In the latter case, the other powers of the Continent might, perhaps, at last, open their eyes to the danger which threatens them, and be convinced of this fact, that the subversion of the French Republic is necessary to their existence. I. the present stage of the war, our operations should, unquestionably, assume a more decided character; for the only possible means of counterbalancing the gigantic power of the French, is by a proportionate extension of our own. Without this, the political equilibrium will be completely destroyed, and France become the arbitress of the world. If, contrary to all CXpectation, she should be disposed to forego her destructive plans of aggrandizement, and be ranked among the regular governments of Europe, we should then be prepared to make a corresponding sacri fice of our conquests, for the purpose of restoring to the dismembe ed nations of the Continent, those territories of which they have been piratically despoiled. But alas! it is not possible to descry the smallest traces of ́och a disposition either in the Councils or the conduct of the French Republic. Inflated by success, the man who has usurped an absoute dominion over her miserable subjects, has thrown off the mask of moderation, which he affected, for the interested purposes of the moment, to assume, and clearly demonstrated, to the satisfaction of the world, that nothing less than boundless sway, and universal revolution, will gratify his inordinate ambition, his insatiate vanity, and his turbulent temper. After a solemn proclamation to the inhabitants of the Milanese, proclaiming their independence, in the fullest sense of the term, promising respect for their religion, their laws, their property, and their persons; and disclaiming all right of interference in their internal government; he has since, by his fiat, suspended, during his pleasure, or, rather, annihilated, every mark of their independence, and the whole code of their laws; assuming, to himself, the privilege of exercising an unlimited despotism over the whole country, and appointing a French General, as his delegate, to govern, by his will, the newly emancipated children of the Cisalpine Republic. Such is the regard which this usurper pays to public faith and public promises; but their exists a still stronger instance of his total contempt of all obligations, however solemnly contracted; a damning proof of the truth of those assertions which que have repeatedly advanced, that interest and ambition are the sole guides of his conduct, and that no treaty, however sacred, will be preserved by him, when it tends either to injure the one or to affect the other. No contract between nations could be more valid than the Convention concluded in 1799, between the British Agent and the French Directory, respecting the support of prisoners of war, in the two countries. With all their profligacy, and with all their vices, the Directory fulfilled the terms of this contract, until the day of their abdication. But no soooner had Bonaparte ascended his Consular Throne, than, finding that the number of French prisoners exceeded that of the English, by more than twothirds, he signified to the British Government his determination no longer to observe the Convention, and thus asserted his right to disolve any treaty which had been concluded by his predecessors, and any and which militated against his interest. This, he contended, was not to be a matter of negotiation; though every contract be, in its very nature, mutually binding upon both parties, and indissoluble but by the consent of both, or by its violation by either; yet England was not to be consulted in the business; the will of her enemy was to be decisive; his mandate conclusive; and, with all the mighty obligations which this profligate usurper lay under to the men who had been the ready slaves of his caprice, the willing instruments of his ambition, who had fought his battles, supported his power, and administered to his tyranny, he would actually have left them to perish in a prison, sooner than afford them the means of subsistence;" and it is a damning fact, which history will not fail to record, that two and twenty thousand French Republicans would have actually died from cold and hunger, through the wanton and wilful abandonment of the wretch whose bounden duty it was to support them, but for the compassion and generosity of the British Monarch! This right of violating treaties, at their pleasure, has been asserted by every ruler of the Republic, from Brissot to Buonaparte; and until it be formerly disclaimed, it will be impossible for this country to conclude a peace with France; because a peace concluded, under such circumstances, independent of the multiplied dangers which must inevitably result from it, would be attended with every expence of a war, without of its concomitant advantages. Can the supposition, for one moment, be admitted, that had the Directory signed a treaty of peace with Great Britain, Buonaparte would have deemed himself bound to fulfil its conditions, any