part of its fubjects, on account of its late ufurpations.

It may be remembered that, in the year 1579, the Batavians elected a chief to fave them from flavery. The truft and title of Stadtholder are therefore as antient as the republic itself. The powers, however, conferred on this officer were confined to the direction of the forces by land and fea. This dignity was élective, and fubject to be fuppreffed, It was actually fuppreffed in the feventeenth century for the fpace of twelve years; viz. from 1660 to 1672. The people exprefsly referved to themselves the legislative, admini trative, and judiciary powers. But it is in vain that the people take precautions for dividing the powers and referving their rights: every clected chief inclines naturally to become abfolute matter whenever he finds an opportunity. If he has the force in his hands, he will foon make use of it as a proof of his right.

In 1747, the Stadtholder began to attack the Batavian conftitution, in rendering this dignity hereditary to all his potterity, male and female. This unconstitutional ftretch of power naturally difpleafed a people jealous of their liberty; it nevertheless did not occafion an explosion.

In 1787, the laft Stadtholder openly attacked the civil and political liberty of the Dutch. Not contented in being governor-general, captain-general, and grand-admiral, he would inuift upon influencing the legislative body, and the inferior adminiftrations. He fucceeded fo well in this view, that there remained in Holland neither legiflator, magiftrate, nor even burgomatter of the finalieft villages, but who were nominated by him or his partizans. The difcontented were about to rife in revolt, when the King of Pruffia fent the Prince fome of his troops, which, according to the language of defpotic princes, brought thofe people to reafon, who to loudly exclaimed against the flagrant ufpation. The Stadtholder enjoyed his newly affumed prerogations as long as he continued the firongeft; but no fooner did the French appear with the fcroll of "Liberty and Equality" on their arms, than he found himfelf the weaker, and, forefeeing what was likely to happen, offered to make peace with the invaders, which was denied him. He next

propofed an armistice, and this demand was rejected.

So much of the political state of Holland it was thought neceflary to lay before the reader, that he might not be at a lofs for the reafon why the French found rather allies than enemies in the Dutch people.

The above sketch of the late political condition of a country, once fo renowned for its courage and endurance, will account for the celerity with which Venloo, Nimuegen, Breda, and Grave, were taken by the Republicans.

This difpofition of the Dutch, fo obvioutly favourable to the French intereft, put the former on a footing of jealoufy and diftruit with the English. Indeed, this diflike went fo far as to give encouragement to a reprefentation made in print by the French author abovementioned, that at Nimeguen, on the night of the 8th of November 1794, when the English retired from the city, they drew back the bridge to the right of the river, burnt it, and left the Dutch only in the place: but, what is worse, the fame author affirms, that at the time the gates of the place were opened to the republican troops, and that they were poffeffing themfelves of Dutch foldiery who had furrendered in their boats, the English fired as well on them as on the French. It would be defirable to see these particulars contradicted, that an ill-will' might not be cherished and perpetuated between two nations fo long in amity with each other. When the armies of the Rhine and of the Sambre and Meufe had advanced proportionably forward, Pichegru left his retreat, and placed himfelf again at the head of the armies.

The rigour of the feafon had already fhewn itself, and flattered him with the hopes of realing his projects upon Holland. Early in December the Meufe was frozen over, and the ice was ftrong enough in many places to pafs over it; and, in a few days after, the Waal became a folid piece of ice. This incident was too favourable for the active mind of Pichegru to lofe a moment. He ordered the brigade of General Daendels, and that of General Often, to pafs the Meufe upon the ice, and proceed against the Ille of Bommel. The Hollanders made a very feeble refittance, and the garrifon of Fort St. André in a fhort time furren

dered. It is impoffible to fay whether the low fate to which the loyalty of the Dutch had fallen, or the low late at which the thermometer itood, contributed moft to this fpeedy conqueft. The former was at least at the point of perfect indifference, and the latter was feventeen degrees below the freezing point. Sixteen hundred prifoners were male on that day, and a great number of cannon and finall arms bedes ammunition were taken.

