"A perilous position," said my father, "I would not, under such circumstances, give many years' purchase for the integrity of the Chinese Empire. Even without these approaches our recent proceedings in that direction may not improbably have done something to sap the foundation of the overgrown kingdom of the brother of the Sun and Moon. I may not live to see it, but I hardly think that the day is far distant when the flowery land' will be broken up, like some of the large estates in this neighbourhood, into a number of petty principalities, and the power of the Court of Pekin be reduced to a shadow, like that of the great Mogul.

One might speculate for ever on the future destinies of the AngloSaxon races and the nations with which they are brought in contact. The west is rapidly overrunning the east. India and the Islands of the Eastern Archipelago have already fallen into our hands. The conquest of China is at least commenced. America has a covetous eye upon Japan. Then glance at the Australian group.-Think what a mighty empire is springing up in those grand islands-think what steam is about to achieve for them-how soon, with institutions of their own, with a self-supporting government, with an army paid from their own revenues, they will erect themselves into an independent nation, establishing, it is to be hoped, their independence without the bloody struggles which baptized the infancy of American freedom. There is no limit to the productiveness of such a country as Australia. It needs nothing but the strong hand and the teeming brain of man to establish, under those mild skies, such an empire as the world has never seen before. A dependency now, Australia will in time have its own dependencies, and India will be one of them. It is the destiny of India to fall into the hands of the great new nation, which our children will create for themselves in those distant seas. And who knows but that the colonization of that great Eastern Continent may not be achieved by men born in, and habituated to a climate, which forms a link between the bleak, dreary atmosphere of Great Britain and the fiery blasts of Hindostan. The mighty agency of steam is not only bringing India and Australia close to each other, but is infusing the Anglo-Indian element more and more into Australian society, and planting more and more deeply in men's minds the conviction that the two countries are bound to one another by a reciprocity of interest, and must every year become more intimately associated. The hardy veterans who have fought our battles in the passes of Afghanistan and on the river banks of the Punjab, will soon begin to think it wiser to end their days and to rear their families in a country where land is not scarce and food is not dear, and the more sons they have to aid them the better, than in one where every additional mouth is only an additional evil. And from the loins of these men will spring warriors and statesmen-new Clives -new Hastinges new Wellesleys-a hardier race-a finer moral sense-establishing their homes amidst the snows of the Himalayahsthe shores of the pearl-fisheries of Ceylon-then the Anglo-Saxon race of America and Australia contending for the Empire of Japan.

*

*

THE MEMOIRS OF MALLET DU PAN.*

We are told by the accomplished editor of these volumes, that had the Memoirs contained in them been published fifty years ago, they would have had no need of the explanation they seem to call for at present, because the subject of them had then recently died in the enjoyment of the most honourable repute; that his name was European, and that his writings, translated into many languages, had been spread far and wide.

This is all very true and would be very well, but that it seems to imply that something more like an apology than an explanation was demanded for the production of this Work. This is, however, far from being the case. We perfectly agree with the son of Mallet du Pan, that the value of these Memoirs, whether considered as historical documents, or as biography of one of the most eminent public writers of his epoch, would at any time have warranted their publication, and it is likely that it might have been scarcely becoming, during the lives of many distinguished political personages, to render public, and consequently to expose to criticism, that part of the correspondence which relates to them.

Now, for our own part, speaking in behalf of the public, we confess we are extremely rejoiced that the publication of these Memoirs has been put off to the present day. Had this Work, containing much. from the political journals which, whether during or previously to the Revolution, laid the foundation of the author's fame, the deliberate convictions of a most sagacious and far-seeing politician,-a republican as well from conviction as by origin, who had deserved the confidence of Louis XVI. in his last misfortunes and dangers, and whose counsels had been received in the great Cabinets of Europe,- had this work, we say, been ushered into the world shortly after the death of Mallet du Pan, his friends and admirers would have received and treasured a noble monument of his industry, talents, and patriotism; but the world would have been little benefited by this record of the journalist's worth and wisdom; for, as M. Sayous tells us, "his reputation was intimately connected with the Revolution: it paled, like so many others, when the great successes of Bonaparte prevailed in the popular imagination over recollections of the Revolution itself. The journals, the pamphlets of those fatal times. and the names of their authors, merged rapidly into oblivion."

