triumph over the depressed fortunes of this sanguinary despot that we have thus remarked upon the futility of his plans, and the subversion of his views; but rather because the universal concurrence of opinions and the experience of facts have shewn that such designs were incompatible with the personal comfort and inconsistent with the civil advantage of mankind.

Perhaps there is not a page in the history of man in his associated state,, which displays more of the ignorance of unregulated passion on the one hand, and more strikingly evinces the justice of well-tempered decision on the other, than that which records the antisocial perverseness of this man's presumption, and the noble-minded perseverance of the merchants of our country. When his incendiary decrees were acted upon by the slavish agents of his oppression, in every port and every town of the European Continent, the unshaken fortitude of a few British capitalists dared the hazard and overcame the obstacles of his tyrannous envy, by compelling him to submit the insolence of his domination to the cupidity of his avarice: it was thus that the storehouses of EngJand became the depositories of the produce of every region; and the well known probity of her traders made them the trustees of the oppressed nations. Heavy as was the pressure upon her industrious activity, the elastic spirit of her mercantile enterprize, rose superior in its energies above the arbitrary power that sought to weigh it down.-It was in vain that the ambitious desperation of her inveterate foe interposed the narrow shadow of his hand between the sun of her power and the millions whom she cherished with its rays. Her navy rode triumphant over every sea, and ber merchantmen were hailed with joy, wherever they carried their stores, even in the very teeth of his multitudinous hosts. At length this hand fell powerless by the intrepidity of British valour, and the despotic conqueror of the European Continent was in his turn numbered among the vanquished-- Peace was rescued from his grasp, and the freedom of commerce was restored to the equipoise of its rights.—Great Britain was the beam of its balance, and her good faith regulated the scale. No sooner was the preponderating influence of the despot reuewed, than treaties of the most equable construction were formed,

and this country saw herself re-instated by the prowess of her arms in that eminence which her well-earned independence substantiated. She became the medium of that restoration of reciprocal interests by which the intercourse of the remotest points of the commercial world was re-established.

In all this contest of honourable perseverance against the most active principles of lawless force, she had not only maintained her own claims, but those also of every power with which she had been allied; and the merchants of our land might justly be considered, from the unsparing sacrifices which they made to uphold the finances of their country, as the tutelary guardians of her prosperity, and the efficient vindicators of those foreign and domestic dependencies with which her trade was essentially

combined.

We have adverted to this epoch of national difficulty, only to demonstrate the importance of the mercantile interest as connected with the general weal of the British Empire. We might go farther, and prove, that this interest is the basis of all its external and internal greatness; but we are aware of the expansive nature of the position, and convinced as we are of the positive fact, we wish not to adduce argument when experience recognizes no valid question on the contrary side. Suffice it to say, that our exchange with every nation is at this moment greatly in our favour. This must materially result from the credit of our commercial men, as well as from the prominent advantages which British connection never fails to produce to the foreign trader.

If we look back but a few years and contemplate the difficulties which oppressed us as a people, and the nume rous obstacles with which we had to contend, both from within and from without-and then take a comparative view of our present condition, we shall perceive that nothing but the patriotic feeling of the nation at large, assisted by an unwearied industry and perseverance on the part of our merchants, could even have extricated us from the burdens of the past, and enabled us to preserve our commercial resources both at home and abroad in that security from successful rivalship, and that sta bility of means to maintain our superiority which we now possess. If indeed, after a duration of warfare, such as our

country never before had been called upon to endure, a conflict involved us in the greatest expenditure of blood and treasure ever recorded in our history, the return of peace should have found us so far exhausted as to require a pause of our energies for the recovery of our strength, and if in that interval the nations around us, weakened almost to extinction by their struggles against the common adversary, should have been reduced to that state of privation which deprived them of the immediate power of taking up their former engagements, it is not to be wondered at that a general staguation of business, and a proportionate diminution of its profits should have ensued. But the season of trial is past, and the various channels of foreign communication being again open, our commerce has recovered its activity, and the same prosperous flow of universal trade, with all its concurrent benefits, has rewarded our inflexibility of principle and firmness of endurance. Yet it must be mentioned to the eternal honor of the capitalists of Great Britain, that in the most alarming period of her peril, and in the lowest ebb of her prosperous course, the love of country rose superior to the love of gain; and they were found among the foremost ranks of the loyal defenders of their native soil, both in pecuniary and personal

service.

