"Munster, 5th Nov. 1813.

"The intention of the Emperor, by his orders dated from Mentz on the 1st inst. is, that you shall leave a good garrison in Hamburgh, and with the other troops march in the direction of Holland; or, if it be too late to make that movement, you are to manœuvre on both banks of the Elbe in the direction of Hamburgh."'

A compliance with these orders being out of the question, particularly in regard to the retreat to Holland, Marshal DAVOÛT confined himself to the task of sustaining the struggle as long as he could in Hamburgh, and obliging the enemy to undertake a siege in form.

He proceeds subsequently to vindicate, by the plea of necessity, the seizure of the money that was deposited in the Bank, of which he gives a specific statement at the end of the memorial. It amounted to half a million sterling, and was, he affirms, strictly applied to the public service. Still, it is somewhat amusing to find him make a merit (p. 28.) of offering to the Hamburgh merchants the option of paying an equal sum of money, and of leaving the cash in the Bank; as if it would there have been secure from the grasp of him, or of the ruler of France.

The charge of disobedience in delaying the acknowlegement of the Bourbons is a question of comparatively little interest to the public but the several documents produced shew that DAVOÛT was very loth to believe the abdication of his Emperor, from a persuasion that his power was firmly established, and that he was incapable of finishing his career in so tame a

manner.

Several of the papers in the Appendix relate to the state of the army-finances at Hamburgh, and exhibit an additional proof of the straits to which the French were so frequently reduced. Bonaparte chose to commute the payment of a portion of the contribution on Hamburgh for a supply of horses, and very coolly ordered that they should be raised in the true republican style, and in no other.

"Magdeburgh, 12th July, 1813. "I think there would be very serious objections to levying the 5000 horses assessed on the 32d division otherwise than by the plan of requisition; it is the most expeditious method of procuring horses. I take it for granted that you have already given orders for this requisition, and I should by no means approve the plan of purchasing them. As to the saddles, they must be made at Hamburgh, where I have always understood that there was a great stock of leather. However, a part of the saddles may be drawn from the magazines of Wesel."'

Another passage, equally curious, is the letter of DAVOÛT to Hogendorp, the French governor of Hamburgh, in justification of the seizure of the money in the Bank:

"Ratzeburg, 7th Nov. 1813.

"However strong are the remonstrances of the merchants, necessity forces me to prescribe the literal execution of the orders given to you, because there are no other means of enabling the public service to proceed; and because the merchants, by declaring that they cannot give me the money otherwise, place me under the necessity of taking a step to be justified only by the morality of war, which unhappily is a scourge. It was this morality which dictated to the English in Portugal the plan of stopping the French army by laying waste the country, burning the crops, and making the inhabitants quit their villages."'

It may be supposed that, with the public at large, particularly the French public, a memorial so ably written as this will have considerable weight. It ought not, however, to redeem the Marshal's character from the charge of unfeeling strictness in the execution of his orders, or to be considered as throwing any new light on the merits of the case. That the severities committed at Hamburgh were in pursuance of directions from the French government, no one acquainted with the habits of mili tary men entertained a doubt: as well might it be alleged that Rostopchin burned Moscow, that Von York abandoned Macdonald, or that Schwartzenberg advanced in the end of March to Paris, without the sanction of their respective courts, because it suited the policy of each of these cabinets to adopt a tone apparently at variance with the conduct of their officers. The charges against Marshal DAVOÛT have probably been exaggerated: but that he is a harsh and obstinate character is sufficiently apparent, both from the course of his proceedings and from the mere act of Bonaparte in stationing him where the exercise of severity was likely to be required, and to constitute a merit.

By

ART. VIII. Encyclopédie de l'Ingénieur, &c. ; i. e. The Engineer's Encyclopædia, or Dictionary of Bridges and Roads. J. R. DELAISTRE, a retired Engineer, and Professor in the Mili. litary School of Paris. 8vo. 3 Vols. and 1 Vol. of Plates in 4to. Paris. 1812. Imported by De Boffe. Price 41. 4s.

IT

T has been too much the custom in this country, of late years, to regard the scientific works of our continental neighbours in the light of oracles, and to bestow on French mathematicians indiscriminately that meed of praise and admiration which is justly due only to a comparatively small number of them. Far be it from us to derogate from the

well

well earned fame of such men as La Place, Lacroix, Legendre, Delambre, and some others who might be enumerated: their talents are well known and justly appreciated; it is only to their humble copiers that our remarks are meant to apply, who are deluging Europe with their productions, which are. bought up in London with the same avidity as their great originals, and are equally imitated and applauded.

This feeling, which probably had its origin in a laudable liberality, is fast approaching to a fixed partiality and unfounded admiration; which, if not counteracted, will doubtless operate very powerfully to the prejudice of English science. We could wish to see English mathematicians depend more on their own powers, and less on the imitation of their rivals. Let them call to their recollection that the greatest of all mathematicians was an Englishman let them assume that independence of character in their scientific pursuits, which they have ever supported in their political relations; and there will be no fear of English science again rising to its proper height and importance.

We have been irresistibly drawn into this train of argument by the perusal of the work under review, which we have heard mentioned in terms of commendation, but with what justice we will endeavour to explain.

