Star. — London, England, 1814-10-08 00:00:00

4MERICAN PAPERS. GEORGETOWN, AUGUST 19. The new rumour, that it was the general (pinion: in Englanzt, as late as the month ol July, that . peace . between the twu countries would be s. , on adjusted, is raeived by the democrats with delight What a change a fdiqv months have produced. • Not long ago be who talked of peace was considered a moral trai. tor. Noss, scarcely a word is heard about conquering the freedom tf the seas—neat a syllable abont sailors' ei, : i , is, except in recording the motto on Captain Por ter': flag ; and as• for the conquest of Canada, the very .ound :f it makes a democrat hang his head. Having got themselves into a hobble, from which they see but little chance of extricating themselves by their valour, the war-hanks are now among those who sigh most piteously for peace. And yet they pre tend to applaud the ra'hness which involved us in war, and the obstinacy which persisted in it atter the prin cipal avowed cause was removed, and Great Britain Wilfred IN the olive branch. _ _ here is a strange inconsistency in this conduct of the friends of Administration. If the war was wise a i just, 'and necessary, two years ago, and still re- Loa: the same character, why this pitiful hankering sa f r peace ? The war is called on for 4 4 sailors' rights." Vs i 1 General Duane and Colonel Binns, and Mr. Jo• se . tts Gales, ever consent to a peace in which renegado Englishmen and Irishmen are not recognised as Ame- T`C•lti citizens, qualified to• fight against Great Britain without Sear of the halter ?—Never, never—Not that it is suspected that these Gentlemen have any great appetite. for fighting, but it is extremely convenient for them to hold up this same right of expatriation to urge on those whom it does not interest to figh for them. Will the statesmen of Tennessee, and Kentucky, an I Ohio, give over fighting for " sailors' rights," if the English will not admit our claim on the subject ? 1 And yet they are at least as likely to resist our de mands now as they were three years ago. Are the dem ierats in truth willing that the flag of Adminis tration should be finally struck ? If not, it is the ex treme of folly for them to talk about peace ; for if Mr. Madiso 's ridiculous pretensions are persisted in, there will be no peace. 4. FUSE SHIPS MAKE FREE Goom."—Madison's La W of N Itiiins.—The following articles are from the Bo:- tlit Daily ifilvertiser Antral wiygons, we are told, are carrying on a brisk coasting trade between Canada and New York. " Two neutral waggons, direct horn Canada, load eA with British goods, were seized in town on Sunday. On tile exhibition of the certificates of entry, however, 'tte a e in oimed they were given up. ", We are told that it is no joke, but a literal fact, that . there are neutral vessels on Lake Champlain, and thst the monstrous doctrine that a yard of bunt ing pr .cludes all inquiry into the nationality of all vie goods be. Bath it, is acknowledged by the officers rf i3itr government in that quarter. The British ve nment, however, have put an end to this spe, 'es i f trade, by prohibiting all exportation to the Staiv. We have not heard that the Swedish Moilister has mule any prctest, al h iugh the measure is lik.ly .to by very injurious to the flag of that nation on the Lakess" FRAcNCH PAPERS. PARIS, OC I 013. R s. S;x Booksellers, the distributors of seditious pamph lcte have just been arrested. One of these libels is wri eel' by a Sep emberiaer, another by a Regicide, not °illy wish the blood of the King, but vveHh th it of theusands of victims who perished in 1793, ..ad whose deatlt-warrants he signed--ethis is quite enough to thew the filth which they contain. Lut we se little dread their effects, that we intend givi - e; an account of them by arid bye.—Journal der Long accustomed to prodigies, we scarly notice those that now pass before our eyes. It is true, how ever, that of all the miracles operated in the course of a few years, the greatest is the present. happiness enjoyed by France. Could we reasonably expect so deep a calm after so long 'a storm ? In order the better to appreciate .our situation in October, let us recall our state in the month of March in the same year. France was a prey to invasion from the Rhine to the Loire, from the Alps to the mountains of Au vergne, tr. m the Pyrenees to the Garonne. Paris was occupied by the enemy. Five hundred thousand Russians, Germans, and Prussians, assembled on the ri,.ht be , k of the Rhine, were ready to second the e IF its of their countrymen by a second invasion, vetich f . would I ave. compl e ted the ee olation of Ftance. All Eptin was pr. paring to doss the Py- Tepees in the tr..in of the English, Spanish, and Por teeuese armies. Xslore than a million of Frenc' men htd, in the space of thirteen months, been call d to the field of battle. A madieran, to whom peace e as incessantly offer ed, olevinately resolved to tear the last man and the last cro it f. •.m tee- nnfOrtucate country, to Sul-port beyond its troatiers a monstrous system of war, and Widliti a tyranny still more ho rible. Did he succeed in protractile; the contest ? France bade lair in a few mosahs to present noth'ng but one vast heap of ash !s. Did he at last accept of p. ace ?