Imatges de pàgina
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spirit and reasonableness of this sentence of Montaigne. "Je ne recognois chez Aristote la pluspart de mes mouvemens ordinaires. On les a converts et revestus d'une autre robe, pour l'usage de P'Eschole: Dieu leur doint bien faire: si j'estois du mestier, je naturaliserois l'art autant comme ils artialisent la nature." chap. 5.

Liv. iii.

ART. II. History of the principal Events of the Reign of Frederic William II. King of Prussia; and a Political Picture of Europe, from 1786 to 1796. Containing a Summary of the Revolutions of Brabant, Holland, Poland, and France. By L. P. Ségur, the Elder, formerly Ambassador of Louis XVI. at St. Petersburg, Berlin, and Vienna. Translated from the French. 8vo. 3 Vols. 188. Boards. Longman and Rees. 1801.

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HEN we observed the name of the ci-devant Comte de Ségur affixed to the advertisement of this work, we were led to expect a production of no ordinary merit; a narrative in which the train of events would be properly drawn forth, the motives of action fathomed and explained, sagacious conclusions deduced from the various occurrences, and a manual of political information formed for the use of future diplomatic agents. Well aware of the keen discernment for which this minister was so conspicuous, of his accurate judgment, and of his good taste, we doubted not that the reign even of a prince so insignificant in his personal character as the immediate successor of the great Frederic, when traced by the pen of M. Ségur, would furnish the public with a history worthy of their most attentive perusal. Our expectations have not been deceived. In every page we discern the marks of his well-known political talents, and the fruits of that knowlege which he acquired while engaged in diplomatic employments.

Successively ambassador at St. Petersburg, Berlin, and Vienna, M. de Ségur was acquainted with the secrets of all the great political transactions of Europe; the first of these capitals in particular being, in the reign of Catharine II., what the Hague had formerly been, the centre of diplomatic intrigue; and whence a close correspondence with the other two was constantly maintained. With such opportunities and such talents, the author was amply qualified for the task which he has undertaken ;-how he has accomplished it, the reader will be enabled to judge from the extracts which we propose to make from the work.

In his preface, M. de S. gives this brief sketch of the character of the feeble and voluptuous monarch whose reign employs his pen :

• Frederic

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Frederic William, heir of the power, but not of the glory, of Frederic the Great, had received from his uncle all the knowlege requisite for a throne; but he was destitute of talent to render it efficient. A soldier, bred in the greatest military school, but without genius, he waged war with method, but without success. rounded by able Ministers, possessing the plans of his predecessor, he disturbed all Europe by his projects, exhausted his country by his preparations, terrified his enemies by his threats, and astonished his friends by his versatility. Incited by vanity, restrained by indolence, enslaved by superstition, enervated by pleasures, he executed nothing which he was desirous of undertaking, finished nothing which he had begun; and after having successsively deceived and irritated every Power in Europe, at a time when all the passions were inflamed to the highest degree, Fate, who frequently delights in baffling the most profound political combinations, produced, from his weakness, a result which ought only to have been the fruit of the most consummate ability. He enlarged his dominions, and died, leaving his kingdom at peace in the centre of an embroiled world.

Russia menacing the Ottoman Empire with total destruction; Catherine II. in danger of being driven from her capital by Gustavus; Austria defeated by the Turks, threatened by the Prussians, alarmed by the troubles in Hungary, exhausted by the revolt in Brabant; the Revolution of Holland, aiming at the destruction of the Stadtholder but compelled by the Prussian arms to submit to his yoke; the efforts of Poland to attain independence, the misfortunes and the total partition of that kingdom; lastly, the explosion of the democratic spirit of the French, the war of a people against Kings, Nobles, and Priests; the crusade of Princes against Liberty; the invasion of France, the unforeseen resistance of the French, and their almost fabulous conquests, at the moment when every thing portended the dismemberment and ruin of their country; such are the principal events of the epoch of which I have undertaken to write a succinct history.'

