ther his credit, extends itfelf among all the Moffelemis, and the inhabi tants of Zaara. Even the Moors, in their difputes, often refer to him for his decifion. The emperor, all powerful as he is, has never ventured to question his authority, nor to march his troops, even in time of war, into the country which he inhabits. His name is Sidi Mohammed Moufja."

The author concludes this work with fome obfervations on the empire of Morocco, which had already been well described in Shaw's Travels into that country, and ftill more circumftantially in the Recherches fur les Maures, in 5 vols. 8vo. by the Abbé Chenier, fome time French Conful in Barbary., Journ. Encycl.

ART. 49. Fragmens de Politique & d'Hiftoire, par Mercier. En 3 val. in 8vo. A Paris, 1792.

The author confeffes, that in publifhing thefe fragments he had not the ambition to propofe a fyftem of government; it was his intention only to communicate his ideas in a free and unconnected way on topics at prefent fo generally agitated, in doing which he has endeavoured to fupport his opinions by facts, which were again to give rife to further reflections. It cannot, however, be faid, that every article is here infulated and independent on the reft, fince, in the midst of all this diforder, real or apparent, the reader will eafily perceive a certain uniformity in the political principles of the author, and difcover what are his leading notions on thefe fubjects. With refpect to the ftyle, we fhall only obferve, that its faults are, at leaft, as numerous as its beauties; and that if Mercier had not before diftinguished himself by other pub lications, this would not place him very high in the opinion of the literary world. The following extract on the love of glory, may be confidered as a fpecimen of our author's best manner:

pas

"Sans l'amour de la gloire, qui eft un fentiment qui nous conduit à la vertu, en même-tems qu'à la renommée, l'homme en place n'aura le reffort néceffaire pour courir la carriére de l'heroïfme. Le contempteur de la gloire l'eft auffi des vertus qui y menent; celui qui fe diroit à lui-même que l'eftime publique n'eft pas un bien, ajouteroit bientôt et fe perfuaderoit, que le mépris public n'eft point un mal. Placez l'homme-d'état dans une de ces conjonctures délicates où il doit s'immoler lui-même pour fauver fa vertu. C'eft en fongeant aux jugemens de l'avenir qu'il ne balancera pas un feul inftant, et qu'il préférera l'honneur à fa vengeance; il faut attendre des grandes chofes de celui qui fe lie au fiécle futur, qui eft jaloux d'exifter dans le tems d'une manière honorable, et qui veut tranfmettre un nom glorieux et fans tache aux generations fuivantes. Il fera foible et petit, fans ener gie et fans grandeur, l'homme qui borne fa vie au court espace de la vie même, qui, femblable à la brute qui naît fans aïeux et meurt fans pofterité, confent à terminer fon existence dans l'intervalle placé entre fa naiffance et fa mort."

Mercier, in imitation of feveral late writers of his country, has endeavoured to recommend the prefent work by an attack on the character of Louis XIV. whofe ambition was certainly more excufable, as it was infinitely more innocent than that of Alexander, of whom he fays, without fufficient authority qu'il avoit voulu mettre en prati-, que

que les vues de Socrate, de Platon, de Zenon, fi touchantes en théorie qu'il étoit affez puiffant fur la terre pour y établir ce gouvernement heureux & fage que la vertu avoit fait imaginer aux philofophes." The nation will not, however, eafily forget the many public establishments for which it is indebted to Louis XIV, the improvement of military difcipline during his reign, the creation of corps of artillery, of the marine and of fortification; the conftruction of fo many fortreffes, which form a rampart round the country; the public roads which he opened in his dominions; the canal of Languedoc, the ports of Toulon, Breft and Rochefort, with an hundred other indestructible monuments, that will, in fpite of the ravages of democracy, attach themselves to his name. In the eighteenth century, at leaft, the characters of those persons by whom that in which he lived was diftinguifhed, will not be forgotIt will be remembered that Turenne, Condé and Villars commanded his armies; that Beauvilliers, Fenelon, Montaufier and Boffuet educated his children; that Boileau and Racine had the direction of his amusements; that his gardens were embellished by le Notre, his palaces decorated by Le Sueur, and that Vauban fortified his towns. It will not be forgotten, that he raised these and fimilar men to these fituations, in which he afterwards continued to protect them.

ten.

