Tectory, and by her exclusion from the Congress of Rastadt, he admits that we have at last displayed our true character, and shewn ourselves worthy of our former fame.

The subsequent chapters treat of the conduct of Holland and Belgium, Spain and Portugal, Switzerland and Italy, and Turkey and Poland. They display a very extensive knowlege of the interests of those respective powers, of the conduct which they have pursued, and of the principles which have actuated them in the course of the war. They manifest sagacity and talent, but they betray an exasperated, partial, and intemperate spirits particularly the concluding chapter; in which we find, summed up in one apostrophe, the moral of the piece : “ Yes, sovereigns and nations; Fon or the French Republic must perish !"

We cannot take leave of this work without translating the following curious parallel between the monarchic and modern republican systems of government :

• The anrient governments, under which Europe has risen to the highest pitch of glory and happiness of which history has left us a description, rest on a tacit contract between the sovereign and the people; and the Supreme Being, to whom each party appeals to sanction and to guarantee this sacred compact, seems to communicate to it his own immutability. An unison between the policy and the religion of the state gives to the social edifice the solidity of an au. gust temple; and the security of property is the natural result of the permanence of the government, whose interest it is to protect and preserve the possessions of its subjects. Under these, man may attain che highest degree of honour and of fortune : but the paths which conduct him thither are æconomy, labour, science, talents, and above all, patience :-paths which are indeed long and difficult.

• The representative system, on the contrary, establishing as a : principle that the multitude is the supreme arbiter of the nature and the form of the government, and is not necessarily connected with nor bound to it, renders its form and its existence precarious. Governors and magistrates are thus but the slaves of the blind multitude. They therefore apply themselves to corrupt and flatter it, and soon learn to consider it as their most cruel enemny. Immediately, they begin to precipitate their people into the most absurd and dangerous enterprizes. If fortune favours these, they breathe as long as brilliant success attends their efforts :—if divine justice, or the wrath of irritated nations, sweep them from the face of the carth, their governors still triumph, and smile when they see the heads of their enemies fall by thousands. Such a government has no other allies than war and pestilence. Without power to protect itself, how should it be able to cause the property of others to be respected ? Under the unsteady sceptre of such a government, life to the good is a punishment,-and to the wicked only a short passage, not worth the care of regulating. The bold intriguer ascends with rapid step towards fortune and honours: but, when he has gained the summit, he is hurled down by some still bolder adventurer who has trodden in his footsteps.'

This tract was written, as we are told, in the beginning of the year 1798. The reader of it will regret that its observations, in many in stances, relate to a state of things which has since that time been materially changed.

Wall..e. Art. 40. Substance of the Speech of His R. H. the Duke of Clarence,

in the House of Lords, on the Motion for the Recommitment of the Slave Trade Limitation Bill, 5th July 1799 : published at the Request of the West India Merchants and Planters, and the Mer. cantile Interest of Liverpool. 8vo. 2s. Rivingtons.

This speech does considerable credit to the industry and research of the royal orator. The Duke of Clarence appears very sincerely to have opposed the total abolition of the slave trade, and adduces several arguments to prove that the traffic is carried on by the British merchants with more attention to the comfort of the slaves, than is paid by those of any other country engaged in it ;-—and that, while the Africans continue in their present state of gross barbarity, the abolition of the trade for slaves could not promote the cause of humanity, while it would materially injure the West India merchant and planter; who, on the faith of Parliament pledged to secure to them a right of importing LABOURERS from Africa, have at present engaged in West India plantation a capital of above 80,000,000 l.

That the negroe slave is better treated by the British mercliant3 and planters, than by those of other countries, is very probable : but that they do not enjoy such a degree of comfort, as we should wish that creatures sharing in human form should enjoy, seems to be fully proved by a fact admitted by his Royal Highness, viz.--the continued necessity of annually supplying, by fresh imports, the defi. ciency of their propagation. Nothing but an extreme degree of suffering could counteract the first and strongest impulses of nature ; and not only prevent the increase but cause an uniform diminution of the species.

DO Art. 41. The Terms of all the Loans which have been raised for the

Public Service during the last fifty Years :-with an Introductory
Account of the principal Loans prior to that Period, and Ob-
servations on the Rate of Interest paid for the Money burrowed.
By J.J. Grellier. 8vo. 18. Johnson, &c. 1799.

