Page images
PDF
EPUB

By Thomas Dobson, Philadelphia,

A Treatise on the Process employed by Nature, in suppressing the Hemorrhage, from divided and punctured Arteries, and on the Use of the Ligature, with observations on Secondary Hermorrage, By J. F. D. Jones, M. D. Member of the Royal College of Surgeons, London.-price, in boards, $2 25cts. Surgical Observations on Injuries of the Head, and on Miscellaneous subjects. By John Abernethy, F. R. S —price, in boards, $1.

By J. & A. Y. Humphreys, Philadelphia,

Sketches of the Internal state of France. By M. Faber.

PROPOSED BRITISH & FRENCH PUBLICATIONS.

The Voyages and Discoveries of Capt. Flinders, to the South Seas, are about to be published, by order of the Admiralty.

Dr. Aitken has in the press, the Lives of John Seldon, and Archbishop Usher, with notices of the Literary characters with whom these men were connected. M. Gregoire, an illustrious French Bishop, is now employed in preparing a new edition of his work, entitled "De la Littérature des Negres," in which he has collected all the efforts of that ill-used race, to whom some deny intellectual powers, either in respect to Literature or the Arts.

A new work, consisting of Poems, Essays, &c. said to be the production of a late amiable Viscountess, is preparing for the press, and will shortly appear, under the title of "Selections from the Port Folio of the Lady Ursula."

PROPOSED AMERICAN PUBLICATIONS.

By M. & W. Ward, New-York,

Shakspeare, a handsome pocket edition, with plates.

The Iliad of Homer, by Pope, a handsome pocket edition, with plates.
Rollin's Antient History, in 8 vols. 12mo.

By Bradford & Inskeep, Philadelphia,

The Mourner Comforted: a selection of extracts consolatory on the death of Eriends including Dr. Johnson's celebrated Sermon for the funeral of his Wife. With prayers suited to the various instances of mortality, by J. Abercrombie, D. D.

By J. & A. Y. Humphreys, Philadelphia,

The Complete works of Dr. Johnson, collected and edited by James Abercrombie, D.D. It will contain many pieces of Johnson, hitherto omitted in his works. By Edward Earle, Philadelphia,

Murphy's Translation of the works of Tacitus, in 6 vols 8vo.-price $15. By Kimber & Conrad, Philadelphia,

Practical Observations on Sclerocele, &c. and on the Cause and Cure of the Acute, the Spurious, and the Chronick Hydrocele, By Thomas Ramsden.

By Edward J. Coale, Baltimore,

The Life of the late General William Eaton, comprising more particularly a Journal of his search in Egypt, for Hamet Carramelli, &c.

By J. Kingston, Baltimore,

Specimens of American and European Eloquence, in 3 vols. 8vo.

Fletcher's Life, by the Rev. Joshua Gilpin.-And Fletcher's Portrait of St. Paul, in 1 vol. 8vo.-Also, an admirable School book, entitled "Vacation Evenings," by Catherine Bailey.

In Baltimore, A new edition of "Comyn's Digest," printed from the last London edition, by Rose, and continued to the present time, with references to all the English and American authorities, by a member of the Baltimore Bar.

SELECT

REVIEWS OF LITERATURE,

FOR FEBRUARY, 1812.

Reponse du Général Sarrazin, &c. i. e. General Sarrazin's answer to the report made to Bonaparte, in regard to him, by general Clark, minister at war. 8vo. p. 28. London, 1810. Confession du Général Bonaparte, &c. i. e. Bonaparte's confessions to Abbé Maury, &c. dedicated to general Kleber, by general Sarrazin, formerly head of the staff to general Bernadotte, in Germany and Italy. 8vo. p. 306, Egerton.