This work of Mercier, as will naturally be expected, abounds with declamation against the clergy and against kings, on the former of whom he beftows the opprobrious epithet of refractory. An impartial writer, however, who is acquainted with the import of the terms he employs, would be careful not to apply, without the ftricteft propriety, fuch expreffions to thefe unfortunate men, as may be calculated to encreafe that spirit of persecution from which they have already fuffered so much. Indeed, whatever other charges may be brought against them (and it does not appear that any have been fubftantiated) thofe perfons who, when they had the option of taking a certain oath, or of renouncing their functions and forfeiting their property, preferred the latter, cannot with justice be called refractory, or difobedient to those laws, to which it is evident they conformed. It is neceffary, however, our readers fhould be told that Mercier, notwithstanding his general invective againft kings, does ample juftice to the humanity of Louis XVI.

The limits of our Review will not allow us to enter into an examination of our author's notions on the fubject of taxation, of which fome judgment may be formed from the following quotation: "Le bonheur de l'homme, fays he, & fes richeffes, ont été attaché à la terre; c'eft cette mere nourriciere qui a été chargée de pourvoir à tous nos befoins, & de payer tous les frais de notre féjour ici-bas, puifque l'homme n'apporte avec lui que fa nudité, trifte caiffier, & bien peu propre à remplir le tréfor royal; c'est donc à la terre de payer pour nous & d'acquitter tous les impôts.” ĺbid.

ART. 50. Reflexions préfentées à la nation Françoife fur le procès intenté Louis XVI; par Mr. Necker, 1792.

Though this compofition has been infufficient to give a different bias to the opinions of thofe for whom it was more immediately intended, it will however be found very interefting to the distant spectator, and deferves to be carefully perufed by all fuch perfons as wish to obtain an accurate knowledge of the incidents which it defcribes. Much

2

indeed

indeed of its contents is already before the public, but in such a multiplicity of occurrences fo important and unexpected, it is often necessary that we fhould be reminded of events once fufficiently notorious, of which however more recent facts may in fome degree have obliterated the remembrance. Even juftice requires that the fervices which the late unfortunate monarch had rendered his country, fhould be recorded, and perhaps no one could have been found more competent to this task, than the perfon who has here undertaken it, who was, by the ice which he held, fo intimately connected with him. On clofing the lift of thofe fervices the author observes " que le Roi en faifant le bien, s'est effacé lui-même, tant il craignait de chercher la louange; tant il avait d'eloignement pour tous les genres d'oftentation; qu'il avait été defservé dans l'opinion par ce caractère, comme auffi par une difficulté d'éxpreffion, dûë en grande partie au combat habituel de fon extrème modeltie, avec le fentiment de la dignité de fon rang."

Mr. Necker's defence of the late king relates chiefly to his pretended collufion with the Emigrants and the foreign hoftile powers, to which he oppofes, among other arguments, a letter of the then minifter Deleffart, dated from his prifon at Orleans the 20th June 1792, in which he bears teftimony to the friendly difpofition of thofe powers during his adminiftration. From the paragraph extracted from a letter faid to have been written by the king's Brothers," Si l'on nous parle de la part de ces gens là nous n'écouterons rien, mais fi c'est de la votre nous écouterons, mais nous irons tout droit notre chemin; ainfi fi l'on veut que vous nous faffiez dire quelque chofe, ne vous gênez pas," from which it had been inferred that the Monarch approved of the steps taken by his brothers, he concludes, on the contrary, that the Princes wished to excufe themselves for their refolution to opppofe the determination of the king, whofe acquiefcence in the new political conftitution of France it it was for their intereft to reprefent as the effect of fear or neceffity only. The pamphlet intitled Lifte des perfonnes de ma connaissance, by fome perfons afcribed to the queen, the author proves not to have been written by her, which indeed was the opinion of M. Mallet du Panin his Lettre fur les évenemens du 10 Aout.

