The interest of the document itself has been much increased by the great events, which have occurred since its publication, as well as by the advancement of its author to a high post in the Imperial government, and the chance there is that he will again act a conspicuous part on the theatre of Europe. It would seem to have been originally intended for the perusal of Louis XVIII. and those near his person; and to have been printed with the view of rendering the perusal of it more easy: but, in France, things are far from being what they seem to be. The Court, we have reasonto believe, were fully as anxious to prevent others from reading it, as they were to read it themselves; and the printing was suspended with the consent of the author, who managed, however, to have some copies completed. Before we enter on the consideration of the work itself, we shall offer a sketch of the career of its author, which will throw considerable light on the sentiments he has so daringly avowed. The particulars we shall collect, partly from the short memoir prefixed to the translation, and partly from other sources to which we have had access. Carnot was the son of a respectable lawyer, at Nolay, in Burgundy, and was destined, early in life, for military pursuits. Although actively engaged in the artillery service, he devoted much of his time to science; and before he reached the age of twenty, had published several mathematical works, some elegant pieces of light poetry, and an Eloge of Vauban, which insured him the patronage of the Prince of Condé. At the commencement of the revolution he was a captain of engineers, and in 1791, was elected to a seat in the legislative assembly. A high admiration of ancient freedom, and an attentive observation of the principles on which the glory of military republics is founded, led him to co-operate with the most furious republicans of the time. He voted for the accusation of the princes, and for the death of the king; and was entrusted with the principal management of those wars, by which France successfully resisted the combined forces of Europe. In consequence of his united intrepidity and republican sentiments, he was raised to the Directorship, from which high station, however, he was soon compelled to descend. Upon this he took shelter in Germany, where, by an eloquent memoir, he accelerated the downfall of the Directory he had quitted; and, though under the protection of a King, ventured to style himself "the irreconcileable enemy of Monarchs." He afterwards became minister of war, and resisted with all his might the first intrigues. of Napoleon. He voted singly against the Consulate for life, and obstinately refused his assent to the introduction of the imperial purple. His efforts proving vain, he retired from public life in all the savage dignity of an old Roman; and wholly occupied himself in the study of the abstruser sciences. At length, when France ceased to be victorious, and the allied armies were seen hastening from all quarters to her frontiers, impelled either by his regard for the honor of his country's military fame, or his dislike to the Bourbons, he wrote to Bonaparte offering his services, and was immediately entrusted with the command at Antwerp. That fortress he gallantly defended till the recall of the exiled family, and their assent to the constitutional charter. With other suspi cious characters, he repaired to Paris, where he soon became disgusted with the deviations which he fancied he observed from the royal engagement, as to the constitutional charter; and in order. to admonish the King of his danger, he presented to him the memorial before us. Since this publication appeared, Louis has quitted his capital-Napoleon has peaceably resumed his seat on the imperial throne-and Carnot has been appointed minister of the interior, and accepted a title, of which, on former occasions, he would have spoken with derision. But it is time to come to the memorial itself, in which we see the qualities of the author's mind strikingly reflected. A republican ferocity appears through all the expressions of respect which he reluctantly employs. He professes moderate principles of government, a wish to see the liberties of the people blended with the hereditary rights of the King and the Princes: but the flame of his wonted enthusiasm constantly breaks out and betrays him. Never was there a bolder application of abstract principles to particular circumstances, than in his justification of the regicides. He scarcely condescends to excuse the culprits; but boldly retorts the charge upon their accusers, and lays all the guilt of the King's death upon those, whose councils rendered him obnoxious to the sans-cullottes-the friends of freedom. Nothing, however, can be more fallacious than the turgid declamation, by which this argument is enforced, especially as it regards the unhappy noblesse, against whom his fury is principally directed. If mistaken in judgment, they at least acted from motives that were loyal and honorable: and, at all events, their errors can be no apology for the merciless frenzy to which Louis fell a victim. What, for instance, can be more absurd than the following attempt at retorting the charge of cruelty :-" Louis on his trial was no longer king: his fate was unavoidable. From the time that his sceptre was degraded, his reign had ceased: and the charter of his life expired, when he could no more restrain the different factions. The death of Louis, therefore, should not be charged on those who pronounced his sentence, as physicians give over a desperate malady; but on those who could have eradicated the first princi ple of evil, and who yet thought it prudent to shrink from the duty." This, in fact, is just as reasonable as if an assassin were to assert, that whenever his victim became unable to control his acts, "the charter of his life had expired"-and that the crime of his murder ought not to be charged on the ruffian, who, finding him bewildered, had merely stabbed him to the heart, but on those friends, who, conscientiously approving of the tenor of his life, had persuaded him that he had nothing to apprehend from the hand of injustice. M. Carnot, i. e. Monsieur le Compte Carnot, as if sensible of the fallacy of this reasoning, hurries on to gild regicide with school-boy examples of classic heroism, and concludes this extraordinary argument of his with a sarcasm on the scriptures, which he thinks must authorize the murder of princes, since "a whole people were sometimes exterminated by the order of the Almighty." In like manner he excuses the enormities of the revolution, by asserting, that they do not equal the horrors which the barbarian hordes spread