tract; the internal refiftance excited in foreign ftates by emiffaries employed for the execution of Briffot's patriotic plan, forfetting the governed against the governors' may be traced to an early period of the revolution, when the Club of the Propaganda was established for the express purpose of diffufing revolutionary principles, and exciting revolutionary practices throughout Europe:-and that their opponents were favourably received; and their extravagant declamations were supported,' is a fact notorious to every one who has read the debates of the different legislative affemblies, and who cannot but recollect the encouragement officially given to the feditious harangues. of delegated traitors from the Jacobin clubs in the neighbouring countries, openly delivered at their bar.

But the fublime genius' of the defenders of the French republic, from Mr. BARRISTER ERSKINE down to CITIZEN TALLEYRAND, difdains to defcend to the humble task of examining dates; elfe the first minifter of the firft conful of the first nation in the world would not have ventured to affign, as an inftance of her aggreffion, a long time before the war, the conduct of England, in the difmiffion of Chauvelin, when it is known to all Europe, that Chauvelin did not receive orders to quit this kingdom, until after the news of the King's murder, (which took place on the 21st of January, 1793,) was received; and that war was declared at Paris at the beginning of February; nor would he have intimated that this example fet by England, was followed by her allies, because those allies had been at war with France feveral months before, and confequently the only agents fhe could have in their dominions must have been fpies, fubject by the law of nations to be hanged.

But what are we to think of Citizen Talleyrand's declaration refpecting this aggreffion of England, of his affertion, that France was attacked in her independence, in her honour, and in her fafety, long time before the war was declared;" when we call to mind the teftimony borne by this fame man, to the honourable conduct of England towards France, fo late as the month of December, 1792, when he was in this country, and when he informed the French government, that the British miniftry had nothing more at heart than to treat for the prefervation of the neutrality? We must think that he is a proper Minifter for the prince of affaffins, Bonaparte, and a proper authority for Mr. Barrister Erskine, in his declamations refpecting the origin of the war!

So anxious were the British Minifters for the preservation of peace, that they did not fuffer the horror which they, in common with every honeft man in Europe, experienced at the bafe and cowardly affaffination of the virtuous Louis, to bar the avenues to negociation. After that atrocious deed, they gave authority to Lord Auckland, to hold a conference with Dumourier, on the 10th of February, 1793but the French government, bent on hoftilities, declared war before the day fixed for the meeting. (See Dumourier's Memoirs, ubi fupra.) A more decifive proof of the pacific difpofition of one party, and the aggreffive principles of the other, could fcarcely be required or af forded!"

We

We have thus gone over the additions to this very useful pamphlet. It was originally very ufeful. But it is made ftill more useful now. It exposes the fophiftries of the republican Peer, the fallacies of the republican Commoners, and the falfhoods of all, with a keen spirit and a steady mind. The mafs of patriot putridity here lies before us, rank to the nose, offenfive to the eye, and difguftful to the ftomach. Nor do we know one political anatomist, unless we except Mr. Bowles, who has diffected the body of French republicanism with fo bold a knife, and laid open the vitiated parts with so just a hand as Mr. Gifford has here done.

ART. III. Morality united with Policy; or, Reflections on the Old and New Governments of France; and on various important Topics of Civil and Ecclefiaftical Reform. By Robert Fellowes, A. B. of St. Mary Hall, Oxford, Author of a "Picture of Chriftian Philofophy," and an "Address to the People," &c. PP. 116. 12mo. White. Fleet-ftreet.

IGOUR of mind, integrity of heart, and independence

of fpirit, are eminently confpicuous in this little pamphlet. The ftile is ftrong, clear, and correct; the arguments are forcible, and the reasoning, in general, is conclufive. The author's fentiments on the old and new governments of France do credit to his understanding, and to his feeling. But we are forry to see so refpectable and forcible a writer, attributing the horrors and cruelties which have attended the dreadful convulfions of that wretched country, almoft exclufively, "to the corruptions of the clergy;" without once referring them to the uncontroulable ambition of factious demagogues, the interested labours of profligate spendthrifts, or the malignant operation of an atheistical and impious philofophy. Surely the following character of the French priesthood is infinitely over-charged.

