and the few principled members of it who furvive the wreck of the times would not be under the neceffity of lamenting that they have been unintentionally acceffary to the destruction of their fovereign, the extirpation of religion, the enflaving of their country, and the conflagration of Europe. "Mirabeau applied the whole farce of his genius and all the energy of his indefatigable mind to give effect to this new plan, in the refult of which he expected to be prime minister. He used all his efforts to difunite the prevailing factions, and make them jealous of and odious to each other. He had attached to himfelf the Lameths, Barnave his former rival in eloquence, and Duport. There is reafon to fuppofe that Mirabeau alfo made fome attempts to conciliate la Fayette; this might be dictated either by hope or fear; there was reafon to apprehend that the general had by fome means obtained a knowledge of the project, and had, at his own defire, had a conference of three hours with Mirabeau, at the houfe of Emery, deputy for Metz, who was a confidant of la Fayette. From the union of two fuch men, had it been poffible, the greatest advantages might have been derived; but la Fayette, limited in his talents though unbounded in his ambition and vanity, could not have borne the near approach of a mind fo much his fuperior, or have confented to embrace fo grand a plan, from the execution of which hypocrify, petty intrigue, and trivial manoeuvre muft have been banished. To ftrengthen his own party was among Mirabeau's greatest efforts. He was defirous of forming a connection with perfons of talents, and of employing them in fuch a manner as to give effect and vigour to a new fyftem and a new administration. Among others fo applied to was Dumouriez, who undertook the embaffy to Pruffia, and feems to have entered cordially into Mirabeau's interefts. Mirabeau alfo made due preparations to fecure the approbation of foreign courts, and proper advances to minifters: even count Hertzi berg, the Pruffian minifter, though Mirabeau hated him, was complimented with numerous confultations. "During thefe tranfactions, Mirabeau was not inattentive to his duties in the affembly, where the debates generally turned on fome ar ticles of the conftitution, in which he interefted himself in proportion to their magnitude, but avoided a mode of conduct fo decifive as to alarm the one, or injure the other party. He was elected one of the adminiftrators of the department of Paris, which gave him a right to command the municipality, and drew up a proclamation, in which he ftrongly recommended obedience to the law, and fubmiffion to authority. He was elevated to the prefident's chair, which he filled with dignity and moderation, He diftinguished his prefidency by the anfwer he gave to a deputation of quakers, who required permiffion to abstain from military duty, as it was repugnant to their religious tenets. Mirabeau's anfwer is one of thofe fpecimens of fubtilty which rarely occur: it refufes the request of the petitioners, without leaving them reason to complain, or the power of renewing their fupplication; and invalidates the reafoning of the petition, without throwing difgrace or blame on the petitioners. The last words pronounced by Mirabeau in the tribune were thefe :- I will oppofe the factious; I will combat them of whatever party or on whatever fide they may be.' " Con "Converfing with Dumouriez on affairs of the utmost importance, the character of count Hertzberg became the fubject of difcuffior. This old fox (faid Mirabeau) is furrounded by a chaplet of obstruc tions, and attacked at the fame time by at least five or fix maladies, all of which are mortal; and yet he is continually broaching new projects, as if he were to live a hundred years; while in fact one of the fatal fifters has her fciffars ready to cut the thread that holds fufpended over his head the fword of Damocles' In four days Mirabeau himself was no more! "When his illness was announced, all Paris was in confternation and alarm: his door was crowded with inquirers, and the king him felf fent for information of the state of his health. He fuffered the acutest pains without betraying any unmanly fymptoms of alarm or an guifh. He converfed with his friends, and delivered to Talleyrand Perigord a fpeech which he had compofed on the law then agitated in the affembly refpecting teftamentary devifes. It will be a remarkable circumstance (he faid) that the man who offers them 'this, his last tri⚫ bute, prepared it immediately after making his own will.' He appeared to feel fome regret at quitting life, juft when he was about to have commenced an ufeful and truly glorious carcer; and he predicted; that with him the French monarchy would expire. "The fuppofed caufe of Mirabeau's death was a gathering occafioned by the floppage of an iffue: