renders the great pillar of her security, her distance, of little or no avail. The progress of the French, during the last contests in the North, in the accomplishment of this object, has done more to facilitate her subjugation than could have been effectuated. by ten times her loss of blood and treasure. Austria, if it had pleased the conqueror, might have been annihilated at Austerlitz; and Russia soon after the battle of Friedland: but the surer policy was that which was more patient and cautious. To break down all their outworks, however, Prussia was to be immediately sacrificed; whose exemplary fate might inspire terror, but could not excite odium, and whose troops were in fact the best constituted and most formidable of Europe. Whoever follows in thought the extension of the Roman arms over the states of Italy, and the distant countries brought under their yoke, may here trace a curious similarity, both of cause and effect; and, upon a general survey of the history of mankind, will not accuse us of indulging in gloomy visions or fanciful speculations, if we venture to anticipate, for Joseph and Alexander, the fate of Antiochus and Mithridates.

*

The im

Of Spain we have spoken largely in a preceding Number; and see no cause to retract any of our opinions. Keeping in view the character and the means of the usurper, as we have now endeavoured to depict them, we saw, from the first, but little to justify any expectation of a successful issue to the contest. becility of the government,-the corruption of the nobles,--and the long habits of slavery and superstition among the lower orders, held out but a feeble hope for a nation which had to contend against such fearful odds in' numbers, discipline, and pre-, paration. We augured ill of a cause, which could only be saved by heroic steadiness and enlightened cooperation, when we saw Gg 2

it

* Guibert has a curious prediction on this subject. Speaking of the great Frederick- Si apres la mort de ce prince dont le genie seul soutient l'edifice imparfait de sa constitution, il survienne un roi foible: on verra cette puissance éphémere rentrer dans la spere que ses moyens réels lui assignent, et peut-être payer cher quelques années. de gloire.' There is another anticipation in this author, connected with our general subject, no less striking. Supposons qu'il s'élevât en Europe un peuple vigoureux, de genie, de moyens, de gouvernement;-un peuple qui joignit à une milice nationale, un plan fixe d'aggrandissement, qui ne perdit pas de vue cè systeme; qui, sachant faire la guerre à peu de frais, et subsister par ses victoires, ne fût pas réduit à poser les armes par des calculs de finance. Onverroit ce peuple subjuguer ses voisins, et renverser nos foibles constitutions comme l'aquilon plie de fréles roscaux. (Essai de Tactique, disc. preliminaire.}

Written in 1767.

"

it supported by appeals to relics and images,-by long proclamations, scanty levies, and tardy councils; and could scarcely stop short of absolute despair, when it appeared that its only auxiliaries had resolved to leave the invader to beat up the game at his leisure, and chosen for themselves a theatre of action entirely separated from that of his great operations. It is now obvious, we think, to every man of common understanding, that events have more than justified our worst forebodings; and that the cur tain is about to drop upon the long and disastrous tragedy of continental subjugation.

England, however, remains-the last obstacle to the establishment of universal dominion, and the richest prize for the avidity of rapine. To us, therefore, from appetite and principle, the eye of this hydra-headed monster is steadily directed, and the whole energy of his increasing means must be ultimately applied. What might perhaps be safely inferred a priori, is confirmed, not only by open threats and declarations, but, as we are assured, by every domestic expression of feeling indulged in the French metropolis. In all the diplomatic audiences, and in the private associations of the leading members of the government, the sen timent towards this country betrays itself in every word and ges ture, and exerts an influence more like that of passion than of the ordinary calculations of interest or national antipathy. The pub lic functionaries universally, and the speculative politicians of every class, either from the force of imitation, the compliance of servility, or the instinct of plunder, manifest the same spirit in all their reasonings and discourses, through which, it filtrates in invective and menace, or more frequently bursts forth in overflowings of exultation, as they measure their approaches to the goal. The liberty of the seas, and commercial peace, are held out to delude the famished multitude both at home and abroad; but the military, and the description of persons we have just mentioned, are taught to despise these objects, and to look to more congenial and substantial rewards. Power and booty are the excitements employed to quicken their zeal in fostering and disseminating those rancorous antipathies and jealousies which are to reconcile all parties to the indefatigable prosecution of a warto terminate only with the ruin of England. They employ the parallel of Rome and Carthage, not as a rhetorical comparison, but as an encouraging and certain analogy. They recollect the state of Spain under the oppressive and arrogant sway of the Punic republic,-compare it with that of Ireland under our dominion, and anticipate, for their troops, the same reception that was given to Scipio, when he carried the Roman arms into Spain,

and

*

and was universally hailed as a deliverer. They compare the domestic squabbles of the Carthaginians, when their

very existence was threatened from without, to our scruples about the Royal conscience, and our fears about the established Church, when the enemy is thundering at our gates. In their mind, there is no surer prognostic of our doom, than the strange policy of suffering our internal sores to fester and imposthumate,-of distilling immunities, drop by drop, to a clamorous and discontented people, as if it were actually our policy to quicken their relish, and to embitter their resentments.

