prove it, that to this circumstance alone, the shameful and dilapidated condition of almost all the hospitals is to be attributed. So forcible are tlie representations of some of the Prefects upon this subject, that they goso far as to assert boldly and roundly, that the duties assessed, and grants made for the support of the hospitals have been scandalously diverted from their original destination, and lavished without account, on less necessary purposes. This is strong language fpr Pro-Consuls, and might give offence if published. But these remonstrances are not permitted te be inspected by vulgar eyes. I refer to my political work for a fuller investigation into this subject, as well as of the employment of the National Revenues.had had to discharge, was, to secure and regulate Ihc payment of the country nurses. In , not niore than . sterling was due, yet it was unpaid, and the reason assigned was, that the nurses neglected to bring their certificates, which they must produce previous to the payment of their claims. However, the two first quarters of this year have been discharged, and it has been attended with a very striking effect. The infants have been sent to nurse much sooner, and the number of those who have died is considerably diminished; so many house-nurses have not been required; they have been selected with care, and kept under a regular management; persons who were of no use whatever to the institution have been discharged, and consequently, several indigent ones have been relieved.These meliorations had been already effected, when the Paternal Trustwas established, whose attention has been directed to four principal objects, salubrity, better provision, economy, supply of clothing and linen. The small out-buildings which were in a ruinous state, have been pulled down; the partitions that divided the wards, taken away; the number of windows increased, and cleanliness introduced throughout the whole. The walls have been close scraped; the dormitories and wards white-washed; contractors no longer are employed in the principal part of the work, but men whom the government employ in times of difficulty, have been engaged to pull down for the repairs. The white-washing has been done by old workmen, who had retired to Beutre, and by boys belonging to the Hospital of Pity. In the course of the work, from the bad state of thd buildings, many rotten timbers were discovered, and were repaired at an heavy expence; and almost all the window-frames had become unserviceable. ‘ .The inspectors had remarked that a portion of the provisions disappeared; and as the people of the house had an opportunity of selling the victuals, they were constantly complaining that they had not enough. To remedy this evil, refectories have been established, where they all eat together. The inspectors are very diligent in the lying-in part of the hospital, and propose to give equal attention to that wherein the infants are suckled. The food is there abundant, wholesome, -and varied. The childrens’ kitchen, in which bread, milk, panada, and vermicelli are prepared, has been fitted up apart from the Others, and is under especial inspection. The place of apothecary has been suppressed. Plenty of linen has been provided for the children, and the servant girls and house-nurses, as well as the poorest of the pregnant women, have been supplied with clothes. The double beds heads have been removed; each woman and nurse have a separate bed, and the latter have two cribs for the infantsthej they suckle. The principal part of these bedsteads and cribs have been painted, and the vermin which used to infest them have disappeared.Two new regulations have been adopted, which on account of their important tendency, deserve notice. The pregnant women near their time were formerly suffered to be without any employment, in consequence of which, they fell into a languor and lowness of spirits, and not unfrequently, bodily indisposition. Work-rooms have now been established, in which they
squandered on the adventurers, civil and military, who figured on the theatre of the French Republic.The necessity of making some provision for the instruction of youth was at length universally felt, and out of a chaos of systems and schemes, something approaching to common sense, was finally adopted as a temporary expedient; for to this hour there is no general plan of education in the country, and those institutions which I am now about to describe, are calculated, with the exception ception of the central and polytechnic Schools, for persons of mature age. ‘/There are only three central schools in Paris, and their organization is so defective that it may be justly doubted, whether it would not be doing a service to the cause of literature, if they were suppressed. For, notwithstanding that to each of them are attached a library, mathematical instruments, and a botanic garden; the modeof conveying instruction must defeat the object of their institution. The abstract sciences