The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1805-11-15

-, 80 and 81 days long, ione months which are
fared among the different ieafons; in fine it fixes
the beginning of the year not az al Equinox or a
Sotice, but 9 10 days after the winter Solaiee
In befe whirnticai inaitutions we Zee the in,pref
fons cf chat fuper,on and thofe errors which have
fucceiIyely embarraded and even dreefed the fuc-
ceiiive reformers Of the Calendar Of Numa, Of lulu
Us Cellar, and Gregory Is.
February, for example, has more than % DAYS,
that nothing might be added tie length of one Of
the months eonircrated TO and expiatons and
itwasfor other rcat'ns equally frivolous that Numa
las made all the otheE months in the number of
their days.
!, was from refpee, to thefe preudices, and from
with not to alter particular feavals, that Julius
Ceiar in correcting the length of the foiar year. did
not touch at all the month of February, which cir
cumitance gave days to be attributed among the
other n mouths, and from this circumGance too A.
rofe the neceiity of having fevera fucceve months
30 days long, iuch as July and Ausuft December and
January. " ~
Finally it was becaufe the council of Nice was ig-
of the true length of the year and that the
qunox came each year fooner according to the Iu-
lin Calendar that it elabliihed rule for the eele-
bra,on Of Eater, which became impra aicable from
the gradual iofs OF time and it from the I'M
porance, which Gregory the Sh attached TO an UNI
interrupted execution of the of the council re-
lasve to the feat Of Eater, thar he undertook his
reformation. aa ~ - -s7..s-..
attributed 20 the commencing of it at time, when
from the ignorance f the foar year, they were fore
ed regulate the,nfe,ves by the m oou & becaulc
whed they had obtained lels inaccurate knowledge
OF the couSe Of the fun, they unwilling entirely to
renounce the lunar year. from the fear OF derarqn the
order of the fefivals, that had been primarily re
EIlated by .the moon.
nothing Is more plain than the civil year, which
has been for long time adapted to the fun nothing
is more nicefsly complicated than the eccleliafical
year, whiehis partly lunar and partly folar.
We DO NOT pretend that the French Calendar is
elf exempted from every kind of reproach nor that
it has all that dsfrab!e perfection, which would have
been 70 eafy to have impaired it, had it been the
work OF tranquil reafon.
il has two effcntial defects:
The hra and mott important is the rule laid down
for the Sextiles, which made to depend upon
the true and irregular courfe of the fun, inHead of
being placed at invarabe intervals. Iii one con-
fequenee Of this arrangement that no perlon with
cut being fomehng of all astronomer is able to know
exactly the Number Of days which he ought to allow
70 each year; and that all the astronomers combin-
ed together will under certain circumstances be puz
z!ed to determine at what day particular year conf
niences, thing which takes place when the eou;nox
happens near midnight.
Beides there is inlrumeDt, and no means fuf-
heientiy preehe for removing the doubt, which may
arite under thefe circumstances the dviiion nun
depend upon knowing ttole astronomical tables to
which we ihoud give the preference and thele tables
are continually changing.
This defect though little felt By our cotemporaries
is productive of the mott important consequences
upon chronology, but may any time be CORE aed
with facility, as 1t will be only neceary for us to A.
boihh the Hid art. of the law which regulates this
Calendar, and to direct that in commencing the
year 10, the textiles hal fucceed each other every
years, and the fecular year, every 400 years.
This amendment, which has been demanded BY
nlathematicians and anronon1ers ao,,-, -oJ L..
Romme, one of the principal authors of the Ca!en-
dar: he made i, the fubea of report ard the BATS
of law, which was printed and dilrib,ited on the
very day of his death, and which was prevented by
rms incident alone from coming before the conyen-
ton.
But the moa important defect of the French Ca
IeIdar Is the epoch which it afgns for the COMMENCE
ment OF the year. To give little mock as pobIe TO
our customs and received uflges it would have been
proper TO have fixed at the winter foIl;ce or wha,
was equally M, at the yernal equinox that is TO
lay At the period when the fun paaes through ,o;n,
from which all the Astronomers of all aces and roun
tries have begun to calculate the motions of the he,
vens
But they have preferred the autumnal equinox. be-
eaue they wiihel to perpetaate the remembrance os
revolution, WHICH has durbed the whole of En-
rope; whichio far from having obtained the aprro-
BATON OF all Frcrchnlen, has been ditinpuited nv
our INTERNAL dri2ntors: and it is from the commence
ment OF this new Calendar that we have at the fame
moment to date the glory of camps and the milf
fortunes of our cities
Beiides there was nothing more than this wanting
to eauie this Calendar he for ever rejected by eve
ry rival nation and even by part Of the French ma
ton itfelf.
1t was ftrong objection which they urged at the
time, but which they urged in vain upon the authors
OF the Calendar: You are animated by the ambition
of one day peruadng all the people of the earth 20
adapt your iyitem of weights and n,cafures, and
" for this purpoie you appea to their ielf-loye. In
that iyaem there is nothing which compeIs us to
1Perceive that it is the work of Frenchinen: Won
=" have made choice of fsandard, which is equally
applicable to every nation.
Well there exits in Europe and in America one
universal msafure, which ffould not belong to one
ration more than to another, and in which all or
" 1;nnt I'll, are agreed 1t is the meafure of time
ai yet you with to detroy it In place of ir, YOU
6 wifi 70 fubfitute era which originates in par
" tlcniar epoch of your own hiRory an epoch on
which the rcent time has not yet paf1ed its verdi8
" and on which future ages alone will be able to pro-
g" nource.
The French nation ifeIf added they, divided
as Il is in opinion upon tho ntitution which you are
IS anxious to confecra,e, will reiii the enablhment
ut your Calendar. IL will be rejected by every peo
>" pie, VINO will eeafe to underaand you, and whom
IS You will no longer under,tand, unleis YOU have two