much commended. But fuch is the cafe with this volume; which contains a collection of trite fentiments, fuch as no man can conteft; which has neither blemishes, nor beauties; which raises neither diflike, nor admiration. "Partial" indeed, but not judicious, were the friends who caufed thefe difcourfes to be printed. Inftead of the proverb," a friend in need," we are often tempted to exclaim, a friend who will diffuade from printing, " is a friend indeed!"

POLITICS.

ART. 34. The Political State of Europe at the Beginning of 1796; or, Confiderations on the most effectual Means of procuring a folid and permanent Peace. With an Appendix, in which feveral important Queftions are confidered. By Monf. de Calonne, late Minifter of the Fi nances in France. Tranflated from the French MS. by D. St. Quentin, A. M. Svo. 236 pp. 5s. Debrett. 1796. Also a French Edition, entitled, "Tableau de l'Europe," &c.

We obferved, in the courfe of laft month, the fuggeftion of a very able writer, that the pertinacity of France may ftruggle on, even after the total fall of the affignats. p. 284. M. de Calonne is decifively of this opinion, on which point he is at iffue in difpute with M. d'Ivernois. On this fubject the following general and fundamental observations appear to us of great importance.

In the examination of this fubject, we must ground our arguments upon this fundamental truth, that no calculation can be formed, or argun et deduced from the difcredit of any currency whatever, if there exifts no object of comparifon. A body in motion does not appear to rife or fall, but when the eye can compare it with fome fixed point: In the fame manner, artificial money only gains or lofes when it can be exchanged with real money. If this factitious coin, whether it is paper or metal, is legally current, and the only one in circulation; if there are no other means of exchange authorized; if it cannot be negotiated in foreign countries; the rate of exchange is, in this refpect, but an empty name, and not applicable here. Such a currency is not fufceptible of melioration or depreffion; its multiplicity, if it be exceffive, obftructs its circulation, it does not destroy the neceffity of it, which overpowers every obftacle; and its pernicious influence extends only to the current price of provifions. It is on account of the provifions that this excefs is felt as a calamity, in the fame manner as an exceffive multiplication of fpecie in gold and filver would be: For it is certain that, as far as this has no relation with external commerce, twenty thoufand millions in gold, that fhould have been put at once into circulation in the kingdom, would have nearly produced as confiderable a rife in the price of provifions and other merchandife as twenty thoufand millions of affignats. Would it, in fuch a cafe, have been faid, that the gold had loft its credit? Would it have been faid, that its fall was inevitable, and that the ruin of the fate would be the immediate confequence? It is inverting all ideas, and changing the meaning of words, to take the effects of an ill-underftood fuperabundance, for the proof of an irremediable exhaustion;

and

and to argue from the greater or the leffer depreffion of paper in circulation, which is in competition with no other paper, nor with any metallic fpecie." P. 65.

After reafoning for a confiderable time on this fubject, the author thus draws up his conclufion :

"I do repeat, and continually fha'l repeat, that whatever caufes would reduce a regularly governed ftate to the laft period of its military exertions, would by no means produce the fame effects on a frantic and revolutionary government: I beg leave to obferve, that when the whole power is in the hands of ruffians, all the exifting means and refources of the country are likewife in their hands. So that to reduce then to the laft extremity, there must be no laud, no productions, no hands, no foldiers; in fhort, no refources of any kind, in the whole extent of the French territory. Laftly, it feems to me, that to rely on the increafe of public mifery in France, and to expect general tranquillity from the ruined condition of that wretched kingdom, is much the fame as if nations had formerly thought themselves fecre from the devaftations of the Huns, Goths, and Vandals, becaufe thofe hordes of barbarians had neither money, nor provifions; neither order, nor difcipline." P. 88.

M. Calonne moft ftrenuously contends against the expediency of a peace with the prefent rulers of France, whofe fabric of government he infifts upon to be perfeâly ephemeral: and he carefully propofes the means by which a folid peace may hereafter be effected. Thefe chiefly confift of the advantages which he thinks may be taken of the prefent ftate of public opinion in France; to which, he doubts not, an effectual turn might be given by means of writings and proclamations. The caufes on which he relies to produce thefe effects are four. 1. The general difcontent in France at the prefent state of things.2. The unea inefs about private property,-3. and about the public finances.-4. Religious fentiments. On all thefe heads he expatiates in a very able manner: and, though we doubt of fome of his conclufions, in this part of his pamphlet, it is certain that there is much in it which deferves the attention of ftatefmen. The appendix, though announced in the title, does not accompany the pamphlet, which is noticed in a fhort advertisement prefixed.

