ftanding the evident utility of this reduction, and that the very confiderable fums of money arifing from the favings, were to be applied to increase the real ftrength and fecurity of the nation, by the eftablifhment and fupport of effective marching battalions; yet thefe corps being compofed of gentle. men, and their officers being of the first families in the kingdom, it occafioned a prodigious clamour, and the fate of Struenfee, whofe fall had been precipitated by a fimilar innovation with refpect to the Danish guards, was loudly and repeatedly prognofticated, if not threatened, as the certain doom of the author. Such is the power of habit, and fuch the pride and pleafure which men find, and the mutual attachment they contract, when thrown into any diftin&t clafs that feparates them from the reft of the community, that no women, in the cafe of being torn away from their husbands, country, and all that was most dear to them by a mercilefs conqueror, could exprefs a more poignant grief, or fhew greater marks of defpair, than those brave men, whofe courage had at all times been diftinguished, did upon this occafion. Of this a more ftriking inftance needs not to be given, than that of the veteran commander of the Grey Mufquetaires; who, though the matter was fully known, and the corps he commanded affembled for the purpofe of receiving the order of fuppreffion, yet is faid to have fainted away in their arms upon its being delivered.

Another remarkable circum ftance, which will still more diftinguish this year in the history of France, was the placing of Mr.

Necker, a foreigner and proteftant, at the head of the Finances in that kingdom. This gentleman, who is a Swiss by birth, is faid to poffefs fuch diftinguished abilities in every thing appertaining to his office, that his appointment to it could be no matter of furprize, if it had not been fo directly oppofite to the long established maxims and policy of that nation. It affords one of thofe inftances which are now happily becoming general, of that enlargement of mind, and liberality of fentiment, which are daily gaining ground upon prejudice and error.

The vast expence at which Spain has continued, ever fince the affair of Algiers, to augment her armaments by fea and land, has given fome alarms to different parts of Europe. Indeed, nobody be. lieved, that fhe intended, for the prefent, to venture another attempt upon the coaft of Africa. The great land and naval force which the fupported, and daily increased, in the Weft Indies, with the pains the was at in rendering her principal fortreffes there as nearly im pregnable as skill and expence were capable of making them, feemed to indicate either defign or apprehenfion in that quarter, while no colourable caufe could be affigned for fuppofing the latter. It is cer. tain, that the island of Jamaica was more than once feriously alarmed at the apprehended defigns, or the movements of thefe forces in her neighbourhood,

A difpute with Portugal, about limits, on the borders of the Rio de la Plata, in South America, afforded a favourable opportunity for continuing and increasing thefe preparations. The vaft, and al

moft

the ill-defined, and nearly unknown limits, in thofe half difcovered regions, will for ages afford opportunities of difpute, as well through error as defign. The Portuguese fay that the Spaniards had feized a confiderable tract of territory, which had been repeatedly confirmed to them by different treaties, and guarantied by GreatBritain. However the matter of right may have been between the two countries, it is certain that the conduct of the Court of Lisbon was charged by their adverfaries to have been, in every part of their proceeding, full of artifice, fallacy, and breach of faith.

Troops had been for fome time fent to the Brazils, unobserved, and in fmall numbers, until they at length amounted to a dangerous force; the marine was increased by the fame imperceptible degrees, and every preparation for hoftility and defence was carried on with the utmost privacy. They then, as the Court of Spain afferied, at tacked, overpowered, and flaugh. tered the Spaniards, and took feveral of their forts, without any fair or previous notice of hollility. That court complained, that at the fame time the moft pacific fentiments were held out at Lifbon, the conduct of their Governors and Officers totally difavowed and condemned, and the ftrongeft affurances given, that all hoftility should immediately ceafe, and all poffible fatisfaction be made, as foon as the neceffary inftructions could arrive at the scene of action. Inftead of the expected inftructions ftrong reinforcements were fent out, to fupport and extend the advantages already gained.

bodies of the Spanish forces, with a proper artillery, were advanced towards the borders of Portugal, and France was called upon for the ftipulated auxiliary affiftance the was bound by treaty to furnish, in cafe of a war with that fate. The mediation of Great-Britain and France, or, perhaps more properly, the pacific determination of the latter, prevented matters from proceeding to the laft extremity; fo that fome fort of an imperfect accommodation took place, which, however, left fufficient room open for renewing the quarrel. It is faid, that even the former of these Courts expreffed the utmost difapprobation of the conduct of Portugal in this bufinefs, and even declared, that it could not deem itfelf bounden by the defenfive treaties between both States, unless proper fatisfaction was first given.

