Графични страници
PDF файл
ePub

There were, however, in Genoa forty thousand men who were neither nobles nor senators, but whose conduct deserved a more honourable title than any which kings and senates can exclusively bestow. The Austrians were about to carry off the cannon, in order to employ them against the allies of the republic, which excited the utmost indignation. During this operation an officer happened to strike a Genoese who did not obey his orders with sufficient alacrity; the Genoese instantly stabbed him to the heart: this was the signal for a general insurrection; the people attacked the Austrians with stones, which were the only weapons which they then had; but they soon procured other arms, notwithstanding the attempt of the doge and senate to prevent them. Botta was mad with rage; "Shall the Austrians," he cried, "who drove the French out of Italy, tremble before a Genoese mob?" Yet this Genoese mob, under the command of Doria, defeated them repeatedly, slew several thousands of them, made four thousand of them prisioners, and at length drove them entirely out of the city. This brave people did not long retain their liberty; the perfidious Louis, who had reaped such advantages from their spirited conduct, and who could not but approve of it when directed against the Austrians, was mean enough to assist the senate and nobles in re-establishing their aristocratical government.

CHARLES STUART.

The treatment which the pretender received from the French court is one proof, among many, of the little dependence that can be placed on the friendship of despotic princes; and that their kind offices, as well as their enmities, are the result of a mean selfishness, and vary with their political views. During the negociations at Aix la Chapelle, this unfortunate man was not only meanly

He

deserted, but was driven out of France, in an ignominious manner, by the very monarch who, a few years before, had professed the utmost friendship for him, and endeavoured to place him on the British throne. To the duke of Gesvres, who delivered to him a letter from Louis, announcing the order to leave the kingdom, the young pretender said that he would sooner die than obey. A letter from his father, persuading him to retire, was equally without effect; and he threatened, if force were used, to put an immediate end to his own life. Shortly after he was taken by surprise at the opera: a serjeant of the guards came softly behind him, seized him by the arms, and threw him down; others kept him in this posture while his pockets were searched, in which two pistols were found loaded, primed, and cocked. was then bound like a felon, only that, in regard to his rank, the cord was of silk, hurried into a coach, and carried to the prison of Vincennes. His attendants and servants were lodged in the Bastile. On searching his house a considerable number of muskets and pistols were found, together with a small barrel of gunpowder. In prison he was constantly watched by a guard. This treatment broke his spirit; he wrote a submissive letter to Louis, and was released, on giving his word that he would immediately leave France, and never come into it again. He then took refuge in the canton of Fribourg; on which the British minister wrote, in a very haughty style, to the magistrates of that state, complaining," that it afforded an asylum to an odious race, proscribed by the laws of Great Britain." This was answered by L'Avoyer with proper spirit. "This odious race," said he, "is not proscribed by our republic: your letter is highly improper; you forget that you are writing to a sovereign state; and I do not conceive myself obliged to give you any further answer.' The pretender, however, soon set off for Italy.

ON THE PROGRESS OF NAUTICAL

SCIENCE.

There have been in Europe two great nautical schools, the Mediterranean and the Baltic. In the first, a calm sea, the art of ship building was a continual improvement of the oar-raft, a coasting navigation, the practice of the mariners; and the port-customs, and the maritime terms and laws, all wear marks of this original character. In the second, a stormy sea, the art of ship-building was a gradual evolution of the sail-raft; an open navigation, from the earliest times, was preferred; and the usages, phraseology, the code of regulations, are all tinctured by a corresponding spirit. The common and statute law of sea matters handed down by tradition, and by the Rhodian code from the ancients, was gradually modified into that system of regulations known by the name of "Il Consulato del Mare,” which received the papal sanction in 1075, was re-enacted in most of the sea ports of the Mediterranean, but not till 1162 at Marseilles, and was first printed at Barcelona in 1502. This work has been translated into most European languages, our own excepted. The Dutch version of 1704 is the best.

The rules and orders taught by circumstances and experience to the Baltic sailors were first reduced into written laws at Wissby, one of the Hanse towns, and were printed in 1505 at Copenhagen, in the Frankish tongue. The first English translation appeared in 1536.

The Arabians were the first to apply mathematical science to the improvement of navigation. The earliest books on the subject appeared at Seville and Lisbon. The first English hints on this head are found in W. Cunningham's Cosmographical Glass, 1559, where he recommends the use of the quadrant. In 1581 was published "The New Attractive, by Norman ;" a book which forms an ara in the science. It is a treatise on the variation of

VOL. III. NO. XVIII.

the needle. The compass is generally thought to have been first used by the Chinese, and brought from the Indian seas, through Egypt, to Italy; but when we consider the vast difference in the mode of constructing this instrument, there is reason to believe that it is equally an original invention both in China and Europe. The variation is a European observation.