Overweening as those anticipations are, it is lamentable to think how broad a foundation they have in fact. We have a fleet, indeed, and a population very different from that of Carthage. But Ireland is a vital member of our empire, and not a distant dependency like Spain. A dreadful crisis, we have no doubt, is preparing for us; and how are we prepared to meet it? We have substantially means for a noble struggle-we think, for a sure defence; but they are locked up by prejudice, by faction, and by base and shortsighted self-interest. The near approach of the most tremendous danger which ever threatened any nation in the annals of the world, has made no change in our feelings, nor, so far as we can observe, in our policy. The same want of system, the same blustering series of paltry expedients,-the same headstrong rashness and ignorant confidence, which have proved the ruin of the kingdoms around us,-are still manifest, we are afraid, among ourselves. Is there any reasonable creature who can hear the name of Ireland pronounced, and think what may be its situation before another year has gone over us, without consternation and dismay? Yet no step is taken to allay the discontents of the Irish; and court-interest, and place and preferment, are still sought after by the same system of mean compliance and angry recrimination, by which court affairs may be well enough conducted in times of security and peace. At such a season, we should disdain to think of party, or to waste a word upon the comparative merits of ministers, or of their opponents. We want to see the real strength and resources of the nation applied to the task of its deliverance; and we care not by what hands this great object may be effected. The place of a British minister, indeed, does not to us, at this moment, appear an object of attraction or envy. Even to the most powerful ta

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lents

* There is a melancholy exactitude in some points of this comparison. Those who require to feel the full force of the example, will do well to consult the 6th chapter, 10th book of Polybius, wherein he narrates the alarms of the Carthaginians, and the conduct of the Spaniards, on the approach of their invaders.

lents and the most exalted virtues, it must be environed with depressing anxieties, and tremendous responsibility. Incapacity, indeed, is generally insensible of the dangers which it is sure to enhance; and selfishness is, for the most part, as rash as it is ultimately cowardly.

Of peace, we are afraid, it is now useless to say any thing. The time for that sage and cautious policy is probably irrevocably passed over. It might have saved Europe, long after the consequences of the opposite system had become manifest: but Europe is lost; and the condition of England is no longer what it was. Our enemy is not likely to grant us peace,—and it is more than doubtful if we could accept of any terms which he would offer. We hope, however, that no one is still found so insane as to expect that we shall force him to an accommodation by the commercial distress of his dominions. He does not want commerce. His armies suffer nothing from that distress; and he cares nothing for the discontents or privations of the millions he has reduced to slavery. This weapon, at all events, will unquestionably recoil on ourselves; and the eagerness with which the enemy has taken advantage of our decrees, to seal up hermetically almost every port on the Continent, demonstrates how truly those decrees have actually seconded his designs.

When we look stedfastly on the power which we have endeavoured to describe, and on the measures and the councils by which it has hitherto been opposed, we confess that we cannot be sanguine; and that we cannot be satisfied. We shall be called Jacobins and friends of Bonaparte, we suppose, for expressing these sentiments. This is to us a matter of perfect indifference. We do our duty in making public the facts and the impressions to which we think it of importance that the attention of the country should be directed; and are too much occupied with the honest anxiety excited by these statements, even to be conscious of the contempt with which, at another time, we might treat such

insinuations..

ART. X.

Electro-Chemical Researches on the Decomposition of the Earths; with Observations on the Metals obtained from the Alkaline Earths, and on the Amalgam procured from Ammonia. By Humphrey Davy, Efq. Sec. R. S. M. R. I. A. Philofophical Tranfactions for 1808, Part II.)

(From the

We had the fatisfaction of introducing to the knowledge of our readers, in to former Numbers, the ingenious and élaborate ferics of experiments by which Mr Davy was led to the discovery

1

difcovery of fome new properties of electricity, and, by their means, to the decompofition of the fixed alkalis. Thefe difcoveries, by far the most ftriking for their novelty, and the most important for the further views which they open, of any that have been made fince the new theory was established, have attracted the notice of chemical inquirers in this and in other countries: and, although the miferable state of public affairs has prevented. them from exciting fo general an intereft, and producing as large an harvest as they must have done had they fallen on happier times, a confiderable progrefs has nevertheless been made, both by the difcoverer himself and those whom his fuccessful refearches fet in motion, even during the short interval which has elapfed fince, we last brought the fubject under review. The chemifts of France have most unexpectedly found that the decompofition of the alkalis is much easier than was at first imagined, and that it may be effect ed by other ways than the electric agency. The Swedish philofophers have accomplished a difcovery yet more furprifing-perhaps, of all the late refults, the most unlooked for-the metallic nature of ammonia, and confèquently of the two gafes which conftitute' that alkali. Mr Davy has, in the mean while, pursued his brilhant course of investigation with almost uninterrupted success,― and has added, to the knowledge which he formerly gave us of the fixed alkalis, that of the principal earths. The decompofition of thefe bodies being attended with greater difficulty, and requiring a more complicated and powerful apparatus than is neceffary for the refolution of the alkalis, our author has not brought all his experiments to what he deems the utmoft pitch of accuracy and precifion. But, because he fees no profpect of foon obtaining the requifite machinery, he most wifely and meritorioufly gives them to the world in their present state, preferring,' to use his own expreffions, the imputation of having published unfinished labours, to that of having concealed any new facts from the fcientific world, which may tend to affift the progress of chemical knowledge. We certainly do not mean to detract any thing from the praises due to fuch difinterested conduct, when we fay that Mr Davy can abundantly afford to fhare his ample revenue of discoveries with his lefs fortunate brethren.

The galvanic battery being applied to lime, ftrontites and barytes, in the fame manner as it had been to the alkalis, a decompofition was obferved to take place. Gas was evolved, and metallic globules were produced in contact with the negative wires. But this process could not be completed fo as to fhow the nature of the products in a fatisfactory manner. Potaffium (the bafis of potaíh) being heated in contact with alkaline earths, feemed to act upon them; but this experiment did not appear to effect their decompo

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fition.