ped upon the fame landing stone from which I first embarked for a country, where, in the centre of profcriptions, inftability and defolation, thofe arts which are faid to flourish only in the regions of repose, have by their vigor and unrivalled bloom, excited the wonder and admiration of furrounding nations; where Peace, by her fudden and cherished re-appearance, is calling forth all the virtues from their hiding places, to aid in effacing the corroding ftains of a barbarous revolution, and in restoring the moral and focial character to its priftine polish, rank and estimation.

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GENERAL REMARKS.

THE fact feems at firft fingular. Two of the greateft nations under Heaven, whofe fhores almost touch, and, if ancient tales be true, were once unfevered, call the natives of each other foreigners.

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Jealoufy, competition, and confequent warfare, have, for ages, produced an artificial distance and feparation, much wider, and more impaffable, than nature ever intended, by the divifion which fhe has framed; hence, whilft the unaffifted eye of the iflander can, from his own fhore, with "unwet feet," behold the natural barrier of his continental neighbor, he knows but little more of his real character and habits, than of those beings, who are more diftantly removed from him, by many degrees of the great

circle.

The events which have happened in France for the last eleven years, have rendered this feparation more fevere, and during that long and gloomy interval, have wholly changed the national character. Those who once occupied the higher class in the afcending scale of fociety, and who have furvived the revolution with

out leaving their country, are no longer able to difplay the taste and munificence which once distinguished them. In the capital, thofe who formerly were accustomed to have their court-yards nightly filled with carriages, and their staircases lined with lacqueys, are now scarcely able to occupy one third of their noble abodes. They cannot even enjoy the common obfervances of friendship, and hospitality, without paufing, and reforting to calculation. A new race of beings called the "nouveaux enrichés," whofe ferviceshave been chiefly auxiliary to the war, at prefent abe forb the visible wealth of the nation. Amongst them are many respectable perfons. The lower orders of the people have been taught, by restless vifionaries, to confider the deftinations of Providence, which had before, by an imperceptible gradation of social color ing, united the ruffet brown to the magisterial purple, as ufurpations over those natural rights which have been impreffed without illustration, and magnified by a mifchievous myftery. In the fierce pursuit of thefe imaginary immunities, which they had been taught to believe had been long withheld, they abruptly renounced all deference and decorum, as perilous indi cations of the fallacy of their undefinable pretentions and were not a little encouraged by the difaftrous defertion of their fuperiors, who fled at the firft alarm. In fhort, the revolution has, in general, made the higher orders poor, and dispirited, and the lower, barbarous, and insolent, whilst a third clafs has fprung up,

with the filence and fuddeness of an exhalation, higher than both, without participating in the original character of either, in which the principles of computation, and the vanity of wealth, are at awkward variance.

Until lately, the ancient French and the modern French were antipodes, but they are now converging, under a government, which, in point of security, and even of mildness, has no refemblance, fince the firft departure from the ancient establishments. The -French, like the libertine fon, after having plunged in riot and excefs, fubdued by wretchednefs, are returning to order and civilization. Unhappy people, their tears have almoft wafhed away their offencesthey have fuffered to their heart's core. Who will not pity them to fee their change, and hear their tales of mifery? Yet, ftrange to relate, in the midst of their fighs and fufferings, they recount, with enthufiafin, the exploits of thofe very men, whofe heroic ambition has trampled upon their best hopes, and proudelt profperity. Dazzled by the brilliancy of the spreading flame, they forget that their own abode is involved in its defolation, and augments the gloomy grandeur of the fcene. To this caufe may, perhaps, be traced that fingular union of grief and gaiety, which affords rather an impreffive contraft to the more fol...emn confiftency of Englith fadnefs. The terrible experiment which they have tried, has, throughout, prefented a ferocious conteft, for power, which has only

ferved to deteriorate their condition, fap their vigor, and render them too feeble either to continue the conteft, or to reach the frontier of their former character. In this condition they have been found by a man who, with the precedent of hiftory in one hand, and the fabre in the other, has, unftained with the crimes of Cromwell, poffeffed himfelf of the fovereignity; and, like Auguftus, without the propenfities which fhaded his early life, preferved the name of a republic, whilst he well knows that a decifive and irresistible authority can alone re-unite a people fo vaft and distracted; who, in the purfuit of a fatal phantom, have been inured to change, and long alienated from fubordination.. I would not wifh fuch a government to be perpetual, but if it be conducted with wifdom and juftice, I will" not hesitate to declare, that I think it will ultimately prove as favorable to the happiness, as it has been propitious to the glory of the. French. A government which breathes a martial fpirit under a thin appear ance of civil polity, prefents but a barren fubject to the confideration of the inquirer. When the fabre is changed into the fceptre, the fcience of legiflation is fhort, fimple and decifive. Its energies are neither entangled in abftract distinctions, nor much impeded by the accustomed delays of deliberation.

From the magnitude of the prefent ruling eftablifhment in France, and the judicious diftribution of its powers, and confidence, the phyfical ftrength can fancely be faid to refide in the governed.

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