inclinations to continue a war which had commenced so inauspiciously; and especially as the negotiations with them were forwarded, by the presence of an English fleet of twenty-five sail of the line in the Baltic. The Danish government acceded to the convention in the month of October; and, in return for the prince of Denmark's liberal behaviour on this occasion, all expences attending the embargo laid on the Danish ships were voluntarily born by the English government.-The Danish troops, at the same time, evacuating Hamburg, the navigation of the Elbe was restored moreover, his Prussian majesty gave assurances that, after certain arrangements should be made for the quiet of Germany, his troops should be drawn from Bremen and Hanover.

"The king of Sweden acted with less spirit and ingenuousness on this occasion than the Danish prince. Contrary winds were pleaded as the reason why his fleet, then at Carlseroon, did not support his ally in the late engagement. The fact, however, was, that they did not join the Danes; and that these bore the brunt of a battle, in which almost their whole navy was sacrificed: and the Swedish monarch, although he had acted thus coldly in the war, discovered a disinclination to amity with Great Britain, by deferring his accession to the convention of Petersburg, till the thirtieth of March in the ensuing year, after the treaty was concluded between his Britannic majesty and the French government."

To endeavour at preventing the repetition of such Quixotic displays of destroying power, ought surely to be held a moral obligation: there is no more mortal enemy to vice than censure.. What would not power dare, if blame did not resist?

The appendix gives a statistical view of the countries mentioned in the work, and a genealogical abstract of the reigning dynasties. The following is part of the account of Germany :

"The following particulars relative to the constitution and government of the German empire, may be deemed a proper introduction 10 its history:

"The German empire, says Zimmerman, may be considered as a combination of more than 200 sovereignties, independent of each other, but composing one political body, under an elective head, called the emperor of Germany, or Roman emperor. Eight princes of the empire, called electors, have the right of electing the emperor. By a fundamental law, called the golden Lull, the number of electors was limited to seven. Since that, two new electers have been added; one of which became extinct by the death of the elector of Bavaria, in 1777. The ecclesiastical e'ectors Bie, the archbishops of Mentz, Tieves, and

Cologne: the temporal electors are, the elec toral king of Bohemia, the elector of Bavaria and the Palatinate, the elector of Saxory, the elector of Brandenburg, and the elector of Brunswick Lunenburg, or Hanover.

"The chief prerogatives of the emperor, in his character as lord paramount of the Roman empire, of whom the princes are sup posed to hold their domains in fee, are the power of assembling the diet, in which e presides, either in person, or by his com sary, and of ratifying its resolutions. He s the supreme judge, in whose name justice is administered in the high courts of the en pire: he can, however, exempt the subordhate states from the jurisdiction of these tri bunals, by granting them the privilege de non appellando. He is the fountain of honour: but the Germans have been justly tenacions of the rights which relate to property, a their most material interests. The empe cannot levy taxes, nor make war; nor alter any law of the empire, without the conse of the diet, which may be considered as the supreme power of the empire.

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The ordinary revenues of the emperor, as such, are trifling;-not exceeding 20,00 florins. But, in time of war, or great ener gencies, the diet grants him extraordat aids, called Romun months, valued at 50,00) florins each.

"The diet is composed of the emperor, and the immediate states of the empire. The body exercises all the acts of sovereignty, 28 far as concern the interests of the whole cou federate body; it levies taxes; it makes laws; it declares war, and makes peace; and con cludes treaties, by which the whole empire a bound. The whole body is divided into the colleges, which deliberate separately, and de cide by a majority of votes: viz. that of the electors; that of princes; and that of the perial cities. Before any proposition car be passed into a law, it must have the appr tion of the three colleges: it is then cada resolution of the empire. It must ther presented to the cuperor for his cautiou tion; which, if attained, constitutes it an or statute of the empire, and, with the pe vious sanctions, gives it the force of a lav.

