We are much pleased with the perusal of this little book: which contains considerable information, communicated clearly, precisely, and without pedantry. One or two objectionable parts, however, occurred to our notice; as in page 1, round and spherical are made synonymous; in page 3, the earth is said to be a spheroid, a thing not evidently proved; and in page 161, the conclusion concerning the state of the planets is too inconsequently made. A series of questions is annexed: some of which might puzzle a tutor as well as his pupil. Art. 22. The Accomptant's Guide. A new System of Arithmetic, for Men of Business, Academies, and Schools. By James Morrison, Glasgow. 8vo. pp. 215. 4s. Boards. Ogle, London. This treatise seems to be principally adapted for the instruction of young persons destined to a mercantile life. The author is not solicitous to explain the rationalia of his rules, but he is very liberal of examples for them: a circumstance which, considering the end and destination of the work, is in its favour; and it contains a greater variety of matter than the generality of treatises on the same plan.A brief and satisfactory account is given of the nature of insurances, exchange with foreign countries, &c., and short tables are inserted for the amount of annuities for any number of years certain, for the value of annuities on single and joint lives according to Demoivre's hypotheses, &c. POLITICS, &c. Art. 23. The Possession of Louisiana by the French, considered, as it affects the Interest of those Nations more immediately concerned, viz. Great Britain, America, Spain, and Portugal. By George Orr, Esq. 8vo. 1s. Ginger. Such thoughts, after such deeds!! The reflections made by Mr. Orr, in a former pamphlet on the cession of Malta (see our Rev. for Feb.) and in the present on that of Louisiana, are not very honourable to modern peace-makers. Statesmen seem to have opposed the French spirit of aggrandizement with as little success in treaty-making as in war-making; and there is every reason for apprehending that the effects of their short-sighted policy will be entailed on future generations. France, by her late treaties, has laid the foundation for extending her colonial and commercial system to a most alarming degree. By Malta and Egypt she still hopes to open a direct path to the eastern world; and by St. Domingo, Louisiana, and her settlements in South America, to establish a decided preponderance in the Western hemisphere. Her insatiable ambition is sufficiently developed; and, in the present state of Europe, it is much easier to lament the evil than to prescribe a practical remedy. Mr. Orr judiciously adverts to the consequences which may arise from the possession of that vast track on the western bank of the Mississippi called Louisiana, by the French. He considers it as enabling them to direct in their favour the commercial intercourse of South and probably of North America; and to seize on the wealth of Mexico and Peru. If (says he) the French fix themselves in force on the continent of America, we may, in the event of another rupture, rupture, bid a lasting farewell to our West India possessions, which will be considered as an appendage to the main land, and which it will be impossible to hold, except at the pleasure and sufferance of the French government.' Louisiana, as commanding the navigation of the Mississippi, would open to them a way through the lakes even to Canada, by which means they would encircle the United States, and be very troublesome neighbours to the Americans. In short, much mischief might be apprehended from this imprudent cession. Seneca wrote after and not before the birth of Christ, as mentioned by Mr. Orr, p. 15. Since the above remarks were written, the public has been in-, formed that Louisiana is to be ceded by the French to the Ame ricans. Art. 24. Observations and Reflections on the Impropriety of interfering with the internal Policy of other States. By the Rev. William Ben son, A. M. of St. Mary Hall, Oxon. In a Letter addressed to the Right Hon. Henry Addington, &c. 8vo. Is. Debrett. A censure on the conduct of our news-papers for their abuse of the Chief Consul of France; eked out with the fag end of an old sermon, in which the Minister is instructed in the nature of baptism, and on other points with which Mr. Benson (we hope) is better acquainted than with Politics. Art. 25. Remarks on the late War in St. Domingo, with Observations on the relative Situation of Jamaica, and other interesting Subjects. By Colonel Chalmers, late Inspector General of the Colonial Troops in St. Domingo. 