952 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1809. 



doubted. He was peronally ac- 

 quainted with and possessed a high 

 esteem for Mr. Fox. The appear- 

 ance of the book was expecteil. It 

 related to a period analogous to the 

 circuni>tances of France for some 

 time past ; a republic followed by 

 the restoration of monarciiy. And, 

 lastly, all the alterations, interpo- 

 lations, and expurgations it has 

 undergone, prove that it must have 

 been read by Buonaparte himself: 

 for there is no translator that would 

 have undertaken a business that 

 required such excessive precaution 

 before his translation could have 

 any chance of being saleable; nor 

 would that branch of the imperial 

 police which is charged with the 

 care of the press, have ventured 

 to sanction its publication, even as 

 it is, without the authority of the 

 person that must be called to mind 

 by so many interesting analogies 

 and recollections. Further still, 

 the expurgations, in all probability, 

 were not first made by the censors 

 of the press, and then shown, but 

 originated with Buonaparte him- 

 self. It would have been a mat- 

 ter of extreme delicacy, if not 

 of danger, for that board to have, 

 of their own accord, struck out the 

 passages bearing hard on Buona- 

 parte. It would have discovered 

 to the jealous Italian what, at 

 the bottom of their hearts, they 

 thought of him. If, again, Buona- 

 parte,amidst the impatient curiosity 

 of Paris and France, had given 

 orders for the total suppression of 

 the work, these orders would im- 

 mediately have excited a suspicion, 

 and inflamed curiosity still more. 

 Such palpable evidence of caution, 

 lest it should be read, would have 

 brought it under the public eye, in 



all its native terrors. — Buonaparte 

 has, in many instances, but in none 

 more glaringly than in defacing the 

 sentiments of Mr. Fox, acknow- 

 leitged that he sees, hanging over 

 his head, the sword of Damocles. 

 He is afraid, not without good 

 reason, of the vicissitudes in public 

 opinion and public spirit. Public 

 opinion, in times of comparative 

 barbarism and ignorance, is not so 

 formidable, because it is not so 

 easily or so completely formed, as 

 in the present enlightened period 

 of extended intercourse among 

 men and nations. But an union 

 of judgment, and a concert of 

 wills, among vast bodies of men, 

 spurns at the authority of tyrants. 

 — Why are mobs, immense aggre- 

 gates of unconnected individuals so 

 formidable ? Because each indivi- 

 dual, weak and helpless in a soli- 

 tary state, perceives and feels that 

 he has more than the hands of the 

 giant Briareus. He hesitates not 

 to commit the most violent act, to 

 undertake the most daring enter- 

 prize, because lie knows that he 

 will be seconded and supported by 

 thousands and hundreds of thou- 

 sands. 



In adverting to the suppressed 

 passages of Fox's History, we have 

 the pleasure of divining the ideas, 

 the cares and fears, that occurred 

 to the mind of Buonaparte. When 

 the garbling, of which he is the au- 

 thor, shall come to the knowledge 

 of Frenchmen, as it infallibly will 

 do, the original work will be 

 sought after, and perused with re- 

 doubled avidity and effect. 



As to the Life of Mr. Fox, pre- 

 fixed to the translation, it is dis- 

 claimed, in a very marked man- 

 ner, by the translator himself. It 



is 



