of a God of peace and of kindness, of the common God of the victims, and of their persecutors.

We must advert to the reception of Mr. de Malesherbes in the French academy, because it was truly a national triumph. For the first time, perhaps, the choice of the academy found no opposers. As soon as Mr. de Malesherbes offered himself, not a single candidate placed himself in the ranks. Men thought that a man like him, ought to find no competitors; even in a career in which a superiority of right in others is hardly acknowledged. The discourse which he delivered, at the meeting of his reception, the most solemn of which the records of the academy furnished an example, deserved the approbation of the nation. His modesty had not permitted him to treat, in that place, a subject of literature; he did more: he had the art to transport to the academic rostrum, a kind of eloquence, which the nation had, for a long time lost; that political eloquence, so honoured among the ancients, and of which they have transmitted to us such wonderful models.

'There has arisen,' said he, in commencing, a tribunal independent of all sovereign powers, and which all sovereign powers respect; which decides on all kinds of merit; which appreciates all talents: it is that of opinion.'

It was about this time, that Mr. de Malesherbes was invited to the ministry, almost at the same time as Mr. Turgot; and men saw good morals show themselves, at last, near the throne. 'W'e beheld, with pleasure,' says Mr. Boissy d'Anglas, a kind of circumspection succeed, at the court of a king of twenty, the licentiousness of that of a monarch of sixty.' One of the first cares of Mr. de Malesherbes, was, to restore to liberty the individuals, who, under the administration of Mr. de Meaupou, had been deprived of it by the detestable practice of state warrants.

We arrive at a period when events acquire daily, a higher degree of importance, when the narrative of our biographer,

borrows as well from his genius, as from his subject, a more lively interest. Carried away, hitherto, by the pleasure of quoting from the writings of the French Socrates, or those of his worthy panegyrist, we have, unluckily, forgotten to consider the space which is allotted to us, for this honourable task; and we are obliged to offer nothing more, than a dry and frigid indication of the most interesting part of the work.

It is this portion of Mr. Boissy d'Anglas's work, which we recommend particularly, to readers; to those especially, who are ignorant, or who have been wrongly instructed by what a succession of abuses, of gross errors, and of fatal follies, a government already abandoned to all the elements of decay, moved rapidly towards its ruin. They will be able to collect useful information as to the true causes of the revolution.

We behold the virtuous Malesherbes, whom the wishes of the nation had called to the ministry, withdraw, filled with disgust, from a court, in which, perhaps one man only, (and it was the pious Louis XVI.) appreciated his knowledge and his virtues, but had not power to defend and maintain him in his office. The picture of that court, where predominated for a long time, the genius of a Maurepas, is worthy of the fixed attention of observing minds. The government soon discovered, by the irresolution of its motions, the distress of a situation which became daily, more troublesome; it took none but insignificant or childish measures, if they were not destructive. Convinced, at last, of the insufficiency of its resources, it ventures to implore the assistance of the nation. Of the nation! Unhappily, it was not to that generous nation, always resigned to the greatest sacrifices, that the voice of the monarch applied; it was to an assembly of the chief men, that is to say, of rich and privileged persons, fully determined to abandon none of their pretensions, so hostile to the interests of society. We know what was, indeed, the result of that pompous assembly.

