who came to claim enrolment as men and citizens they too, were disappointed, and the language they held shewed how deeply. They were now sure that they should never be able to make head against the intrigues and plots of the White Colonists. Day after day had been fixed as before for the hearing of their cause. Day after day it had been deferred in like manner. They were now weary with waiting. One of them, Ogé, could not contain himself, but broke out with great warmth." I begin," says he, "not to care, whether the National Assembly will admit us or not. But let it beware of the consequences. We will no longer continue to be beheld in a degraded light. Dispatches shall go directly to St. Domingo; and we will soon follow them. We can produce as good soldiers on our estates, as those in France. Our own arms shall make us independent and respectable. If we are once forced to desperate measures, it will be in vain that thousands will be sent across the Atlantic to bring us back to our former state." On hearing this, I intreated the deputies to wait with patience. I observed to them, that, by an imprudent conduct they might not only ruin their own cause in France, but bring indescribable misery upon their native land. I found, however, notwithstanding all I said, that there was a spirit of dissatisfaction in them, which nothing but a redress of their grievances could subdue; and that, if the planters should persevere in their intrigues, and the National Assembly in delay, a fire would be lighted up in St. Domingo, which could not easily be extinguished. This was afterward realized. in one year than in the whole remaining trade of the country in two. Out of 910 sailors in it, 216 died in the year, while upon a fair average of the same number of men employed in the trades to the East and West Indies, Petersburgh, Newfoundland, and Greenland, no more than 87 died. It appeared also, that out of 3170, who had left Liverpool in the slave-ships in the year 1787, only 1428 had returned. The trade was almost abolished at one time; for, says our author, In the year 1772, when a hundred vessels sailed out of Liverpool for the coast of Africa, the dock-duties amounted to £4552, and in 1779, when, in consequence of the war, only eleven went from thence to the same coast, they amounted to £4957; then the opulence of Liverpool was not indebted to the slave-trade; and although the vessels in it had been gradually reduced from one hundred to eleven yet the West Indians had not complained of their ruin, nor had the merchants or manufacturers suffered, nor had Liverpool been affected by the change. The productions of Africa (certainly only a part, and probably a small part of what that country yields) may be inferred from the specimens collected by Mr. C. The first division of the box consisted of woods of about four inches square, all polished. Among these were mahogany of five different sorts, tulip-wood, satin-wood, camwood, bar-wood, fustic, black and yellow ebony, palm-tree, mangrove, calabash, and date. There were seven woods of which the native names were remembered: three of these, Tumiah, Samain, and Jimlaké, were of a yellow colour; Acajoú was of a beautiIn fact, the horrors to which St. Domin-ful deep crimson; Bork and Quellé were apgo was subjected was one of those occur-parently fit for cabinet work; and Benten rences that furnished the enemies of the abolition. with their most plausible and impressive arguments;-arguments to this moment not wholly forgotten. Quit ting these considerations, we wish to record the destructive effects of this trade on our seamen; and to shew from Mr. C's. testimony the probability of trading with Africa for honest productions. The first of these particulars demonstrates what detriment Britain certainly avoids by the abolition; the second indicates advantages that Africa probably may reap; and to these we would now direct the expectations of the public. By the report of the Privy Council it appear ed, that, instead of the slave-trade being a nurgely for British seamen, it was their grave. It appeared that more seamen died in that trade was the wood of which the natives made their canoes. Of the various other woods the names had been forgotten, nor were they known in England at all. One of them was of a fine purple; and from two others, upon which the privy council had caused experiments to be made, a strong yellow, a deep orange, and a flesh-colour were extracted. The second division included ivory and musk; four species of pepper, the long, the black, the Cayenne, and the Malaguetia: three species of gum, namely, Senegal, Copal, and Ruber astringens; cinnamon, rice, tobacco, indigo, white and Nankin cotton, Guinea which two were used for food, and the other corn, and millet; three species of beans, of for dyeing orange; two species of tamarinds, one for food, and the other to give whiteness to the teeth; pulse, seeds, and fruits of va rious kinds, some of the latter of which Dr. Spaarman had pronounced, from a trial dur ring his residence in Africa, to be peculiarly valuable as drugs. The third division contained an African loom, and an African spindle with spun cot ton round it; cloths of cotton of various kinds, made by the natives, some white, but others dyed by them of different colours, and others, in which they had interwoven European silk; cloths and bags made of grass, and fancifully coloured; ornaments made of the same materials; ropes made from a species