his heart was dried up, and a mor tification had taken place in his inteftines. Such was the procès verbal published by the furgeons who opened them. The people of Paris fuf pected that the days of their favourite had been fhortened by poifon. All authors who have written on Mirabeau's death have mentioned this fuppofition with different degrees of acquiefcence or difbelief. I ant of opinion that the fact, fo far as it can be decided by probability, appears almost certain. The critical period at whith Mirabeau was carried off; the laft words he uttered in the tribune, fo well calculated to ftrike terror and infufe defperate refolutions in the party he had relin quifhed, naturally gave birth to fufpicion: the extent of the project in which he was embarked implied a neceffity for a diffuse confidence, and Orleans, who had his fpies and agents every where, could not fail of obtaining information, if not of the whole circumstances, at least of the leading features of a plan which threatened entire destruction to all thofe fchemes of ambition and revenge, in purfuit of which he had ruined his fortune, and expofed himfelf to every danger. No man was fo likely as Orleans to effect the death of a dangerous opponent by violence of any kind, but in the present cafe poifon was the most easy and effectual method. I am not qualified to difcufs chirurgically or medically the probability of the cause which was fupposed to have ac cafioned Mirabeau's death operating by fuch means as an acute excruciating agony, terminating an illnefs of three days by paralytical affections, and an incapacity to speak, though the power of writing remained till almoft his laft moment. The fufpicions of the people were appeafed by the report of the turgeons who opened the body; but the reports of furgeons are not always true, and the circumstances on this occafion afforded juft ground for continued fufpicion. Sixty furgeons were chosen from the different fections of Paris to attend on the occas fen; few of them, as they afterwards confeffed, approached the body fo asto examine it minutely; and there was a mob of above one hundred thousand perfons collected, vowing vengeance if it fhould be difcovered that Mirabeau's days had been abridged by treachery. Un certain against whom the popular violence might be directed, it is not wonderful if these furgeons made a report contrary to their conviction, and fuppreffed fymptoms which might have led to doubts, if not certainties of the fact. But even fuppofing the furgeons to have declared faithfully the refult of their experiment, it feems that diffection does not always afford decifive proof on the fubject, and fufpicion, ftrongly. founded on the political crifis at which he died, is left to point out as her objects thofe whofe confequence would be diminifhed, and whofe fchemes would be thwarted by his newly-adopted politics. His death, however, was the greatelt political misfortune that could have occurred to France. The affembly immediately loft its small share of refpectability, the proceedings of the clubs affumed an unexampled audacity, and a multitude of crawling reptiles became confpicuous and noxious, whom the blaze of Mirabeau's genius would at pleasure have driven back to the caves of ignominy and obfcurity." P. 126. Some ufeful papers, and curious letters, in particular from Robespierre, appear in the Appendix, and the whole forms a fingularly interefting and valuable work. ART. XI. A brief Examination into the Increase of the Revenue, Commerce, and Manufactures of Great Britain, from 1792 to 1799. By George Rofe, Efq. Fourth Edition. 8vo. 78 pp. with Appendix. 2s. Wright, &c. 1799. THIS important publication, already announced in our Re view for April, p. 442, is a continuation of a tract, under nearly the fame title, which appeared in 1793. The object of that tract was, by giving a concife, but adequate ftatement of the increafe of the national wealth, from the year 1783 to 1792 inclufive, to reprefs the apprehenfions then erroneoully entertertained, by men of good principles and reputedly good information, concerning the condition of our affairs. The political fituation of the gentleman who gave thefe communications to the nation, afforded him the fulleft opportunity of gaining information on the fubjects he then difcuffed; and placed him under fuch a refponfibility for their accuracy, that nothing could be added to the authority of the work. To the charater of it, one important teftimonial may be produced, that of Mr. Chalmers; whofe authority, in every thing. relating to the finances of the country, is univerfally recognised, who who fpeaks in the highest terms of the accurate information, the importance, and the excellence of that tract. It appears from one of his publications, that it had, by fome perfons, been attributed to him; but he