It is well, then, for the sake of the enduring fame of Mallet di Par that his reputation should have lain dormant for half a century, sine in labours which embody it now reappear, not only with every attractic that novelty itself could confer upon them, but at the very time political crisis in France has drawn the eyes of all Euron country. What is to be the result, and in what time check whom, of the extraordinary state of things that the nation perplexed astonishment taking daily more mysteriou: LLaswere difficult indeed to tell; but he who studs works of Mallet du Pan, in which he has describe at

* Memoirs and Correspondence of Male: L. I.

the French Revolution. Cortet ar EINER the French. 2 vols. LOL, 182

the entire political movement of the first French Revolution, from the opening of the States-General to the days of the Consulate, will be best able to form a correct judgment in regard to the extraordinary scenes now passing in a neighbouring country.

The value of Mallet du Pan, and indeed, his chief merit, as bespoken for him by his biographer, will be readily conceded to him. He was a man who saw things closely and clearly, whether he observed scenes simply as a bystander, or whether, consulted by the great personages of the drama, he stated his views and offered his advice. He always "bore himself as in the presence of history, merging his life, so to speak, in the cause of the principles of justice and of reason, engaged in those terrible contests."

Jacques Mallet du Pan was the son of the pastor of Céligny, a village on the right bank of the Lake of Geneva, where he was born in 1749. At the age of fifteen he entered the college of Geneva, and his precocious talents invariably secured to him the highest prizes of his class. On the completion of his philosophical course, he studied the law for a time, and but a short time; for his ardent nature was attracted by very different objects of contemplation, and he attempted literary compositions. We have no specimens of these boyish performances. At the age of twenty he commenced his career as a journalist and politician, treating of Genevese affairs with a spirit and earnestness, that gave almost an assurance of his future eminence. "The Compte Rendu," (the name of his pamphlet) made, says a contemporary, "a great and lasting im pression; it became the text-book of the party he espoused, who made their children read from it." This production gained him the friendship of Voltaire, who recommended him to the Landgrave of Hesse Cassel, then desirous of obtaining a professor of history and belles-lettres, in his academy. It was not long, however, before he threw up his appointment in disgust.

well-nigh

On his return from Germany, Mallet undertook the literary advocacy of Linguet, a man of some celebrity in his day, but now forgotten, and edited the continuation of his "Annales." In the Genevese Revolution of 1782, our author distinguished himself as a patriot, and having by this time acquired the reputation of a distinguished jour nalist, we find him soon afterwards, (in 1784,) at Paris, engaged by M. Panckouke, an eminent publisher, and munificent patron of literary men, as editor of the " Mercure de France," which was under his management for many years, and for which he established a European celebrity.

His connexion with this journal, which his writings rendered illus trious, brought him into collision with many distinguished, or rather, politically notorious men, who dreaded, or were impatient of the influence of a pen ever directed by a clear and manly common sense, profound political sagacity, and the promptings of a sound and honest heart, and gained him the esteem and lasting friendship of a host of eminent persons, who admired his talents and reverenced his probity. Let us give his character as it has been traced by the pious hand of his daughter: "That which appears to me the most interesting to be enforced in the record of my father's life," says this lady, "is the moral character of his mind, that independence of opinion which raised up against him so many enemies, and which so many men of various parties sought so often and so vainly to warp for their own purposes-the courage with which, during the years of the Revolution, he braved the threats, the

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imprecations, the writings, whether avowed or anonymous, of the enemies of the good cause. I have seen revolutionists come to him, to force him to retract some article in his journal, menacing him with their vengeance, and my father has answered them with a firmness full of moderation and dignity, that he might be assassinated, but would never be induced to disavow his principles. A Protestant, he defended the Catholic clergy with all his talent, and with the warmth which characterized his writings; a republican, he defended the threatened monarchies, because these were the causes of order and morality. Menaced on all sides, harassed by the fears of his friends and family, he ever remained unshaken, and ready to answer with his head for the cause he defended; of uncertain health, he uniformly displayed unbending intrepidity; with the most limited fortune, he showed the most noble disinterestedness, and the elevation of his character was no less remarkable than his talents. Persons from the provinces, men of all ranks, came to thank him for the services rendered by him to the public cause, and to themselves personally; he was implored to continue his perilous tasks, and was overwhelmed with praises, which failed to excite his vanity."

It will readily be conceived by all who are conversant with the actors in, and instruments of, the first French Revolution, that a man like Mallet du Pan (as we have seen him depicted by his daughter) was not likely to be endured. That faculty of his, of detecting the truth through all the mystifications by which it was sought to be obscured, and his inflexible habit of proclaiming what he saw, rendered him not only obnoxious, but intolerable. In 1791, the patriots (so called) not only failed in their attempt to induce him to write for them, but drew from him a memorable declaration.

