adds, that there is one thing wanting to these acts of taking possession; the ratification by the native proprietor, the natural sovereign. The Spaniards, however, (says the editor,) decided, as far as they were able, and without intending it, a question which their interest required to remain undisturbed; whether the simple discovery and the form of taking possession, unaccompanied by any step to wards the execution, can supply the place of a real title of propriety and right of occupation? Had Spain forgotten that, in 1578, Admiral Drake, who discovered New Albion, comprehending more than 200 leagues of coast between 37 and 48 degrees of latitude, had solemnly taken possession of all the country in the name of Queen Elizabeth; and if, at the present day, England chose to revive this pretended title of propriety, could Spain fancy herself founded in maintaining that time had effaced the title? I am only the historian, and ought to leave the question to be determined by those who are more versed in the law of nations. It is probable that their judgment would be, after having consulted the primitive rights of the native inhabitants, that the claims of both the one and the other side are founded on usurpation and the abuse of power.' It was, however, resolved to establish a presidency at Men terey and San Diego. It was necessary to have recourse to some illusive expedient, to conceal even from themselves the injustice of such an usurpation; and the Spanish Government imagined that they were sufficiently justified in the eyes of mankind, as well as in their own, by associating the cause of religion with the project of iniquity. They spoke only of the propagation of the faith, and of the conversion of infidels; covering, with a respectable veil, the true motives of their enterprize. Missionary priests were destined to accompany the army.—' The forces appointed to this service were divided; one part proceeding by land, the other in vessels along the coast. The Spanish relation of the expedition was published by the govern ment of New Spain; and though the work is very scarce, M. Fleurieu obtained a copy. The Spanish attempts at discovery are not held in higher estimation by this author than they were by his friend Af. la Pérouse. In one of their late expeditions towards the North (in 1788), M. Fleurieu relates that the only discovery of importance made was from some conversations with the Russians, by which they learned that the governor of Kamtschatka had it in contemplation to occupy the port of Nootka in the name of the Empress of Russia. This rumour, whether well or ill founded, determined the Viceroy of Mexico to possess himself of that port; and that no one might be ignorant of the rights of Spain, the name of Nueva California was affixed to the countries in that neighbourhood. The The result of M. Fleurieu's examination of modern researches, and comparison of them with the early accounts, tends to esta blish the reality of the old discoveries in the most material points; notwithstanding that the fabulous matter, with which they are interwoven, gives to the whole a very strong appearance of invention. In our review of Captain Vancouver's Voyage, we expressed a similar opinion. Indeed, the existence of a strait and of an archipelago of islands being proved, and nearly though not exactly in the situations represented, appears to us to be a circumstance of co-incidence so immediately to the point, that we cannot find reasonable ground for refusing to believe that the old accounts were founded on actual discovery. The editor takes occasion, in his account of the commercial expeditions to the Western coast of North America, to animadvert on some expressions in the published account of Captain Dixon's voyage, which seem to convey insinuations to the prejudice of M. de la Pérouse and his officers: but the character of M. de la Pérouse is too well known and established to require defence; and no part of his character or conduct was more conspicuous than his generous treatment, and not less than parental care, of his ship's company. Nevertheless, it would be unjust on that account to suffer any illiberal attack to pass without reprehension. In the French translation of that voyage, the passage is mide more objectionable than in the original, by the words "They are said to have traced the North-west coast of America," Ecc. being rendered" Ils pretendent," &c. We shall extract the passage from the original. "They are said to have traced the north-west coast of America from the Spanish settlement of Monterey to 60 degrees north latitude; but this seems rather improbable, for though these vessels were professedly fitted out on discovery, yet the commanders did not forget that furs were a valuable article, and accordingly, whilst on the American coast, they procured about 600 sea-otter skins, chiefly in pieces, of a very inferior quality, and evidently the same as those imported by the Spaniards; whereas had these gentlemen been well in with the coast to the northward, they undoubtedly must have met with sea-otter skins of a quality far superior to what they procured." This passage is in many respects exceptionable, but chiefly for the liberty of censure in which the writer has indulged himself, on no better grounds than unexamined information and surmise. The skins carried to China by M. de la Pérouse were of the finest quality; and though the greater part of them were old * See Vol. xxviii. N. S. p.1. 141. 374. and and much worn, they sold for a very considerable sum: (55,000 livres tournois;) the whole of which was divided among the seamen and soldiers of the two frigates, without the superior officers (Etat-major) receiving the least portion.The expressions above quoted are attributed by M. Fleurieu to national jealousy but we are rather of opinion that they were dictated chiefly by a spirit of commercial jealousy, and by disappointment at finding that the China market had already been in part supplied. The respect shewn in this work to the memory of our justly celebrated countryman, Capt. Cook, it would be ungrateful in us to pass unnoticed. His tragical death,' says the writer, terminated the most laborious and useful career that any navigator has ever performed.'