The object of the three first reports, of which the laft is the most important, is to fhow, that the ci-devant king had not taken a part merely paffive, but that he had uniformly difcouraged the wishes of the people, and favoured the enemies of liberty; and that he had, as well by what he had done, as by what he had omitted to do, greatly endangered the public fafety.-2. That for fuch crimes the lofs of a fceptre, "qui lui devoit être odieux, par ce qu'il n' étoit pas de fer," was not an adequate punishment, and that the national convention was competent to decide on his fate. We fhall not trouble our readers with a detail of the arguments, or fophifms, by which these charges were supported, of the infufficiency of which, even the perfons by whom they were urged, appear to have been convinced. One of them, at least, M. DufricheValaze, deputy for the department of l'Orne, obferves, " que fon rapport eft très-imparfait, & qu'il eft réduit à regretter qu'il n'offre point toute la noirceur de l'ennemi commun; mais que s'il eft facile de foupçonner davantage, il eft peut-être impoffible de recueillir plus de preuves, quand on ne les doit qu'au hafard."

Among those who, allowing, at leaft in appearance, the charges brought against the king, thought, however, that it would be not lefs illegal, than imprudent in the national convention to inflict on him any other punishment, than that which he had already undergone, Claude Fauchet, deputy of Calvados, expreffes himself in the following words, which, for the fake of accuracy, we fhall transcribe in the original language:

Faites tomber fur l'échafaud," fays he, "cette tête, qui eft pour les émigrés, pour les tyrans de l'Europe, & pour les ariftocrates internes, la tête de Medufe: leur efpérance renaît, leur audace est ranimée; l'idée de la royauté replacée fur la tête d'un jeune innocent, gagne des profelytes; la ftupeur qu' infpiroit la criminelle abfurdité du père, fe change en attendriffement pour l'intéreffante innocence du fils; les ames énergiques des confpirateurs, & les foibles ames des bonnes gens, fe raillient & s'encouragent. Les troubles qu'on veut éviter feroient inévitables; & la faction royale, qu'on ne doit pas avoir à détruire deux fois, néceffiteroit encore une large effufion de fang dans la république. Repréfentans de la France, voulez-vous épargner cette crise à la patrie, & cette dernière tragedie à l'humanité? gardez le ci-devant roi.

Je ne ferai pas au comité de legiflation, au rapporteur, & à la nation Françoise, l'injure de combattre l'idée jettée en avant fur le voile que la liberté étend quelquefois, dit un publicifte cité, fur la fainte image de la juftice, comme pour faire entendre que l'innocence même pourroit bien être facrifiée au repos de la patrie. Le repos de la patrie dans la juftice violée! le repos de la patrie dans un crime national! le repos de la patrie dans une fanglante infamie qui feroit horreur à toute la terre! Citoyens, la juftice, la fageffe, le courage, voilà le repos de la patrie.

Vous êtes bien loin de penfer que vous fervez les deffeins des deux claffes d'adverfaires, qui reftent à la patrie: les anarchistes manifeftes, & les aristocrates cachés.-Ils comptent bien que le fang du cidevant roi coulant illégalement, je le répete, parceque la loi contraire, malgré toutes les interprétations & fubtilités, eft formelle, illégalement fur l'échafaud, rien ne fera plus facré: ni les loix, ni les perfonnes, pour

la

la claffe d'hommes perdus qui vont au crime, comme les heros à la vice toire. Les innocens de la famille ci-devant royale feront égorgés; & les meurtriers exécrables appelleront cet attentat contre la jufticę éternelle, un grand fervice rendu à la nation. Ils lui en rendront d'autres plus importans encore dans le même genre; ils nommeront factieux, royaliftes, traîtres, les républicains fages & séveres qui invoqueront les loix; ils en débarafferont la patrie.

reur

-Les feconds, les aristocrates cachés, defirent auffi le jugement & là mort du ci-devant roi, foit qu'on égorge enfuite fon fils, foit qu'il furvive. Ils efperent que les puiffances neutres feront elles-memes entraîneés par cet évenement dans la caufe des princes; qu'un mouvement d'horcontre une nation qui paroitra avoir violé fes propres loix pour affouvir fes vengeances, armera contre nous, du midi au nord, toute l'Europe; qu'une forte agitation anarchique dans l'intérieur de l'empire rendra notre defense impoffiffible, et le fuccés de nos ennemis facile et fur. Voilà leurs projets, voilà leurs efpérances!" in which they have certainly not been difappointed.

