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ftrike every man who is acquainted with the original. The author gives a full defcription of that fink of abomination the Palais Royal, lately the Palais d'Egalité, but now the Palais du Tribunat, (from its being the place in which the Tribunes hold their fittings), though, fill generally diftinguished by its original appellation. Mr. H. derives fome confolation from the fablishment of popular affemblies, though he admits, they have nothing more than the appearance of authority." They are there," he fays, "and time and increafing wifdom will do the reft." We fufpect he is a bad prophet; and that he would have been nearer the truth, if he had faid, they are there, but will not long remain there; and if he had changed the word popular, as applied to them, for confular. He thus clofes his account of the Palais Royal.

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Having made the tour of the arcades, the franger is tempted to pafs into the gardens. His eye is attracted by numerous lights from the upper part of the building; efpecially from the range of first floors, where they are numerous, and of which the apartments appear to be spacious and magnificent. He enquires to whom they belong; and by people of what claffes and profeffions they are occupied? Unless he be himfelf a man of depraved appetites, the anfwer gives him pain that is agonizing in proportion as he thinks deeply. That fome fhould be restaurauteurs, and others coffee-houses, or rooms dedicated to scientific clubs, and literary focieties, is right; nay, is excellent: but that a still greater proportion fhould be devoted to the baneful practice of private and public gaming, and that all above, even to the attic ftory, fhould be the dens of proftitution and the moft incredible obfcenities, is knowledge that makes the foul fhrink into itfelf; and turn with affliction, deteftation, and difguft from the place."

This, with what follows on gaming, is the honeft language of indignant virtue; but Mr. Holcroft fhould not forget that the vices which he fo properly reprobates, are the neceffary confequence of one grand part of the revolutionary fyftem, adopted by the former mafters of the present First Conful, who ferved them with equal zeal and effect; we mean the truly diabolical fcheme for eradicating all religious and moral principles from the minds of the people-Demoralifer le peuple; a fcheme unhappily executed with too much fuccefs. When we deplore effects we should not lofe fight of causes: we now proceed with our extract;

"Thefe feelings, painful as they are, become indignant and almost tormenting, when it is further known that fuch places are not merely fuffered, becaufe government is too indolent, too bufy, or too weak, to repres them; but because government is bribed: becaufe government divides the wages of vice, the earnings of proftitution, the industry of cheating, and the spoils of the ruined. Oh, it is infamous, it is damnable! I care not what man, or what fet of men, on the face of the earth, may take offence; it is indignation I never will reprefs, never will conceal. There is not a father, if he be not a monfter, there is not a fingle friend to man, by whom this indignation is not felt. If the honeft in thought would but be honest in

fpeech

speech, vice would not dare thus openly to brave the world; and that government that thould licence it would crumble into duft."

Here we concur fully with the author, join in his indignation, and partake of his feelings. Yet is this the place which has been defcribed as one which" no station, no age, no fex, no temper, could ever leave without an ardent defire to return."!!! Our readers will recollect, that we long ago apprized them of this fcandalous practice of the French government.

There is a curious description given of the feast of the foundation of the republic, but more particularly of the annual exhibition of the inventions and manufactures of France, an exhibition the most ridiculous that can be conceived; and which affords a fingular proof of the propenfity of the French to convert the mereft trifles into objects of vast importance. We would willingly tranfcribe a part of this chapter, did not our circumfcribed limits forbid us.

Some juft remarks occur, in the 41ft chapter, on the ignorance or dishonesty of the French in their reprefentations of foreigners; and, among other inftances of the kind, Mr. H. mentions that, Chateau Briand, an emigrant who refided fome years in England, and who, of course, muft, we fhould fuppofe, know better, in order to characterize an English audience at a theatre, has inftanced a failor drinking punch in the pit. This is the man, who, in his work on Christianity, blafphemously termed the Creator" the Great old Bachelor of the Univerfe."! Our author, in the Spring of 1802, was fent for by a French lady, who received him in her bath, to inform him that a Monfieur Fiévé had been fent over to England, in confequence of the free remarks in the English papers on the character of the First Conful, and which had made a great fenfation at Paris.