It is in misfortune, that we recal our true friends. The king had thought of Mr. de Malesherbes: he drew him once more from his agreeable retreat, from his peaceful occupations. But the counsels of the sage, were not long listened to. If he found not again at court the same men, he found the same spirit, the same passions. His voice was again suppressed. Clothed with the title of minister, he could scarcely see the king. He was, at last, obliged to solicit the aid of a courtier to cause the most useful counsels to reach him. Alas! they did not all reach that unfortunate monarch. Perfidious friends raised between him and truth, a barrier of brass; while they concealed with flowers, the abyss towards which monarchy precipitated itself. It was only in the prison of the temple, that the king was enabled to read the admirable memoir of his virtuous minister, on the situation of France. Louis XVI, having seen Mr. de Malesherbes again, after having read that work, gazed for some time with emotion on that respectable old man; and then threw himself into his arms, bedewing him with his tears. Is not this touching scene, which was an honour at once to the prince and the citizen, an eloquent answer to those degraded writers, who still endeavour to tarnish the fairest glory, which a man could transmit to posterity? Who would believe, that writings have been published in which Mr. de Malesherbes is confounded with the Jacobins? Will men never grow tired of affixing that common name of dangerous theories, of false doctrines, to principles consecrated either by a Fenelon, the most virtuous man of his age, or by a Malesherbes, who, not less commendable, perhaps, for knowledge and generous sentiments, had the unfortunate advantage of showing them on a more exalted theatre, and in more difficult circumstances? Will not all enlightened and just Frenchmen grow weary, in their turn, of so much dishonesty.

The moment in which Mr. de Malesherbes was to give to his king the last and the most heroic testimony of his de

We will not weaken, by a

votedness, arrived but too soon. cold analysis, the discourses of the historian, and the merit of his judicious reflections on events forever to be deplored. No other part of the work can give a more just idea of the exalted sentiments, of the style, and of the genius of the author.

'Such,' says he, in conclusion, is the man, in regard to whom ancient times offer nothing more glorious than his death; modern times, nothing more honourable than his life. Such is the most perfect model which it is possible to exhibit to those, whose love of virtue excites noble thoughts.'

Mr. Boissy d'Anglas has placed, at the close of the second volume, some notes; in which he discusses, with a great superiority of reasoning, the different opinions which have arisen in regard to the men and the events that he has had occasion to speak of in his work. The most remarkable of these notes, perhaps, is that concerning Mr. Necker. It appears to us to contain what may be said and thought most justly respecting that celebrated personage. We find, among these articles, many letters addressed to the author by Mr. de Malesherbes; one of these letters is a touching profession of moral and political faith, in which the soul of that illustrious philosopher is completely seen.

Mr. Boissy d'Anglas is one of those public characters, ⚫ who have escaped from the terrible tempests of the revolution, who has it most in his power to furnish valuable materials for the history of that memorable epoch; and if, among the qualities indispensable, in order to write with dignity, we ought to require especially, an inflexible probity, an absolute independence of opinions, an upright judgment, a lucid reason; few writers are so capable of discharging that important and difficult commission.

ART. II.-Voyage to South America, Performed by order of the American Government, in the years 1817, and 1818, in the Frigate Congress. By H. M. Brackenridge, Esq. Secretary to the Mission. In two vols.-Baltimore, 1819. THE interest in South American concerns, which was felt by some considerable part of our countrymen, about two years ago, has in a great degree vanished, from causes which it is not material to develop, but of which we would simply remark, that they are of a nature such as to exonerate our republic from all blame in the case. Information concerning the new states of La Plata, was eagerly desired at one period, and with respect to several primary points, has been abundantly afforded in the reports of the American gentlemen, who visited those provinces, as commissioners of our government. Their accounts are made up of statistical details and general political views; but these, however curious and valuable, did not give what common readers would receive with more satisfaction-we mean, sketches of manners, of local scenery, domestic anecdotes, and in short, the usual piquant ingredients of books of travels.

In the work of Mr. Brackenridge, we expected to find all deficiencies amply supplied: his powers of minute observation, and graphic description had been already proved in his Views of Lousiana,' and his Journal of a Voyage up the Missouri.' We must confess that, after having attentively perused the two volumes of The Voyage to South America,' we felt in a measure disappointed, and dissatisfied. They contain, indeed, some excellent matter of the kind which we particularly desired; but they are still too much in the nature of a geographical and political dissertation upon South America in general; and the author has allowed his attention to be too frequently attracted to the party-feuds of the new republics. He writes as one who had earnestly taken a side, and is drawn into discussions somewhat unjust in reference to the individuals whom he arraigns,