and history fill up the whole course of education until the pupils are eighteen years of age. Geography, without which history cannot be understood, is not taught; there is no professor of foreign languages, and only one lecturer on the ancient tongues, who for an hour and a half reads daily a critical excursion, rather for his own amusement than for the advantage of his pupils, so that ancient literature cannot be said to be cultivated at all. The other professors discharge their duties in a manner equally exceptionable.; nothing is left to the labours of the scholar, his understanding is not in the least exercised; he is only required to possess a supernatural memory. Public lectures are admirable methods of communicating science. particularly experimental science, to those who have previously made themselves acquainted with its elements; but to teach the abstract sciences to boys, merely by reading dissertations to them, ismuch much the same as attempting to teach them the more abstruse parts of arithmetic, or to demonstrate a problem of Euclid without pen, ink, and paper. I conclude therefore, that these central schools are of no manner of use, but serve rather to display an idle ostentation on the part of the government, a parade of useless erudition on the part of the professor; and to nurture consummate ignorance and vanity in the scholar.However, when the pupils have some how or other gone through their classes, they are removed to the Polytechnic school, which is the Parisian university. This change is certainly in their favour because they obtain by it nearly ten pounds sterling a year, which is a sum not to be despised by the future Receivers General of Europe. About four hundred boys are here finishing; Lebrun, not Charles Francois, the Consul, but Ponce-Denys-Ecou chard, the poet, and member of the National Institute, is the principal administrator. These members of the Institute burrow every where; it is a matter of no small importance to obtain a seat in their hall, for it is the anti-chamber to wealth, fame, and power. At this Polytechnic school, laboratories, mechanical workshops, a drawing-room, and philosophical apparatus are provided for the use of.the pupils.From this account of the state of Public Instruction in the capital, you may form a tolerable judgment of the progressive marche de ‘esprithumain,in the provinces. If a young person is ambitious of acquiring the elements of science, he must not look to the central schools for assistance, but he must work at home, and employ masters, who are to be found in abundance, and who will do him justice, though they wear no silk scarfs, and are not members of the National Institute. When he shall have completed his courses, then he may attend the lectures of any of those professors who give public lectures in any of the schools which I shall now proceed to enumerate; and here I feel it incumbent on me to recommend them most strenuously to the attention of every person who visits Paris with a view to instruction. The
Ionian sea, and the entrance of the Corinthian gulf. I never saw a view which gave me more satisfaction; and Salique, finding himself out of danger, and in sight of his native city, exclaimed with a loud voice, ” now, let the rascals come if they dare, and they shall find what it is to attack a Tatar.” He then examined the state of his pistols, but did not cease to look behind every now and then, with a kind of anxious inquietude, until we descended to the plain, when he alighted from his horse, performed ablution at a fountain, and muttered some words of thanksgiving to the prophet. This word may be derived from ft?;pj> or from the Latin macellarius.’See Rees’s Encyclop. under the articles Viscum and Loranthus.* See Evelyn’s Sylva, c. ‘.We crossed a broad channel, containing a slender stream which descends from Mount Panachaikos, and which flows through the plain to the sea. This is probably the Glaukos; its modern name is Leuka. We passed a short distance to the right of the great cypress, and arrived in the evening at Patra, where I was happy to repose some days under the hospitable roof of our consul, Mr. Strani.I was fatigued with the length of the journey through Greece, and while I was meditating the final conclusion of my peregrinations, and my return to Rome, I felt great satisfaction in reviewing in my mind, and contemplating at my ease, the many scenes of great beauty and of deep interest which I had lately visited.The Peloponnesos is a small country, and might be seen in a very sh:rt time, if the roads were better, and the mode of travelling more expeditious; as it is, the travelling is so extremely slow, and the interesting objects are so numerous and dispersed, that if the traveller is a draughtsman, he should bestow eight or ten months upon the Peninsula alone.Although I had not, in this last expedition, the advantage of being attended by Signor Pomardi, yet I made several accurate drawings of the architectural remains, and the