Mr. N. is perfuaded that Louis XVI. never ceafed to labour for the good of his people, even in the fenfe of the Conftitution. Any apparent inequalities in his conduct therefore fhould, he thinks, have been attributed to the difagreeable fituation in which he found himself, and to the difficulty of a fudden tranfition to principles diametrically oppofite to thofe which he had imbibed from education and habit. But even fuppofing that he had attempted to withdraw himself from the reftraint in which he was held by the newly conftituted authorities, which he might look upon to be fo many ufurpations on his own, the Author maintains that the cafe did not admit of a more fevere punishment, than that of the forfeiture of his throne. On fo important a fubject the reader may be glad to fee his principal arguments expreffed in his own words. "Ce n'eft pas fans motifs," fays he, " mais par authorité d'une loi fondeé fur la raifon éternelle, que, d'un commun confentement, on a confidéré la perfonne des rois comme inviolable; on a fenti que leur tâche étoit audeffus des forces humaines, et que dans un tems de révo-、 lution, où ils pourroient fe trouver feuls contre tous, il feroit trop aisé BRIT. CRIT. VOL. I. AUG. 1793. K k

de

de leur trouver des torts, en reprenant, avec une intention ennemie, cette multitude innombrable d'actions qui compofent leur vie publique. Voilà la véritable origine de l'inviolabilité des monarques.

Et qu'on ne dife point, pour éviter l'application d'une loi fi jufte, qu'on ne dife point qu'un roi dechu de fa couronne, n'eft plus alors inviolable! Sans doute il ne l'eft plus, pour toute la partie de fes actions poftérieure à cette époque; mais fi on le rendoit refponfable après fa déchéance de la conduite qu'il auroit tenue pendant fon regne, l'inviolabilité d'un monarque, n'auroit alors aucun fens, et ce principe un verfellement confacré fe trouveroit fans application; car ce n'eft pas dans le tems q'un Prince eft fur le trône, ce n'eft pas dans le tems où fa volonté eft un des élemens de la puiffance publique, que l'on peut l'accufer et le pourfuivre.

L'inviolabilité des rois fe rapporte encore à une confideration importante, à l'impoffibilité de les faire, juger par leurs pairs, et j'explique ce mot felon l'efprit de la loi, en appellant leurs pairs des hommes inftruits, par l'experience et par une parité de fituation, des dangers et des féductions dont les Princes font environnés, les hommes inftruits de même de la foibleffe des moyens de réfiftance que leur ont ménagés la nature de leur education et l'habitude de toute leur vie.

L'inviolabilité des rois fe rapporte auffi à l'impoffibilité de les faire juger par des hommes dont l'impartialité foit certaine; car, dans le cours d'un long regne, le chef de l'état, le Prince duquel émane une multitude innombrable de décifions, a dû neceffairement blesser une infinité de perfonnes, ou dans leur amour-propre, ou dans leurs interêts.

Que, fi maintenant on veut particularifer ces principes généraux, on verra que l'inviolabilité du monarque François a été ftipulée de la maniere la plus expreffe, par la conftitution politique à laquelle il a foufcrit.

En effet, la conftitution, qui a confacré le pacte entre la nation et fon roi, a declaré non feulement la perfonne du Prince inviolable; mais en prévoyant des fautes, et jufqu'à des trahifons de fa part, elle en a fait un motif de déchéance, et là s'eft arrêté fa rigueur. Une telle convention eft d'autant plus facrée, que fi, dans l'acte conftitutionel, on eut préfenté au roi un autre danger que la perte du trône, il est probable que Louis XVI. n'auroit point accepté la couronne à ce prix; et tout au moins, on auroit demandé pour lui, que s'il devoit jamais être expofé par un jugement à un danger perfonnel, cette action ne feroit intentée qu'après un efpece de tems fuffifant pour laiffer calmer toutes les paf

fions.