ART. 35. State of the Finances and Refources of the French Republic, to the ft of January, 1795. Being a Continuation of the Reflections on the War, and of the curfory View of the Affignats; and containing an Answer to the Picture of Europe, by M. de Calonne." By Francis d'Ivernois, Efq. Tranflated from the original French. 8vo. 136 pp. 2s. 6d. 1796.

Though thefe difputants continue to affail each other in words, and certainly differ confiderably in feveral matters of detail, it feems to us that they are now much nearer to each other than they are aware, on the general queftion of the affignats. The revival of their credit is indeed the great point at which the French financiers aim, according to M. d'Ivernois, but that revival is attempted by the very method to which M. Calonne declared they would have recourse, the levying of contributions in kind. In the poftfer pt to this pamphlet, added

March

March 1, 1796, the writer quotes thefe remarkable words of Dubois Crancé. It is a truth which every Frenchman must be made to know and to feel, that we have no alternative, but affignats or death." He then proceeds by faying that," as an expedient to avoid the latter, he Dubois] at the fame time ventured to propofe a tax in kind, though his own experience, for the laft fix months, ought to have convinced him that the levying fuch a tax is utterly impoffible; and his worthy colleague, Baudin, fupported his propofal by moving, that government fhould be empowered (if necellary) to levy it by force. This motion was fuperfluous, for there can be no doubt that the government would, if it could, refort to force; but the difficulty is not in collecting and making ufe of an armed force, fo much as in finding the means of paying it. And, if I am not miftaken, I have already proved (p. 20) that it can only be effected by another emiffion of affignats under fome lefs hacknied name, by means of which the government may hire an army of plunderers more numerous than the plundered, and reftore the fyftem of terror in all its rapacity." But M. d'Ivernois ftill confeffes, that the expected fubverfion of the Republic, from the failure of its finances, will not be immediate.

"I do not think," he fays, "that the effect of their prefent diftrefs will be an inftantaneous deftruction of this political machine; but I believe it will fhew itself in an abfolute incapacity to keep thofe parts of it in mot on, which are at a diftance from the centre of impelling power; it will be feen in a forced or voluntary abandonment of all thofe conquefts which the Republic is fighting to retain, a facrifice which the French nation already begins to call for."

His conclufion is remarkable. "The Directory feems deaf to this cry of France; and every thing leads to a belief that it has taken a refolution to try one laft effort, and attempt fome great military firoke, by the aid of the infinite number of men and horfes which it is now fending to the war. The fhock of fuch a multitude as may poffibly be got together, by the ex rtions it is now making, will no doubt be terrible, and, for a time perhaps, may bear down reñitance; but even admitting the commencement of the approaching campaign to be favourable to France, yet if the Germanic body will but oppofe firmnefs to violence, it will, in no long time, compel this wide-walling torrent to retreat within its proper bounds; and Europe will feon enjoy the only peace at prefent to be defired, becaufe the only one which can be confidered as fincere and lafting; I mean that which is founded on a treaty, figned upon the ancient frontier of France."

The result of the reafenings of all parties feems to be, patience and perfeverance: no precipitate or imperfect peace, but fuch exertions as will procure one juit and permanent. The events of this wonderful period have baffled all conjectures: wife therefore will be the statemen who weigh and examine advice from all quarters, and adopt neither the dogma of one, nor the prejudices of another, but whatever is moít found in the fpeculations or information of all.

This pamphiet (except tle poftfcript) is united with the "Curfory View of the Allignats," in French, in the third edition of the "Coup d'œil fur les Affignats," 57 PP. 4to. which, however, does not appear to be publifhed, as it has no publisher's name.

ART.

ART. 36. Facts addressed to the firious Attention of the People of Great Britain, refpecting the Expence of the War and the State of the National Debt. By William Morgan, F. R. S. Third Edition improved. 8vo. 48 PP. 1S. Debrett. 1796.