The citizen Giraud, député des Côtes du Nord, maintained the fame opinion, as will appear from the following extracts from his report: "Confidéré," fays he, "fuivant les rapports du droit naturel ou des préceptes de morale, Louis eft un des plus grands coupables qui puiffe exifter. Mais le roi, & vous-memes fe trouvent à une distance prodigieufe des regles communes.

"Les préjugés de fon éducation, confondus en quelque forte avec les fibres du cerveau, cette idolatrie fervile du peuple, à laquelle il étoit accoutumé dépuis fon enfance; le fang circulant dans fes veines, qui par une efpece de levain héreditaire, l'avoient condamné à être le jouet de ces funeftes impreffions; toutes ces chofes enfin, dépendantes de la fortune, ou, fi vous voulez, de cette fatalité qui régit & entraine l'univers; toutes ces influences, dis-je, auxquelles il n'a pas été en fon pouvoir de fe fouftraire, établiffent du moins un contrepoids puiffant aux crimes qu'on reproche à Louis XVI. fi elles ne font pas capables de les atténuer.- Dans la fituation où il eft parvenu à l'existence, dans les principes, où il a été nourri, il n'a pas pu, n'a pas dû même fe comporter autrement qu'il ne l'a fait.

"Il a violé, difons-nous, la conftitution qu'il avoit juré de maintenir.. Mais dans fes idées, la conftitution n'étoit qu'un renversement, de tous les droits du trône, confacrés par une fuite immense de fiécles; & fes fermens, dictés par une impérieuse néceffité, en legitimoient l'infraction à fes yeux."

As a fpecimen of the mode of reasoning adopted by those who faw the matter in another light, we fhall quote part of the report of Roberfpierre, made at the fitting of the third of December: "Ou Louis déjà eft condamné," fays he, " ou la république n'eft point encore abfolute; car fi Louis pouvoit encore être mis en juge ent, il pourroit être declaré innocent; il est même prefumé tel jufqu' à fon jugement. Or, tant qu'il eft préfumé innocent, la revolution eft incertaine, & les amis de la liberté ne font que des confpirateurs." Agreeably to this doctrine, he demanded that the ci-devant king fhould be put to death without further judgment or delay. Louis," adds he, "doit mourir, par

66

ce qu'il faut que la république vive.”

We shall not increase the length of this article by an enumeration of he charges brought against Louis XVI. as they are here ftated; we shall nly obferve, that if fuch arguments were attended to, we cannot be furprifed, that the king, aware of the inefficacy of the exertions of his friends in his favour, fhould have anfwered, "Citoyens, peut-être eft ce pour la derniere fois que je vous parle; mais ma confcience ne me reproche Efprit de Journ.

rien.

GERMANY.

ART. 31. Handbuch zur Erklaerung des Neuen Teftaments für Ungelehrte. Explanation of the N. T. for the unlearned. 1. Th. 312. II. Th. 318 pp. in 8vo. Leipfig, 1793.

Though we are no where told that the prefent work is to be afcribed to the author of the Exegetifches Handbuch des N., T. already published, it is evident, from a variety of circumftances that this is the cafe. The tranflation adopted in this book is that of Luther, corrected, where, in the judgment of the author, it was thought neceffary. The explanations, which are in general well felected, have the further recommendation of perfpicuity and concifenefs: indeed the ftyle of the author in the book itself, is more natural and eafy than we were led to expect from the dedication and preface. On paffages which admit of feveral interpretations, he has very judiciously enumerated thefe in an hiftorical way only, without deciding on their comparative merit: as, for inftance, in Matt. iv. on the temptation of our Lord, and on the demoniacs.

