The ensuing passage is chiefly remarkable as containing the presumptuous language ascribed to Bonaparte on obtaining the partial successes of the month of February:

It is reported that he tore on this occasion the copy of the conditions of peace which had been transmitted to him by his minister at Chatillon, and that he called out, "I am now nearer to Vienna than they are to Paris." It was also said that, on the allies proposing the condition of the antient limits of France, a council convoked by Napoleon was almost unanimous to accept the offer: but he, expecting unbounded sacrifices, was highly irritated, and determined to try once more that fortune which betrayed while she caressed, and which made him lose all by making him think that he had gained all. Her last favours were bestowed on him in the first action at Craone, and some days afterward at Rheims. Oa the 7th March, the French succeeded at Craone in forcing the enemy, whose positions were advantageous, but too confined to permit the co-operation of all his army, which was not less than 80,000 men. Moreover, notwithstanding the gallantry of our troops and Generals, we failed in various manoeuvres, and particularly in our attempt to out-flank the allies. They, on their part, did not attain all their objects, but they lost not a single cannon, and hardly any prisoners. The fire of the artillery was dreadful on both sides, and the loss on each exceeded 6,000 men. Next day, the whole of Blucher's army was concentrated before Laon, where he had determined to receive us, and to fight a decisive action. Bonaparte commanded an attack, notwithstanding the objections of his officers, and was entirely defeated both on the 9th and the 10th. On the former day, the brunt of the action fell on the left of the enemy, who repulsed us, and took between 40 and 50 On the 10th, Bonaparte renewed the fight, by making his left attack the centre and right of the allies; an attack which was ascribed to a wish to enable Marshal Marmont to rally his broken forces. All these efforts were ineffectual, and we retired in disorder. This repulse carried the exasperation of Bonaparte to an extravagant height; he aimed at nothing less than raising the whole population, and exciting a war of extermination against the enemy. He represented Blucher as stopped at Laon, and as acting without any confirmed plan. A body of 16,000 men under General St. Priest having entered Rheims, Bonaparte proceeded thither, and was successful against an enemy who ventured to maintain an unequal conflict; he took 22 cannon, and 1,000 prisoners.➡ Meanwhile, the Austrian army availed itself of the diversion of the French force on the side of Blucher, and threatened Paris in the direction of Provins. Bonaparte now determined once more to march southward, and reached Arcis-sur-l'Aube early on the 20th March. This movement, we were told at Paris, put the enemy in great uncertainty; and, in fact, they had at first the appearance of retreating: but on the 21st they skirmished in a manner evidently intended to draw us on to close action. Bonaparte now marched suddenly in a north-east direction to Vitry, leaving behind a number of wounded. By all these marches, we imagined

cannon.

that

that his plan was to turn, like the roaring lion, on his enemy, and to beat different corps in detail: but excess of fatigue exhausted his army, which was now recruited with great difficulty, and by new levies driven forcibly to the field of battle, where they often gave way without resistance.

It is said that he had determined, for the sake of procuring reinforcements, to direct his efforts against the frontiers of Lorraine. Secret agents had been dispatched from Paris, on pretence of travelling on mercantile business,; but conveying in the handles of knives, and in other concealed ways, instructions to the garrisons in our different fortresses to march out and endeavour to join the main army. These arrangements, if they were at all serious, were too late ; the bearers of such orders not having it in their power to accomplish their mission; and several of them are said to have been hanged as spies in their endeavours to penetrate into the places pointed out to them. Meantime, the news from Bordeaux arrived, and may be considered as forming a prelude to the denouement of this tragedy. Blucher, having taken Chalons, advanced towards Prince Schwartzenburg with a determination no more to separate their forces. Prince now took a decided course; and, in a proclamation dated 23d March, he announced the approach of the most important events. In fact, Bonaparte was now entirely cut off from Paris, and the fall of that capital was no longer doubtful.'

