ocean. That river and the Senegal have a common source in the mountains of Kong,-the one taking its direction to the north-east, and reaching Gimbala, on the borders of the Sahhara, after running 400 miles, the other directing itself to the north-west, and after a course of about an equal distance, arriving at Faribe, on the frontiers of the same desert. Here all declivity is at an end; and the Senegal is obliged to find the ocean by a great many sinuosities; nor does it reach the coast at last without leaving behind a numerous collection of lakes and marshes:-facts which are almost demonstrative that were there 100 miles further to go, it would never reach the place of destination,-but be lost entirely in the flat and sandy country through which it has to pass. What then shall we say of the Niger,-which at Gimbola is yet 360 miles distant from the ocean, and is obliged to work its way through a country exactly the counterpart to that of the Senegal?-The same reasoning is applicable to all the other rivers which converge towards the center of the continent;-and in short there is no way of reconciling our present knowledge of Africa with geographical analogy, but by supposing a mediterranean sea like that which we have been considering. On no other hypothesis can we account for the existence of a tract of country thirty-three and a half degrees in breadth-the longitudinal distance from the source of the Niger to that of the Musselad,-and more than twenty degrees in length from the southern declivity of Atlas and the other mountains along the Mediterranean, to the northern declivity of the mountains of Kong and the sources of the river Bahar Kulla:from all which not one drop of water flows into the exterior seas of Africa. It cannot be denied that our traveller has at least great plausibility on his side.

But all doubts on these subjects will probably be removed by the two exploratory expeditions which were sent some time ago from England to Africa;-the one to travel through the interior to the banks of the Niger and proceed down that river as far as possible, the other to ascend and ascertain the sources of the Zahir, or great river of Congo.

On the whole we consider this work as one of the most interesting of the class to which it belongs. It is embellished with

several plates. In the translation from the French many gross errors have been committed.

The French word voyage, where it means a journey by land, is rendered by the English word voyage, which is only applicable to a journey by sea. Nor, is it only with gallicisms we have to find fault. On some occasions the translator appears ignorant of both the languages with which the task he undertook required him to be well acquainted. The word commentations, which he uses (vol. 1, page 94,) instead of commentaries, is neither French nor English, nor in the sense intended, is it Latin anglicised. Such blunders are disgraceful to English literature. If they had occurred. in a work originally American, what a fine subject they would have afforded for the blunt satire and clumsy jokes of the Quarterly Reviewers! Should there be a second American edition of the work, we would recommend the publisher to rebuke his brethern of London by causing these errors to be corrected.

Poems. By William Maxwell, Esq. 18mo. pp. 168. Philadelphia. M. Thomas, 1816

THERE are some good things in this little volume of American poetry. Mr. Maxwell seems to have that ability and ease of composition which is always indicative of practice; and there is now and then a vivacity and fineness of thought in these careless effusions which, if it cannot aspire to the character of true poetry, is nevertheless a pleasurable attribute in all kinds of composition. We have not space enough to prove our assertion by voluminous extracts; but our readers will perceive our meaning from the following introduction to "The Bards of Columbia,"which by the way is the best poem in the book:~

How often will you ask me, dearest Dwight,
When I can live at ease, why don't I write?
Let me reserve the question if you please,
Why should I write when I can live at ease?
Perhaps indeed, if I could fondly hope
To write like Dryden, or his brother Pope,
And make myself immortal by my quill;
Why yes, I might go on to scribble still.
But now to write in these prosaic times,
When few, if any, care a fig for rhymes,
And still to write what nobody will read,
No doubt a fellow must be mad indeed. pp. 29-30.

CHRONICLE.

We present to our readers a letter, lately published in England, in order that they may see the usual style in which the American nation and its government are spoken of in that country, subjoining some remarks on the charges it contains.

MY LORD,

Harrow, 25th January, 1816. BEING deeply impressed with the desire of my country's glory and prosperity, and being equally impressed with the undeniable truth, that these are so connected, so interwoven with the preponderance of her naval power, that it prompts me to continue a subject that must therefore be of the last importance to the nation. I address your lordship, because at the head of the naval administration of the country; but the subject claims the serious attention of every individual composing his majesty's government, of every man of influence, of every reflecting man in the island of Great Britain. I have already observed that it would be desirable the government should keep a watchful eye over those men to whom the nation must look as the principal guardians of her prosperity and commerce, and most minutely, that they be not seduced from their allegiance, and to rank themselves with a people notorious for the arts they bave practised, the temptations they have held out, to effect this, and the impatient jealousy with which they view the naval power of Great Britain. I have no intention of adding to the breach that has been opened, nor any desire that it should not be perfectly closed up and heal

ed; but I can in no manner perceive that it is to be done by hostile aggression on the one side, and dishonourable forbearance on the other. I can in no manner perceive that this is to be effected by the British nation tamely submitting to the seducing of her seamen from their allegiance, in the ports of the United States of America, or by suffering herself to be overborne by republican turbulence and clamour.

