communicated to both chambers by the duke of Richelieu, and it may easily be conceived that the scene would be equally trying to the feelings of the speaker and the audience. The basis laid down by the allied powers was, that the indemnity due to the powers for their exertions, occasioned by the late enterprise of Buonaparte, cannot consist wholly either in cessions of territory, or in pecuniary payments, without greatly injuring the essential interests of France; and therefore that it is better to unite them; and also, that it is necessary for a certain time to keep the frontier provinces of France occupied by a certain number of the allied troops. Of the articles which follow, the first declares, that the frontiers of France remain as they were in 1790, with the exception of the modifications subsequently described. The principal cessions of territory are on the borders of Belgium and the Upper Rhine, and in the vicinity of Geneva, the whole not considerable in extent, but important in point of situation. The indemnity in money to the allied powers was fixed at seven hundred millions of francs, the mode and periods of payment being regulated by a separate convention. The frontier towns to be occupied by the allies, for a term not exceeding five years, and which circumstances might reduce to three, were seventeen in number, along the frontiers of French Flanders, Champagne, Lorrain, and Alsace: the establishment of troops not to be greater than 150,000 men, to be maintained by France, and under a commander in chief nominated by the allied powers. Particular conventions were made for liquidating the claims of different powers on the French government. Such was the

bitter cup of humiliation which France was doomed to drain, after so many triumphs over her neighbours, enjoyed with so little moderation. As she had risen higher under her late ruler than at any former period, so she was called upon to submit to a greater abasement. The terms imposed were however a proof of the dread still entertained of her power.

With respect to her internal condition, the past experience of the rapid changes it has undergone, the known restlessness and impetuosity of the national character, and the present superintendence exercised by foreign armies, render wholly vague all conjectures on this head for the future; and even throw much uncertainty on the actual state of things. The press is no medium of information to be depended upon, since journals and periodical works are under a supervision, not less strict on account of its being privately exercised. In the published debates of the two chambers, we see an intemperate and almost incontrolable ardour for speaking, and much violence of language and manner, an apparent ardour of loyalty, breaking out in mobbish shouts of Vive le Roi, and a preponderance of what is termed ultra-royalism, which opposes the moderation of the court and ministers respecting political criminals, and inclines to carry retrospective punishment to the greatest practicable severity.This spirit has been particularly displayed in the debates on the proposed law of amnesty, with which the year 1815 concluded, and seems to forebode a stormy season to come, unless government shall have acquired the strength and the wisdom to hold the helm with a temperate but steady hand.

Stereotyped ani Printed by J. M/QOWER,

Great Windmill Street Loudon.

IT has been justly observed by Mr. Matra, formerly the English consul at Morocco, that there have been more books written on Barbary than on any other country, and yet there is no country with which we are less acquainted. So little is understood by the majority of mankind respecting the geography, the manners, the natural history, and the policy of Morocco and its dependencies, that military and political details, unless accompanied by a copious reference to the former subjects, would be equally destitute of interest and utility. It becomes therefore our object, at the commencement of our undertaking, to present an authentic portrait of the African character, and a faithful sketch of the Barbarian empire. The reader will thus become familiar with the people whose actions we record; and, while they reprobate their crimes, will participate with tenfold interest in their exploits and vicissitudes.

Concerning the origin of the word Barbary, there are many conjectures. According to some, the Romans, after they had conquered the country, gave it that name out of contempt, according to their usual custom of calling all other people but themselves Barbarians. Marmol, on the contrary, derives the word from Berber, a name given by the Greeks and Arabs to the ancient inhabitants, which Bruce says signified shepherd. Tending sheep was the original occupation of the natives, particularly in the

interior, and near the mountains of ́Atlas. Others, however, derive it from the Arabic word bar, signifying a desert, twice repeated; which was given by one Africus, a king of Arabia, from whom the whole continent of Africa is said by some to have taken its name. According to them, this king being driven out of his own dominions, and closely pursued by his enemies, his retine called out to him, Bar, bar; that is, To the desert, To the desert;' from which the country was afterwards called Barbary.

