war will only so long be justifiable, till we shall have obtained fome competent fecurity for futare peace. This therefore refolves the question into a principle of felf-defence, a principle not condemned by the strictest rules of Christian morality, fuch being the circumftances of our national embarrafiment, we violated no rule of piety in fupplicating the aufpices of heaven, to prof thofe arms which had for their object the repulfion of violence and the averfion of political deftruction. As the author has employed a fubtle train of argument and invective, we thought it might not be of dis-fervice thus to oppose truth to fallacy; and point out the real tendency of a Difcourfe, which (but for the purpose of circulation amongst the lower claffes of people,) would not have been vended at fo inferior a price. ART. 25. Reafons for National Penitence recommended for the Faft. The Pamphlet before us is a production ftruck off the anvil of democracy. The author is of opinion, that a Faft Day is a feafon of humiliation; and, fince all power originates from the people, and the people are composed of individuals, we fhall be found belt to exprefs our perfonal humiliation, when we deplore the iniquities of our Government.-Availing himfelf of this ufeful principle which he has borrowed from Mrs. Barbauld, and cautioning us against hypocrify, (for "we cannot fubfidize a Deity as we have fubfidized his Majetty of Sardinia," p. 3)—he proceeds fomewhat freely to examine the characters of our Allies, and finds them, just as he had expected, hateful and perfidious. He thinks we ought to have repelled the attack upon Poland (with whom we are not in alliance) though we are by no means juftified in repelling the invafion of our commercial Ally. He allows, or rather does not deny, that France presented a state of anarchy, but thinking that anarchy is in its nature temporary, and that the princes of licentioufnefs would have evaporated in the courfe of time (i. e. we prefume when they had diforganized all Europe) he thinks we ought to humble ourselves for having attempted to check their progrefs. At home he fees tyranny gaining faft upon us on the one fide, and leaves for others to calculate what dangers we may have to apprehend of a different nature on the other. In short, with an imagination of no mean powers, and a ftyle of no ordinary polish, this writer exhorts us to the very amiable virtue of difcontent; and borrowing more largely from fancy than from Scripture, urges us to faft for crimes we have never committed, and to repent of every man's vices, but our own. ART. 26. An Apology for the Freedom of the Prefs, and for general Liberty. To which are prefixed, Remarks on Bifhop Howley's Sermon, preached on the 30th of January last. By Robert Hall, A.M. 8vo. pp. 108. 2s. 6d. Kobinfons, 1794. If a book muft be praised, at all events, for being well written, this ought to be praised: but it feems to us a work in which so much good good writing is thrown away. For, as Mr. Burke very appofitely quoted on a late occafion, "who difpraised Hercules?" fo we may afk, to what Englishman do the Freedom of the Prefs and general Liberty require any Apology?-But the good writing of this pam phlet is worse than thrown away, it is applied to give grace to propofitions deftructive of all true Liberty; thofe of Tom Paine and the Convention of France. Such as, that " Government is the creature of the people," p. 9, that rulers are appointed merely "to execute the public will, not to oppofe it," p. 58. Mr. Hall's book contains Six Sections, on the following fubjects. 1. The Right of Public Difcuffion. 2. Affociations. 3. Reform of Parliament. 4. Theories and Rights of Man. 5. Diffenters. 6. Caufes of the prefent Dif. contents. On which topics we find little, if any thing, more than the threadbare arguments, and calumnies of the Democratic Party, dreffed up in better language than falls in general to their lot. In p. 13, we meet with an odd word, Sceptifts for Sceptics, which, perhaps, is an error of the prefs. Of what nature are the remarks prefixed, on Bishop Horfley's Sermon, may be gueffed from what we have faid of the general tendency of the publication. ART. 27. A Charge given to the Grand Jury, of the Hundreds of Kirton and Skirbeck, in the Parts of Holland, in the County of Lincoln, at Epiphany Seffions, held at Bofton, January 14, 1793, concerning the Standard Measure of Corn; and concerning Seditious Publications. By Samuel Partridge, C.L.M.A. Chairman at the faid Seffions, with an Admonition to the Keepers of Inns and Alehouses. Printed for the Benefit of the French Refugee Clergy; very fmall 8vo. pp. 32. 