over the Roman Empire, or the cruelties of the Europeans, on the discovery of the Western Hemisphere. « We are," says he, "like a common-wealth of ants, who, when a traveller has inadvertently trod on their habitations, murmur, as if at the wrack of the universe." How exquisitely consoling! The French philosophers must be infinitely obliged to a champion, who maintains they are not so savage as the ancient Goths; and the remnants of slaughtered families must be delighted with the idea, that the miseries they have endured are confined to a space which is not quite so extensive as the universe. But if the excesses of a nation are to be forgiven because they will fill only a small space in history, how much more should the offences of those be overlooked, which will only occupy a small portion in the Newgate Calendar ? Absurd as Carnot's general justification is, his Memorial contains many valuable truths, Its principal subjects of complaint are, that Louis had hesitated to accept the constitution--that he had neglected to distinguish the old republicans—and that viola tions had been permitted of the national charter. To these representations, however urged, the author could scarcely expect a king to attend readily, when they were preceded by a labored defence of regicide. Since his Majesty was visited by this rude warning, he has seen, or heard of the restoration of the military despotism which his heart abhorred, and of the jacobins having been the first to rally round the usurper's throne. The inhabitants of France may be divided into four classesthe country agriculturists-the mixed population of Paris-the old democrats and the soldiery. The first are by far the most worthy part of the nation, and among them are to be found the vestiges of its ancient character. They care but little about the administration of public affairs, and scarcely peep through the "loop-holes of their retreat" at the feverish bustles of political struggles. Napoleon had dragged away their children to fill the ranks of his armies, with the unrelenting fierceness of insatiable ambition: but, in return, his reign guaranteed the security of their property, and relieved them from the burthen of tithes, and the inconvenience of ecclesiastical demands. They, therefore, are in general neutral, and anxious only for repose. As to the Parisian multitude, it seems idle to calculate the direction of their affections: it is problematical whether they are capable of any serious, settled sentiment. They are captivated alike by the lily and the eagle-by a kingly procession, and an imperial triumph. The laurel or the olive is admired according as fashion directs; sometimes the bees are thought more tasty, sometimes the Cross of St. Louis. But the truth is, that nothing resembling the national mind is spoken of except by the old republicans, who are restrained only by the soldiery. Some of the former are men of the first talents in France-ever eager for change-and ever anxious for opportunities to show what they can achieve. It may seem strange that they should unite with the soldiery in supporting a military despot. The fact, however, is capable of an easy solution. Napoleon broke to pieces the image of Liberty. But by his enterprise he dissipated their ennui, he opened for them a new career, and gratified their passion for vainglory, by offering to make them conquerors of the world. If there was in the character of Napoleon nothing of the moral sublime, which they might admire, there were in it awful depths, which imagination at once longed and dreaded to contemplate. He supplied those whom he ruled with perpetual objects of emotion; with extensive hopes, terrible energies, and mysterious reverence. Besides, he had risen from among the dregs of the people, and had realised their inhuman wishes with regard to both the monarchy and the nobles-its ancient legitimate supporters. In fine, the people in the country remained quiet, because under his rule they were freed from certain exactions, and suffered to retain the national property they had purchased: the repub licans supported him, partly because he was not an hereditary mo❤ narch, and partly because he was restless and daring: the soldiery admired him as the prime author of their renown: and the people of Paris liked him excessively, because he sometimes flattered their vanity, and always supplied them with materials for conversation. Thus supported, Napoleon could be overthrown only by his own madness. Completely humbled, as he happily was, by the many severe blows he had received subsequently to his visit to Moscow, he was induced to abdicate his throne. At this crisis, the banners of Louis were displayed, and he himself invited to return. But Louis brought back with him but little personal attachment; and therefore Carnot takes a retrospective view of affairs, and in this Memorial tells the King, that to have secured his throne he should have delighted the republicans by accepting his crown as the people's gift; he ought to have calmed the fears of the peasantry by checking all the hopes of the emigrants; and to have attached all parties to his cause, by not only forgiving his bitter enemies, but by neglecting his faithful friends, and despising the public. functionaries of religion. It is needless to say, that security would have been dearly bought at a price like this. To call for the sacrifice, by one act, of tried friendship, royal honor, and every estimable principle moral and religious, was surely going much too far. Louis XVIII. may once more reign in France; but he cannot reign there in comfort, till the nation acquire a character more worthy of his acknowledged virtues. -- ART. IV. Lothaire; a Romance, in Six Cantos, with Notes. By Robert Gilmour, 1 vol. 12mo. pp. 210. Cowie, 1815. We never heard or read of an age so romantic as the present : all around us, indeed, seems decided Romance, Somewhere about the top of Parnassus, or still ascending or perhaps only drawing near to it, we see Southey, Campbell, Scott, Wordsworth, Byron, Thurlow, Hogg, and many others; and now comes Mr. Gilmour, with whose muse the public, we imagine, is but little acquainted. This poem opens in a strain laudably modest and humble. The moral of it is good; and the interest it excites, so well kept up, that most readers, after perusing a part, will be desirous to go through the whole. In the composition, however, we see, in some instances, too close an imitation of Mr. Scott's style and manner; although, on the whole, it is easy, unaffected, and not void of sparkling beauties. We select the following passages for the amusement of the reader. Amidst a spacious wood he found Himself, and cautious gaz'd around; |