Norfolk Gazette And Publick Ledger

FROM THE BOSTON REPORTER.

COMMUNICATION.

Mr. Hale— It may possibly afford some amusement to your readers in this period of general tranquillity to peruse the following letter written by an American at Rome to his friend in Boston in the year 1804.

ROME, Nov. 23, 1804.

My Dear Friend—In my letter from Marseilles: I promised you a more detailed one from Italy, and although immersed as you are in business, or pleasure, you may possibly receive it rather as an unwelcome interruption, yet my heart will not permit me to withhold this testimony of my affection and constant recollection of you.

I am now surrounded with objects highly interesting to a mind in any degree acquainted with ancient history, or with the writings of the Latin Classics, and although 14 years of laborious pursuit of my profession had very much weakened, or nearly effaced, those impressions, which such writings would necessarily make on a mind so easily and strongly impressible, yet I have found all my enthusiasm renewed in presence of these objects so calculated to produce the most powerful associations.

In Italy every thing bears the works of that colossal and august power which placed ancient Rome above all other nations, and of that highly refined and cultivated taste for which the Romans in the most brilliant period of their history were distinguished. There must assuredly be something in the climate of this country favourable to human genius. It would not be sufficient to say that this superiority in the fine and useful arts might be attributed to the encouragement afforded by the emperors or even to the still more powerful stimulus of general luxury. These had a very extensive operation. But it should be remembered that scarcely any nation has been in a more wretched situation, as to government and general prosperity than Italy since the revival of letters. Perhaps we may except a part of it, viz. Venice under its aristocracy and Tuscany under the Mediceis. Yet Italy has been, and still is almost, or quite as superior to other nations in the fine and ornamental arts, as she was in the days of the twelve Caesars. The highest pretensions of West or David do not extend further than to be the rivals or perhaps successful pupils of Raphael, Correggio Titian or Guido. In sculpture there have been no attempts to equal Michael Angelo, or Bernini, except by their own countryman Canova.

In architecture it is still more true that the Italians have preserved their superiority, and this country is still the school as Greece was formerly to Rome, for all who would excel in this most useful and noble art.

Perhaps the finest specimens of ancient architecture and sculpture which escaped the ravages of the barbarous hordes, and the most destructive fury and cupidity of the modern Vandals, together with the inheritance of such a reputation as their ancestors bequeathed to them, may have stimulated the pride of the Italians, and induced them to preserve a glory so flattering to their nation. You will be anxious to know whether after the late ravages of the French there are still subsisting in this capital such specimens of Roman art as would be sufficient to excite emulation and to form the taste. There are innumerable specimens of this sort in every department of the fine arts. Every order of architecture from the hands of Grecian and Roman artists is still to be found in a perfect state, if not in the same edifice, yet in different ones.

To be sure the finest specimens of sculpture have travelled westward, and have gone to adorn the triumphs of the victors. Yet there are some models of every species, of the colossal and of miniatures, such as cameos and intaglios. of the vigorous and of the beautiful, of Hercules and of Venus—of the Gods and of men. You are surrounded with Jupiters, Minervas and Apollos, and with Ciceros, Caesars and Senecas.

The works of Bernini and Michael Angelo are almost all still in Rome.

I remarked that the specimens of ancient art had suffered from the ravages of modern Vandals; I did not mean to confine the remark to the French alone. Long after the revival of letters, and when these ancient relies became valuable, the popes and their "nephews" who had an absolute dominion over this country began to take great liberties with the objects of ancient art. Some they carried off to decorate their palaces, others they stripped to ornament their churches, and even the accomplished family of the Medicis, the Maecenases of modern Italy are accused of having cut off the fine heads of the statues in bas relief which were placed on the arch of Constantine! One hardly knows which most to admire, the savage disregard of the fine arts which such conduct betrays, or the weakness of the policy which would have permitted it.

Italy no longer dreaded for her power, or courted for her favor will be an object of admiration so long as she preserves these vestiges of former and more splendid times. I cannot refrain from giving you one signal example of this destroying spirit so fatal to Rome, and which calls down the execration of all strangers.