wonderful scenery of Eleia, Messenia, Laconia, and Arcadia.I had the good fortune to find at Patra Mr. Gcll, and Mr Raikes, TERMINATION OF MY JOURNEY IN THE MOREA. who having also concluded their tour in Greece, had arrived here with an intention of proceeding to England or to Malta. My destiny compelled me to direct my course still far from home: I had solemnly engaged my word to the French government to return to Rome after my absence of two years was expired; and thus, contrary to all my interests, and inclinations, and intended plans in life, I was obliged to surrender myself once more a prisoner. In the mean time I wrote to Signor Pomardi, who, during my tour through the Morea, had re-established his health at Zakunthos; and, though he was only in a state of convalescence during the greater part of his stay in that island, yet his unremitting diligence, and his enthusiastic admiration of the beauties of nature, had induced him to make several drawings, and four highly finished panoramas of that island, which the Italians, from its singular beauty, call the flower of the Levant. It is to the unwearied diligence and accurate observation of this celebrated artist that I am indebted for a collection of views of Greece, while more were made by myself. After a few days, Signor Pomardi arrived at Patra; and, as it was our intention to visit the ruins near Mesaloggion, as well as some of the Ionian islands, we hired a boat to convey us as far as Corfu. I dismissed my attendants, who had served me faithfully throughout my tour, and had the satisfaction of sending them to their homes in a state of grateful contentment with the remuneration they received. Ibrahim contemplated treating himself with a new gun, a pair of silver-mounted pistols, and a fine sword; Georgio Stathi already talked of the olive trees he intended to possess at Athens, where he said he should remain and cultivate his land, as he had travelled enough for the remainder of his life.VOL. II. xTO MESALOGGION.Taking leave of
by Pausanias.’The plain of Mantineia opens beyond this pass; not far from which Pausanias notices a place called Pelagos, where Epaminondas was killed; then a stadium and a dromosclose to the walls of Mantineia. The plain was covered with detached intervals of water, owing to the late bad weather and the melting of the snow, by which it is probable that several traces were concealed.We passed through some vineyards situated in low- and marshy ground. The wine is consequently of the poorest quality. The neighbouring hills would, no doubt, be more auspicious to the culture of the vine, but the excellence of the quality is little heeded by the Greeks, with whom quantity seems to be the principal object. Some of the plain is marshy and uncultivated, for which reason it was anciently named Argos. Its present name is Milias..We passed by some blocks of stone, and crossed a bridge over a sluggish fen stream. This humble rivulet was probably a frequent subject of dispute between the two neighbouring territories, and by turning which, Agis, the Spartan king, son of Archidamos, inundated the Mantineian plain. This seems to have been the spot where Agis obtained a victory over the Argians, Arcadians, and Athenians, about fifty years before Epaminondas vanquished the Lacedaemonians, and probably near the same place.We arrived at Mantineia in two hours and five minutes from Tripolitza, and passed the night at a miserable place, consisting of three cottages, called Palaiopoli, situated within the ancient walls of the city towards the east. Mantineia took its name from its founder, one of the sons of Lycaon. Its walls were composed of unbaked bricks, which resisted, even better than stone, the impulse of warlike engines, but were not proof against the effects of water: for Agesipolis,’ king of Sparta, forming a ditch round the town, and causing the river Ophis to flow into it, dissolved the fabric of the walls, as Cimon, son of Miltiades, had done before with the earthen walls of Eion, on the river Strymon. Agesipolis nearly ruined Mantineia, and dispersed the greater part of its inhabitants. After the battle of Leuktra, the Thebans collected the dispersed Mantineians, and re-established them in their ancient city. The walls which are seen at present were probably then built. They are of the same style as those of Messene, and inclose a circle in which the city stood. The walls are fortified with towers, most of which are square. Some near the gates are of a circular form. The whole exhibits, as well as the walls of Messene, an interesting and very perfect example of Grecian fortification. There were eight gates, not one of which retains its lintel. The walls are surrounded by a Thucyd. b. . c. . * Pausan. b. . c. .