point of view: first, as she stands situated with regard to her allies, and secondly with regard to her enemies. It is laid down as a sort of political axiom, that any nation is dangerous to the tranquillity of others, when it wants nothing to injure them but the will;' and the application will be sufficiently ob vious from the following remarks:

It is not enough to say that France has extended her limits on all sides by conquest; has added to the impregnability of her frontiers by new ramparts, and increased her influence over the neighbouring states in a formidable degree: the truth is, that France, in her present state, is contained by no limits; every thing round about her either is really, if not nominally, her territory and property, or may be made a part of her possessions, at the first convenient opportunity, by the nod of her sovereign. Spain, Italy, and Germany, without fortresses, without means of defence, without security political or military, are open to the attacks of France and it now only depends upon the moderation and justice of the French government (mere personal guarantees, which every moment may alter or destroy), whether France shall rule alone in the whole west of Europe, whether any law shall be obeyed but hers.'

-As a check to the enormous force of France, M. Gentz recommends a counterpoise formed by a combination of several powers; and, unless some measure of the kind be adopted, he predicts that Europe will suffer political anarchy and inextinguishable war.

The present allies of France, being dependent on her, and incapable of treating with her on free and equal terms, receive from this discriminating writer the appellation of her clients; and their case is dismissed with brevity. From these points, he proceeds to the relations between France and her enemies; in which the situation of Great Britain and her importance in the federal system of Europe occupy much of his attention. Here it is peculiarly gratifying to us to find those prejudices, which the French writers have not less artfully than strenuously laboured to propagate among the continental states, for the purpose of injuring our commercial prosperity, so warmly opposed and vigorously combated by a foreign politician; by an individual who cannot be suspected of having his judgment either warped by interest or weakened by partiality. M. Gentz's inquiry into the principal causes of complaint against what is called the commercial tyranny of the English intitles him to our thanks, as Englishmen; and we are persuaded that his view of the subject will impress conviction on every independent mind. He first examines the Act of Naviga tion, which M. Hauterive has been pleased to call a permanent conspiracy against the industry of all nations." He maintains, on the contrary, that, so far from this act being

*2

a con

a conspiracy against others, it was a sacrifice to which England submitted, in order to establish her security and inde pendence; and that, had such a law been passed in any other country, destitute of the natural advantages, character, and resources of England, it would have been a signal for the immediate annihilation of commerce; the suppression of all industry; the destruction of every incentive to enterprise and activity. This law is not properly understood or is wilfully misrepresented by the French writers.

In the next place, it is denied by M. Gentz, that our commercial elevation results from the monopoly of colonial produce. He explains this superiority to arise from two principles unconnected with each other; the first existing before the Revolution in our peculiar character and circumstances, the second having its source in the effects of the Revolution on the commercial states of the continent.

The incomparable activity of the English nation, the extent of its capital, its wonderful improvements in all kinds of machinery, the great expeitness of its navigators, the labours of a government studi ous of its real interests, the excellence of its internal constitution, its political and individual character; all these constitute the first and principal basis of the ascendant of its foreign commerce.'

This testimony from a German politician is honourable to our national character. It assigns our prosperity to causes for which. no nation can reproach us; and if they were aided by the convulsions and confusion of the rest of Europe, that circumstance ought never to form a ground of accusation against us.

The cause of our manufactures is espoused with equal zeal; not, however, with respect to the advantages which we ourselves may derive from them, but considered in their beneficial effects on all nations. All Europe,' the author observes, is extremely interested in the existence of a people among whom industry and ingenuity have been carried to so wonderful an extent; by whom numerous objects of general consumption are provided comparatively cheap, and of excellent quality; and whose astonishing activity affords a striking, and not always fruitless example to other countries. The commercial greatness of England is, in all these important respects, a manifest advantage to Europe.'-He adds; To weaken England would be to weaken Europe, for the thirty millions of manufactures which she yearly adds to the commercial stock of Europe form a great and important portion of the wealth of nations.'

This

*M. Gentz is not satisfied with asserting the wealth of this country, but maintains that the stability of its power is equal to that

of

This able writer thus concludes:

There is therefore nothing in England's commercial system, and in the influence of that system upon the welfare of other nations, which can support or justify the heavy charges brought against her. In her peaceful relations, we see her in constant and perfect harmony with the domestic interests in the social system of Europe. If she have in any way deserved the reproaches of her numerous adversaries, the causes must be sought for in other relations; they must be founded on her conduct in war, towards countries not immediately engaged in it; and on the abuse of her well-earned superiority in her oppression of the weak. How far they really are so, will be discussed in the following part of the work.'

We have received so much pleasure from that part of M. Gentz's plan which has been executed, that we look with impatience for the sequel here promised.

It is time for us now to express our obligations to Mr. Herries; who, in addition to the praise due to him as a translator, is intitled to thanks for an ingenious preface, in which the principles laid down in M. Hauterive's work are farther exposed. From an examination of the articles of the maritime code and the conduct of the maritime states, he deduces this conclusion; that, till the year 1800, France and England asserted the same principles in the practice of maritime warfare; and that if, in their conduct towards neutrals, there was any difference, the greater severity was on the side of France.'