Ainfi foit que nous confidérions d'une maniere générale ou particu lière le principe de l'inviolabilité des rois, nous le trouvons également jufte, également néceffaire. La refponfabilité des miniftres fuffit dans les gouvernemens libres à l'intérêt de l'état ; et fi l'on examine le véritable fens de cette refponfabilité, on verra qu'en obligeant les divers agens d'un monarque à refufer de lui obéir quand il exige des chofes reprehenfibles, on a voulu tacitement que leur acquiefcement à fes volontés devint fon abfolution, ou fa guarantie: ainfi la même loi qui a confideré le prince comme un pupille,ne fauroit le prendre enfuite perfonnellement à partie."

Jena Litteraturzeit. & Efprit des Journ.

ITALY.

ART. 51. Bufti del Mufeo Pio Clementino, Tomo fefto. In Roma, 1792. Imp. fol.

To this Volume is prefixed a differtation on this fpecies of antiquities, which are by the author referred to the time of Alexander, and in Rome to that of the Emperors, together with an account of what is properly termed Iconography. Of the word bufto itself we are here prefented with an etymology, which feems to be more probable, than any of thofe from which it had been ufual to derive it. The author thinks it may have originated in Italy itself in the middle ages, when buftum fignified a monument on which it was ufual to place bufts, fo that the name of the former may afterwards have been transferred to the latter. Of the 61 plates, which compofe this work, the first 17 reprefent deities, and thofe from No. 18 to 27, heroes and famous Men of Greece; as the rest are confined to the bufts of Romans, beginning with Julius Cæfar. The bufts themselves are recommended by their beauty and rarity, many of them having been very lately discovered; and the manner in which the Editor, in defcribing them, has taken occafion not only to illufirate feveral obfcure points in ancient history and mythology, but likewise to explain and correct various paffages of the Greek and Latin claffics, as Apollodorus, Orpheus in Argon. Archilochus in Anthol. Propertius, Juvenal, Horace, Cicero, &c. clearly evinces his profound skill in this department of Literature. To the whole are annexed aggiunte, in which an account is given of different coins, infcriptions and other antiquities which had, in our author's judgment, been improperly defcribed. Efemeridi di Roma

ART.52. Delle antichità di Ercolano, Tomo ottavo, o fia delle Lucerne, delle Lanterne, de' Candelabri. or according to another title, Le Lucerne ed i Candelabri d'Ercolano, e Cotorni, Incife, con qualche spiegazione, Tomo unico. In Napoli, 1792,

In this collection the number of plates is 93, exclufively of a variety of head and tail pieces connected with the fubject, and the text itself confifts of 346 pages. As the lamps of the ancients are already known to us from the works of Bartolo, Pafferi and others, this Volume will not be likely to excite the fame curiofity with those by which it was preceded. Connoiffeurs will however difcover many things in it highly worthy of their attention; the beauty and variety of the defign, the elegance of the execution, the richness of the acceflory ornaments, all ferve to demonftrate the perfection to which the ancients had carried the arts. Even the fpecimens of earthen ware and bronze destined for the most common ufes and made without doubt by ordinary workmen, equal, at leaft, the moft efteemed productions of modern artists in point of execution, whilft with refpect to invention, they infinitely furpafs them. As the defigns of the ancients are generally very expreffive, a great part of the text might have been difpenfed with, which often, contains only illuftrations by the Academici Ercolanefi of what is evident to the fight, and conjectures regarding intentions which the workman might perhaps never have had; as for inftance, where in order to account for the form of a goofe being given to a lamp, they inform us that it was becaufe geefe, being remarkable for their watchfulness