And, however much the recollection may lead us to lament fo ftriking an inftance of talents and knowledge enflaved by fordid principles, it is comfortable to think, that there are among the rulers of that country, fome whofe lights are fuperior to their conduct, and that the juftnefs of their original views may one day triumph over the grofs ignorance and petty ambition of their more powerful coadjutors.

The general Effay on Colonies, contains a deduction of the advantages which must accrue to France, from a careful attention to the colonial fyftem; and points out the principles that ought to guide her in the formation of new fettlements. The memoir upon the relations between England and America, is apparently written with a view of recommending, by a practical exemplification, the general principles of colonization; but the argument is couched under the form of an attempt to explain feveral political facts which the author remarked during his travels over the greater part of North America; and truly, if the former of these papers makes us with that every statesman, and especially the prefent rulers of France, were actuated by fuch liberal views as the author inculcates, it is impoffible to read the latter, without lamenting that no traveller has ever appeared fo capable as M. Talleyrand, of inftructing his country by the fcientific obfervation of foreign nations; and that he himfelf has not devoted his life to a purfuit pointed out alike by his genius and his acquirements. We exprefs our admiration of this man's writings, without any fear of mifconftruction. It would be as foolish (were at as poffible) to fhut one's eyes to the luftre of talents, as to defpife an enemy who is ftrong by their aid. Great as the refources of France are, if they were not wielded by fuch men as Talleyrand, fhe would foon ceafe to be the object of that watchful anxiety which, in the actual pofture of affairs, is the wifeft part of wisdom.

Two great objects, according to our author, are to be gained by the planting of new colonies, in the prefent ftate of France. A vaft body of people has been either thrown idle by the revolu tion, or fo corrupted by habits of intrigue and excefles of violence, as to be now incapable of regular induftry. To open an egrefs for thefe troublefome fpirits, and at the fame time to derive profit from the qualities which render them ufelefs and dangerous at home, is the double advantage of planting new fettlements. The example of America, by a ftriking analogy, points out the former benefit; the latter is fufficiently clear of itself. In the United States, our author was furprifed to obferve, that a long and violent civil war had left scarcely any trace of its exift ence in the character or intercourfe of the various factions which YOL. VI. NO. 11. divided

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divided the people. No hatred or animofity was perceivable among individuals; no turbulence or agitation of character had been permanently engrafted on the fober, folid habits of the coloNone of thofe fymptoms, in fhort, were obfervable, which, for ages after a violent and general conflict, always endanger the internal fecurity of nations whofe ftructure has affumed a regular form and confiftency. The profound remark of Machiavel appeared for once to fail, that every revolution contains the feeds of another, and fcatters them behind it.' The peculiar fituation of the American people furnishes an eafy explanation of this happy peculiarity. Our author justly obferves, that though the change no doubt excited all those revolutionary difpofitions which in other countries have prolonged the reign of anarchy, and formed abundance of characters fitted for profiting by fuch an alteration of popular habits, yet the vaft extent of the country afforded a conftant vent for the most restless activity in projects useful to the community, and tempting to the individual; drew off to a distance from the theatre of diffenfions, thofe whofe violence had not been calmed by victory; and (he might have faid) secured an agreeable retreat to the numerous remains of the Royalist party. He eloquently defcribes that continent as a

1 pays vaite et nouveau-où des projets aventureux amorcent les efprits, où une immenfe quantité de terres incultes leur donne la facilité d'aller employer loin du theatre des premieres diffenfions une activité nouvelle, de placer des efperances dans des fpeculations lointaines, de fe jeter à la fois au milieu d'une foule d'effais, de fe fatiguer enfin par des deplacemens, et d'amortir ainfi chez eux les paffions revolutionaires.' Now, as France, with much more of that turbulent fpirit, has not at home the fame opportunities of quenching it, our author infers that it should be drawn off by colonial establishments, the only expedient which can enable a well peopled and cultivated country to unite the advantages peculiar to new fettlements with those poffeffed by full-grown communities. He rapidly fketches the reafons that have induced the various emigrations recorded in hiftory, and finds that they all owed their origin to far lefs pure motives than those which at prefent concur in recommending the fcheme to France. The violence in which many of thofe plans originated, and the total failure of every one that did not foon affume a milder and jufler afpect, he holds up as a leffon well worthy of attention. All colonial measures, according to him, fhould begin with the fair and open offer of a fettlement from Government; and he ftates it as a striking proof, how effential freedom of choice is to the fuccefs of fuch plans, that thofe ancient republics which were constrained to fend out colonies, by the narrowness of their territory, propofed the emigration as an al

