3% Parallel between.the Ancieut Romans and Modern Fremh. | Aug. 1, 
the univerfe. Attila and Charlemagne 
have been matters of almott all Europe,— 
Polybius obferves, that the Romans, in 
lefsthan eighty-three years, rendered them- 
felves matters of the world. Bonaparte, 
in a very fhort fpace of time, has realized 
ia fomie degree the gigantic projects of 
Eouis XiV. and will mo probably 
avail himtelf of the genius and powers of 
the French to fubjugate all Europe, if its 
fovercigns dd not, re too late, counterz& 
_ him with fpirit and energy. Alexander 
and Cefir were not fatisfied with their for- 
fune ; nor is Bonaparte : ambition is un- 
bounded in its wifhes; it derives no en- 
joyment but from itfelf, and is never fa- 
tiated or contented. * 
The plan of revolutionizing all Europe 
would be fo much the more execrable, as 
its execution is a fyftem of deftruction, 
rather than of conqueft ;, of ruin, rather 
than acquifition.. Mark the progre{s of 
the Fiench armies during the late war; it 
would feem that the Furies, and al] the 
jnhabitants of the infernal regions, march 
in their train, to featter terror, difcord, 
deftruGion, and defpair. 
It isimpoffible to make a juft apprecia- 
tion of the population that fupplied the 
Roman armics ; but Polybius gives us 
faficient means to compare the forces of ' 
the Romans with thofe of the French.— 
He fays, book i. f. 24, the number of 
thofe capable of bearing arms was 
7,000,000 foot and 70,000 horie. Be- 
fore her union with other countries, 
France reckoned four mijlions of aGive 
citizens ; fuppofing that only half of thefe 
fhould be counted as cap-ble of bearing 
arms, the number would be two millions. 
In France no perfon can be an aétive citi- 
zen till he istwenty-one years of age, and 
yet he is able to bear arms at feven‘een. 
Bonaparte does not only command thirty 
millions of French, old or new, in the 
united departments, but rules over ten 
millions of fubjeéts in Italy, Switzerland, 
and Holland. Spain is his ally, in the 
fame manner that fhe ftood conneéted 
with the Romans. We may therefore 
calculate, (and fill be under the mark) 
that he has under his orders four times the 
number of men capable of bearing arms 
* Italy, Switzerland, Holiand, Spain, and 
let us add (England excepted, for neither 
Auftria, Proflia, nor Ruffia, can be faid to be 
free from the influence of Bonaparte’s ambi- 
tion) all Europe, and .indeed more than half 
the known world, bear teftimony to the juft- 
nefs of this obfervation, 
“the Romans. 
that Rome had at the zra of the fecond 
Punic war: indeed, at the battle of Can- 
nz (aperiod when they moft waned men) 
the KRemans had not more than 2e0,c00 
men on foot... France, before her acquili- 
tions and conquefis, had, boxa Ade, from 
7 to $e0,900 men in arms, without reck- 
oning her national-guards (who were fa- 
ticnary) and her moving columns. The 
con{criptions are managed in France in the 
fame manner as they were at Rome: we 
may therefore reckon, according to the 
fecond account, that the population which 
‘fupplied the Roman armies was, at the 
mo't, not a quarter of that of France and 
her allies, without taking Spain into the 
number, 
The forces of the Romans increafed 
with their victories ; they fo managed as 
to fecure to themielves pirtizans in Spain, 
Gieece, and Afia, under the pretence of 
bringing liberty and relief to the feeble : 
the French have on their fide the Jacobins, 
all the turbulent and covetous, all the cri- 
minal and revolutionary, of every country. 
‘The Romans underftood thatart, which the 
French have carried to fuch extent ard pe: 
fection, of difsuifipg their atrocities un- 
der their oppoiite denominations, and of 
colouring their rapacity with the appear- 
ance of philanthropy. But lying, impu- 
dence, and perfidy, have been reduced, by 
the French into amore extenfive and refined 
fyftem, than ever they had been before. 
The love of pillage and renown, the 
ambition of places and power, are not lefs 
powerful incentives to the French Gene. 
rals, than the love of their country was to 
They are not lels obedient 
to their chiefs, than the Romans were de- 
voted to their country. Pride and cupi- 
dity infamed the minds of Brune, Mat. 
fena, and Augereau, as much as the love - 
of their country did that of Camillus and 
Cincinnatus. , 
A comparative yiew of the forces and 
means of the Romans and French proves, 
that the armies of the latter are, and may 
be more numerous, than thole of the for. 
mer. After this comparifon comes that 
of thei means of refiftance. Jk isnot ne-— 
ceilary to examine whether Carthage was 
lefs powerful than England, whether Phi- 
lip had more coofiderablé armies than Auf 
‘tria, or whether the Parthians were more 
formidable than tie Rufians. As the 
forces and means of the French are more 
humerous, they can of courfe furmount a 
proportionate refifting power. We mutt 
not, however, inthis place, balance the 
forces of Europe onthe other hand. The 
; French 
