and of universal morality; that the particular circumstances to which this traffic owes its origin, and the difficulty of abruptly interrupting its progress, have to a certain degree lessened the odium of continuing it; but that at last the public voice in all civilized countries has demanded that it should be suppressed as soon as possible; that since the character and the details of this traffic have been better known, and the evils of every sort which accompanied it completely unveiled, several European Governments have resolved to suppress it, and that successively all Powers possessing colonies in different parts of the world have acknowledged, either by legislative Acts or by Treaties and other formal Engagements, the obligation and necessity of abolishing it; that by a separate article of the last Treaty of Paris, Great Britain and France engaged to unite their efforts at the Congress at Vienna, to engage all the Powers of Christendom to pronounce the universal and definitive abolition of the Slave Trade: that the Plenipotentiaries assembled at this Congress cannot better honour their mission, fulfil their duty, and manifest the principles which guide their august Sovereigns, than by labouring to realize this engagement, and by proclaiming in the name of their Sovereigns the desire to put an end to a scourge which has so long desolated Africa, degraded Europe, and afflicted humanity :

"The said Plenipotentiaries have agreed to open their deliberations as to the means of accomplishing so salutary an object, by a solemn Declaration of the principles which have guided them in this work.

"Fully authorised to such an Act by the unanimous adherence of their respective Courts to the principle announced in the said separate article of the Treaty of Paris, they in consequence declare in the face of Europe, that, looking upon the universal abolition of the Slave Trade as a measure particularly worthy of their attention, conformable to the spirit of the age, and to the generous principles of their august Sovereigns, they are animated with a sincere desire to concur, by every means in their power, in the most prompt and effectual execution of this measure, and to act in the employment of those means with all the zeal and all the perseverance which so great and good a cause merits.

"Too well informed of the sentiments of their Sovereigns not to foresee, that, however honourable may be their object, they would not pursue it without a just regard to the interests, the habits, and even the prejudices of their subjects; the said plenipotentiaries at the same time acknowledge, that this general Declaration should not prejudge the period which each particular Power should look upon as the most expedient for the definitive abolition of the Traffic in Slaves. Consequently the determination of the period when this traffic ought universally to cease, will be an object of negotiation between the different Powers; it being, however, well understood, that no means proper to insure and accelerate its progress should be neglected-and that the reciprocal engagement contracted by the present Declaration between the Sovereigns who have taken part in it, should not be considered as fulfilled until the moment when complete success shall have crowned their united efforts.

"In making this Declaration known to Europe, and to all the civilized Nations of the earth, the said Plenipotentiaries flatter themselves they shall engage all other Governments, and particularly those who, in abolishing the Traffic in Slaves, have already manifested the same sentiments, to support them with their suffrage in a cause, of which the final triumph will be one of the greatest monuments of the age which undertook it, and which shall have gloriously carried it into complete effect.

"Vienna, February 8, 1815."

(P. 93, 94.)

go

Thus ended these important negotiations, in which we do not hesitate to affirm, that the character of our government, as well as of our country, displayed itself in an attitude of moral grandeur unexampled in the history of the world. If the success of our minister was not equal to his ability, and to the justice of his cause, it cannot be ascribed to any want of diligence, zeal, or ingenuity on his part. Upon a recapitulation of the preceding article, we have, first, intelligible hints from the British nation to their vernment, that they were in earnest on this great question; that they were resolved to repel from their own shoulders the burden of guilt, and the heavy stigma of participation or compromise concerning an acknowledged crime. In deference to this expression of public opinion, we find the government of the country ardently prosecuting preliminary negotiations with those powers, who were at all likely to throw difficulties in the way of the subsequent discussions at Congress. Further we have a proof of the ability and diligence with which the minds of the persons assembled at Congress were favourably disposed towards the abolition before the conferences were opened. We see the influence acquired by Britain upon grounds interesting to the continental powers, converted into a means of procuring their co-operation on a subject for which, not possessing colonies, they must, politically speaking, have felt some indifference. And we do justice to the ingenuity by which a question, hitherto considered in politics as strictly a colonial question, was brought upon incontrovertible principles of fairness and justice, before the tribunal of assembled Europe. We admire the skill with which the general questions, where universal consent was anticipitated, were first brought forward; and we highly commend the honesty with which the two great securities for perseverance in the cause, viz. the general refusal to purchase colonial produce of the recusant nations, and the appointment of the standing commissions to watch over the progress of the abolition, were pressed to a successful issue.

.

Although the temporary irruption of Buonaparte has retarded and confounded all other political arrangements, we trust in Providence, that it has rather promoted than impeded the cause

of the abolition. We do not think that, after his decree for the immediate abolition, the Bourbons will now venture to set up the public opinion in France as a reasonable ground for refusing the same boon. We shall also be much surprised, if the presence of the Duke of Wellington within the barriers of Paris, and the events of which it is the consequence, do not add weight to the moral character and moral sentiments of England, even with the French government and people. To improve this feeling, (although we earnestly deprecate, as weakness, any abstinence from exacting of France substantial security for the future repose of the world), we would recommend any concession, connected with the colonies or treasuries of the two countries, by way of purchase for immediate abolition, and of evidence concerning the sincerity of our own moral feelings on the subject. We doubt not, that a large portion of the French people believe that we have been actuated by a sense of colonial rivalry and of base self-interest throughout the whole transaction; and considering the low state of their morals, and the prejudices against the British character in which they have been studiously edu cated, we cannot be surprised at such a result. It should be our task then, after having provided (as far as human precautions can do it) an interval of substantial repose and security for Europe, to employ that interval in communicating the striking amelioration which we think is working in our own national character to that of our enemies. Few questions can offer more efficacious instruments for this purpose than that under discussion.