There is, however, a trait in their character which gives a higher lustre to it than all the reputation which they bave so deservedly reaped from their integrity, by their liberal supplies to the Dumerous institutions of this truly Christian land; its Charities have been principally supported through all our national exigencies-and whatever were the losses or the difficulties which they bad to encounter, they never lost sight of the necessities of the poorer classes: and the miseries which they acknow. ledged, they compassioned and relieved with a promptitude that numbered them among the most virtuous, as well as the most wealthy friends of mankind. And still further, their generous commiseration of the sufferings of their foreign neighbours, while groaning under the iron yoke of a sanguinary Usurper, proved that their compassion was as free from prejudice as their bounty was from all selfish reservation. Whoever reads over the various lists of benefactors to our charitable esta

blishments, will see instances of our merchants distinguished above all other contributors by the munificence of their gifts;-and their liberality seems to have encreased with that public necessity, in which their own resources were so deeply involved.

High as this noblemindedness exalts their name in the estimation of all who know how to value its purity of worth; yet these estimable qualifications of their hearts are not the only endowments by which they can claim the affectionate respect of their conntrymen-their cultivated understandings and their effective talents, as men of education and sound judgment, have placed them among the most enlightened of our public functionaries. By a combination of intelligence and wealth, as efficacious as it is substantial, they have become the guardians and regulators of that fountain of our national property and finance, the Bank of England; while many, who have been wisely selected by the assent of all communities, as members of the Senate, and are justly reckoned among the most judicious and eloquent of our representatives. To them also has been consigned the direction of our East India territories, first added to the British dominions by their industry, and finally established by the co-operative wisdom of our legislative councils.

When a body of men thus rise into eminence and distinction by that salutary influence which the acquirements of the mind and the acquisition of riches must always preserve over the sentiments and arrangements of society, it naturally follows that they gradually ascend to those stations of rank and dig nity which blend them with the nobi lity of the country; and it is no degrading recollection of the origin to which some of the first families in the empire owe their hereditary honors, that it can be traced back to the wellacquired affluence and unstained respectability of their mercantile progenitors. From this imperfect sketch of that meritorious claim which the British merchant possesses to our veneration and esteem, it will appear that he is the benefactor of mankind-the ornameat of his country-the friend and stay of that part of society which constitutes the sphere of his public action or of his private life.

in the estimable individual whose

Memoir we have thus prefaced, we have an example that embodies every excellence of the character which we have delineated; and the testimony which all classes of his fellow-subjects bear to the superior qualities of his head and his heart, amply warrants the truth of the application.

The biography of a man whose life has been divided between the avocations of cominerce and the duties of a good citizen, is not likely to compre hend those varieties of descriptive detail which contribute to the amusement of the general reader. But we have the satisfaction of making our appeal to those who have the happiness of knowing him, when we add, that the whole of his civil, commercial, and social path has been marked by those instructive evidences of virtuous principle which deserve the tribute of eulogium, and afford a living lesson for the instructive imitation of all who would be repected and beloved by those whose respect is honor and whose regards are praise.

BEESTON LONG, Esq. is the son of Beeston Long, Esq. of Bishopsgatestreet, who was Chairman of the West India merchants, and Governor of the Royal Exchange Assurance Company. He was born at his father's City residence, in the year 1757, and was edu cated at the Reverend Mr. Blacking's Academy, at Greenwich. In July 1787, he was married at Bishopsgate-church, to Frances Louisa, daughter of Sir Richard Neave. He is a Director of the Bank of England, of which he was elected Deputy-Governor in the year 1805, and Governor in the year 1808. In the year 1817, he was chosen Chairman of the London Dock Company, and fills the same situation in the Committee of West India merchants. He is a member of most of the commercial, benevolent, and philanthropic societies in London.

He has one sister and two brothers, the Right Hon. Charles Long, Treasurer of the Army Pay-office, Whitehall; and the Rev. William Long, of Standfield, near Saxmundam, in Suffolk.

His present residence is Coombes, in Surrey, and in Leadenhall street, where the firm of Long and Company has been long known as the oldest and most respectable house in the Jamaica trade, established in London.

BIOGRAPHICAL REGISTER

OF

EMINENT PERSONS

RECENTLY DECEASED.
No. XXV.

JEAN ANDRE DE LUC, F.R.S.

