and neglected as they now are, his advocacy of the American cause, and description of the country, drawn apparently from inadequate yet sometimes authentic sources, on account of a certain philosophical tone and agreeability of style, were for some years read and admired. As we recur to them in the ninth volume of the latest edition of his chief work, wherein they are now included, we obtain a vivid idea of the kind of research and rhetoric then in vogue, and can imagine how to foreign minds must then have appeared the problem of our nascent civilization.

The Abbé's biographer claims that he was personally very agreeable, and possessed of a fine figure; that the vivacious. discussions and literary fellowship of the Paris salons enlivened and enlarged the acquisitions of this eleve of the cloister who "succeeded in the world," and, though he did not understand the science of politics, and often contradicted himself, was, notwithstanding, an ardent and capable defender of human rights, and a true lover of his race. It is a. curious fact, that he was a warm admirer and eloquent eulogist of Sterne's fair friend, Eliza Draper; and a more interesting one, that he was among the very earliest to protest against the cruelties then practised against the negro race. He draws a parallel, at the close of his history, between the actual results of European conquests in America, and their imagined benefits. The new empire multiplied metals, and made a grand movement in the world; but, says the Abbé, "le mouvement ne'st pas le bonheur," and the Western empire "donné naissance au plus infame, au plus atroce de tous les commerces, celui des esclaves." Chiefly occupied with the West India Islands, what is said of North America is discursive. He describes the process of civilization in brief; the Puritan, Dutch, and Catholic leaders; Penn, and Lord Baltimore; the settlement of Georgia and Carolina; the trees, grain, birds, tobacco, and other indigenous products; notes the imported domestic animals, and the exported wood and metals; discusses the probable success of silk and vine culture in the southern and middle regions, and gives statistics

of the population, and partial accounts of the laws, currency, municipal and colonial systems, &c., of the several States; and then, in outline, describes the Revolution. A love of freedom, and a speculative hardihood and interest in human progress and prosperity, imbue his narratives and reasonings, though the former are often incorrect, and the latter inadequate.

According to the habit of French authors of those days, the Abbé occasionally turns from disquisition to oratory; and it is amusing to read here and now the oracular counsel he gave our fathers: addressing the "peuples de l'Amérique Septentrionale," in 1781: "Craignez," he says, "l'affluence de l'or qui apporte avec le luxe la corruption des mœurs, le mepris des lois; craignez une trop inégale repartition des richesses; garantissez-vous de l'esprit de conquête; cherchez l'aisance et la santé dans le travail, la prosperité dans la culture des terres et les ateliers de l'industrie, la force dans les bonnes mœurs et dans la vertu; faites prosperer les sciences et les artes; veillez à l'education de vos enfans; n'établissez aucune preference légale entre les cultes. Après avoir vu dans le début de cet ouvrage, en quel état de misère et de tenèbres était l'Europe à la naissance de l'Amérique, voyons en quel état le conquête d'un monde a conduit et poussé le monde conquerante." He laments the fanaticism of Massachusetts; tells the story of Salem witchcraft, and the perpetuation in the New of the cruel laws of the Old World; says epidemics like the small pox acquire new virulence in America; praises the Long Wharf of Boston, and compares the dwellings and furniture of that city to those of London.

CHAPTER IV.

FRENCH TRAVELLERS AND WRITERS CONTINUED.

ROCHAMBEAU; TALLEYRAND; SÉGUR; CHATEAUBRIAND; MICHAUX; MURAT; BRILLAT-SAVARIN; DE TOCQUEVILLE; DE BEAUMONT; AMPÈRE, AND OTHERS; LAFAYETTE; FISCH; DE GASPARIN; OFFICERS; LABOULAYE, ETC.

