dripping with the exertions I had made to keep off the crowd from the perfon of the king: but I was infenfible to every thing but pleasure, and intoxicated with the joy I had witneffed and experienced. '

The most manifeft ufurpation, it appears to us, that fignalifed this eventful period, was that of the electors of the city of Paris, who, instead of feparating after the nomination of their deputies, held regular meetings, with a prefident and fecretaries, at the Hotel de Ville, and, in this moment of distraction, affumed the abfolute government of the metropolis. They established the national guards to the number of more than 60,coo men, without any authority, either from the King or the Af fembly, and negotiated both with the governor of the Baftille and with the infurgents, whom they could not diffuade from its affault. They alfo ordered the the Baftille to be demolished, and went fo far, at the inftigation of M. Necker, as to publifh a general amnesty, which the Affembly, however, refused to ratify. On the day after the King's vifit to the Affembly, M. Bailly paid a vifit to this body, and by them and the populace together, he was then elevated to the dignity of mayor; a nomination, however, that was afterwards ratified by the Sovereign. It has been frequently furmifed, that this dignity was conferred on him by the influence of the Duke of Orleans; though it appears perfectly evident, both from these memoirs, and from every other authority, that M. Bailly had no fort of connexion with that deteftable faction. He does not even feem to be aware of its existence or extent, unless he may be thought to have shadowed it out in the following general expreffions.

• Succeeding events have convinced me, that from this time forward, an invifible agent has been at work in the city, who is not contented with the deftruction of arbitrary power, or the liberty afferted on the 13th and 14th of July, and who has ever fince fcattered abroad all forts of calumnies and falfehoods, to propagate difcontent, fufpicion and diforder. This agent has not yet fufpended his activity. To have carried on his abominable defigns as he has done, he muft have had a multitude of tools, confiderable talents, and vaft refources. The fecret will one day be difcovered, and the infernal genius and his miniftering fpirits detected. '

The fucceeding events recorded in thefe volumes, fcarcely require any particular notice. If we except a pathetic and animated account of the outrages attending the maffacre of Meffrs Berthier and Foulon, to prevent which M. Bailly appears to have made the moft ftrenuous exertions, they relate principally to the meafures which he adopted for fecuring a fupply of provifions for the capital, and for the arrangement of its police. We regret very much that they do not include the tranfactions of the 6th of October, and other fucceeding days, in which M. Bailly's con

duct

duct has been severely cenfured, and as to the details of which we are not yet in poffeffion of any very authentic intelligence. From the affection and refpect with which he uniformly fpeaks of the King, we are perfuaded that a complete ftatement of his proceedings would exculpate him from any charge of infolence or cruelty. In the Appendix, along with a number of other documents relating to that portion of the Memoirs which do not feem to have been completed, there is a copy of the addrefs with which he received the Monarch upon his arrival in Paris after the difgraceful diforders of the 5th and 6th of October. The heaviest accufation that has ever been brought against M. Bailly, is, that in that speech he called the 6th of October a beautiful day ;' and if he had applied fuch an epithet to it, in allufion to the crimes and outrages by which it had been diftinguished, he would certainly have deferved the fevereft reprobation. Upon looking into the fpeech, however, which was delivered by him in his official capacity, on his Majefty's appearance within his jurifdiction, we find that he alludes only to the happy event of the King's arrival in the metropolis, to which, he affirms, his prefence would infallibly restore tranquillity and order. The fpeech is in the higheft degree complimentary and refpectful; nor can we believe that M. Bailly, who unquestionably had no hare in the outrages of that day, and probably was not then informed of their extent, could poffibly intend to exprefs any approbation of proceedings fo contradictory to his principles and habits.

Upon the whole, though the details of this book are fometimes a little redundant, we have perufed it with confiderable fatisfaction. The intereft which it excites, however, arifes more from the dramatic vivacity of the reprefentation, and from the constant interpofition of the fentiments and paffions of an actor, than from the importance of the new information it contains. M. Bailly feems to have been inftructed in none of the fecrets of the revolution, and to have known nothing more of the agency by which it was effected, than could be gathered from the public proceedings of the Affembly and of the municipality. He was engaged in no confpiracies, and but imperfectly informed, it would appear, of any thing that was done beyond the precincts of the metropolis. From fuch a writer we can look for no new lights-no corrections of what has been mifreprefented, or elucidations of what is myfterious. The fecret hiftory of the revolution certainly is not yet completely understood, and the chance is that it never will; fince the difclofure can only be made, upon the fuppofition that fome of the confidential agents of Orleans have efcaped the daggers of their affociates, and acquired honefty enough to tell the truth.

VOL. VI. NO. 11.

L

ART.

ART. XIII. Sur le Grand Deffein attribué à Henri IV. Roi de France. Par M. de Chambrier. (From Memoires de l'Academie Royale des Sciences & Belles Lettres de Berlin, 1804.)

