that this expedient will deter the nobles from precipitately breaking up their affembly, before the ends are attained for which it was convened. The next objects of the Abbé's attention are the post-comitial dietines, or thofe in which the deputies give their conftituents an account of their proceedings in the diet, and prefent the new laws to be registered in the provincial records. If any objec tions fhould be made to thefe laws, committees might be ap→ pointed to inquire into their validity: if fuch a fcrutiny fhould terminate in an unanimous rejection of the law, it ought to undergo a new examination in the next anticomitial dietine; and, if there oppofed, the palatinate fhould be entitled to prefent a remonftrance to the diet: for, as the author well obferves, the hope of obtaining, in a conftitutional manner, a repeal, or at least a modification, of unpopular acts, would calm the minds of the people, and prevent thofe violent extremes, which might otherwife difturb the peace of the republic; and by these means alfo, the oppofing party, diverted by other occupations, may perhaps remit their importunity, and at length be perfuaded to acquiefce in the meafures which they at first rejected but fhould this not be the cafe, and the province fhould perfift in its rejection of an act of the diet, he thinks it would be much more advifeable to grant an exemption, than to opprefs one part of the republic with the united force of all the reft. To prevent, as much as poffible, this fpirit of oppofition in the poftcomitial dietines, the Abbé recommends a limitation of the debates on thefe fubjects to a term not exceeding five or fix days; after which they should become what are called dietines boni ordinis, and employed in regulating the finances and internal economy of their refpective provinces. With respect to the executive authority, M. DE MABLY juftly obferves that, to determine the exact degree of power with which the legislative body ought to intruft its magiftrates, and the best method of diftributing this among them, is the moft difficult as well as the most important problem in politics. If ever a people are free, happy, and permanently profperous, we may with certainty conclude that it is owing to their having magiftrates fo limited, that they cannot themselves violate the laws which they are appointed to put into execution, and to enforce on others. Every legiflator, fays the Abbé, must fet out on this principle, that the executive power always has` been, and ever will be, inimical to the legislative. This is indeed a natural confequence of the author's plan of effecting an entire feparation between these two branches of government: but we cannot allow that it is, nor ought to be, an univerfal principle of legiflation; becaufe it may, at least in a great meature, Pp 2 measure, be obviated, as in our own conftitution, by establishing fuch a judicious connection between the fupreme magiftrate and the other eftates, in their legiflative capacity, as, without rendering him independent of them, fhall prevent an oppofition of views and interefts. The author propofed to render the crown hereditary, inftead of elective, but to exclude females from the fucceffion. Ho ftates at large the ill confequences that must ensue from conferring it on any of the Saxon princes; and obferves, that whoever is invested with this dignity, he ought to have no foreign dominions; or if he has, fhould entirely renounce them. Such indeed are the restrictions on the regal power, which the Abbé lays down, that a prince, at all accustomed to the exercise of fovereignty, would be apt to confider them as a moft intolerable yoke, which, notwithstanding all his obligations to obferve them, he might shake off, whenever he could find a fair opportunity. In order to render the king as harmless as poffible, his revenue must be very moderate: nor must this arife from eftates annexed to the crown, which ought all to be alienated, but must confift in an annual falary, paid out of the public treasury. An irrevocable law should be paffed, in order to prevent the diet from ever paying any debts which the king may contract: whatever fortune he may either fave or acquire, fhould not at his death devolve to his family, but to the republic, which, in return, fhould make a decent, yet moderate provifion, for his children: nor fhould a prince, on mounting the throne, be allowed to devote any part of his income to pay the debts of his predeceffor. For every office and dignity, whether civil, military, or ecclefiaftical, the king fhould be obliged to nominate one, out of three candidates, chosen either by the diet, or by the fenate. His perfon ought to be deemed facred, nor ought he to be amenable to any tribunal for any part of his conduct: but, to compenfate for this impunity, as little as poffible of the bufinefs of government fhould be entrufted to him. He ought, in fact, according to our author, to be little more than prefident of the fenate, to which the whole of the executive power fhould be committed, and in which a cafting vote should be allowed to him. The members of the fenate thould be elected by the diet for a certain term, which fhould be fo contrived, that half of them fhould go out of office every two years, when the diet is affembled to chufe others in their ftead. With refpect to the grand chancellor, the grand general, the grand marshal, and the grand treasurer, who are fenators in confequence of their office, they should be chofen by the diet every four years, and only act as prefidents of the four councils, into which the Abbé propofed to divide the the fenate. Neither thefe, nor any other fenators, should, on any account, be continued in office longer than the term prefcribed, nor be again eligible, till after an interval of two years. Such are the grand outlines of that conftitution, which our Utopian legiflator recommended to the confederacy of Bar: into his directions concerning the economy, or, to use a more fashionable term, the organization, of the fubordinate departments, our limits will not permit us to enter. The above account will, we believe, juftify our opinion, that the Abbé was rather a theoretical than a practical politician; and a perufal of his effay will convince the reader, that the worthy author, though a moft benevolent and philanthropic philofopher, was not free from prejudices unworthy of this character. An unaccountable averfion to every thing that bears the name of Englifh is evident in this, as well as in his other works: he never mentions our conftitution, excepting to condemn it; and his cenfures, being moftly founded on mifreprefentation, indicate either an aftonishing ignorance of the nature and spirit of our government, or most unreasonable prejudices against