* Xenophon. Hist. b. . c. . Pausan. b. . c. . * Supposed to have taken place the th of July, years B. C. See Xenophon. Hist. b. .c. .foss which is still supplied by the stream of the Ophis, which, together with the waters that fall from Artemision, would inundate the plain, were they not absorbed by a chasm through which they find a subterraneous vent.’Mantineia was richly decorated with public edifices. It had eight temples, besides a theatre, a stadium, and hippodrome, and several other monuments which are enumerated by Pausanias.’ Some imperfect remains of the theatre are still visible, the walls of which are similar to those round the town. None of the sites of the temples or of the other structures can be identified, and every thing, except the walls which inclosed the city, is in a state of total dilapidation.Antigonos, son of Demetrios, who reigned in Macedon during the minority of his nephew, Philip III., greatly favoured the Mantineians, and called their city after his own name, Antigonea. About years afterwards, Hadrian restored it to its ancient name. Neptune was particularly revered at this city, and was supposed to have fought against the Lacedaemonians commanded by Agis, son of Eudamidas, who was killed in the battle. The Mantineians raised a
contemplated.There were in 1800, agreeably to the returns, 373,655 males, and 444,474 females in the city of London and Westminster. The excess of females you will find to be 70,819. If this proportionate excess obtained throughout England, this would be the most miserable country on the globe. Of these 444,474 females, Mr. Colquhoun supposes 50,000 to gain all, or part of their subsistence by prostitution: hence, more than one ninth of all the females in London are whores. If we suppose two ninths of the 444,474 to be withinthe years of seduction, and one more ninth to be withoutthe years of tempr tation, we shall find one in six of all those who are within the reach of prostitution, lost to innocence!War, commerce and emigration, must of necessity render the condition of the sex in England rather severe. Nature has kindly ordered the proportion of males and females as thirteen to twelve: the finest argument in favour of an overruling Providence, with which I have ever met. The avocations and accidents to which our sex are peculiarly liable, render this excess necessary. Thus far the economy of nature, which in most countries has dealt unkindly with the fair sex: but in England, they have nothing of which to complain but of the perversion of the laws of nature, and of a complicated system of things, the evils of which mostly fall on the weaker sex.Adieu.LETTER X.LONDON, OCTOBERJofA.I Havelately made a most important discovery, which has displayed one of the great secrets of English rank. You, in the United States, knowing nothing of this, will consider the following authentic history of rank a singular curiosity.They have confined the several species of man within such definite limits, in this country, that the moment they hear a knocking at their doors, they can tell you whether it be a servant, a postman, a milkman, a half or whole gentleman, a very great gentleman, a knight, or a nobleman.A servant is bound to lift the knocker once: should he usurp a nobleman’s knock he would hazard his situation. A postman knocks twice, very loudly. A milkman knocks once, at the same time, sending forth an artificial noise, not unlike the yell of an American Indian. A mere gentleman usually knocks three times, moderately: a terrible fellow feels authorized to knock thrice, very loudly, generally adding to these, two or three faint knocks, which se em to run into each other: but there isconsiderable art in doing this elegantly, therefore it is not always attempted: but it is a valuable accomplishment A stranger who should venture at an imitation would immediately be taken for an upstart A knight presumes to give a double knock,that is, six raps, with a few feint ones at the end. I, have not yet ascertained the various peculiarities, which distinguish the degrees between the baronet and the nobleman; but this I know, too well, that a nobleman, at any time of night, is allowed to knock so long and loud, that the whole neighbourhood is frequently disturbed ; and although fifty people may be deprived of their night’s rest, there is no redress at law nor equity. Nor have I learnt how long and loud a prince of the blood presumes to knock, though, doubtless, he might knock an hour or two, by way of distinction.You may hold your sides, if you please, but I assure you I am perfectly serious. These people are so tenacious of this prerogative, that a true blooded Englishman goes near to think it a part of British liberty. Indeed, I am convinced, I could place certain Englishmen in a situation, in which, rather than knock at a door but once, they would fight a duel every day in the week. Good heaven, how would a fine gentleman appear, if obliged to knock but once, at the door of a fashionable lady, to whose party he had been invited, while, at the same moment, a number of his every-day friends, passing by, might observe the circumstance! I cannot conceive of a more distressing occurrence. The moment he entered the room, the eyes of the whole company would be