The death of the King of Portugal, and the removal of his favourite and prime minifter from the government of that country, which he had long ruled with an unbounded, and to the nobility a most dreaded sway, both of which happened fince the close of the year, have probably made a total change, with respect at least to each other, in the political principles both of that and the Spanish Court.

We shall not dwell longer at prefent on this fubject, as the particulars fall more properly within the year fucceeding that whofe events we now relate, and as the proceedings in South-America have not yet been fully known in Europe.

As this is the æra of improve ment in almost every part of Europe, Spain, which has been fo

long

foon produce unthought of effects, both in the face and state of that country. Foreign merchants, and the ingenious and industrious of all nations, will crowd into her maritime towns, which will become the feats of wealth and commercy. The improvement of the interior country will follow unbidden.

The fpirit of discovery which appeared in Our late voyages, feems to have operated upon the Spaniards, and prompted them to acquire a perfect knowledge of thofe feas and countries which they confider peculiarly as their own. For this purpofe, Buccarelli, the Viceroy of New Spain, has for fome time paft fent feveral frigates from Acapulco, to explore those unknown, or barely discovered regions which lie to the north of California. Thefe adventures are faid to have been attended with fuccefs, and that the voyagers have difcovered an extenfive coaft, inhabited by a docile and tractable people, among whom they have established feveral miffions. It is farther faid, that thefe difcoveries are capable of fome immediate and confiderable benefits, by the whale, and other fisheries, which they would admit of to a great extent.

long at a great diftance, in that refpect, behind her neighbours, feems now beginning to have her fhare. A policy, a little more liberal, begins to dawn in that country, which may perhaps turn the great natural advantages the poffeffes in both worlds to fuch account, as to raife her to the very first rank in power and importance, But knowledge and literature, fo neceffary to this progrefs, can fcarcely have their operation to wards fo great an improvement, whilt, at beft, they can appear only in a fort of difguife, during the continuance of the inquifition, For a while, that tribunal was reduced only to name; but at prefent, it is faid to be revived on grounds with which we are unacquainted. However, Spain has formed, and is faid ftill to be forming, feveral moft ufeful regulations, for the improvement and extenfion of her commerce, particularly by laying the trade to Mexico open to all her ports without diftinction, and removing thofe destructive restrictions by which it was confined to certain places, feafons, and a certain fpecified number of hips. Other measures equally useful in their feveral degrees, and tending to the fame end, have been adopted with refpect to the government and conduct of her colonies, and the eftablishment of a regular mercantile correfpondence with them. It is even faid that the barbarous penal law, which renders it death to foreigners to hold any fhare in, what is called, the trade to the Indies, will be most wifely and defervedly abrogated. If thefe and fimilar measures are purfued even to a moderate extent, they will

A new academy has been eftablifhed in Madrid, under the laudable title of "The Friends of their

Country," which affords a strong inflance of the difpofition to the moft feful improvements which at prefent prevails in that king. dom. The defign of that inftitu tion is the encouragement of agriculture, manufactures, duitry, and commerce. It is pa: tronized by the King, who has affigned an annual fum of money

arts,

to

to it for premiums, and the princes of the blood, with the grandees, and other of the moft illuftrious names in the kingdom, are among its members.

The House of Auftria never perhaps made a more illuftrious figure, not even in the heigt of the power, victories, and glories, of Charles V. than it does in its prefent beneficent representatives. Among the most glorious acts of the prefent fovereigns, is the abolishing of the torture with all its horrors in the hereditary dominions, and the granting of a moft liberal religious toleration. The latter has already been obferved, even in its fir operation, to have produced, particularly in Hungary, the happielt effects. The moft mortal animofities fubfifted between the Roman Catholicks and Proteftants in that country, occafioned by the power which the laws afforded, to the worst members of one communion, (who are thofe that are always bufy in fuch matters) to grieve and harass even the best of the other. The taking away of this unnatural and ill-beflowed power, and the removing all objects of contention, particularly the forced attendance of the Romish clergy in fickness, and of the Proteftants at proceffions, has likewife ftrongly operated to fubdue all animofity and diffenfion, and it probably may not be long, when both they, and the caufes from which they originated, will be equally forgotten.

