by the excess of its taxation. We extract these passages not to refute them, for whom can such illusions mislead ?—but to shew how much the most enlightened mind may deviate in the pursuit of a favorite hypothesis.

Our author is obviously just in his observation, that the cancelling of the national debt, if it were possible, would be without benefit to the nation, considered as a great indivisible corporation. The national property would be the same as before, nothing would be saved but the expences of management, and the trifling portion of the dividends payable to foreigners, and this little gain would be obtained at the expence of honour and good faith, which in times of necessity have been a treasure competent to answer our greatest necessities. With respect to the policy of paying it off our author entertains great doubt. He observes,

"That it may be paid off is admitted. The experience of the operation of the sinking fund proves this beyond all doubt; but from what has been already stated, great doubts may be entertained of the policy of the measure, and whether in its practical effects it would not ultimately produce the same poverty and distress which existed before any public debts were contracted."

We lately had occasion to deliver our sentiments at large on this subject, in our review of Mr. Boyd's pamphlet. We persuade ourselves, that the publick are the most judicious managers of their own estate, and that when the national debt shall be reduced very far below its present excess, it will not then be deemed expedient to raise a large productive capital upon thẹ publick, yielding to them great profit, in order to annihilate a a debt, the interest of which will hardly operate as a burthen.

Minute details are given in the following chapter of the cir cumstances of all the foreign dependencies of the empire. They abound in useful matter, and will amply repay the attention of the reader.

We cannot sufficiently commend the labour and the judg ment of our author, conspicuous in this important publication, which pourtrays the present magnificence and the future hopes of the most powerful and prosperous community, that has ever grown into greatness by the wisdom, the industry, the justice, and the piety of many generations,

The magnificent fabric which our successive fathers have thus gradually and laboriously raised, it is for us to deliver unimpaired into the hands of our children, a duty which can only be performed by a steady perseverance in those high principles, by which the foundations of our national greatness have been so firmly cemented and established.

ART. V. A Circumstantial Narrative of the Campaign in Russia. By Eugene Labaume.

(Concluded from P. 278.)

MR. LABAUME, however, marched on with his corps, and the last struggle of the desperate courage of the Russians were not able to impede the progress of Napoleon. He entered Mos cow on the 14th of September, but he found a desolate place. Some wretches who had escaped from prison, and some miserable prostitutes were the only creatures who interrupted his solitude. Liberty, says our author, was granted them, with the hope that the crimes which they might commit would be attributed to the French.

"On the 15th of September our corps left the village where it had encamped at an early hour, and marched to Moscow. As we approached the city, we saw that it had no walls, and that a simple parapet of earth was the only work which constituted the outer enclosure. Nothing indicated that the town was inhabited; and the road by which we arrived was so deserted that we saw neither Russian nor even French soldiers. No cry, no noise was heard in the midst of this awful solitude. We pursued our march, a prey to the utmost anxiety, and that anxiety was redoubled when we perceived a thick smoke, which arose in the form of a column from the centre of the town. It was at first believed that the Russians had, as usual, set fire to some magazines in their retreat ; but when we recollected the recital of the inhabitant of Moscow, we feared that his prediction was about to be fulfilled. Eager to know the cause of this conflagration, we in vain endeavoured to find some one who might satisfy our irrepressible curiosity, and the impossibility of satisfying it, increased our impatience, and augmented our alarm." P. 190.

Although Moscow had been entered by some of our troops the preceding day, so extensive and so deserted was the town, that no soldier had yet penerated into the quarter which we were to occupy. The most intrepid minds were affected by this loneliness. The streets were so long, that our cavalry could not recog nize each other from the opposite extremities. The different parties advanced with caution, and then suddenly fled from each other, though they were all enlisted under the same banners. In proportion as a new quarter was occupied, reconnoitring parties were sent forward to examine the palaces and the churches. In the former were found only old men and children, or Russian officers who had been wounded in the preceding engagements: in the latter, the altars were decorated as if for a festival; a thousand

lighted

lighted tapers, burning in honour of the patron saint of the country, attested that the pious Moscovites had not ceased to invoke him till the moment of their departure. This solemn and religious spectacle rendered the people whom we had conquered, powerful and respectable in our estimation, and filled us with that consternation which is the offspring of injustice. We advanced with fearful steps through this awful solitude, often stopping and looking tremblingly behind us; then, struck with sudden terror, we eagerly listened to every sound; for the imagination, frightened at the very magnitude of our conquest, made us apprehensive of treachery in every place. At the least noise we fancied that we heard the clashing of arms, and the cries of the wounded.

"When we approached the centre of the town, and especially in the neighbourhood of the Bazar *, we began to see some inhabltants assembled around the Kremlin. These unhappy beings, deceived by an absurd tradition, had believed that this citadel was impregnable, and had attempted to defend it for an instant against our advanced guard, commanded by the King of Naples; but the valour of our troops instantly dispersed them. Dismayed by their defeat, they contemplated, with tears, those lofty towers which they had hitherto regarded as the palladium of their city. Proceeding further on, we saw a crowd of soldiers who exposed to public sale a vast quantity of articles which they had pillaged; for it was only at the grand magazines of provisions that the imperial guards had placed sentinels. Continuing our progress, the number of soldiers multiplied; they were returning in troops, carrying on their backs pieces of cloth, loaves of sugar, and whole bales of merchandise. We knew not how to account for this strange disorder, until some fusileers of the guards informed us that the smoke which we had seen on entering the town, proceeded from a vast building full of goods, called the Exchange, and to which the Russians had set fire on their retreat. • Yesterday,' said these soldiers, we entered the city about twelve o'clock, and early this morning the fire began to appear. We immediately endeavoured to extinguish it believing that it had been occasioned by the imprudence of our bivouacks: but we soon desisted when we learned that the governor had ordered the city to be destroyed, and had carried away all the engines, by which alone we could arrest the progress of the flames. He hoped by this devastation to destroy the discipline of our army, and to ruin the merchants who had so strongly opposed the abandonment of Moscow t.'