Finding that his life was menaced (and menaces were not idle in those days), Mallet Du Pan was obliged to throw up the editorship of the Mercure," and was about to leave Paris, when he was sent for by Louis XVI., who entrusted him with a delicate and important mission to his brothers (afterwards Louis XVIII. and Charles X.) and to the Emperor of Austria and the King of Prussia.

That this mission had no beneficial result to the House of Bourbon was no fault of Mallet Du Pan. That nothing could be done on behalf of the King's cause at this period, has often been observed: it would be more correct to say that the King, but particularly the princes and their adherents, would not suffer anything to be done. Such was their inde cision at one moment, their rashness and audacity at another-constant to nothing save a perverse determination not to listen to reason that they became at length past praying for. after the execution of the King, come for the advice of Males How often did the cances, just as often did they reject it! whose counsel so worthy of consideration as that of Miles Du Par In a critical position of ther afturs. A supposed favourable change takes place; his words are mic aside VTL contemptuous indifference. He foresaw and foretaid, the I e que princes ascended the throne of France, it must be by the au é ac hands and the pursuance of other means than therrs, and ever the there must be a biding of a time of many years.

In 1792, Mallet Du Pan retired to Geneva. hur sot place. We next find him at Lausanne, & Brussels and fem his sojourn at these places, being at comparative deisures. political correspondence with many eminent ma

VOL. XXXI.

a most valuable and interesting portion of the present work. In 1797, he was compelled to quit Berne. He had written three letters, on the declaration of war with the Venetian Republic, on Genoa, and on Portugal. These had been inserted in the "Quotidienne," and contained such home truths, so energetically and eloquently expressed, that they raised the ire of Bonaparte, then in the heyday of victory and triumph, who caused it to be notified to the authorities of Berne, that, if Mallet du Pan were not expelled from the canton, their country would sooner or later feel the effects of his resentment. The Bernese Republic were compelled to comply with this arbitrary requisition, and their guest and co-citizen (for such he was) determined on seeking refuge in England. He says in a letter to a friend :

"I am irrevocably fixed on leaving for England in the spring: the dangers of the island (a threatened invasion of France) are no objection. We are, upon the continent of Europe, what the victims devoted to the infernal gods were among the ancients; it was thought sacrilege to give them refuge."

How many independent French journalists may echo these words in the year 1852!

Mallet du Pan reached London in May, 1798, and received a cordial welcome from many friends and admirers; and in England he felt at once that he was in security. Hear his first impressions of the nation.

"Here they are in open war, crushed with taxes, exposed to the rage of a most exasperated enemy; and security, abundance, energy, reign everywhere: in cot tage and in palace I have not perceived one symptom of timid disquietude. This spectacle of public spirit has surpassed my expectations, and that greatly. The nation had not previously acquired a knowledge of its power and immense re sources. The government has taught them the secret, and infused boundless confi dence. These dispositions attain an extravagant height. I find much fanaticism here, but exclusively amongst the sound part of the nation. It abhors France, the Revolution, the Jacobins, the Directory, as France hated the aristocrats in 1784." And again:

"It is difficult to imagine more skill, energy, conduct, and activity, than the Ministry employs in everything relating to the safety of the state. Its foresight embraces all possible contingencies; measures are taken, and means all ready, from the embarkation of the French in their harbours to the invasion of London itself, where they would find everything prepared for their reception. To the regular troops, to the old and supernumerary militia, to twenty thousand volunteers and select cavalry, armed associations are added in all the parishes. Their office is to enforce the law, to watch the seditious, to guard the waters, to check fires, to repress the least movement. A million men are under arms at this moment."

A few months after his arrival in England, Mallet Du Pan was encouraged to produce a political journal analogous to the old "Mercure de France," and in January, 1799, the first number of the "Mercure Bri tannique" appeared. This paper created a lively sensation wherever it reached, but it was especially popular in England. We purpose to furnish an extract from an article, in which Bonaparte's character and probable intentions are canvassed, after his celebrated coup d'état of the 18th Brumaire; that coup d'état which has of late been so ridiculouslycaricatured we should have said, but for the enormous atrocity of the act of mimicry, and the horrible consequences that will probably ensue upon it.

"Heroes capable of defeating Austrians, Cossacks and Mamelukes, are common enough, but we rarely meet with a Timoleon or a Thrasybulus. The vulgar ambition which deposes and overturns established authorities, either to succeed