of aloes, and others, remarkably strong, from grass and straw; fine string made from the fibres of the roots of trees; soap of two kinds, one of which was formed from an earthy substance; pipe-bowls made of clay, and of a brown red; one of these, which came from the village of Dakard, was beautifully ornamented by black devices burnt in,' and was besides highly glazed; another, brought from Galiam, was made of earth, which was richly impregnated with little particles of gold; trinkets made by the natives from their own gold; knives and daggers made by them from our bar-iron; and various other articles, such as bags, sandals, daggercases, quivers, grisgris, all made of leather of their own manufacture, and dyed of various colours, and ingeniously sewed together, The extent of our extracts forbids us to enlarge on this interesting subject: we therefore only hint, that our author notices as it deserved Sir W. Dolben's middle passage bill; which was some relief to suffering humanity; also the prevention of supplying foreign nations with slaves, which was another point gained in favour of the main object. Until at length, the abolition itself was carried triumphantly through both houses of parliament, and received the sanction of the crown by commission on Wednesday, March 25, 1807, the last act of the then ministry. Mr. Clarkson has executed his task with attention, and, we doubt not, with fidelity. His work is valuable as an authentic document of a very important national act : an act not hazarded in the fervour of zeal, or on the impulse of momentary passion; but after long inquiry, after much and vehement opposition, after the public as well as individuals were fully informed. May all our national proceedings, intended to advance the real rights of man, and the just privileges of the citizen, be equally well understood by the country at large, and be brought to an equally honourable and successful termination! [Compare Panorama, Vol. I. p. 706.] Récit Historique de la Campagne de Buonaparte en Italie. Historical Account of the Campaign of Buonaparte in Italy, in the Years 1795 and 1796. By an Eye Witness. 8vo. Price 7s. Deconchy, London, 1808. WHEN two opposite parties divide the world with fierce contention, the man who, from whatever circumstances, is placed at the head of one of them, can hardly be rightly appreciated by his contemporaries. While he pursues his triumphant career, he is a deity to his followers, who worship in him that fortune which is their idol, and shouts of victory drown the accusing voice of his injured, but conquered foe. On the other hand, malignity too often preys on exalted characters, and cankers that laurel which it could not blast. Posterity alone, by comparing the several testimonies, when hope and fear, gratitude, and resentment, have lost their sway, is enabled to form an impartial judgment. In that trial of fame, the character of the writers, on both sides, has necessarily a great weight:- but, this is an anonymous` publication! These reflections are rather meant as general, than as applying to the man whose deeds are the theme of this work. Indeed his offences are "too rank," his crimes are too notorious, to admit of a doubt or of a palliation; besides, the same scenes of treachery, plunder, and devastation, which were acted in Italy, are now acting in Spain; there, too, generals and officers have been seduced, others have been tampered with; most enormous atrocities have followed deceitful promises of friendship and protection. We easily believe, that Buonaparte made use of the influence of the archbishop of Milan to pacify the incensed inhabitants of Pavia, under promises of forgiveness, and that he afterwards disarmed them and gave the town to plunder (as our author affirms, pp. 117, &c.); for the same has been done in Madrid; the same promises have been held out to the inhabitants of Vittoria. Our opinion, therefore, is founded on the uniform tenor of the man's conduct, rather than on the writer's testimony. The charges he prefers against Buenaparte are highly probable, but we could not record them as historians, nor admit | hear our historian, who speaks decidedly them as critics. on that affair. This work, the author informs us, in his introduction, was purposely written to confute another work, published in Paris in 1797, entitled Campagne du Général Buonaparte en Italie, pendant les Années IV. et V. de la République Françoise, par un Officier Général. Augereau, seeing that those fierce republicans were completely dismayed by the enemy's fire, took the standard of liberty, and carried it to the extremity of the bridge; but without producing the desired effect. campaigns of Italy, and by a letter from This fact is certified, by the historian of the General Berthier. They both add, that this very courageous action, proving useless, Buonaparte himself had recourse to the same stratagem, which, in his hands, was completely successful..... What would he say, however, were we to deny this act of bravery of which he boasts ? We were present at that battle; we saw very distinctly a French officer, with a flag in his hand, advancing alone on the bridge. We saw General Alvinzi, convinced that it was a flag of truce, give orders to suspend firing; but we have no recollection what ever, of having seen a second officer tread in the footsteps of the first. Yet such a fact would have been too public, not to be remarked. Neither is it credible; because the