The author professes to give an Encyclopædia or Dictionary for Engineers, and he has in some degree arranged it in the usual manner of such works, but in no other respect is it the production which we should be led to suppose. A dictionary of any science is generally intended to contain, 1st, a definition and illustration of the several terms of the science on which it treats; 2dly, all the best adapted and most practicable rules, accompanied either with their demonstrations or with reference to the best and most approved authors who have written on the subject; and, 3dly, it is not uncommon to give brief sketches of the rise, progress, and present state of the several departments of the science to which it relates. Not one of these objects has been accomplished by M. DELAISTRE. His definitions are not only false but ridiculous; his illustrations are confused and unintelligible; his references are few and ill selected; and his history is deficient and erroneous. That the scientific reader may in some measure judge for himself on these points, we shall furnish him with a few specimens. First, for definitions:

Angle aigu has for its measure more than 90 degrees; workmen call it angle maigre.

Angle obtus has for its measure less than 90 degrees; workmen call it angle gras.

• Courbe;

Courbe; there are two sorts, the one plain, the other of double curvature.

• Courbe à double courbure is that which can only be traced on a plane in perspective or by projection, but which we may trace on a piece of stone, because it forms a solid angle.

Demi rayon is a right line drawn from the centre of a circle or of a sphere to its circumference.'

As an example of the author's happiest manner of illustration, we shall confine our extract to the article Logarithm:

In order to illustrate the nature of logarithms, and to explain them in a very clear and distinct manner, let us take two species of progression, which have given rise to these members, that is, a geometrical and arithmetical progression. Let us suppose that the terms of the one are placed exactly under the terms of the other, as in the following example:

I 2 4 8 16 32

O I 2 3 4 5

In this case, the numbers in the lower or arithmetical progression are called the logarithms of the terms of the geometrical progressions which are above them; viz. o is the logarithm of 1; 1 is the logarithm of 2; and 2 of 4, and so on. The sines which we

employ in all the operations of triangles ought to have also their logarithms: but the sines being all fractions of the radius, the logarithms of the sines are the logarithms of fractions, and their logarithms are negative.'

Such is the author's very clear and distinct illustration of logarithms and logarithmic sines; and his explanation of their use in barometrical measurement is nearly of the same kind :

A philosopher furnished with a portable barometer observed it to stand at 26 inches 2 lines on a mountain. Now it is known to stand at the sea-side at 28 inches and 2 lines. Take the difference

of the logarithm of 338 and 314 lines, and we shall have 3179, viz. the height in tenths of toises.'

These absurdities are not exclusively confined to the mathematical articles. Adhesion is explained on the principle of atmospheric pressure; and not a word is mentioned of the interesting experiments of Messrs. Guyton and Achard. Fire, or caloric, is asserted to be ponderable, on the authority of Mussembroek and Duclos. The expansion of ice is attributed to air-bubbles. The expansion of water is directly as the temperature; therefore Mr. Dalton must be mistaken in his determination of the maximum density of this fluid. The cate nary is the only proper curve for the arch of a bridge; for the properties of which the author refers us to the article Chainette: but no such article is to be found. - Under the word Triangle, we learn that Les triangles d'un triangle quel qu'il soit valent deux angles, c'est-à-dire 80 dégrès. Under the article Parallelepipède,

Parallelepipède, we are told that Un plan diagonal divise un parallelepipède en deux prismes triangulaires égaux; c'est pourquoi un prisme triangulaire n'est que la moitié d'un parallelepipède de même base et de même hauteur. As the author's rules for practical arithmetical operations much resemble his definitions and illustrations, we will give only the following: Pour trouver le diamètre, l'aire d'un cercle étant donné; aux trois nombres 785, 1000, et 246,176, trouvez une quatrième proportionelle, savoir 3,113,600, qui est le carré du decimètre; tirez-en la racine carrée, vous aurez le diamètre même.'

We trust that these examples, without entering farther on the subject, will fully justify the strong expressions which we have used in the preceding part of this article.

The defects in the scientific articles, however, great as they are, form not the most objectionable part of the present performance. The author scruples not to tell us that the genius of man is as powerful as the Deity, and that he has done as much towards the civilization of the world. We will give one specimen of the writer's philosophy, with which we must conclude this article:

Can I rely securely on the order that reigns in nature, when I lay myself down on an inflamed volcano? when the impetuosity of the winds desolates my fields, roots up my trees, and destroys my houses? when I see a river in an instant change its direction, accumulating its waters from immense tributary streams? when a storm, carrying thunderbolts and hail in its train, inundates my fields, kills my flocks, annihilates my harvests, and strikes innocent victims with death? when, in short, every imaginable scourge, coming to disturb my tranquillity, makes war on my existence? Has not nature put

obstacles to the communications that men ought to have with each other? Do not seas, mountains, and rivers, separate nations? But man has vanquished nature; he has, as we may say, dispersed these remains of chaos; his genius, as powerful as the Deity, has enchained the elements, fixed limits to the waters, and made mountains disappear which opposed themselves to the progress of society.'

We shall make no comment on this extract, which we have selected merely for the purpose of giving the reader a fair sample of the science and the piety of M. DELAISTRE.

ART. IX. La Constitution, &c.; i.e. The Constitution of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, translated from the Dutch. 8vo. pp. 64. Paris. 1814.

THE

HE number of political changes among the phlegmatic inhabitants of the Batavian provinces, in the present age, has been nearly as great as among our volatile neighbours on

the