OF the former of these productions, it will not be necessary for us to take much notice, its contents having been fully communicated to the public, by means of the newspapers immediately on its appearance. The latter is less generally known, and was presented under so extraordinary a title, that the author need not be surprised on finding that English readers, who are not so readily captivated with the sound of words as his countrymen, have received it with a qualified portion of faith. In addition to the singularity of the title, Monsieur Sarrazin has favoured us with an equally singular dedication; having inscribed his book not to the memory of general Kleber, but to that distinguished officer himself, as if military men in the other world were not only spectators but readers of the lucubrations of those whose lot it is to follow them in the practice of their stormy profession. After having avowed a most profound respect for ALL institutions, divine and human, general Sarrazin assures us, that, in adopting the plan of confessions for the purpose of unmasking Bonaparte, he was actuated by an anxious wish to see his late master carry into execution, the penitential method which he has suggested, and desist at last from proving himself the scourge of humanity. The book consists of three parts. 1. A supposed conversation between his Corsican Majesty, and his confessor Abbé Maury. 2. A conversation between general Berthier and the same clerical

VOL. VII.

N

:

personage and 3. Biographical notices of Berthier, Bonaparte, and Kleber. The two former contain a summary of the various charges against Napoleon from the beginning of his career; such as his participation in the atrocities at Toulon, in 1793,--his cruelty at Paris on the 13 Véndemaire,--his habits of bribing an enemy's officers,--his intrigues in foreign courts,--the murder of Pichegru by Savary, &c. The Biographical part consists of a series of military anecdotes.

Though we are disposed to place considerable faith in several of M. Sarrazin's assertions, and though the body of his work exhibits fewer inconsistencies than were to be expected from his odd outset, it is proper to remember, that this vigorous assailant of Bonaparte is a disappointed man. He has been in the French military service since the year 1792, and would have borne the rank of General of division long ago, had it not been for broils with his colleagues, and particularly with Murat, in 1801; when having failed in the first of a soldier's duties, that of obeying his superior officers, he was degraded, and remained unemployed till his services were accepted for St. Domingo. Although constantly employed since that time, and engaged in several duties which appeared likely to recommend him to imperial favour, he seems never to have succeeded in recovering the ground he had lost; and after the nomination of Savary to the ministry of Police, he considered it as high time to consult his safety in flight, being apprehensive, he tells us, that a protracted stay might have led in his case to no better fate than that which befel the Duke d'Enghein. He had read, he says, his sentence in the suspicious looks of the Emperor, during the review which took place in May, 1810, at Boulogne.

M. Sarrazin's military experience having chiefly consisted in duties on the Staff of a division, we are to look in his observations for precision of detail, rather than for an exposition of general views. Accordingly we do not think that he is correct in his account of the campaign of 1805, in regard either to general Mack, or to the battle at Austerlitz; while we are inclined to pay considerable attention to his report of local and particular circumstances. Recent events have given English readers the highest interest in the estimate which Frenchmen form of their celebrated Marshal Soult; and General Sarrazin agrees with others of his countrymen, in deeming him the first of their commanders after Bonaparte.

He is not inferior (says M. Sarrazin, p. 169) to Massena, either in bravery or firmness, and to these qualities he joins consummate artifice. No weak part in the enemy's position, can escape his penetrating eye. I am disposed to regard Soult as discontented with Bonaparte, and likely to seize any favourable

opportunity that might offer for rearing the standard of revolt. His passage of the Sierra Morena, was a very brilliant affair, and Bonaparte is probably not solicitous to give this distinguished officer many opportunities of approaching to that high reputation which he wishes to consider as exclusively his own.

In another passage, M. Sarrazin represents Berthier as expressing his opinion on the affairs of Spain and Portugal, in a manner which is curious, because this book was composed before Massena advanced into the latter country.