The introduction to the work consists of a slight survey of the state of Europe previously to the reign of Frederic the Great, with a concise account of the princes who have governed Brandenburg and Prussia. We are next presented with a sketch of the life of that celebrated Monarch, drawn up with the usual temeness of this author. Here we find, in confirmation of what has already been seen in the life of Catherine II., that the division of Poland, attributed to the policy of Frederic, was absolutely the work of that empress, who made the first overture of this project to prince Henry; and that the king of Prussia only seized this opportunity for extending his power, with an avidity which morality must ever condemn, though diplomacy may attempt to excuse it.-At the conclusion, the character of that monarch is thus depicted:

Frederic, feared by his enemies and by his officers, was beloved by his soldiers and by the people. A skilful despot, his arbitrary power

was

was directed by justice. No one knew better how to form and encourage talents, of which he was nevertheless jealous. An enemy of pomp, his taxes appeared less insupportable, because they were always employed to increase the glory and the territory of Prussia, to augment its population, and to recompense useful services. Near to him, intrigue was destitute of force, and merit of fear. He has been reproached with having adulterated the money of the country, and incommoded commerce by impolitic prohibitions: the crisis of the war pleaded his pardon for the first wrong; the second, proves that no man can ever unite in himself all the qualities of a statesman. Frederic was quite as confined in all his ideas on commerce, as he was expanded in those on policy and on war. The code which he published cannot assign him a distinguished rank amongst celebrated legislators. But experience has only too often proved, how much more wise it is for the happiness of nations to amend their old laws, than to give them new ones. Frederic, as a philosopher, as a warrior, and as a politician, shed a lustre on his country, eclipsed his rivals, and would deserve, perhaps, that his name should be given to the century that was witness to his birth, his reign, and his death.'

The work itself now opens with a view of the political situation of Europe at the time at which Frederic William II. ascended the throne of Prussia. (Anno 1786.)

In the 11d chapter, we meet with a delineation of the cha racters of several illustrious personages, with some general information concerning the sect of the Illuminati, lately so much the subject of conversation in Europe, which we should gladly extract for the amusement and edification of our readers: but we can admit only some parts which relate more immediately to the King:

Although the experience of every age has taught that the suc cessors of great men do not supply their places-Frederic William had given his subjects reason to conceive the most flattering hopes. It was believed that his reign would be as glorious, and more mild, than that of his uncle;-that he would enjoy the same military glory, without exercising the same severity. It was recollected that his education had been entrusted to M. de Borck, an informed military man, and to M. Bequelin, a distinguished academician. His campaign against the Austrians in the war for the succession of Bavaria was not forgotten, nor the eulogy bestowed on him by Frederic. This Prince, so severe towards his family, so avaricious of praise, or jealous of the talents he employed; and so great a connoisseur in the art which he had perfectionated; had charged his nephew to withdraw from Bohemia, a body of the army menaced by superion force; the position was critical; the retreat was diffcult and dangerous. Frederic William performed it with equal courage and skill. The King, transported, exclaimed, as he embraced him in presence of the army, I no longer consider you as my nephew, but as my son: you have effected all that I could have done in your place." The Prince-royal, admiring the great qualities,

of

of his uncle, but disapproving his unjust rigours, was supposed never to have broken his word—his probity excited confidence; it was said he desired to merit the surname of Well-beloved.-The part which he is known to have taken in the Germanic league, augured well of his political conduct; and he had given the first idea of this league, which flattered the vanity of the Prussians, by making them the protectors of the liberty of Germany against the ambition of the House of Austria.-In a word, every thing conspired to render the debut of the new monarch easy and brilliant ; peace reigned every where, and towards it all hearts were open. The first moments of his reign answered the general expectation; each word he dropped, every letter he wrote, and the first orders which he gave, repeated every where, and every where approved; spread an universal joy, and confirmed the hopes which his accession to the throne had generally inspired. Without affecting to be learned, the general opinion was, that he had studied a great deal, and that he would patronize letters. His endeavours to retain the Abbé Rayual in Berlin had done him much honour, and his eagerness to see that bold and profound author, led to a belief that he loved to be told truth.'