SOME of the most pleasing and piquant descriptions of America, and life there, at the period of and subsequent to the Revolutionary War, are to be found in the memoirs and correspondence of French allies and emigrés. In some instances, as we have seen in the case of Chastellux, Brissot, the Abbé Robin, and others, instead of an episode, our Gallic visitors have expanded their observations into separate volumes; but even the casual mention of places and persons, character and customs that are interwoven in the biography and journals of some of the French officers, are noteworthy as illustrations of the times, especially in a social point of view. We find them in the memoirs of De Lauzun, De Segur, De Broglie, and other of the gallant beaux who made themselves so agreeable to the pretty Quakers at Newport, where they were so long quartered; and left, as in the case of Vosmeneul, traditions of wit, love, and dancing-the evanescent record whereof still survives in the initials cut on the little window panes of the gable-roofed houses with their diamond rings, and were long rehearsed by venerable ladies of Philadelphia and Boston. Among these incidental glimpses of America as her scenes and people impressed a

noble militaire, are many passages in the Memoirs of Count Rochambeau, who is so prominently represented beside Washington in the picture of the surrender of Yorktown, at Versailles. Born in 1725, and soon distinguished as a soldier, in 1780 he was sent as the commander-general of six thousand troops, to assist our Revolutionary struggle. He landed at Newport, R. I., and acted in concert with Washington against Clinton in New York, and against Cornwallis at Yorktown. On his return to France, he was made marshal, and commander of the Army of the North, by Louis XVI. He was gradually superseded by more energetic officers, became the object of calumny to the journalists, and vindicated himself in a speech before the Assembly, who passed a decree approving his conduct. He retired to his estate at Vendome, resolved to abandon public affairs. He was arrested, and narrowly escaped death under Robespierre -like so many of his eminent countrymen who had become well known on this side of the ocean. In 1803 he was presented to Bonaparte, who conferred on him the cross of the Legion of Honor. He died in 1807, and, two years after, his "Mémoires" were published.

He

Count Rochambeau describes at length the military operations of which he was a witness in America, and looks at the country, for the most part, with the eyes of a soldier. He repudiates all idea of writing in the character of a professed author, and both the style and substance of his autobiography are those of a military memoir. Still he records many significant facts, geographical and economical. notes the agricultural resources of those parts of the country he visited, describes the houses, ports, and climate, and gives an interesting account of Arnold's treason-first revealed to Washington in connection with a journey undertaken by the latter to meet him; and of many of the subsequents events connected therewith he was a witness. But the most attractive feature of Rochambeau's American reminiscences is his cordial recognition of the popular mind and heart. He appreciated, better than many more super

ficial observers, the domestic discipline, the religious toleration, and the genuine independence of character which then formed our noble distinction in the view of liberal Europeans. He remarks the unequal interest in the war in different localities: "En distinguant d'abord les commerçans des agricoles, les habitudes des grandes villes maritimes de ceux des petites, villes ou des habitans de l'intérieur, ou ne doit pas être étonné que les commerçans et ceux qui, dans ces ports, avaient une relation ou des intérêts directs avec le gouvernement Anglais, aient témoigné moins de zéle pour la révolution que les agricoles." Boston was an exception; and the Northern States seconded the Revolution which the violence of the British and Hessians precipitated. The equal fortunes of the North favored democracy, while the large proprietors of the South formed an aristocracy. He says of American women: "Les filles y sont libres jusqu'à leur mariage. Leur première, question est de savoir si vous êtes marié; et, si vous l'êtes, leur conversation tombe tout à plat.” Sometimes in youth, though going to church with parents, "elles n'aient pas encore fait choix d'une religion; elles disent qu'elles seront de la religion de leur maris." They observe, he says, "une grande propriété." He describes a settlement "par mettre le feu à la foret (to clear). Il seme en suite, entre les souches, toutes sortes de grains, qui croissant avec la plus grande abondance, sous une couche de feuilles, pourries et réduites en terreau vegetal formé pendant un très-grand nombre d'années. Il batit son habitation avec les rameaux de ces arbres placés l'un sur l'autre, soutenus par des piquets. Au bout de vingt ou trente ans, lorsqu'il est parvenu à desancher et à rendre la terre ameublie, il songe à construire une maison plus propre "-and later one of brick; "on y fait au moins quatre repas, interrompu par un travail modéré, et le petit négre est continuellement occupé à défaire et à remettre le couvert.

"Dans les grands villes," he adds, "le luxe a fait plus de progrès. Le pays circonscrit sous le nom des États Unis, avec les arrondissemens qu'ont cédés les Anglais, par la paix