made for the preservation of internal peace, will seize the favourable moment of disrespect towards the old Government, and erect some new system, according to their own wishes, their own wants, their own passions. The well-meaning but not quickly-discerning part of the Community, who in every state constitute the majority, will then easily be ensnared by the plausible representations of the ambitious, and be made unwittingly the instrument of their country's ruin. Now all this mischief might be prevented, or at least you would avoid be ing considered as accessary to its introduction, if you would ho nourably, and as becomes your character, remain at the post, however dangerous, to which the voice of your countrymen has called you.

• Indeed I do not know which is the greatest enemy of his country, the traitor who openly appears against her in the field, or the man who, in her distress, deserts his seat in her legislative assembly. Both appear to me equally offending against Law. But how much more heinous will his guilt appear, who is thoroughly acquainted with the Constitution of his Country, and who has actually assisted in framing her laws, and who notwithstanding acts illegally?

On the illegality, Gentlemen, of your seceding from the House, you will pardon my reminding you, that by accepting your seats, you became in trust for your Country. It is incumbent on you to act according to that trust, and to fulfil the duties which it imposes on you. Our Constitution acknowleges no such principle as that a public functionary may, whenever caprice incites him, renounce his obligation, refuse to act, and yet continue in his trust. It ill becomes any of the Guardians of our property, to abandon the resources of the Empire to the disposal of any Minister, however skilled in the intricacies of finance. He may be prudent, or he may be prodigal; but the Nation ought not to suffer from his inclination to lavish expendi

ture.'

This writer deems the secession of a Commoner more criminal than that of a Peer, because the Peer, he says, stands for himself only, while the Member of the Lower House is the representative of others. We entertain a different opinion. If a Nobleman and a Commoner abandon their duty, we think them equally criminal. Each is a representative of the Nation, and holds his legislative function but for her interests. To elect the one she has appointed Burgesses, Citizens, and Freeholders; and she has given the right of choos ing the other to a Magistrate, in whose wisdom and integrity she reposes the highest confidence. Those whom he calls to the Senate may naturally be expected to be the purest of Patriots;, and in such men any deviation from their public duty will be highly criminal. Their descendants, when called to the same offices, take them subject to the same conditions.

MISCELLANEOUS.

Art. 50. A Letter to the Society of Protestant Dissenters, at the Old Meeting, Yarmouth, from Thomas Martin, on his Resignation of the Office of Minister among them. 870. IS.

1797.

Johnson

We

We learn incidentally from this letter, that the author has been some years a Dissenting Minister at Yarmouth; that he values the profession; that he has been meritoriously attentive to the children of the poor, and in all private respects has given satisfaction to his flock: but that having altered his creed as to the miraculous origin of Christianity, and having communicated this opinion to his colleague, who saw in the change no reason for separation; and to his con gregation, the majority of which was also willing to tolerate some consequent variation of the public services ;-he has nevertheless been finally induced to resign his office, rather than occasion the secession of a respected band of tender consciences,

The object of the writer is to convince this minority that their common principles, as Dissenters, demanded from them a more tolerant conduct than their peculiar zeal, as friends to miracles, has inspired. that the general interests of truth, and of sincerity, require that no temporal inconveniencies be inflicted on those who honestly make known the progress of their convictions: that, morals being the end, and schemes of faith only means, all persons who are agreed in their notions of morality may fitly attend the same instructor; and that, social worship and the clerical profession being favourable to the ame lioration of mankind, they should rather be offered to than withdrawn from a sect not so insignificant in numbers as reluctant to religious observances. The address may also tend to calm the alarms of the congregation, and induce them to solicit the writer to resume the pastoral office among them.

Mr. Martin thus pleads his cause:

Of the spirit and object of christianity, I entertain the same views with those who believe in its miraculous origin. The character of the founder of it, I venerate as the most exalted of any I have ever known, or read of. The principle by which he was actuated, I consider as that of the moral reformation of the world; and I regard those as his followers, whatever may be their opinions, who adopt this principle and apply it.'

