36, Retrafpet of Domeftic Literature—Political Economys =e 
it for their mif-government. . Mr. Home, 
though not a military man by profeffion, 
ferved with the King’s troops, and par- 
ticipated in their adverfe fortune: he was 
taken prifoner at the battle of. Faikirk, 
and during his captivity was am eye-wit- 
neis to fome of thofe events which he has 
now.narrated. It is probable that the 
hiftory is, generally fpeaking, impartial 
and authentic: but it is dedicated to the 
King, and the condué of the Duke of 
Cumberland, at the battle of Culloden, 
and ‘he ufe which he made of his victory 
are flurred over, Mr. Home very judi- 
cioufly commences his, volume with an 
account of the ex‘raordinary manners and 
peculiar policy of the Highlanders: he 
attributes their attachment to the Houfe 
of Stewart to a fpirit of clanthip, and 
hot to any political or religious confider- 
ation. ‘This is an interefting part of the 
work, and it is to be regretted that Mr. 
Home has not entered into the fubjeéct 
more largely. 
POLITICAL ECONOMY, POLITICS, 
FINANCE. 
On thefe and fome other fubjeé&ts which 
have commonly occupied confiderable 
recom in our Retrofpeét, we have fewer 
books than ufual to take notice of. The 
change is a good one, if the time and 
talent which have been fo often fquan- 
dered in political and theologic contro- 
verfies, fhall in future be employed in 
hiftorical refearch, or the cultivation of 
icience in any of its branches, the 
world will certainly have no reafon to 
repine ; we are fufficiently verfed in po- 
lemics: much praétice has made us well 
ni igh perfect, and it is time that we fhould 
retire from the areaa, where the duft that 
we kick up in our combats not only an- 
Noys the fpeétators, but fometimes pre- 
vents the antagonifts from feemg each 
other. 
Although we have not many books, 
to notice under this and the fucceeding 
divifion of our article, there are so 
which well merit perufal. 
Mr. Wacker has tranflated from the 
original manufcript cf M. Mounier, a 
curicus traét “‘on the Influence attri- 
buted to Philofcpbers, Free~Maions, and 
to the Illuminati, on the Revolution of 
France.” The author of this work was 
an aélive and eminent member of the firft 
National Conventicn, but although de- 
firous of eftablifhing freedom in his na- 
lave country, he appears to have been fo 
far from aiming at the deftruction of mo- 
reba that when he found the pillars 
which ought to have fupported it crumb- 
Iing at their bafes, and that they were 
compofed of too brittle and treacherous 
materials to admit of any fubftantial re- 
paration, rather than be prefent at the 
crafh which was to come, he retired to 
his own province, and endeavoured to 
protect it from any injury which the frag- 
ments might occafion in. their fall. But 
his generous a€tivity was obnoxious to 
thofe who held the inftruments of dettruc- 
tion: he became fufpected, marked, and 
threatened, and retired from a country 
which at that time could neither appre- 
ciate his tal.nts nor refpeét his virtues. 
Such a man as M. Mounier, a man of 
cool judgment, candid, and in ‘every 
way refpectable, acquainted with the fe- 
crec {prings which influenced the conduct 
of the members of the firft National Con- 
vention, and himfelf a leader in the early 
period of the Revolution; fuch a man is 
furely more competent to eftimate the in- 
fluence of philefophy, free-mafonry, and 
illuminatifm, on the French Revolution 
than fuch hallucinated writers, to ufe a 
Darwinean word, as Robifon and Barruel. 
The former of thefe gentlemen has been 
particularly unfortunate: if our recol- 
lection does not betray us, he has already 
been compelled to make a reluctant re- 
cantation of fome of his injurious afper- 
fions, and the Profeffor’s inavcuracy is 
ftill farther expofed by the pr efent writer, 
on whom he had caft an imputation of 
having been initiated into the. myfteries 
of maionry: ‘ If what I have faid on the 
fubje&t of free-mafonry fhould ever reach 
him (Profeffor Robifon) he will be fur- 
prifed at the profane tone of my difcourfe, 
in which I fhould not have indulged my- 
felf had I been of the numb-r of the 
adepts. I declare folemnly that I have 
never been either Free-mafon or Mar- 
tinift.”” 
a An Effay on the Way to reftore and 
perpetuate Peace, Good Order, and Pro- 
{perity to the Nations, by Bryce Joun- 
ston, D.D.” Thank Heaven, peace is 
already reftored! and as we ardently hope 
for the perpetuation of it, and for the 
folid eftablifhment of good order and 
profperity in our own and in furrounding 
nations, Dr. Johniton is entitled to our 
beft thanks fir his judicious and well- 
meant exhortations on the fubje&t. The 
real and primary cau‘e of revolution is 
alwys the moral depravity and perverfion 
of the men who make up the nations: 
this depravity may affect, in different mi 
grees, the different clafles of fociety : 
fome inftances the rulers, in others en 
ruled, may yield moft to its corruptiye 
diior- 