—that peace could no linger be made but on conditions dish'. n urable to him and to our country. We sl ould tare been compelled to pay enrrmous contributi. ns, and to give tip our (pettier towns as securities for the tube trent of the treaty. Humblel in his pride, and disappointed in.his am bitir n, Bonaparte would have filled the empire with mourning and proscriptions. The lists wet e already made, the eictims. painted ont, whole towns con demned, and sequestrations and plunder would have billowed their execution. Civil broils would perhaps have crowned the devastations of foreign war, and sangqinati despotism would have sat for ever on the rums il.Fraace. E What, at that moment, was our only hope ? A family, which we had load:d with every evil, as a mead for the benefits which it had showered down upon us for so many ages I net banished Family, alneet feigotten by its ungrateful children, did not find amo. gst strangers, a livelier recollection or gre...e sispeert. War was not waged for her, not any the misfortunes by which France was crush ed, toted be impe ed to its members, At Cheellou the Allies treated fer peace with Bo naparte sincerely. Scarcely was Monsieur allowed to lollow, alm .4 unattended, and at a great dis. tance, the invading armies. He slept amidst the 'nuns which Bonaparte had occasioned, wiped off the e rs of the peasantry who collected around him, assisted our wounded conscripts, and out of his Royal prerogatives could only exert those beneficent dispo slions which he had inherited with the blood of St. Louis. The Luke of Angouleme was only consi dered as a simple volunteer in Lord Wellington's Army. At Jersey, the Duke of Berry vainly solicited the favour of being thrown with his two Aides-de-Camp on the coast ef France ; and so little did he rely on the success of h:s courageous undertaking, that he had caused the lease of his house in London to be renewed. It was at that moment of despair, that PUOVIDENCE achieved the work, which it would perform alone, in order to make its hand visible to mankind. The host of the strangers enters Paris. GOD changes the hearts of Princes, and opens the eyes of the French. A cry of Vive le Roi saves the world. Bonaparte exclaims that he is betrayed. Betrayed, Heavens ! by whom, unless by -himself ! Was a more extraor dinary and more affecting fidelity than that of his army ever witnessed Never have French soldiers displayed mote heroism than at the very msment when, detesting the author of our calamities, they still respected in him their commander, and would have-perished with him had he known how to die. But when he had obtainei his life, with the mil. lions which he had the courage of asking, France turned towards her real father; who returned from banishment without any stipulations, without any treaty, without treasures, empty handed, as when he departed, but his heart overflowing with that affection and mercy, the natural attributes of our Kings. What did this Prince find at his arrival ? Four hundred thousand foreigners in the heart (f France ; seventeen hundred millions of debt ; disorganized armies that had nit been paid Ix many months ; more than 30,000 officers who justly claimed a living and rewards ; 400,000 prisoners ready to revisit their country, and to increase the embarrassment of the moment ; a Constitution to be created, fears to quell, hopes to fulfil, parties embattled on the field, and all the elements of a civil war. It appeared prudent to many, that the King, in the midst of so many difficulties, ignorant of the na ture of the ground which he trod, of the prevailing opinions, of the dispositions of men in France, and unknown himself to his people, should preserve a oreign force round his person. His Majesty nobly 'rejected that proposal. An honourable peace caused the Allies to retire .from our territory, without its costing us any contri butions or fortresses. We preserved our ancient fron tiers and were even aggrandised on the side of Savoy. The monuments of the arts remained in our posses sion. All this was the fruit of the esteem in which the Allies held his Majesty. A charter insured our ' political rights. In a short time that army, so em barrassing through its numbers, has seen almost all its arrears paid off, and the rest on the eve of being so. The Officers whom the new military organiza tion has left without employment, receive in the Iro eonr of their families a pension which ensures them that honourable repose, the natural recompense of glory. Property has been guaranteed, confidence revives, manufactures resume their labours, and all Move with rapid strides towards prosperity. The *toleration, the genius, and the virtues of a single Man, have operated these prodigies. They have not cost France a single drop of blood. No one has been threatened nor persecuted for his opinions.