"The republican party were anxious that the fame free inquiries fhould continue; and their opponents were equally zealous to have them fuppreffed. For this purpose the faid Mr. Fiévé had been dispatched to England; and the means to be employed were thofe of bribery: he was to purchase the filence of the papers that had given moft offence. She truly confidered fuch bribery as one of the vicious acts by which modern politicians, of all parties, endeavour to profit; and was defirous that I fhould convey the intelligence she gave me to the Editors of the English Journals."

This Mr. H. declined, juftly enough concluding that if any Journalist were so bafe as to be difpofed to accept the bribe, his interference would not change his difpofition. But he was rather hafty in his belief that no fuch man could be found. We were well informed of the object of Mr. Fiévé's miffion at the time, and, indeed, communicated the fact to our readers; and we could point out the papers to the proprietors or conductors of which application was made; fpecifying those by whom it was rejected; and him by whom it was accepted. The impudent letters which Mr. Fiévé published on his return, are properly characterised by Mr. Holcroft.

The

The appendix to the first volume contains "the heroic and glorious life of the Conful Bonaparte," in doggrel verfe; the regulations for the exhibition of the inventions and manufactures of France, and of the proceedings to be observed in the games, amufements, &c. on the anniversary of the foundation of the republic; and, ftrange to fay! an account of the boxing match, in Effex, between Belcher and` Firby, extracted from the Morning Chronicle. This account is-inferted as recording the progress of manners, it seems, but we must say, it is ftrangely out of place, and can be confidered only, as some other paffages we have marked, as a kind of set-off against the predominent vices of the French. In our next, we fhall accompany the author through his fecond volume..

(To be continued.)

An Account of the Cape of Good Hope; containing an Hiftorical View of its original Settlement by the Dutch, its Capture by the British in 1795, and the different Policy pursued there by the Dutch and British Governments. Also a Sketch of its Geography, Productions, the Manners and Customs of the Inhabitants, &c. &c. With a View of the Political and Commercial Advantages which might be derived from its Poffeffion by Great Britain. By Captain Robert Percival, of his Majefty's Eighteenth or Royal Irish Regiment; and Author of an Account of the Ifland of Ceylon. 4to. PP. 340. 11. Baldwin, 1804.

CA

NAPTAIN PERCIVAL does not, like Mr. Barrow,* enter into a defcription of the interior parts of the country contiguous to the Cape, but confines himself to an account of the manners, cuftoms, difpofition, and policy of the inhabitants of the Cape Town and its immediate vicinity; entering, however, into a minute and accurate estimate of the importance of this fettlement, confidered in a commercial, military, and political point of view. On this account the work is certainly interefting, and many of the observations which it contains are entitled to the ferious attention of our rulers.

The topography of the Cape is now fo well known to our countrymen that we shall not attempt to extract any part of our author's topographical descriptions, though they will be found highly useful to perfons who intend to vifit the Cape; but fhall chiefly confine our quotations and remarks to thofe parts of his work which are either connected with the estimate above-noticed, or which relate to the manners of the Colonists. The flaves who are employed to drive the heavy waggons which the colonifts ufe for travelling from place to place, have attained to a degree of skill in the management of the

* The Second. Volume of this very intelligent writer's travels we propose to notice in our next number.

horfes

horfes and oxen, by which they are drawn, that is truly aflonifh ing. But the means by which they attain it are fuch as no other peo ple, we hope and believe, would have recourfe to.

"It excites not only compaffion but horror to fee many of thofe unfor tunate beasts cut and mangled, as they are, in various parts of the body for a Dutch boor, or farmer, if he finds his cattle lazy, or stopping from fatigue, or where they meet with obftacles which their ftrength canno eafily furmount, will not hesitate to draw out his great knife, and score their flesh, or even cut flices off without mercy. Thefe wretched animals feem indeed to know their cruel mafier's intentions; for their fear and agi tation become exceffive when they obferve him taking out this inftrument, and rubbing it to (on) the waggon, as if making it ready for the purpose of tormenting them."