more than the stipulations of the convention for the support of prisoners of war? The same principle which influenced his conduct in the one instance, must have influenced it in the other, and the war would have been renewed, had his interest or ambition called for its renewal, with an immense addition of expence to us, and an incalculable increase of disadvantages. Thus no alternative remains to our Government; but the vigorous prosecution of the war, until the French Republic shall either be destroyed, or its radical principles formally abandoned, and its very nature changed. The spirit of the nation will, we are persuaded, rise up to the exigency of the times; the dangers which threaten us will not only be boldly met, and bravely repelled, but successfully retorted; the sacrifices which their repulsion will require, will be chearfully made; the descendants of the heroes of Cressy, and of Azincour will not belie the spirit of their ancestors; the companions of the Howes, the Jervises, the Duncans, and the Nelsons, will burn to imitate the conduct of their chiefs: Britons will not forget that they were destined, by Providence, in all ages, to chastise the pride and scourge the ambition of France; they will feel that the power to inflict that chastisement, to exercise that scourge, still exists in its primitive vigour; they will not suffer a base usurper to accomplish the scheme of universal dominion which Louis the Great, thanks to British courage, attempted in vain; they will maintain their right to that empire of the seas, which has been exercised only for the general good; and, if it be decreed, as we fear it is, that Europe is to know no masters but England and France France, Britons will extend their arms, their commerce, and their laws, to the farthest boundaries of the civilized globe, while they will not allow their malignant foe, to hold one foot of territory bcyond the subjugated Continent of Europe. Of the necessity of wresting Egypt from the French, and of settling, by means of a treaty with the Porte, a British colony there, for the purpose of preserving it from any future attempt of our enemies (who, without this precaution, will sooner or later, secure it for themselves) and of establishing a ready communication with our eastern territories, we have long since declared our decided opinion; and there is now reason to hope that this indispensable measure will be speedily carried into effect. In the future conduct of our government to the United States of America, much delicacy and caution will be requisite. While we enforce a strict observance of their treaties with us, and maintain unimpaired every right we possess; we should invariably respect their independence; preserve, in all our communications with them, a high and dignified character; and, allowing for the peculiarity of their situation, make, in their favour, an exception to the rules of diplomatic etiquette, and send them an Ambassador of the first rank;a man of opulent fortune, and of a liberal and enlightened mind. A variety of important considerations combine to sanction the expediency and the wisdom of such a mode of proceeding. From the actual situation of Europe, America, will, if she observe a wise and prudent system of policy, if the passions and the principles of her new President and his associates in power do not involve her in the dangers and difficulties of civil and foreign warfare, acquire a degree of relative consequence which she has hitherto never enjoyed, and which, if duly improved, will materially conduce to her prosperity and happiness. For the information of those who may be disposed to think that we pay too much attention to American affairs, we will briefly state, that a greater quantity of British capital is employed in that country than in the whole world beside; that America imports nearly more of the manufactures of Britain than all the nations of Europe together; and that Britain and her colonics consume nine-tenths, we believe, of the whole exported produce of America. Add to this, that, with Britain her enemy, America could not send a single ship to Europe, while, with Britain for her friend, she might set at defiance the enmity of the whole world! The UNION of these kingdoms, which, in the very first Number of our work, we pointed out as a wise and necessary measure, even long before many Members of the Cabinet had made up their minds on the subject, being happily atchieved, the United Parliament of Great Britain and Ireland has met; and, from the known characters and capacity of the majority of the Irish Members, we have not a doubt that they will inspire their British colleagues with a large portion of that spirit and vigour, which so eminently characterized their conduct, in their native country, at the most alarming crisis of her fate. And from the united exertions of the genuine patriots of both countries we predict the most happy consequences, from the adoption of a manly and decided system of policy, which will extort the admiration of the present age, and be holden up, as an object of imitation and applause, to the latest posterity: Jan. 21, 1801. ANTI-JACOBIN Review and Magazine; &c. &c. &c. For SEPTEMBER, 1800. "Le flatteur eft un homme qui tient, felon Platon, un commerce de plaifir fans honneur; et felon Théophrafte, un commerce honteux qui n'eft utile qu'à lui j'ajoute qu'il fait un outrage à la vérité, et, pour dire encore plus, qu'il fe rend coupable d'une lâche et baffe trahison." A ORIGINAL CRITICISM. ART. I. Turner's Hiftory of the Anglo-Saxons: Denomination of the Saxon's peculiarly familiar to the bards" of Wales, Mr. T. informs us, " is that of Allmyn. Golyzan, in his Arymes Prydein Vawr, is perpetually giving them this appellation as well as Saxon.