The title of this pamphlet fully discloses the nature of its contenis. To those who study the history of finance, it will afford interesting information; and even with a view to the general history of the empire, it is not without its use. On perusal of it, the reader will probably be struck with the evorinity of the sums which have annually been borrowed since the commencement of the present war. They appear conspicuously prominent in the following abstract of the loans since 1750, which we collect from the work. 1750 1,000,000 1759 6,600,000 1768 1,900,000 -51 2,100,000

-60

8,000,000 -69 none 52

12,000,000 -70 -53

-62 12,000,000 -71 54 -63 - 3,500,000

none 55 1,000,000

- 64
none

none -56 2,000,000 -65 none

-74 none -57 3,000,000

none

-61

none

none

none

none

73

.

1777 5,000,000 | 1785 none

1793 4,500,000 -78 6,000,000 --86

none

-94

I1,000,000
-79
7,000,000

-87
none

-95

18,000,000
-80 12,000,000

--88
none

-96

25,500,000
-81
12,000,000

- 89 1,002,500-97 32,500,000
- 82

13,500,000 - 90 none -98 17,000,000 -83 12,000,000 -91 none

-99 20,500,000
-84 6,000,OCO-92 - none

Wall..e.
IRELAND.
Art. 42. Strictures on the proposed Union between Great Britain and

Ireland; with Occasional Remarks. By Nicholas Gay, Esq.
F. R. S.- Qui Mores Hominum multorum vidit & Urbes.-8vo.
js. 6d. Stockdale. 1799.

This writer, who is friendly to an Union, recommends the mea-
sure by arguments of such an odd cast, that if they do not convince
they will certainly divert the reader. We here find, in the small
space of 38 pages, not only arguments for an Union, but also a
sketch of Wales, Liverpool, Birmingham, the North of Ireland, &c.
&c. &c. interspersed with a variety of observations on whiskey, Irish
cars, English carts, waggons, hard roads, good inns, ditches,
churches, oratorios, &c. &c. Every one will admit that here is
enough for money !-In this discursive way, however, the author shews
his good intentions towards his native land of Ireland, by offering
many remarks tending to the improvement of that country, which
deserve attention.

ID:
The Power of Parliament considered, in a Letter to a
Member of Parliament. 8vo. PP. 32. No Price, nor Book-
seller mentioned. London. 1799.

This animated but unknown writer discusses the question so much
agitated on the other side of the water, “ How far the power of
Parliament is competent to the transfer of its authority ?” This im-
portant point, on which the proposed Union so materially hinges,
is here decided in the negative, and we must acknowlege, though
confessedly well wishers towards the great and adventurous measure,
that the present investigation is conducted with most respectable
ability. The author's motto, from Junius, is very apposite to the
design of his Letter : “The power of King, Lords, and Commons,
is not an arbitrary power. They are the trustees, not the owners
of the estate. The fee-simple is in vs. They cannot alienate, they
cannot waste.'
Art. 44. Constitutional Objections to the Government of Ireland by a

separate Legislature, in a Letter to John Hamilton, Esq. occa-
sioned by his Remarks on a Memoir on the projected Union.
By Theobald M.Kenna, Esq. 8vo. Pp. 85. Dublin. 1799.

Mr. M Kenna is one of those writers who recommend a legisla.
sive incorporation of the two countries, chiefly by shewing that
the present constitution of Ireland is that of complete subserviency

to Great Britain ; that pretended Independent Ireland is but a pro· vince of the British empire, as Spain and Achaia were provinces of

Art. 43

1

Rome;

My Henry Maddock, jom?

Eqt of Lincoln Inn.

1/6 Debrett

Rome; that this subserviency of Ireland cannot favourably affect
the public;' that the Parliament of Ireland cannot pretend to be a
popular delegation; that the Irish Houses of Parliament cannot
wisely and beneficially legislate for their country, because they are
partial and liassed; that the only token of independent or para-
mount power, which they possess, is the droit de potence, or the right
of gibbeting the people; what they possess no affectionate solicitude for
their constituents; that the result of their legislative labours is but
to have created or cherished a state of society in Ireland marked by
an eternal struggle between the rich and pour, not unlike the wars
waged between the Indian Tribes and the back settlements of Ame.
rica ;' that, in the agency of the Irish Parliament, a competent cause
may be assigned for the ill-condition of its subjects ; that the Irish
Parliaments have an interest distinct from that of the nation, as the
French nobility bad an interest distinct from that of the people ; that
they form the centre of a system, which, like the late Court of
France, goads and irritates the people, and which can never cease to
draw down on Ireland a repetition of the disasters which she has
witnessed ;-in a word, that the Irish government is an oligarchy
adverse to the body of the people.

