pays at present, 80 millions in interests and pensions; and owes about 12 millions for anticipations on the public revenue. A considerable share of the increase of the revenue is raised upon the conquered countries; and the people are liberated from tithes, corvées, and the tax on salt. This, certainly, is a magnificent picture of finance. The best informed people at Paris, who would be very glad to consider it as a copy from life, dare not contend that it is so. At least, we sincerely ask pardon of M. Neckar, if our information as to this point be not correct: but we believe he is generally considered to have been misled by the public finanical reports.

In addition to the obvious causes which keep the interest of money so high in France, M. Neckar states one, which we shall present to our readers:

'There is one means for the establishment of credit,' he says, equally important with the others which I have stated a sentiment of respect for morals, sufficiently diffused to overawe the government, and intimidate it from treating with bad faith any solemn engagements contracted in the name of the state. It is this respect for morals which seems at present to have disappeared; a respect which the Revolution has destroyed, and which is unquestionably one of the firmest supports of national faith.'

The terrorists of this country are so extremely alarmed at the power of Bonaparte, that they ascribe to him resources, which M. Neckar very justly observes to be incompatible - despotism and credit. Now, clearly, if he is so omnipotent in France as he is represented to be, there is an end of all credit; for nobody will trust him whom nobody can compel to pay; and if he establishes a credit, he loses all that temporary vigour which is derived from a revolutionary government. Either the despotism or the

credit of France directed against this country, would be highly formidable; but, both together, can never be directed at the same time.

In this part of his work, M. Neckar very justly points out one of the most capital defects of Mr. Pitt's administration; who always supposed that the power of France was to cease with her credit, and measured the period of her existence by the depreciation of her assignats. Whereas, France was never more powerful, than when she was totally unable to borrow a single shilling in the whole circumference of Europe, and when her assignats were not worth the paper on which they were stamped.

Such are the principal contents of M. Neckar's very respectable work. Whether, in the course of that work, his political notions appear to be derived from a successful study of the passions of mankind, and whether his plan for the establishment of a republican government in France, for the ninth or tenth time, evinces a more sanguine, or a more sagacious mind, than the rest of the world, we would rather our readers should decide for themselves, than expose ourselves to any imputation of arrogance, by deciding for them. But, when we consider the pacific and impartial disposition which characterises the last Views on Politics and Finance, the serene benevolence which it always displays, and the pure morals which it always inculcates, we cannot help entertaining a high respect for its venerable author, and feeling a fervent wish, that the last views of every public man may proceed from a heart as upright, and be directed to objects as good.

CATTEAU, TABLEAU DES ETATS DANOIS. (E. REVIEW, 1803.)

Tableaux des Etats Danois. Par Jean Pierre Catteau. 3 tomes. 1802. à Paris.

THE object of this book is to exhibit a picture of the kingdom of Denmark, under all its social relations, of politics, statistics, science, morals, manners, and every thing which can influence its character and importance, as a free and independent collection of human beings.

This book is, upon the whole, executed with great diligence and good sense. Some subjects of importance are passed over, indeed, with too much haste; but if the publication had exceeded its present magnitude, it would soon have degenerated into a mere book of reference, impossible to be read, and fit only, like a dictionary, for the purposes of occasional appeal: It would not have been a picture presenting us with an interesting epitome of the whole; but a typographical plan, detailing, with minute and fatiguing precision, every trifling circumstance, and every subordinate feature. We should be far from objecting to a much more extended and elaborate performance than the present; because those who read, and those who write, are now so numerous, that there is room enough for varieties and modifications of the same subject: but information of this nature, conveyed in a form and in a size adapted to continuous reading, gains in surface what it loses in depth, and gives general notions to depth,—and

many, though it cannot afford all the knowledge which a few have it in their power to acquire, from the habits of more patient labour, and more profound research.

This work, though written at a period when enthusiasm or disgust had thrown most men's mind off their balance, is remarkable, upon the whole, for sobriety and moderation. The observations, though seldom either strikingly ingenious or profound, are just, temperate, and always benevolent. We are so far from perceiving any thing like extravagance in Mr. Catteau, that we are inclined to think he is occasionally too cautious for the interests of truth; that he manages the court of Denmark with too much delicacy; and exposes, by distant and scarcely perceptible touches, that which it was his duty to have brought out boldly and strongly. The most disagreeable circumstance in the style of the book is, the author's compliance with that irresistible avidity of his country to declaim upon commonplace subjects. He goes on, mingling bucolic details, and sentimental effusions, melting and measuring, crying and calculating, in a manner which is very bad, if it is poetry, and worse, if it is prose. In speaking of the mode of cultivating potatoes, he cannot avoid calling the potato a modest vegetable: and when he comes to the exportation of horses from the duchy of Holstein, we learn that 'these animals are dragged from the bosom of their peaceable and modest country, to hear, in foreign regions, the sound of the warlike trumpet; to carry the combatant amid the hostile ranks; to increase the eclat of some pompous procession; or drag, in gilded car, some favourite of fortune.'

We are sorry to be compelled to notice these un

timely effusions, especially as they may lead to a suspicion of the fidelity of the work; of which fidelity, from actual examination of many of the authorities referred to, we have not the most remote doubt. Mr. Catteau is to be depended upon as securely as any writer, going over such various and extensive ground, can ever be depended upon. He is occasionally guilty of some trifling inaccuracies; but what he advances is commonly derived from the most indisputable authorities; and he has condensed together a mass of information, which will render his book the most accessible and valuable road of knowledge, to those who are desirous of making any researches respecting the kingdom of Denmark.

Denmark, since the days of Piracy, has hardly been heard of out of the Baltic. Margaret, by the Union of Calmar, laid the foundation of a monarchy, which (could it have been preserved by hands as strong as those which created it) would have exercised a powerful influence upon the destinies of Europe, and have strangled, perhaps, in the cradle, the infant force of Russia. Denmark, reduced to her ancient bounds by the patriotism and talents of Gustavus Vasa, has never since been able to emerge into notice by her own natural resources, or the genius of her ministers and her monarchs. During that period, Sweden has more than once threatened to give laws to Europe; and, headed by Charles and Gustavus, has broke out into chivalrous enterprises, with an heroic valour, which merited wiser objects, and greater ultimate success. The spirit of the Danish nation has, for the last two or three centuries, been as little carried to literature or to science, as to war. They have written as little as they have done. With the exception of Tycho Brahé, and a volume