of foot.In the beginning of , Lord Harrington, then Viscount Petersham, exchanged his light company for the grenadier company of the th. In February that year, this regiment embarked at Chatham, for Quebec, on board the Isis, Surprize, and Martin ships of war, and four transports, under the command of Lieutenant-colonel Patrick Gordon. The three men of war, commanded by Commodore Douglas, arrived on the th of May in the bason of Quebec, which city was at that time besieged by the Americans, under the command of General Montgomery. The troops on board, consisting of Lord Petersham’s grenadiers, part of two battalion companies, and the marines, effected a landing. The remainder of the th arrived a few days after, and did duty in Ouebec, till the arrival of the army from Europe, under the command of Major-general Burgoyne, when the whole was ordered up the river St. Lawrence, in pursuit of the Americans.OnOn the th June, the Americans attempted to cut off the troops in the town of Trois Rivieres, which they thought was occupied by a small body of men, but they met with a warm reception, and retreated into the woods.The th regiment, ten companies of grenadiers, and the same number of light-infantry, were formed into an advanced brigade, under the command of Lieutenant-colonel Fraser, of the th foot, appointed brigadier-general. This brigade landed at Sorel, and pursued the Americans up the river Richelieu, to Chamble’e and Fort St. John, at which place the latter embarked in batteaux, for ‘Isle aux Noix. The advanced brigade encamped at Fort St. John, until vessels could be procured to follow . the Americans.As soon as the armament was completed, part of the th battalion companies embarked on board the ships of war as marines, and on the th and th of October, actions took place between the British fleet, under Commodore Crew, Admiral Pringle, and the Americans, commanded by General Arnold, in all of which the British were victorious. The advanced, and first brigades, with the artillery and remainder of the th, were in batt eaux, and soon joined the fleet at Crown Point, where the th detachment had landed, and taken post in the ruins of Fort Frederick. The army immediately encamped, but the weather setting in very cold and stormy, Sir Guy Carleton thought proper to defer the attack of Ticonderago till the following spring. The armyre-embarked, and sailed the d November, the fleet bringing up the rear.On arriving in Canada, the army was ordered into winter-quarters. The advanced brigade was cantoned on both banks of the river St. Lawrence, from Montreal, downwards. Lord Petersham’s company was quartered at Verchere. The th battalion garrisoned Montreal, to which place his lordship often went to see his friends.In the spring of , Lieutenant-general Burgoyne was appointed to command a detachment of Sir Guy Carlton’s army, destined to cross Lake Champlain, for the attack of Ticonderago, and to effect a junction with the southern army. This army, after encountering the greatest difficulties, and disputing every inch of ground with the Americans, infinitely superior in number, was obliged to throw down their arms by the convention of Saratoga.During this active campaign, Lord Petersham acted as an aid-de camp to General Burgoyne, and his services in that arduous capacity were particularly noticed by that unfortunate general. Indeed, his lordship was on the most intimate footing with all the general and other officers, particularly Brigadier-general Fraser, who often declared that Lord Petersham would be one of the first officers in the British army.After the disastrous issue of the campaign, Lord Petersham was sent to England with General Burgoyne’s dispatches, by the way of New York, andno no person in the army could have been chosen mora proper to give his Majesty every information on the subject, than his lordship. Shortly after his lordship’s arrival in London, he
house be presented to the Right Hon. Frederick Earl of Carlisle, for the wisdom and prudence of his administration, and for his uniform and unremitted attention to promote the welfare of this kingdom.”treasurer treasurer of Ireland, which office he resigned in the month of December following.In the session of / he was chosen chairman of the committee appointed to inquire into the illicit practices used in defrauding the revenue: he was also in the same session chairman of the select committee appointed to examine the Reports of the Directors of the East-India Company. The Reports presented to the house by those committees were made the foundation of several parliamentary measures.In the next session he took an active part in opposing the Irish propositions; and by his suggestions, and the suggestions of those gentlemen who acted with him, the propositions, before they received the ultimate sanction, were rendered infinitely more practicable, by various salutary modifications, alterations, and amendments: an incontrovertible proof that the