prised in one fhort paragraph. We truft, that, after this quotation, we shall not be charged with mifrepresenting the views of the American leaders. The truth is, they mifs no opportunity to inculcate a hatred of the British nation and government. They perceive, the evils of their revolution; they know that the people perceive, and very fenfibly feel, thofe evils, therefore it is that they are ever anxious to keep alive the opinion, that the revolution was forced upon them, that " America," in the language of our orator, was obli ed to maintain a long and bloody war in defence of ber rights." After taking a curfory view of the principal events of the civil war, Dr. Smith thus recapitulates the deeds of the General. Hiftorians will relate with what admirable combination he formed the plan, and concerted its execution, with an ally feparated from him by more than a thoufand leagues, for furprizing and entangling in his toils his active ce-- with what addrefs he di verted the attention of the British commanders-and how, after a march of four hundred miles, he had fo amused and blinded them, that he ftill found his enemy in the place where he had deter-mined to feize him. America will for ever record that happy day in which her victorious chief faw Britain [not Great Britain-poor bezgarly malice ] laying her laft ftandards at his feet. I feem to participate with him that generous exultation, which, in this momen, he felt Not that he was capable, with unman'y infolence, to thumph over a proftrate enemy, but he law, in their fall, the falvation of his country On the ruins of York" [where Lord Cornwallis was taken he laid the immortal base of the Republic. How delicious!" [we think we hear the orator whetting his knife]"How fublime was the moment! Britain was bumbled" [aye, there is the cream of the eulogium]-" America was delivered and avenged!" But, Doctor, do you feriously think, that this will be the language of the biforian?" The language of a Ramify, a Gordon, and of many other apoftles of rebellion, it may; but fhould fome lover of truth, fome real hiftorian take up the pen, his language will certainly be different. After tracing your "great Washington" from faftnefs to fafinefs, from defeat to defeat, from difgrace difgrace, be will exhibit him, with a fet of vagabonds and convids at his heels, ftraggling through the country with impunity, only from the remiffuefs of the foe. Such an hiftorian will never reprefent him as engaged with an equal force, never refolute in times of danger, never magnanimous in triumph. Such an hiftorian will remember Afgill and Andre, aye, and the gallows too, which was infultingly erected b fore the prifon of the latter feveral days before his execution. Such an hiftorian will, in short, make it appear as clear as noon-day, that, if America has obtained independence, the acquifition is to be afcribed, not to the valour, nor even to the timidity (which was ftill greater) of Washington and his runaways, but to the war of a Howe, and the peace of a Shelburne. And, in the " bappy day, in which the victorious chief faw Britain layg her last ftandards at his feet," the "biftorian" will fee him ma liciously ciously claiming (contrary to the rules of war) the fword from the hands of that gallant Nobleman, whom he had overpowered with numbers, and whom, even with fuperior force, he had never dared meet in the field. Nor will the " biftorian" ftop here: he will draw a moral from this memorable event. He will tell us the fate of the Gallic trio, De Graffe, Rochambeau, and Fayette, who participated with Washington in the enjoyment of the "delicious. humiliation of Britain." De Graffe will he find crouching under the thunder of Rodney; he will then feek for him in his banifh-. ment from court, and will, perhaps, fee his daughters driven from home by rebellion, begging their bread in that very country where their father had enjoyed fuch " delicious moments." Rochambeau he will follow to France; he will fee him at the head of a revolutionary army; he will next behold him, bound hand and foot; and, laft, he will fee his head roll from that guillotine, to which American principles had brought his too-credulous fovereign.La Fayette, the vain, the meddling, the infolent, the perfidious La Fayette, the biftorian" will hunt from folly to folly, from crime to crime, from club to club, from army to army, from dungeon to dungeon, from hovel to hovel, 'till, at last, contempt and obfcurity will baffle his inquiries, and put an end to his purfuit. Of Washington, too, the "biftorian" will not fpeak in the language of our author. Rejecting the falfhoods of the fashionable eulogiums, he will show us the "great Wathington", receiving, under the cloak of humility, the highest honours and the greatest emoluments his country had to bestow. Should the hiftorian accompany the "hero" to Mount Vernon, he will find that the journey was not refolved on till the chair at Philadelphia became a dangerous feat, and till the poffibility of keeping it became a matter of doubt. Nor will he hear, on the way, that unanimous