increafed bleffings of society, above all, to the PURE and benign light of REVELATION; and when he offers to Gon his earnest prayer, that he would most graciously be pleafed to difpofe us all to do juftice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind, which were the characteristics of the DIVINE AU THOR OF OUR BLESSED RELIGION; without an humble imitation of hofe example in thefe things, we can never hope to be a happy nation. In an addrefs to him, immediately after he commenced his prefidency over the United States, from a venerable and refpectable wody of men, who were in the best fitua who, no doubt, expre Ted what they knew, is the following teftimony to his faith i Chriftianity. were a bluei caft, not prominent, indicative of deep thoughtfulness, and when in action, on great occafions, remarkably lively. His features trong, manly, and commanding; his temper relerve nd ferious; his countenance grave, compofed, and fenfible. There was in his whole appearance an unufual dignity and gracefulness, which at once fecured him profound refpect and cordial efeem. He feemed born to command his fellow-men. In his official capacity he received applicants for favours, and anfwered the requests, with fo much eafe, condefcenfion, and kindness, as that each retired, believing himfelf a favourite of his Chief. He had an excellent and well cultivated understanding; a correct, difion to know his religious character, and cerning, and comprehenfive mind ; a memory remarkably retentive; energetic paffions under perfect controul; a judg. ment fober, deliberate, and found. He was a man of the strictest honour nd honefly fair and honourable in his dealings; and punctual in his engagements, His dilposition was mild, kind, and generous. Candour, fincerity, moderation, and fimplicity, were, in com mon, prominent features in his character; but when an occafion called, he was capable of displaying the most determined bravery, firmnels, and independence. He was an affectionate huf band, a faithful friend, a humane mafer, and a father to the poor. He lived in the unvarying habits of regularity, temperance, and induftry. He fteadily rofe at the dawn of day, and retired to reft ufually at nine o'clock in the evening. The intermediate hours had all their proper bufinefs affigned them. In his allotments for the revolving hours, religion was not forgotten. Feeling what he fo often publickly acknowledged, his entire dependance on GOD, he daily, at ftated feafons, retired to his clofet, to worthip at his footstool, and to ask his divine bleffing. He was remarkable for his strict obfervation of the fabbath, and exemplary in his attendance on public worship. "Of his faith in the truth and excellence of the Holy Scriptures, he gave evidence not only by his most excellent and moft exemplary life, but in his writings; especially when he afcribes the meliorated condition of mankind, and the But we derive a prefage, fay they, even more flattering, from the piety of your character. Public virtue is the most certain mean of public felicity, and religion is the furelt basis or virtue. We therefore esteem it a pecu lia. happiness to behold in our Chief Magitrate a steady, uniform, AVOWED frier of the Chriftian religion; who has commenced his adminiftration in rational and exalted fentiments of piety, and who in his private conduct adorns the doctrines of the gospel of Christ †.” Grounded or thefe pure and excellent doctrines, to which his life was cor ornable; copying as he did, with fuch exemplary ftrictnefs and uniformity, the precepts of Chrift, we have strong confolation and joy in believing, that ere this he has heard from his GOD and Saviour this enrapturing fentence-Well done, good and faithful fervant; enter into the joy of your Lord." Of General Washington's private charafter we have already given fome details from Mr. Weld's Travels. (See Vol. XXXVI. p. 137.) As a public man, the following character, by Moteur Mallet du Pan, will not be confidered as extravagant. "It may be made a quetion whether Washington, as a General and Statefinan, equalled in genius Prince Dugene, Frederick II. or Chatham? But how is it poflible with propriety to compare men who were placed in fituations no wile analogous ? See his Farewell Orders to the Armies of the United States," dated Rocky Hill, near Princeton, Nov. 2, 1783. See the "Addrefs of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church to the Prefident of the United States," dated Philadelphia, May 1789. "Were "Were we allowed to venture an opinion on this fubject, we would obferve, that if Washington was inferior to fome other illuftrious men in extent and boldnefs of mind, he furpated them by the union of qualities and talents the moft rarely found together, and by a character almott faur.tlefs. It "Conftitution, foul, and intellect, were in him in conftant harmony, and perfectly adapted to his public career. might be faid, that Providence had created him for the part he has fuftained, for the people