HISTORY OF EUROPE. 51 



distance too great for seeing the 

 ordinary motions as made by dnmb 

 people, they would move their arms 

 as Monsieur Chappe moves his te- 

 legraph ; which is an upright post, 

 havingafRxedto it a transvei-sebeam, 

 with two moveable arms ; the 

 beam itself being also moveable. 

 The different forms of which the 

 machine is capable of assuming, 

 are sixteen ; and these are the te- 

 legraphic alphabet. A number of 

 telecrraohs are erected at conveni- 

 isnt distances ; and the signals are 

 repeated from one station to ano- 

 ther. Early in 179i this machine 

 "was tried in France, and found to 

 answer. And as the combined 

 armies were at that time in the 

 Low Countries, a chain of tele 

 graphs was established from Paris 

 to Lisle, by which short sentences 

 ivere conveyed in a few minutes 

 uih great accuracy; 



The invention of the telegraph 

 was announced by Barrere in the 

 Conventioni on the I7th of Au- 

 gust. The news, he said, of the 

 recapture of Qi'.esnoy, by rheans of 

 this machine, had reached Paris 

 in an hour after the troops of the 

 republic had entered that place. 

 The recapture of Conde was, on 

 the SOth of that month, reported 

 to the Convention with equal Speed 

 in the same manner. 



The telcgrnph is as yet bf.t a 

 Very imperfect as well as expensive 

 inachine. But, like other inven- 

 tions, it -i^'ill admit of muny im- 

 provements ; and, among others^ 

 probably a reduction of the ex- 

 Jience. And it is certfiinly to be 

 Considered as one of those inven- 

 tions which opens ?. door to 

 Wonderful changes.. It has hi- 

 therto been employed solely in the 

 »rr»ite of 6 bloodv war : but it 



Will also be» found subservient to a 

 number of purposes in times of 

 peace. With the aid of one inter- 

 mediate station across the Channel, 

 news might then be conveyed from 

 London to Paris in an hour ; and 

 in three or four hours, an answer 

 received to a few simple questions. 

 This easy approximation of minds 

 would wear away jealousies and 

 antipathies, and promote recipro- 

 cally a good understanding. It is 

 a pleasing task to record the pro- 

 gress of discovery and invention : 

 but it is melancholy to reflect, that 

 the most splendid inventions of our 

 day have been hitherto employed, 

 not for the benefit of mankind, but 

 their destructioti. 



In an age characterized by the 

 application of discoveries in science 

 to practical purposes, during a war 

 in which most part of the Euro- 

 pean nations have beSn engagedj 

 and in which the French, the most 

 active, and certainlyone of the most 

 ingenious of all nationsj has played 

 so distinguished a part, warlike in- 

 ventions were to be looked for, and 

 are still further to be expected. 



This nation, partly by new me- 

 thods of combining and employing 

 physical force, and partly by ope* 

 rating on the human passions, have 

 withstood, and in many instances 

 defeated the taictics of the most 

 experienced Generals. Before the 

 invention of gunpowder, it was 

 reckoned a capital point in all en- 

 gagements, to call forth the cou- 

 rage and exertion of every indivi- 

 dual soldier. For these two bit 

 centuries, the great art of war con- 

 sisted in reducing the soldiers to 

 mechanical obedience. The French, 

 in their practice, returned in no in- 

 considerable degree to th? princi- 

 ples and conduct of ancient tvar- 