6d. G. Nicol, 1793. This very fenfible and judicious Charge, after recommending, what is certainly of great importance to the interefts of agriculture, the enforcement of the exifting statutes, which prefcribe one uniform measure for corn, adverts to the circumftances of the time, in compliance with his Majesty's proclamations. Mr. Partridge's view of the ftate of France, by way of diffuading his hearers from the imitation of that country, is concife and fpirited, and at the fame time perfectly juft- the miferics," fays he, "under which that devoted country now groans, are probably known to us, but imperfectly. However, we know, that public credit is destroyed; a flourishing commerce ruined; property of every kind, and the products of THE EARTH in particular, at the mercy of a lawless multitude; of liberty, and of justice, not the fhadow remaining; innocent perfons without number maffacred or banifhed; perfonal fafety fo precarious (at least in the metropolis and the greater towns) that no man where fortune is an object of plunder, or who is not attached to the ruling faction of the day, can lay himself down to reft, with an affurance that a band of murderers have not devoted him to die before the morning;-" God and the King," whom WE are justly taught to "fear and honour," alike difhonoured, reviled, renounced, and rejected." "This fpecimen, though on a subject so often touched, will doubtlefs be fufficient to recommend the whole. ART. L ART. 28. Obfervations on the Conduct of Mr. Fox in the Impeachmen of Mr. Haftings. By a Friend to the Freedom of the Prefs. 8vo' 60 pp. 1s. 6d. Debrett. 1793. If we rightly comprehend this author's meaning, his intention is to fix on Mr. Fox a charge of inconfiftency in his political conduct towards Mr. Hattings. If we are to bring in our verdict from the evidence here placed before us, we are difpofed to think the plaintiff has failed in proof. ART. 29. The New Annual Regifter, or a General Repofitory of Hiftory, Politics, and Literature, for the Year 1792. To which is prefixed, the Conclufion of the Hiftory of Knowledge, Learning, and Tafte, in Great Britain, during the Reign of Queen Elizabeth. 8vo. 6s. Robinfons. 1793. This volume is ufhered into the world by a declaration of impartiality; but of what complexion the impartiality is, may be feen by the very words in which it is announced. "We have cenfured," fay the authors," with equal freedom, and with equal feverity, the atrocious acts of the Republican party in France, and the profligate combination of Defpots, formed expressly for the deftruction of liberty in that - country." Thefe expreffions are rather violent for impartial writers, and confonant to them are the terms used in the body of the hiftorical part of this work." France, at the moment when the Royal banditti were plotting againft her peace, might be faid literally to be in a ftate of internal tranquillity." p. 119. Now, when we confider that the margin of the very fame page mentions our own fovereign as acceding to the alliance, we cannot confider the hiftorian as even decent, much lefs impartial, in applying fuch terms. The feigned treaty, pretended to have been figned at Pavia in July, 1791 (and which, as Mr. Vanfittart obferves, "feems never to have obtained any credit even among those who were moft difpofed to think unfavourably of the Emperor's conduct with regard to France") alfo ornaments these paffages of the history. It must, however, be allowed, that the hiftorians do justice, in general, to the amiable character and good intentions of Louis XVI. and that they reprobate the atrocities of Paris; but, at the fame time, they take care to attribute the latter folely to the interference of the Combined Powers, In fuch a hiftory, the facts may be given with tolerable exactness, but a ftrong bias muft prevail throughout, little favourable to the elucidation of their caufes. The remaining parts of the volume contain a various and ufeful compilation of matter, from works published in the courfe of the year: But we do not perceive that in this refpect this is diftinguished above other publications of the fame fame nature, the bulk of the Volume is indeed confiderable. The Poetry is well felected. P.44. Reflections on the propriety of an immediate conclufion of peace ART on ART. 30. J. P. Briffot, Deputy of Eure and Loire, to his Conftituents, the Situation of the National Convention; on the Influence of the -Anarchists, and the evils it has caufed; and on the Necefity of annibilating that Influence in order to fave the Republic. Translated from the French. With a Prefac and occafional Notes by the Tranflator. A new edition. 8vo. 121 PP. 2s. 6d. Stockdale. 