he governed, and for the circumitances in which his country cod. At Athens, his lot would have been that of Ariides or Phocion; in a Republic well conftituted and long established, his fervices would not have been called forth; in a corrupt Republic, he would have chofen a private station as the poft of bonour. "In his military and political life, wifdom was the prominent feature of his character. It is given to few men to poffels that admirable moral temperature which marked all the actions of Washington. His courage and his talents for war would have been infufficient, and perhaps hurtful, without the patience, coolnes, and equality of fpirits, which be displayed in bad as well as good for tune. "At the head of the Republic he preferved the fame uprightnefs and the fame fpirit of conduct by which he had been guided in battle. He was indebted to the excellence of his judgment, a well as to the afcendency of his public and private virtues, for the permanence of the reputation he enjoyed. His fpeeches, letters, actions, were always marked with the fame reason, and that itong good fenfe which is the higheft gift of Nature to a public man, and his highest merit; that good fenfe which alone refilts the agitations of the foul, and corrects the wanderings of the un derstanding. "The habitual moderation of Wahington; his firmneis, which was ever calm and well-tined; his prudence, which neither difficulty nor pallion, neither hope nor fear, could thake; his fuperiority to all artifice and intrigue, and his aitlefs politics, diftated by a juft estimation of times, men, and things; have never degenerated for a moment. Placed at the head of an infant Republic, he acquired all the dignity ufually be towed on high offices by the force of custom and of ages; and he preferved it as if he had ruled America for a cen tury: his adminiftration was better fup. ported by respect and confidence, than by laws or armies. "He has not been charged with a vice or a weakness. No one has raised a nefs. doubt of his integrity or his difinterestedFree from ambition, he never would have fought fuperior rank, or have been anxious to make a figure: he was led to them by his fervices, the general esteem he attracted, and by circumstances. In him fuperiority was pardoned; the jealoufy of his equals vanished before the admirable fimplicity of his manners, the purity of his morals, and the rectitude of his conduct. In fhort, neither a vain love of glory, nor the defire of diftinction, nor any perfonal view, ever gave a bias to his patrictifm, which was the principle of all his thoughts, and the spring of all his ac tions. "If the title, fo much abufed, of a great man, ought to be referved for one whofe fucceffes never injured juftice or honour, and in whom great virtues united with great talents, who fhall refule it to Washington? "If any thing can add to his glory and defert, it is the infolent temerity of fome buffoons of liberty, who, in our days, boast to have made him their model, and who doubt not they have furpaffed him. "Yes, to the difgrace of the age, and of France in particular, we have feen Democratic fchool boys, Revolutionary abortions, and Hectors of Conftitution, compounded of follies, inconfiftencies, and the most contemptible weaknesses, fetting themselves up for the rivals of Wallington. Even at this moment do we see a fwagherer, known by some fortunate battles, and by invafions effected in four-and-twenty hours, purchased at the price of all that modefty, integrity, humanity, and even policy, require to be refpected, caufing himself to be proclaimed by newspaper-writers and tub-orators & Hero, fuch as never was before, and never will be again. O1 miferas bominum, mentes! And do thele Republican ftrut ters really think that a wry neck is fuf ficient to dub them Alexanders? "General Washington has carried with him to the tomb the general elteem of Europe. His conduct had compelled even his enemies to refpect him. It was referved for the French Republicans alone to differ from the rest of the world, and to ipfylt, as bafely as groisly, the Pre QUID SIT PULCHRUM, QUID TURPE, QUID UTILE, QUID NON. The Hiftory of the Helvetic Confederacy, from its Eftablishment to its Diffolution. By Jofeph Planta, Efq. Secretary to the Royal Society, and Principal Librarian of the British Mufeam. 