Europe, every thing presses me to take some step, no longer to remain the plaything of events, to become entirely free in my actions, and to finish the fulfilment of every duty I owe your land.

In addressing myself to you, gentlemen, in regarding you as the representatives of a nation without a general representation, and demanding its decision, I believe myself discharging this last duty. Whatever this decision may be, I pray you to let me know it as soon as possible.

"I finish this manifesto, so important to myself, by a sincere wish for the happiness of Holland, and by the requests I make her in this connexion:

1. Not to confine herself to the old constitution, but to finish that which the act of union of Utrecht only sketched, in a word, to constitute a free but monarchical government, like England and Switzerland; without this the state of Holland will be precarious and depend on various causes, extraneous to herself.

2. Not to let herself be carried away by animosities or exaggerations; to consider that the state of peace and neutrality is the only safeguard of the country; that the armaments should be as strong as possible at present, merely to maintain the independence of the ancient territory, and the absence from it of foreign troops, and to avoid carefully becoming the theatre of the war. Whatever may be your answer, I shall remain unalterably and tenderly attached to your country.'

As the Dutch, without paying any attention to this letter, conferred the sovereign power upon the Prince of Orange, Louis considered himself as disengaged from all his obligations towards his former subjects. It is impossible not to perceive from this proceeding, as well as from the other instances of the same kind which we have pointed out, that Louis, with very good intentions, and with no small share of magnanimity and disinterestedness in his character, misconceived entirely his position in regard to Holland. He appears to have considered his nomination by Napoleon to the crown of that country, as conferring upon him a right to the government of it; and to have thought that his conduct while there had gained him the good will of his subjects. Nothing, of course, can be clearer, than that his appointment conferred no right whatever, and it is quite evident that the nation only considered him as the instrument of a foreign oppressor, fortunately less pliant to his employer's wishes than the rest, but still connected effectively with a system, which they had every reason to detest.

Being now disengaged from his obligations to his former subjects, Louis determined to return to France, and to live there as a private citizen. He arrived at Paris the first of January 1814. The Emperor at first refused to see him, and even exiled him forty leagues from the city, but by the intervention of their brother they were induced to have a meeting, which passed very coldly. He remained at or near Paris till the return of the Bourbons, but does not appear to have been on friendly terms with his brother. He remarks, however, that at this period he wrote to Napoleon almost every day, for the purpose of pressing him to agree to terms. It required indeed no uncommon sagacity to see that Napoleon was playing at this time a desperate game, but the same extravagant spirit, which made him lose the opportunities which presented themselves the year before of concluding a most advantageous peace on moderate terms, now urged hi n on to cemplete ruin. After the abdication, Louis repaired to Rome, having first obtained the Pope's permission; and has continued to reside there ever since. He had the discretion and good fortune not to take any part in the disastrous movement of the year 1815. We add here the passage, in which he speaks of his last interview with Napoleon.

He then quitted Switzerland, proceeded to Lyons, and arrived at Paris the morning of the first of January. He alighted at his mother's abode. He could not see the Emperor, till ten days after his arrival An order was intimated to him to depart 40 leagues from Paris. The Prince de Neufchatel and the Duc de Vicence came to announce this order formally to him, which he refused to obey, because no one had the right of forbidding him to live at home.

He

He saw the Emperor at last the tenth of January, by the mediation of the Empress; they met coldly without embracing. It would be difficult to describe the feelings of Louis at meeting a brother to whom his childhood had been so much indebted, but who had given such cause of complaint after his life and prospects had been sacrificed to policy and the illusions of the world. begged his brother to pass by every thing which could concern Holland in their conversation; he promised himself to forget this country entirely during his stay in France. "If victory places it in your power," said he, "I only claim the permission to leave France, when I do not wish to stay, if Françe invades that kingdom a second time; if, on the contrary, victory abandons you, there will be no farther question, nor necessity of discussion."

This is the letter of the Emperor, written with his own hand, which Louis refused to obey.*

My brother, I have received your two letters, and learnt with regret that you have arrived at Paris without my permission. You are no longer king of Holland, since you have abdicated, and since I have united that country to France; you ought to think no more of it. The territory of the empire is invaded, and I have all Europe armed against me. Will you come as a French prince, as constable of the empire, and place yourself near the throne? I will receive you; you will be my subject; in that quality you shall enjoy my friendship, and do what you can for the common cause. If on the contrary you persist in your ideas of king and Hollander, retire 40 leagues from Paris. I do not wish any ambiguous character, any role tiers. If you accept, write me a letter, that I can have printed."

He staid at Paris during the months of January, February, and March, to the thirtieth of this last month, when he followed the Empress to Blois. He insisted that she should remain at Paris, in spite of the entry of the allies, but she dared not. The Emperor, in his instructions, declared traitors all, who should remain at Paris, provided this city should be occupied by the allies, and even any one who should advise the Empress to remain.