1794. This tract is one of those which most completely developes the iniquity of the Jacobins, and has defervedly attracted much of the public attention. The author of the preface, who, we believe with reafon, is fuppofed to be Mr. Burke, ftrongly points out the nature of the teftimony it conveys. "In this important controverfy the tranflator of the following work brings to the English tribunal of opinion, the teftimony of a witnefs beyond all exception. His competence is undoubted. He knows every thing which concerns this Revolution to the bottom. He is a chief actor in all the fcenes which he prefents. No man can object to him as a Royalift :-the royal party, and the Christian religion never had a more determined enemy. In a word, it is BRISSOT;it is Briffot, the Republican, the Jacobin, and the Philofopher, who is brought to give an account of Jacobinifm, and of Republicanifm, and of Philofophy." Briffot is now no more; these may be confidered as his laft words, and he seems even to have confidered them fo himfelf, for he concludes" Anarchifts! robbers! you may now strike! I have done my duty : I have told truths that will furvive me!" The fhort hiftory of the bufincfs is this :-The Jacobins governed Paris, by means of the mob of Paris, to which they preached anarchy. The Briffotines wifhed to govern, and therefore preached order, and wished to overawe Paris by means of the great commercial towns. They were accused of defiring a federal Government, the Parifians conquered, and, by the commotion of the 31ft of May, the Briffotines were crufhed. Briffot, moft affuredly a competent witnefs in fuch a point, fpeaks very decidedly upon the commencement of the war, as originating on the fide of France. Reproaching Monge for tardiness in the Marine Department he fays," and during all thefe delays, England, who did not begin to arm till three months after us, fent Admiral Gardiner with feven fhips of the line, and a number of frigates, to the West Indies." P. 52 The hiftory of the Convention, and the preceding Affemblies, he gives in few, but emphatical, and certainly juft terms. With one fingle word you might compofe the greatest part of the hiftory of thefe Af femblies. This word is-FEAR."—"Fear has, in a great measure, produced all the variations in the Convention." The whole pamphlet is highly worthy of attention, which indeed it has, in no fmall degree, received. The ufe inade of it by Lord Mornington, in a Speech which we have noticed above, at p. 406, is peculiarly happy, MISCELLANIES. MISCELLANIES. ART. 30*. A Short Account of a new Method of Filtration by Afcent; with Explanatory Sketches upon Six Plates. By James Peacock, of Finfbury-fquare, Architect, Author of Oikidia, or Nut-fhells, Superior Politics, c. 4to. 22 pp. with 6 plates. 25. Lackington. 1793. This moft ingenious and important contrivance, for which the inventor has obtained a patent, is here defcribed, as applied in various ways to ftrain a greater or a smaller quantity of water. The principle on which the procefs is carried on, is that of caufing water to afcend by means of communicating veffels, through feveral ftrata of gravel, and other materials, the higher progreffively finer than the lower; in which paffage all impurities are left behind, and the water is difcharged, in a pure ftate, into a third veffel. The great advantage of it, befide the degree of purity to which it brings the water, is the poffibility of applying the principle on the largeft fcale, fo as to fupply whole villages, or towns, perpetually with filtered water. We have been told that the inventor has even offered to filter the whole New River for the use of the City of London. On the neceflity of filtration, and the common modes of it, the author thus expreffes himself :— "This element (water) neceffarily of fuch univerfal ufe, and particularly in food and medicine, is fuffered to remain laden with a great diverfity of impurities, and is taken into the ftomach, by the majority of mankind, without the leaft hefitation, not only in its fluid ftate, however turbid it may happen to be; but alfo in the forms of bread, paftry, foups, tea, medicines, and innumerable other particulars. "Medical gentlemen can readily point out the probable advantages towards the prefervation of health, and extending the period of human life, which would refult from the use of foft water, cleared from the earthy, and the living, dead, and putrid, animal, and vegetable fubftances, with which it is always, more or lefs, defiled and vitiated. "But, independent of this confideration respecting health, an intimation of this nature must be not a little alarming to delicacy; and most certainly had better have been entirely fuppreffed, if adequate means had not, at the fame moment, been offered to quiet fuch alarms. Such means, however fimple in their nature, and eafy in their procefs, are pointed out, in the following pages, with demonstrative evidence; whereby pure foft water may be had at all times, and in any quantity, as clear and brilliant as that from the fineft fprings." The great merit of the author is that of having imitated nature, as he fays, in her procefs of percolation, by ufing the fame medium and the fame mode," fo as to arrive as near as poffible to her fimplicity and perfection. ART. |