"There are two supreme courts of judica ture, which have concurring jurisdictions the Roman empire. 1. The xperial charte held at Wetslar, consisting of a judge two presidents, nominated by the emper and twenty-seven assessors, or couns nominated by the states. 2. The audie cil, depending entirely on the emperor, is tablished at Vienna, as his place of residua a consists of a president and eighten co sellors. "In all cases where the statute

fundamental laws of the empire are "fective. These two courts adopt there. "tions of the Roman law, which is in "ral introduced into the Gerunan cours " justice, except where it is hunted or sin seded by the particular statures of i "state. To both courts sppeals max

* made from the decisions of the courts of **justice, or of the sovereigns of the Ger"man states. In criminal cases, in matters ** of religion, and in pecuniary lawsuits, in " which the contested property does not "exceed the sum of 400 rix-dollars, the de*cision of the territorial courts, or of the ** sovereign, is final. In these cases, bow"ever, the party who thinks himself aggrieved by a sentence, is allowed to submit the decision, given by the judges of his own "country, to the examination of the juridi"cal faculty of one or more impartial Ger"man universities, by which the deeree may "be confirmed or reversed. In the domi"nions of the electors, and other princes, "who are exempted from appeals to the supreme courts of the empire, courts of appeal are established, in which the decrees of the courts of justice, especially in * causes between the sovereign and the subject, may be revised, and, if exceptionable, "may be set aside.”

து

The states of the empire, considered in their separate capacity, enjoy sovereign power their respective dominions, limited only by the laws before-mentioned, and the jurisdiction of the imperial courts; from which, however, the chief among them are exempted. The constitution of different states is difInt. As to the exercise of power in them, the sovereigns are limited by the states of their respective dominions; who must give Beir consent to taxes and laws; and who By appeal to the high courts of the empire, in case of any difference between them and der sovereign. In extreme cases, the states the principality or city may lay their comnts before the diet.

"SCIENCES AND LITERATURE.

"The Germans are endowed with talents, well adapted to the study of the sciences; and their attention to them has, in many inences, been eminently rewarded. In the which succeeded the revival of learning Earope, they were distinguished for their artenments in those abstract sciences, which were then so much cultivated, and in critin and other branches of the belles lettres. If I aly has the merit of affording an asylum to the literati who were driven from Constanople, on the conquest of the eastern emure by the Turks, Germany has that of proCacing the principal authors of the reformaon, which opened the way to the dispersion of every kind of knowledge, by disengaging The minds of men from the trammels of perstition. In the seventeenth century, Izbnitz and Wolffius were the rivals of Locke, Newton, and Des Cartes; and, in the

present age, the Germans hold high rank of celebrity, as chemists and natural philosophers.

LIBERAL ARTS.

"The Germans have attained a considerable degree of eminence in several of the fine arts likewise. Their painters, if we give them the honour of the Flemish school, are inferior to none but those of Italy. But music is the art in which they have most excelled in every age. If a genius for it does not so generally prevail here as in Italy, they have produced some composers, whose style is equally original, and equally sublime. Some of the earliest and finest compositions in psalmody are ascribed to Martin Luther; and Hasse, Handel, Graun, and the Bachs, will be admitted as worthy rivals of Corelli, Pergolesi, and the finest composers of the Italian school.

They have not, in the judgment of many, succeeded so well in the sister art of poetry. In some of their most admired poems of the present day, there is much of wild imagination; but neither in these, nor in their dramatic productions, do the writers appear to have paid that attention to nature, which is the ground-work of excellence in every branch of the fine arts."

The no

Here the list of electors does not correspond with the treaty of peace, to which the narrative extends. tice of the literature is contemptuously omissive. In the branches of erudition, classical and theological, the German universities are ornamented by scholars of first rate eminence: it may be prudent, but it is not generous, for this country to decline a comparative enumeration. In epic and dramatic poetry, it would also be difficult to rival the liv ing excellence of Germany.

This work contains information; but its parts are too much treated with a relation to our own affairs: it is rather the international history of Britain and the European powers, than a series of independent and complete annals of the world. What does not concern us, ought still to be the concern of the historian. The title is too pompous: it is convenient for reference, important for not a universal history, but it is a book, extent, interesting for its subject, courtly for estimate, and natural for style; and it aims rather at following, than at lead, ing, the public opinion.

were admired the porticoes, the theatres, the public gardens; in Rome, the streets, the aqueducts, the sewers.