Austrian artillery, which had respected the first, who was supposed to be the In that performance, Buonaparte, of course, derives his triumphs solely from his own genius and bravery; but in the publication before us he is represented in a different character, indeed! With an immense superiority of forces he purchases petty advantages by an immense sacrifice of lives; all his conquests are prepared by treason, and his frequent blunders in the field are repaired by treachery; in the most critical moments; he pretends to capitulate, and snatches victory from the hands of his too credulous antagonist. Something like this, we have heard often, from good authority; but does the author think that his unavowed publication will convince the dazzled multitude, the mass who have not had the same means of in-bearer of a flag of truce, would not, in all probability, have respected the second, formation? To tear the laurels, however whose temerity would have cost him his life. andeserved, from the guilty head of a pp. 183, 184. successful villain, indirect means are unaThe author them maintains, that this vailing and unbecoming; truth scorns to bridge was not carried on that day be defended but by manliness. Besides, we cannot reconcile it to our feelings as (Nov. 15), but that the position was mainEnglishmen, that officers of rank, how-tained against Buonaparte, on the 16th,and on the 17th; that on the evening of this ever culpable in appearance, should be accused of having sold themselves to the day, General Alvinzi ordered a retroenemy of their country for money, with-grade motion, at which murmurs ran so out being afforded an opportunity of meet-high in the army, that on the 19th, he ing the foul charge; or even the knowledge of their accuser. but quitted it again on the 20th for Vinresumed his former position at Arcole ; cenza, instead of pushing forwards to Verona, which he could then have taken easily. We have stated the dangerous tendency of admitting anonymous publications to the privileges of authenticated documents or historical facts, principally from our re gret on seeing accounts of important transactions, destitute of the signature of a writer, who professes to have been an eye-witness, and whose work is not without internal proofs of veracity. We shall now proceed to make a few extracts, mostly from this officer's relation of events on which we have had some previous in-chief was covering with shame formation. All the world has heard of Bonaparte's prodigious feat in planting the standard of liberty on the famous bridge of Arcole, in spite of a tremendous fire of artillery and inusquetry: let us But, continues the author, what was the surprise of the whole army, and the rage of many, when, being arrived on the middle of the road, we met General Alvinzi, on horseback, who ordered us to fall back on Vincenza! I then saw an Austrian colonel, frantic with rage, break his sword in three pieces, and declare that he would no longer serve in an army, which its commander-in; similar sentiments were openly manifested by several others. (p. 188). At the end of the chapter on the battle of Arcole, the author relates the known anecdote of Buonaparte's fall into a marsh with his horse, in a flight, after an unsuccessful attack on Arcole. He adds that a negro alone ventured to come to his assistance, and was, in consequence, made captain of cavalry, and presented as such to the army. This we have heard repeatedly in France, in the years 1798 and 1799, from officers of the army of Italy, and from Augereau himself. We have heard the same Augereau, in a large dinner party, at Thoulouse, before several of his brother officers, claim the sole merit of having planted the standard of liberty, both on the bridge of Arcole, and on that of Lodi; with many bitter sarcasms on Buonaparte's vain boasting. Indeed, we never heard it denied by any officer of the army of Italy; and we have conversed with several. But, that army knew too much of its general; after the evacuation of Egypt, these troops were not allowed to enter France; but were sent to Italy, and from thence to Saint Domingo; those who have contrived to revisit France have been intimidated, or seduced,-or--have disappeared. Speaking of the battle of Rivoli (pp. 190, et seq.), which completed the conquest of Italy, the author affirms that Buonaparte was entirely surrounded (which, by-the-bye, Berthier fairly owns in his report), that the whole Austrian army were exclaiming, we have them! When Buonaparte sent a flag of truce, to solicit an armistice of one hour, to settle the terms of a capitulation: it was granted; and, a quarter of an hour before its expiration, Buonaparte attacked the Austrians, unawares, and not only saved his army, but obtained a complete victory; This we must believe; for General Wedel attempted to play the same infamous trick, on the Spanish General, Castanos, at Baylen. On the taking of Mantua, the last transaction we shall examine, the author observes, that that city, which Buonaparte had boasted to take in eight days, resisted his utmost efforts near eight months; that he lost before it an immense number of men; and once, all his artillery; yet this same town, with a French garrison, was taken by the Austrians in the next campaign in less than a month. This is undeniable; and we add, that Buonaparte felt so keenly the shame implied in the comparison, that he exerted all his power (he was then first consul) to fix the whole