No opinions entertained by me had interfered with the satis. factory conducting of the services and the real difference in opinion between us, was, in weight and force, as already stated. Where, then, was the ground for the termination of a connexion, which, if I may judge no less from the friendly and attentive treatment I had so uniformly experienced, than from their declarations when they signified their intention to secede, was on every consideration except that of opinions, eligible and desirable, equally to them as to myself? Where, in these circumstances, was the inconsistency, or incongruity, of the connexion? Our path through life lies in precisely the same direction. Our object is the same, and the means by which it is to be obtained are the same, whether the knowledge of these means be derived immediately from the Supreme Being, or from the reflections of wisdom upon experience; whether they be pursued on natural, or on supernatural grounds; as rational, or as revealed. The man, also, who would violate the dictates of his understanding, would violate the commands of God himself.'

O for that great æra of wisdom, when every thing in the form or spirit of a creed, shall be universally discarded; when the ensnaring

Kk 2

and

and corrupting influence of tests, shall be annihilated; when upon the true and liberal ground of rectitude, services and conduct shall be the only considerations for which the instructors of the public are responsible; and no longer losing in the minister the man, there shall be acknowledged and secured, equally and alike to all, the liberty of forming and communicating their own opinions!'

We await, with curiosity, the remarks which some of the leading Dissenters will undoubtedly choose to make on this bold plea for a farther liberty of conscience.

Art. 51. The First Report of the Society for bettering the Condition and increasing the Comforts of the Poor. 8vo. pp. 68. Is. Becket.

1797.

- None are better entitled to the approbation and applause of mankind, than those who employ themselves for such purposes as those that are mentioned in the title-page of this work. Prefixed to it, we find an address to the public containing many just observations in defence, or extenuation, of the Poor, from the charges that are usually made against them by the rich, the idle, and the unfeeling. One of these charges is that of idleness:-but the writer of this tract maintains, and he is supported by the authority of the illustrious Adam Smith, that the poor labourer often injures himself by working too much, parti cularly when he works by the piece.-Another imputation on the Peor is drunkeness: --but before we give judgment however, upon the crimes of the poor, it will be prudence, at least, to examine how far we have, in any degree, been accessories.-If habitual drunkeness be frequently the consequence of weakness of body, or of despondency of mind; and, among the Poor at least, most prevalent where the constitution has been impaired by comfortless habits of life, or by want of nutritive and regular food-and if, of every species of idleness, that of hopeless indigence be the most inveterate was it not our duty were we not bound by every tie, moral and religious to have assisted and encouraged them in the use of a * bet· ter system of diet-to have increased the internal comfort of their habitations and to have converted listless indolence, which is without energy when it is without hope, into cheerful, active, and prosper, ous industry?'

The first paper in this report presents an interesting detail respecting a Friendly Society, at Castle-Eden, Durham; the second is an account of a village shop, established by some benevolent person at Mongewell in Oxfordshire, and so regulated as to prevent the poor from running in debt, and to save them upwards of 20 per cent. in the purchase of the necessaries of life. For the encouragement of similar establishments, we are happy to have it in our power to add that this shop is attended with very inconsiderable trouble and expence to its charitable founder.

There are other papers concerning a workhouse, a spinning-school, and an house of correction, from the perusal of which a benevolent projector may derive useful information,

See Sir FRED. EDEN's valuable work on the poor. I. 491-590."

Art.

Art. 52. The History, or Anecdotes, of the Revolution in Russia, in the Year 1762. Translated from the French of M. de Rulhiere. 12mo. pp. 178. 3s. 6d. sewed. Longman. 1797.

We had occasion, in our last Appendix, to take ample notice of the original of this work; the principal features of which are, the great facility with which revolutions are effected in despotic countries; the low state of human cultivation in Russia; and the licentiousness of manners that commonly prevails where the rules of decorum are substituted for those of morality, and superstition takes the place of religion. Of the figures that are presented to us as playing their parts on the complicated scene, we find most of them in their proper character. To what we have said before, we shall only add, that the little anecdotes of Sir Charles Hanbury Williams are perfectly consistent with the known manners of that votary of wit and gallantry. More might have been related, all in reference to the professed subject of the work in hand: but, as M. de Rulhiere certainly did not move much in the circle of our ambassador, they canve not to his knowlege. There was not, perhaps, a man in Petersburg, that had more influence in the counsels of each party than Sir Charles. While he was the sworn friend of the Orlofs, he was at the same time the soul of the snug parties at Oranienbaum, the confidant of the Grand Duchess, and the political favourite of Elizabeth.

