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neering, and that he was patronised by the Prince of Condé; but he gives us no relation of any event until the breaking out of the French Revolution, in which, as is known, Carnot took a considerable share: we quote the following passage, as the only one which, in the remotest degree, savours of that impartiality and liberality in which the author professes to write.

"On a généralement accordé a Carnot des talens pour les sciences, et des moyens pour l'administration, mêmes des qualités personelles qui l'ont fait distinguer autrefois des fameux révolutionaires, ses collegues. Ou ne lui a jamais reproché ni la demagogie effrenée de Robespierre, ni la férocité de Couthon ou de Bellaud de Varennes, ni la versatilité ambitieuse et perfide de Fouché, ni l'audacieuse et sotte presomption de Marat. Plut à Dieu qu'en 1814 il eût oublié d'ecrire! Mais on a constamment observé dans sa conduite, un esprit beaucoup trop prononcé pour un independence voisine de la licence et de l'anarchie."

We have then an account of some of the principal events of the Revolution, with extracts from, and comments upon, documents written by Carnot. In the course of these transactions, it was Carnot's fate, on a change of parties, to be proscribed; and, according to this author, Barras (who was then in power) or General Augereau, had given orders to four soldiers to seize and behead him. The mode in which Carnot escaped is thus told; and it is one of those anecdotes which depend solely on the veracity of the relater, and is probably without a shadow of truth: the facts, indeed, seem to afford their own contradiction.

"Le hazard nous fit connaître un homme dont le témoinage détruit incontestablement ces calomnies; c'était Maupas, ancien fournisseur des armées : trois jours après le 18 fructidor, il rencontra, près de Bondy, un charretier qui lui était parfaitement connu; c'était Cap*** voiturier de la Chapelle, il était accompagné d'un valet, qu'il avait revêtu de ses habits; ils s'abordent et continuent la route ensemble. Arrivés à Bondy, ils s'arrêtent à une auberge, et boivent une bouteille; le valet est de la partie; ce dernier était ni gai, ni triste; mais il ne dit mot: après avoir bu deux coups et mangé une croûte de pain sec, il prit son fouet, et alla faire baigner les chevaux.

"Le charretier s'approche de plus près de Maupas. Savez vous, lui dit-il, avec qui nous venous de boire ?-avec votre domestique— Ecoutez: je puis compter sur votre discretion? C'est Carnot; sourtout gardez-vous de lui faire présumer que vous le connaissez, il est entrépide, mais ombrageux; dans sa position, il est permis de l'être.' Maupas, qui du temps du comité du salut public, avait eu, en sa qualité de fournisseur, différens entretiens avec Carnot, aurait pu le

reconnaître; mais il y a si loin du costume d'un gouvernant à celui d'un valet de charretier!

"Ils firent encore quelques lieues ensemble; Maupas ne pouvait se lasser de contempler le directeur devenu valet; il admirait sourtout la docilité des chevaux à sa voix. Pour la honte de l'espèce humaine, il lui fut aisé de se convainore qu'il est bien plus facile de conduire des chevaux que des hommes."

The whole spirit of the book may be said to be contained in the last reflection, which is intended once more in France to inculcate the exploded doctrine of passive obedience, a topic much discussed in this volume; the improbabilities of the story which gave rise to it need not be pointed out. A little farther on it is asserted, that Carnot received from Bonaparte 100,000 francs, the arrears of his pension while in disgrace, and an engagement for the annual payment of 25,000 franks for secret services he had rendered; and hav ing touched upon the conduct of Carnot on the return of Napoleon from Elba, the author speaks of the proclamations, secret messages, and false reports circulated by Carnot among the pupils of the Lyceum in favour of his master; he adds, that it is very true, that Carnot has denied the charge in his exposé; but he observes, that if they were not written by him, they were by some body else, which is all the same; and this very fair conclusion against the subject of his memoir, is succeeded by an extract from a supposed letter to the pupils, which is only authenticated by the statement of the writer, that it fell into his hands by accident. We afterwards meet with the following passages, which we translate for the sake of brevity:

"It seems that Carnot remained faithful to the usurper until the moment when he learnt that the Congress would not listen to him, nor receive his dispatches; he no longer doubted for an instant the danger which threatened France and himself; the Allied Sovereigns were determined, if necessary, to rouse all Europe against the French armies; he knew well that the nation would never have taken up arms again but for the protection of the return of its legitimate Sovereign.

"From that day the danger became more imminent; Belgia was filling with English, Hanoverians, Scots, Prussians, and Dutch; the banks of the Rhine were in an equal degree inundated with foreign troops; Switzerland, in breach of her neutrality, declared in favour of the coalition: the French territory might every moment be invaded from all quarters. What then was to be done to save his fortune and his life under such perilous circumstances? Only two exCRIT. REV. VOL. IV. Sept. 1816.

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pedients remained-an appeal to the people of France, for the purpose of attempting a levy en masse, or an immediate negociation with the enemy.

"The latter game appeared the most easy and certain. We are assured that, for this purpose, Carnot had a private interview with Fouché at his house in the Rue Cérutti; and that, at a long confe rence they afterwards had, it was agreed that Fouché should instantly commence a negociation to preserve the fortunes and lives of Carnot and himself."

Then comes one of those relations which may very fairly be pronounced absolutely false; and the reason is obvious, because the author produces no better authority than his own to substantiate it;-it is one of those "particularités interessantes qui n'ont jamais été imprimées," and we may add, jamais arrivées. We give the writer's own words.

