ART. XI. Nouveau Voyage dans les Etats Unis, &c. i. e. Recent Travels through the United States of North America, in the Year 1788, by J P. BRISSOT (DE WARVILLE), Citizen of France: 3 Vols. 8vo. About 450 Pages in each Volume. -Paris. 1791. Τ IT appears, from the introductory part of this work, that, previously to the French revolution, there was a ferious defign in agitation, and fomething of a plan formed, by numbers of very refpectable perfons, to forfake a country where the conftitution was fo completely defpotic; to purchase lands, and to eftablish a colony, under the mild and equal government of the United American States. It appears alfo, that M. BRISSOT (ci-devant DE WARVILLE,) was commiffioned to collect every neceffary information, prior to the execution of fo important a plan. Thefe volumes, the first two of which are written in the form of letters, fufficiently manifeft that he was qualified to accomplifh fuch an arduous undertaking, which required activity, addrefs, difcernment, and a competent knowlege of whatever relates to agriculture, commerce, and politics. They contain the refult of his affiduous labours and minute inquiries, and 'will, we doubt not, be a very acceptable prefent to the community. As Solomon, on his extenfive furvey of human nature, concenters his obfervations in one fmall adage, Fear God, and keep his commandments, fo M. BRISSOT's doctrine, from his extenfive furvey of America, is, Des mœurs, des mœurs! fans elles, point de liberté! Morals, morals! without morals, no permanent liberty! This doctrine hé explains and enforces with fo much energy of ftyle and perfpicuity of argument, in a prefatory addrefs to his countrymen, that we are convinced every undefigning patriot will give his confent to it. He fhews that, however men of fufpicious, or even of unfufpicious characters, may occafionally prove beneficial to fociety, by oppofing particular inftances of tyranny, yet in the ordinary courfe of things, it is folly to expect a wife and good adminiftration from the profligate and unprincipled. To have moderate wants is the only guarantee of true patriotifm. He tells them, that the object of his travels through America was not to feek for plants, nor to ftudy antiquities, but to obferve men, who had just obtained their freedom. He adds, We alfo are free; therefore we do not want to learn from them how to obtain, but how to preferve, our liberty. This fecret lies chiefly in morals. The Americans poffefs the fecret; and I fee with concern, not only that we poffefs it not, but that we are not yet convinced of its neceffity,' 002 ( Prefixed Prefixed to the feries of letters written by himfelf, are fix letters from his friend M. Claviere, addreffed to the author when his defign was in contemplation; containing useful hints, and a general plan of obfervations; and thefe are fucceeded by the plan which M. BRISSOT drew up for his own immediate ufe. We allow that both of them manifeft a genuine spirit of obfervation but, as they do not contain any thing new, nor very striking, we must confefs that fuch a display of intentions, fuch a number of councils from the one, and of refolutions in the other, appear to us rather injudicious, not altoge'ther deftitute of vain parade, and totally fuperfluous. As the variety of interefting information given, is a voucher for M. BRISSOT's attention to them, and as the copious index prefents us with a fummary of the materials very fimilar to the objects propofed, these introductory parts have to us the aukward appearance of a fcaffold remaining before the building, after the whole is finished :-not to add, that it raifes expectation fo high, as greatly to endanger a disappointment. The fubjects of the first two volumes are mifcellaneous. The author failed, in an American veffel, from Havre de Grace. While he waited in this place for the departure of the ship, he had an opportunity of learning many interefting particulars concerning the commerce of that port; and after making fome reflections relative to the infamous traffic in human flesh, which are not more fevere than they are juft, he endeavours to perfuade his countrymen, that they purfue it under circumftances of peculiar difadvantage. On M. BRISSOT's arrival in America, he applied himself, with great affiduity, to the different objects of his voyage; fuch as the ftate, manners, and population of the towns; the political, civil, and military fituation of the provinces; foils, products, emigrations, and forming of colonies; the parts moft proper for Europeans to purchase lands and make eftablishments; the government of the federal ftates, and of each province; civil, political, and criminal laws; ftate of the atmosphere; prevailing diseases; commerce; manufactories; banks; taxes; zevenues; expenditures; debts; the influence of a free government on minds and morals, &c. &c. These more philofophical inveftigations are occafionally enlivened with picturefque defcriptions of the countries through which he paffed, in his excurfions into feveral of the more central provinces; and Iwith anecdotes of fome of the moft diftinguifhed characters,Washington, Franklin, Adams, Hancock, Putnam, Jarvis, Turnbull, &c. &c. As our traveller, by fome former publications, had made himfelf known as the friend of the American caufe, he obtained ready accefs 6 access to the fources of knowlege, and examined every thing, for himself, or received information concerning it from the beft authorities; and he has thus collected a large stock of useful knowlege, which will make Europeans in general much better acquainted with the principal parts of North America than they have hitherto been. His narratives are conveyed with much vivacity of manner, are intermixed with many pertinent obfervations, and are animated with an enthufiaftic love of liberty. His ftyle rifes into dignity, when he cenfures any species of tyranny, or is pleading the caufe of Man against the oppreffor-but, amid many beauties, fome great and ftriking faults are very obvious; which we are obliged to point out; as our duty requires us to avoid both indifcriminate praise and indif criminate cenfure. We are forry that it was a part of M. BRISSOT's plan to communicate to the world every thing that he faw, heard, and thought: for, confequently, he often defcends to very uninterefting, not to fay difagreeable, minutie. Among these, we rank foremost the journal of his fickness during the voyage from Havre to Boston. His anecdotes fometimes draw forth to public notice the private faults of individuals with which the public has not the least concern; and even to the injury of those whom he means to ferve. It was kindly intended to vindicate the character of the amiable Mifs Vining, of Wilmington, from the cruel and ungenerous afperfions of Chaftellux, and to maintain that her only fault confifts in being un peu coquette; but, from the