The first volume contains the Four Gofpels, the fecond the Acts of the Apoftles, together with the Epiftle to the Romans, and the First Epiftle to the Corinthians, fo that the work will be concluded in the Goett. Anz.

next.

ART. 3

32. Abrifs einer Naturgefchichte des Meeres, von Fr. Wilh. Otto. Erftes Bändchen. 206 pp. in 8vo.

Abridgment of the Natural History of the Sea, by F. W. Otto. First Part. Berlin, 1793.

This volume treats of the Ocean, its relation to the land, its bottom, fhores, water, the colour of the water, its tafte, weight, temperature, general motion from east to west, with its waves and tides, according to the obfervations not only of philofophers, who have written exprefsly on these fubjects, as Boyle, Marfigli, Popowitfch, but likewife of the authors of different voyages and travels, terminating with an explanation of the tides according to the doctrine of Sir Ifaac Newton, (which appears to agree in general with that of Sim. Stevin, annexed to his Geography) drawn up in a clear and intelligible manner, and illuftrated by a diagram.

Ibid.

ART. 33. Unterfuchungen ueber die Franzöfifche Revolution, nebft kritifchen Nachrichten von den merkwürdigften Schriften, welche darüber in Frankreich erschienen find. Von A. W. Rehberg, 1fter Th. 256 pp. Hanover und Ofnabrück.

in 8vo. 1793.
BRIT. CRIT. VOL. I. JULY 1793.

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Examination

Examination of the French Revolution, with Critical Accounts of the moft remarkable Writings, which have appeared on that Subject in France, by A. W. Rehberg, &c.

Ibid.

This firft volume of a very ufeful and generally interefting work is fubdivided into four parts: 1. On the firft Principles of the Syftem of Government, which has of late prevailed in France;-2. On the Grounds of Civil Equality among Men, and the Right of the People, founded in that E quality, to form fuch a Government for themselves;-3. On the Conftitution given to that Country by the National Convention in 1791; -4. On the Annihilation of the Ancient Orders of Nobility, preparatory to the Introduction of a new Political Syftem, fuited to the Doctrine of Univerfal Civil Equality. Under thefe heads are examined, in an impartial and methodical way, the principal books which have been published in France on the fubje&t of the revolution, from which either a knowledge of the events themfelves, or of the new opinions, which had given rife to them, was to be derived, and accounts of which had already appeared feparately in different periodical works.

The fecond volume will contain a further enquiry into the grounds of the doctrines by which the new fyftem is fupported, with a view to fhew their reasonablenefs or abfurdity, and the poffibility of applying them to practice: to which will be added, An Appendix, wherein the merits of those writings on this revolution, which have appeared in other countries, will be difcuffed.

Ibid.

ART. 34. Xav. Gmeineri inftitutiones juris Ecclefiaftici ad principia juris naturæ civitatis methodo fcientificâ adornatæ, & Germanice accommodata. Tom. I. Complectens jus ecclefiafticum publicum. 336 pp. Tom. II. III. Complecientes jus ecclefiafticum privatum. 662 pp. Ed. tertia, aucta & emendata. 8vo. Gräz.