The impressing of American seamen out of their merchant vessels, by British men of war, has resounded, not only from one end of America to the other, but throughout Europe; but has the infamous crimping of British seamen, and the seducing of them from their allegiance, in harbours of the United States of America, has this been as publicly exposed? These transactions have borne such features, that even the honourable of that people have felt indignant at acts which stigmatised their moral character as a nation, and all their pretensions to rational liberty.

The following account is taken from a newspaper:~

"The Americans are using every exertion to place their navy on a formidable footing; not a vessel arrives at New York from this country, without her crew being immediately seduced into the American service. The bounty given to deserters from the British naval service is forty dollars; and their pay is twelve dollars monthly. Of the crew of the Rolla, consisting of sixteen prime seamen, eight entered on board of the Java, American frigate, the day after her arrival at New York, and the others entered on board of American merchantmen.

"Captain M'Ewen, of the Rolla, complained of these deserters, through the medium of Mr. Moore, the English vice-consul at New York; but, so far from obtaining redress from the American government, captain M'Ewen was fined four hundred dollars, for unlawfully imprisoning American citizens. It appears that the seamen belonging to the Rolla had been secretly provided with certificates of American citizenship, at the moment of quitting the vessel. Mr. Moore made every exertion to support the claims of Britain to her subjects; but the Americans set his authority at defiance."

Who, my lord, can read this without indignation? Can there be any reason for doubting this circumstantial statement, coming from Liverpool, where the Rolla lately arrived; and, if well authenticated, was ever the government of the country more loudly called upon to interfere in behalf of the nation? Such proceedings are most hostile to the essential interests of Great Britain. If avowed by the American government, and the delinquents protected, can such transactions be viewed in any other light than acts of hostility? And what becomes of the decree of the legislature of the United States, "that no foreign seamen should serve on board of their vessels? and that six years' residence in their territories should be required, to give a title to citizenship?" If British seamen are to be converted in a moment into American citizens, by the arts of seduction practised by unprincipled men

in that country, shall this nation look on, in a state of apathy, at a measure of political hostility, which, if suffered to proceed to any extent, would ultimately prove pregnant with greater evil to these realms than the arms of America could have done, although leagued with the most cruel despotism that has appeared for centuries, and which has spread the fearful gloom of demoralization over the mass of the French population.

Whether it be known in America or not, it is well known in Europe, that the arms of Britain, for above twenty years, proved the firmest barrier against the universal triumphing of that despotism, and that into her arms the oppressed of the continent fled, and that to her power groaning nations became suppliants, to free their necks from the galling yoke. Is it not then shamelessly impudent in the turbulent trans-atlantic demagogues to accuse this nation of being at the head of every despotic plan in Europe? Indeed, such a perversion of truth deserves the most marked contempt, not only from every honourable mind in Europe, but also in America; by all men untainted with those false principles that have so long misled the nations from the paths of happiness and peace. Some allowance may be made for the ebullitions of those spirits, who, inflamed by the phantom of modern illumination, transplanted themselves into another soil, because that of the British isles would not yield inflammation equal to the demand of their towering imaginations; and also for the later flights of infidels from France, who, remembering the decisive and storming overthrow of Waterloo, may vent their disappointment in unjust reproaches against the nation that chiefly effected the accomplishment of an event so ardently desired by the congregations of Europe. But, after all those allowances are made, it must be grieving to every honourable mind in the old, as well as in the new continent, to perceive that this spirit is fostered in the official paper of the government of the United States, by which its spirit is manifested. It has lately sought occasions of quarrelling with Great Britain, that it might rank itself on the side of the late French government, the most fearful scourge of the nations that ever appeared, and invented accusations, the most popular of which, "the impressment of seamen," was even denied by its own subjects, who had the best opportunities of knowing how far the accusation was founded on truth. Many proofs might be adduced, during the period the American government was using every effort to inflame the minds of its subjects against this country, how it trampled upon the rights of British seamen, and even on the dictates of humanity; but I shall content myself with two in 1811, vouched by American authority, and publicly recorded in that country, by honourable men, who detested the false accusations and overbearing spirit of the demagogue faction that prevailed in their country.

"The schooner L'Ant, from Bourdeaux to the Isle of Bourbon, put into the harbour of New York. Amongst the crew were two American seamen, &c. and five British seamen, who, having