enjoins or prohibits; and where it prohibits, we fee it only in the reftraints which it impofes, and not at all in thofe acts which its prohibition may render more fecure. If there be any truth in Mr Bentham's general pofition, we should fay that rivers are dependent upon law for their right to run into the fea, fince in many cafes it has made it a crime to obftruct or divert them. We should now prepare to accompany Mr Bentham into the detail of his civil and criminal code; but the immense extent of the fubject, even more than the great length of the preceding obfervations, deters us from engaging in a talk fo formidable. We must confine our remarks, therefore, to a few of the most interefting points of difcuffion. In entering on his expofition of the principles of the civil code, Mr Bentham appals us by an abstract divifion of the objects of utility, or the elements of happinefs, into, 1. Subfiftence, 2. Abundance, 3. Equality, 4. Se curity. We are then told, that of thefe, fecurity should be the chief object of the legiflator, and that, by providing for it, the reft will follow of their own accord. There are fome very good remarks on the effects of the full fecurity of property on the whole frame of fociety, illuftrated by an eloquent contraft of the condition of the Turkish Empire and the United States of Ame rica. Upon the fubject of the maintenance of the poor, there is an excellent abftract of all the material points in difpute between the advocates and opponents of a legal affelment. Mr Bentham decides in favour of it, chiefly on account of the uncertainty, the inequality, and the inadequacy of a voluntary contribution. Upon the fubject of the acquisition and tranfmiffion of property, there are a good number of puzzling diftinctions, and a good deal of old doctrine delivered in new language. The moft important of the novelties, is Mr Bentham's law of inteftate fucceffion. He abrogates, of course, all diftinction between male and female, elder and younger; he gives all to the defcendants, to the exclufion of the parents; to the father and mother where there are no children; to the brothers and fifters where the parents also are deceased; and, on failure of parents and brothers, to the fate, to the utter exclufion of all remoter collaterals, and only under the condition of their paying the intereft of the fucceffion to the furviving relations in the direct line of afcent. We are not at all aware of the expediency of this innovation. Mr Bontham further approves of the power of making teftaments, but wifhes to referve a certain portion to the children, and to restrict the right of teftation to one half of the defunct's property, where he has no relations to interfere with the ftate's claim to the inheritance. The effect of all thefe regulations, we think, is to diminish the value of property, by limiting the powers of the proprietor, and in that way to weaken the incitements to industry. Upon the laws arifing from the different civil relations of private life, we do not meet with many new observations, though the reafons and confequences of every thing are fifted and analysed in a much more rigorous manner than is ufual. There are some excellent remarks upon flavery, which Mr Bentham thinks would be abolished with the leaft danger, either if the flaves were permitted to redeem their liberty by their own extraordinary induftry, or if a certain proportion of them were fet free on the death of the proprietor. The latter fcheme Mr Bentham allows to be attended with fome rifk, and we believe it would produce more difappointment than fatisfaction. Upon the subject of marriage, there is a very mafterly differtation: But we cannot agree with the author, that the permiffion of divorce, on the joint application of the parties, would tend to promote the felicity of this inftitution. Mr Hume's argument upon this subject we take to be quite unanswerable, and are perfuaded that Mr Bentham has not fufficiently weighed the advantages that are derived from the indiffolubility of this contract, both with respect to the precautions it infpires, and to its tendency to reprefs those diffenfions which would be apt to tear afunder a more precarious tie, before habit and reciprocal benefits had come to confirm and to endear it. In fome of the remarks which occur upon this fubject, we think we can discover a tone that is not originally English, and fufpect this to be one of the paffages where M. Dumont has thought it proper to amplify and to animate his author. In paffing to the code of criminal law, Mr Bentham does not forget the neceffity of claffifying and dividing. Delicts, according to him, are either, 1. Private, or against one or a few individuals; 2. Reflective, or against the delinquent himself; 3. Semipublic, or against fome clafs or description of perfons; and, finally, public, or againft the whole community. Private delicts, again, relate either to the perfon, the property, the repu tation or the condition; and they are diftributed into complex and fimple, principal and acceffory, pofitive and negative, &c, &c. The chief evil of a crime is the alarm which it excites in the community; and the degree of this alarm, Mr Bentham affumes, depends upon eight circumstances, the particular situation of the delinquent, his motives, his notoriety, his character, the difficulties or facilities of the attempt, &c. Without following put the enumeration, it feems quite enough to fay, that the aB 4 larma larm is increafed oy every thing which renders it probable that fuch acts may be frequently repeated. In one cafe, and one of confiderable atrocity, there is no alarm at all; because the only beings who can be affected by it, are incapable of fear or fufpicion this is the cafe of infanticide: and Mr Bentham ingenioufly obferves, that it is probably owing to this circumftance that the laws of many nations have been fo extremely indifferent on that fubject. In modern Europe, however, he conceives that they are barbaroufly fevere. In the cafe of crimes against the community, fuch as mifgovernment of all kinds, the danger again is generally infinitely greater than the alarm. The remedies which law has provided against the mischief of crimes, Mr Bentham fays, are of four orders; preventive-repreffive--compenfatory--or fimply penal. Upon the subject of compenfation or fatisfaction, Mr Bentham is moft copious and moft original; and under the title of fatisfaction in honour, he prefents us with a very cool, acute, and judicious inquiry into the effects of duelling, which he reprefents as the only remedy which the impolicy or impotence of our legiflators has left for fuch offences. We do not think, however, that the fame good fenfe prevails in the fketch which he fubjoins of the means that might be employed to punish infults