it. Speaking of ecclefiaftical policy, the Abbé obferves, that it is dangerous to attempt any alteration in it, till that ignorance fhall be diffipated, which confounds religion with fuperftition; that the evident decline of the power of Rome in the several countries of Europe, feems indeed to promife a favourable opportunity for Poland to affert its independence, and abolish the tribunal of the Pope's nuncio at Warfaw: but he adds, that if the Poles believe the infallibility of the Pope, as he was informed they do, and are perfuaded that his holiness can damn or fave them at pleasure, he would by no means advise the confederates to render themselves odious, by precipitately attempting a reformation, which ftupid priefts, and the populace whom they influence, would oppofe as impious and heretical. The remainder of the volume is occupied by two dialogues; the one is an account of a conference which the Abbé had with Count Wielborki, on the circumftances of Poland in the year 1776 in the other, which is entitled the Banquet of Politicians, the author relates a converfation which happened, during dinner, at the house of a Polish nobleman; the dramatis perfonce are, the master of the house, a Polish count, and a Saxon general: the folly, the pride, and the political prejudices, of thefe interlocutors, are fet in a very ftriking light, and are expofed with fome degree of humour. In the preface, we are informed, that the remainder of the Abbé's manufcripts were in the prefs, and would foon be publifhed but they have not yet reached us. According to the lift here given, their fubjects are the following: An Effay on PP 3 Political Political Difeafes, and their Cure; on the Corn Trade; on Visionary Glory; on the Peace of Germany; on the Death of the Empress Queen; on the Formation, Progress, and Limits of Reafon; on the Oracle of Apollo, or Self-knowlege; on Superftition; on the Progrefs of the Paffions in Social Life; on the Beautiful; on Talents. Sow. ART. XV. Traité complet fur les Abeilles, &c. i. e. A complete Paris. 1790. THOUGH defcended from an Italian family, the author of this work is a native of Conftantinople; where his ancestors have been fettled for upward of two centuries. Hence he naturally confiders the modern Greeks as his countrymen, and takes great pains to vindicate them from the reproach which M. De Pauw, and fome other writers, have caft on them, as being a mean degenerate race. He acknowleges that they are, in general, grossly ignorant: but he juftly afcribes this to the oppreffive yoke under which they groan, and to the barbarous fpirit of the power by which they are crufhed; and he maintains that, amid all their deficiency of the means of improvement, fome traces may ftill be difcovered of that fertility of mind and ftrength of genius, which characterized the ancient inhabitants of the country, and rendered them fuperior to every other nation. The greatest part of the prefent volume is taken up with particulars relative to the island of Scyros, which, according to this account, must be a moft delightful spot. It lies in the midst of the Cyclades, near Delos, in 37° 22′ of north latitude, and 42° 14′ of longitude from the meridian of Ferro: its length is about fourteen, and its circumference nearly thirtyfix, English miles. It has a good harbour, and was celebrated by Homer for its corn and wine, for its numerous herds of cattle, and for the falubrity of the air: the paffage, in the fifteenth book of the Odyffey, relating to the aftronomical monument of the folftice, which has given fo much trouble to commentators, is explained by what this author fays of the fituation of the ifland; which is to the weftward of Delos; a circumftance, which confirms the opinion of Euftathius, and confutes the cavils of Bochart and fome other critics. Near to the harbour, are the remains of a city which, being exposed to the depredations of pirates, was deferted by the inhabitants; and, not far from this, are the ruins of an ancient temple, fuppofed to have been facred to Pan. 4 Scyros Scyros contains about four thousand inhabitants, who are all of the Romish church; their converfion to which the author afcribes to the pious care of the Kings of France. Lewis XIII. fent them fome capuchin friars; under the patronage of the late King, the Jefuits formed an establishment in the inland; and thefe, on the diffolution of their order, were fucceeded by the Lazarites. The Bishop has fcarcely any other, revenue than an annual penfion from the court of Rome, and what he derives from the French fhips. In return for this fpiritual affiftance, the Scyriots take every opportunity of fhewing the most affectionate attachment to their benefactors: when the latter have been attacked by pirates within fight of the island, it has often happened that the inhabitants have fallied out to defend them even their apprehenfion of the plague will not deter them from receiving the crew of a French fhip, and giving them every poffible affiftance. The engraving, prefixed to this volume, is the commemoration of an inftance of their humane attention: we are told, by the infcription under it, that on Christmas day, 1788, just when the miffionaries were going to begin mafs, they were informed that a French veffel was wrecked on the coaft; on which, the priest exhorted his audience to go to the affiftance of their French brethren, affuring them that no offering could be fo acceptable to God as this act of beneficence. The church was immediately deferted, the people ran to the fhore, and, by their exertions, faved fourteen of the crew. While we cordially approve this action, we think too well of mankind to confider it as any thing very extraordinary. The good prieft judged right in preferring, to facrifice, the relief of his countrymen and fellow catholics; we hope he would have done the fame, had they been enemies and heretics in diftrefs. The climate of Scyros, like that of all the islands in the Archipelago, is very mild: winter is there fcarcely perceptible, and the heats of fummer are fo moderated by the fea-breezes, that they are feldom inconvenient; hence the trees never lofe their verdure, and the country appears to be bleffed with a perpetual fpring. The inhabitants are remarkably healthy, and happily ignorant of all thofe chronical complaints, which are fo common among us: they are never vifited by the plague, excepting when the infection is accidentally brought to them. from other places. The foil is fo friendly to vegetation, that, according to our author, trees, produced from the feeds of Lifbon oranges, grew to fuch a height in eight years, that their fruit, which was remarkably fine, could not be reached without a ladder. This and the neighbouring iflands are celebrated for their PP4 wines; |