popular turn of this publication, there is the utmost reason to fear, that the vindication will convey the charge to thousands who could not other ways have known, that Mifs Vining was. even of a coquettish difpofition. For our account of the Tra vels of M. Chaftellux, fee Rev. vol. lxxvii. p. 38. The author's obfervations are not always fo judicious and philofophical as he may suppose them to be. As the imagination of Don Quixote converted trees and mills into giants, thus M. BRISSOT's enthusiasm for the cause of liberty, and his triumph in the independence of America, frequently induce him to attribute to them, many effects which have no connection with them. The manners of the American yeomanry; the free and independent fpirit of the Quakers of Philadelphia; the goodness of the inns; the obliging behaviour of the landlord; the neat fimplicity of the landlady, of her daughters, and of the fervants; which he admires in every excurfion; are attributed to their emancipation from flavery, and are confidered as the natural and early fruits of their recent freedom. A little reflection would have taught him, that all thefe characters and manners were formed long before their poffeffion of independ 903 epce. ence. They were formed, therefore, under the British government. They, or their ancestors, carried with them from England, thofe habits and difpofitions which exhibit so striking a contraft to the peafantry and inns of the French provinces as defcribed by himfelf; and they are fo very fimilar to the man. ners that fill prevail in thofe counties of England, which are removed from the vortex of the metropolis, that, in reading. these descriptions, an Englishman almoft forgets that he is from home. These are truths which M. BRISSOT's inveterate prejudices against the English, discoverable through every part of his work, have prevented him from seeing. He We are perfuaded that our philofophical readers will deem the following cenfure of Montefquieu equally ungrateful and unjust. If Montefquieu could return, he would blush at his having spent twenty years in writing Epigrams on the laws. would write for the people, for the revolution can only be fupported by the people, and an informed people: he would write, therefore, ingenuously, (bonnement,) and not torment his ideas, to render them brilliant.' If an author has neither leifure nor tafte for elegant compofitions, the public will thank him for useful communications in his own way: but it favours of arrogance, to defpife what we have neither talents nor ambition to imitate. Montefquieu's Epigrams have not only immortalized the author, but they have furnished texts for many a prolix paraphrafe; and they have enabled his fucceffors to acquire fome degree of renown, by merely fpreading his ideas in a more diffufe ftyle. We are, doubtlefs, under infinitely greater obligations to a writer, who, by bestowing much pains on concise perfpicuity, gives us multum in parvo, than to him whose defultory ftyle produces parvum in multo. We have already hinted that M. BRISSOT difcovers, in various parts of his work, the ftrongeft prejudices against the English nation. The tranflation of the following paffages will not only confirm the affertion, but will manifeft that they tranfport him to an unpardonable degree of abfurdity and extravagance. He informs his correfpondent, that, in the intervals of his indifpofition during his voyage, he applied himfelf to the English language; and perceiving, by the perufal of Dr. Blair's Treatife on Rhetoric, that his ftyle very much refembled that of the French writers, an idea prefented itself to his mind; that it would not be difficult to compofe, from the two, a third language, that might be eafily learned by each nation. Being convinced of the great utility of fuch a plan, he confiders it as an offence against human nature and the peace of mankind, for an author to adhere to the genius of his own language. • I carried I carried this idea yet farther, (continues he,) and I faid to myfelf, the Americans ought to deteft the English: they ought to efface, if it be poflible, every trace of their origin :-but fince their speech will always betray them, they ought to make the fame innovations in their language, as in their conflitution; induced by the fame principle; that is, a principle of philanthropy. America ought to be the afylum of the human race. The Americans ought to have a connection with all the inhabitants of the earth. They ought to make themselves understood by all, and form an union with all; particularly with thofe with whom they have the most communica- › tion; that is, the French.-What should prevent their adopting the inflexions peculiar to the French language? why fhould they ridicule, as is done in England, the Gallicifms which the French make when fpeaking English? A double advantage attends this method of univerfal naturalization; the Americans would approach nearer to other people, and remove at a greater diftance from the English; they would form a language of their own: we should then have an American language.' . The above paragraph contains fuch a concentration of abfurdities, that we are furprized at the ingenuity of the author' in collecting fuch a number of them into fo fmall a focus. To what an extent may prejudice and enthufiafm pervert the underftanding of a fenfible man! M. BRISSOT cenfures, with a just feverity, the whimsical scheme of General Varnum; who, when he had it in contemplation to eftablish a colony on the banks of the Ohio, intended to revive and fubftitute the Greek language among the Colonists, inftead of the French. How could he deem this fcheme vifionary, and yet ferioufly believe that upward of four millions of people would confent to relinquish their mother tongue, merely on account of a former qitarrel with their mamma, and carry their refentment fo far as to fubftitute a compound jargon in its place? We feel ourselves, however, highly complimented with the condefcenfion of our projector, who will permit the French language to intermarry with the English; while his national prejudices muft lead him to conclude that the difference is as great as between negroes and white men, and that a kind of Creole creed muft proceed from the Union. We fhall make no immediate comments on the fpirit of philofophy and philanthropy, manifefted through the whole of this curious paffage, but proceed to a fecond fpecimen of the fame friendly temper toward us.. He obferves that, of the veffels which they met on their pasfage, about three fourths were English: We may perceive, (fays he,) by the harpness and haughtiness of their answers, that they have not yet forgiven the fuccefs of the American infurre&tion. Among others, there was a veffel belonging to the East India Company, from Bengal. The first question which the Captain asked, was relative to the trial of Mr. Haftings. He 004 then |