He saw the Emperor a second time the thirtieth of January, on the eve of his departure to the army. The Emperor was decided to make peace after the first victory, but suffered himself to be drawn into a contrary system. That one of his brothers, of whom we speak here, did not cease to press him to sign any peace, he wrote to him almost every day, and among others the 3, 5, and 16 March; in the last of his letters he wrote these remarkable words: "If your majesty does not sign the peace, be convinced your government has not much more than three weeks. of existence; it only requires a little coolness and good sense to judge of the state of things at this moment." It was the 16 of March that he wrote these prophetic words, and the 18 of April that the revolution took place. But Fortune is never more deceptive, than when she commences extraordinary prosperity; every thing succeeds to the wishes of her favourites; the sails are swelled, the sea and elements favourable and agreeable to their wish; but let them wait the end of their course, and learn that the evil is in proportion to the good; that time lost by misfortune she makes up, and that every thing is balanced in this world and in the next.'

• * Mon frère, j'ai reçu vos deux lettres, et j'ai appris avec peine que vous soyez arrivé à Paris sans ma permission. Vous n'êtes plus roi de Hollande depuis que vous avez renoncé, et que j'ai réuni ce pays à la France; vous ne devez plus y songer. Le territoire de l'empire est enva

We should do injustice to the character of the Dutch if we omitted to notice the very lofty and flattering eulogium which is passed upon it in this work, by one who certainly possessed some means of judging it with correctness.

To consider the humid, uncultivated, and desert aspect of the greatest part of the low, inundated, and as it were artificial soil of a coast, eaten away on the one side by the principal rivers of Europe, which empty themselves over it, and on the other constantly menaced by the tempestuous and violent waves on these shores; to consider the prodigious labour of the Dutch, necessary to preserve their soil above the waters; to consider the continual `necessity they are under of the most unrelaxing activity and industry, to procure their subsistence on a barren, expensive, and trembling soil, in an unfavourable climate, one would not think this people could love their country. One would lament their being no more favoured by heaven, and be ready to compare them to a company of exiles, banished from other societies, and forced to live on a thankless and unhealthy soil. But when the manners and character of this people are examined nearer, it is easy to discern their virtues, their candor, their good sense, their attachment to their duty, their patience, their love of labour, their moderation in pleasure, their gratitude and their love towards the Author of every good; when we observe their aptitude for every thing they undertake; the great men they have produced; the perfect state of their agriculture, sciences, commerce, and arts; the high degree of intelligence and civilization they possess, we might compare this people to a community of philosophers, disgusted with the reverses, follies, and evils of other men; and who, desirous of living apart, according to their reason and their conscience, look with pity on the pomp, the pleasures, the grandeur, the luxury, the frivolity, and the inhumanity of the world; or rather we might compare them to a chosen people, set apart by heaven as a model for other nations.'

Our readers are perhaps aware that the Netherlands are regarded by some inquirers, principally, we believe, inhabitants of the country, as the original seat of civilization and science, as the primitive root from which proceed the various hi, et j'ai toute l'Europe armeé contre moi. Voulez-vous venir comme prince français, comme connétable de l'empire, vous ranger auprès du trône? Je vous recevrai, vous serez mon sujet; en cette qualité, vous y jouirez de mon amitié, et ferez ce que vous pourrez pour le bien des affaires. Il faut alors que vous ayez pour moi, pour le roi de Rome, pour l'Imperatrice, ce que vous devez avoir [?] Si au contraire, vous persistez dans vos ideés de roi et de Hollandais, éloignez-vous de quarante lieues de Paris. Je ne veux pas de position mixte, de rôle tiers. Si vous accedez, écrivez moi une lettre que je puisse faire imprimer.'

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branches of the tree of knowledge which now flourish in the East and in the West. They even consider the geography of these provinces as the ground work of the seducing narratives we read in ancient poets and romances of the Fortunate islands, the Elysian fields, the Sunken land of Atlas and the country of the Hyperboreans, all which places are universally described by the writers in question, as inhabited by an uncommonly virtuous race of men, gens justissima-a nation of heroes and sages. The advocates of this theory are accustomed to urge, among other corroborating circumstances, the great conformity between the actual character of the Dutch and the qualities attributed in history to the tribes in question. In fact, if the Dutch are, as they suppose by general acknowledgment, a community of philosophers, the theory would certainly be in a high degree probable. Such communities are not of daily occurrence, and with the exception of the United States, we have no people who can put in a very plausible claim to this distinction. The opinion of Louis, which we quoted above, forms, therefore, a singular corroboration of this system, and the more as it appears to have been given without any view to its being used for this purpose. If the attempts which have been made to substantiate the analogy between the arts and languages of the different nations of the world, and those of Holland are equally successful, we may regard the solution of this most interesting problem in the history of man, as near at hand. We have not room, at the close of this long article, to enter upon a full discussion of a new subject of such importance, but must reserve our remarks for a future essay, which we have in preparation, on the local position of the garden of Eden. We may add, however, that the opinion of the late worthy and ingenious Diedrich Knickerbocker, respecting the Dutch character, appears to have been not less elevated than that of Louis Bonaparte.

ART. XIV.—Anastasius; or Memoirs of a Greek: written at the close of the last century. New York, reprinted, 2 vols. 12mo. 1820.

THERE are few things, in which the progress of taste has been greater, than in the department of novel writing. A