It might appear degrading to our own army, embarked m fo hopeless and unhappy a caufe, to delineate the progrets of the fuccefsful republicans at this time, and of courfe the correSpondent retreat of the British forces; first, under his Royal Highness the Duke of York, and afterwards under General Abercrombie. At all events, it must be irkiome to an English painter, however difpofed to be impartial, to find the prominent figure, being an enemy, derives its light from the obfcure polition of his friends. The French writers who have cele brated the achievements of their generals have been too apt to throw out infinuations against the English for the part they fuftained in this memorable campaign; for in ance, in the engagement which took place on the 11th of January, 1795, upon croiting the Waal, below Nimeguen, the fuccesful termination of which affair put an end to all chance of preventing the invation of every one of the United Provinces, one of the French hiftorians applauds the firmness of the Auftrians, while he insinuates that the refiftance of the English was feeble.

The entire fuccefs of the four brigades under the French generals Vandanme, Compere, Jordon, and Reunier, allowed Macdonald the facility of paffing the river at Nimeguen in the fmall boats with feveral companies of grenadiers, by which he policed hmielf of Fort Knoßemburg, the garrifon being obliged to abandon it.

As this la ftruggle of the allied armics failed of fuccefs, and was attended with the lofs of artillery, prifoners, ftores, &c. it was foon followed by deputations from the province of Utrecht to the French, by the departure of the Prince of Orange, by the capitulation of the province of Holland, and, laftly, by the entrance of the French into Amiterdam on the $6th of January 1795. After the

conqueft of the United Provinces, the Army of the North became difpufeable, except 25,000 men, which the two governments agreed thould be lert in Holland. The reft were employed in reinforcing the active armies.

Pichegru was now ordered to direc the movements of the army of the Rh no and Moelle. He nevertheless preferved the chief command of those of the Sambre and Meule, and of the North. The firft continued to have Jourdan at the head of it, and Morea was named General in Chief of that of the North.

On the Ift of April, Pichegru was called up to Paris to take the command of the armed force which was to be employed against the infurrection which threatened a new revolution. Paris was at this time declared to be in a state of fiege, and P.chegru, as General in Chief, marched against the infur gents in that part of the capital called the Cité, and thofe in the fection of Quinze-Vingts. Ile reported to the

Convention, that its orders were exe cuted; and, in confequence of this fpeedy fuppreffion of rebellion, the refractory members were trantported to Cayenne, whither, firange to tell, this General, a fhort time after, was (oh, firange reverie! oh, caprice of for tune!) himmelf ban thed.

Soon after this, he fell under fufpicion of having been tampered with by the banished royalifts. He was removed from the command of the armies, and Moreau fucceeded him. In the next year (the 5th of the Republic) he was chofen a deputy for the department of Aube, to replace the one-third of the Convention going out. He was elect ed pretident, and in the next month accufed the Directory of finifter and perfidious defigns, and propofed to de fine the contitutional limits of the goverument. Soon after this, placards were stuck up on the walls of Paris, figuifying, that the agents of the Pretender were active in opening the way to the return of royalty; that ImbertColomès, one of the members of the Council of Five Hundred, was the treaturer to Louis XVIII; and that Pichegru was implicated in this affair. He was immediately arrefted by General Angereau, and on the memorable day, 18th Fructidor (4th of September, 1797) was condeniued to be tranfported to Cayenne. Whatever might have been his defign, whether to plaes

himself at the head of the government, or to reinstate the banished family, there can be no doubt of his having held a correfpondence, through an intermediary channel, with the Prince of Condé. Ševeral letters were found in the porte-feuille of the Count Entraigues at Venice, containing the particulars of a converfation between Pichegru and the Count de Montgallard on the fubject of a counter revolution. The porte-feuille containing thefe documents was opened at Montebello, in the prefence of the Generals Bonaparte and Clarke; and if the papers contained in it were not fufficient to eftablish the facts alledged againit him, the countenance and aid he received from the diftinguished perfonages out of France, who had made him offers, confirmed the whole. This Occurrence contributed in a great degree to give effect to the meafures which Bonaparte adopted afterwards for poffeffing himfelf of the fupreme power, civil and military.

Pichegru was put on board the Vaillante, at Rochfort, and conveyed along with Barthelemy of the Directory, and many fufpected members of the legislature and others, to French Guyana.

The French are always ready at expedients; the General was not wanting in this refpect: he contrived to get away from his place of flavery, and, arriving in London, had an interview with Mr. Wickham and others in the then adminißration. On the very day he was obferved in our Houfe of Peers attending the debates, his name was infcribed on the lift of emigrants.