"The clergy, forgetful of their high calling, were greedy of worldly parade, and abforbed in worldly purfuits. They were ambitious, intriguing, venal; and their conduct was diametrically oppofite to the fimplicity, the difinterestedness, and holiness of Chriftian minifters. They were profufe, but they were not beneficent; their devotion appeared fhowy hypocrify, and their piety pompous infincerity. Their manners inftead of being pure, were fenfual;, and the faith of thousands was fhaken by their debaucheries. The impurity of their thoughts was engraved in the obfcenity of their diction; and fome few among them were more fit to minifter in the voluptuous orgies of a heathen divinity, than to offer the fragrant incenfe of grateful adoration at the fhrine of the Holy Jefus. Infidelity had

C 4

powerful

powerful votaries at the very footftep of the altar. Even feveral who had been lifted to the chair of epifcopal authority, and who ought to have been great and fhining teftimonies of faith and piety, derided Revelation as a fable; and wanted even fhame to veil the groffnefs of their own imposture."

That fuch was the cafe with many, we cannot deny; but we must be excufed if we do not affent to its being the actual fituation of the generality of the French clergy, as a body. Among the higher orders even, there were to be found men of great learning, fincere piety, and exemplary morality; and the parish priests were confeffedly a moft confcientious and refpectable clafs of men. Among the twelve apoftles there was found one traitor; we should not then affix an indiscriminate and infamous ftigma on a body of men, confisting of thousands and tens of thousands, becaufe among them were found, a Talleyrand, a Gobet, a Chabot, &c. &c.

Mr. F.'s ideas on the fubject of a reform in the revenues of the church of England are fuch as have been entertained by fome of her very fincere friends; and fhould any alteration ever take place, we think it not improbable, but that a portion of them might be adopted. In the fentiments he has delivered with respect to an amendment of the Liturgy, and an enlarge ment of the pale of the church by new modelling, and tempering, the articles fo as to replenish a waneing priesthood with able and confcientious members," we by no means agree with him; for, in the first place, we ftrenuously deny that the priesthood of the established church is in the wane; on the contrary, we maintain that he never poffeffed a more able, more upright, or a more refpectable clergy than at this very time; and, in the next place, fuppofing the fact to be as he has stated it, we do not conceive that the remedy would be found in the admittance of Diffenters into the bofom of the Church. As a more effectual fupport for our establishment in fuch a flate, we fhould recommend, that all thofe cords by which he has hitherto been held together, fhould be drawn tighter; being firmly of opinion, that inftitutions of every kind, civil and religious, find their greatest enemy in a relaxation of lawful authority. We would only afk Mr. Fellowes, what kind of pale he fuppofes would enclose fuch men as Priestly, Belfham, Wakefield, and Friend? and whether fuch are the buttreffes" he would recommend to fupport a "waneing priesthood ?"

In the arguments he has brought forward in favour of tythes, and the neceffity of a church establishment, we are happy to coincide with him.

Much clamour," fays he, " has at all times been raised against

tythes;