adds, what certainly raises the compliment to the highest point, that he could not have given to the world fo much useful knowledge, in a form fo concife, and fo methodized*, The prefent publication, which is not, in any refpe&t, inferior to the former, exceeds it perhaps in temporary importance, It is of the higheft utility to clear away prejudices which weaken the national fpirit, even in the fulleft fecurity of peacet; but when we have already begun the fixth year of a war, the expences of which have exceeded thofe of any equal period in our history, if our attention be fuffered to remain fixed upon them exclufively, that defpondency which prepares the way to every thing it fears, arifing from the errors of fome, and diligently diffeminated by the malignity of others, might become general; and, at fuch a period, the utility of counteracting the joint effect of thefe mifconceptions, by balancing the increase of our resources with that of our exertions, cannot be too highly eftimated. That balance it is which is here laid before the nation, on the first authority. To extend this neceffary information as far as it is in our power, we fhall give to the leading articles of this comparison, and their refults, a confideration of rather more than ordinary length. It is here ftated, that the new capital, created during the war, is 169,927,000l. the charges on which, for intereft and management, are 5.907,000l. belides 283.000l. long annuities granted. But thele capitals were attended with a further charge of 11. per cent. on their amount, for the new finking fund, that of 1792, or 1,740,000l. and here we proceed to confider what Mr. Rofe has faid, concerning the operation of the two funds on the debt. The first fund, conftituted in 1786, amounted to one million; from a fubfequent period, it has been aided annually by parlia * Eftimate; Dedication to the Political Arithmetician, Dr. Currie, of Liverpool, edition, 1794, p. 18. The first edition of the former work was published early in 1792. Introduction to the fourth of 1793. Loans for Ireland 3 millions excluded; three laft places of figures mostly omitted. When the intereft of a capital granted is attended with a long annuity, the augment of the fund is increafed, in respect of the value of the latter. ment C ment with a grant of 200,000l. their aggregate, together with the new fund, was on February 1, 1799, 4,294,000l. and they had jointly redeemed, from the commencement of the operation of the firft, 37,381,000l. On this statement we make two remarks. The capital redeemed at the commencement of the war was 11,196,000l.* during the war, therefore, there has been a further diminution of 26,185,000l. and the intereft reverted to the public is 785,000l. befides, probably, fome expired annuities, which we cannot stop to afceṛtain. To make use of a metaphor taken from the waiters on mechanics, let us now examine the relation of the power to the weight; of the aggregate of the two funds to the capital they are to redeem. No perfon, we prefume, will tax us with a propenfity to exaggerate their effect, when, in the fundamental principle of our comparison, we follow exclufively the authority of Dr. Price. That writer tells us, that if indeed the redemption of our debts is become impracticable, it is owing more to the mode of borrowing than to the neceffity of borrowingt." In this he propofed a change to be made; but in the plan of the new finking fund, a corrective is applied to that mode, evidently more powerful in its operation than that which he then recommended. Another meafure which he preffed at that time, was the establishment of an unalienable finking fund. "Thefe propofals," he concludes by observing, may fhow, that the redemption of our debts is not quite fo impracticable as it may feem; and that we ftill might have ftood a chance of being extricated from them without any convulfion," had his plans been carried into effect; which they have fince been, with improvements. The capital of the public debt he computed at 232 millions and a fraction, and he thought one million, a fund equal to part of that capitals, fufficient for its reduction, if it were fuffered to go on operating uniformly in war as well as peace." The unredeemed capital at the time of Mr. R.'s writing was 382 millions; and the fum of the two funds was 429,000l. nearly, or part of the whole. Its power therefore to reduce the debt on which it is to operate, exceeds that upon which even Dr. Price built a hope of fafety, in the proportion of 232 to 89, or 2 to unity. But it is to be added to this * Chalmer's eftimate, edition, 1794, p. 184. lic debts, &c. 1783, P. 35. Ibid. + State of pubP. 30, leaving an unfunded debt of 11,800,000l. p. 8,9; and as the prefent does not exceed that fum in the ratio of 38 to 23, what is faid here holds a fortiori. Ibid. that |