hypocrisy his bounty unlimited except by his income. As a bishop, he was a kind father revered by his children; as a founder, he was magnifi cent and munificent. He was ever intent on alleviating distress and misery. He dispensed largely by his almoner to the poor. He enfranchised several of his vassals from the legal bondage to which they were consigned by the feudal system. He abounded in works of charity and mercy. Amiable and affable in his whole deportment, he was as generally beloved as respected. The prudence, fidelity, and innocence, which preserved him when tossed about on the variable waves of inconstant fortune, during the long and mighty tempest of the civil war, was justly a subject of wonder to his biographer, Dr. Budden. He conciliated the favour of successive sovereigns of opposite principles and characters; and as this author tells us, the kings his benefactors were, by his address in conferring obligations on them in his turn, converted from being his creditors into his debtors."

There are five or six engravings, several of which are of very fine execution, especially the portrait of Waynflete, and the view of his sepulchral chapel.

Art. VII. Sketches of the Internal State of France. By M. Faber, translated from the French. 8vo. pp. 300. price 7s. 6d. Murray. 1811. THIS book appears to be the composition of a man well ac

quainted with the characters and circumstances he undertakes to describe; and if all his details are not to be received with implicit credit, the greater part of them are probably intitled to as much deference as statements of matters so recent, and which may admit of such great variety of representation, can fairly claim. We know nothing more of M. Faber than we learn from the preface, which informs us that he is

• a German by birth, a person of liberal education, who repaired to Paris, in order, as he supposed, to promote the happiness of mankind, by enlisting himself in the service of the new Republic. He was received with distinction, and succeeded in obtaining several important posts in the civil administration, which he continued to fill until the year 1807. The feelings of remorse which he experienced, from the consciousness of being, after the accession of Buonaparte to the supreme power, in all instances a mere passive organ of imposture,-uniformly an instrument of oppression, and never of benevolence-determined him, at length, to reject the offers of advancement made to him, and to abandon his adopted country. He took refuge in St. Petersburg, where he wrote, and attempted to publish, a work which he considered as due to the world, and which he has entitled, "Sketches of the Internal State of France." It consisted of two volumes, one of which alone was committed to the press, when the influence of Buonaparte was successfully exerted to procure an order from Alexander for the suppression of the second. The circulation of the first-that which we have now before us-was immediately and entirely arrested on the continent of Europe. A copy, however, was conveyed to England.'

This extract is written by Mr. Walsh of America, and somewhat unaccountably omits to give the history of this dexterous copy. Did it travel from England to America, and from America back to England? Or were there more copies subsequently rescued from the agents of Napoleon? This is not said, and we are obliged to admit the authenticity of the work, and the respectability of its author, upon the evidence-certainly intitled to deference of Mr. Walsh.

The volume contains ten chapters under the following titles: the French: administration: public opinion: the throne and the altar: old times and new tiines: public instruction: justice: Bonaparte on his travels: the conscription: the national guard. Without pledging ourselves to a strict analysis of the whole, we shall refer to each of these chapters in succession.

In the first section M. Faber discusses the question, whether the French nation is to be held responsible for the various events and excesses which have attended the Revolution. Considering the nation as properly consisting of the middle class, who by their moral and intellectual qualities, and active pursuits, form as it were the kernel of the population,' he answers this question in the negative. He ascribes all the revolutionary crimes to the ruling factions and their instruments. At the period of terror,' he asserts, this instrument was the populace.' If by the populace, M. Faber means that class, that section of the lower orders, which is at all times ready to do any thing, or be any thing you please, sheep or tigers, we perfectly agree with him; but if he intend to say that the whole of the lower classes were concerned in these atrocities, we distinctly deny the justice of the accusation. The horrors of the Revolution were in but comparatively few instances the effects of 'popular' effervescence. They were, in all their circumstances, calculated and organized. Emissaries were employed, in every quarter, to agitate and inflame the public mind; and where, as was frequently the case, their efforts were unsuccessful, the moveable columns of the armies of assassination visited the spot, and purged it either by one tremendous scene of fire and slaughter, or by the permanent establishment of their tribunals of blood. These bands were as completely disciplined, as extensively and actively employed, as the Santa Hermandad of the Spanish Inquisition. On the subject of the instrument employed by the directory and by Napoleon, there can be no difference of opinion. It was and is, a standing army; a machine of terrible energy, which has at all times been fatal to liberty,` but has not unfrequently proved, by its fearful re-action, an unsafe weapon to the hand that wielded it.

