The French government had at that time considerable influence at Algiers, and its policy, contrary to that of Great Britain then, was to assist our commerce-its intervention was asked by our minister, and was readily afforded. The sternness of the Dey was relaxed; Mr. Donaldson was permitted to have access to him, and a treaty of peace was concluded, bearing date the 5th of September 1795, which the Dey and his divan promised to observe, on consideration of the United States paying annually the value of 12,000 Algerine sequins, in maritime stores. The captives were all released at extravagant prices. But this was not the whole of our humiliation; some delays occurred in transmitting the money and other articles; the Dey became incensed, and threatened to break the treaty. To pacify him, Joel Barlow, who had joined Mr. Donaldson, offered, in concurrence with that gentleman, the additional present of a new frigate; after some hesitation, and an increase of the size proposed, it was accepted. A fine vessel of this description was built for the purpose, completely armed, and delivered to him, and thus precarious peace was purchased at the total expense of near a million of dollars.* We continued to pay the tribute, and were occasionally obliged to submit to mortifications which would scarcely have been imposed by a civilized power.

The case of the Allegheny may still be fresh in the minds of some of our readers; but its connexion with the subject induces us shortly to recall it to view. This vessel was sent to Algiers with our homage of naval and military stores, in 1812. The Dey, on her arrival, affected to be dissatisfied with the quantity. The accounts were examined by his officers, and by our consul, the balance found to be really due was within the value of the Allegheny's cargo; but the Algerines insisted that the year should be computed by the Mohammedan calendar, according to which it consists of 354 days, and by these, and some other exactions, he nearly doubled the balance. The Dey threatened that if the sum he claimed was not paid in eight days, he would detain every American then at Algiers in slavery, confiscate the ship and her cargo, and declare war against the United States. There was no remedy but to submit. The fate of this vessel afterwards, was unfortunate. She sailed from Algiers on the 25th of July, bringing with her all the Americans, including Mr. Lear, the consul, and his family. The declaration of war of the 18th of June was probably unknown to him. He might, however, have counted on an application of those principles of humanity which are sometimes talked of, as part of the law of nations, and which withholds the severity of war from shipwreck

The Secretary of the Treasury, in his report of January 4th, 1797, states it at $992,463 25.

ed mariners, and other sufferers of a similar character. But on arriving at Gibraltar, the Allegheny was seized and detained as a prize.

We forbear to notice the proceedings with Tripoli, because our business is to review, and Mr. Pitkin's book is not carried down so low in point of time; but we hope that the period may yet arrive, when the surface of the Mediterranean shall exhibit only the "freighted Argosies" of the merchant, or the flag and guns of the Christian. In our frequent recurrence to this view of the subject, we wish not to be charged with bigotry, or with affectation. But we feel a deep and sincere interest in upholding the profession and the practice of our religion, against all direct or indirect invasion. The imposture of Mohammed has been disseminated and enforced by arms and violence. The Arabian conquerors did not reason with those whom they subdued; the Koran or the sword was the proclaimed alternative; and thus its prodigious extension is accounted for: but of all those whom they subjected, none were more contemptuously or severely treated than the Christians; and even now a Christian may exempt himself from punishment, for almost every crime, by abjuring his religion, and adopting that of Mohammed. We do not seek to extend the knowledge of Christ by means like these. Our missionaries carry no weapon but the Bible, and use no arms but those of reason and persuasion. To unite in the design of preventing infidels from compelling apostacy, is not aggression, but defence. To reduce the authors of these invasions of conscience, to future inability, and thus to co-operate with those whose pious office it is to enlighten the blind, and to draw converts from a false to a true religion, is the full extent that we are authorized to go. And while we believe in the pure and holy doctrines which were sealed upon Mount Calvary, while we remember the solemn and parting injunction to preach the Gospel to all nations, we cannot think that to remove impediments to its extension is other than our duty.

The residue of the work before us, is chiefly occupied with the public transactions concerning the treaty of 1794, the conduct of the French ministers, Genet and Fauchet, in this country, and the hostile feelings of France in respect to us, which were manifested after the ratification of the British treaty.

The treatment of Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, whom the President had sent to Paris in the room of Mr. Monroe, strongly resembled the insolence of the Dey of Algiers, in respect to whom we have already noticed the friendly interference of France at a previous period.

The ulterior proceedings, on the arrival of Messrs. Marshall and Gerry, did not fall within the limits of the work. It is concluded with a short account of the President's retiring from his VOL. VI. NO. 12.

52

station, and a few extracts from his valedictory address, which has lately, by the labours of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, been clearly proved to be the sole composition of George Washington.*

Upon the whole, Mr. Pitkin's book will not rank him among the highest class of historians; his style is not always pure, his manner is not elevated, he seldom attempts delineation of character, seldom presents general views but his principles are commonly sound, and his narrative impartial.

ART. VII. THE STEAM-ENGINE.

1.-The Young Steam Engineer's Guide; by OLIVER EVANS. Philadelphia: H. C. Carey & I. Lea: pp. 140.

2.-An Account of some of the Steam-boats navigating the Hudson River, in the state of New-York. In a letter from JAMES RENWICK, Professor of Natural and Experimental Philosophy and Chemistry, in Columbia College, to Captain Edward Sabine, R. A., Secretary of the Royal Society. From Brande's Journal for October 1828.