The Coliseum, or noble theatre of Vespasian was the most perfect monument of architecture extant. The Huns, Goths, and Visigoths, and all the races of Barbarians had spared it. It is still an elegant and interesting pile. But Paul II. and III. destroyed one half of this magnificent edifice. to erect two modern palaces for their degenerate posterity, the ruins of their illicit connexions.
Enough of antiquities, of which I dare say you are as tired as I am. I know no one who took a livelier interest than you in Bonaparte's campaigns in Italy. I have been carefully over all the scenes of these celebrated battles, and with no common interest.

Objects viewed at a distance, appear in a very different light, and not unfrequently a grander one, than they exhibit on approach. Heroes, (especially such as Bonaparte) appear more perfect when known only by their own inflated accounts, than when seen through a clearer medium. I will suppose your geographical knowledge to have been as imperfect as my own, if you will forgive the supposition. I had formed an idea that the scene of the famous campaign in Italy, was very different; that the country presented difficulties for the passage of troops; I conceived from what I had been told of Hannibal and Bonaparte that the passage of the Alps. was an achievement which surpassed those of Phaeton, or Jason, or Hercules. When I heard a bulletin giving an account of forcing the line of the Adige, or Tanaro, I formed an idea of such rivers as the Merrimack and Connecticut, at the least, and when they speak of the Po, the king of Italian waters, my notions extended to a stream as respectable as the Hudson. These ideas were all erroneous.

No country is so indefensible as Lombardy. It is as easy for military operations, and more so than the Jerseys. it is a level country without defiles, with admirable roads. Its rivers are what an American would call large brooks. It has been easily conquered in all ages. Charlemagne subdued it. The Spaniards have held it. The Austrians have possessed it for a century or two. It has been always an easy, and of course inglorious prey. But it may be said Bonaparte did. not subdue the enervated Italians only, but the veteran troops of Austria. And pray what did a general of Charles the 5th? Did he not vanquish on these very plains the flower of Chivalry. the bravest and bravest troops of France, with their gallant monarch at their head? Did he not annihilate the French power in Italy, and take the illustrious Francis prisoner? But Bonaparte has twice passed the Alps with an army.

The Alps are not defended by a single cannon. There is less danger and difficulty in passing them with an army, than in crossing them with ladies as I did in October. In what consists the danger or difficulty? They must be passed on foot. Forty thousand can pass as easily as a single man. Who has forgotten Suwarrow's memorable retreat through the whole length of Swiss mountains, much more difficult than Mont Cenis or St. Bernard? When he arrived in Italy. Bonaparte met with a people already subdued, a degenerate, dejected race, oppressed by civil and religious tyranny. He offered them the phantom of liberty, and they flew to his standard. But in fought some hard battles with the Austrians!

Yes, but add the well known fact that the revolutionary spirit infected the Austrian ranks and paralyzed their efforts. It is no longer disputed that treachery, and even the baser crime of bribery, contributed as much as valor or skill to these famous victories. But the bridge of Lodi, you exclaim! That is the dazzling part of the hero's history. How it shrinks as you approach it. A miserable little brook fordable without difficulty, and a contemptible bridge, that would require about fifteen seconds to pass. The opposite shore level, and undefended by batteries. if you add another fact related to me by my landlord at Lodi, who lodged the French officers the night before the battle, that the French soldiers were made drunk before they went into action, and then this heroic affair dwindles down to as insignificant a battle as ordinarily occurs.

When we consider, that all Bonaparte's reputation hitherto reposes on his Italian victories that his Egyptian expedition did not add one sprig to his laurels, and that the latter battle of Marengo was most assuredly lost, and with it his fortunes, had it not been for an error of the Austrians and the skill of gen. Desaix what we reflect also that Italy has been so often subdued, (for even the Romans themselves were the conquerors of Italy,) it appears to me that in partial history, in its account of the French achievements, will place them only in the rank of ordinary conquerors, and will not, as some Americans have done, consider them as "prodigies of this age, sent by Heaven to show what a brave people can do, and what can be achieved by a nation of heroes." This language is gratifying to French pride, but I have always thought and do now verily believe, that they are not nor ever have been superior, if equal, to the rest of mankind; stimulated by the same thirst for plunder, and the same false notions of superiority Adieu. We soon hope to set our faces homeward, to enjoy again the society and scenes of our native country, dearer to us than any which Europe can boast.