6

A great square enclosed within the Kitaye-Gorod. It is surrounded by galleries built of brick, which contain an infinite. number of little shops.'

Many of our pioneers and other soldiers strenuously endeavoured to subdue the conflagration, by breaking off the communi cation between the houses; but the flames bursting out on every side, defeated their generous intention.'

"A natural

"A natural curiosity made me proceed. As I advanced towards the fire, the avenues were more obstructed by soldiers and beggars carrying off goods of every kind. The less precious articles were despised, and soon thrown away, and the streets were covered with merchandise of every description. I penetrated, at length into the interior of the Exchange; but, alas! it was no more the building so renowned for its magnificence; it was rather a vast furnace, from every side of which the burning rafters were continually falling, and threatening us with instant destruction. I could still, however, proceed with some degree of safety under the piazzas. These were filled with numerous warehouses which the soldiers had broken open, every chest was rifled, and the spoil exceeded their most sanguine, expectations. No cry, no tumult was heard in this scene of horror. Every one found abundantly sufficient to satisfy his thirst for plunder. Nothing was heard but the crackling of the flames, the noise of the doors that were broken open, and occasionally a dreadful crash caused by the falling in of some vault. Cottons, muslins, and in short all the most costly productions of Europe and of Asia, were a prey to the flames. The cellars were filled with sugar, oil, and vitriol; these burning all at once in the subterraneous warehouses, sent forth torrents of flame through thick iron grates, and presented a striking image of the mouth of hell. It was a spectacle both ter rible and affecting. Even the most hardened minds acknowledged the conviction that so great a calamity would, on some future day, call forth the vengeance of the Almighty upon the authors of such crimes." P. 192,

"But what was our regret and our terror, when on the morrow, at the dawn of day (September 16), we saw the conflagration raging extensively, and perceived that the wind, blowing with vio lence, spread the flames in every direction.

"The most heart-rending scene which my imagination had ever conceived, far surpassing the saddest story in ancient or modern history, now presented itself to my eyes. A great part of the population of Moscow, terrified at our arrival, had concealed themselves in cellars or secret recesses of their houses. As the fire spread around, we saw them rushing in despair from their various asylums. They uttered no imprecation, they breathed no complaint; fear had rendered them dumb and hastily snatching up their most precious effects, they fled before the flames. Others, of greater sensibility, and actuated by the genuine feelings of nature, saved only their parents, or their infants, who were closely clasped in their arms. They were followed by their other children, running as fast as their little strength would permit, and with all the wildness of childish terror, vociferating the beloved name of mother. The old people, borne down by grief more than by age, had not sufficient power to follow their families, and expired near the houses in which they were born. The streets, the public places, and particularly the churches, were filled with these unhappy people,

people, who, lying on the remains of their property, suffered even without a murmur. No cry, no complaint was heard. Both the conqueror and the conquered were equally hardened; the one by excess of fortune, the other by excess of misery.

The fire, whose ravages could not be restrained, soon reached the finest parts of the city. Those palaces which we had admired for the beauty of their architecture, and the elegance of their fur. niture, were enveloped in the flames. Their magnificent fronts, ornamented with bas-reliefs and statues, fell with a dreadful crash on the fragments of the pillars which had supported them. The churches, though covered with iron and lead, were likewise destroyed, and with them those beautiful steeples, which we had seen the night before, resplendent with gold and silver. The hospitals too, which contained more than twelve thousand wounded, soon began to burn. This offered a dreadful and harrowing spectacle. Almost all these poor wretches perished. A few who still lingered, were seen crawling half burnt amongst the smoking ruins; and others, groaning under heaps of dead bodies, endeavoured in vain to extricate themselves from the horrible destruction which sur rounded them.” P. 205.

At this time permission was granted to the French to pillage that which was destined to be the prey of the flames; and the reader may imagine the confusion and tumult which were produced by licentiousness. Soldiers, suttlers, galley-slaves, and prostitutes, eagerly ran through the streets, penetrating into the desert palaces, and carrying away every thing which could gra tify their avarice. Some covered themselves with stuffs richly worked with gold, some were enveloped in beautiful and costly furs, while others dressed themselves in women's and children's pelisses," and even the galley-slaves concealed their rags under the most splendid court dresses;" the rest crowded into the cellars, and forcing open the doors, drank the most luscious wines, and carried off an immense booty.

"This terrible pillage," observes our author, "was not confined to the deserted houses alone, but extended to those who were inhabited, and soon the eagerness and wantonness of the plunderers, caused devastations which almost equalled those occasioned by the conflagration. Every asylum was soon violated by the licentious troops. The inhabitants who had officers in their houses, for a little while, flattered themselves that they should escape the general calamity. Vain illusion! The fire progressively increasing soon destroying all their hopes."

"Penetrated by so many calamities, I hoped that the shades of night would cast a veil over the dreadful scene, but they contributed, on the contrary, to render the conflagration more terrible. The violence of the flames, which extended from north to south, and were strangely agitated by the wind, produced the most awful

appearance