bayonets, his myriads of fpies, and would, first or lait, fhake the foundation of his ill-gotten power. He could not, indeed, impute either to our fovereign or to his fubjects, any defign, much less any attempt to difturb him in the exercife of his ufurped authority. We never have interfered, nor have we ever fhewn any defire to interfere in the concerns of the Conful or his prerended Republic; and his Majefty, even after all the acts of provocation, all the injuries and infults committed against himself and his people, has now folemnly renewed his declaration, that his object is not to deftroy or change any thing in the internal state of other countries, but folely to preferve in his own dominions, every thing dear to himelf and his fubje&ts.”

ART.