. The coffin, covered with a pall, and supported upon handspikes by the nearest relatives, now only waited the father to support the head, as is customary. Two or three of these privileged persons spoke to him, but he only answered by shaking his hand and his head in token of refusal. With better intention than judgment, the friends, who considered this as an act of duty on the part of the living, and of decency towards the deceased, would have proceeded to enforce their request, had not Oldbuck interfered between the distressed father and his well-meaning tormentors, and informed them, that he himself, as landlord and master to the deceased, "would carry his head to the grave." In spite of the sorrowful occasion, the hearts of the relatives swelled within them at so marked a distinction on the part of the Laird; and old Ailison Breck, who was present among other fish-women, swore almost aloud, "His honour Monkbarns should never want sax warp of oysters in the season, (of which fish he was understood to be fond,) if she should gang to sea and dredge for them hersel, in the foulest wind that ever blew." The procession to the church-yard, at about half a mile's distance, was made with the mournful solemnity usual on these occasions,--the body was consigned to its parent earth,--and when the labour of the grave-diggers had filled up the trench, and covered it with fresh sod, Mr. Oldbuck, taking his hat off, saluted the assistants, who had stood by in mournful silence, and with that adieu dispersed the mourners.'—vol. iii. pp. 32-49. This, it will be confessed, is fine moral painting, the father unable to look at or yet away from his son's coffin, is a touch of nature not inferior to Madame de Sévigné's famous description of Madame de Longueville's inquiry after her son;—the Grecian painter's veil' is not so natural and touching as the poor fishwoman's apron; the divided sensations of the children and the involuntary motion of the poor old woman's hands, from which the implements of spinning had been removed, are admirable, and the creak of the screws' produces an effect on us almost equal to the sound of Clarissa's coffin on the narrow stairs. We hope we have now said enough to induce our readers to think this novel well worth reading, and we shall only add, that it is impossible to read it without feeling the highest respect for the talents, both gay and pathetic, of the author, for the bold impartiality of his national delineations, and for the taste and discrimination with which he has rescued, from the overwhelming march of time and change of manners, these historical representations of a state of society, which even now is curious, but which in no long period will become a tale of other times; and be examined not merely by the listless reader of novels,but by the moralist and the antiquary. It may be useful to apprize our readers (a circumstance which we unfortunately did not discover till we had got to the end of the third volume,) that there is there to be found a glossary, which is indeed almost indispensable to the understanding of nine-tenths of the work. Those ingenious persons, therefore, who begin to read novels by the latter end, have had, in this instance, a singular advantage over those who, like us, laboured regularly on through the dark dialect of. Anglified Erse. If, as we expect, new editions of Waverley, Guy Mannering, and the Antiquary, should be required by the public, we suggest that the glossary should be placed conspicuously at the beginning of the first volume of the series.* ART. VI. 1. Mémoire sur la Nécessité et les Moyens de faire cesser les Pirateries des Etats Barbaresques. Reçu considéré, et adopté à Paris en Septembre à Turin le 14 Octobre, 1814-à Vienne durant le Congrès. Par W. Sidney Smith. 2 A Letter to a Member of Parliament on the Slavery of the Christians at Algiers. By Walter Croker, Esq. of the Royal Navy. London: 8vo. 1816. 3. Narrative of a Ten Years' Residence at Tripoli, in Africa, from the original Correspondence, in the possession of the Family of the late Richard Tulley, Esq. the British Consul; comprising authentic Memoirs and Anecdotes of the reigning Bashaw, Sedi Useph, his Family, and various Persons of distinction; an Account of the Domestic Manners of the Moors, Arabs, and Turks, &c. 4to. London: 1816. 4 Travels in Europe and Africa; comprising a Journey through France, Spain, and Portugal, to Morocco, with a particular_Account of that Empire, &c. By Colonel Keatinge. 4to. don: 1816. Lon 5. An Account of Tunis, of its Government, Manners, Customs, und Antiquities; especially of its Productions, Manufactures, and Commerce. By Thomas Macgill. Glasgow. 8vo. 1811. AT T the conclusion of a war, unparalleled in its character and duration, and on the much-wished-for return of a general peace, it was not likely that the maritime powers of Europe would continue to tolerate the system of piracy so long carried on by the Barbary States against the flag of every nation which could not either purchase or command their forbearance. It was, however, a nice question to determine what measures were most prudent to be adopted against those States, if they should hesitate to abandon a system so abhorrent from every feeling of humanity, and so justly regarded with universal indignation. The result appears to have been that of employing a British admiral, with a squadron of adequate force, to demand, in the first place, the liberation of all the Christian slaves; and then to nego tiate, on behalf of the minor powers in the Mediterranean, treaties of peace and amity, leaving the great maritime powers to defend themselves, as they had hitherto done, against any insult that might hereafter be offered to their respective flags. The mission, as might be expected from the known character of the officer employed, was completely successful; the release of every Christian slave was procured; treaties were concluded; and a declaration was obtained from Tunis and Tripoli, that no Christian slaves should in future be made by either of these powers; but that the prisoners taken in legitimate warfare should be exchanged according to the usages of war among European nations. This arrangement, apparently so satisfactory to all parties, has not met with that general-approbation to which it would appear to be entitled; on the contrary we hear an absurd clamour, deprecating all treaties with the Barbary states, bellowing for war and extermination, and exciting to another crusade, by 'a holy alliance of all the knights of Christendom,' against those infidels. We hardly think that England will be forward to commit her character in so hopeless a scheme-if Europe is again to be visited by another fit of enthusiastic insanity, his Most Christian Majesty is the proper knight-president' to stand forward as the champion of Christendom, and he will, we doubt not, be found at his post.