presence of an opposition. composed of wise and able men, is at all times highly useful, and that a secession from parliament is not only a breach of ahigh constitutional trust, but as absurd and ridiculous as the quarrels of children who say ” they’ll play no more,” because the dressing and management of a doll is not to be surrendered to them, while the supreme control of it is officially vested in others.In December Mr. Eden was appointed one of the Lords of the Committee of Conncil for Trade and Plantation’s, and was named Envoy Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the court of Versailles, for the purpose of concluding a treaty of commerce between Great Britain and Fiance. That treaty was accomplishedplished and signed September iQ,. On the th of January he signed with the Comte de Vergenncs a farther commercial convention.On the st of August, in the same year, he signed with the late Comte de Montmorin a convention between his Britannic Majesty and the most Christian King, for the prevention of disputes between their respective subjects in the East Indies.In these truly important treaties, the consummate abilities of Mr. Eden as a man of business, his intimate knowledge of British commerce and British manufacture, and the true interests of both, shone forth with distinguished lustre. The mildness of our negotiator’s manners, his accommodating temper, and his unassuming tone, aided by his adroit management of the various interests and concerns entrusted to his care, produced the most complete success. The commercial connection between the two countries was placed on a footing certainly not in itself disadvantageous to France, but in so superior a degree beneficial to Great Britain, to that upon which any former commercial treaty had rested, that the country was contented to reap the fruits of it in silence for nearly three years, before France discovered, or was pleased to acknowledge, that it was possible for her negotiators to be over-matched by an Englishman.The convention signed by the late Comte de Montmorin was of still higher consideration than the commercial treaties, important as they were. It involved interests of state policy of the first magnitude and consequence, and put an end to the claims so often previously set up by France upon our right of sovereignty in India. It annihilated for ever, as far as the most solemn compact can have that effect, every question, dispute, or challenge of our right that could hereafter be brought forward. On the th of October , Mr. Eden, in concurrence with the late Duke of Dorset, signed and exchanged the declaration and counter-declaration with the French minister, by which it was agreed to discontinue all warlike preparations, and by which the court of France disavowed the retaining hostile views towards any quarter in consequence of what had happened in Holland.In March Mr. Eden went to Spain
in deference to the sense of the House of Commons, expressed by its vote on a popular question decided adverse to the existing administration. In April Mr. Eden came from Ireland, and appeared on Monday the th of that month in his place in the House of Commons; whence, having been called upon, as the minister of Ireland, to give some account of the state of affairs in that country, he rose and detailed the history of them for some years past, describing their existing situation, the feelings of the Irish respecting the question of legislating for themselves^ and the expectations from the liberality of Great Britain on that bead. He concluded with moving for leave to bring in a bill “to repeal so much of the th of George the st as affected the legislative independency of Ireland,” solemnly declaring that he believed the house’s compliance with such a motion would give perfect quiet to Ireland. This occasioned a warm and animated debate of some hours, at the end of which Mr. Eden said, ” that as he saw there was a fair and anxious disposition to comply with the wishes of Ireland, he would at”least infer that his motion would not be excluded as a part of the proposed plan.” \Mr.Fox, then Secretary of State, indicating his asseni,~\Mr. Eden, after a few more observations as to his solemn belief fethat the motion before the house would be satisfactory,” concluded with saying, ” that he must give way to the sense of the house, for his withdrawing the motion ; but he begged to have it remembered, that it was a deference to their wish, and not the sentiment of his own mind, that induced him to do so.” In order to explain to the reader the cause and nature of this transaction, it is necessary that he should be apprized that the Earl of Carlisle was appointed Lord-lieutepant of Ireland in a very critical and arduous period. The first session of parliament while tile Earl was Viceroy presented many and daily difficulties to be surmounted ; the administration of that kingdom had nevertheless the good fortune, by an equal share of candour and firmness, to conduct it smoothly and safely as far as they remained in power. A system of wise and constitutional changes was projected, countenanced by the government at home, acknowledged to be highly satisfactory by fuch of the leading’ persons in Ireland, to whomthej.