The National Register. — London, England, 1815-11-26 00:00:00

-, THE NATIONAL REGISTER. Ow tiug, Conotitution, an Laths. PUBLISHED AT No. NEWCASTLE-STREET) STRAND, SUNDAY, N ONEMBER 1815. TO LITIGA L DISQUISITION. TRIAL OF MARSHAL NEY. Whoever has attentively considered the events of the last thirty years, will be convinced that they are of a de- scrip ion altogether unparalleled and extraordinary. Like an impetuous current, that has broken down its native barriers, the tide of political revolution has burst into chan nels hitherto unknown, and in its vortex confounded all the laws of moral gravity, and nearly swept away the ancient boundaries of distinctive rank. Hence many of the meatiest origin, and of the most careless or even op probrious character, have been buoyed up on the wreck less torrent, whilst others, with bolder energies and more intrinsic worth, have bravely struggled through'existence, or been doomed eventually to sink under its oppressive :force. Amnngst the second of these classes we discern the long afflicted, virtuous, and patient family of the Bour bons ; in the former, the heads of that military aristo cracy, which has at once constituted itself the poison of France, and the murderous bane of an incarnaged world. The mind that has for a time been devoted to the contem ,plation of military prowess or defeat, must now be con- tent, with a more sober sympathy, to see arranged, at the tribunal of retribution, those who have been the guilty author; of all the evils and all the horrors of which Europe has been at once the witness and the sufferer. First and foremost in the ranks of these stands Marshal ,Ney. To say that he is a traitor, might be anticipating the decrees of justice ; hut, to say that he is not, uould be a violation of the dictates of truth and common sense. Who de,•erted his beneficent master at his utmost need ? Ma .4hal Nev! Who added, by the blackest irony, insult to dereliction of his duty ?—Marshal Ney ! Yes, he him self is aware of this ; his conscience tells him So. Else why this shuffling policy—this grasping at every flimsy pretext and subterfuge—this " saving and reserving to the Mat‘hal the right of applying for further delay," this ap— peal to all the Allied Sovereigns,—t:3 anxiety fOr that . _ procra'tinatini► which answPrq from Petersburgh, Vienna, Berlin, and London mug occasion!-LOr does he6•think the tearq of the widnvrs and orphans of titoie whose.parents and husbands ha've been at I'ol. Pll. Aro. cccula shrine of that ambitious policy, whose foremost servant, or rather slave, he was, will plead, like pitying angels, in his behalf! But Louis is the imbecile; he may, there. fore, be induced to take the Marshal again under his pro tection : his courtiers are the canaille; their poor illiterate faculties may, therefore, be astoundJd by the brilliancy of the Marshal's genius, or ) at least, of his uniform. But no—the eagle's wing is clipped, and the noxious bird of prey stands trembling before the pacific, the unobtruding, bird of wisdom. Happily for the lovers of honesty and good order, the objection of the delinquent to the competency of the other tribunals, can change nothing but the mode of his execu tion. As one benighted in a morass becomes more en cumbered, and loses the power , of extrication by every fresh exertion, so the culprit who- would defend himself in a bad cause gives, in every plea, a more circumstantial proof of guilt. It Is curious, though not remarkable, how exactly this has been the este with Ney. He appealed. against the competency of a Codrt Martial ; who, bad they adjudgedhim to be shot, would at least have per. witted him to have died a soldier's death. If he be con detimed by his Peers, he suffers upon the scaffold, or un der the jaws of the guillotine, the punishment awarded to the lowest and most despicable malefactor. Such, indeed, to all appearance, will be his fate, and such, if the project of the Law of Amnesty, proposed on the 11th inst. in the Chamber of Deputies, be carried into execution, will, pro bably, be the fate of others, only less notorious for their treason, because less eminent in point of situation. This law bears indisputable marks of the prudence, jus tice, and fortitude, with which it was indited, and. Whilst it confers forgiveness, end disposes to loyalty and unanimity it does so by erecting beacons on those very vessels that have been lost; teaching at once, as by a double lesson, precaution against evil courses; and the destruction that has awaited them.. It gives; in short, a general amnesty to all excepting•those described in the following necessary ' exceptions :—Those who held important civil atid military posts under the Usurper; generals, commandants of corps or places ; prefects who passed over to the usurper ; regi cides who renounced their amnesty, by accepting places from the Usurper, or by sitting in the two Chambers, or by signing the additional Act to the Constitutions of the ph*. All these persons are to be taken up and tried by the •coin4etent tribunals; some to be puuished with dead ) f atiiity—the ethers with trtwisportation. MEIM csiGcel ,the ;I,g G. . • o • • No. 413. PRICE gfd.