Page images
PDF
EPUB

chemistry fhould be fuppofed to have been formed into a fcience by Frenchmen only; and the difcovery of the compofition of the nitric acid

-one of the greatest of the age-was unfortunately made in England! Mr. Cavendish was the author of this difcovery, as well as of the difcovery of the compofition of water; and what is fomewhat extraordinary, no chemift of Paris contrived to put in his claim to a fhare of the honour of it.

Though the fame enlightened philofopher discovered the compofition of water, Lavoifier firft employed that discovery to fupport his theory of combuftion and oxygenation, whilft Meunier, one of his affociates, pretended to have inade the fame difcovery before he had heard of Mr. Cavendish's experiments. But the composition of the nitric acid was difcovered and made public, while the French chemifts were endeavouring to ascertain the nature of the gas, to which they had given the temporary name of azote; and hence, we fuppofe, they adopted hydrogen for the name of the gas denominated in England inflammable air, and retained the abfurd name of azote, rather than acknowledge their obligations to a foreigner.

Whatever be in this, by their perfevering affiduity they have been able to impofe their nomenclature upon all the nations of Europe; and fo different is it from all other nomenclatures, that to him, who has studied chemistry in the French fchool, the works of all former chemifts must be utterly unintelligible. On this account, as well as for their own intrinfic merit, the Lectures of Dr. Black ought to be carefully perufed; for he who has read them with due attention is equally prepared to ftudy the fyftems of the old and of the new fchool: they form indeed one of the most valuable elementary treatises that we have ever feen on any branch of phyfical science; but their value would be greatly heightened by an accurate and copious index. They contain innumerable facts and reafonings of great importance in the arts of life; but from the want of an index, the artist, who has read the book, and laid it afide, will not, afterwards, without fome trouble, find the fact of which he may be in queft; and that trouble is neceffarily augmented by the analytical form of the investigations, which, though unquestionably the beff for conducting youth through a fyftem of fcience, does not readily furnish the clue that leads to a particular fact when it is wanted.

Statifical View of France, compiled from authentic Documents. By the Chevalier de Tinfeau. Large 8vo. PP. 194. 10s. 6d. Printed for the Author, by W. Spilbury, Snowhill. 1803.

HE "Letter to Napoleone Buonaparte," reviewed in one of our late Numbers, made our readers perfectly acquainted with the principles, and the talents, of the truly refpectable author of the publication before us, who is one of the most honourable, the most able, and moft confiftent of all thofe unfortunate perfonages, whom a rooted

attach

tachment to the altar and the throne exposed to perfecution in their native country, and who have preferved that attachment inviolate, in misfortune and in exile. This Statistical View is a work of infinite utility, not only to the politician and the ftatefman, but to every defcription of perfons, at this critical period; as it furnishes a complete and authentic statement of the refources, in point of local fituation, of population, and of impofts, of that inveterate enemy, who has refolved on the destruction of this united empire. Truly does the Chevalier obferve in his "INTRODUCTION;"

"France is become the principal ftate of Europe. She maintains her pre-eminence by force and by terror; and in the first moment of general confternation, fuch is the afcendancy of the French Government over the other fovereigns of the continent, that in its refolutions, that is to fay, in the will of Buonaparte, they confider themfelves obliged to ftudy their deftinies. Nor is this monitrous authority lefs humiliating to thofe ftates in its forms, than fatal in its effects. A projet drawn up by Talleyrand,' in direct oppofition to the most folemn engagements recently entered into at Luneville, annihilates one hundred and fifty fovereigns, difplaces an equal number, throws all Germany into confufion, deftroys the confiitution of the Empire, faps the foundation of its moft ancient and moft general religion, and defpoils thoufands of individuals of their moft lawful poffeffions, without even making a provifion for their future fubfiftence. The mafter of the world caufes this fcandalous production, in which impudence disputes the palm with injuftice, to be read in the presence of that affembly of flaves and cut-throats, to which he has given the mock appellation of Senate. Like Jupiter, he expreffes his approbation by a nod; and it inflantly becomes an immutable decree, a law for Europe: all Germany must confent to it, without difcuffion or reflexion, and execute it without delay. The Emperor himself, the chief of the Germanic body, and the King of England, one of its principal members, whose polfeffions are transferred at pleasure, by an adventurer, without any other right or title than the baseness of his countrymen, and the pufillanimity of his adversaries, are not confulted, nor even made acquainted with the refolution. The Diet itself is only informed of it by means of the Confular Gazette, which a vile wretch, of the name of Bacher, throws infolently upon the table of its conferences. It is in the Moniteur, now become the book of deftiny, and the official register of the fupreme will of Buonaparte, that the Deputies of the Empire muft learn the fate of their fovereigns. The Princes of Germany are not better treated, than thofe wandering malefactors whom juftice has not been able to apprehend, and has folemnly banished. Like them, too, it is in the public papers, that these unfortunate fovereigns muft learn their profcription.

