The National Register. — London, England, 1817-01-27 00:00:00

POLITICAL DISQI*I.SITI(LV. THE POLICY OF ENGLAND TriWARDS FRANCE VINDICATED FROM THE ASPERSIONS OF 'f HE TdoDERN REFoRNIERS. There is a broad distinction between that solid prac tical liberty which England has enje, el since her Re volution, and that system of freedom which the Jacobins of France and the enthusiasts of this country, have been for some time labouring to promulgate. They do not attempt to sit,tain their chosen opinitais upon any ra tional foundation—they collect &Aliso the view a :cries of Cads which cannot be disputed—they complain of the annihilation of trade, the decline of commerce, the deso lation which has come upon agriculture, and the ex istence of these misfortunes they conclude must be im puted to a defective state of our constitution, undo zeal for despotism among our rulers. If such a conclusion were possessed of a single shade of truth, our ardour in the cause of real liberty would prompt us instantly to subscribe to it, anti to repent it to the ears of the coun try until her injuries were vindicated. But standing its this conclusion does, a specimen of the grossest so phistry, we Ebel it our duty to repel it. N 1 herever it is believed, it harrows up the public mind, it eradicates the tin: and sabitary principles of civil freedom, and plants in Avis room new germs, pregnant with a poi son which is fatal to the rights of society. These enthusiasts style themselves patriots and re formers: anti they announce that the prosperity of the land, and the regeneration of the Govorament are the only objects of their pursuit. In order to accomplish such important purposes how do they proceed? All the evils which at present afflict this cou:ury, they impute to the late war, and arguing that that was a contest solely undertaken for the extinction of the liberties of France, and for the revival of tyranny in that portion of the continent, they assert that it was unjust, and that it ought never to have been waged by alive state. It is granted fin- a moment that the war was unjusti fiable. It is granted also, and we do not mean to deny, that the privations under which we are now suffering, were the necessary results of such extensive and pro tracted hostilities. But it is meet, in the first instance, to inquire, it, when no adequate remedy is proposed, when no immediate relief is practicable, it be any con solation to a man bowed down with calamities, to hold the picture of them perpetually before him ? If his attention must be constantly occupied in brooding over past felicity, and lamenting his present degradation ; how can he ever hope to rise again from the earth, or to recover any portion of his former fbrtune ? The channel in which human affairs were destined to roll, is too vast and too full, to present invariably an nitrated surface. Distinct and contrasted inter ests, tle ambition of some, the cupidity of others, the vanity and the envy of more, must frequently en counter each other, and the conflict is felt through the remotest extremities. It is the general destiny; the history of nations is but a series of vicissitudes ; anti it would be monstrous that any community should expect from Providence a peculiar dispensation from the esta blished 'and universal laws of nature. The inhabit ants of this Island have had upon the whole, asabundant a share of happiness, as was ever yet allotted to any country. Their admirable system of government re cognizes and protects their original rights as men; and it is nut given to any superior under Heaven to violate them with impunity. Successful warriors, wise and honourable statesmen, wealthy and respected citizens, zealous, uncorrupted assertors of civil and roligious 11- laTty, is there any character which can dignify or de tswate a chosen congregation of men, which they have not worn at some period of their national existence ? If in the order of the world after the enjoyment of such ai.snal blessings, =hour of adversity should arrive, are they to be beaten down to the lowest degree of desper ation, by the prowling adventurous outcasts of Society? Are we to be told, that a crisis has arrived in our af fairs beyond which we cannot pass? As if we had lost the fire anti energies of our forefathers—as if we were not the descendants of that people who made this island the emporium of the world, and extended her empire limo Canada to Coromandel ! Now with reference to the assertion that the war has extinguished the liberties of France, we beg to know at what time, la , fore that war was commenced or ma eluded, did those liberties exist. Did the French possess them under Murat, or Robespierre? Under the Direc tory, or under the Consulate of Buonaparte ? Did they possess them under the Imperial rule of Napoleon ? We appeal to history for an emphatic negative to these questions. It wits the boast of the Emperor that he sappressed the bloody contentions of the Republic, that he dissipated the factions which oppressed it, that he reunited the distracted provinces, and substituted public security for undistinguishing rapine. If while cleansing that nation of its evils, he had been also able to purify his own heart front an extravagant and un principled ambition ; if while he chained down the dragons which affrighted and desolated that country, he had also kept his oval hands free from spoliation, . within a rational limit, unques have promoted the repose, the hap. and confined his power tionahly he would laar THE NATIONAL REGISTER. pinetts, and the freedonrof France. But the only dif ference between the Republic and the Empire was,. that during the continuance of the hitter, the vices of the numerous tyrants who sprung from the revolution were concentrated iu one person. Napoleon grasped Oleic collected power, and exercised it with equal ardour, with more than equal efficacy. He was a sworn enemy to liberty both at home mid abroad. His legislative assemblies were all of his own appointment, not a mem ber of' them was ever elected by the people. No law could originate with them, they received with sordid submission the capricious decrees of the tyrant, and re gistered them without discussion. Their debates (it' the expression be allowed) were never public, unless when they were to sustain the otlium of imposing a new tax, of authenticating a new scheme of finance, of adding to the horrors of the conscription, or unless when an adulatory and puerile addre,s was to be pre sented to the throne. IVith all this, can it ever he