The details of the administration are too long and too complicated to admit of satisfactory abstract. It appears to be the

remarkable characteristic of the whole administrative system of France, that it is, in fact, no system at all. Every thing originates with Napoleon, and to him every thing reverts. He gives his orders to the minister, who addresses, in consequence, an official circular to the prefects of the departments: the prefects transfer it to their sub-prefects, and these gentry hand it to the mayors, whose agents carry the decree into execution. Thus these officers, who, under every other government, have distinct and independent duties to perform, become the mere organs of the supreme will. When one order has been received and transmitted, or executed, they sit with their hands folded, gaping for another. They live au jour la journée; and when their day's task is done, may amuse themselves with wondering what will be the mandate of to-morrow. The remainder of the chapter is filled with statements of official falsehoods and national privations.

M. Faber's speculations on Public Opinion we cannot think altogether just. That it is repressed by Napoleon and his agents is, no doubt, true; but that he holds it in systematic contempt is clearly an error. Perhaps no man has paid more devoted attention to it; and if he has ever appeared to despise it, it has only been refined policy, that he might in reality defer to it more effectually. Of this anxiety to consult and control the public mind, the two succeeding chapters are forcible illustrations. The restoration of the Romish faith with all its mummery, and the recurrence to the state pomp and pageantry of the old regime, are described in the following

extracts.

The Moniteur is crowded with pastoral letters and charges; the crucifixes are again erected by the sides of the high roads, and the statues and images of saints on the walls of every town; the age of processions, of miracles, of relics, is restored. The sacred crown of thorns was, on the 6th of August, 1806, brought to Paris with great pomp for the veneration of the faithful, and an "Historical account" was printed, to hand down the event to posterity. Some time before this, Aix la Chapelle had recovered the swaddling clothes of the infant Jesus, the real cross, and the Virgin Mary's smock; the bodies of the three eastern kings had been brought back to Cologne; and at Brussels, a famous procession, instituted in expiation of certain indignities offered by a heretic to the host, at the time of the revolution of the Netherlands, was revived.'- Paris beholds its Calvary restored with all its stations."

The army must likewise assume the ancient forms and colours, to exhibit the appearance of ancient times. Swiss regiments, with their scarlet uniform, are again taken into pay. Regiments are raised under the command of foreign princes; and the Prince of Ysemberg (query Aremberg?) has led the way. Cravats are presented to the colours of corps by the wife of Bonaparte, as they formerly were by the queen. The demi-brigades are changed into regiments; the rank of major is restored; VOL. VIII. 2 K

and the infantry are to relinquish their blue uniform, and resume the white one, worn under the kings.'

Public Instruction is described as in a wretched state. The Lyceums, which are in fact a military institution, are alone effectually patronized by government. ، The College of France, observes M. Faber, ، and the Museum of Natural History in the Botanical Garden at Paris, have both maintained their character, and the glory of the sciences; both have survived the Revolution: the former remained untouched, the latter has received improvements and accessions.'

،

Justice is stated to be sufficiently pure in its administration, but intolerably minute and expensive in its details. A technical phrase improperly arranged, a proper name mispelt, a number expressed in cyphers instead of being written at length in words, leads to a nonsuit in any stage of a cause.' The judges are described as the most respectable of the func tionaries of France; and it is to their virtuous firmness that the safety of Moreau is unequivocally attributed. Their hands are clean; and Bonaparte is under the necessity of consigning his "dirty work" to special tribunals.