A no less interesting comparison of the manners of the people occurs in Lucian's Nigrinus. The Athenians despised luxury and magnificence; they valued leisure and intellect; they taught wealth and rank to envy philosophy and liberty. The Romans, on the contrary, valued men for their property; and property for the pompous gratifications it can purchase: he alone was thought to excel, whose palace, whose furniture, whose table, whose retinue, were so complete, as to render indifferent to his guests the personal, moral, or intellectual accomplishments of the master.

Considered in these points of view, Paris approaches nearer to Athens, and London to Rome; but with respect to their foreign policy, and external rela. tions, the English more resemble the Athenians, and the French the Romans. Athens was a sea-port, which owed its wealth to commerce, and its influence to maritime ascendancy. Rome was an inland town, governed by landlords bred in the camp, and, in its policy, essentially military.

Montesquieu has commented the his tory of Rome in a manner, which has really impressed efficacious instruction on his countrymen. They have learned, in his book, to revert to the Roman system of warfare and negotiation; and are resuming the Roman ascendancy over the Mediterrancan states of Europe, in consequence of attending to a philosopher.

Sir William Young aspires, no doubt, to comment Athenian history, as Montesquieu has done that of Rome; to extract the spirit of incident, and the moral of event, and distribute to the living world the lessons to be derived from its experience. There is, however, not that simplicity of march, and unity of character, in Athenian policy, which distinguished the Roman: the instruction to be collected from observing it, is less obvious, less precise, less applicable, less modernizable. Greek history is a study, rather adapted to form great in dividuals, by piquing their emulation, than great empires, by chalking out for statesmen hereditary plans of policy; Commentators of equal talents would not distil from Thucydides rules of statesmanship so valuable as from Livy. Macchiavelli is profounder than Aris

totle, exactly because he had the additional instruction of the Roman annals.

Lord Bacon, after praising the study of history, observes that, next to this, the greatest helps for the furnishing of civil prudence, are the letters of able personages touching the affairs of state; for they are more natural than orations, and more advised than extemporary conference. Surely these treatises on the philosophy of history, such as Montesquieu attached to the Roman, and Mabiy to the French annals; such as Sir William Young has connected with the Athenian, and professor Millar with the British history, deserve a higher rank, as sources of instruction for the statesman, than the correspondence of Bacon, or Bolingbroke, shall we add, or of Ci

cero.

The spectator of a play is a fitter critic, than the actor, who is always too much ingrossed by his own part, and his own scenes, and whose very green-room intelligence may serve to explain the success, but cannot affect the merit of the piece.

We feel therefore inclined to place among the most useful exertions of philosophy, these historical homilies, if they may so be called, on a given series of human incident. By collecting the more valuable remarks of the concerned, by supplying the inferences, which only an entire view of the eventual result could suggest, the wisdom of man is made to approach that of those immortal observ ers, whom poets personify as the gen of nations, whose intellect watches the experience of successive generations, and inspires a saving counsel in every great crisis of national affairs.

The account of the origin of that revolt of the Grecian cities against the Persian sovereign, so analogous to the rebellion of the North American previnces against the British king, wi aptly display both the speculative andnarrative character of Sir William Young' composition.

"Civil liberty consists in personal securi rights, station, and property; not to be at fected but by the act of the individual wh possesses them: or, on the other hand, without infringement of some political stitution, tending to a dissolution of the state a form of government circumscribes the latitude of concession to its subjects of equ rights and participation, civil liberty is co fined; when its policy and laws are inadr quate to regular administration, civil liber.

which ascertains and ensures them. Wh

Commonwealths. The early history of these republics is lost, possibly with the sixth book of Diodorus, or probably was not particularized by any author we now possess, as the first mention thereof by Herodotus cursorily touches on the conquest of them by Croesus, and their being by him annexed to the kingdom of Lydia. With Lydia they fell into the hands of the Persian: still, however, they were remindful of their origin, and the commonwealths of their parent Greece, newly liberated from their several dynasties, which at a favourable crisis might give birth to a revolution in this quarter of the Persian empire.