[Onthe th of May following, Mr. Fox moved, " That it is the opinion of this house, that the act of the th of George the st, intituled, 'An act for the better securing the dependency of the kingdom of Ireland upon the crown of Great Britain,' ought to be repealed;" which motion was unanimously agreed to.]In April Mr. Eden was sworn of his Majesty’s privy council in England, and was appointed Vicethey were communicated, and intended to be gradually produced. The recall of the Viceroy, however, was so sudden and unqualified, that it looked like a plan to deprive him of all the credit due to him for his good intentions, and to transfer the popularity that belonged to them to others. Hence, perhaps, the sudden appearance, the arguments and motion made and urged by Mr. Eden in the British House of Commons, on the th of April. Certain it is, that the House of Commons of Ireland were highly satisfied with the administration of the Earl of Carlisle, as appears by the following vote of thanks, which passed in that house without a division soon after the arrival of the Duke of Portland, and on the very day that the new Lord-lieutenant sent a message to the house by the Right Hon. John Hely Hutchinson, Secretary of State in Ireland, ” that his Grace had it in command to inform the house, that his Majesty being concerned to find that discontents and jealousies are prevailing among his loyal subjects of this country, upon matters of great weight and importance, recommends it to this house to take the same into their most serious consideration, in order to such a final adjustment as may give general satisfaction to his kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland.”" Monday,. April, . “That the thanks of this
prosperity of Egypt,” offering, by his express command, the mediation of the French government in order to establish a peace with the beys. But this the pacha declined, saying, ” that he had the most positive orders from Constantinople to make a war of extermination upon the beys.”In an assembly of the principal scheiks of Cairo, the conversation turned upon the interest which the first consul took in Egypt, on his power, his glory, and on bis esteem for the learned scheiks. Their answers expressed an enthusiastic attachment to his person. The inhabitants of Cairo saluted the agent Sebastiani and bis suite when passing along the streets. A trivial incident, however, served to prove the futility of these flattering representations. On the th, in returning to Fort Dupuy, Mustapha Oukel, one of the chiefs of the city, passing accidentally on horseback, reproached the guides who attended Sebastiani with marching before a Christian, and above all aFrenchman! and menaced them with the bastinado after his departure. Having demanded redress of the pacha for this insult, he found that Mustapha was strongly favored and protected by him: and Sebastiani was compelled formally to declare that if reparation was not made he would Jeave the city and transmit his complaint to Paris and Constantinople. Upon which, Mustapha, at the instance of the pacha, thought proper to ask his pardon. Also, to re-instate himself in the favor of the French agent, the pacha showed him a letter he had just received from general Stuart, who was no doubt apprehensive of the ill effect of Sebastiani’s intrigues. “This letter inclosed an order of the first consul dated August H, and which recalled to the recollection of the Egyptians that Constantinople was once tributary to Arabia, and that the time was now come to restore Cairo to its supremacy, and to destroy the eastern empire of the Ottomans. General Stuart begged the pacha to consider the spirit of that order, and to judge from it of our attachment and of our peace with the Turks. I was indignant to find that a soldier of one of the most polite nations of Europe should degrade himself so far as to instigate assassination by means of such an insinuation.”From this preposterous charge of assassination the agent Sebastiani makes a sudden transition to the monks of Mount Sinai, from whom he received a deputation; and, to those of the Propagandaat Cairo, who performed a solemn Te Deumfor the prosperity of the first consul, at which M. Sebastiani assisted.On the d of November, he set out for Damietta, and had the good fortune to meet in his route with none but persons extremely attached to France. “In Egypt,” .says he, ” chiefs, merchants, people, all like to talk of the first consul; all offer prayers for his happiness. All the news which concerns him, spreads from Alexandria or Damietta to the pyramids with astonishing rapidity.”On the th, Sebastiani left Damietta, and arrived in five days at Acre. He immediately addressed a letter to Djezzar Pacha, stating, “that peace being