* The cry, however, is for England to take the lead in this new crusade-and it is quite edifying to observe, in some of the documents appended to the Mémoire of the President of the Society of Knights Liberators of the White Slaves in Africa,' with what easy. complacency the grandees and ministers of foreign powers impose this quixotic enterprise on England, who of all nations in the western hemisphere should be the last to trouble herself about it. One of the president's correspondents observes, that if the „* commercial interests of England be against it, the sentiments of the nation and the conduct of the parliament with respect to the. blacks, leave no room to apprehend that those interests can form any obstacle to a measure which humanity and religion, as well as the knowledge and civilization of the times, demand;'-that * on Great Britain, who has contracted the honourable and holy engagement, by occupying Malta, once the bulwark of Christendom, the obligation strictly devolves;-that, in short, England is responsible for every thing that is done on the seas.'-Another tells him, that England having succeeded to the inheritance of Saint € We will not believe a word of what the Paris Journals say about the fraternal embrace given by the Dey of Algiers to the Consul-General of his Most Christian Majesty, nor of the good understanding between those two potentates; it would be a libel on Louis XVIII. even to suppose such a thing at this moment. 6 John of Jerusalem, it is her duty to clear the sea of those pirates; and a third, whom nothing short of extermination will satisfy, and who of course is out of humour with Lord Exmouth's treaties, writes, in the Frankfort Gazette, England, which, by a nod, could make all these thieves retire into their dens-England, which possesses Malta and the Seven Islands, will never wash away the disgrace of having rivetted the chains of Europe.'-And this too, after she had broken the chains of all that were in captivity! The real object, we suspect, of these foreigners is to plunge us into another mad crusade, in order that their own governments may. profit from the embarrassments, which the imbecility of listening to them would inevitably produce. They know well enough that there is a foolish sort of liberality, a kind of generous knighterrantry about Englishmen, which will hurry them into any enterprise where the name and semblance of humanity are made use of; equally ready to rescue from the gallows a convicted criminal, or release from slavery an unoffending victim. We should hope, however, that there is still enough of sober good sense and steady policy to prevent this country from being hurried into new wars and heavy expenses, which she can ill afford, by the cant of foreigners, or the more dangerous ebullitions of a morbid philanthropy at home; a kindliness of disposition which, without meaning ill, would compromise the state, and sacrifice to the feelings of a mistaken humanity, matters of the greatest national importance. In discussing this question, we may narrow the grounds, by inquiring 1. Can England, consistently with sound policy and good faith, join in the league' for putting down the Barbary powers ? 6 2. Would the cause of humanity be benefitted by the extermi nation of those powers? 3. Is their extermination practicable, and, if so, how is Northern Africa to be disposed of? It has always been deemed an object of the first importance for England to maintain a commanding attitude in the Mediterranean; and for this very reason it has also been the constant endeavour of France and Spain to expel us altogether from that quarter. The great exertions that have been made, the millions that have been expended, the public anxiety that has been felt by the people of England, for the preservation of the barren rock of Gibraltar, had no object beyond the means, which its possession afforded us, of asserting and maintaining our naval superiority in the Mediterranean. The negociations which took place at the Treaty of Amiens, respecting Malta, and which ended in our retaining possession of that island, had no other object. But Malta and Gibraltar depend for their subsistence on external sources of supply; and those, in time of war, when our fleets are large and garrisons numerous, must not be distant. To look to England alone for a supply of food, for 30,000 seamen and soldiers, exclusive of the inhabitants, would be most dangerous, and might be fatal, both to the garrisons and to the fleet. We will admit, however, for argument's sake, the possibility of a regular and ample supply being sent out from England; still, a plague to which Malta is subject, and an endemic sickness which frequently visits Gibraltar, might render those supplies unavailable. The places whence provisions are usually drawn, in time of war, are the Black Sea, the Archipelago, Egypt, and the Barbary States. The first three resources failed us more than once in the course of the late long and arduous struggle, and must always be liable to interruption from war or the plague; but the States of Barbary failed us only when they themselves were suffering under the calamity of famine. Rarely has any of them shown an unwillingness to afford us supplies of cattle and corn, or to furnish our ships of war with fresh provisions, free of all duties, whenever they called at any of their ports; even when at war with Turkey, to which the three states bordering on the Mediterranean are, nominally at least, Pashalicks, they never once attempted to shut their ports against us. In vain did Bonaparte despatch his emissaries, distribute his bribes, employ his promises and his threats, to induce those states to enter into his views, and to withhold those supplies, which, he well knew, would have been the first step towards crippling our fleet, and transferring to France the naval superiority in the Mediterranean. As far, then, as national interests are concerned, it would be an act of madness for Great Britain to join in the holy league which Sir Sidney Smith and his foreign friends have been projecting.-It would be worse than madness-it would be nothing short of a direct infringement of justice and good faith. Our treaties with them are of longer standing than with any other power, the date of the first with Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli being that of 1662, and with Morocco, 1721; yet these treaties, generally speaking, have been held sacred by them. Among other advantages which Great Britain derives from these. treaties, it is stipulated, that no subject of His Majesty shall be bought or sold or made a slave; not even if taken on board a vessel at enmity with those states, provided he be a passenger; that all British vessels may freely pass the seas without any search, hindrance, or molestation, on producing a pass from the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty; that neither the goods shall be seized, nor the men made slaves, belonging to shipwrecked vessels; and that our ships of war shall receive provisions at the several ports, free of duty :'—if, at 6 |