If the ecclefiaftical law of the Roman Catholics be in its own nature confufed, we muft freely confefs, that the difficulties by which the ftudy of it is embarraffed, are not likely to be removed by the prefent work. It is extraordinary, therefore, that in a country where the more valuable writings of a Von Riegger, an Eybel, and others on the same subject, are generally and defervedly etteemed, fuch an uninterefting and illdigefted performance as this before us, fhould have made its way to a third edition. In the canon law it may, perhaps, fometimes be allowed to deduce fuch inferences, as in other fciences the premifes would not properly warrant; we cannot, however, believe, that when the author, intending to prove that St. Peter fixed his feat at Rome, grounds his affertions on 1 Pet. v. 13. where, as well as in Revelation xvii. 5. by Babylon we are to understand Rome; or, when in order to demonftrate that certain defects of body or mind are to be regarded as difqualifications for facred functions, he endeavours to establish this doctrine by fhewing that man is a machina mechanico-pyrobolico-hydraulica, of which if any part is either wanting or imperfect, the whole becomes a corpus non integrum, and, therefore, unfit for the difcharge of fuch duties; we cannot, I fay, conceive that the reader will be fatisfied with thefe conclufions, or that he will form any other than an unfavourable idea of the general execution of the work.

Ibid.

ART. 35

Gründliche Gefchichte der Türken, überfetzt von dem Italienifchen des Abt. Beccatini, mit anmerkungen. 8vo. Leipfig. Authentic hiftory of the Turks, tranflated from the Italian of the Abbé Beccatini, with remarks, Vol. I.

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The space of time comprehended within the limits of this important history is divided into three periods. The firft defcribes the progrefs of the Ottoman empire, to its greatest degree of power under Mahomed II. diftinguifhed by the taking of Conftantinople in 1453, and by the conqueft of Hungary in the following century. In the fecond riod, the Ottomans are Aill animated with the fame courage and with the fame fpirit of conqueft, but their government, exhauited by the agitations of fanaticifm, now begins to feel the approach of old age; and not poffeffing fufficient ftrength for the management of its numerous vaffals, revolts imperfectly fuppreffed are repeated, with additional confidence; and the world is convinced by these reiterated fhocks of the poffibility of the fall of this formidable coloffus. The third period which takes in the prefent century, reprefents this empire in fuch convulfions, as demonftrate that it will not much longer be able to refift the efforts of European tactics and difcipline, if the other combined powers fhould allow its neighbours to opprefs it with their united force.

The author has endeavoured to prefent his readers with certain and well-authenticated facts only, without pretending to dive into the fecrets of the interior of the feraglio, with which even those who are immediately connected with the agents in the Turkish government are often very imperfectly acquainted; and the conclufions, which he draws from thefe facts, are fuch only, as, in his judgment, they will fully juftify. With refpect to the notes, we fhall only obferve, that they contain much ufeful information, collected from the beft authorities, and render this tranflation, to thofe who understand the German language, much more valuable than the original itself.

Oberdeutfche aug. litt. zeitung.

ART. 36. Ecloga veterum poëtarum Latinorum, cum adnotatione F. G. Doeringii. Gotha, 1793. 384 pp. in 8vo.

The

This is one of the many Chreftomathie publifhed in Germany, with a view to reduce the expence of education, which would of courfe be greatly increafed by the purchase of the entire works of thofe authors from whom fuch compilations are made. In the prefent felection, however, the editor has very judicioufly confined himfelf to the minor poets, being unwilling to prevent the claffical ftudent from reading thofe of more eftablished character in toto. pieces, which conftitute the prefent volume are, I. Elegiac Poets: the 10th Heroide of Ovid, Ariadne to Thefeus; from the A. A. iii. 685-746; the Story of Procris; the Regifugium from Faft. 685-852; the Floralia v. 159-378; Epiftola ex Ponto iii. 2; to Cotta, with the Story of Oreftes and Pylades; Tibullus i. 3. i. 1. ii. 2. iii. 2; Propert. iii. 1o. iv. 9. 11; Catullus 65, to Hortulus; 68, to Manlius.-II. Epic Poets: two Fragments of Ennius; Lucan vi. 670 fqq. Valer. Flacc. iii. 481-614; Stat. Sylv. ii. 4. v. 4. Theb. x. 75-151; Silvis xv. 18-121; & Claudian x. 47-171; with notes felected from the most approved commentators, and an accurate index to the whole.

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