616 Retrofped? of Domefiice Literature.—Politics, Finance, &c. 
nual gain from other nations by means 
of our commerce, originates in error, 
and has a tendency to  miflead. If the 
theory had been true, the quantity of 
bullion now in this country muft be 
enormous ; but the reverfe of this is 
‘the fa@. The exclufive criterion of a 
favourable balance is 
courfe of exchange; for though it be 
“true, thata favourable balance cannot 
exift without an excefs of exports, yet 
an excefs of exports may exit without 
a favourable balance. “Mr. Wheatley 
Nea hie too fuccefsfully, to prove 
that, notwithftanding there has uni- 
formly been, of late years, an enor- 
mous excefs of exports aboye im- 
ports, the balance of trade, that is to 
fay, a favourable exchange, has been 
with foreign nations, and has led to the 
clandettine exportation of our {pecie.” 
Mr. Howison’s ** Inveftigation into 
the Principles and Credit of the Circulation 
of Paper Money in Great “Britain,” con- 
tains iome ftrong truths, although they 
are not conveyed j in the moft courteous 
and conciliatory manner. 
Mr. Monterrore has publifhed 
*< A Commercial Dictionary, containing 
the prefent State. of Mercantile Law, 
Pragtice, and Cujtom.” 
Although defeétivein many particu- 
lars, and not ftri¢étly accurate in fome 
others, this may be confidered, gene- 
rally, as a valuable book of BE he eat 
POLITICS, FINANCE, XC. 
“© The Political and Confidential Corre- 
fpondence of Louis the Sixteenth ; with 
Obferwations on each Letter. By HELEN 
Marra WILLIAMS.’ 
An odious fpecimen of book mak- 
ing.—Firlt, we have the fimple, the 
interefting, and pathetic letters of the 
unhappy Louis; fecondly, we have the 
tafteleis, the frippery, the gewgaw 
tranflation of Mifs Wlliams’s ; and, 
‘dattly, we ficken, and turn with difeutt 
from many of the pert, conceited, coid- 
‘hearted obfervations of the refugee au- 
thorefs. The firft inquiry one makes 
on taking up thefe volumes, is refpect- 
ing the ” senuinenels of the letters; 
were they written by the King of 
France? Has Milfs Wilhams told us 
how they came into her poffeflion ? She 
has not. The ftory in the preface, 
when tranflated into Englifh, a lan- 
zuage which Mifs Williams feems al- 
nioft to have forgotten, is, that a French 
edition or thefe papers was prepared 
tor the prefs by certain friends of the 
tate’ E King; that it would have confift- 
a favourable 
ed of two volumes, one containing his 
Majeity’s private letters, and the other, 
his compofitions on public and general’ 
{ubjeéts ; that in the preface of this in- 
tended edition, it was ftated that the 
originals “* are depofited in the hands 
of a perfonage who will think it a 
pleafure and a duty to communicate 
_them to fuch as are curious or incre- 
‘dulous.” By what means thefe Mss. 
volumes fell into the hands of Mifs 
Willis, fhe fays, very coolly, i it Is un- 
neceflary to mention! As to the genu- 
inene{fs of the papers, Mifs Williams 
tells us, that fhe has obtained fuch 
proofs from men who now fill eminent 
ofices under the Republic, and from 
others who exercifed the higheft func- 
tions under Lovis XVI. and who were 
confequently inftructed both as to the 
{pirit and the letter, as to leave no 
doubt whatever on the fubje@&. It 
fhould be mentioned that Mifs Wil- 
liams herfelf does not appear to have 
feen the originals themfelves. The in- 
ternal evidence, however, is foftrong, 
as to leave little doubt that the greater 
part of them at leaft jare genuine.— 
They were many of them written m 
{cenes of the greateft trouble and afiic- - 
tion; they have that turn of fentiment 
and expreffion which were peculiar to 
the Monarch’s charaéter ; they ‘have 
that mafculine good fenfe and mature 
judgment which he always difplayed 1 in 
converfation on general fubjects ; that 
fagacity and forefight which he is 
known to have poffefted in political af- © 
fuirs ; that humanity and benevolence 
of heart, that paternal tendernefs and 
folicitude, which he felt for his peo- 
ple; and that general affection which 
bound him fo clofely to shis relatives 
and friends. 
‘© An Wy ged into the Colonial Policy 
of the European Powers. By eves 
BroucHam, Fun. Efg.? . 
We confider this. as a work oF very 
great ability: the fubjeéts are difcufied 
with ingenuity and force of argument 3 
and the facts adduced are relevant and 
well authenticated. Inthe firft book 
Mr. Brougham confiders the political 
relations which exift between the ftate 
and its colony, and commences with a 
review of the colcnies of antiquity.— 
He proceeds to conlider the caules 
which produced the colonization of 
modern times, and draws a picture of 
the ftate of manners in thofe colonies, 
and of the effects produced upon the 
prefent ftate by § the circulation of 
inhabitants”. 