All his intentions, all his conduct, at the commencement of his reign, were mild, wise, and beneficent. It were to be wished this first zeal had continued; but, as historians, we shall soon have to fulfil a rigorous duty and to this smiling prospective, which impartiality obliges us to present, we shall be compelled to substitute the sad picture of a total abandonment, of a shameful carelessness, and of an unbounded weakness; obscenity in pleasures, intrigue in council, prodigality in expences, blindness in choice, the most superstitious credulity, the most puerile vanity, joined to the most evident incapacity; soon assumed the place of that activity, justice, and wisdom, which, in the first ebullition of fervour, the new King had been forced to display. His zeal cooled almost as fast as the body of his illustrious predecessor; and it was not long before Prussia perceived the immense void left by this immortal shade.'

• Symptoms of the King's weakness were quickly perceived; he could scarcely endure, even for a short time, the constraint which he had imposed on himself. It was soon understood, that his hours of business and of retirement were regular only in appearance; that his days were idle, and his nights dedicated to infamous orgies. He had repudiated his first wife, the Princess Elizabeth of Brunswick, on account of misconduct. The prudence of the Princess of Hesse, his second wife, did not shelter her from disgrace; but though she was not dismissed, she suffered, perhaps, more from the public triumph of her rivals. The King had loved a Madame de Rietz, celebrated for the licentiousness of her manners. the baseness of her character, and the infamy of her husbaud. He never could break this shameful connection, but lavished titles and treasures on this courtezan, and on a son whom she bore to him, for whose death he was inconsolable.

Notwithstanding this scandalous subjection, having become passionately enamoured of Mademoiselle de Voss, the niece of Count

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Fink,

Fink, he was on the point of marrying her. This he communicated to the Queen, and consulted the Priests, who replied, that it was better to contract an illegal marriage, than to run incessantly from one error to another; an answer which, perhaps, degrades those who gave it, as much as him by whom it was solicited. This marriage, however, did not take place. Mademoiselle de Voss chose rather to sacrifice her virtue than the glory of her lover. But, a few years after, he renewed the same scandal more completely, by marrying the Countess d'Enhof; thus retaining three legitimate wives and one mistress, whilst he banished the French comedians from Berlin, whom he accused of corrupting the public manners. The alliance of voluptuousness and superstition, constantly astonishes reason, and is constantly renewed. At the same time that the King abandoned himself, without restraint, to the charms of his mistresses, the Illuminati acquired an unbounded empire over his mind: he must have been, or seemed to be, an apostle of this sect, in order to gain, or preserve, its favour; for while, on one hand, he treated the Duke of Brunswick, Prince Henry, Mollendorf, and even Hertzberg, Schulemburg, and Fink, who managed his affairs, coolly and without regard; he abandoned himself entirely to Welners, to Bischofswerden, to the Princes of Dessaw and Wurtemberg; to Frederic of Brunswick, the Duke of Weymar, and other visionaries. who made Moses and Jesus appear to him; and who, it is said, carried the imposture so far as, at supper, to trace to him the shadow of the ghost of Cæsar.'

The historian then proceeds to unfold the projects of the Empress Catharine against Courland; and to describe her magnificent journey to the Crimea, and the disturbances in Brabant. Respecting the revolution in Holland in the year 1787, in which the cabinet of St. James's took so great a share, we were desirous of transcribing a few pages: but we found that it would be impracticable to detach them from the rest, and that the whole would be too long for our limits. This was a revolution, says the author, which owed its birth to the ungoverned ambition of the Stadtholder and the princess of Orange, its progress to their errors, and its catastrophe to exaggeration, to the heat and imprudence of the republicans, the address of Sir James Harris, the weakness of the French, and the audacity of the Duke of Brunswic.' An account of this event, composed by citizen Caillard, who was on the spot as minister from France, and which abounds in curious intelligence concerning Holland and its government, completes the first volume, and occupies above two thirds of it.

Vol. II. opens with the negotiation for forming a quadruple alliance between France, Russia, Austria, and Spain; in the course of which, it appears that the design of laying an embargo on the merchant ships from England was by no means an original idea of the late imperial Paul, but had long been

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