ACCOUNT OF BOOKS. 



493 



vent Belgkim from falling into tlie 

 hands of France ; wars in which the 

 greatest generals of modern times 

 have earned their dearly-bought 

 laurels. 



The IVth chapter relates the 

 events of the sanguinary contest be- 

 tween the Helvetic confederacy, 

 and the Suabian league. This war 

 owed its origin to the attempts of 

 the imperial tribunals to renew their 

 jurisdiction over Helvetia. 



By the peace of Basle, which ter- 

 minated this most destructive strug- 

 gle, the empire renounced all juris- 

 diction within the territories of the 

 confederacy ; the independence of 

 which was, therefore, at this time, 

 virtually acknowledged, though this 

 was not formally done till the peace 

 of Westphalia. 



Chap. V. n arrates the transactions 

 of Milan, from its first invasion by 

 Lewis XII. to the battle of Biccoca. 

 Few human minds are altogether 

 free from national prejudices ; and 

 the present philosophic and candid 

 historian shewshimself, in this chap- 

 ter, to be not a little biassed by 

 their influence. The Swiss achieve- 

 ment at Novarra is related as if 

 within the regular course of events; 

 but when we come to Marignan, 

 where the author's countrymen are 

 defeated, the event in his view of 

 it is a phsenomenon of most difficult 

 solution. A great number of parti- 

 culars are brought together, in or- 

 der to explain and account for the 

 prodigy ; and he appears to consi- 

 der these preliminaries as necessary, 

 in order to render it credible that 

 the French were victorious in a 

 battle with the Swiss. 



That the reader may form some 

 idea of the connection which so long 

 subsisted between the Helvetic con- 



federacy and France, we lay before 

 him the following extract : 



' At length, however, on the 

 twenty-ninth of November, of the 

 succeeding year, a general pacifi- 

 cation was concluded at Friburg, 

 by which the French king, as duke 

 of Milan, ceded for ever to the 

 cantons the possession of the trans- 

 alpine bailiwicks, and the provinces 

 of Valteline, Chiavenna, and Bor- 

 mio, to the Grisons, with an option, 

 however, of their surrendering their 

 principal castles in those districts to 

 the French king for the sum of 

 three hundred thousand crowns : all 

 the privileges, that had ever been 

 held by the confederates in the 

 kingdom of France, were revived 

 and confirmed : the payments sti- 

 pulated by the convention of Dijon 

 were ratified, with the addition of 

 a free gift of three hundred thou- 

 sand crowns to the whole Helvetic 

 body, and an annual subsidy of two 

 thousand livres to each of the can- 

 tons, to the Valais, and to the Ori- 

 son leagues. This compact was de- 

 clared to be perpetual, and has in 

 fact been the basis of the many 

 leagues that have ever after been 

 made between the crown of France 

 and the Helvetic confederacy.' 



The Vlth chapter treats of the 

 affairs of the confederacy during 

 the period of the Reformation ; the 

 character of which is well drawn in 

 the short passage here quoted : 



' Religious dissensions unsheathed 

 the sword, and gave rise to animo- 

 sities and calamities, which for many 

 years perplexed and tormented a 

 large portion of the human race ; 

 and armed men against each other, 

 who, had they been influenced by 

 the charity which was the basis of 

 their faith, would have reconciled 