lurement,

lurement, and did not enforce, by pofitive law, even what was neceffary for the existence of the state. Let us, fays he, imitate the policy to which the most profperous of those establishments owed their origin, and avoid, as much as poffible, the errors which modern nations have committed in following the example of the ancients. From fage measures of this fort, he expects every advantage will refult to France. She has only to propofe a colony, and the offer will be joyfully received. In defcribing the probability of this favourable reception, he enumerates rapidly, but with great force of language, and perfect accuracy, all the motives which concur to recommend fuch an emigration to fo many defcriptions of his countrymen. The paffage is too ftriking, both for diction, and for acute, comprehenfive thought, to be omitted in an account of thefe fpeculations; nor fhall we attempt to injure it by a tranflation.

C'eft en nous emparant de ce qu'ont de plus pur ces vues des anciens, et en nous defendant de l'application qu'en ont faite la plupart des peuples modernes qu'il convient, je penfe, de s'occuper des les premiers jours de la paix de ce genre, d'etabliffemens qui, bien conçus et bien executés, peuvent être apres tant d'agitations la fource des plus precieux avantages.

Et combien de Français doivent embraffer avec joie cette idée! combien en eft-il chez qui, ne fut-ce que pour des inftans, un ciel nouveau eft devenu un befoin! et ceux qui, reftés feuls, ont perdu, fous le fer des affaffins, tout ce qui embellifloit pour eux la terre natale; et ceux pour qui elle eft devenue infeconde, et ceux qui n'y trouvent que des regrets, et ceux meme qui n'y trouvent que des remords; et les hommes qui ne peuvent fe refoudre à placer l'efperance là où ils eprouverent le malheur; et cette multitude de malades politiques, ces caracteres inflexibles qu'aucun revers ne peut plier, ces imaginations ardentes qu'aucun raifonnement ne ramene, ces efprits fafcinés qu'aucun evene- › ment ne defenchante; et ceux qui fe trouvent toujours trop referrés dans leur propre pays; et les fpeculateurs avides, et les fpeculateurs aventureux; et les hommes qui brûlent d'attacher leur nom à des decouvertes, à des fondations de villes, à des civilizations; tel pour qui la France conftituée eft encore trop agitée, tel pour qui elle eft trop calme; ceux enfin qui ne peuvent fe faire à des egaux, et ceux auffi qui ne peuvent fe faire à aucune dependance.

Et qu'on ne croie pas que tant d'elemens divers et oppofés ne peuvent fe reunir. N'avons-nous pas vu dans ces dernieres années depuis qu'il y a des opinions politiques en France, des hommes de tous les partis s'embarquer enfemble pour aller courir les mêmes hafards fur les bords inhabités du Scioto? Ignore-t-on l'empire qu'exercent fur les ames les plus irritables, le temps, l'efpace, une terre nouvelle, des habitudes à commencer, des obftacles communs à vaincre, la neceffité de s'entr'aider remplaçant le defir de fe nuire, le travail qui adoucit l'ame, Et l'efperance qui la confole, et la douceur de s'entretenir du pays qu'on quitté, celle meme de s'en plaindre, &c. But

