*

vernment, that the chief of the faction should be brought to justice; and having convinced him, by a comparison of handwritings, that the writer of the Circular he had seen, was the author of the famous Note Secrette, they demanded, as a pledge of support from Ministers, that the well-known author of that treasonable performance should be brought to trial, before the Circulars were delivered up. Glad of an opportunity to crush a faction which he had so long combated in vain, Madier de Montjau acceded to these terms; and, in a petition to the Chamber of Deputies, gave an account of the disclosures that had been made to him. In this petition, he exposed at length the secret machinations of the Ultra-royalists, and indicated, in terms too plain to be misunderstood, the person pointed out to him as the author of the Circulars. It was from no distrust of the good intentions of the Ministry, but from an apprehension of their want of firmness and vigour, that he took this method ́ of bringing forward his accusation; and, though he failed in obtaining the inquiry he demanded, the publicity of his petition disclosed to the whole of France the existence of a secret government or faction, which, in the words of St Aulaire, semble reconnaître une autre loi que la loi, un autre gouvernement que ❝ le gouvernement, un autre roi que le roi lui-même.'

The conduct of Ministers on the petition, as Madier de Montjau had foreseen, was timid and irresolute; and, to him individually, considering the approbation and favour with which they had received his former communications, their behaviour was harsh and ungenerous. On his refusal to give up the Circulars, without obtaining the conditions on which they had been confided to him, he was summoned before the Cour de Cassation, and by that tribunal reprimanded for persisting in his refusal, for breach of his duty as a magistrate, in publishing, without leave, his reports to the Minister of Police, and for aggravating his other offences by writings, propres à entretenir la mefiance et les haines parmi les citoyens. Notwithstanding this censure, which was the only punishment the Ultra-faction could obtain, no one can read his manly and eloquent defence (his Plaidoyer) without being convinced that he was actuated throughout by the most pure and honourable motives; and that, if the ministers had dared to prosecute the offenders he brought to light, they might not only have exposed and punished the real contrivers of the massacres in the Gard, and of the other excesses in the south of France, but extinguished a dangerous faction

* Madier de Montjau-Plaidoyer, 67-75.

which seems destined, one day or other, to revive the Revolution, and replunge the kingdom in civil war.

Our readers will naturally ask, Who is the person pointed at by Madier de Montjau as the author of the Circulars, and principal agent of the Secret Government? At present, we shall only answer, It is the same person that addressed the Note Secrette to the Allies; the same person, à la tête et au cœur machiaveliques, who replied to an officer, boasting that he had taken Marshall Soult prisoner: Insensé ! apprenez 'de moi, que dans les conjonctures où nous sommes, on n'arrête pas un Maréchal de France; on le tue.' These marks designate the man sufficiently in France. It would be easy to name him; but as Madier de Montjau has abstained from doing so in direct terms, we shall imitate his reserve.

The facts brought to light by Madier de Montjau leave no doubt of the existence of what he terms the gouvernement occulte, nor of the activity of its correspondence in the provinces, and its close and intimate connexion with the assassins of the Gard. No one need wonder after this, that the persecution at Nismes was suffered to go on for so many months, without any effectual opposition from the agents of the Government, though contrary to the orders and instructions issued by the King; nor is it longer a matter of surprise, that assassins, so powerfully protected, have hitherto escaped, and still set at defiance the arm of police.

We are therefore to regard the massacres at Nismes as neither entirely religious, nor entirely political. On the part of the ruffians, to whom the executive was left, the persecution was religious-the result of blind fanaticism and furious hatred of the Protestants. On the part of their protectors of a higher rank, it was partly, and perhaps principally, political. Some chiefs of the Ultra-royalists may be as bigotted and fanatical as the lowest and most ignorant of their followers; and some of the Churchmen, who have influence in their party, may be excited by the same intolerant spirit of persecution that animated their posterity in the days of Louis XIV. and XV. But it would be unjust to impute to the whole of that or of any other party of the present day, the narrow-minded and intolerant principles of their ancestors, or to suppose that they could be so unmindful of the generous treatment they received from a Protestant nation, as to cherish inveterate sentiments of hostility against the professors of the same religion in France. But they are dragged along in the course they have taken, by the circumstances in which they are placed. They require, for the objects they have in view, the support of some popular feeling

in France; and find no zealous adherents but among fanatics, whose concurrence they are compelled to propitiate by indulg ing them in all their evil passions. They must sacrifice the Protestants in order to obtain a party among the Catholics; they must protect assassins in order to have partisans; nor can they extricate themselves from this position, without renouncing their extravagant hopes, reconciling themselves to an order of things they are unable to subvert, and honestly seeking to consolidate the new constitution of their country, by uniting all the good and moderate in its defence.

In the mean while it is evident, from all that passes in France, that the party to which we allude looks for its principal support to the predominance of the clergy, and to the revival, not of the true spirit of religion, but of the bigotry and intolerance that too often usurp its name. Instead of adding to the number and stipends of the inferior clergy, who might be usefully and respectably employed in their parishes, they have increased the number of bishopricks, in order to reward and excite the zeal of the intolerant, and infuse at once a more ardent fanaticism into the Church. Distrusting the activity of the parochial clergy, they send missionaries through the kingdom to preach up the miracles of saints, and make a traffick of indulgences, that would have disgraced the sixteenth century, before the Reformation. It is the same principle that makes them prefer the instructions of the freres ignorantins to the more useful and expeditious method of enseignment mutuel; and to the same necessity of conciliating partisans for their future projects, must be attributed their protection of the slave-trade, and determination to obstruct every measure that tends to its effectual abolition. It is not that they have any partiality for the slave-trade; but they are in want of adherents, and not ashamed to purchase, at that price, the support of the ancient planters and merchants connected with the Colonies.