concluded between France and the Porte, the relations of com merce should be re-established on the footing they stood on before the war; and that he was charged by the first consul to confer with him on these subjects. I begged of him,” says M. Sebastiani, “to answer me in writing if he was inclined to treat with me. In some hours the messengers returned. Djezzar had received then? coldly. He expressed his desire to see me personally.” Very soon after, the dragoman of the pacha came to conduct the French agent to the palace of Djezzar: the apartment in which he gave audience, had no other furniture than a carpet. He had on one side of him a pistol with four barrels, a small air-gun, a sabre, and a hatchet. “After inquiring,” says M. Sebastiani, “asto my health, he asked me, whether I was not persuaded that our end is pre-ordained in heaven, and that nothing could change our destiny? I answered, that I believed as he did, in predestination. He continued to speak for some time on that subject. He
and no mention whatever appears to have been made of it at the congress.Soon after the establishment, in its new form, of the Italian republic, the territory of the Valais, long subject to the dominion of Switzerland, was finally detached from the Helvetic confederacy, and declared a free and independent state; the act of recognition being signed by the ministers of the French, Italian, and Helvetic governments. This could only be regarded as another accession to the power of France. The country of the Valais is enclosed between two vast chains of mountains gradually diverging from Mount St. Gothard, and terminating near the eastern extremity of the lake of Geneva. Through the entire length of this deep and sequestered vale flows the majestic stream of the Rhone, which occasionally, like the Nile, ” redundant o’er his summer )ed,” inundates the land to a wide extent, enriching and fertilising the soil whereever it diffuses its dopious and refreshing waters. The command of this country, which divides Lombardy’ from Switzerland by an immense barrier of rocks, could no otherwise be regardedBookas of importance by the first consul, than fromXXXVI ‘ . ‘ ~ai^-v^Jthe direct communication it affords between j.. France anc” the Italian republic: for he was not yet secure of retaining the intermediate province of Piedmont; an invaluable acquisition, of which the permanent possession probably exceeded the most sanguine hopes he had formed at this period.Another remarkable fact connected with the history of the negotiation in question is, that the convention of Madrid, dated the st-of March , by which Louisiana, Parma, and the isle of Elba, were ceded to France, was never publicly divulged till more than three months after the signature of the preliminary treaty. But these important cessions materially altering .the relative situation of England and France, the former was certainly entitled to demand some additional advantage in the definitive treaty It was rather too much to expect, that, of the three great maritime stations which England held in the Mediterranean, she should resign one to Spain, another to France,’ and the third, to its ancient possessors, without any equivalent, put such was the apathy of the English ministers, that either no discussion took place upon this Definitive subject, or no advantage whatever was derived .Igned. from it. After long and tedious delay, the definitive treaty was signed by lord Cornwallis, Jotseph Bonaparte, the chevalier D’Azara, and M. BookSchimmelpenninck, on the th of March. C^-OThe principal point gained by England in theob^” course of the negotiation, was the concession««»»TM>° the treatymade by France respecting the treaty concluded of Amiens, by that power with Portugal, at Madrid, almost at the same moment in which the preliminary articles were signed between Great Britain and France at London. By that treaty, the limits of French Guiana were extended to the Orel!ana, or river of the Amazons; and the free navigation of that mighty stream would, doubtless, in time have proved of infinite importance to the establishment of the Gallic power in South America. But by the definitive treaty, the first consul consented that the river Arawari, to the north of the Orellana, should constitute the future boundary between the two countries. On the other hand, the cession of the district of Olivenza, contrary to the obvious meaning of that article of the preliminaries which declared ” that the territories and possessions of her most faithful majesty should be preserved entire,” was confirmed to Spain . The article respecting Malta, framed by the court of London, was guarded by so many minute and studied precautions, as to exhibit, in a striking view, the hostile spirit of distrust and \ suspicion subsisting in the midst of the reciprocalprofessions of peace. By the fourth regulation under this article, it is expressly stipulated, “that the forces of his Britannic majesty shall evacuate the island and its
