Ruffians over the oppreffed Poles; tend to diftinguish the pe riod to which we allude. -01 The remarks which introduce the narrative have fome foundation. The writer obferves, that, when the coalition against France first took place, the long refiftance of the enemy was not apprehended; but that, when the allies had met with fuccefs in their early attempts, they overlooked the neceffity of acting with the firmeft and most indiffoluble concord, and thus gave the French fuch advantages as they did not fail to improve. The ftrong ground on which the republicans ftood at the opening of the campaign, and the views and preparations of the confederate powers, are properly no ficed. After various military details, the following fketch is given of the battle of Fleurus! Early in the morning of the 26th of June, the allies moved on in feveral divifions to the attack of every part of the French army. The opinion entertained by both that this action would be very decifive, induced them to make the most animated exertions. The conteft continued until it was very late in the day; and victory long fluctuated between the oppofite parties. Fortune at length decided for the French: the allies were in every quarter repulfed with an immenfe flaughter: the enemy routed and purfued them with fuch deftruction, that they were obliged, without halting, to make a confused retreat to Halle, a place at thirty miles distance from the field of battle. This day fully proved, what both parties had previously expected, a final decifion of the fate of the French and the allied armies in the Netherlands, during the prefent campaign. The prefent struggle between them had been fully adequate to fo great an object. It continued thirteen hours, during which the French line had thrice been broken, and on the point of giving up the conteft. But thofe who headed the republican army had firmly refolved that no retreat fhould be permitted. They fucceeded by infufing their. fentiments throughout their men, who with reiterated endeavours exhorted each other to die or conquer. It was fix in the evening before the French were able to make any impreffion upon the allies. General Jourdain had the good fortune to receive at this moment fo powerful a reinforcement of troops, and efpecially of artillery, as immediately turned the fcale in his favour. The allies were now equally fatigued and depreffed by their repeated and fruitless efforts against an enemy whofe numbers they found it impracticable to diminish. As thofe who fell were conftantly replaced by fresh troops, they were unable to make any longer ftand, and precipitately withdrew in all directions. This battle was fought on the plains of Fleurut already memorable in hiftory for a victory ob tained over the powers in alliance against France by the famous marshal Luxembourg, about a century before. By the prefent victory the reputation of general Jourdain rofe to its higheft fummit, This was the fecond time his valour and skill had enabled the republic to triumph over its enemies at a dangerous crifis. Dunkirk in the preceding year, and Fleurus in the prefent, were now reputed two events decifive of each of these campaigns. What the real lofs of the allies amounted to on this fatal day, was never afcer, tained with any precifion. The numbers ftated to the convention were upwards of 10,000: but whatever they might be, the lofs of all further hope to maintain their ground in the Netherlands against the French, was a circumftance more depreffive than any other.? P. 23. Our author varies his martial statements with philofophical obfervations, of which we will exhibit a fpecimen. Speaking of the ufe of an air-balloon during an engagement near Liege, he fays, The balloon, foon after its invention, was confidered in Britain, as well as fome other countries, merely as a curiofity; as it could - neither carry a burthen, nor be conducted according to the will of the aëronaut. It is true, that in trade and commerce, it does not yet appear that it can be turned to any ufeful purpose: but ftill, among an ingenious people, and in a great nation, this was no reafon for neglecting the study and improvement of balloons. There is not a doubt, but various purposes to which balloons may be applied, will be found out in the progrefs of time. Things are difcovered firft; their uses afterwards. The properties of the pendu. lum were discovered long before it entered into the minds of those who knew them, to conceive that they would become the means of measuring time with fo much accuracy. The art of fhip-building was brought to its prefent state by very flow degrees. The properties of the magnet were long known before they were applied tỏ navigation. Many of the purposes to which gun-powder has been applied, were long unknown. Nor is there almost any discovery of which the fame thing may not be faid. The French, who are the original inventors of the balloon, have all along treated it with more liberality than we have done. Here it was abandoned to fhew-men. In France, its principles were inveftigated by men of fcience; who, instead of collecting fhillings, collected improvement, and declared that it would one day be of utility. It was not on the fingle occafion abovementioned that the French armies made ufe of the balloon, but on feveral occafions before, and on more fince; at the battle of Fleurus, during the fiege of Mentz, and more recently during that of the fortrefs of Erenbrititein, [Ehrenbreitftein] on the right bank of the Rhine, oppofite to Coblentz. In all these cafes it was found of utility; but particularly in this Laft, where the great height of the fortrefs, and its inacceffible pofition, not unlike that of Gibraltar, rendered it impoffible, by any other means, to reconnoitre the internal parts.' P. 48. He is more diffuse in speaking of the telegraph; but his remarks are by no means profound. From an account of the war in various scenes of action, he paffes to a detail of civil tranfactions. But, before we notice his ftatements in the latter department, we think it our duty to praise the diligence which he has exerted for procuring accurate intelligence refpecting the war of La Vendée. He dwells, as might be expected, on the ftruggles of party and the contefts for power and pre-eminence. He explains the views of the principal clubs and parties, and sketches the characters of the factious (we cannot fay, patriotic) leaders. A part of the character which he has drawn of Robespierre we will felect. The features most predominant in his character, were, the luft of power, diffimulation, and cruelty. He had none of those magnanimous fentiments that occafionally counterpoife the very worst of vices, and command fome respect for individuals for whom no real attachment can be felt. His vicious inclinations were always predominant: they were at the bottom of all the deep and latent views that perpetually occupied his thoughts. The only two qualities he had, which might be ftyled commendable, were contempt of money and impenetrable