tythes; but I have long thought that clamour to originate, in moft inftances, from interested selfishnefs, factious turbulence, infidel rage, or fectarian bitterness, rather than from the calm and deliberate conviction of their injuftice or their impolicy. Tythes are not the exaction of injuftice. He who purchases a piece of land fubject to tythes, purchases it knowing that the tenth part, not only of the exifting produce, but of the productive power, of the improved or improveable value belongs of right to a different proprietor, and he confequently pays fo much less for the purchase than he would otherwife pay. With what fhow of justice can such a purchaser complain of a grievance for which he has, in fact, previously received a recompence. It fhould likewise be confidered, (for truth, more than any undue partiality to my brethren, compels me to declare it) that the clergy, either from an unwillingness to incur the charge of extortion, or of covetoufnefs, or from a defire to live at peace with their parishioners, feldom get more than two thirds of their due, according to the rent of the land. He, therefore, who hires land fubject to tythes, is ufually a great gainer, and is very materially benefited by that meafure in which his ignorance finds a fource of bitter difcontent. For, hiring his land fubject to tythes, he has a deduction from the rent, which he would other wife pay, equal to the full value of the tythes, when, in fact, he feldom pays any thing like that value. If he did not pay the smaller fum in tythe, he would pay the larger fum in rent. Where, therefore, the clergyman is not griping, penurious, and eager to exact the uttermost farthing, tythes are to the tenant not an intolerable grievance, but an effential advantage.*

Notwithstanding thefe arguments are incontrovertible, the pretended grievance of tythes has ever been among the foremost of those complaints, uttered by the feditious and ignorant brawlers of the day; and thofe brawlers have generally been found of that defcription of men, who care as little for religion itself as for the church establishment of the country. Were this not the cafe, furely, they would look with fone veneration on that fyftem which was at firft inftituted by the express authority of heaven itself among the Ifraelites of old, and which, with little interruption, has continued to the present time, on that fyftem which providence itself esteemed the most effectual for the reward of those who minifter at the altar, and which is fanctioned by an antiquity and authority which no other property poffeffes; an inftitution which has fuch an origin fhould not be abused, vilified, and abandoned, with the fame petulant rage, abfurd denunciation, and calculating selfifhnefs, by which the legiflators of the Whig Club, or Correfponding Society, are diftinguished.

"This fact was allowed by Emmet, the United Irishmar, in his examination before the Privy Council of Ireland."

Among

Among many other excellent arguments in fupport of a National-Church-Eftablishment, we do not think the following the leaft worthy of confideration:

"It appears to me not an oppreffive, or abfurd, but a wife and ufeful, policy in every state to fet apart a certain portion of its land or of its productive industry for moral purposes. And what is chriftianity, rightly understood, but a fyftem of pure and fublime morality, a fyftem of morality fimple and artlefs, but comprehenfive and profound, fealed with a divine authority, and founded on eternal fanctions? And what confequently is, or can be, the great and glorious end of an established christian miniftry, or a rich christian establishment, but to inculcate virtue and exemplify beneficence? If the religious establishment in this country do approximate to this great end, though with many occafional deviations, its partial abufes vanifh in the contemplation of its general ufefulnefs. Would that property, which is now appointed by law for the fupport of the Clergy, be converted to a better purpose, or be made more fubfervient to public utility, if it were transferred to other hands, or melted down into the mafs of private property? The ecclefiaftical revenues might, and probably would, be made more productive in other hands; but we ought not fo much to calculate, whether the property would be phyfically more productive, but morally more falutary; not whether it would increase the national wealth, but whether it would improve the national virtue. And whenever, in any measure of political reform, the great question is between the financial aggrandizement of the country, and the moral amelioration of the people, the former is fo infignificant a confideration compared to the latter, that it argues as much ignorance as wickedness even for a moment to hesitate about the choice. If the ecclefiaftical establishment be, with all its imperfections, aufpicious to the interefts of virtue, it ought to be maintained though the revenue of the ftate might be augmented ten hundred fold by its fubverfion."

From this fubject, he proceeds to the popular one, of "a reformation of parliament." We have in a former Number declared our fentiments on fuch an attempt. And although the system, recommended by Mr. Fellowes, be of a very different nature from thofe which have iffued from the Revolutionary Societies of this country, yet we do not perceive that it would correct what in our opinion is one, if not the greatest, evil of our representation as it exifts; namely, the facility with which qualifications are obtained. Was the actual property of the reprefentation fcrutinized with the fame jealoufy, with which that of the elector has been occafionally examined, much of the impurity which at this moment infects the House of Commons would be completely done away. The Reformation

*We doubt this fact.

offered