Such brutality is, indeed, moft revolting to humanity and the general character which Captain P. gives of this description of perfons is well calculated to excite averfion and even difguft. Every vicious propensity which avarice, almost invariably, engenders, is to be found in the Dutch inhabitants of the Cape. Nor were the women free from these disgusting defects. Speaking of a Dutch peafant who kept a public-houfe in the country, and who was almost starved before the arrival of the English troops, but who, during their refifidence in his neighbourhood, acquired a competency, by becoming futtler and baker to the troops, and keeping a house of refreshment for the officers, the author obferves,

"He had feveral daughters, whofe beauty deferved more to be praised than their civility and moderation; for, with an appearance of avarice, which would feem altogether fhocking to our countrywomen, thofe young girls took every opportunity to increase the charges of the houfe. When the landlord afked for his accommodation two rix-dollars, or two fhillings, they would, without hefitation, call out to him to demand four. This practice of inftigating to extortion, which is very customary among the housewives at the Cape, forms a remarkable and not a very pleafing feature in the character of the Dutch women."

The oppreffion of the natives by the Dutch is difgraceful to human nature. The Hottentots are reprefented as honeft, faithful, tractable, and docile, and capable of making most useful fervants and affiftants to the colonists, but rendered miferable by the tyranny and cruelty exercifed over them. These are carried to fuch an height, we are affured, that the defire most natural to the human race of propagating their fpecies, is, with them, extinct; and the women, Capt. P. fays, frequently "deprive themselves before marriage of the power of procreation;" though by what means he does not inform us. Strange to fay the Dutch, by a policy at once the most barbarous and the most strange, have laboured to change this excellent difpofition of the natives, left, forfooth, by becoming civilized they fhould ceafe to be obedient! What they would be, under a wifer and better government, the author tells us in the following paffage.

2

"Should

"Should ever the Cape fall permanently into the hands of Great Britain, those people under proper management, may (peed-ly arrive at a great degree of civilization. Their induftry may be excited, and be turned to produce the most important advantages to the colony. By inftructing them in the arts of husbandry, by accuftoming them to a mild and equitable treatment, by granting them thofe rights which ought to be common to the whole human race, although barbaroufly withheld from them by the Dutch; 'the Hottentots would fpeedily be allured from the remote parts and wilds of the interior of Africa, to colonize the country nearer the Cape. The progrefs of civilization, would foon infpire thofe already in the colony with confidence in themselves, as a people who have a certain part to act in life, and recover them from that ftate of utter degradation to which they have been reduced; while the knowledge of the comforts of life, and the means by which they are to be procured, would ftimulate them to exertions of which they are at prefent incapable. Let this mode of conduct be once adopted towards them, and its good effects will foon appear on the face of the country; advantages will speedily be obtained that perhaps have never hitherto even been thought of.

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The people of the interior, the Caffrées and Boschies, may in the fame manner be gradually conciliated, by promoting a friendly intercourfe between them and the Hottentots, hitherto under the authority of the Europeans, inftead of keeping up a defultory warfare against them, which cau never be attended with any good effects. Those people, like Cain, fly from the face of man, and with him they may juftly exclaim, "Where fhall I hide myfelf? my race is detefted, is accurfed; every man beholds me with deteftation, and feeks my deftruction." These ftrong terms do not overdraw the wretched ftate of the Hottentots, for the Dutch actually hunted them like wild beafts, and deftroyed them wherever they met with them. This naturally enraged the wild Hottentots, who had not yet all the feelings of men, and excited them often to make excurfions against both the Dutch planters, and those Hottentots who acknowledged their authority. Yet it was not for the fake of fhedding blood, nor from an im placable fanguinary difpofition, as the Dutch were willing to have it believed, that thefe unfortunate people made incurfions on their oppreflors; they feldom did fo, but to retaliate fome recent injury, to recover their cattle which had been torn from them, and to enforce their own fecurity in thofe wild and barren tracts, to which they had been driven. Thefe facts, difgraceful to the poffeffors of the Cape, will be confirmed by the united Leftimony of all who have long refided at this colony, and have candour enough to confels what they have witnessed."

An accurate account is given of the different roads by which the lofty mountain, called Table-Hill, may be afcended; and from the author's defcription of the noble view from its fummit, 4coo feet above the level of the fea, difficult and laborious as the afcent appears to be, no traveller who vifits the Cape would fail, we fhould think, to enjoy it. We do not recollect to have before feen any account of the following fingular complaint, and ftill more fingular mode of cure, which, it feems, are equally known to the Eaft Indies and to the Cape.

"The most dangerous of these swellings (in the legs) are occafioned by

worms

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