"Miltiades of Athens, who had thence newly led a colony to the Chersonese, judged that crisis to be arrived. Darius, with all the chiefs and best youth of Asia, were employed in the conquest of Scythia. To facilitate the expedition, with great labour and art a bridge had been effected over the Danube, and thither the army was now directing its retreat from the snows and famine of the north. The pass was guarded but by a small detach ment, and Miltiades proposed to the chiefs of the Greek settlements to master the guard, and then, breaking down the bridge, to leave Darius and his troops to perish in the colds and dearth of Scythia, and thus destroying at once the tyrant and the instruments of his tyranny, at leisure to form such political establishments as were consonant to their ideas of justice, or claims to liberty.

The aristocracies and petty tyrants of each province felt their private interests clash with this hardy proposal. Histiæus of Miletus particularly remarking to his fellow despots, that his and their authority existed but in subordination to the Persian, and that nullifying the lieutenancy of his power, they gave up their own; the scheme of Miltiades met with general disapprobation, and perceiving himself to be no longer of service to his own, or any other colony, he returned to a private situation in his native Athens.

"He had, however, awakened the spirit of the Asiatic Greeks, and left them ready to revolt, whenever the opinion of their leading men should cede to the voice of the people and soon they did cede, from factious and selfish passions, what they denied to more generous and public views; and when the happy opportunity was past, engaged in a contest, as dishonourable from motive, as ruinous in consequence.

"Aristagoras the Milesian, counteracted in his views to the conquest of Naxos, by Artabatus the Persian general, and thus urged by resentment to disaffection, was the prime instigator of the rebellion; in conjunction with his kinsman Histiæus, he assisted each city in the expulsion of their Persian governors, and joining the cry of liberty and independency, sheltered his private enmity and weakness in the public cause of all the Grecian settlements on the coasts of Asia. Aristagoras, even with these adherents, not

feeling himself equal to a contest with the great king, applied to Greece for assistance, as from colonies to a mother country. He first applied to Sparta; but his declamation was ill suited to the iron assembly of Lacede mon: an appeal to philanthropy, and the sentimental claims of distant affinity, a tale of distress, and the consciousness of a noble kindness, and disinterested protection, were topics better suited to an audience that respected the softer passions of humanity. To Athens he next applied, and there was received with all honour and hospitality; succour was unanimously voted, and quickly an armament of twenty sail was ready to join the confederate forces of Ionia: this exertion was the more glorious on the part of Athens, as she was at that very period in expectation of a powerful attack on her own people and country."

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Here and throughout, the narrative is too brief for a work professedly historical. The chapter, which most pecu liarizes this edition, is the fourth of the second book; where an account is given of the usurpation of the thirty tyrants of Athens, whose confiscations and pro scriptions so nearly resemble those of the cordeliers in France, while headed by Danton, Marat, and Robespierre. The whole volume is full of interesting re flections in the first book, especially the 7th, 8th, 13th, and 16th chapters: in the second book, the 1st, 4th, 5th, ar 6th. There are paradoxical passage, such as the defence of ostracism, the observation that after oratory beca the ruling influence at Athens, the Athe nians effected nothing great, and some others: but in general the commentaries are satisfactory and convincing. They approach, in liberality of spirit, in man ner and in value, to Bolingbroke's Re marks on the History of England, mor nearly than to any foreign model. Mir of the highest class have a distinctre of idea, a sharpness of contour ab their thoughts, which gives to their es pression a concise and definite precisi Bolingbroke, great as he is, wanted th entire serenity of intellect; there is misty vague vaccillating indefinite ed to his propositions, as of one who feat to abide by what he says: his sentenc are diffuse, splendid, and sonorons; b loose, random, and equivocal. In a le obvious degree, sir William Young tea perhaps to the same imperfection writing, and multiplies the members his periods, so as often to qualify an soften down the significance of his a sertions. But his comprehensive