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But if the finding employment for the pericns defcribed in this paffage is in itself a great advantage to the mother country, our author conceives the acquifition of rich and fourthing colonies, more efpecially in the prefent circumitances of France, to be no lefs important. The natural tendency of colonial fettlements to throw off their dependence, has received too many illuftrations from the events of the last thirty years, not to prefent governors with one of thofe near and certain profpects which ought to exercife a practical influence over their immediate arrangements. The lofs of America to England, M. Talleyrand plainly deduces from caufes neither accidental nor peculiar; and it is evident from the whole tenor of his reafonings, that he views the attempts to restore order in the French West Indies, as neither likely to fucceed in the mean time, nor, even if attended with temporary fuccefs, as fufficient to ward of, for any confiderable period, the blow which circumitances beyond the reach of edicts and armies have prepared in the western wing of the French empire. The radical vices of the political fyftem in the iflands, their extent, pofition and climate, above all the ftructure of their fociety, are clearly what he means by cette force des chofes qui fait la deflinée des etats, et à laquelle rien ne refifle.” While, therefore, he recommends a due attention to measures which may aim at a reparation of the manifold evils produced by the impolicy of the revolutionary government in St Domingo and Guadaloupe, he enforces the neceflity of being prepared for the more likely event, a general failure of all fuch plans, and a total deftruction of the French colonial power in the new world. Let France look about her, fays this wary ftatefman, and fee if there are no other countries where new fettlements may conveniently be undertaken as a fubftitute for the colonies which may fo foon be loft; and let thofe colonial eftablishments be formed upon principles which fhall prevent the recurrence of the difafters that have befallen the Weft Indies. It is for the purpose of¦ thowing what are the right kinds of colonies, what are the fettlements moft fafe and fecure in themfelves, and most likely to enfure a continuance of commercial relations, even after they may have become independent of the mother country, that the memoir upon the United Sates is evidently conceived. The refult of the inquiry is an inference in favour of agricultural fettlements, where the natives of the foil are able to cultivate it; and a warning againft all fuch fchemes as thofe to which the negro fyftem owes its origin. The territory where thefe plantations may be fettled, is plainly defcribed. After a few words about the islands along the coaft of Africa, M. Talleyrand feems to fix upon Egypt as the proper fpot. Choifeul, it is well known,

forefaw

forefaw the probable feparation of all the American colonies, without exactly predicting the manner in which the islands were to be lost; but he was fo impreffed with the likelihood of this event, that he entered into meafures for the acquifition of Egypt as a fettlement which might ferve to France instead of all her Welt Indian territory, and for the fame purposes. Talleyrand, nearer the fulfilment of this prediction, and more accurately acquainted with the manner in which it was to be accomplished, afferts as a truth beyond all difpute, that fooner or later the emancipation of the negroes muft overthrow the cultivation of the fugar colonies; and adds, il eft politique d'aller au-devant de ces grands changemens, et la premiere idée qui s'offre à l'efprit, celle qui amene plus de fuppofitions favorables, paroît être d'effayer cette culture aux lieux mêmes où nait le cultivateur.' Let it be recollected, that the Egyptian expedition was undertaken a few months after this memoir had been read to an affembly to which the captain of the enterprife belonged; and that the author of thefe opinions was actively engaged in the government which planned the conqueft; little doubt will remain of a pofition fo well fupported by its internal evidence, though obftinately difcredited by moft of our political reafoners, that the great and ultimate object of the capture of Egypt was the fettlement of a colony which might ferve as a refuge for the agriculture of the Weft Indies. It is difficult to fay whether the view of proceeding against India from that quarter was ever in the contemplation of the French government further than as a pollible acceffory to the main project,-an incidental and diftant advantage, which might render Egypt ftill more valuable, but was not effential to its importance. Enough was furely gained by that memorable expedition, if its fuccefs fecured to France the finest colony in the world; raised her to the height of commercial profperity, from an almost total annihilation of her trade; enabled her to facrifice all her expenfive and fickle dependencies in America, without a fingle inducement to make one additional ftruggle for their prefervation; and gave her the certainty of ruining in a few crops all the colonial profperity of her rival. To confider this as the leading, and even the ultimate object of the Egyptian plan, can now no longer be reckoned chimerical; nor ought this confirmation, from external evidence, of a pofition in itfelt fo well founded, to diminish our exultation in the defeat of the enterprize, or our precautions against its repetition. On the contrary, it may with fafety be afferted, that the utmost rifk to which our East Indian fettlements could ever have been expofed from the existence of a European colony in Egypt, would have been nothing, when compared with the certain advantages they muft