— No prison has yawned, save to restore the victims of tyranny to freedom. No arbitrary act of power has been joined to so many acts of mercy and of goodness I We are too close to these wonders or appreciate their full value; but history will transmit • them to the admiration of men. It will add to the name of Louis the Desired, the epithet of wise, which France has already bestowed on one of her Kings. Had certain persons been believed, who had pri vate reasons fur spreading those reports, France was going, at the arrival of the Bourbons, to become the theatre of reaction and of vengeance. What can they now say ? What ! net a single execution, not a single imprisonment, not a single banishment, to con sole their prophetic spirits ? When Charles H. returned to England, the Par liament caused several criminals to be tried. At Louis XVlllth's return every one preserves his life, his fortune, and his liberty, and certain men lose nothing, save their honour. Whatever opinion may have previously been enter tained, it is generally agreed that France has not been happier at any period than during the four months that have passed since the restoration of the Monarchy. There is no Frenchman who does not carry in his heart the consciousness of his enfran chisement and full liberty. Every one sleeps, certain of not being called up in the middle of the night to be dragged by spies to the police, or by gendarmes to a military tribunal. The Freeholder knows that he shall preserve his property, the mother her boy : she no longer dreads every morning to see a new con-. scription posted up in the streets. The farmer, the mechanic, no longer torture their minds, to know before-hand how they will redeem their sole remain- , ing son. The conscript, who ceases to be one, no longer seeks to mutilate himself, in order to avoid death. Taxes alone still weigh upon France ; but at least it is positively known that they will be reduced in a given time, and that they will not be arbitrarily im posed by the First Authority of the State, or even by, Prefects, Sub-Prefects, Mayors, and Adjoints. The State has debts, and they must be paid. But wfm has contracted those debts ? Is it the King, or the Man of the Island of Elba ? Might not the King have said—" I am not obliged to acknow ledge the debts of BOnaparte. The fortune which most of the Contractors have made will sufficiently repay them for the loss which they may experknce." What reply could have been made ? But his Ma jesty has thought that his honour was concerned, as welt as that of all France, in scrupulously liquidating every debt which might be considered as incurred by the State, and through that good faith, worthy a descendant of Henry IV. he imparts a credit to France which will double public prosperity. Thus the great misfortunes with which the return of the Bourbons threatened uh are reduced to a few 'smarms, which, when their origin is searched, are always found to spring from some deceived hope, as the refusal of a place vainly applied for. One half of France, under the late despotism, was paid by the other. How could such an abuse be long maintained ? Could Bonaparte himself, had he re mained on , the throne without being the master of Europe, have kept all the places which he had created ? He had already ceased to pay their revenue. To silence the discontented, he would have shot them. B:sides, can all the traces of a Revolution of 25 years be erased in the space of six months ? At the death of Henry IV. old Leaguers were found who applauded the parricide committed by Ravaillac.— We must therefore expect to see for a long while, and perhaps during our whole life, the opinions of the French divided on a crowd of subjects. Some will detest what others love ; these will praise and those will defame the Government. According to the Comtitationd Party, the Con stitution is not sufficiently liberal. According to the ancient Royalists, we had no need of a Consti tution. May we not tell the former—" If there be any thing defective in the present Constitution, time will remedy it. The English Constitution, that ob ject of your admiration, was net the work of a day.- -It is sufficient that the foundations of public freedom be laid amongst us—that the people be re presented, and not subject to be taxed without the consent of its Representatives—that no man should be exposed to be despoiled, banished, confined, or put to death in an arbitrary manner. Let us rest a little on these great bases, and let us breathe at least after so violent and so rapid a course !" Might we not say to the latter—The ancient cos stitution of the kingdom was undoubtedly excellent ; but can you reassemble its elements? Where will you find an' independent Clergy, representing by its extensive possessions a large prtion of the n roperty of the State? Where will you discover a ' body of Gentlemen sufficiently numerous to form, by their ancient feudal rights, by their Lordships, their vas sals and their patronage, and their influence in the army, a coup erpoise to the Crown ? How will you restore those privileges of provinces and of towns— those provincial states, those great magisterial bodies which every where checked the exercise of absolute power ? Is not even the spirit of those corporations altered? Will the equality of educations and for tunes, the public opinion, or 'the increase of mental intelligence, permit, in these times, distinctions which would shock one's vanity ? The institutions of our fore fathers, in which we recognize the traces of the holi ness of our religion, of the honour of our knighthood,. of the gravity of our magistracy, are doubtlessly ever regretted ; but can they be made to revive entirely ? Since, then, something is necessary, let us be permit ted to attempt the honour of the knight by the dig. nity of the man, and the nobility of the individual by the nobility of the species. In vain would you return to ancient times. Na tions, like rivers, do not run back to their sources.