8vo. 2s. 6d. Rivingtons. The late Mr. Bryan Edwards, and the author of the Crisis of the Sugar Colonies, with other writers, have asserted the impossibility of regaining St. Domingo from the Blacks by employing European troops against them. Colonel Chalmers, however, is of a different. opinion; in support of which, he assigns various reasons deduced from actual knowlege and experience. The value of this island (he says) is incalculable, for it contains more fertile land than almost all the other West India islands; and by its happy and imperial situa tion, it absolutely shuts up the Windward Passage, the key of which is its admirable harbour Cape Nicolas Mole; and, on its south side, it bids fair eventually to domineer Darien and Panama.' Of this island, the British troops were invited to take possession, and the public are well acquainted with the fatal result: but Colonel Chalmers undertakes to explain the cause of our misfortunes, and to rectify some mistakes which prevail respecting this subject. He denies that the force of Toussaint, the Black General, ever was or could be formidable. 'Before the revolution (he says), the number of negroes in St. Domingo amounted to 500,000: but let not the reader suppose that number, as in Europe, will afford fifty or sixty thousand to bear arms, by no means; for these people are subject to yaws, ruptures, venereal and other maladies, which unfit those timid men for war, to which they have almost an insuperable aversion.'. Hence he conSee Rev. for January last, p. 73. H REV. MAY, 1803. tends tends that, had Toussaint mustered every man fit to bear arms, he could not have brought into the field half of the number of which his force was represented to consist; and that miscarriages in St. Domingo are not to be attributed to the magnitude of the object, to the considerable republican force, nor to the lukewarm attachment of the inhabitants who invoked the British protection, but to mismanagement, and the dereliction of obvious rules of conduct. We cannot enter on those subjects to which the author digresses: but we are happy in learning from his report that no island in the West Indies is so defensible as Jamaica. This is comfortable information at the present moment, considering the force of the French in this part of the world. Art. 26. Memorial addressed to the Sovereigns of Europe and the Atlantic. By Governor Pownall, Author of a former one published in 1780*. 8vo. 3s. 6d. Debrett. The pericrania of politicians may now be expected to teem with spe. culations on the singular state of Europe. New circumstances de: mand new arrangements: but, when old principles are subverted, we generally want wisdom to prescribe for the future, or ability to carry its suggestions into effect. It is difficult to decide on the best reme dies for existing political evils, or on the preventatives that ought to be adopted to ward off those which seem to threaten the world. Governor Pownall, however, feels himself as a state-physician in some degree equal to the case; and being a man of experience, his opinion, if it be not followed, should at least receive attention. He ascribes the revolutionary changes which have so convulsed and deranged Europe, to events that took place forty-five years ago in America; then, after having traced their course to the present time, he notices the situation in which Great Britain, cut off in interest as well as relative position from the continent, is now placed, together with those nations which he calls Atlantic powers; and he points out the measures which he apprehends should be pursued, in order to maintain their existence, power, and interest: finally subjoining re. marks on the perversion of the principles of political liberty. The Governor pronounces that the old conventional balance of power in Europe is dissolved, and that the centre on which it poised is overturned. He thinks that with France, which assumes to be, on the plan of right, the GREAT NATION, no nation or state can live in peace, or act in fair war; or remain in any assured state of neutrality, or hold any relation, in any describable state of alliance, even that of the most favoured nation.' So far from entertaining ideas of permanent peace, he considers the last two or three years (to use the seaman's phrase) as only a lull in the storm, and he views Europe as liable to a perpetually renewed state of war; till some Great Nation, France for instance, shall take from other nations the power of resistance, or till the equilibrium of a triumvirate of powers be established. It is recommended to Great Britain, as being cut off from the continent,' to commence a new system in this new era; to form See Rev. vol. Ixiii. p. 104. GREAT GREAT MARINE ATLANTIC ALLIANCE; and particularly to unite itself by a kind of family-compact with the states of North America. Portugal is advised to transfer the seat of empire to Brasil; and the Spanish Provinces in South America are urged to erect themselves into an independent Empire. Though, however, the author preaches rebellion to the inhabitants of New Spain, he charges us, on the terra firma of Old England, to discountenance all revolutionary theo-, ries; and he admonishes both governors and the governed to respect the principles of our free constitution. AGRICULTURE. Art. 27. A Lecture introductory to a Course of Lectures on the Theory and Practice of Agriculture, by a Society of practical Farmers, delivered at the Agricultural Institution, Spring Gardens, on Tuesday Feb. 8. 