Though Mr. Herries is happy to find that England has flou rished during the war, he denies with M. Gentz that it has prospered by it; being persuaded that, great as we now are, we should have been much greater if that contest had never existed. If the war had terminated in more perfect security, we should contemplate our commercial prosperity with more satisfaction! but, without security, what are riches? There is a vulgar proverb which would apply on the present occasion.

An abridgment of this work has been advertized, under the title of A Vindication of Europe and of Great Britain, price

25. 6d.

of her rival: The power, the riches, and the political influence of England, are as well founded and as real as those of France: Eng land's greatness rests upon a basis as firm as that of her rival; their resources and their means may be different, but the result is the same in both.'-The succeeding paragraph, however, is not in perfect harmony with this position.

"Don't halloo before you are out of the wood."

REV. MAY, 1803.

ART.

ART. III. Travels in the Crimea.. A History of the Embassy from Petersburg to Constantinople, in 1793; including their Journey through Krementschuck, Oczakow, Walachia, and Moldavia; with their Reception at the Court of Selim the Third. By a Secretary to the Russian Embassy. 8vo. pp. 400. 7s. 6d. Boards. Robinsons. 1802.

THE

HE writer of this narrative has not chosen to sanction it with his name, nor has the translator affixed any preliminary remarks either on that point or any other. We do not mean, however, to insinuate that its authenticity appears to us questionable. A short preface by the author introduces the journal; and we are informed that the Russian embassy, of which the route is here described, composed of a train of nearly seven hundred persons, and which presented a spectacle of truly Asiatic luxury, consisted, strictly speaking, of a single caravan. A detachment of infantry and cavalry opened and closed their march; they advanced by very slow stages; every evening an encampment was formed according to all the rules of the military art; and every third day was devoted to relaxation and rest. It was not till the sixth month after they left Petersburg that they arrived at Constantinople, and their ceremonial entry was in an uncommon degree memorable and brilliant. All the curiosities of this ancient metropolis were exposed to the view of the ambassador and the principal persons of his suite, by the express orders of the grand-signior."

The detail commences with the sketch of a hurried journey from Vienna to Jassy, by the way of Brunn, Olmutz, and Lemberg; from which we learn that, as the author traversed the fiat and woody districts of Gallicia, he was importuned by swarms of dirty Jews, distinguished by their long black robes, large flapped hats, and their officious invitations to purchase their wares, or lodge in their houses. A scarcity of good water in Moldavia is partly supplied by abundance of melons, and the fruit of the strawberry-tree. The horses are not kept in stables, but allowed to graze in herds, and are caught when their service is required. Jassy is a very regular town, a league and a half in circumference, consisting mostly of low houses, with fore-courts occupied by buildings of wood. The streets are rudely floored, and display ranges of shops and stalls, which, when lighted up in the evening, produce an agreeable effect."

In proportion as we recede from the milder monarchies of Europe, the contrast of extreme wretchedness and splendour is impressed on our observation. Amid the pompous entry of an embassy from the Ottoman court, and the magnificent festivals and balls in the Ypsilanti palace, many mutilated soldiers,

abandoned

abandoned to the public compassion, were begging their bread in the streets of Jassy.

The 16th of October, 1791,' says our author, was distinguished by the death of field-martial priuce Potemkin, and the stagnation produced by this event in all public affairs detained me four months longer in this city.

This illustrious favourite of fortune would not, in all probability, so soon have terminated his brilliant career, if he had not set nature at defiance, and had listened to the judicious advice of his physicians. In the state of general debility in which he found himself, instead of remaining in a quiet situation, or using the prescriptions that had been ordered for him, he suddenly conceived the whim of getting into his travelling carriage, and being conveyed to the new town of Nicolaï, situated at twenty miles from Jassy. He had scarcely accomplished a third part of the journey, when, being seized with a faintness in his carriage, he was taken out of it, and expired a few hours after in the open fields. His corpse was conveyed on the same day to Jassy; and on the third day after its arrival, as soon as such pompous preparations could be finished, he was placed on a magnificent bed of state in a room hung with black, with a crown on his head, the mark of his dignity of hetman* of all the Cossacks, and in his hand a commandant's truncheon. Around the bed of state, which was placed under a canopy of scarlet broadcloth embroidered with gold and silver, were laid on cushions of brocade the respective insignia of all the orders with which he had been invested by his sovereign and other European princes. The coffin was surrounded by the principal officers of his army, and by pages dressed in black, and the chamber exposed to public view. The funeral, which took place on the following day, was performed with similar pomp and magnificence. More than ten thousand Russian soldiers, with inverted arms, and preceded by the united bands of all the corps, playing a match adapted to the occasion, followed the procession; to say nothing of Moldavian boyards, Greck priests headed by their bishop, Cossacks, Tartars, and Turks, who all joined in the procession. This remark able ceremony closed with a discharge of artillery and musketry; and the trump of fame, which had recorded the actions of this important personage during his life, had still much to promulgate even after his, death. His body was conveyed to Cherson, and interred in the principal church of that town."

We have next to accompany our traveller and a German officer on a tardy, and not very interesting progress to the Crimea, or Tauridan peninsula.

Crossing the Dniester near Bender, they moved, during three days, along the desert plains of Oczakow; until the spacious, regular, and handsome streets of Cherson relieved them from the dreary solitude.

The dignity of heiman answers to that of general or chief of the Cossacks.'