The

M. GIRAUD takes great pains to argue that the Parisians did all that was practicable in their situation for the defence of the metropolis; and he even goes so far as to say that their resistance would have been much more serious, had arms been delivered to the people, who assembled (p. 83.) in crowds to receive them. This is evidently a mere compliment to the in habitants of the capital, and intended as a kind of reply to the charge of the French soldiers; who, when obliged to withdraw from Paris, called out that they were betrayed. The population of that city, were it twice as great, would make a sorry figure in opposition to a disciplined force of 200,000 men.After these details, the writer concludes with a few observations on the character of Bonaparte.

He had throughout so little soundness of judgment, as to believe that falsehood and imposture could lay the foundation of durable results. It was on this vile basis that he raised his Colossus, without ever perceiving that he was building on the sand. Having succeeded in acquiring a reputation, his grand object was to make it a stepping-stone to farther usurpation of power, and to environ himself with an artificial éclat, as if he had been the only great man in the state. Accustomed to study deceit on all occasions, he had gained at last the habit of making a mere sport of truth. Although he appeared occasionally to act the part of a clement governor in public decrees, it is likely that he never forgave an injury in his heart; and that the concessions in question were dictated solely by his own interest, or extracted from him by the force of eircumstances. All his actions discovered a wanton sacrifice of

human lives, and a disposition to see in mankind merely the means of consumption for political purposes. How happened it, we may ask, that France consented to bear, during so many years, the yoke of so unworthy a master? The answer is, that Bonaparte, being invited on the 18th Brumaire to execute a plan devised by others, succeeded in deceiving all parties, and in making himself complete master of the stakes. No choice remained for the leading men of the state, but that of submission or a new struggle: - the public was sick of dissention, and the alternative of submission was preferred. Bonaparte was enabled to keep all parties in check by making them afraid of each other; and he had in his favour the lassitude which is so natural to a people, after a series of unsuccessful attempts to secure their liberty. This he turned to great account, by means of three qualities inherent in his character, and exercised steadily by him from the beginning; viz. hypocrisy, compulsion, and bribery. His great error, both in war and government, was in not knowing where to stop. Vastus animus immoderata, incredibilia, nimis alta, semper cupiebat.'

The edition of this tract in our possession is concluded by a copy of the treaty of 11th April between Bonaparte and the monarchs of Russia, Austria, and Prussia. It stipulates the renunciation of all sovereignty by the former, with the exception of the island of Elba; on condition of an annual revenue of 80,000l. sterling, payable out of the French funds, with the reversion of half to his wife, Maria Louisa. For his family-relations, a farther stipulation is made of an annual revenue of somewhat more than 100,000l. sterling; viz.

The treaty farther directs that all public property in possession of the Bonaparte family shall be relinquished, but that all property coming under the denomination of private shall be retained by them: Napoleon to take with him, and to be allowed to keep as a guard, 400 men; on the condition, however, that all Frenchmen who may follow him or his family should be liable to be recalled into the French territory in the space of three years, or otherwise to lose their rights as Frenchmen. The British minister was not, as is well known, a party in this treaty; nor has our Court, we understand, accounted itself by any means pledged to its observance with regard to the manner of governing the island of Elba.

On the whole, this tract is of a mixed character, containing at times judicious observations, and at others (p. 81.) such as can scarcely be called better than puerile. It is difficult to comprehend the author's views on some questions, such as (p. 35.)

14

the

the sincerity of the Chatillon negociation: but, altogether, his pamphlet manifests less partiality and exaggeration than the common run of such publications in France.

ART. XI. Correspondance Littéraire, &c.; i. e. The Literary, Philosophical, and Critical Correspondence of Baron GRIMM and of DIDEROT with a German Prince.

THE

[Article concluded from the last Appendix.]