1803. 4to. 3s. 6d. White. Neither the name of any individual member of this society, nor even that of the lecturer, is given in this introductory publication. He describes himself, indeed, as a blunt farmer,' and professes to de-i liver "an unvarnished tale:" but we soon found that no two objects could less resemble each other, than this gentleman and the picture which he has drawn for his own likeness. He deems it necessary to apologize for a tale devoid of poetic imagery,' as if the Muses were expected to preside in full assembly over the oratory of a practical farmer; and, besides, he might well have spared his apology, since never was there a blunt farmer' less deficient in poetic imagery. In his first period, he boasts of 'possessing the talisman of conscious rectitude,' and of being attracted by the dazzling meed of well earned praise.' He speaks of individual experience being amalgamated into one common mass:'-of a blaze of extravagant profusion, ra diating from the centre to the circumference, embittering the cup of contented simplicity :'-of'a paucity of vital air :'-of 'the broad sunshine of sanguine expectation":-of the sunken rocks of speculative theory, and the baffling currents of delusive experiment.' These are specimens of bluntness which all plain farmers may not easily understand, After much general observation, the lecturer proceeds to develope the outlines of this new Agricultural Institution, (originating, we are told, in his suggestion,) which we shall give in his own words: It is our design, in as clear and concise a method as possible, to concentrate and systematize the various parts of this truly noble and useful science. To bring you acquainted with the true princi ples of fertility, the agency of the elements of which our planet is composed, the nutrition requisite for the support of vegetable life, the modes by which that sustenance is received, and the vigour of the plant augmented or diminished. From this inquiry we shall be enabled to trace the analogies between the animal and vegetable economies; and having discovered the causes of health and fecundity dependent upon the inherent energies or functions of plants, the component principles of the soil, solar influence, formation, extrication, and absorption of specific gasses, and the electric fluid, chemical and mechanical properties and action of manures, we shall, by these and other collateral subjects, be enabled to appreciate the effect of the H 2 various various ameliorative operations and additions requisite for each distinction and state of soil, to render it a healthy and appropriate nidus for the germination of the seed, and qualified to produce a fruitful and vigorous growth of the succeeding plant: likewise to ascertain the immediate causes of and predisposition to the various diseases in the vegetable system; a knowledge highly important, upon which the superior quality or total failure of a crop not unfrequently depend.'— After explaining to you the theoretic principles of agricultural science, we shall speak of the operative. And in embracing the various subjects I before mentioned, in reciting the necessary branches of professional attainment, I trust it will not appear to you that I arrogate to the Society more than is their due, when I profess, in their name, to point out to you considerable improvements in management calculated to insure more abundant returns of profit and a diminution of expence; methods resulting from observation and thinking, which have been adopted with success in their own prac. tice, and having received their full approbation, can with confidence be recommended to you.' The author promises to explain, in the course of his lectures, by what means the disease called smut in wheat may with certainty be prevented. Should this be accomplished, some benefit will undoubt edly result from this new institution. This pamphlet is very elegantly printed :-not like a blunt farmer's' production. POETIC. Art. 28. Poems. By John Lowe, jun. of Manchester. 8vo. 4s. Boards. Richardson. 1803. Crown Of all the strange productions which we have seen issue from the press under the title of poems, this volume is one of the strangest. The author appears to possess imagination, and to have been gifted by nature with at least an inclination for writing verse: but of any improvement by study or instruction he seems to be utterly destitute; and euphony and grammar are spurned with the most consistent defiance. One or two specimens will speak for themselves better than we can characterize them: A thousand females follow'd, raiments white, • Be it ease Of moving elegance, or fairy taste, or powers Busiris, Discordia, Sthenobeia, Nor Silenus, approves, th' eternal mind! 2 Leara |