Davis' Seaman's Secrets, 1594, is a book which does honour to the author. His memory is properly preserved by the denomination of the straits which he discovered: but Edward Wright, who improved our sea charts at that period, the patrons of the society for making discoveries, founded in 1561, and many others, merit also to have their names preserved, by associating them with some of those natural monuments which our voyagers are often at a loss to baptize. Much of our national prosperity, and much of the civilization of the globe, are to be ascribed to those who first naturalized maritime pursuits among

us.

After the year 1600 all the branches of nautics came to be generally studied; nor are the English writers on the subject at all inferior to those of the rival nations, till about the year 1750, when Euler's work appeared, which seems to have drawn the attention of the French mathematicians to the theory of ship-building; and, seconded by the countenance of the court, to have occasioned a remarkable advancement of naval science in France. The French, however, have made much greater progress in the theory than in the practice of the nautical arts. In this respect the English, and under this denomination the people of the United States may properly enough be included, have far exceeded all other nations. To sail fast, to carry much, to make way near, and, if I may say so, against the wind, to turn and shift postures and directions quickly, easily, and safely, are the constituents of a perfect ship. We cannot sup

pose that, in all these points, we have as yet, by any means, attained the ultimatum, but, on the contrary, it is highly probable that the ship of future times will as far exceed the finest French frigate now sailing as such a frigate does a Mohawk canoe.

For the Literary Magazine.

LITERARY BLUNDERS.

GEOGRAPHICAL errors are more common in books than any other kind of errors. This is not surprising, when we reflect on the infinite variety and number of particulars of which geography consists. On this account, a writer may be reasonably excused if, on some occasions, he should place an inland town on the sea-side, or remove a country a few hundred miles further from some other country than nature has done. But these errors will be entitled to less excuse, when we reflect on the extreme facility with which every man of books may make himself acquainted with most points of geographical knowledge, whenever he has occasion for this knowledge. Maps are generally at hand, or easily procured, and when we are not certain, it becomes us to take the trouble to enquire, especially as that trouble is, in most cases, extremely small.

These errors are frequently met with when least expected. An eminent French physician, chief of the medical department in the army of St. Domingo, in a treatise on the yellow-fever, alludes to the history of that disease at Philadelphia, in 1793, which, he says, originated in the effluvia of some coffee thrown carelessly, and suffered to putrify sur la rivage de la mer: on the sea shore.

Racine, in his tragedy of Mithradates, has the following passage: Doutez vous que l'Euxin ne me porte en

deux jours

Aux lieux où le Danube y voit finit son

cours.

Strange that the poet should not have looked at a map before he ventured to describe the Euxine as a river leading into the Danube.

Boileau displayed as little knowledge of astronomy, when he described a philosopher making use of an astrolabe, in order to determine whether the sun revolves on its axis.

Of all errors the most unaccountable is that of the celebrated Salmasius, who, in a work printed at Leyden, represented our Saviour as born at Jerusalem.

A translation of Cesar's Commentaries, by Louis XIV, was published in 1751, on which account this monarch is ranked among the learned.

The justice of his claim may be determined by his asking cardinal Fleury, after hearing the word quemadmodum repeated several times in a motet which was performed before him, who this prince Quemadmodum was?

For the Literary Magazine.

THOUGHTS ON THE FORMER AND PRESENT STATE OF HOLLAND.

CIVIL liberty, as distinguished from political, is the grand purpose for which civil society was formed, and government instituted. With respect to this, the Dutch had advantages, before their revolution, which left them no room for complaint; and however imperfect their political constitution might be deemed, they actually enjoyed more freedom than the inhabitants of most other countries.

The spirit of moderation is truly admirable with which the government of the Dutch republic was generally administered, and the respect which it commonly paid to the privileges of the people. Some of these are such as even Americans might envy for the house of a Dutch burger may with much more propriety be termed his castle, than that of a subject of our laws can be. No sheriff's officer, no exciseman,

ON THE FORMER AND PRESENT STATE OF HOLLAND.

nor even any inferior officer of justice can pass his threshold without his permission; nor can he, on any account, be taken out of his habitation, except by the judges themselves, who, for this purpose, must accompany the constables.

The equity of the courts of judicature was unvaried, and the security of private property inviolable. The taxes were heavy: but this must be ascribed to the nature of the country, the preservation of which from inundation required a very great expence; and these taxes were imposed, not by an arbitrary monarch, who demands them to supply the splendid luxury of his court, or who employs them in supporting numerous armies, in order to extend his tyrannic sway; not by a rapacious minister, who plunders the people, in order to fill his own coffers, to enrich his friends, or to execute his plans of personal revenge; but by the representatives of the nation, for such were the deputies of the states: these must consent to the tax in the name of their fellowcitizens, and, when they have done this, must bear their own share of the load which they have imposed on the public.