"Voici un fait qui vient à l'appui de ceque nous venons de rapporter. Quelques jours après cet arrangement des deux ministres, nous rencontrâmes au Luxembourg un exconventionnel, qui deux jours auparavant était extrêmement gai, mais qui dans ce moment, était plongé dans la plus profonde tristesse; nous l'abordons et nous lui demandons le motif de ce changement. Helas! nous dit il, j'attendais tout de Carnot, il y a quelques jours, et le miserable nous a trahis; ila sa grâce dans sa poche.'-Telles furent ces expressions; il ajonta: Carnot m'a donné rendez-vous pour demain; il veut me réintégrer dans la place de chef de division que l'on m'ota l'année dernière; mais je ne le verrai plus; il ne vaut pas plus que Fouché.'

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"En achevant ces mots, il me quitta brusquement pour aller se livrer seul à ses reflections; j'oubliais de dire que le conventionnel tenait cette particularité si importante d'un ancien collègue à la convention, ami intime et confident du ministre de l'interieur."

Shortly after the insertion of this supposed conversation, the author states some few facts well known to all the world connected with the abdication of Bonaparte; and just mentioning the retirement of Carnot to Cerny, he concludes the first part of his work, of which our readers have seen enough to be aware, that the character we gave of it in the outset was not undeserved; one half may be said to be composed of abuse, and the other of perversion and falsehood in equal proportions. The latter pages consist of what the writer is pleased to term " un examen impartial" of Carnot's exposé on his political conduct subsequent to the 1st July, 1814.We cannot deny that in this critique, as well as in other parts of the work, there is a display of some ingenuity and talent; but we are constantly disgusted with the coarseness of the language, and with the unfair expedients which are

resorted to, to gain the approbation of the royal party. We say this without meaning to enter into the merits of the question; for we are not here called upon to state any opinion as to the conduct of Carnot, or of those who have thus pursued him into his solitude." On sait (concludes the author) qu'il s'est rendu en Russie; mais on ignore, jusqu à ce moment, le lieu positif de sa residence. En quelque endroit du monde qu'il se trouve, puisse-t-il s'oublier, s'il est possible, et surtout se faire oublier du reste des hommes."

On the impolicy of the conduct of the government possessing a controul over its press, in allowing a work of the kind to be published at this moment, we need not remark: the truly enlightened of all parties must condemn it, and however despicable, in many points of view, it has not been found to be below indignation.

ART. X.-The Attempt to divorce the Princess of Wales impartially considered, more particularly in Reference to the probability of Success. London, Ridgway: 8vo. Pp. 25. 1816..

WE Confess that we have not much taste for dissertations on the private concerns of royal personages, and if we notice such subjects, as they are obtruded upon our attention, it is not to provoke but to prevent discussion. In the autumn of the last year, we had a correspondence on the marriage of the Duchess of Cumberland, in which her Majesty was a principal party in the spring of the preceding, we had an interchange of letters, in which the same illustrious lady shewed her talent at epistolary composition; and we do not think that some of the exalted parties in these circumstances shewed either the temper or the decorum that should on a question of prudence justify them in attracting the observation of the public with regard to their domestic We had also some time since a series of documents in the journals of the day connected with matters of extreme delicacy, that excited both disgust and regret in the breast of every loyal subject of the kingdom. But we are anxious not to be mistaken; we object much less to the effect than to the cause-much less to the fact of publication than to the conduct which gave rise to this notoriety. The design of the pamphlet before us entirely coincides with our views as to avoiding publicity in such matters, and we attribute that merit to the author which his intention

concerns.

deserves; but he positively assumes what we are yet inclined to doubt, " that an attempt will be made next session of Parliament to dissolve the marriage between the Prince Regent and the Princess ;" and he assigns as the motive of this proceeding, " to enable his Royal Highness to marry again, and to afford him a chance of having a male heir to the crown."

If such be the purpose of the court and the ministry, we are exceedingly happy to read in the character of the times in which we live the probability of a very different issue from that which took place on numerous occasions under the despotism of Henry VIII. That barbarous prince had a cabinet at his foot, a parliament that vied with his council in servility, and a people without the hope of rescue from vassalage, with no British press to crush his projects. If we value the liberty we enjoy, there is no one circumstance in the protracted reign of our venerable sovereign that can induce us more highly to appreciate it, than the ability it affords us of controlling a project which would determine,

"Whether the Princess Charlotte, and the child she will soon bear, shall succeed to the crown or not-and which is in truth the same thing, whether, upon the decease of the Prince Regent, an event not very remote by the course of nature, there shall be a sovereign of complete age, and of a character well known to the country, or an infant, in whose name the Duke of York may reign, if a competition does not arise between the Princess Charlotte and the Commander in Chief of the army for the regency of the realm?" (p. 6.)

The author, having attempted to remove the hesitation which we and others feel in allowing the existence of the design to divorce the Princess, and having asserted that the business is to be brought forward under the auspices of ministers, and those whose political importance rests principally upon their devotion to the interests of Carlton House, passes on to inquire into the nature of the proceeding likely to be adopted.

"We are to consider the course which the business will probably take. To proceed in Doctors' Commons would be manifestly absurd. The rules of the House of Lords require, indeed, a sentence of separation there, as a necessary step to be taken before a divorcebill can be brought in; but they likewise require a verdict and damages in a court of common law, and surely no one contemplates the Prince Regent bringing an action for criminal conversation. Be sides, in a suit for separation the defendant may recriminate; which might give rise to much delay and embarrassment. A bill in the nature of an extraordinary proceeding, like an attainder, or a bill of

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