HIS celebrated physician and vene.

philosopher at de

neva, in 1726-7. He became professor of philosophy and geology at Gottingen; but being nominated to some literary office by the Queen, he relinquished his German appointments, and settled in England. Besides his academic honours in this country, he was member of se- veral foreign learned bodies; and corresponded with a number of the most distinguished scholars in Europe. Few individuals stand higher for the useful nature of their pursuits, nor many for the zeal and talent with which they have applied themselves to the acquisition of knowledge, important to their fellowcreatures in this world and the world to come. Mr. de Luc devoted his long life to the study of geology and meteorology, with the view to explain the structure and composition of the earth; and, like the immortal Newton, his philosophical investigations only led him to the firmer conviction of the truth of the Holy Scriptures, which be defended with enthusiasm against the daring innovations of false principles, and insidious attacks of modern illumination. Not satisfied with researches in the best scientific publications extant, Mr. de Luc travelled over the greatest part of the Continent, to verify by experience and examination the opinions which the perusal of the highest authorities induced him to adopt. He thus added experiment to theory; and it must be acknowledged, to his honour, that the science of geology, which has in our days assumed a rank apportioned to its value, is deeply indebted to his inquiries and discoveries. His labours were incessant, and learned men of all nations, as well as statesmen, and even sovereigns, were proud to render every assistance in his pursuits, to a person so beneficially and worthily employed. His laudable auxiety to demonstrate the authenticity of the sacred writings, led him to the diligent analysis of the pri mitive organization of the globe, and the convulsions which it has experienced. He has, by this course, been enabled to adduce many strong facts in corroboration of the Mosaic history;

and all his works are of a tendency eminently moral and religious. For several years past, the infirmities of old age confined him to his apartments; but his mind continued active and vigorous till within a very short period of his decease. His favourite pursuits occupied him to the end of his career; and it may truly be said that he died at his post, arranging the observations he had made for the improvement of mankind. In private life, Mr. De Luc was much esteemed; his manners were engaging, and his disposition amiable. To his contemporaries, he was ever ready to communicate his knowledge; and to the youthful votaries of scientific information, he was a kind and willing instructor.

Mr. De Luc has left to deplore their heavy loss, a son, now resident at Geneva, and a daughter, whose best praise is, that she has proved herself in every respect worthy of such a father, and the intensity of whose grief can be mitigated only by the cheering recollection of her tender assiduities to her venerable parent. He died at his house in Park-street, Windsor, on the 8th of November, at 90 years of age.

Mr. De Luc has published a number of works connected with natural and sacred history. The following is the most perfect list we can make out.

Researches into the Modifications of the Atmosphere, or Theory of Barometers and Thermometers. 2 vols. 4to. 1772.

Principles of Theology, &c in answer to Dr. Teller's essay entitled "La plus ancienne Theodicèe." 8vo. 1803. Correspondence between Teller and De Luc.

1803.

Introduction à la Physique Terrestre par les fluides expansibles, preécédée de deux Mémoires sur la nouvelle théorie chimique considérée sous diffèrents points de vue. 8vo. 2 vols. 1813.

Elementary Treatise upon the Electrogalvanic fluid. 8vo. 2 vols. Observations upon a work entitled, "Lithologie Atmosphérique." Annunciation of a Work by J. A. Heimarus, upon the formation of the Globe. 8vo.

Besides these works in French, Mr. De Luc has published in English: Geological Travels in the North of Europe. 8vo. 1810.

Geological Travels in England. 2 vols. 8vo. 1811.

Geological Travels in France, Switzerland, and Germany. 2 vols. 8vo. 1813. An Elementary Treatise on Geology, from the French MS. of J. A. De Luc, by the Rev. H. F. A. Delafitte. 8vo. 1809.

Mr. De Luc also published essays in the Philosophical Transactions, and in the journals of other learned societies.

ESPIONAGE.

To the Editor of the European Magazine.

SIR,

S every thing connected with France

ny, in Savoy, 1772.

Narrative of several Excursions among the Alps, 1776.

Letters, physical and moral, upon Mountains, and upon the History of the Earth and of the Human Race.

Letters on some parts of Switzerland. 8vo. 1787.

New Ideas on Meteorology. 2 vols.

8vo. 1787.

parte, more especially in regard to the system of espionage, treachery, aud duplicity, which characterized the agents employed by that profound Master of Arts (if I may be allowed to dub him with such a degree) must deserve attention, I send you the annexed extract from the journal of a gentleman who was detained for several years as an English prisoner in Holland, until released by the fortunate change of affairs in 1813. As this story will serve as an illustration of the character of spies and informers in all ages and countries, and is in itself interesting, I have no doubt you will think it worthy of being placed on record in the pages of your valuable monthly miscellany.

"There was a master of a Dutch vessel, known under the assumed name of JouN BLAAUW, who, in spite of every prohibition of the French Authorities, had rendered himself notorious by tak