In general, taxation in the United Provinces was conducted with great wisdom. In no country did the inhabitants pay greater sums to government, but, from the manner in which they were collected, the burden was scarcely perceived; and great care was taken, especially in extraordinary impositions, to spare the lower class of citizens as much as possible. Even from the heavy tax of two per cent. on all property, whether real or personal, exacted to carry on the present war, all those are exempted, who can swear that they do not possess two thousand five hundred florins (a thousand dollars), exclusively of household furniture, linen, and clothes.

How far this desirable state of things is changed, since the country was subdued by the French, it is difficult for us, at this distance, to

189

tell. Conquest is a very indefinite term, and implies things that have no relation to each other, as it takes place in different circumstances, among different nations, and under different leaders.

We have no reason to believe that the French interfere in the civil administration of the provinces.— Their power is chiefly exerted to procure money; but this is demanded and obtained in the lump, and the sums are levied on the people, in a way and by officers appointed by the native authorities, as formerly.

As to political liberty, if we confine that term to those who expressly chuse their governors by periodical elections, the Dutch never at any time possessed it. If we make the criterion of political liberty the inclination or acquiescence of the people, the general conviction as to the validity and sacredness of the title of those who actually govern, the Dutch possessed as much of it, and no more, than the Russians, Austrians, and Spaniards.— All government is founded on opinion, and the subjects of the most despotic prince in Europe are not less politically free, are not less completely governed with their own consent, than any of the democratic cantons which once existed in Switzerland.

According to the vulgar notions of political liberty, as resulting from the government of great numbers, periodically and expressly chosen by a majority of those who have the male sex, mature age, and some property, the Batavians are freer than they ever were. How far their civil liberty has been affected by the recent revolutions, it would be well worth while to enquire. That they labour under heavy inconveniences and privations is certain; but the greater part, if not the whole, of these are to be ascribed to the war, and will therefore cease when the war ceases, however their political independence may be influenced by that event,

VIATOR.

[blocks in formation]

IT is somewhat suprising that the merits of the government of the United States of America have not been more accurately discussed by European writers. It was this republic which exhibited the first instance, in the present century, of what could be effected by a people who were resolved to be free; and who, by their success, encouraged others to attempt to shake off the yoke by which they felt themselves oppressed but they enjoyed advantages of which the nations of Europe were destitute. They had long been accustomed to live under a popular government, and had been educated amid the enjoyment of freedom, both civil and political; to them, therefore, liberty was not a stranger, known only by distant report, with whose features they were not sufficiently acquainted to distinguish her from the impostor licentiousness, that so often assumes her name, and counterfeits her pretensions. Their manners were not corrupted by the contagious example of those licentious courts, which consider religion only as a political machine to keep the people in subjection, and force on them an uniform profession of faith, while government itself may violate every obligation of morality. The jealousy and ambition of princes, instead of operating against us, was, by a concurrence of circumstances, directed against the power with which we were at variance, and at length openly favoured our efforts. Under these advantages, we not only succeeded in vindicating our independence, but obtained leisure to exert our abilities in planning a form of government, which, if not perfect, seems at least well calculated to promote the happiness of a people, whose love of liberty is attempered with that of order and decency, and accompanied with the virtues of inte

grity, moderation, and sobriety. Fortunately separated by the ocean from the present horrid scenes of war, we are undisturbed in the enjoyment of the advantages so dearly purchased. Our fields are not exposed to the irruptions of an irritated and licentious multitude; nor are we liable to see our country impoverished, and its inhabitants sacrificed, by being forced into a concurrence with the wild schemes of selfish ambition and the lust of power.

The constitution of the American states deserves the greater attention, as it is the first that, since the improvements in the circumstances of society, which so honourably distinguish modern times, was founded on the free deliberation of men, who understood the nature of liberty, and were zealous in her cause; who, while they despised the political and ecclesiastical prejudices, which are fostered in the countries of Europe, knew the necessity of obedience to laws, and of a regard for religion and virtue, both in principle and practice; and who were not fettered by that intimate political connection with foreign princes, which is always dangerous to the independence of republics. An attentive view of the history of the American revolution, will point out the causes why that of France has not been attended with more salutary consequences.

The chief faults in the old confederation had their source in that jealousy of power, which generally prevails among a people who have shaken off what they conceived to be an oppressive yoke, and have successfully asserted their liberties. Having long been accustomed to see authority and oppression united, they find it difficult to distinguish two ideas which they have acquired a habit of associating. They confess the necessity of laws to restrain licentiousness, as well as to regulate the proceedings of government: but they are apt to look with aversion on those who are appointed to execute them, as men who

« ПредишнаНапред »