The National Register. — London, England, 1815-10-29 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER. 690 - 'When exhausted by her own efforts, she bent beneath the •words of the foes whom the storm of her rage had failed to overwhelm, and looked for relief from the friends she had invested with superior dignity and augmented power, every head she had crowned, every hand she had armed,. appeared in hostile array against her. Late benefits were forgotten. old grievances rose in all their deformity, and the shout for vengeance grew universal, till it sonttded ever the ruins of the offending Power. As conciliation between the victor and the fallen is never sincere among states, and seldom amongst men, the prudence of the one must build its security on the helplessness of the other. There is even more than prudence in such policy—there is mercy. To prevent offence, is also to prevent punishment. Let not then afalse magnanimity once more endanger the peace of Europe. If France cannot purify herself from the stain of so many crimes, let her at least reject, or be made to reject, those who wish to draw her into fresh enor mitie.. If she cannot become innocent, let her grow 'harmless. She will then cease to be dangerous : for the time she will spend in recovering her prosperity and power, will enable the Continent to settle on its new basis, antl to acquire a degree of solidity which all the future at tacks of her ambition will attempt to shake iu vain. New York papers to the 48th ult. were received Tuesday. The following extract from them announces the arrival in America of Joseph Bonaparte:-'—" Trenton, Sept.4s.—On Thursday evening last, Jssepli Bonaparte. formerly King of Naples, and late pretender to the Crown of Spain, arrived here. attended by a 'United States naval officer, who went on with him to the southward a fortnight since ; Governor Pen nington, and one other admirer of crowned heads (provided the head crowned be a Bonaparte), we understand paid their personal respects to him, with bows, scrapes, and shakes ofthe hand—and thus welcomed his Majesty to Trenton. They i, could not talk to his Majesty, but they could make signs! The Ex-King went on to the eastward next morning. From a late AmeriCan Paper %re have extracted the fol.' lowing article relative to the Treaty of Commerce with this cou.ntry:— " The people of the United States mulct feel more than commonly impatient to learn what they are to get by the new Treaty of COW merer. To express my unfavonrable anticipations respecting it vould took more like party malice thin genuine patriotism—more like what the democratic gentry would do—indeed what they have actually done--than the workinrs of sound, faithful American hearts. Long before the terms of Jay's Treaty were divulged to thee . public, it was attacked by the whole FrCliCl4 faction, upon )Direr mirru'le. ° The writer then, forgetting his preface, attacks this Treaty. Ile says,— " Eiro—That if the expected Treaty be nyt rery much more tdvantagenn. to America than the Ttealy which Government might have had. but refused to accept, their delinquency with re spect to flowiparte, and his influence over them is proved beyond Wn:Ilion; and they stand accountable to the Country for the ruin— ous expenditures anti various evils of the war, and to God for every life that has been lost in it. Sueondly,—.That if it be not a better treaty than that trade by es , l.. Monroe and Pinkney, it affords the most satisfactory proof, it' ', l nked pre% i proof were wanting, that the war which has been Isteki lei ate.i. so tar from being, even in the opinion of the .n . efutive, honourable or advantageous, . his Produced only whit might have been had without it." I FOREIGN INTEUIGENCE. FRENCH PAPERS. CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES. OCT. 2 9 SITTING OF OCT. 21. M. Bellart, in the name of the Commission to which the law for punishing seditious persons, proposed by the Mi nister of Police, bad been referred, presented the Report. 44 Gentlemen—You all know that amongst the freest people in the world, amongst the Romani, when the factions dared to conspire, recourse was had to one formula alone to defeat their criminal projects. Among our neiehbonis in that country which I shall presume to call the Classic Land of Liberty, the law, which directs that no one shall be de. tained without legal forms, is very often suspended And yet the Constitutions of Rome and of England seemed not to admit such measures; but those two people felt that vie ..ds are nothing when it is necessary to act, and that in of der to preserve freedom, we ought first to preserve society. They felt that there are none but madmen who, in order to remain faithful to simple forms, would make it a question whether they ought to defend themselves against their enemies. The Prince to whom we owe the Constitutional Charter, has been ' more provident than the Legislators of these two countries, for he introduced into the Charter the means of public safety; and if the judicial power has alone the right to dis pose of persons, the fourth article of this great Charter leaves nevertheless to the law the right of regulating every thing that is necessary in difficult circumstances. Without doubt, it is requisite to have a special law, to give to that tu telary disposition an indispensable latitude; but no where does that Charter prohibit the law from extending its power as far as the public safety may demand. It is to conform to those legitimate scruples that the law now under discussion has been proposed to the Chamber; and in the present state of legislation several functionaries are charged with what is called the Judicial Police. They have the right to seek after and seize the accused. After a fixed time they are obliged to send him to the Tribunals, or set him at liberty. It is this preliminary delay which we may tall a delay for the purpose of collecting proofs, that the present law proposes to prolong indefinitely when it relates to the charge of a state crime. On one side, a rapid indict ment exposes you to the danger of letting a guilty person, whom you have not had time to convict, escape the applies. tion of the law. On the other side, there are guilty persons who know so well how to surround themselves with cunning precautions, that, however strong the moral conviction may be against them, they are able to struggle with success against the mass of proofs that accuse them, and often even are able to escape a too just punishment. Must we hasten to restore to liberty such a dangerous man, rendered still more dan gerous by impunity? Persons who do not suffer themselves to be misled by vain words, will not deny that under certain circumstances it is necessary to give a discretionary power to Government, in order to prevent the dissolution of society. Do these circumstances exist now'? That is the only questioo that remains to be examined. Is it one for you, Gentlemen ? See, hear, and decide. Ido not hesitate to say, that there are none but the play themselves, or their accomplices, that can'doubt the fact. Never were Rome or England in a posi• 1 tion in which it was mote urgent to proclaim the formula-- I Cared:lnt Consuleil s• There will be men who will hypocritically groan over what they call an attack upon individual liberty, and will cflottinias a meature which every honest man fdels to be iii! N • A _ 4. 4 1' 4 I , / . i =-- 1 ' . A ) tv,N!4-?-- 1,;:, '4 --. . 4 . • r . ,74 i ." \-.....` - i • 11 ~,, N. --... =, . - • freest factions alone to wins in ,ic Land I be de. And !d not to sat vt , 'As older to They o remain whether ies. The , has been :ountries, of public ,ht to dis- t Charter ting every Without to that tu- no where its power sat the law Chamber; nctionaries ice. They I. After a ihunals, or ich we may a, that the n it relates apid indict- iilty person, the applica• silty persons itti cunning viction may ccess against ven are able en to restore more dan- r themselves 'rider certain ary power to n of society. mly question . Gentlemen? y, that there ,inplices, that Ind in a posi• )e formula— , y groan over arty, and wilt ktis W be ig'.`