fecrecy. By the first of thefe, he obtained the fame of difintereftedness and integrity: by the fecond, he was enabled to win the confidence of those with whom he was connected; confidering him as an individual of great prudence and difcretion, they trufted him the more readily with their own fecrets. It was chiefly by these means, aided by an eafy and impreffive eloquence, not unfrequently adorned with the energetic brevity of a profound and bold sentiment and a steady courage, that he rose into reputation, and gained the knowledge of thofe men whom he was defirous to cultivate, and of those measures which he fought to guide. He had arrived at the age of thirty before he attracted particular notice. His parts did not feem calculated for any exalted fituation, nor even for much exertion in the ordinary occurrences of life. His perfon was the reverfe of prepoffeting; his afpect was fickly; and the cheerfulness that ufually marks his countrymen was not visible in any of his features: yet, with all these difadvantages, the neceffity of rendering himself acceptable to those who employed him in the line of his profeffion, which was the law, had taught him obfequioufnefs and complaifance. He thereby procured himself the good will of his acquaintances, and, through their means, together with his parts, made an advantageous figure at the bar in his native city of Arras, the capital of the province of Artois. The credit and efteem he was in at the time when the court. thought it neceffary to convoke the States General, procured his election as deputy to the Tiers Etat. Here his behaviour at first was cautious and moderate, and he seems to have enjoyed the fa vourable opinion of his fellow-members. His principles however were completely popular, and his declamations in union with the oppofition to court. He did not at this period fhine much as an orator; being rather bold than argumentative. It was not till towards the clofe of the conftituent affembly that he was held in any confideration as a speaker: by this time his faculties had expanded; and through affiduity of practice, and ftudy of thofe models continually before him, especially of Mirabeau and Barnave, he attained at length to a degree of oratorial merit that strongly recommended him to the notice of his party. His ambitious difpofition began now to operate. Favoured by the commonalty, with many of whom the intrigues of the time had made him acquainted, he readily perceived to what ufe they could be converted, and of course of what importance he might render himself by the influence he could exert over them. But the connexion which laid the foundation of his fubfequent power, and raised him to the fummit of his ambition, was that which he formed with the jacobin club, now become the moving spring of all the political transactions of that day. His initiation into that fociety, and his vehement fpeeches on the manifold fubjects brought forward by the reftlefs fpirit of that tem pestuous æra, increafed his popularity to the highest pitch. He became the decided favourite of this affembly, and of the people of Paris; and he had the address to retain them equally in his interest to the very last moment of his existence: a proof, it may be added, of his talents for intrigue, and no lefs of his uncommon dexterity in fecuring the attachment of those whom he wanted.' P. 162. He is ftill more copious in his account of the parliamentary proceedings of Great-Britain; but we cannot applaud his report of the debates as fpirited or elegant; for they are communicated to the reader in a dull and barbarous ftyle. He closes the hiftory of the year with these remarks: On the whole, the affairs of Great Britain in 1794, though unfortunate on the continent, flourished on her natural element. War was evaded with America; our government and poffeffions in the Eaft lately enlarged, were now, by new and judicious regulations, improved, and our commerce every where profperous. But this fplendid horizon was clouded by an apprehenfion that, if the French fhould retain poffeffion of maritime Flanders, make peace with the continental powers, and bend all her efforts to the conftruction of a navy, the commerce of Great Britain would, at fome future period, be diminished; that of France proportionably exalted on its ruin; and the political principles of the French prevail with their prevailing power over Europe. All the advantage, therefore, of a prefent good, and indeed infinitely more in the anticipation of national refources, was abforbed in plans for the prevention of contingent, but what were deemed but too probable evils.' P. 284. While he is too diffufe on fome topics, he is too concife on others. For inftance, he has fcarcely devoted above two pages to the naval, colonial, and commercial affairs' of the year. In the ftate-papers, and other appendages to the hiftorical part of the volume, we do not always perceive a judicious felection. Among the mifcellaneous effay's,' are fome extracts from Mrs. Piozzi's British Synonymy; a work too contemptible to be quoted, except for the purpofes of cenfure and of ridicule. In the Account of Books,' Mr. Stedman is called a learned and elegant writer; but the hiftory of the American war, which bears his name, was compiled from his materials, not written by him; nor does the work, though a performance of merit, deferve the praife of learning or of elegance. Catalogus Bibliothecæ Hiftorico-naturalis Jofephi Banks, Regi A Catalogue of the Library of Natural Hiftory belonging to Sir To introduce an account of a catalogue in a literary journal, may, at first view, appear improper; or at least it may be fuppofed, that to announce the publication was fufficient. But, befides that from the liberality of the owner, the library is open to every fcientific inquirer, this catalogue deferves attention in a fuperior view. It not only fhows the extent and value of the collection, but, from the new and judicious arrangement, it directs the ftudent, and informs him what are the best works on each fubject. It is on account of this arrangement that the catalogue is now the object of our attention, and, for this reafon alfo, will be always of importance. The first volume contains a catalogue of thofe works which relate to natural hiftory, as well as to other sciences. The collection of academical memoirs is rich in profufion; and few well-informed philofophers can be fufficiently acquainted with the numerous inftitutions of this kind, the labours of whofe affociates have been publifhed. The collections of fcattered effays, either regular or accidental, appear equally complete. The obfervations, in general, relating to medicine and natural history, are not numerous, nor indeed could they be fo: the real number is very limited. The collections of letters, and the mifcellaneous authors connected with natural hiftory, afford many works little known and not unimportant. The editions of Pliny are, in particular, numerous and valuable. The works on phyfics, in general, fol |