"Since then there is a state imperiously dictating fuch fevere laws to other nations, we cannot be made too much acquainted with its ftrength and refources. It is not, however, the object of the prefent performance to confider France in all her military, political, and commercial relations, with the reft of the powers of Europe. As France (without being a ftranger to commerce, for which the industry of her inhabitants and the abundance of her diverfified productions, fo well qualify her) is principally, from the extent of her territory and her vaft population, an agricultural and military fiate, the prefent work is confined to an expofure of the fundamental ele

NO. LXVII. VOL. XVII.

E

ments

ments of her power, by presenting an exact and fundamental view of her population, and of the manner in which that population is spread over her extenfive, fertile, and concentrated territory."

The Chevalier then proceeds to ftate, that the tables which he has prefented to the public were drawn up in the 10th year of the republic, by the command of the government, and under the direction of Abrial, the Minifter of Juftice, to whom they were dedicated by the authors, Chanlaire and Herbin. He affigns very fubftantial reasons for his conviction of their authenticity and accuracy, and clearly fhews, from a comparifon with Necker's account of the population of France, in 1783, that they were not framed for the purpose of exaggeration. From this comparifon it appears, that the population of most of the great towns have experienced a very confiderable diminution fincethe time when Necker wrote;-a diminution for which Mr. Tinfeau eafily accounts.

towns.

"For inftance, the maffacres of the wealthy manufacturers and other inhabitants of Lyons, has occafioned the migration of a vast number of journeymen and others. Lille and Sedan were likewife manufacturing The Court reñided at Verfailles. The maffacres and the destruction of the navy have thinned Toulon of one fourth of its inhabitants, Rennes was the capital of an extenfive province, the refidence of a numeFous Nobleffe, which has been either murdered or difperfed. Orléans contained a vaft number of fugar bake-houfes, and befides, a capital dépôt of maritime imports, &c. &c.

We have the following concife account of the prefent territorial divifion of modern France, and of the motives which influenced its adoption;-motives truly worthy the mind and principles of her prefent Ufurper.

For a correct acquaintance with the following tables, it will be neceffary to prefent the reader with a thort ketch of the prefent organization of France. This ftate is divided into one hundred and two departments,* being fo many totally diftinct provinces. Each department, is itself, fubdivided into three, four, or five districts, called communal arrondissements. Thele diftricts are, in their turn, fubdivided into cantons. Lastly, each canton is compofed of a certain number of communes; that is to fay, of towns and villages. A commune is fometimes a fingle town, and fometimes an union of feveral villages, poffeffing a mayor and a communal municipality. All the confiderable cities are divided into feveral communes. The defput would confider his precarious authority endangered by the re-union of the discontented inhabitants of an entire extenfive city. By means of this refinement upon the maxim of tyrants, divide and govern, the inhabitants of the fame town have ceased to be fellow-citizens.

"Each department is administered by a pretect, and as many fub-prefects as it contains diftricts. The details of the adminiftration defcends from the fub-prefects to the mayors, who are appointed by the defpot. Each district has a primary judicial tribunal, and each department a criminal tribunal. Every three departments poffefs a tribunal of appeal,

“The ix Piedmontefe departments are not included in this number."

which takes cognizance, by appeal, of all the caufes determined by the tribunals of the districts under its jurifdiction. Lastly, each canton has a justice of the peace. All the tribunals of appeal acknowledge a fuperior tribunal, called the Court of Cassation, poflefling the power of annulling the fentences of the tribunals of appeal which appear to it illegal, and of referring the examination of the cause to any other tribunal it shall please to appoint. All these judges are in a state of dependence upon the government; feveral have been punished for finding innocent, men who had been accufed by the government; and when the defpot is fearful of an oppofition to his vengeance, they are difplaced by fpecial commiffions.

"The prefects and the gendarmee are the two great fprings of the government. The prefects are appointed by Buonaparté, and can be re moved at his plealure. They enjoy his confidence, and exercise his authority in the provinces. The gendarmerie is compofed of about 20,000 men, horfe and foot, in twenty-feven divifions. Each gendarme is at once a fpy, and a fort of ambulating, armed juftice of peace, pollefling the power of arrefting whomfoever he pleafes, and. of paying domiciliary vifits all hours of the day or night.