3.-Popular Lectures on the Steam-Engine; by the Rev. DIONYSIUS LARDNER, LL. D., Professor of Natural Philosophy and Astronomy in the University of London, &c. &c., with additions by JAMES RENWICK, Professor, &c.: NewYork: Elam Bliss. 12mo. pp. 172.

4.-History of the Steam-Engine, from the earliest invention to the present time; by ELIJAH GALLOWAY, Civil Engineer: London: B. Steill: 1827: 8vo. pp. 220.

5.-A Descriptive History of the Steam-Engine ; by R. STUART, Esq. Civil Engineer: London: Knight & Larey. 8vo. pp. 228.

6. Historical and Descriptive Anecdotes of Steam-Engines, and of their inventors and improvers; by R. STUART: London: Weightman & Co.: 1829. 2 vols. 18mo.

7.-The Steam-Engine: comprising an account of its invention, &c.; by T. FREDGOLD, Civil Engineer: London: J. Taylor: 4to. pp. 370.

8.-Notice Sur les Machines à Vapeur ; Par M. ARAGO-from the "Annuaire pour l'an 1829: Presenté au Roi par le Bureau des Longitudes;" Paris: Bachelier: 1828.

See Memoirs of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, vol. I.

p. 232.

9. On the Early History of the Steam-Engine; by A. AINGER; from Brande's Journal for October 1829.

10.-A Treatise on the Steam-Engine, Historical, Practical, and Descriptive: by JOHN FAREY, Engineer: London: Longman & Co. 4to. pp. 728.

WE shall make no apologies for presenting to our readers an article upon the steam-engine. The subject is, no doubt, hackneyed and familiar; but its importance is such, that it cannot become uninteresting even by repetition. At the present moment, too, a dispute has been renewed as to the priority of discovery between the nations of France and England: while countrymen of our own have claims, that both French and English writers appear too willing to overlook, and which it is our duty as Americans to maintain.

Limited in its original form to a single, and that by no means very important object, the steam-engine has, within our own recollection, become the most useful and extensive in its application, of all the prime movers of machinery. No resistance, however intense, appears to withstand its power; no work, however delicate, is beyond its action; it is alike remarkable for its force and for its versatility; it cannot only lift the heaviest and crush the most refractory substances, but is capable of being directed and regulated in such a manner as to perform the nicest operations of manufacturing industry. It may be seen raising ships of the line from the water, and placing them upon firm ground, rolling and fashioning iron, slitting steel into ribbands, and impelling ships against the united force of the winds and waves; or spinning the wool of Saxony and the cotton of Georgia, and directing the motions of the tambouring needle. A recent writer on the steam-engine, has compared this flexibility of its power to that of the trunk of an elephant, which can alike take up the finest needle, or uproot the firmest oak. But this comparison gives only a faint idea of the properties of the steamengine.

Our own country has, perhaps, already derived more direct and important benefits from the steam-engine, than any other nation, or we might say, than all the rest of the world united. A population thin and widely scattered, has, by the steam-boat, been brought into more close and active communication than is possessed by any equal number of people in any district of the globe, if we except the most thickly peopled portions of England and Holland. We may leave Philadelphia in the morning, to fulfil an engagement to dine in New-York; or may, within twenty-four hours, be landed at the head of navigation of the Hudson. An inhabitant of New-Orleans, who wishes to visit the eastern states, will find it his easiest, and frequently most expe

ditious course, to embark in a steam-boat on the Mississippi, ascend by it and the Ohio to Cincinnati, cross the state of Ohio to Detroit, and embark there in a steam-boat for Buffalo. After descending the New-York canal, he may embark in a steam-boat on the Hudson, and will find his most ready and easy way to Boston to be by. New-York and Providence. In this circuit he will perform, with ease to himself, in a few days, what twenty years since would have been the laborious exertion of months.

To England, a priority in the use of the steam-engine, supplied money and men for the most obstinate struggle that history has recorded; money by opening new sources of manufacturing wealth, and men by dispensing with the use of a great portion of the labouring population. She was thus enabled, on the one hand, to keep in check a malecontent subject nation, and on the other, to resist the united strength of the whole of Europe; until at length the same fertile source of riches enabled her to set in motion, not only the people of middle Europe, but the distant nations of Liberian steppes and Caucasian mountains, until the greatest captain the world ever saw bowed at length before the genius of Watt.

Such are the effects that the use of the steam-engine has already produced. Even greater and more important triumphs seem yet to remain. But we wish to indulge in no visionary speculations, no anticipations of future improvements. To show what has already been done, and develop the steps by which the useful application of steam has attained its present importance, will be a task of sufficient extent and difficulty.

Were we to limit our inquiries solely to those who had actually applied the fruits of their researches to useful purposes, we should begin at once with Savary, who was by universal admission the first who constructed a steam-engine except in mere model. He, too, claimed the honours of originality, and supported his claim with much appearance of justice.

Savary had been in early youth employed in the mines of Cornwall, but had afterwards pursued the calling of a mariner. He states, as the origin of his discovery, that happening to throw upon a fire a flask containing a small quantity of wine, he perceived the wine to boil, and the whole of the flask was filled with its steam. The observation is a familiar one, and the same fact must have been witnessed before in innumerable instances. What ideas the sight of it produced in his mind we know not; but they must have been extremely just, and founded upon a full acquaintance with all the pneumatic science of the day; for he immediately seized the flask and plunged the neck into water. The result, whether expected or unexpected to him, is familiar at the present day; the steam was condensed, and the flask was filled with water. His early associations led him to consider the re