dishonour on Latour Foissac, the French commander of Mantaa. He forbade him to wear French regimentals; the whole army murmured; the order was not obeyed; and Latour demanded a court-martial, which was refused. His son, a youth of fifteen, publicly vented the most bitter execraions, in the military coffee-house of Turin, before a numerous assembly of ficers, against "the Corsican Upstart," who to palliate his own shame, endeavoured to disgrace the most ancient French families. This language passed uncontradicted, and unpunished, at least for the time. In fact, Latour Foissac had done his duty; we have heard a friend, an offi cer who commanded the gate Pradella, on the last day of the siege, state publicly that, in twenty-four hours he lost seventy-one men out of one hundred; that the garrison was reduced to 3,000 men; and, that the breach at Pradella was large enough for a whole battalion to form in it. That officer suddenly disappeared from Bourdeaux. From what we have said, our readers will see, that we had some grounds for From a note of the translator, this "Calvinus sapuit, quia non scripsit in Apocalypsin," said Scaliger; and on this subject we assume equal wisdom to Calvin. In all disquisitions on prophecy, we have seen too much taken for granted. Conscious of their power to move the earth, like Archimedes, could they but obtain a station for their fulcrum, commentators are apt to fix this station as fancy appoints, or as best suits their argument, without first demonstrating that this is the true and only 'point proper for the purpose. Mr. Hioan must therefore excuse us, if we do not treat his publication with a studious accuracy. We may be allowed to ask, when Mr. H. observes, that "we are not confined to the western empire - for the ten kingdoms," ie. the ten toes,into which the prophetic figure of Daniel was divided; [we should have wondered greatly had they been twenty toes], whether we are not rather confined to the eastern empire ?-i. e. to the countries comprehended in the dominions of Nebuchadnezar; for we cannot find any interest that chief could take in the fate of regions of which he had never heard : nor what connection there is between the future declension of his empire, at Babylon, and the revolutions of a country on the shore of the Atlantic. We would not be understood to deny that Buonaparte is the man of sin; for truly we think the term expresses his character but too accurately: he shall also, if it will do Mr. H. any pleasure, substitute himself for the Pope, and become the successor of St. Peter, which he will be, with as much truth as he is to Charlemagne: nay, he shall be head of the Turkish empire also, as Mr. H. imagines, and successor of Othman but all this does not induce us Successor elsewhere remitted as the son of perdition, to his just deserts by the halter, or by a purling stream, at his pleasure: for that he will trust himself on the boisterous ocean, to avoid a dry death on land, we think doubtful. The Pope has lately complained, in terms much harsher than were expected from him, of the conduct of the Eldest Son of the Church, the Most Christian King, &c. &c. and if Buonaparte should subdue Constantinople, we doubt not, Mussulman though he be, but he will give the most venerable the Muphti an early opportunity of displaying equal eloquence, with equal cause. Mr. H. renews our acquaintance with Ali Mohammed's professions of the Mahometan faith, and we enrich our pages with productions so valuable, to which we think it likely, we may have occasion to appeal hereafter on behalf of the Emperor and King. He "In the name of God, gracious and merciful. There is no God but God. has neither son nor partner in his kingdom. "People of Egypt, "When the Beys tell you that the French believe them. It is an absolute falsehood. are come to destroy your religion, do not Tell those impostors, that they are only came tyrants; tell them that the French worship to free the weak from the yoke of their the Supreme Being, and honour the Prophet, and his holy Alcoran. "The French are Mussulmen. It is not long ago since they marched to Rome and destroyed the throne of the Pope, who excited the Christians against those who professed Islamian. They went afterwards to Malta, themselves selected by God, to wage war to drive from thence the infidels, who thought against the Mussulmen." Such was the language of the Corsican, who now calls himself Christian and Roman Catholic. Witness also his proclamation to the inhabitants of Cairo. "Buonaparte, Commander in Chief, to the people of Cairo. 66 People of Cairo, I am satisfied with your conduct. You have done right not to have taken any part against me. I am come to destroy the race of the Mamelukes, to protect the trade and the natives of the country. Let those who have any fears be without uneasiness; let those who have fled come back to their houses. Let prayers be attended to as usual, and, as I wish, continued every to spell his name falsely, in order to find the number 656 in it. And thus we, like some admirable prudes of our acquaint ance, acknowledge that the fellow is rally an odious, abominable, and wick-day. Do not fear for your families, for your ed wretch, but we will not suffer a letter of his good name to be touched : no, we defend that, as men of letters: though, the party himself, we have houses, and your properties, and, above all, for the religion of the Prophet, whom I love." Compare Pancrana, Vol. IV. p. 774. |