76 
From fome experiments made by Mr. 
Chenevix, he was induced to doubt the 
accuracy of thefe ftatements ; and by re- 
peating them, and making many others 
with great care, he was led to conclude, 
that the proportion of fulphur contained 
in roo parts of fulphate of barytes was 
14.5 inftead of 23.43. And in 100 parts 
of calcined fulphate of lime there are 57 
parts of lime and 43 of fulphuric acid. 
Hence he oblerves, that, by knowing the 
ratio that fulphate of barytes bears to ful-. 
phate of lime, with regard to the acid in 
each, it will be eafy to arrive at the know- 
ledge of what quantity of fulphur is con- 
tained in real fulphuric acid. In another 
courfe of experiments Mr. Chenevix found 
that 183 parts of fulphate of barytes con- 
State of Public Affairs, in Fanuary, 1803. 
[ Feb. 1, 
tain the fame quantity of fulphuric acid, 
as 100 parts of fulphate of lime, viz. 43- 
Therefore, he fays, as 183 : 43 :: 100: 
23-5 == the proportion of acid in 100 
parts of fulphate of barytes. But it has 
been before feen, that 14.5 of fulphur form 
that portion of fulphuric acid contained in 
100 of fulphate of barytes, viz. 23.53 
therefore 23.5: 14.51: 100: 61.5—the 
proportion of {ulJphur which, combined 
with 38.5 of oxygen, will form real ful- 
phuric acid. 
As thefe proportions differ from thofe 
given, by Lavoifier and Fourcroy, Mr. 
Cheievix concludes his paper by affign- 
ing the probable caufes which may have 
led thefe celebrated chemifls into an error. 
STATE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, 
In Fanuary, 1803. 
a 
+ 
FRANCE. 
F Bonaparte had terminated his mortal 
career at the victorious iffue of the bat- 
tle of Marengo, his name would have been 
confecrated to all pofterity, as the Saviour 
of his country, as a hero who devoted the 
moft brilliant military talents to the no- 
bleft ends, the independence of nations, 
and the liberty of the human race. The 
atrocities which are afcribed to him in 
Egypt and Syria (and which will thortly 
undergo a fevere inveltigation) would have 
been forgotten, or excufed as neceflary fe- 
verities, or as evils naturally arifing from 
what is in itfelf a congeries of every evil, 
and of every vice—a ftate of war. He 
would then have fhone upon a theatre on 
which he was calculated to aét a moft dif- 
tinguifhed part. His ignorance of civil 
affairs, his crude notions of jurifprudence, 
and his inadequate isformation on the 
principles of commerce, would not have 
been manifefted to the world. His mean 
and felfith ambition, his difregard to juf- 
tice and to liberty, to every thing that 
conftitutes the great in a human charatter; 
his petty views, his reftle/s and meddling 
policy, which would embroil Europe on 
the moft trivial eccafions; his folly m 
aiming at extended territory, rather than 
the happinefs and profperity of his coun- 
try, would not have been developed. So- 
lon hefitated to pronounce any man hap- 
py till he had feen his end; and furely 
swe may be allowed to be equally fcrupu- 
lous in attributing to any human being 
the epithet of great, till we have marked 
his progrefs. Such inftances are calculated 
to invalidate the decifions of hiftory, and 
to induce us to conclude, that Leonidas, 
Epaminondas, and Hampden were fortu- 
nate in death. With fome it has been a 
problem, whether a mere foldier isa fit 
perfon to exercife the firft authority in a 
great empire. The problem is now fol- 
ved, and the queftion decided on the moft 
fatisfa€tory proof, that of experience. 
It requires no great extent of political 
fagacity to perceive that the confular (or, 
as it will probably be, the imperial) throne 
of France refts at this moment on a moft 
precarious bafis. Whenever thé ‘fucceffi- 
on has been difturbed in any ftate, time and 
caution are neceflary to reduce a nation 
again to what may be termed a reguiar 
government. In France we have feen 
lately a fucceffion of revolutions. If a 
{mall but aétive party have had the teme- 
rity to fire the alarm-gun, or to found the 
tocfin (fo prone are the French nation to 
change), they have feldom failed to engage 
the populace of Paris, and the bulk of the 
foldiery in their favour. Old things then 
eafily give way to new; and, with the 
French, a government: of a twelvemonth 
may be almoft confidered as fuperannu- 
ated. If the information contained in 
the public prints is to be depended on, or 
if we may truft the reports of thofe who 
have vifited the country, the military in 
France are far from being fatished with 
their prefent government, We repeat - 
tae 