— One cannot rest re to the Roman Republic the kn. vernment of its Kings, nor to the Empire of Augus tus the Senate of Brutus. Time' changes every thing, and its laws can no more be resisted than its ravages. Supposing that a little warmth still remains in oar opinions ; this is a matter which could not be other wise. The despotism which has just ended,- had caused us to deviate from the natural order ; all our passions had been exalted ; the soldier thought of no thing but becoming a Marshal of France, at the ex pense cf the lives of a million of Frenchmen ; the meanest Clerk in the Custom-house saw himself in perspective a Minister of State ; the journeyman, on quitting his shop, did not wish to enter it again; our youth, d:sencurnheied of the domestic yoke, plunged into all the p'easures and all the chimeras of their aRe. A duty which was reduced to a meanness, blindly to obey the will of a master, superseded all the morality of life. Bonaparte is the visible chief of evil, as the Devil is its invisible head. Every sort of disorderly ambition was collected around him, as the Visions were said to assemble and hang them selves on the fatal tree which Virgil places at the gates of Hell. At present, it will cost us something to return to our duty : rest appears to us insipid: but, as order is the natural state of things, we shall resume, in spite of ourselves, a taste for upright and legitimate duties and pleasures. It is curious to witness the surprise of men accus tomed to govern by the violent means of despotism. They predict revolutions and insurrections which do not happen : they take their private opinions, their humours, and their secret interests, for the opinion, the humour, and the interests of France. There is .no Administration, say they : this will not do—this cannot go on.—And why not ? Because nobody has been shot today on the plain of Grenelle—because the Police has not sent some dozen of persons to night to the Castle of Vincennes—because there have not been brought from the extremity of France a number of prisoners in poet-cages—because a sufficient number of spies are not kept in pay—because nobody is prevented from speaking, writing, and printing whatever he pleases—because people do not concern themselves either about the operations of commerce or agriculture—because the Council of State has not is sued a hundred contradictory decrees in a single day— because having to choose from twenty-five millions of Frenchmen, it was not thought that all the talents were not exclusively contained in the heads of a few men whom public opinion repels, and that these men have not been called to the head of the Government ? These persons, (distinguished, however, by their ex perience in business,) are notwithstanding bad judges of the proceedings of a legitimate Government : they knew only the Revolution and its outrages ; occupied only in what related to physical strength, they had no idea of moral powers. They are astonished that 'every thing can go on without efforts, and almost without any interference ; they do not know that a legitimate king is a plant which naturally extends its branches and its roots, strengthens of its own accord, and affords protection and shelter, for the sole reason that the heavens and earth are favourable to it, and that it grows on its natal soil. It is impossible but that this feeling of security whiCh is now experienced must penetrate every heart, entering the cottage as well as the palace, and that in the end it must be said, " but we are nevertheless happy !" Let - those who think the Government is weak exa mine it by (amend results, and they will see that it is already much stronger titan the Government of iron orhich it tuts succeeded. Would it, for enmple. have been possible to print against the last mentioned despotism such books as are daily printed against the existing authority, without that despotism having been shaken by them? The most infamous libels, works of the most anda. cions-nature, are hawked about and publicly 501 d.... Is this nothing to nobody ? Who reads these works? And if they are read, who are the readers who allow themselves to be persuaded by them ? It may be said th it the authors, on signing the libels, destroy the very effect of their works, as poisons neutralize each other ; the; the infamy of the author corrects the ve. nom of the writing. For one reason or an0 , 11.2r, it is nevertheless certain, that a Government whicii scarcely yet date its existence at four or five months, which has established itself, as we have seen, in the midst of so many factions and misfortunes, resists a test which might have overthrown Bonaparte at the very height of his power. In et:free-houses, it , st• loons, they decide. dogmatically upon the acts rf the Government, the laws discussed in the two Chain. bers are criticised by them—they exclaim —Cley praise or blame—the march and process of the Go vernment appear to them deranged. France is open in all its parts, it may be travelled through at pleasure. If she has secret enemies they have free ingress and