But it is chiefly to the revival of fanaticism that the Ultraroyalists look for such additional strength as will enable them to accomplish their designs. It is not religion they want, but slavish submission to the Church. Un des caractères de la religion,' says their favourite author, est de ne jamais raisonner avec les hommes.'* It is not mere Catholicism that will satisfy them; they must have a detestation of heresy. No religion can last, they pretend, unless it be animated with a hatred of every other. Aucune religion ne peut subsister qu'en repoussent toutes les autres-elles expirent en s'embras

* La Mennais. Essai sur l'Indifference.

sant. The Anglican Church they contemn as a mere political device; and falsely and maliciously represent it to their countrymen as having no other rule of faith but the will and caprice of the King. L'eglise Anglicane, dans son essentielle organisation, n'est qu'une societé religieuse, gouvernée des'potiquement; un seul y entraine tout par sa volonté et par 'ses caprices.' The English people are not better treated than their Church. The English nation n'est plus une na'tion Chrétienne-elle touche au dernier terme de l'indiffer'ence religieuse-elle est morte par ses mœurs.' ||

Such are the sentiments on religious toleration-such the opinions of the English Church and people, inculcated by the most popular of the Ultra-royalist writers-and such the doctrines that party is assiduously employed at present in diffusing throughout France. That they will be successful in reviving a spirit of religion in their country, we have not a doubt: But, from the imperfect toleration admitted by its laws, and the arbitrary authority exercised by its police, we fear that the religion adopted by its inhabitants, like their republic, will be one and indivisible; and if so, it requires little sagacity to foresee, that it will be exclusive and persecuting. Every religion that founds its hope of salvation on the belief of particular tenets, is in its nature intolerant. Individuals are indulgent from reflection; but bodies of men are only taught toleration by their weakness. The liberal policy of England, by permitting sects to divide and multiply at pleasure, is the only secret to disarm bigotry, and break the power of fanaticism, without weakening the salutary influence of religion. Like the safety-lamp in mines, it transmits the light to an inflammable atmosphere, in streams too minute to excite conflagration; but sufficiently numerous and copious to illuminate the darkness of surrounding objects.

ART. VIII. A Tour through the Southern Provinces of the Kingdom of Naples. By the Hon. RICHARD KEPPEL CRAVEN. To which is subjoined, a Sketch of the immediate Circumstances attending the late Revolution. 4to. pp. 449. London, Rodwell, 1821.

IT

T is certainly somewhat extraordinary, that of the great number of travellers sent forth by the peace from this country, with the design of recording their adventures, so few should have deviated from the most frequented routes. We hardly, indeed, can recollect above two or three who have written upon

La Mennais, 225.

f Ib. 179.

Ib. 73, 74.

any thing beyond the limits of the Grand Tour; and although it must be admitted, that to mark the changes produced in the most interesting countries of Europe by the singular events of our times, was the first object in point of importance, yet it is equally clear, that a sufficient number of works has now been dedicated to this subject; and that the reader, without being very ambitious, may be allowed to desiderate new kingdoms." Great praise, therefore, is due to Mr Craven, for quitting altogether the beaten tracks, and recounting, in a plain but not inelegant manner, what he observed, and what befel him in the portion of Europe perhaps the least frequented by strangers. His work, without pretending to deep science or extensive scholarship, is both entertaining and instructive. It contains the information first of all required respecting any country so little known, namely, that which an intelligent observer can easily collect for himself, and which most travellers could give with ease, if affectation, or absurd pretensions, did not frequently prevent them from trying to give it at all. Mr Craven seized the advantage which accidental circumstances deny to so many travellers, of having access to every person of importance, by means of his connexions with leading men and distinguished families at Naples; and he had an advantage which almost as many travellers deny themselves, that of seeing the country and its inhabitants at his leisure. He must have spent nearly five months in his excursion, including his visit to Sicily; of which he judiciously gives no account, considering the subject to be already trite. He left Naples late in April, and does not appear to have returned before the latter end of September.

Our author's first point, after quitting Naples, was Benevento; and as the Furce Caudinæ lie somewhere on or near this road, he naturally inquires into their exact position. A sensible and well written dissertation by Mr Gandy, is introduced into this part of Mr Craven's book, that gentleman having had an opportunity of more particularly investigating this question. His observations tend entirely to confirm the opinion of Cluverius, that this celebrated defile lies between Santa Agata dei Goti and Airola or Moiano.

It is a very common error to suppose that the various distinguished personages, both in France and other countries, who, during the late war, received grants of principalities or territory abroad, have only had a nominal possession. There are some instances of estates given to English Commanders, for services rendered to foreign Powers; and these, we believe, are now enjoyed by the grantees or their heirs. Thus, too, the principality or dutchy of Benevento, according to Mr Craven, was