Barbary is bounded on the north by the Mediterranean sea, which divides it from Europe; on the east by Egypt; on the south by Zara, or the desert; and on the west by the Atlantic ocean. Its utmost extent from east to west, or from Cape Non, on the most western coast of Morocco, to the confines of Egypt, is almost thirty-seven degrees, or about 2,200 geographical miles. It commences on the west by the famous Mount Atlas, called by the Arabs Ayduacal, and incloses the ancient kingdoms of Suez and Dela, now provinces of Morocco, and extends north-eastward along the Atlanticcoast, through the straits of Gibraltar, and so on by an eastern course, along the Medi-terranean coast, to the city of Alexandria, which is the southern boundary of Egypt, where it joins to this of Barbary. The principal kingdoms into which it is now divided are those of Morocco, Fez, Algiers,

b

Tunis, and Tripoli-the kingdom of Telensin, or Tremesin, having been incorporated with that of Algiers; and that of Borca having been reduced to a dependence on that of Tripoli. Both the coasts of Barbary, whether watered by the Atlantic ocean or by the Mediterranean, are fertile in corn and pasturage; the former being watered by a multitude of small and large rivers, which descend from Atlas and empty themselves into the ocean and the former extending along the declivity of a vast ridge of mountains, some of which are considerably high, and spread above forty leagues inland, supplying a number of rivers, which, after many windings through pleasant and fertile vallies, discharge themselves into the Mediterranean. The coast of Barbary was probably first planted by the Egyptians. The Phenicians afterwards sent colonies thither, and built Utica and Carthage. The Carthaginians soon became powerful and wealthy by trade, and finding the country divided into many little kingdoms and states, either subdued the princes on their coasts or made them tributaries. Weary of their yoke, they availed themselves of the opportunity presented by the invasion of the Romans to assist them in the subjugation of Carthage, The Romans remained sovereigns of the coast of Barbary, which indeed was almost the whole of their possession, Egypt excepted, on the continent of Africa. Beneath their sway the territory was divided into the provinces of Mauritania, Africa Propria, &c. and they continued absolute masters of it from the reign of Julius Cæsar till the year of Christ 428. At that time Bonifacius, the Roman governor of these provinces, having, through the treachery of Aëtius, been forced, to revolt, called to his assistance Genseric, king of the Vandals, who had been some time settled in Spain. The terms offered, according to Procopius, were, that Genseric should have two-thirds, and Bonifacius onethird, of Africa, provided they could maintain themselves against the Roman power: to accomplish which, they were to assist cach other to the utmost. This proposal was instantly complied with; and Genseric set sail from Spain in May 428, with an army of 80,000 men, according to some, or only

24,000 according to others, with their wives, children, and all their effects. In the meantime the empress Placidia, having discovered the cause of Bonifacius' revolt, wrote a kind and obliging letter to him, in which she assured him of her favour and protection, exhorting him to return to his duty, and exert his usual zeal for the welfare of the empire, by driving out the Barbarians, whom the malice of his enemies had obliged him to call in for his own safety and preservation. Bonifacius complied with this request, and offered the Vandals considerable sums if they would return to Spain. But Genseric, already master of the greatest part of the country, first returned an evasive answer, and then, falling unexpectedly on him, cut most of his men in pieces, and obliged Bonifacius to fly to Hippo, which place he invested in May 430. The siege lasted till July the following year; when the Vandals were forced, by a famine that began to rage. in their camp, to drop the enterprise and retire. Soon after, Bonifacius having received two reinforcements, one from Rome, and the other, under the conduct of the celebrated Asper, from Constantinople, it was resolved by the Roman generals to offer the enemy battle. The Vandals readily accepted the challenge: a bloody engagement ensued, in which the Romans were utterly defeated, a prodigious number of them taken, and the rest obliged to shelter themselves among the rocks and mountains. Asper, who commanded the eastern troops, escaped with difficulty to Constantinople, and Bonifacius was recalled to Italy. Upon their departure, the Vandals over-ran all Africa, committing everywhere the most terrible ravages; which struck the inhabitants of Hippo with such terror that they abandoned their city, which was plundered and burnt by the victorious enemy, so that Cirtha and Carthage were now the only strong places possessed by the Romans.

In 435, Genseric, probably being afraid of an attack by the united forces of the eastern and western empires, concluded a peace with the Romans, who yielded to him a part of Numidia, the province of Proconsularis, and Byzacene; for which, according to Prosper, he was to pay a yearly tribute to the em