Waving the question of the juftice or neceffity of the war, and the exhaufted topic of its calamities, Mr. Morgan, a nephew and difciple of the late Dr. Price, proteffes to appeal to the paffion of feit-intereft only. as the most effectual mover; and undertakes to prove that our prefent meafures lead to certain ruin. He divides his admonitions into fix fections. I. On the Expence of the prefent War.-2. On the Loans of the prefent War.-3. On the National Debt.-4. On the Progrefs which has hitherto been made in difcharging the Public Debt5. On the Management of the Sinking Fund.-6. Mifcellaneous Obfervations. In all thefe divifions, the judgment or imagination of the author fees only bankruptcy and mifery placed before us. Hovery war, he tells us, has proved more expensive than any that had preceded it; and the prefent he ftates to be beyond all proportion, more fo than even the American war, in which profufion was thought to be carried to its height. The loans of the prefent war he reprefents as the most extravagant that ever have been made in this country. The national debt, according to his account, has already rifen to such a height, that the intercit of it exceeds the annual produce of all the landed property of the kingdom. The reduction of the debt is perfectly infignificant, and rather pernicious than otherwife, as it ferves only to delude the nation, by concealing the extent of its danger, and encouraging falfe hopes. The finking fund is altogether mifmanaged; and the taxes laid on are fo inefficient, that our difficulties, which are already great, muft daily become greater. Such is Mr. Morgan's formidable array of facts; which certainly, as they are stated, leave little appearance of excufe for the minister; and little hope of continuing the war with advantage, or indeed of escaping the ruin to which it leads, were it to be brought to an immediate termination. But different perfons fee the fame things in different lights, nor are they always agreed what are to be denominated facts. That those which Mr. Morgan has itated as fuch, are not fo confidered by all perfous, will be feen in our account of the answer which this pamphlet has

occafioned.

ART. 37. An Inquiry into the State of the Finances of Great Britain; in Answer to Mr. Morgan's Facis. B, Nicholas Vanfittart, Ef 8vo. 75 PP. Is. 6d. Owen. 1766.

Audi alteram partem is very neceflary here; and Mr. Vanfittart, who was fo fuccefsful in overthrowing the gloomy predictions of Jafper Willon (which Time, a more irrefragable author, has fince alfo refuted) now undertakes to difpel the clouds by which Mr. Morgan, in his turn, has endeavoured to obfcure our profpects. We here find that Mr. M. has made his comparifon between the expences of the American war, by beginning with the years 1776 and 1777, when we were engaged only with the colonies, unfupported by any Foreign power: and that the refult is very different, if we begin, as fairness

requires,

requires, with 1778, when hoftilities with France commenced. It appears alfo that, in making his loans, Lord North, for thirty-feven millions borrowed, gave upwards of fifty-feven millions of flock: Mr. Pitt, for fomething lefs than fifty-four millions nine hundred thoufand pounds, gave only feventy-eight millions; fo that the larger fum was borrowed on more favourable terms than the fmaller, by about fix millions. With refpect to the intereft of the debt, and the proportion it bears to the rental of the kingdom, Mr. Vanfittart replies thus. "As our bufinefs is with facts, I fhall not follow him farther in this loofe and uncertain fpeculation, than just to flate my opinion (not wholly unfounded) that he is mistaken to the amount of fome hundred thousands in a year, in the first article, and at least ten nillions in the fecond." Thus alfo, in every other infance, do we find that Mr. Morgan has fuffered his imagination to be mified by his apprehenfions, and that a very folid anfwer may be given to all his melancholy ftatements. But the most important part of the whole feems to us to be included in the following confiderations.

"But one very material inquiry, perhaps the moft material of all, remains behind.-Whether the expences of the war, however wifely planned and economically executed, are not fo great as to exhauft, in a dangerous degree, the refources of the nation? Whether we are not overftraining our finews, and verging to a flate of faintnefs and debility, by exertions beyond our ftrength? I am far from denying that our exertions have been great, or from maintaining that they ought to be continued one moment longer than that in which they can be put an end to with fafety and honour. Nor am I difpofed to add one to the number of thofe adventurous politicians, who have fpeculated on the extent and final term of our national refources. But I will point out fome obvious and apparent circumftances, which convince me that I was not too fanguine in my opinions two years ago, and that no efforts hitherto made are likely to prove fatal or dangerous to the public welfare. One circumftance, peculiarly interefting to an Englishman, is the ftate of our navigation and foreign trade; and in no particular were more deftructive confequences apprchended from the war. I ventured to contradict thofe gloomy apprehenfions; and my utmost hopes have been more than realized by the event. Contrary to the examples of all former wars (that glorious one excepted, which has already fhed immortal honours on the name of Pitt) our commerce has been extended beyond its utmost limits in the moft flourishing years of peace, during a war which has convulfed both the hemifpheres, and thaken the civilized world to its centre." Mr. V. then proceeds to ftate that one of the earlieft effects of a conteft, which in any great degree affects the national wealth, is to draw into the coffers of the ftate that money which would otherwife have been employed by individuals in works of public utili y and improvement: in which cafe no new enterprifes are undertaken, and thofe which have been begun are feebly carried on and gradually fufpended, generally with the ruin of their undertakers." This was remarkably the cafe in the American war. But now, though during the continuance of the late fuch peace plans had been adopted, of agricultural improvement, of roads and bridges, of canals, &c. &c. as exceeded all example or imagination

of