2 Vols. 4to. Stockdale. HE recent fatal fubversion of the affaffinate its Magiftrates, to diffolve its under their feet its antient laws and cuftoms, and to deprive them of the very fhadow of that political freedom, the fubftance of which, with few exceptions, they and their forefathers had to long enjoyed. ported a Constitution during five cen- VOL. XXXVII. APRIL 1800. "We may now," fays our author, furvey the hiftory of this, like that of the antient Republics, as affording an example of a wife and profperous polity which once graced the earth, but has at length yielded to the collifion of detructive paffions, and the lapfe of time; but we fhall in vain feek, in the annals of former ages, or in the fplendid though dubious pages of the hiftorians of Greece and Rome, for an inftance of a Govern ment which, while it difpenfed fo many bleflings, has caufed fo few forrows to its grateful people." A Hiftory of fuch a Country merits the attention of every bergvolent mind, and it is rather extraordinary that this acquifition to the valuable national stock PP of of British literature should have remained fo long wanting. It had employed the pens of fome of the most eminent German, Genevoile, and Swifs writers; but their hiftories are written either in 'German or French, and, independent of other defects, either do not take up the regular feries of events from the earliest epoch, or stop short at an æra too remote To afford any rational gratification to the curious reader of the prefent times. To thefe writers, however, Mr. Planta has afligned their refpective degrees of merit, which he states in his preface, and annexes the following concife account of his own arduous undertaking. "The manifeft want of a popular, and at the fame time a fufficiently copious and accurate, work on fo interesting a tubject, first induced me to avail myself of the opportunities I had of procuring from the Continent the best German pub lications relating to Swifferland: it being in fact to the German writers that recourfe must be had for the materials requifite to fupply this deficiency in English literature. Having collected fuch documents as I was well aflured had received the fanction of the most competent judges, and given them a curiory perutal, I foon conceived the admiration, which cannot be withheld from the many striking incidents that grace the annals of that country. I therefore readily yielded to the temptation of dedicating my leiture hours to a compilation of this nature; and I fhall think myfelt amply rewarded for my labour, fhould it be found to anfwer the purpose for which it is intended." Such is the modeft introduction to a very complete History of a Country, which for iome time paft, and at the prefent critical juncture of opening a freth campaign on its borders, has excited the commiferation, and interested the feelings of every liberal minded Briton. Of Mr. Planta's qualifications for executing this work, no doubt can be entertained, from the specimens he has formerly given of his literary talents; one inftance of which we fhall only mention, as we find it recorded in the Philofophical Tranfactions of the Royal Society, Vol. LXVI. for the year 1776. The paper alluded to, is "An Account of the Romansh Language spoken in the most mountainous Parts of the Country of Grifons, near the Sources of the Rhine and the En, by Jofeph Planta, in a Letter to Sir John Pringle, President of the Royal Society." And of the high expectations entertained of the prefent work, we need no better proof, than the permiffion that has been obtained to dedicate it to his Majefty: a dedication which we recommend as a model to future authors, who may be honoured with this first of all difinctions. With respect to ftyle, though alter a careful perufal of the work we have not been able to difcover any triking deficiency, yet, as the author has thought it neceffary to declare himfelf explicitly upon that point, we shall take the li berty to publish it in his own words: "In this performance every confideration of flyle has been facrificed to precition and perfpicuity; and it claims no merit but that of imparting a fimple narrative, in a manner adapted to the character of the people of when it means to convey a jutt idea." The judicious divifion of this history into two Books, gives us an outline of that precifion to which the hiftorian trictly adheres throughout the whole work. The establishment of the Confederacy is the general iubject of the First Book. The Second relates its Progreis, Decline, and Diffolution. And as the hiftorian is guided by the epochas of great events, rather than by any fubordinate methodical arrangement of his work, the early events of the Second Book are included in Vol. I. which falls under our prelent Review. The firit Chapter treats of the origin of the Helvetic Nations; the face of the country; its firit inhabitants the Helvetii; from whom, Swillerland, down to the prefent time, has derived the appellation, in the writing of learned men, of Helvetia; though, in the prefent inftance, we think it would have appeared lefs formal, and more familiar to the general reader, to have tyked it The Hiftory of the Hevetic Confederacy, and of the Swifs Republic; more especially as the Helvetii, the firit inhabitants, appear to be a race of the Gauls, who, difcontented with their original fettlement in the Alps and adjacent valleys, migrated into the heart of Gaul, were defeated and driven back to their defolated homes within the fhort space (for the existence of an independent nation) of fifty years; an instructive leflon (fays our author) to nations who feek for profperity by other means than induftry, moderation, and