To Stephen Francis, Duke of Choiseul, Knight of the Golden Fleece, and of the Orders of the King, Secretary of State, and Minister (formerly Ambassador at the Court of Vienna).

Mon Ami,-The empress, my mother, has left me a great state, ministers and generals of approved talents, faithful subjects, and a fame which it is difficult for any successor to maintain.

I always entertained the greatest respect for her virtues and character. I honor her memory, and her excellent heart will never be forgotten by me as long as I live.

With respect to the officers of state, this princess has given proof of considerable knowledge of government. Kaunitz, as minister for foreign affairs, Hatzfeld, as minister of the interior, and several ambassadors to various courts, prove, that she knew how to appreciate and reward talents.

With the governors of the provinces I am not quite satisfied. I shall pay some attention to their mode of conducting affairs; there shall be in reality governors in Bohemia, and a minister in Milan.

The influence the clergy have hitherto exercised in the government of my mother will be another object of my reform. I do not approve that those, who are entrusted with the care of our future life, should take so much pains to make our existence here the object of their wisdom and solicitude.

The state of the finances of the Austrian dominions also requires an alteration. After a short examination I find the national debt has considerably increased; the bounties, pensions, additional salaries, and the perquisites of various noblemen and persons in office, have risen to rather a large amount. I must make retrenchments, however sensibly they may be felt by some whom they will reach.

These matters are yet new to me; I must better ascertain my real position; to the duties of my new station I must add a perfect knowledge of their objects, otherwise I should be a monarch like the Grand Seignior, who is well acquainted with the pleasures, but not with the duties of his station.

Live happier than myself: I have hitherto hardly known what happiness is, and before I have finished the career I have marked out for myself I shall be an old man.

Vienna, December, 1780.

JOSEPH.

To Catherine II. Alexiewna, Empress of Russia.

Madame,-Your majesty, on the demise of my never-tobe-forgotten mother, has manifested so many kind sentiments

for my welfare; has shewn so much attention to myself and my house; has so clearly convinced me how ready you are on every occasion to give me proofs of your friendship, that if I were insensible of your kindness I must be a barbarian in the very centre of civilisation.

I thank your majesty for all these marks of your generous friendship. I am too sensible of the obligations which your sentiments impose upon me, ever to be ungrateful for the distinguished manner in which you treat me.

Dissatisfied with myself, and with the distance between us, I regret nothing more than being denied by destiny, the delight of giving you proof of all the gratitude which I owe you.

A high regard for your majesty shall be the object of my constant solicitude; and I shall derive a sort of glory, when every body is obliged to confess that I knew how to obtain the friendship of a princess, who is worthy of the veneration of all Europe.

I have occupied too much of your majesty's time, but who, that knows your accomplishments, can resist the pleasure of conversing with you? I am, with sentiments of the most perfect esteem and veneration,

Your Majesty's most obedient,
JOSEPH.

Vienna, December, 1780.

To Maria Christina, Archduchess of Austria [Consort to the Duke of Saxe-Teschen, and second sister of Joseph II.]

Madame,-It is with the utmost pleasure I discharge the obligation, which a promise to her majesty, the late empress, imposed upon me, by my offering your highness and your beloved consort, the dignity of Stadtholder in the Austrian Netherlands.

'The banks of the Sambre, Marimont, and the enchanting environs of Brussels, will, I hope, be a more pleasing spectacle than Panonia, a country which was once inhabited by Huns and Avars, and which, in spite of all the efforts of government, still bears the traces of the residence of those Barbarians.

The Netherlands have advantages over many other countries in Europe: they have rich citizens, a high noblesse, and a flourishing commerce; the people are attached to our house, and Charles Lorrain received abundant proofs of the good-will of the Belgians.

I wish you may be perfectly satisfied with the arrangements which I have made for you, and that you may find Brussels as agreeable as it was to our deceased uncle.

To render the cares of your government easy, I have associated with you prince Stahrenberg, who fully possesses the qualifications of a minister, and who will assist your highness in every affair.

Adicu, Princess! I embrace you with the greatest friendship, and am, with the most perfect esteem, Your most obedient brother,

Vienna, January, 1781.

To the Archbishop of Salzburg.

JOSEPH.

Mon Prince,-I have conducted the affairs of the German Empire alone, since the death of my father, and also for a long time the department of war. In the former, I have been assisted by a vast number of the laws of the empire, and the vice-chancellor Colloredo; the latter is superintended by my Lascy, one of the most able generals of the age; his great talents guaranty to me the good condition of my armies, and the security of my empire.

But the internal administratiom of my states requires immediate reform.-An empire which I govern must be swayed according to my own principles; prejudice, fanaticism, partiality, and slavery of the mind must cease, and each of my subjects be re-instated in the enjoyment of his native liberties.

Monachism has considerably increased in Austria; the number of ecclesiastical establishments and of monasteries has risen to an extravagant height. The government till now, according to the rules of these people, had little or no right over their persons, and they are the most dangerous and useless subjects in every state, as they endeavour to exclude themselves from the observance of all civil laws, and on all occasions have recourse to the Pontifex Maximus in Rome.

My minister of state, Baron von Kresel, the enlightened van Swieten, the prelate Rautenstrauch, and several other men of approved talents, will be nominated for the Aulic commission, which I have appointed for the suppression of the unnecessary monasteries and convents; and from their zeal for the good cause, and their attachment to the crown, I can expect all the good services which they will thereby render to the country.

When I shall have torn away the veil from monachism, when I shall have removed from the chains of my universities Andromache's web of the Ascetic doctrine, and when I shall have converted the monk of mere show into a useful citizen, then perhaps some of the party zealots will reason differently of my reforms.

I have a difficult task before me;-I have to reduce the host of monks, I have to transform Fakirs into men: those, before whose shorn head the common people fall down on their knees in veneration, and who have acquired a greater influence over the heart of the citizen, than any thing capable of making an impression on the human mind. Adieu!

Vienna, February, 1781.

JOSEPH.

TO BE CONTINUED.

AN

ESSAY

ON

CRIMINAL JURISPRUDENCE,

WITH

THE DRAFT

OF A

NEW PENAL CODE;

&c. &c.

BY J. T. BARBER BEAUMONT, Esq., F. A. S.

ONE OF HIS MAJESTY'S JUSTICES OF THE PEACE FOR

MIDDLESEX AND WESTMINSTER.

[Concluded from No. XXXVI.]

OFFENCES AND CRIMES.

First Division.-DISHONESTY.

Second Section.-STEALING.

172. STEALING is the taking away the goods of another against his will and with a dishonest intention.

173. PILFERING. Privately stealing cultivated and growing Fruit, Vegetables, Corn, or Wood, from any unencolsed ground. Stealing any Dog under the value of 5s. VOL. XIX. NO. XXXVII.

Pam.

Fine, or solitary impt. 2 to 4 weeks.

G