and attacks upon the honour of individuals. According to the enormity of the offence, he is for making the delinquent pronounce a difcourfe of humiliation, either standing or on his knees before the offended party, and clothed in emblematical robes, with a mask of a characteristic nature on his head, &c. There are countries perhaps where fuch contrivances might anfwer; but, with us, they would not only be ineffectual, but ridiculous. In the choice of punithments, Mr Bentham wishes legiflators to recollect, that punishment is itfelf an evil, and that it confifts of five parts; the evil of reftraint-the evil of fuffering-the evil of apprehenfion-the evil of groundlefs perfecution, and the evils that extend to the innocent connexions of the delinquent. For these reasons, he is anxious that no punishment fhould be inflicted without a real caufe, or without being likely to influence the will, or where other remedies might have been employed, or in cafes where the crime produces lefs evil than the punishment. Thefe admonitions are proper, and, we dare fay, fincere; but they certainly are not recommended by their novelty. The punishments which Mr Bentham approves, are fuch as are fufceptible of degrees, uniform in their nature, analogous to the offence, proportionate to the temptation, economical and remiilible. He does not approve of punishing with death, and makes a remark upon the penal code of England, which has been 却 fo often repeated by foreigners that it feems no longer to operate as a reproach on the natives. In the fection upon the indirect means of preventing crimes, there is a great deal of genius and ftrong reafoning, though there are many things that are fet down in too rath and peremptory a manner, and fome that are fupported with a degree of flippancy not very fuitable to the occafion. The five main fources of offence he thinks are, want of occupation, the angry paffions, the paffion of the fexes, the love of intoxication, and the love of gain. As fociety advances, ail thefe lofe a good deal of their mifchievous tendency, excepting the laft; againft which, of course, the legislature fhould be more vigilant than ever. In the gradual predominance of the avaricious paffions over all the reft, however, Mr Bentham fees many topics of confolation, and concludes this part of his work with declaring that it thould be the great object of the criminal law to reduce all offences to that ipecies which can be completely atoned for and repaired by payment of a fum of money. It is a part of his fyftein, which we have forgotten to mention, that perfons fo injured fhould in all cafes be entitled to reparation out of the public purfe. This clofes Mr Bentham's view of the principles of criminal jurisprudence, and terminates that portion of his great work which is contained in the prefent publication. The feparate diflertations which are annexed, and occupy the greater part of the third volume, relate to the fame general fubject, and poffels a confiderable degree of intereft. The first is a propofal for conftructing prifons and houfes of correction, in fuch a form, as to admit of the whole interior being feen at once from a central point, where Mr Bentham is for having a fmall chamber, fitted up with blinds, where the infpećtor either is, or is fuppofed to be, constantly present. This he calls a Panoptique, and promiles rather greater things from its adoption than are very likely to follow. It has been adopted, however, we believe, in feveral parts of England with confiderable advantage. A bride well upon the fame conftruction has fubfilled for upwards of ten years in this city. The next differtation is on the methods and the expediency of promulgating the laws, and the reafons on which they are founded: illuftrated by an extract from the penal code which Mr Bentham promifes one day to give to the world. The laft difcourfe, which is by far the most interefting, is upon the influence of time and place in queftions of legiflation. Mr Bentham illuftrates his notions as to the cautions to be ob◄ * See in particular Vol. III. p. 36. 57, &c. ferved ferved in the transplantation of laws, by ftating, with fome detail, the changes and qualifications that would be neceffary in transfering to Bengal thofe laws that are generally admired and approved of in England. He then examines the effects of time on laws and on fociety, and, with his ufual acuteness and precifion, points out the obvious errors into which those philofophers have been betrayed who have either called in question the poffibility of great ameliorations, or indulged in vifions of abfolute perfectibility. The whole of this treatife, which coincides in fubject with the great work of Montefquieu, is written with much force of reafoning and vivacity of manner. We regret that our limits will not permit us to enter more fully into the fubject, and can fafely recommend the perufal of it to a larger clafs of readers than we can venture to bespeak for the rest of the publi cation. Upon the whole, we take our leave of this publication with fome feelings of fatigue, but with fentiments of the greatest refpect for the talents of the author. It must be our fault if our readers feel only the former. So large a quantity of original reafoning has feldom, we believe, been produced by one man; and the defects of Mr Bentham's book, as well as its excellences, are fuch as to affure us, that he has drawn the whole of it from the ftores of his own understanding, and fcarcely ever condefcended either to affift or to correct his fpeculations by the lights which might have been furnished from without. Notwithstanding all that M. Dumont has done to render the work popular, we are afraid that it will have fewer readers than it deferves. Thofe who do read it, will alfo diffent, we should imagine, from many of the author's fundamental principles; but they will infallibly be delighted with the fagacity and independence which diftinguishes all his fpeculations, and will look forward with impatience to the publication of his entire system. ART. II. Voyage Phyfique et Lithologique dans la Campanie, &c. Par Scipion Breiflac. Traduit du Manufcrit Italien, par le Général Pommereuil, en deux Volumes. Paris, an XI. 1803. AF FTER Contemplating the agitations of the moral and political world, and the annihilation of the prejudices and wreck of the inftitutions which ages had held facred, we furvey with complacency the immutable tranquillity of the earth, the peaceful fucceffion of the feafons, and the uniform reproduction of animal and vegetable life. Yet this earth, apparently fo tranquil, is pregnant with the most tremendous caufes of defolation, and fometimes abandons devoted diftricts to all the horrors of volcanic explofion, and the awful attendant phænomena. Countries the most |