But we must draw this already too extended article to a close. We cannot do so in a more appropriate manner than by declaring our humble gratitude as Britons to Him who " is the Governor among the nations," for the signal favour which he has shown to our country: He has mounted her on a pedestal of glory from which her views and her agency may extend themselves to the children of sorrow in far distant climes. As long as she uses her influence for purposes such as those detailed in these Papers, so long and no longer do we believe that she will be kept at this altitude. And while engaged in these contemplations, a British heart may, without any undue departure from humility, indulge in some portion of that exultation which prompted the poet to embody his Morning Dream of the apparition of Britannia in the following lines:

"She sat, and a shield at her side
Shed light, like a sun, on the waves,
And smiling divinely, she cried,
'I go to make freemen of slaves.'

ART. VIII. Travels in the Ionian Isles, Albania, Thessaly, Mace

donia, &c. during the Years 1812 and 1813. By Henry Holland, M. D. F.R. S. &c. London. Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown. 1815. 4to. pp. 551.

WHETHER the increase of voyages and travels maintain a due proportion to the increased number of voyagers and travellers we shall not pretend to determine; but we can fairly venture to assert, that the period is gone when few dared to present themselves at the tribunal of criticism, without large pretensions to novelty either in matter or manner. The chief ambition of our times among literary adventurers seems to be, to print a book, without any fastidious regard, to its contents, provided that it exhibit all the pomp of quarto and ample margin. We do not much like to receive an account of an author's feats before he has well recovered from the fatigue of his travels, changed his dress, got rid of vertigo, and a little sifted and sorted his impressions and recollections. The motive most laudable for giving to the world the results of our observations and experience, is the ambition of benefiting either the moral or the physical condition of our fellow-creatures; and this can never be the result of a crude, half-meditated, ephemeral performance, whatever may be the sprightliness of its manner, or the graces of its style,

The extraordinary situation of Europe, for the last twelve years, has given almost a new direction to the travels of our countrymen. Excluded from the classic scenes of Italy, many of them have sought the equally consecrated regions of Greece; and from some of these we have received very valuable additions to that department of knowledge, which we do not characterize too highly in calling it the science of man. Associations of great dignity and utility have been successively called forth by the fervid strains of Lord Byron; by the interesting, though some

what prolix relation of his fellow-traveller, Mr. Hobhouse; by Major Leake's researches; and, last of all, by the work now be fore us.

The high reputation which Dr. Holland had acquired among those who have known him longest, and the pleasing style of his earlier productions, excited considerable expectations when this new product of his pen was announced. How far these expecta tions have been realized will be seen in the following examination. Before, however, we enter upon the subject, we must make our formal protest against that style of apology in which Dr. Holland has expressed himself: "a preface," says the Doctor, "filled with apologies is an acknowledgement of faults which a man coolly determines to commit. I shall not, therefore, attempt to excuse the want of a good map, by pleading the loss of my actual surveys, and of a considerable part of my journal. Whatever I have left untold, will soon come before the public from more fortunate and more enlightened travellers than myself. From Major Leake and Sir W. Gell, maps may be expected far superior to any thing that I could have offered, had my papers been preserved." (P. v.) That others may supply our deficiencies is no reason why we should not bear all the discredit of doing our work ill; more especially is this the case, if there should exist no actual compact either with an individual or the public to publish at all risks.

Dr. Holland's narrative commences with his leaving England in the spring of 1812 for Portugal, and concludes with his second visit to Zante. In the course of his travels he visited Gibraltar, Sardinia, Sicily, the Lipari Isles, the Ionian Isles, Albania, Thessaly, and some of the most interesting districts of Greece. During the time he was resident in these parts, he appears to have possessed very considerable opportunities for observation; the results of which we have now before us. Portugal afforded little which has appeared worthy of record to him, though to us it appears that some sketch of the physical history of that country, so little known and yet so highly interesting, was not unworthy of his pains. Sardinia too is passed over with an unpardonable rapidity. In a very brief note, we have a few isolated mineralogical guesses (for Dr. Holland does not even pretend to have examined the country,). which serve rather to rouse than to gratify curiosity. In his account of Sicily, he has added nothing previously unknown. The Ionian Isles, and here he is entering upon his main object, are treatwith the same unceremonious rapidity. At Zante, we are told, that, a Greek newspaper called the Εφημερίς τῶν Ιωνικών Ελευθερωμένων Niray, had been established under the sanction of the British Government: and that literary avocations also appear to engage some attention, as Romaic translations have been published of a few good French and English books. That in Cephalonia, considerable