HE long examination of Rousseau's Emile, contained in these pages, only says what Voltaire tells in a single line: "Do you think," asks Candide, "that men were always as mischie vous as they are now?"-"Do you think," replies Martin, "that the kite always preyed on smaller birds?" The elaborate defence of Voltaire's edition of Corneille was doubtless amusing when it was written: but the interest has passed away, and the subject of it appears likely to lose the name of Great, which was with equal justice bestowed on J. B. Rousseau.-The account of Buffon's vast work, in which he was assisted by Daubenton, deserves attention. M. de Buffon, having explained, in some general discourses, his ideas on the formation and constitution of the universe, on the nature and revolutions of our globe, on man, and on other animals, devoted himself to the individual history of every species, and to this M. Daubenton added an anatomical and detailed description of each animal. If Buffon's labours are more brilliant, and more eagerly received by those who are desirous only of general ideas, we cannot deny that the portion of this noble history which was undertaken by Daubenton will be a most valuable present to posterity; because, if ever the science of natural philosophy is to advance, it must owe its progress to labours repeated, compared, and transmitted from age to age: if Aristotle and Pliny had each been assisted by a Daubenton, natural history would long ago have been disencumbered of its obscurities, and would have been far more advanced. In noticing the death of M. le Vayer, the author of many charming little fugitive pieces, it is here observed that this happy talent prevented him from rising in his profession. Pedants,' says M. GRIMM, with a finesse worthy of Voltaire, 'would wish to establish a rule that no persons who are less stupid than themselves are capable of undertaking serious offices; at least, it is their interest to decry men of understanding.'

From the subsequent anecdote, the reader may form some idea of a good-natured Pope :

It were to be desired that all the sayings and sallies of Pope Benedict XIV. were collected in a Lambertiniana. He was the

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most

most infallible of all the successors of the prince of Apostles, because he possessed more wit and pleasantry than all his predecessors put together. This great and amiable Pontiff,'noticing the French Ambassador, the Cardinal de Rachechouart, who came into his presence one day with a very long face, accosted him thus: "Well, what is the matter?" "I have just received the news," answered the other with a sigh, "that the archbishop of Paris has been again banished."—"Ah, I suppose it to be again on account of that bull.”

"Alas! yes, holy father."-"This recalls to my memory," said his Holiness, an adventure which took place in the time of my legation to Bologna. Two senators quarrelled about the pre-eminence of Tasso over Ariosto; and the advocate for Ariosto received a tolerably deep wound with a sword, of which he died. I went to visit him in his dying moments. Is it possible, said he, that I am doomed to perish in the flower of my life for Ariosto, whom I never read! and even had I read him, I should not have understood a syllable; for I am but a-simpleton."

When we read these traits, however heretical we may be, we cannot help crying, "Sancte Benedicte, ora pro nobis." The Comte de Bussey told us one day, talking of this pope and of the good Mahmoud, who in his time was grand signor: "They are both so good that, if they changed places, and we could make the one grand signor, and the other the pope, no body would perceive it." But, I am of opinion that the seraglio would have discovered the change.'

A curious and entertaining defence of Judaism is undertaken by a Rabbi against the attacks of a Venetian Abbé. « You acknowlege," says the Rabbi, "that in common with yourselves we adore the true God: but his worship costs us nothing. We have no temples, altars, sacrifices, pope, bishops, priests, nor a crowd of idle monks to support, &c. &c. Our dispersion makes us the citizens of the whole world; and a country no sooner displeases us than we pass into another, with a certainty of living among our own tribes. We are more numerous and more rich than when we inhabited the barren tract of Judea under the Davids and Solomons. Our dispersion makes us heirs to the universe. Do we not gather where others have sown? Do not Christians go to the extremity of the world to amass riches, and cut throats for our good?" &c. &c.

The reader will be pleased with the portrait of himself which is drawn by the Chevaleresque Abbé Bouflers, and by Condamine's Pain Mollet, which was in fact only a jeu d'esprit on the opposition experienced by inoculation in France. It is related of Condamine that curiosity and research, and an insatiable desire to discover truth wherever it could be found, or whatever difficulties it might impose, formed his ruling passion.

His inexhaustible curiosity on every subject, joined to a great deafness, frequently makes him tiresome to others; to me, these peculi. arities only recommend him the more. This curiosity induced him, some years ago, to attend at the execution of the unhappy Damiens. He pene

trated.