* Talieffin alfo, a bard of peculiar merit, and traveller, for he had been chief bard of the harp to Leon, King of Norway, intitles them Allmyn; ‡ and at another time fings of the merciless and proud serpent with armed wings, who came from Germania. § I would not argue from this, that it is certain that fome Alemanni came into England, though an antient Belgic Chronicle feems to intimate as much; but the name of Allmyn, * "Cambrian Regifter for 1796, Pr. 555, 556. 558. 561." ተ "So Talieffin fings," and adds- I know the learning and poetry of all the world.' Jones, Relics of Welch Bards, P. 12. That he was mafter of the learning of the western part of the world in that day is not improbable." The Allmyn preparing fucceffive emigrations.' Owen, voce "Attor; and the crimfon gore on the cheeks of the Allmyn.' Ib. voc. Claf." $ "See one of his celebrated poems, published with a Latin tranflation, in Owen's British Remains." Colinus, in his Chronico Rhythmico, written in the twelfth century (Cannegieterde Brittenburgo, F. 3.) fays, "Woe die Friefen Analen en Saxon, uitte (or mette) Allemangen Verhiven over in Bretangen.' Ibid. p. 68, "This author Cannegieter ftyles, fide et integritaté præftantior, nihil enim fe fcriptis confignare dicit, nifi quod ex certis monumen⚫ tis cognoverat. Some of the ancient German bards were extant în his monastery when he wrote." Ibid. P. 3. NO. XXVII, VOL, VII. B applie applied by the Welch to the Saxons, tends to juftify the fuppofition, that more German nations than the Cimbric Saxons vifited England "It is exprefsly ftated, that Frifians were part of the invaders. In this fact an imperial writer, an Anglo-Saxon †, and a Belgian, agree §. The hoary prince of Argoed, who united the characters of warrior and bard, and lived to lament the miferies of war over the tombs of twenty-four children, its victims, and of all his friends and protectors, mentions the Francs || as oppofed to the Britons. Perhaps as the Frifians had been part of the union of peoples called Francs, and did not accede to the Saxon league till late, they may have been fometimes defignated by fuch an appellation. In this part of our fubject we are walking over the country of the departed, whofe memory has not been perpetuated by the commemorating heralds of their day. A barbarous age is unfriendly to human fame. When the clods of his hillock are fcattered, or his funeral ftones are thrown down, the glory of a favage perishes for ever. If a modern fancy attempts to re-people the Barbarian wilds, unreal apparitions and empty fhades are ufually the beings which talk abroad while we gaze. Let us then fimply mention, without annexing to it either belief or incredulity, that a Belgic chronicle has wafted Hollanders into Britain, whom it calls Sclavenfes **. We have no Ithuriel's fpear to detect the false or reveal the true fettlers, and will therefore escape from these regions of the dead, repeating only, that Saxony, at this pe . "Bede remarked, that the Welch called their invaders Germans, and gives as the reafon, that they came from many German nations. He enumerates them. Sunt autem Frifones, Rugii, Dani, Huni, antiqui Saxones, Boructuarii." Lib. v. c. 10. ተ Procopius, Gothicæ Hiftoriæ," 1. 4. p. 467. edit. Grot. ‡ "Bede, 1. 5. c. 10." The ancient Colinus, in Cannegieter de Brittenb. P. 68. To thefe we may add Marcellinus, in his Life of Suidbert. This author, Bedæ coætaneus, fays, Suidbert defired the falvation præcipué paganorum, Frifiorum et Saxonum, eo quod Angli ex ipfis propagati funt. And again, Quoniam fan&ti doctores propagati fuerunt in Anglià de ftirpe Frifonicâ et Saxonica, &c. Ub. Einmius, Hift. Frif. P. 41. and fee Spener, 361.” Llywarch Hen. P. 99. Carregy Franco. There is In Flintshire there is a place called pafs on the Cluydian Hills named Biolch Francon, and a dingle in Snowdon, Nant Francon; Davies in Cambrian Register for 1795, p. 276." "They were antiquam gentem inter Amifum Rhenumque, Romanis primum bellis, deinde Francorum, pofteaque Saxonum focietate illuftratum. Spener Frotit. xi. 413." **« Gerbrand of Leyden, memorat duces ex Hollandenfibus etiam milites ad expeditionem eam confcripfiffe. Cannieg. de Britt. 68. and Colinus, ex eo quod Frifones dicuntur inter fuiffe expeditioni huic Saxonum Anglorumque, docet Hollandiam olim Frifiæ partem fuiffe. Ib." |