The work is said to be translated fromthe French:-into what language, we are not told. The old title-pages of this nature were wont to run: Done into English. This could never with any semblance of propriety have been affirmed of the present performance; since there scarcely occurs, even by some lucky accident, a single sentence of English phraseology, from one end of it to the other. It must certainly be the first attempt of some French emigrant to write our language; who has rendered the French so obstinately exact, that it might serve to give the mere English reader a tolerably good notion of the French idiom, before he adventures on the language itself. Whenever booksellers design to employ a writer in making a translation from the French, they should not content themselves with asking the gentleman whom they mean to employ, whether he understands that language, but should proceed to inquire whether he can also write in English. "There is more reason for this caution than good men would think :" as Dr. Hill used to say, at the foot of a quack-bill.

In p. 14 is a contresens which it may be right particularly to notice: It should have been," he accompanied Williams, with the design of seeing a court so interesting to the court of Warsaw as that of Petersburg." Instead of which, our translator brings Count Po

niatofski from Poland to Warsaw !

The last paragraph of the preface, also, is unintelligible in the French, and equally so in the translation: - the latter is therefore the less blame-worthy.

We shall conclude this article with an account of the sequel to the revolution of 1762, which happened in 1797. The new emperor Paul Petrovitch having caused the corpse of Peter III. after so many years had elapsed since its interment in the chapel of the monastery of St. Alexander Nefski, to be taken up and brought to the palace, in order to pay to it houours similar to those that had been paid to

the

the defunct empress Catherine II., appointed Prince Baratinski and Count Alexei Orlof to stand one on each side of the body, in the presence of the whole court, as chief mourners, during the ceremony of its lying in state. The latter, being blessed with strong nerves, stood out the doleful scene; while Prince Baratinski, with a heart of finer mould, fainted under the weight of grief; and it was only by the repeated application of volatile salts and other stimulants, that he could be made to support his station during the appointed time. Count Alexei Orlof has received, unasked, permission to visit foreign parts; and Prince Baratinski is spared the trouble of paying his attendance at court. See p. 566, of our last Appendix.

Art. 53. The Essentials of Logic, being a second Edition of Dralloc's Epitome, improved: comprising an universal System of practical Reasoning, illustrated by familiar Examples, from approved Authors. By John Collard.

Boards. Johnson. 1796.

12mo. PP. 223. 5S.

This author at length presents his real name to the public. His preface informs us that the approbation which his Epitome received gave him pleasure, but (he adds) it was in consequence of some very severe, and not very candid strictures on that little compend, that I was induced to turn my thoughts a second time entirely to the subject.' He farther says, with a moderation which, if he had real cause of offence, appears to do him honour; so true is the adage, Nihil est tam grave quin amicum feceris.'

-

The improvements in the present publication are said to be, an attempt to trace the principles of reasoning to their highest source, in order to discover where reasoning begins, how far it serves us, and where it ends: an examination of familiar reasoning, to shew that the principles of reasoning are invariably the same, whether stated in a familiar, or a syllogistical order; and to render the analysis obvious, in whatever order of language the reasoning be expressed, the abstract principles will appear in different types: the doctrine of mood and figure proved useless, and another system substituted: complex and conjunctive syllogisms exploded: the ancient doctrine of sophisms proved futile, and more simple means of detecting fallacy offered, &c.'

Such is the account which Mr. Collard gives of this re-production. In our former article, we expressed some little surprise on finding an almost total rejection of syllogisms, as useless, and at the same time so many pages employed in considering the subject; this surprise has been somewhat increased on observing that more than one third, or nearly half, of the present volume is engrossed by this topic. Our author allows the justice of those objections which have been made, particularly by the great Mr. Locke, to the use of syllogism: but he asks with some warmth, is the syllogism to be discarded and no other system erected? and he farther hopes to shew that the syllogism is to reasoning what a gauge or a scale is to some branches of mechanism; that is, a test by which the accuracy of every operation may be proved.'-How far he effects his purpose must be left to 'the <determination of the reader.' This part of logic may require some attention from the young reasoner, and may assist him to marshal

his