The fame beneficence, attention to the welfare and happiness of the people, and regard to the rights of mankind, has been difplayed in Bohemia, where the peasants upon the imperial demefnes have been 8

difcharged from the state of villainage in which they had hitherto been retained, and those extenfive tracts portioned out into moderate lots, and let to them upon lease, not only at equitable but eafy rents; whilft even tafk work, the only remaining mark of fervitude, is allowed to be commuted for by a small yearly fum of money. Nor are the immediate benefits of this measure its only object, it being intended and hoped, that the example will be followed by the Bohemian nobility, and that it will be a means of weaning them from those remains of ancient barbarity, which render them at prefent fo tenacious of a power, that deprives their vaffals of all the rights of human nature, and of which even the fovereign could not venture to ftrip them by force.

One Bolts, a German, who had acquired a large fortune in the fervice of our Eaft India Company, but who, to all appearance, from an impracticable temper, and a turbulent litigious difpofition, involved himself in fuch troubles by quarrels with our Governors abroad, and law-fuits with them and the Company at home, as greatly difarranged his affairs, part. ly with a view of retrieving them, and partly, it may be fuppofed, through revenge, has this year induced the Emperor to revive the long abandoned scheme of inftituting a company, and opening a trade to the Eaft-Indies. Every body knows the alarm which the Oftend Company excited in the maritime powers, and the effectual meafures which they ufed for its fuppreffion. Such is the fate of affairs at prefent, and fo much perhaps have fentiments and opi

nions

nions changed fince that time, that this meafure is paffed over without notice. Indeed fuch great difficulties attend all new establishments of this kind against powerful concurrents already in poffeffion, that this fcheme will probably fail without any direct interference of the commercial states.

Ruffia ftill continues to move in that fuperior fphere of conduct which has for fome years excited the admiration of the world. Great and splendid actions, adorned by a noble magnificence, and a munificence only fuited to the refources of fo vaft an empire, throw a luftre all round, which dazzles the eyes of the beholders, and affords a permanency to the government of Catherine, which was little to be expected, either from the difpofition of the people, the uncertain tenure of arbitrary power, or many inaufpicious circumftances which attended its commencement. Individuals feel themselves partakers in the exalted ftate of the whole, and that fenfe influences, their conduct. A Captain of a Ruffian fhip, forgetting all fober maxims of prudence, with a noble generofity, hazards the loss of life and property, and encounters what is fill more dreadful than either, the danger of flavery, in boldly cutting a rich Chriftian prize out of a fortified piratical harbour in Barbary, fcorning all benefit to himfelf or his brave crew, other than the glory of the act, with the pleasure of restoring liberty to the captives, and their property to the pillaged. Perhaps there is an intermediate period, between the roughness of barbarifm, and a refined state of cultivation, in all brave nations, when the manners,

and general caft of thinking, tend to produce that peculiar character, which conftitutes and diftinguishes what is understood as an age of chivalry or heroism.

The attention which has been paid this year to the increase and improvement of the Ruffian naval force, fufficiently speak the intentions of that government, if other evidence was even wanting, to advance speedily into the first class of commercial and maritime power. But of all the vaft projects which have engaged the attention of the rulers of that empire from Peter the Great downward, none equalled in magnitude, that which not only occupies the contemplation of the prefent Emprefs, but is faid to be already, in fome degree, undertaken. This is no less than the union of the remote and inland Cafpian Sea, with the far diftant frozen and boundless Northern Ocean. However extraordinary this fcheme may appear, and however difficult it may prove in the execution, it is at prefent hoped, that by the means of canals, with the junction of feveral navigable rivers, it will not be found im practicable. If it fhould fucceed, it will undoubtedly exhibit the greatest monument of human induftry, and the most extraordinary inland navigation, that has ever been known.

Great pains are used, and no expence or encouragement fpared, to induce foreigners to people those valt defarts which overspread a great part of the empire, and which, in many places, require only cultivation, to produce, in the greatest plenty, every thing neceffary to the fubfiftence and comfort of mankind. Thefe means, joined