peal of commendation," those vows, prayers, and bleffings", which Dr. Smith tells us 66 rang round the hero" as he went to his retreat; on the contrary, his ears will encounter many a heavy charge, and many a bitter curfe, ere he will enter "the villa of freedom", amidft the joyous acclamations of the General's four bundred faves. -From contemplating the fate of the four heroes" of York Town, who enjoyed the "delicious moment" of victory over Cornwallis, the moralizing "hiftorian" will turn to view the future fortunes of Cornwallis himself. "What a contraft!" will he say. "The juftice of Providence, though flow, is fure. Thus it is that rebellion is punished, and that loyalty is rewarded!" We have already extended our remarks on this performance much farther than we intended, but there remains one pailage, which we must notice on account of its notorious falfhood. 1 "Amidst all the clamours, which individual chagrin has raised against the general administration, none have ever dared to impeach the purity of bis patriotifm, or his incorruptible integrity." Now, in anfwer to this, we fhall quote a paper, which, from its date, appears to have been published in Philadelphia on the very day on which Mr. Washington ended his Presidential career. Pp 3 Lord "Lord, now lettet thou thy fervant, depart in peace, for mine eyes have feen thy falvation," was the pious ejaculation of a man who beheld a flood of happinefs rufhing in upon mankind-If ever there was a time that would licenfe the reiteration of the exclamation, that time is now arrived; for the man who is the fource of all the misfortunes of our country, is this day reduced to a level with his fellow-citizens, and is no longer poffeffed of power to multiply evils upon, the United States. If ever there was a period for rejoicing this is the moment, Every heart, in unison with, the freedom and happiness of the people, ought to beat high with exultation, that the name of WASHINGTON from this day ceases to give a currency to political iniquity, and to legalize corruption—a new; æra is now opening upon us, an era which promises much to the people for public measures must now stand upon their own merits, and nefarious projects can no longer be supported by a name. When a retrospect is taken of the Washingtonian administration for eight years, it is a subject of the greatest astonishment, that a single individual should have cankered the principles of republicanism in an enlightened people, and should have, carried his designs against the public liberty so far, as to have put in jeopardy its very existence : such, however, are the facts, and with these staring us in the face, this day ought to be a jubilee in the United States. We could refer to many other American publications for similar sentiments. Our readers will, indeed, readily conceive, that, when language so bold as this could be held, it must have coincided with the sentiments of no small portion of the people, This, one instance is, however, enough for our present purpose: it proves that the eulogist was regardless of truth, and it may serve to caution our readers against a too ready, belief of all that is said and sung about the immaculate Washington. Curious indeed is the fact; but it nevertheless is a fact, that in no country has this man so many admirers as in that against which he was guilty of treason and rebellion. ART. XVIII. Desultory Reflections on New Political Aspects of Public Affairs in the United States of America, since the Commencement of the Year 1799. New York. Fenno. 8vo. Pp. 62. AFTER FTER having waded through so many American publications, hostile to Great Britain, it is with no small pleasure that we have perused thefe Desultory Reflections,' in which, to our great astonishment, we have discovered no attempt to impose upon the world, The author introduces his subject with declaring his conviction, that all the principal disasters of the United States have arisen from the people's ignorance of public affairs, and, of course, of their real situation. This does not, indeed, correspond with the boasts of illumination, which have so often been made by the Americans; but we have, for our parts, little doubt of its truth. No people, upon . upon earth are so ignorant of their real political state, as those whose minds are distracted by the warring interests of numerous candidates for office. After stating, that "the tendencies of public measures, for more than twelve months past, have been such as to excite the fearful apprehensions of all true friends to their country," the author thus condemns the wavering, time-serving policy of the American government. t The French interest in America was every where on the decline; and every narrow consideration of local prejudice, daily yielded more and more, to that honourable zeal for the national glory which pervaded all hearts. The people were united; or, if a few murmurs of discontent were still heard, they were the growl ings of the impotent and discomfited; of wretches, who, long habi tuated to turbulence and rebellion, now vainly vented their stupid slanders upon those, who had, to all human appearance, cut off every hope of a return of the times of old. "The American name was rising rapidly to dignity and eminence: the fame of our resistance to the wiles and the arms of France, exalted our reputation at once for wisdom and for courage. The proudest and greatest of nations took us with joy by the hands exulting over our late return to reason, she promptly unfolded her arcana to our view, and opened every avenue that could lead to political consequence, or commercial prosperity. 