"As to the political claffification of the French people into departments, diftricts and cantons, it is altogether unworthy of the fmalleft attention. They must not be confidered as the different claffes into which the citizens of a free state are fubdivided, for the purpofe of exercising their political rights with greater facility and public benefit; but rather as pens in which the matter keeps his cattle inclofed, for the purpofe of finding and counting them the more readily.

"To all these bleffings of French liberty, must be added that of the military confcriptions, which, at the moment when univerfal peace renders them leaft neceflary, amount to 140,000 men. Never did the Moloch of the Tyrians, nor the men-eating deities of the Mexicans, devour fo many human victims.

"Such is the faint outline of that wonderful fabric of human wisdom,' which fome men, whofe patriotifm confifts only in paying compliments to one another at taverns and public dinners, have dared to propofe to the people of England as the ne plus ultra of social felicity.”

1:

To the Honourable Charles James Fox we will fay, for contemplation, ev'n to madness!"

"Here's food

Of the tables themselves, which for their correctness and confequent utility, we strongly recommend to general attention, our readers may form a competent notion, from the author's brief defcription of them.

They are four in number, and the title affixed to each will fufficiently point out their object. I muft, however, make my readers acquainted with the geographical measure employed in them.

Hitherto, the measures adopted by the generality of nations, as well as the fubdivifions of thofe measures, were arbitrarily, or to speak more correaly, accidentally adopted; fuch are the English foot, the French toife, &c. The yard is divided into three parts, the toife into fix, the Rhinith foot into twelve, &c. Instead of thofe fundamental measures, arbitrarily taken and divided by every nation, the French have adopted one connected with the dimentions of the globe. This mealare, which they call metre, or measure

E 2

measure par excellence, from the Greek term μrgov, is the ten-millionth part of the fourth of the terreftrial meridian, which is, every one knows,. the diftance from the pole to the equator. This primitive meafure they have fucceffively multiplied or fubdivided by ten, in order to form the greater or finaller meatures, by analogy to the decimal fyftem of arithmetic, which is the numeration univerfally adopted in Europe.

A metre, as we have already seen, is the ten-millionth part of a quarter of the terrestrial meridian. One thousand metres, or a kiliometre, the geographical menfuration adopted by the French, is the ten-thoufandth part of the fame quarter of the meridian. order to find out the proportion between the kiliometre and the maritime or Italian mile (of 60 to degree, which is the geographical measure in most common ufe), it is to be obferved, that the number of miles which the quarter of the meridian contains is 60X90, or 5,400. The kiliometre accordingly is to a mile in the ratio of 5,400 to 10,000, or of 27 to 50: and the fquare kiliometre to the fquare mile, as 27827 to 50X50; otherwife as 729 to 2,500; that is to fay, very nearly as 7:24. Thus it follows, that 24 fquare kiliometres=7 fquare miles. Kiliometres accordingly may be reduced into fquare miles by multiplying the number by 7, and dividing the produce by 24.

[ocr errors]

Now, as a quarter of the meridian contains 2250 leagues, of 25 to a degree; a league is to a kiliometre, as 10,000 to 2250, or 40 to 9, which is the geographical measure in moft common ufe: confequently a fquare league is to a fquare kiliometre, as 408 40 to 9X9, or 1600 to 81; nearly

as 79 to 4.

66

The third table contains a lift of the five hundred principal cities and towns of prefent France, divided into fourteen claffes, according to the number of their inhabitants. The laft clafs contains thirty towns, which, although they contain lets than four thousand fouls, are too well known to be omitted.

"I have placed, at the conclufion of the work, two fuccinct tables, relative to the population of England properly fo called.

"This work is terminated by fome reflexions as to several uses to which thefe tables may be applied. No pains have been fpared to attain the greatest accuracy, the only merit of fuch a work."

At the end of the tables, is a fummary of the population of Great Britain and Ireland; which is, however, corrected, in respect of Ireland and Scotland, in the author's "Advertifement," prefixed to the volume.. From thefe documents it appears, that the united empire of Great Britain and Ireland contains a population of 15,031,338 fouls, being about three fevenths of the population of France, which amounts to 33,104,343 fouls. If the population, however, of the refpective colonies of the two countries were to be estimated, this fearful difproportion would vanish. On the increase of the population of France by recent conquefts, and on its comparifon with that of other countries, the Chevalier makes the following juft remarks:

"If now we deduct 5,114,419 fouls for 23,790 square miles, the extent of the conquered countries, we fhall find that the population of former France amounted to 27,989,924 fouls, over 161,810 fquare miles of territory, which was little more than 172 inhabitants for a mile;, whereas that of the conquered countries gives 215. Thus it appears that the population

of

« PreviousContinue »