THE ENGLISH REVIEW, For JANUARY, 1787. ART. I. Travels in North America, in the Years 1780, 1781, and 1782. By the Marquis de Chaftellux, one of the Forty Members of the French Academy, and Major-General in the French Army ferving under the Count de Rochambeau. Tranftated from the French by an English Gentleman, who refided in America during that Period. With Notes by the Translator. In Tivo Volumes Octave. 12s. Robinfons. London, 1786. HOWEVER ftrange of paradoxical the affertion may appear, it is certain that a paffion, or rather an enthusiasm for liberty, is one of the striking characteristics of the French nation at present. An admiration of the English character in general, and of the English conftitution in particular, has been prevailing for half a century. The celebrity of the British name, fince the reign of Queen Anne, recommended our government and laws to the admiration of foreigners; and the warm panegyric of Montesquieu, in his Spirit of Laws," introduced this subject to the French republic of letters. Since that period the philosophers and authors of France have adopted a zeal for liberty and the rights of mankind; and have equalled, if not exceeded, Harrington, Sydney, and Locke, in their de testation of tyranny, and passion for a free government. As in France there is a greater intercourse between men of letters and men of the world than in any other country, the opinions and fentiments of the former have a rapid and general spread, and tend in a particular manner to form the ENG. REV. Vol. IX. Jan, 1787. mind, A ! mind, and influence the character, of the young. The arbitrary administration of a tyrannical government, which they feel and detest, heightens the patriot paffion; the freest speculations on politics are indulged in confidential circles; and a revolution, favourable to liberty, is prepared in the minds of men, provided there was a great emergency to call forth, and a middle order between the nobles and people in the state, to concentrate and direct the sentiments and efforts of enlightened individuals. In the Corfican war, admiration of the courage, as well as compaffion for the fate, of the unhappy islanders, were general in Paris; a generous partiality for the republic rifing in the new world, animated and armed individuals in their cause before the French nation commenced or declared hostilities against Britain. The Marquis de Chastellux, the author of these travels, was known to the literary world by his treatise Sur la Felicite publique; in which he avows the noblest principles of philanthropy and freedom before he joined the French army in America during the last war, as major-general, underthe Count de Rochambeau. Animated with a youthful zeal for the profperity of nascent republics, and partaking the spirit of his nation, whose interests were inimical to those of Britain, the reader may expect, in the course of his travels through America, a flattering picture, rather than a just portrait. Nor will he be disappointed. Our traveller seems to have left his philosophy at Paris, and, delivering himself up to the delufions of imagination, to have invested every object with a glow of colours that are above nature, and beyond the life. The following is his account of General Washington: 2 • Here would be the proper place to give the portrait of General Washington: but what can my testimony add to the idea already formed of him? The continent of North-America, from Boston to Charles-Town, is a great volume, every page of which presents his eulogium. I know that, having had the opportunity of a near inspection, and of closely observing him, some more particular details may be expected from me; but the strongest characteriftic of this respectable man is the perfect union which reigns between the physical and moral qualities which compose the individual; one alone will enable you to judge of all the reft. If you are presented with medals of Cefar, of Trajan, or Alexander, on examining their features, you will still be led to ask what was their stature, and the form of their persons; but if you discover, in a heap of ruins, the head or the limb of an antique Apollo, be not curious about the other parts, but reft affured that they all were conformable to those of a God.. Let not this comparison be attributed to enthusiasm! It is not my intention intention to exaggerate; I wish only to express the impression General Washington has left on my mind; the idea of a perfect whole, that cannot be the produce of enthusiasm, which rather would reject it, fince the effect of proportion is to diminish the idea of greatness. Brave without temerity, laborious without ambition, generous without prodigality, noble without pride, virtuous without severity; he seems always to have confined himself within those limits, where the virtues, by clothing themselves in more lively, but more changeable and doubtful colours, may be mistaken for faults. This is the seventh year that he has commanded the army, and that he has obeyed the congrefs; more need not be faid, especially in America, where they know how to appreciate all the merit contained in this fimple fact. Let it be repeated that Conde was intrepid, Turenne prudent, Eugene adroit, Catinat disinterested; it is not thus that Washington will be characterized. It will be faid of him, " at the end of a long civil war, he had nothing with which he could reproach himself." If any thing can be more marvellous than such a character, it is the unanimity of the public fuffrages in his favour. Soldier, magiftrate, people, all love and admire him; all speak of him in terms of tenderness and veneration. Does there then exist a virtue capable of restraining the injustice of mankind; or are glory and happiness too recently eftablished in America for envy to have deigned to pass the seas? 1 • In speaking of this perfect whole, of which General Washington furnishes the idea, I have not excluded exterior form. His stature is noble and lofty; he is well made, and exactly proportioned, his physiognomy mild and agreeable, but such as to render it impossible to speak particularly of any of his features; so that in quitting him you have only the recollection of a fine face. He has neither a grave nor a familiar air; his brow is sometimes marked with thought, but never with inquietude; in inspiring respect, he inspires confidence; and his smile is always the smile of benevolence. The tranflator, who seems to be as well acquainted with American affairs as the Marquis de Chastellux himself, gives his teftimony to the accuracy of this description: " Future " historians," says he, " will be grateful to the Marquis de "Chastellux for this exquisite portrait, every feature and "every tint of which will stand the test of the feverest "scrutiny, and be handed down to distant ages in never"fading colours." We will not take upon us to determine what distant ages may think, but to us this character appears 1o vague, indistinct, ambiguous, and equivocal, that we know not whether to look upon it as a panegyric or a burlesque." The perfect union which reigns between the phy"fical and moral qualities of the individual; his confining "himself to those limits, where the virtues, by clothing "themselves in more lively, but more changeable and " doubtful colours, may be mistaken for faults; and that, " at the end of a long civil war, he had nothing wherewith " he could reproach himself;" convey a negative kind of praife, A 2 |