AMONG the various problems which have exercifed the ingenuity, and difplayed the learning of hiftorical critics, none has received a degree of attention lefs proportioned to its im portance, than the very interefting fubject of the prefent memoir. That a prince, of whofe fame the annals of Europe are full, ftopped in the midst of his victorious career to form a project which fhould fecure the future peace of the world; that he actually devoted the rest of his days to the accomplishment of this undertaking, and even made fome progrefs in furmounting the obftacles with which it was attended, is a statement at once fo important and fo ftrange, that we might have expected, before the prefent day, a careful examination of its authenticity. Whether it be, that there is in antiquaries and critics a natural predilection for the trifling, or that the investigation of the fubject required talents and knowledge which are feldom coupled with fkill in points and particles, it is certain that the question remains undecided; and M. Chambrier, in the paper now before us, difplays little more than his good will to the profecution of the inquiry. In hopes of directing the attention of abler perfons to fo curious a matter, and for the purpose of fuggefting a few remarks upon one part of the queftion, we shall fhortly ftate the substance of this memoir, beginning with the plan itfelf, of which all have heard the name, and many lamented the failure, in equal ignorance of its motives and its defign. As often as the balance of power is mentioned, men recur to the chimerical project of Henry IV., and declaim upon the abfurdity of attempting any fimilar arrangement, because the impracticability of what they term the moft perfect form of the fyftem" is admitted. It may be worth while, however, to examine whether this famous fcheme bears any relation to the external policy of modern times, known by the name of the balancing fyftem; and whether it is, in any of its parts, founded upon the fage and virtuous principles by which that fyftem is fupported. Nor is any difcuffion without its advantages, which leads us to review a character fo highly rated as that of Henry the Great, and to examine impartially, by one important teft, his claims to that renown for political wifdom and integrity, which mankind have, with a rare unanimity, been fo zealous to beltow on his

memory.

Henry

Henry is faid, immediately after the great victory at Ivry, to have formed this plan, denominated by M. Chambrier' the moft vaft, fingular, and advantageous for all Europe, which had ever been conceived.' In order to estimate its claims to thefe mag❤ nificent appellations, the following sketch may be confulted.

Europe was fuddenly to be formed into a great commonwealth, under the impofing title of the Christian Republic.' The Eme peror of Germany was to be placed at its head, with high au thority over the federacy, and increafed powers in his private capacity of Germanic chief. The extent of his prerogatives was confidered as attended with little danger, for this very fatisfactory reafon, that the plan propofed his office to be always conferred according to merit. In order to fecure this excellent pro vifion, Henry conceived the novel expedient of making the im perial dignity elective, and added a prohibition against confersing it twice in fucceffion upon the fame family. He farther thought proper to fettle that it should be given first to the house of Bavaria; and that this natural rival of the Austrian dynasty hould receive, in perpetuity, all the neighbouring provinces of the natural enemy of France. The house of Auftria was further to lofe all its hereditary poffeffions in Europe, except Spain; and what is ftill more pleasant, the King of France, who propofed this idea, is faid only to have referved for himself the glory of conceiving' the grand and virtuous project. In return for thefe facrifices, Auftria was prefented with the abfolute and entire poffeffion of every inhabited country out of Europe, either then known, or afterwards difcovered; the only restriction upon her colonial fupremacy, being a refervation in favour of free commerce. Men have laughed as much at the famous bull of Paul, as they have admired the plan of Henry; yet there was nothing half fo abfurd in the Pope's grant of the new world, which began and ended in a statement of abftract right, as this provifion of the French monarch by which the fame right was to be forcibly maintained, and Europe was to conquer all the other parts of the world for the benefit of that power which it had violently ftript of its lawful poffeffions at home.

The poffeffions of Auftria were to be partly given away, partly revolutionized; and various new states and unions of states were to arife from the fragments of that great monarchy, on the confines of the empire. A republic was to be formed of the Netherlands together with Holland. Hungary and Bohemia were defigned for two elective monarchies; the choice be ing vested in the Pope and the fix hereditary potentates of France, Spain, England, Sweden, Denmark, and Lombardy. Poland was to be made elective in the fame fenfe of the word

and each of the three elective monarchies was to be increased by new pollefions forcibly taken from other powers. The fucceffion of Cleves was to be portioned out among fuch of the Germanic princes as France then favoured, and Auftria oppofed. The Pope was to have all Naples, and to be made chief of the Italian Federal Republic, a body compofed of all the Italian ftates except Lombardy and the Milanefe, which were reserved for the kingdom of the Duke of Savoy. Sicily, a member of this republic, was defigned as a douceur for Venice; and Switzerland was to receive Franche-Compté and Alface with a permanent oligarchical conftitution.

The Chriftian Republic, thus formed by plunder and ufurpation, was to begin its operations by perfecution. Three different creeds were to be permitted, and all fects inftantly extinguished. Moreover, every power not profefling the chriftian faith was to be expelled from Europe; and the Czar of Mufcovy being a believer, was to be offered a corner in the grand federacy, which if he refufed, he was immediately to be stript of his European dominions, and fent off to Afia after the grand fignior. A good deal has been faid of the balance of religion, in confequence of the fpiritual part of this project; and truly, if the phrafe has any meaning, its fignification is as difficult to be difcovered as the connexion between the temporal arrangements of the plan and the balance of power.

The means by which the fcheme was to be carried into effect next deferve notice. Main force was the great fecret; and the overtures being made to certain powers, it was proposed, that a large army fhould inftantly be raised by fuch as agreed to the measure, for the purpose of compelling the reft to fubmit. The overtures were accordingly made, and much aftonishment has been expreffed at their favourable reception. We are told, that most of the European potentates came readily into the scheme, and that a certain profpect was obtained of raifing at least half the forces which fhould be required for the whole fervice of the union. This has been denominated the most wonderful part of the ftory; and those who can fcarcely believe that a prince of Henry's wif dom ferioufly formed fo chimerical a plan, are ftill lefs difpofed to admit that he found the obftacles to its execution so easily furmounted. But let us confider whether there be really any great wonder in any part of the statement,-whether the project was marked by a liberality and difintereftedness of mind too high for a prince in the moment of victory,-whether the prominent feature of the plan was romantic virtue, or that ambition after impoffibilities, which we denominate fplendid folly, or only a more ordinary love of aggrandizement, couched under a pretext of heroism

too