fortitude. They likewife very early intermixed with the Rhæti, reported to have been a people of Tuican origin, who, flying from the oppreffion of the Gauls, took refuge among the higher Alps, eastward of St. Gothard, 1 try as defcribed by our able hiftorian, we would recommend a constant reference to the excellent Map prefixed to this Volume. The state of Helvetia under the Burgundians. Oftrogoths, and Franks, is the fubject of the fecond Chapter, which is rather more curious than interesting. In the third, we find it fubjected to the German Empire, and governed by dif ferent Vicegerents, who pofleffed its provinces as Imperial fiefs; and the tyrannical conduct of fome of thefe Governors laid the foundation of that Confederacy which fecured the future independence of the celebrated Swifs Cantons. The details of the laws, manners, and customs, of the Oftrogoths, of the Franks, Burgundians, and Germans, will be found familiar to the readers of antient history, who will readily discover the fimilitude they bear to the inftitutes of other countries particularly Britain under the feudal fyftem; but it was neceflary, in order to preferve the regular chain of connexion between antient and modern history, to difcufs them in their proper place: they likewife elucidate the ftatistical account of the country in thofe early times when the government was portioned out by the German Emperors to great fecular and ecclefiaftical Lords; tuch, for instance, as the Counts of Hapiburg, the Dukes of Zæringen, the bishops of Lauzanne, Conttance, Bafle, &c. Baile and Berne, being the cities best known in our day, by the great events which have recently made them the tubject of general notice, we have taken the liberty to extract a sketch of the political state of each of them, under their fecular and ecclefiatical Lords, at a very remote æra antecedent to the Helvetic, or rather the Swils, Confederacy. Gothard, to the further confines of the Tyrol, and down to the Lake of Con#tance. Though fubdued by the Romans, they still retained confiderable privileges; being governed by their own Magiftracy, and they were allowed to garriton a fort near the frontiers of Germany with their own militia. The Romans likewife fettled in many parts of their country, and built cities, the remains of which are till to be feen, particularly at Avenche in the Canton of Berne, the antient Roman Aventicum. The treatinent they experienced under the Roman Empire varied with the political circumstances of the times, and the characters of the reigning Emperors; but at last, the whole country tell a prey to the invafions of the Alemanni from the North, during the reign of the feeble Gallienus, who, having thirty rivals to contend with, abandoned the Helvetii to thefe adventurers, who totally extirpated the antient inhabitants, and repeopled the country. Thele conquerors were in their turn defeated by Clovis, the founder of the French Monarchy, who took poffeflion of their country: Rhaetia was afterwards furendered by Zeno, Emperor of the Eat, to Theodoric, the valiant King of the Oftrogoths; and this territory included the Tyrol, a part of Suabia, all the Griton country, and the Alps of Appenzel, Glaris, and Uri. The Burgundians formed its boundary, and at le gth became fo intimately connected with thefe and the lefs hilly parts of the country, where Berne and Fribourg were afterwards built, "that the most antient families; all the words of the provincial dialect, which are not derived from the Latin; the names of many places, most things in fact, in this fairelt part of Helvetia, are of Burgundian origin." "Balle was at one time, A. D. 748, From thefe nations were defcended the the moit confiderable, and is perhaps Confederates of the Thirteen Cantons, fill the largest, city of Swifferland their fubjects, and allies. Few dates are does it yield to any in point of antiquity, accurately known, but most of these new fince, when Clovis transferred the epiffettlements were formed in the fifth cen- copal fee of Augufta Rauracorum (an imtury of the Chriftian æra. At the com- portant Roman Itation near Balle, on mencerment of the firib, all that was not which the village, now called Augft, was delert of the Northern, or as it has fince built) to this new metropolitan leat, it been called the German part of Swiller. muft have already acquired fome confeland, was poffeffed by the Alemanni and quence. While the Bithops were gratpthe Franks; the Roman part, the pre- ing at power, and spreading their do lent Pays de Paud, was occupied by the mains, the Burghers were not unmindful Burgundians, while Rhætia, as before of the privileges they confidered as their noticed, belonged to the Ostrogoths. inheritance. They claimed an equal For the better understanding of this in- fhare with the Prelates in the adminiftratroductory part of the hiftory, and the tion of their public concerns. They fituation as well as the face of the coun-formed themselves, according to their Pp2 ; nor refpective |