He was engaged by the English government to ahit the Auftrian armies with his advice, and alfo held conferences at Augiburg with MM. Precy and Dundré upon the intereft of the coalefced powers. Of the recent enterprize which occationed his falling into the hands of his implacable enemies, nothing ought to be faid but with great caution, and on the best authority, fince the lives of a great many perfons of distinction may be thereby farther endangered; fince it will be from the connection, or imputed connection, with the English government that the chief colour for condemning them will be drawn.

People are confiderably divided in opinion as to the cause of this General's death. We know that the prifons which contain great political captives are feldom without their mutes, who have the bowl, the dagger, or the bow-firing, always at hand. There are thofe, however, who find reafons enough for his committing fuch a fuicide, in his high fenfe of honour, of delicacy towards others, and of confifiency in his own conduct.

Thus ouc of the illuftrious modern generals, who had fo much diftinguished himself, and attached immortality to a name which, but for the French revolu tion, might never have been known, ended that life in a loathfomne prifon, which for feveral years of it had been glorioully fpent in camps and uninterrupted victories. Well may it be faid, "take phyfic, pomp," for ambi ton, that dropty of the toul, frequent. ly destroys the great, as well as its fuecefsful career often enflaves many.

beautiful lines take for example the following.

"Behind their leafy curtains hid

"The feather'd race, how ftill! "How quiet now the gamefome kid, "That gamboll'd round the hill!

"The fweets, that bending o'er their banks,

"From fultry day declin'd,
Revive in little velvet ranks,
"And scent the western wind.

"The moon, preceded by the breeze
"That bade the clouds retire,
"Appears among the tufted trees
"A Phoenix neft on fire.

"But, foft! the golden glow fubfides,

"Her chariot mounts on high; "And now in filver'd pomp the rides "Pale regent of the sky. "Where time upon the wither'd tree "Hath carv'd the moral chair, I fit, from bufy paffions free, "And breathe the placid air. "The wither'd tree was once in prime, "Its branches brav'd the fky : "Thus, at the touch of ruthless time, "Shall youth and vigour die."

You will, I apprehend, agree with me, that the idea contained in the clofing lines of the third fianza is exquifite, and highly poetical; nor is that of the moral chair lefs beautiful: they both evince a tender fenfibility in the mind of the author, and an accurate obfervance of nature. I believe them both to be original, at least as far as my acquaintance with poetical imagery enables me to fpeak. The aptness of his comparifons, too, of the moral and the natural world are expreffive, and always fpeak a heart feelingly alive to the more tender connections of fociety. What, indeed, can be more beautiful than the following fimile?

Sleep and her fifter Silence reign; "They lock the thepherd's fold: "But, hark! I hear a lamb complain; ""Tis loft upon the world!

"To favage herds that hunt for prey

"An unrefifting prize; "For having trod a devious way "The little rambler dies.

"As lucklefs is the virgin's lot

"Whom pleasure once mifguides, "When hurried from the halcyon cot "Where innocence prefides. "The paffions, a relentless train! "To tear the victim run; "She feeks the paths of peace in vain, "Is conquer'd-and undone."

The concluding ftanzas of this little poem breathe a pleafing and moral strain of poetry. I know not whether regret for the melancholy fate of the author influence me, but certainly I think that evident marks of a genius far from common are difcoverable in many of his productions; and in this opinion you will, I truft, more willingly coincide, when I lay before you his Elegy on a Pile of Ruins," a compofition, which, if not fuperior, is by no means unequal to the exquifite elegy of Gray. To furpass that, indeed, would perhaps be impoffible; but on the fcore of equality, few, I venture to affert, have higher claims than that of our paftoral poet,

I cannot, however, difmifs his "Contemplatift" without tranfcribing the concluding ftanzas.

"Yon village, to the rural mind,

"A folemn afpect wears; "Where fleep hath lull'd the labour'd bind,

"And kill'd his daily cares.

" "Tis but the churchyard of the night, "An emblematic bed! "That offers to the mental fight

"The temporary dead.

"From hence I'll penetrate in thought

"The grave's unmeafur'd deep; "And, tutor❜d, hence be timely taught "To meet my final fleep.

"Tis peace (the little chaos paft)

"The gracious moon's reftor'd! "A breeze fucceeds the frightful blaf. "That thro' the foreft roar'd. "The nightingale, a welcome guest! "Renews her gentle ftrains; "And Hope, juft wand'ring from my "breaft,

"Her wonted feat regains. "Yes-when yon lucid orb is dark, "And darting from on high, "My foul, a more celestial spark! “Shall keep her native sky.