We acknowlege that this tone of argument, designed to recom-
mend an Union, appears to us highly injudicious ; because it seems
difficult to conceive that it does not immediately tend to palliate or
justify the past, and to stimulate to new, rebellions. How much
more prudent is that reasoning, which, throwing a veil over the follies
or the vices of the Irish legislature, (if indeed that legislature be
stained by vices and by folly,) confines itself to recommend this
favourite measure by proving that it tends to add new strength to the
empire, and new sources of industry and wealth to the Irish people.
On these topics, however, Mr. M.Kenna scarcely touches. He de.
lights to soa: in the high regions of political metaphysics; and to
indulge in profound speculation on the operations of abstract prin-
ciples ;-or, if he condescends to notice inatters of fact, it is but to
accumulate those which may illustrate most strongly the degraded,
slavish, miserable, and oppressed state of his country, and may heap
disgrace and odium on its legislature. Is it prudent in gentlemen,
who argue for committing the interests of Ireland exclusively to a
British government, (for such in substance will be the effect of an
Union,) to persuade Ireland that a Parliament, admitted by their
own argument to have been the instrument of that government, has
generally been the bane and scourge of the country?

We beg pardon of Mr. M.Kenna for these observations ;-if they
appear to be severe, we can plead in excuse that his work fell under our
notice immediately after we had perused what we conceive to be a
much more able composition on the same subject—the speech of
Mr. Sylvester Douglas; (see p. 167 of this Review,) and by which,
possibly, we may have been led to regard the remarks of Mr.M-Kenna
with a less favourable eye than we should have otherwise done.

Wall..e.
MEDICAL, &c.
Art. 45. The Hygrology, or Chemico-Physiological Doctrine of the
Fluids of the Human Body: Translated from the Latin of J. J.
6

Plenck,

Plenck, of Vienna, Professor of Cheroisiy, &c. By Rubert
Hooper, of Pembroke College, Oxford, M.D. F.L.S. F.L.M. S. .
and Honorary Member of several Societies. Svo. PP. 270. 55.
Boards. 'Boosey. 1797-
On this work of the celebrated Plenck, the translator remarks that

• The analysis of the Human Fluids, according to the laws of modern chemistry, has been, for some time, a desideratum in media cine; but until the present publication, no writer has exhibited a complete view of the subject.

• The great experience of the learned author, from his situation as Public Professor of Chemistry, and the luminous order and perspicuity which is seen in every part of the following Treatise, cannot but render it extensively useful in a chemicaland physiological pointof view.

• No writer ever possessed, in an higher degree, the spirit of analysis: rich in matter, and concise in description, he every where unfolds to his readers, with perspicuity and order, the nature and qualities of the subject on which he treats.

• The subsequent work is principally designed as a compendium, or text book, to the more elaborate labours of modern chemists, who have, in part only, exainined the properties of some particular fluids of the body ; but it is to be hoped, that it may further excite physiçians, to elucidate the nature and office of the animal fluids, by this mode of analysis, and lead to a clearer conception of the Animal Economy.

• It will also serve as an useful introduction to the general patho. fogy the respectable professor promises; which is likely to prove of great utility in the practice of medicine.'

From the examination into which M. Plenck has here entered, respecting the various fluids of the human body, we shall select that which he has advanced on the Nervous Fluid.

• The Nervous Fluid. An extremely subtile liquid, contained in the very minute canals which form the medulla of the cerebrum, cerebellum, medulla oblongata, medulla spinalis, and nerves.

• The SecretING Organ is composed of the extremities of the arteries which form the vascular cortex of the cerebrum, cerebellum, and medulla spinalis.

• But the medulla spinalis is internally vascular, and externally medullary; that the spinal nerves may not have to pass through the cortical substance.

• The nervous liquid appears to exhale from the extremities of the nerves. The lassitude and debility of muscles from too great exercise, and the dulness of the sensorial organs from excessive use, would seem to prove

this. • It has no SMELL nor Taste; for the cerebrine medulla is insipid and inodorous. Nor has it any colour, for the cerebrum and nerves are white.

• It is of so subtile a consistence, as never to have been detected.

• Its Mobility is STUPENDO US, for in less than a moment, with the consent of the mind, it is conveyed from the cerebrumn to the muscles, like the electric matter.

• Whether the nervous fluid bé carried, from the organ of sense in the sensorial nerves to the cerebrum, and from thence in the motory perves to the muscles, cannot be positively affirmed, but may be proved.

• The ConstITUENT Principles of this liquid are perfectly unknown, as they cannot be rendered visible by art, or proved by exi Riv. Oct. 1799,

R