80 ANNUAL REGISTER, ll^h 



HISTORY does not furnish an 

 example of a nation thatj 

 having emancipated itself from des- 

 potism, and acquired a constitution 

 founded on principles of freedom, 

 was again so quickly enslaved as 

 the French. Elated with tlieir ac- 

 quisition, and impatient to give it 

 every improvement of which it 

 might be susceptible, they did not 

 reflect that no species of system re- 

 quires so much inquiry and deli 

 beration, and is slower in its pro- 

 gress towards perfection, than a 

 political constitution. The rules 

 that are applicable to the disposi* 

 tion of one people have, it is well 

 known, being sometimes found in- 

 applicable to others : and the pro- 

 priety of any government depends 

 so much on the circumstances of 

 time, place, events, and individual 

 characters, that what may suit one 

 nation, may proveunflt for another ; 

 and what may be proper for a na- 

 tion at one period, may be highly 

 improper at another, Totally in- 

 attentive to these maxims, and hur- 

 ried on, partly by a native impe- 

 tuosity, partly by the artful impulse, 

 communicated by men who had 

 deeper designs in contemplation 

 than the rest, the French took such 

 rapid strides in their revolutionary 

 motions, that they underwent 

 greater changes in their political 

 system during the short lapse of 

 five or six years, than some nations 

 have experienced in the course of 

 so many centuries. From an ab- 

 solute, they emerged to a limited 

 monarchy : from'hencethey passed 

 to a democracy ; which speedily 

 gave way to au oligaichy : and 

 this v\'as shortly absorbed in the 

 tyranny of one, In these expedi- 

 tious changes, the character of the 

 nation was singularly prominent : 



inconstant in its ideas, fickle itl 

 its attachments, restless in its mo- 

 tionsj and invariably preferring 

 what it expected to what it pos- 

 sessed. When to this radical frame 

 of temper are added the machina- 

 tions and intrigues of ambitious 

 individuals, and of those who had 

 been, or thought themselves ill 

 used or neglected by men in pow er ) 

 when we advert to the current 

 notions of the times, the popular 

 zeal of liberty, the susjticious light 

 in which numbers were beldj rhe 

 resentment for past sufferings, the 

 dread of their retur i, the conse- 

 quent hatred borne to the former 

 arbitrary government, and the vio* 

 lent adherence to those principles 

 that ox '-rturned it ; when the pri- 

 vate views by wiiich so many were 

 actuated, arewtiglied, together with 

 the public motives by which the 

 mass of tlie nation was guided ; 

 when the vanity and opposition to 

 each other, of leading interests and 

 opinions, are considered, ttie warmth 

 with which they were espoused, 

 the determination with which they 

 were supported and enforced : — 

 when we take all these things into 

 consideration, we shall beat no loss 

 to account for the uncertainty and 

 fluctuation of the power successive- 

 ly possessed by the parties that were 

 precipitated from the helm with 

 such rapidity ; nor yet for the ef- 

 fusion of blood that accompanied 

 these changes, and that marked 

 so strikingly the dread as well as 

 the hatred in which they recipro- 

 cally held each other. 



The national character of the 

 Americans, and the geographical as 

 well as moral and political circum- 

 stances of that people, were so dif- 

 ferent from those of the French, 

 that we arc not surprized to find 



yerj 