egress. They may correspond and appoint places of rendezvous ; in a word, they may conspire openly, in public places, and at the very corners of the streets. Are they feared ? Not at all! Would BOnaparte have allowed such licence ? The Xing would even take no precautions against them ; they may be overwhelmed before the goodness and indulgence of a paternal Government, which with. holds the arm justly prepared to punish them. The King would overpower Vem by the weight of his excessive goodness and forbearance. They cau, in fact, °prise nothing formidable against an maim. rity founded i:: legitimacy and injustice. France, however, is filled with the adherents and creatures of Bonaparte, who are protected as the t•tt.t:r cla ims, without a thought of guarding again.t them. A gteat Princess has come under the generous protec. tion of the King, to take the waters in ~ tir provinces. This Princess could excite the most affecting remem. brances, for the wound was very deep and very new; but what' is it that her presence has produced ? Would it have been possible to imagine the Duchess D' An. gouleme at the waters of Aix, under the stung g ;- vernment of tyranny. when yet the name atone cf Bourbon made the King of Kings to liens ble ? In a word, the brother of the Stranger is established on our frontier, where he exhibits a degree of wealth which it would be more 'decent in him to conce.d. Have we, at this, testified the least inquietude ? I Have we demanded his removal ? We should learn then to judge of the strength of a Government, not by its administrative acts, but by its degrees of mo rality, moderatiot, and justice. The power of Kings is the most stable, when it proceeds from the light of their minds or the rectitude of their hearts. The Bourbons have wandered, almost without an asylum, on the surface of.the earth; exposed to the fears of an Usurper, they cauld not, above all, ap. proach the frontiers of France; without incurring the risque of their lives, as the 'fate -of the unfiartu. nate Duc D'Enghien too well has testified. This day they do not pursue those who have so cruelly perse cuted them—they leave these persons to live freely about them, without manifesting the least lear— without taking the least of those pretautiems w.)ich would appear so natural. Who cannot aomire -a confidence so magnanimous—so total an absence of all resentments ? Louis XVIII. is wise, in thus abandoning himself to the loyalty of Frenchmen, he iocontestibiy proves the legitimacy of its rights, and the solidity of his throne ! It would appear - that he exclAithed to us, on arriving at Calais, as Philippe de Valois did at the castle gates of Broye—" Open ; it is the fortune of France l" We have opened to him ; and we will thew him that we are worthy of the esteem which he manifested for us, when he so nobly committed to our faith and loyalty his misfortunes and his virtues. •••11•1 During the Session of the Congress at Vienna, it is settled that the Princess Maria Louisa shall reside at the Castle of Schiossof, near that capital. The Duke de Berry arrived yesterday at Stras. bourg, amidst the acclamations ot the garrison, and the inhabitants of that city. The time of the atten dance of the Duke de Pienne, as Captain of the Body Guards, upon his Majesty, being expired last Satur. day, he was succeeded in the office by Marshal Prince Berthier. , On Tuesday the I 1 th, the corps of Black Mus keteers will give a grand dinner to the corps of Grey * Musketeers in the hall cf the Olympic Theatre, which has been arrayed and decorated for the occasion. The Prince of the Peace, who has hitherto been is constant attendance upon King Charles IV. was lately obliged to retire to Pessano, and it is thought thattis Holiness will not suffer him to remain loner in his dominions. The Knights of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem intend to claim of the Allied Powers the restoration of their ancient establishmeiits. The Orddr, as once possessed of sovereign power, invokes the justice and generosity of Kings. As a religious and military order, it appeals to the religion of the illustrious Chiefs of Christendom, so lately armed in the cause of civilization and order ; and now assembled in peaceable discussion to confirm b"th. It is still confidently asserted that t-e Quee4 of Etruria will be married to the Grand Duk.. us. cant'. Her Majesty receives frequent visits from the Austrians of distinction now in this city. P.O ME, SEPTEMBER 18. His Holiness has ordered its Vice-Aulitor to ex pedite the requisite letters of translation anJ elect on for the vacant Bishoprics, viz. that ot Castelio, in fa vour of Mgr. Mondelli, now Suffragan of l'ertacine ; Sezze and Piperno, de Benti, to M. Fioraventi, Rec tor of Saint Pierre ; of Bagnarea, • to M. Jean &Li , - tiste Jacobini, Pro-Vicar of Albano; of zi l i.iletto, to the Archdeacon Perousi degli Oddi ; of Guiti i, to M. Mario Ancajani, Canon of St. Peter's; of Citta della Pim a ,to M. Jean Baptiste Licca, Canon and Vicar- General of Montefiasconne. His Holiness appears greatly fatigued from the la bour to which he unceasingly delivers himself. The embarrassments of the Pontifical Estates, its wa it of means to create resources without leaning too wavily on the subject, causes Dips s iu k isqutetude. du