The next chapter is intitled Bonaparte on his Travels, and describes the rapidity of his motions, as well as the forms of his reception at the different towns and cities which he may visit in his tour. The artifices which are used, not to conceal, for he knows it too well, but to cover for the moment, the poverty and privations of the departments--the painted arches, the white-washed walls, and the organized huzzas-are perhaps somewhat exaggerated; but of their general accuracy we apprehend there can be little doubt.

In these journies, indeed, he displays an activity which astonishes the spectator. No sooner does he alight from his carriage than he receives the authorities. When the audience is over, he mounts his horse, and rides round the town to reconnoitre its situation and its environs. If it happens to be late when he arrives, this reconnaissance is deferred till daybreak the next morning, at six, five, or perhaps at four o'clock. Before the inhabitants are out of bed, Bonaparte has often returned to his lodgings. I have known him, immediately on alighting, propose a hunting party, which has lasted several hours. All his surveys are taken with extreme rapidity. Bonaparte, mounted on his Arabian horse, generally leaves those who accompany him far behind; while waiting for them to rejoin him he gains time to make his observations. With the exception, perhaps, of some general, extraordinarily well mounted, scarcely any one of his suite can keep pace with him; his favourite Mameluke, Roustan, who attends with the led horses, often cannot. The citizen commanding the guard of honour, who has obtained permission to follow him, is generally the first obliged to give in.

Bonaparte has sometimes fatigued two horses in riding round a town of

a moderate size. Falls from their horses are not at all uncommon to his suite; I myself saw this happen once to Roustan. Bonaparte always seeks the shortest roads; he never follows the windings, and obstacles do not stop him he leaps over walls, hedges, and ditches, leaving those who follow him to go round. He scales, on horseback, mountains almost inac cessible to the pedestrian, and descends them in the same manner; he has been seen mounting in this way an ascent almost perpendicular, situated near Aix la Chapelle, and descending from it. He often makes with his Arabians most dangerous leaps; his friends have remarked to him the risks to which he exposes himself; to which he one day answered, "Do you not know that I am the first horseman in the world "" Bonaparte is certainly a good horseman, without grace or dignity, it is true, but with a firmness, and a rare sang-froid, he shews himself every where absolute master of his seat. Wherever he passes he leaves behind him the remembrance of the rapidity of his course, of the boldness of his leaps, and of an activity unparalleled.

However, he always leaves also on the minds of those who reflect, the impression of an activity very different from that of an administrator, it is that of a soldier hardened to fatigue. His circuits round towns are made with the circumspection of a general; he always appears in the act of reconnoitring spots of ground fit for the positions of armies, for forts or redoubts. One would say, to see his active haste, that he was preparing to give battle the following day. Round a manufacturing, a commercial, or an agricultural town, Bonaparte's circuits always bear the same charac ter; he carries the same coup d'œil every where. It is true this coup d'œil is just; it is always that of an experienced engineer, and one that may become very useful when it is necessary. At first sight Bonaparte will point out the best direction to be given to a projected canal, the best place for establishing or for constructing a port or a dyke. A town situated on a navigable river had for some time wished to establish a port of safety beneath its walls. During many years the engineers and the enlightened inhabitants of the place had discussed and debated on which of the given points this port should be placed. Opinions were divided. Bonaparte at the first view pointed out the preferable spot, developing, without hesitation, the motives dictated by the ground, by the declivity of the waters, and the direction of winds. His opinion had been always that of the most enlightened and the most experienced men in all the country.? pp. 209-211.

There is something exceedingly, and, in cur opinion, very absurdly theatrical, in the manner in which he conducts him self when addressed, complimented, or cheered.

Never is the least impression visible on his countenance; nothing astonishes, nothing rejoices him. When he is spoken to his physiognomy remains immoveable. If he ask questions, it is in the tone of command. He will be answered with quickness; he will be promptly obeyed. It were better to give a false answer than hesitate.'

We shall add an extract or two more from this chapter, just observing, that M. Faber seems more ambitious to write finely than to sketch accurately.