1 “Under these auspices, the instruments of our trade whitened every sea, the produce of our industry crouded every, port, and our ensign waved in every harbour of the known world. "But the wind changed the weather-cock turned-and now how different are the aspects! It even seems a question how long we may be permitted, to enjoy, those advantages which have ever been common and essential to us as a nation. "In a contest like that which was carrying on before our eyes→→ in a warfare of confusion, against order, an insurrection of every vile propensity, against every good that remained to mankind in common, the hope to continue neutral was foolish, and the wish to remain so, dishonourable. It became at length so palpable, that we had our election to make, which side between the contending parties we would espouse, and so clear, that, our all was equally at stake upon the issue with the rest of the world, that even the rabbles took cognizance of the question, and with one accord shouted to arms! A government without power and without disposition to avenge the insulted dignity of the country, and the stripes, wounds, and executions of its citizens, was actually pricked on by popular acclaim, to some shew of spirit:it was goaded by laborious and untiring exertions, to an exhibition and parade of intention, which now abandoned has served only to saddle us with a frivolous expense, without alleviating a single mischief." The vain and absurd notion of absolute independence, which has been inculcated by the leading men in America, for the purpose of reconciling the people to any degree of danger and expence, rather Pp 4 than than solicit an alliance with Great Britain, is strongly reprobated by: his author, who seems to have more penetration than his countrymen in general, and who makes no scruple to attribute this pretended attachment to independence" to its true cause, that is, to a dread (in those who contrived the revolution) that the people will see the need they still have of the power of Great Britain to defend them against the hostility of France. 66 Although the doors of the temple of Janus have been alter, nately shut and opened, with purile irresolution, almost every day for these four years, the friendship of Great Britain, and the friende ship of France, still present themselves to us as too great alternatives. Here, I know it will be sagaciously inquired, are we not an independent nation? And have we not a right to do what seemeth meet in our own eyes. "I am ready to answer, without hesitation, that a nation is no further independent of other nations, than one individual is independent of another in society. In either case, there are bonds of strong obligation. No nation may withhold from another privileges which are by nature common to all, by the mere right of power; nor can any one justly withhold or bar the rights of another to full and impartial justice. "Nations are actuated, in their connections, and even inter course with one another, by interested motives; and miserable is that policy, which instead of fostering advantageous connections by creating interest, is seduced by vain conceptions of a fastidious independence, to destroy them, under a belief, That self-dependent, she can fate defy, "The various wants, as well as various productions of different nations, constitute a natural binding chain of connection; all vaunt ings of self-dependence, are, therefore, foolish; but in our péculiar situation, to talk of independence, in the sense in which many apply the term, is preposterous in the extreme. "It seems hardly in the power of conception to suppose men so ignorant as to seek a change in the whole order of things merely for the sake of maintaining this visionary self-dependence; and yet, it seems thus only to be accounted for, that we behold an humble and submissive policy suddenly put in force towards a nation, in the present order of things our natural enemy, and a most repulsive and hostile system adopted towards another to which we have indissoluble ties. "In deciding between the friendship of Great Britain and the friendship of France, the primary assemblies of the people on the British treaty, and the same repeated on the commencement of hostilities against France, has shewn that there was but one voice. Jealous of Great Britain, as of the authority of an ancient superior, the people sought not, wished not, needed not any closer or other connection with her than already existed n the treaty. So perfect an understanding was there, that her cruisers |