-The verse" Hic tandem stetimus nobis ubi defuit orbis," which was applied to the French philosophers in Lapland, M. Fleurieu has imitated in the following French couplet, as applicable to the two polar voyages (one to the South, the other to the North,) performed by Capt. Cook; who proceeded towards each pole, till obstructed by the ice: L'Argonaute Breton que Neptune admira, Ne put être arrété qu'ou la Mer lui manqua.' The British Argonaut by Neptune honor'd sails, This introduction contains much animated narrative, and much curious information, clearly arranged; and though some of the writer's remarks are too often repeated, they are the observations of an experienced and reflecting mind. [To be continued.] ART. XV. Memoria sobre hum projecto de Pasigraphia, &c. i. e. A Memoir concerning a Plan of Pasigraphy. By J. M. DANTAS PEREIRA, Captain of a Frigate, Member of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Lisbon, Preceptor to H. R. H. the Infant Don Pedro, &c. Folio. pp. 34. Lisbon. 1800. TOWARDS the middle of the seventeenth century, when the greater number of European nations had considerably advanced in science and literature, authors began to write more frequently than before in their own language; and the Latin, which till then had been most generally used in learned works, gradually ceased to be the common vehicle of literary communication. This revolution, though advantageous to the propagation of learning in each individual nation, was nevertheless a new obstacle to the general circulation of improvements in the literary republic at large; and well-wishers to the progress progress of human knowlege began to think of some means of evading the necessity of understanding so many different languages. Bishop Wilkins is well known to have composed the first treatise professedly on an universal written language; and it was a work of much labour and meditation, establishing those principles on which subsequent pasigraphists have founded their different systems. The celebrated Freret was of opinion that Bishop Wilkins would probably have succeeded in making his universal language generally adopted, if, in the practical part of his plan, he had bestowed greater attention on the natural filiation of ideas, than on the categorics of the peripatetic school. As it was, no person took the trouble of learning his language, except his friend Mr. Boyle. After this prelate, a number of authors at different periods have offered pasigraphical plans, which have generally been soon. forgotten by the public; though many of them contain useful information and pertinent observations concerning the nature of signs, and their mutual relation to the developement of ideas. A few years past, an attempt towards forming an universal written language was published at Paris; and the proposed system was adopted with eagerness by the Abbé Sicard, the famous instructor of the Dumb and Deaf; who promised to arrange the details of it so as to make it practicable. In the Appendix to the xxivth vol. of our Review, page 562, we gave an abstract of the system: but we have not been informed how far the Abbé executed what he then proposed in the Magasin Encyclopedique. The plan of the Portuguese author of the treatise now before us differs, in some respects, from those of his predecessors in this career. Unlike them, he does not pretend to establish a system of characters expressing mere ideas, without any relation to the sounds of which the different nations make use to express them by words: but he proposes to take one of the most complete dictionaries in one of the learned languages, to mark with numbers each of the words which it contains, and then to affix the same numbers to words of synonimous signification in the dictionaries of other languages. It is clear that the same number would thus signify the same thing in all these dictionaries; and that, by writing these numbers instead of the words, the natives of the different countries which should agree to this proposal would understand each other without difficulty: but the too great simplicity of this plan gives it more the appearance of a diplomatic cypher than of a pasigraphic arrangement of signs. The author himself seems aware of this objection; and Mem. de PAcad. des Inscriptions, vol. 9. he' he is ready to enter the words into different classes, and to distinguish their modifications by peculiar numeric signs; in which case, we imagine, he will approach more or less to the system proposed by Mr. Northmore, in the early part of the last century. In either event, too many serious difficulties will render the execution of the plan an arduous task. As Mr. DANTAS here proposes only the outline of his plan, we shall forbear to enter in farther details: but from the ingenuity and candor which are visible in his performance, we are inclined to believe that, at some future period, he will think of pasigraphy in general, and of his own plan, as Rousseau thought of the improved systems of notation in Music, and of his own theory on that subject *. There is little danger that any other language than the branches of the Teutonic, and of the Latin, (both of which may be called the Northern and Southern European languages,) will soon be rendered necessary by any important discoveries which may be announced in it. Even these European languages will probably be reduced by the diminution in number, and increase in size, which is rapidly taking place among European states: while the prevalence of translations will soon effect a natural level in each of the great sations, and diffuse among them every truly important disco very and useful idea. This pamphlet seems to be written in a peculiar style, and with a turn of periods and phrases which we should have particularly noticed if it had been an English composition: but the author's own countrymen are the sole competent judges of its perfections or its faults;-and indeed the civility which he has manifested towards us, by quoting so freely from an article respecting pasigraphy, in a former volume of our Review, would give an ungracious appearance to any critical strictures from our pen. ART. XVI- Description des Plantes, &c. i. e. A Description of new or little known plants, cultivated in the Garden of M. Gelst with Plates; published by E. P. VENTENAT, of the National Institute of France, and one of the Librarians at the Pantheon. No. I. Folio. Paris, 1800. Imported by de Boffe, London. T is gratifying to the lovers of learning, and of mankind, to observe the sciences emerge from the ruins and revolutionary horrors which threatened their destruction in France, and appear with an energy and vigour unparalleled in the former periods of French history. Natural history, in particular, is investigated with a degree of accuracy, of which old France did 11 See Diction. de Musique. not |