496 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1800. 



that the empire should make that 

 concession. 



On the occasion of Lewis XIV^. 

 seizing Franche Corapte, the Hel- 

 vetic Defensional, or the military 

 code for the defence of the country, 

 was devised and settled ; and about 

 the same time the Formula Consen- 

 sus, or the Helvetic protestant con- 

 fession of faith, was established. 



Lord Clarendon says, that a man- 

 date of Cromwell put an end to the 

 persecution of the protestants in 

 Piedmont : but Mr. Planta reduces 

 this splendid interference to the 

 common act of sending money to 

 the sufferers. If the noble histo- 

 rian mis-stated the fact, which, to 

 favour Cromwell, he was not like- 

 ly to do, the error should have been 

 proved; if he was founded in what 

 he asserted, the present author 

 (perhaps without intending it) has 

 been unjust not only to the memo- 

 ry of Cromwell, but to the honour 

 of the English name. 



Chap. VIIL gives a statistic view 

 of the singular country to which 

 this work relates. The author di- 

 vides its governments into three 

 classes ; the aristocratic, the aristo- 

 democratic, and the democratic. — 

 In the first class whereof, that of 

 Berne stands foremost. 



Chap. IX. gives the modern his- 

 tory of Geneva, with all the inter- 

 est and fidelity wliich belong to 

 this author. Fatio, though little 

 known to history, appears to have 

 been a very striking character ; and 

 from the account here given, he 

 seems only to have wanted a wider 



theatre, to have descended to fu- 

 ture ages as the most intrepid of 

 patriot martyrs. The annals of 

 Nero or Domitian present nothing 

 more foul, than the mockery of 

 justice carried on by a republican 

 magistracy, in consequence of which 

 this brave man suffered death. 



The subject of Chap. X. and 

 last, is the late overthrow of the 

 Helvetic confederacy by the French. 

 This transaction is too recent for 

 history. The feelings of the mo- 

 ment will not allow the writer to 

 assign to each cause its due share 

 of influence, nor to view each event 

 in its true light. Indignation on 

 the one hand, and commiseration 

 on the other, are too busy in 

 the bosom, to suffer history to as- 

 sume her calm and dispassionate 

 character ; and it is impossible to 

 prevent the pen from running into 

 endless invective on one side, and 

 pathetic declamation on the other. 

 Instead of arraigning the present 

 writer for his want of impartiality, 

 we wonder that he has not failed 

 more in that quality. 



We must now dismiss this work ; 

 offering our sincere congratulations 

 to the author, on the service which 

 he has rendered to letters — on the 

 obligations under which he has laid 

 his native and adopted countries — 

 andonthe memorialof his industry, 

 general information, sound judge- 

 ment, and impartiality, which he 

 has thus erected, and which will 

 so honourably transmit his name 

 to future times. 



