1803.] 
candour to his proceedings, which gave 
them a popularity they could not have 
had, if he had fatished himfelf with 
filencing his opponents only by force. 
The meafure is alfo a weak one, and cal- 
culated only to produce a fmile of con- 
tempt. Make the people deaf !"’°—Im- 
poffible! knowledge is too much diffuled, 
aad there are too many ways open to the 
{pread of intelligence of every kind. It 
is even more prepofterous than in a coun- 
try where the government has been long 
fettled. The French people have been de- 
bauched by a liberty which has extended 
to licentioufnels and anarchy, and is it 
likely they will fubmit at once to a con- 
trary extreme? The French are alfo a 
people of intrigue, and is it probable that 
no confpiracy will exift among them? 
Hiftory warrants the affertion, that the 
more oppreflive the government, the more 
numerous will] be the plots againtt it. 
Another inftance moft powerfully e- 
vinces the wretched. policy of the firft 
Conful. It ought to have been the ftre- 
nuous exertion of Bonaparte to reduce, 
inftead of augment, the military efta- 
blifhment. What he has moft to fear is 
the re-action of the army. Peaceful ci- 
tizens, men with little bond of union 
among themfelves, are with difficulty or- 
ganized to revolutionary | movements. 
This the Chief Conful has' not forefeen, 
and he has increafed the difcontents of 
the people by an attempt to augment the 
army by the oppreflive fyfem of con{crip- 
tions. In a word, fo unpromifing are the 
refources, and fo radically impolitic is the 
government of France at prefent, that we 
fhall not be furprifed at any intelligence 
that may be received from it. Another 
fubjeé&t which will not contribute to re- 
move the difcontents of the French people 
in the news from 
THE WEST INDIES. 
An attempt has been made in the paper 
which is under the controul of the French 
government to pailliate the difafters of St. 
Domingo. We have reafon to believe, 
however, that our accounts have not been 
exaggerated. It is indeed ridiculous to 
fancy that fo large a body as the Negroes 
in that ifland, with arms in their hands, 
can be reduced to order by two or three 
thoufand Europeans. The accounts re- 
ceived through the medium of the Britith 
iflands confirm all that we have previoufly 
ftated: they add that Madame Leclerc, 
wife of the General, and fifter to the Chief 
Confal of France, has fallen into the hands 
of the infurgents; that the latter have 
been joined by fuch-of the Blacks as the 
~ Monrury Mag, No 95. 
State of Public Affairs in December, 1802. 
547 
French had conéiliated, and taken under 
their protection ; and fome accounts even 
go fo far as to fay, that Leclerc and the 
fhattered remains of his army had actually 
reimbarked for Europe. 
. TURKEY. 
Among the political inconfiftencies of 
the prefent day we have to remark the 
extraordinary conduét of the Sublime 
Porte towards this country. It is extra- - 
ordinary in a high degree, after the obli- 
gations conferred by Great Britain upon 
that empire, that an application for the 
fame privileges to Britith fubjeé&ts on the 
Black fea, as have been conceded to France 
fhould have been: treated with neglect. 
The difputes that have unfortunately 
taken place in Egypt may poffibly be the 
ultimate caufe of this coolnefs. But 
whatever it may be, it is confidently faid 
that Lord Elgin is recalled from the office’ 
of Ambafflador, and, in proportion as the 
Britifh influence declines, that of France 
is fuppofed to predominate in this verfa- 
tile court. ‘ 
On the 26th of O&tober, the city of 
Conftantinople was materially injured by 
a violent earthquake. The firft reports 
of the damages, ft appears, were exagge- 
rated; the greater part of the houles, 
however, in the vicinity of the Seraglio, 
and the houfes and mofques in the fuburbs 
of Galata, were deftroyed. ‘The Seraglio 
itlelf was fhaken and confiderably da- 
maged, ‘The Grand Signor, and an im- 
menfe multitude of people took refuge in 
the mofque of St. Sophia, from a fuper- 
ftitious opinion that it is indeftructible. 
The fhocks continued for more than thirty 
minutes, and followed each other with 
great rapidity. 
SWITZERLAND. . 
The whole of this republic does not as 
yet appear to be fubjected to the views of 
France. The Grifons are ftill in a ftate 
of infurrection, and General Serras has 
entered that country at the head of a body 
of French troops. The Frickthall is not 
yet quiet, though it has nominated two 
deputies to the confulta at Paris. In the 
mean time, the Helvetic deputies have 
had feveral conferences with the commii~ 
fioners appointed by Bonaparte. ‘The 
French papers intimate fome vague charges 
refpecting the interference of Great Bri- 
tain, and the miffion of Mr. Moore to 
that country. Mr. Moore is faid to be 
ftill refiding at Conftance, furrounded by 
the diffaffe&ted Swifs who have reforted 
thither. We cannot however think it 
probable, after the anfwer which the 
Swifs patriots received through the me- . 
aA dium 
