[ 248. J 
[Oct. 15 
MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE, DOMESTIC. 
. AND FOREIGN. 
Authors or Publishers, desirous of seeing an early Notice of their Works; are 
requested to transmit Copies, if possible, before the 16th of the Month. 
: ' 
ETTERS on England. By A. DE 
STaEL, 8vo,—This is a work, valuable in 
itself, for much good sense, the evident fruit 
of considerate observation ; and not less so 
from shewing in what light our national 
character, social condition, and institutions 
may be regarded by an intelligent, and evi- 
dently impartial foreigner. Even this im- 
partiality, however, must not be expected 
to render him equally acceptable to all. 
National pride is apt to listen to no voice 
but that of its own egotism ;' and there are 
John Bulls among us, who, whatever may 
be the balance admitted in our favour, in 
summing up the aggregate, will not be 
satisfied unless the same advantage be ad- 
mitted in every individual item of the ac- 
count. We, however, are not of this 
number; and though there are some de- 
scriptions of mental habitude and acquisi- 
tion in which he thinks we are. surpassed 
by the scientific luminaries of France, we 
are ready to admit, that he has looked upon 
England with a philosophical spirit and an 
impartial eye, and has drawn his compari- 
sons more with a view to the reciprocal 
melioration of both countries, than with 
any tendency to the envious or splenetic 
degradation of either. Thus, in his second 
Letter (on the comparative progress of 
civilization in France and England), having 
shewn, by instancing the great parallel 
events in the political history of the two 
countries, from the signing of our Great 
Charter in 1215, to the Bourbon Restora- 
tion in France (for the parallel to our 
revolution in 1688 has not yet occurred), 
England has always had the start about a 
century and a half in the career of liberty, 
he thus adopts and amplifies the “ funda- 
mental distinction of M. Guizot (Zssais 
sur Histoire de France) : 
«© That the progress of civilization in England has 
always advanced on a level with that of liberty, and 
frequently even has only been the consequence of it ; 
while in France it has preceded, or remained inde- 
pendent of it.” 
He proceeds, however, very justly, to ob- 
serve, that the real state of the two nations 
is not be judged “by comparing their 
* most eminent intellectual flowers.” [A 
vile phrase, intellectual flowers : but let the 
translator answer that. } 
** I think it certain that, in the sélect portion of 
the French nation intellectually considered, there are 
more minds gifted with the faculty of generalizing 
their ideas, connecting them with philosophical prin- 
ciples, and expressing them in a brilliant or original 
manner, either in books or in conversation. I believe 
too, that, on descending to the other extremity of the 
scale, we shall find in the uninstructed classes more 
natural vivacity, more quickness in seizing new ideas, 
more of that intuitive spirit, with which the sun in- 
spires the inhabitants of the countries favoured by it. 
But it is not a few menof wit, or even of genius—a 
few bold thinkers, or a few ingenious theorists—that 
constitute the moral and political strength of a na- 
tion. This strength consists in the average of intel- 
Fence, in the general knowledge of the principles 
and practical institutions, to which the direction of 
human affairs appertains.”—‘‘ In this respect no 
country in Europe is on a par with England.” 
That this comparison should, by some, 
be cavilled at, is not surprising. We admit, 
however, the*accuracy of the ‘statement, 
andare satisfied with the admission—and the 
proofs so cheerfully presented by the au- 
thor, that the praciical results, in a national 
point of view, are all in favour of our country. 
It is really mortifying not to be at liberty 
to follow this intelligent author through his 
successive’ topics, the division’ of property, 
aud its influence on agriculture, national 
wealth, population and morals; the pheng- 
mena of aristocracy and democracy, exhi- 
bited in our social habits and. institutions; 
the newspaper press; our public meetings, 
Parliament, Parliamentary Reform, &c, 
Upon some of these topics, indeed, we do 
not, in all respects, exactly agree with Baron 
dé Staél: particularly upon the Jast ; where,. 
in common with his Whig friends, he con- 
siders property (z. e. accumulated property) 
as the basis of representation, instead of eon- 
sidering that what is usually meant by 
property, is itself the creature of: personal 
labour (z.e. originates in the inherent property 
which every individual has in his capabilities 
of productive effort), and cannot, therefore, 
by any accumulation, supersede the per- 
sonal rights, or protective claims, of those 
from whom, primarily, it originated, and by 
whose labour it is still augmenting, and is 
sustained. In some minute particulars 
of detail, also, the -caviller might object to 
some unimportant mistakes in the descrip- 
tions of local customs ; but, upon the whole, 
we venture to pronounce these Letters on 
England equally worth the attention of the 
native and foreigner. 
A Critical Inquiry regarding the real Aus 
thor of Junius, proving the Letiers to have. 
been written by Lord Viscount Sackville. By 
Grorce CovEeNTRY. S8vo.—QOur readers 
will remember, that in a formerNo. (p. 118) 
of our present volume, a correspondent has 
attempted to assign the honour of writing 
these famous lettets to J. H. Tooke; and 
certainly it must be admitted, that the in- 
dividual fact advanced in support of that 
hypothesis is a strong one. It is, however, 
but an individual fact ; and, of itself, quite in- 
sufficient to counterbalance the weight of 
external and internal evidence that gain- 
says 