As soon (says Berthier, p. 166.) as I was apprized of the Emperor's project of placing his brother Joseph on the throne of Charles IV., I mentioned it to Talleyrand, who was equally surprised and afflicted. He gave me very strong reasons against it, which the result has fully justified: but like an able courtier he assumed at first to the Emperor the appearance of approving it. He pronounced it highly adapted to the system, if postponed, predicting that its execution at present would lead to an Austrian war within the year. The Emperor turned his back on him, and said, "you seem to have forgotten Ulm and Austerlitz. Had Austria intended war, she would have attacked me after the battle of Eylau." Talleyrand, who is cool in the highest degree, let the ebullition pass over, and on Bonaparte's becoming calm, he rejoined, that he felt it his duty to express to his Majesty his opinion, in support of which he entreated his Majesty to recollect the arduous conflicts of Marengo and Hohenlinden." This was going too far for Bonaparte's temper; and from that time forward, Talleyrand was out of favour. We were very far from expecting so obstinate a resistance in Spain. Bonaparte, flushed with his subjugation of the continent, treated with contempt the report made to him of the energy of the Castilians, of their attachment to their Royal Family, and their inveterate hatred to Frenchmen. Our first reverses were imputed to the weakness of Dupont and our other officers, but when Bonaparte himself came into Spain, he discovered that he had not to contend with Italians or Vendeans. He found in the Spanish Patriots the fanaticism of the Mameluke, and the art of the Arab. A French soldier retiring to rest in a Spanish house, loses his life either by poison or by assassination: he is buried in a cellar or in a garden; and the act being confessed to a priest, the perpetrator is told that it is meritorious, and will open to him the gates of paradise. The monks are all-powerful, and stir up insurrection with a cross in one hand, a sabre in the other, and epaulets on their sacred habit."

"We have endeavoured to sow distrust between the Spaniards and the English, and to persuade the former that the French are their natural friends and allies; but we have preached in a wilderness with

repect to both them and the Portuguese. When Massena, after taking Almeida, proceeds on his march to the interior of Portugal, his columns will be harassed by swarms of insurgents. To keep up his communication, he will find it necessary to leave behind him strong detachments, which will weaken his main body. The English general, yielding to our superiority in regular troops, will intrench himself in the strong ground, on the right of the Tagus; and it is even to be feared, if he receives reinforcements, that he may resume the offensive, which would oblige the French army to fall back on their supplies. Such is the mode of warfare which we may expect in Portugal; our communications being interrupted as they are in Spain, when our convoys are almost always annoyed, and often captured by the Guerrillas."

After this statement of Berthier's supposed opinion on the state of Spain, we shall give, in a few words, Sarrazin's report of that officer's military talents, followed by some particulars at greater length, relative to Bonaparte.

Berthier is a man of parts, and well acquainted with the principles of war, but he has neither a steady nor an accurate coup d'ail. His activity is surprising, not inferior even to that of Bonaparte: but he is no general, having never commanded even a single regiment in the presence of an enemy. His talents are those of the department of the Staff, and are most conspicuous in the conception and development of the order of a commander-inchief; of which, moreover, he is not slow in superintending the execution.

In regard to Bonaparte's manner, a great change took place after he was made Emperor. From that time forward, ministers, marshals, and foreign ambassadors were all obliged to dance attendance in the anti-chamber. On the military parades, he desisted from the practice of returning the salute to the generals, and the colours, a form which the great Frederick kept up to the last. The oath from the public officers, of fidelity to him in his new capacity of Emperor, was administered with great pomp. He received it with all imaginable stateliness, and deigned to smile only after the ceremony was performed. If we form an estimate of his character, with an equal distrust of the injustice of his enemies, and the blind admiration of his friends, we shall pronounce him to be highly studious, and possessed of an excellent intellect and memory. He is a great physiognomist, and expresses himself in writing with much correctness. As to his courage, he has enough to be respectable and to carry his point; but he does not possess the intrepidity of Lasnes, who could kindle the enthusiasm of the soldiers to a pitch that would make them rush into the hottest fire. Nature has refused him this half physical quality, but she has made up for it by conferring on him the singular talent of knowing how to chuse men who are capable

« PreviousContinue »