226 



An frishman's Notes in Paris, No. IV, 



them : but that, when separated as to 

 sovereignty, and yet speaking the 

 same language, and possessing a simi- 

 larity of manners and customs, and of 

 course feeling the same wants, they 

 mutually aid the commerce of each 

 other, and thereby promote the 

 strength and solid wealth of each 

 other. 



It is impossible to say at what dis- 

 tance of time the event may happen ; 

 but the now insignificant stationer co- 

 lony. Botany Bay, will one day set up 

 for itself, in the way of an independent 

 nation. As soon as it shall have disco- 

 vered where to find at homo all the 

 necessaries of life, and that it shall 

 have constructed, or be enabled to 

 purchase, a few ships, — it will soon 

 look abroad for those luxuries which 

 the human race are so fond of enjoy- 

 ing. Such a result as is spoken of, is 

 only the natural eflect of things ; but 

 it is impossible to say what accidents 

 may tend to hasten the looked-for 

 change. 



The government of Great Britain 

 did every thing it could, at the period 

 of the insurrection of the black inha- 

 bitants of St. Domingo, to prevent 

 their fulfilling their design : the exam- 

 ple of a successful revolution was 

 alarming to us in every point of view ; 

 yet it so happened that our navy had 

 been the chief cause of the success of 

 these aspiring republicans ; for, if the 

 French navy had not been almost 

 wholly destroyed in the different con- 

 flicts with our own, that island would 

 Lave been again overawed at the 

 peace by its former masters, and might 

 have remained a dcpciKknt colony for 

 a century or two more : so invisible is 

 the chain of cause and effect, and so 

 distant are the bearings of events and 

 transactions upon one another in re- 

 mote parts of the world. 



It may be said of colonies in general, 

 that, in the patronage they afford, they 

 give rise and growth to the seeds of 

 political corruption, and afford means 

 of satisfying the destructive cupidity 

 of avarice in the fe>v, and, conse- 

 quently, of dissatisfaction in the many. 



It would require a better arithmeti- 

 cian than our late Chancellor of the 

 Exchequer, to calculate what our 

 German possession Hanover has cost 

 this nation. It may be said with truth, 

 that, mediately and immediately, by 

 the influence it has had in occasioning 

 or continuing the wars we have been 

 engaged in, since the accession of tlic 



[April I, 



House of Brunswick, it has put us to 

 the expense of one-half of the national 

 debt. P. Y. 



For tlie Monthly Magazine. 



AN IRISHMAN'S NOTES IN PARIS. 

 NO. IV. 



THE popular recreations of every 

 country indicate the character of 

 its inhabitants; and, from the degree 

 of hapi)iness and art with which they 

 are cultivated, one might well deter- 

 mine the point of polite success to 

 which the nation had reached. Per- 

 haps no one thing, during the rapid 

 view of a passing visit, so forcibly im- 

 presses a notion of the very gay pro- 

 pensities of the French people, as the 

 number of their theatres, and the fre- 

 quent throngs that overflow them : nor 

 can a better appreciation of that pecu- 

 liar system of politeness, for which they 

 arc noted, be formed, than from the 

 mannerism of their plays, whether in 

 plot, character, or in i)ersonation. As 

 to French politeness,— derivatively, 

 and not improperly perhaps, I might 

 write policy, for with them it is a mat- 

 ter of study ; in France one considers 

 the effect of manners not upon the 

 score of feeling pleasure, but for open 

 approbation : the Gaul covets present 

 commendations of felicity for himself, 

 not for another's content ; and is utter- 

 ly reganilcss of, — indeed he seems 

 never to have imagined, — that meed of 

 silent acknowledgment which (though 

 at the time it is only to be inferred 

 from the eye or a smile,) sinks deeper 

 from concealment, but at length is sure 

 to return far more grateful interest. 

 It certainly is a cause of regret with 

 us to damp the agreeable sensation, 

 which the contrast between the honest 

 bluntness of our island, and the flatter- 

 ing attention of a continental welcome, 

 is likely to produce ; but, ere long, it 

 must become evident to the traveller, 

 that the civility which a Frenchman 

 offers spTings from an itching vanity 

 to hear himself congratulated for its 

 adroitness. An Englishman is taught 

 to bow with his services only where 

 he sees they are wanted: a Frenchman 

 forgets the rule, and importunes; ho 

 acts for a party, and often very well 

 too, without feeling for it: the other 

 never stirs before he has felt. Indeed, 

 I have heard a young Gaul preface 

 his tender of obligation with a sort of 

 reluctant confession, that he did so 

 because you seemed to expect an 

 opportunity to praise him. 



As 