tiirgotten that N rot EON assumed to himself' the dis posal in marriage of all the daughters of' France, and that be bestowed their hands as he would a title upon his menial favourites? To prove his respect fir the freedom and independence of other countries, he timed his military career from the burning sands of Africa to the frozen desarts of the North. He erected a throne for one of his brothers in Holland—he placed another on the throne of Spain—he stripped the Swiss of the tights which were consecrated as their property by the blootl of TELL—he degraded the fitir and fertile Italy into an appendage to his crown, and he posited the frontiers of his empire to the waters of the Rhine. It is now no longer doubted, that to these presumptuous and unjustifiable appropriations of fiircign territory, he had meditated and actually prepared to attempt tabling these our native islands. Thus he not only denied liberty to France, but endeavoured to banish it from every portion of Europe that lay within his reach. If this statement, therefhre, be founded upon truth, and we believe that it cannot be questioned, it is demon strated that the war did not annihilate the freedom of France, for freedom did not exist there. But it is said, the French people arc better judges on this s ►bject than we can possibly be, and a great num ber of them, who lament the overthrow of Buonaparte, are hostile to the present Government, which they stig matize as despotic. We grant that the existing go vernment is despotic in one sense, it has evinced as yet no disposition to indulge its subjects with the enjoy ment of that species of liberty, upon which alone they set any value. As to civil freedom, that is now for the first time in their possession. Their legislative assem bly is chosen from among themselves. With this hotly laws may and do originate—from them must come the annual supply of taxes—their discussions are in public, and there is among them a firm and an organized oppo sition. This may not perhaps constitute a perfect system of political liberty; but we put it to any rational man, if this be not capable of ripening in the progress of time, a constitution consolidated by experience, and gradually adapted to the genius of the people ; at least is it not preferable to the rule of a single Ty rant? But the truth is, the Buonamrtists neither compre hend or esteem civil franchises ;—one great franchise they hate lost under the Bourbons—namely, that of overrunning and plundering Europe. This military license is what they mean by liberty ; this is the god of their idolatry, and while it is prostrate from its pedes tal, they never will be a contented nation. Arc we then to be accused of extinguishing freedom in France,. because we do not meekly gratify their thirst Jim marti al achievements ? Surely under such circumstances they cannot be contemplated as a body of citizens—they are a nation of veteran soldiers, and they only want arms anti a leader, to plunge the world again in the miseries of war. Louis XVIII. was not restored to the throne, merely because he was the legal successor of Lamas XVII. but because his return to France was inseparably connected with the revival of order, of morality and reason in that country. His rights were undenied, and his personal integrity was the only gua rantee from which Europe couldexpectsolid and durable tranquillity. It is not the deposition of the tirelock, or the sheathing of the sword, which can be ca ll e d a p eace ; the wish to remain in flioulship must emanate from the heart and be reciprocal. We ask, could this have been hoped from Buonaparte ? The question, theref we, now comes to this, was the war . justiliable? We shall not say that our existence us a nation would have emsed, if the war had not been undertaken and successful; but will any man assert, that we could have slumbered with honour under our fig -trees, while the rights of the rest of mankind were trampled on, and memwed with total destruction? Un doubtedly as a great and liberal thuion, we could not, and our exertions have proved, that the cause oflibertv was safely entrusted to the arms of a free people. if then the war have entailed upon us those calamities which are its usual concomitants, let us not repine ; we may regret perhaps that there was any r ecessity for such prolonged hostilities, but let us not in our attic has lose every noble idea—let us not act such a fret ful and unworthy part as to tear down all our laurels, an d tarnish them with sullen and unmanly tears ! JANUARY 27 FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE. FRANCE. At a review in the Champs Elysees on Wednewlsy, the Bth of January, a number of Englishmen were se duced to enter the square or open space in which the troops were drawn up. It was full of Officers' horses and servants, who were riding up and down, and were Easily mistaken Cr spectators by persons ignorant of the regulations. The English were not warned off, but seized the instant they entered, and led up to a place were a fine of three francs was demanded, and paid ; and they were then suffered to depart amidst the jeers and laughs of the polite concourse assembled to see the evolutions.. The King's health imrrovcs daily. In the Chamber of Deputies the Committee on the Law for restraining the Journals of France have made their report, which reccommends the Law without any amendment. By the proposed enactment, the King merely retains in his own hands for another year the privilege of licensing the Public Journals. The following Notice has been issued in France re specting English and other foreign traders :—" The Prefect of the Department of the North has written Letters to the different Mayors within his jurisdiction, recommending them, in the name of his Excellency the Minister of the Interior, not to oppose any obstacles to the industry of fitreign merchants and licensed dealers. Ile recalls to their recollection that excellent disposition of the law :—‘ Every Citizen provided with a patent may exercise his profession or industry in any part of France.' And enjoins them not to interfere in determin. ing either the emumune they shall reside in, or the time of their stay ; and to give them every fluility in the publication of their bills and adverti:Tments." A private letter front Paris, of the 18th inst. states, that the King, on the 16th, created six Peers of France. Their names are, .Messrs. Jumilhac, Montealm, De Cazes, sen. Lafitte, Rai, and Greffulhe. All these are persons of the first consideration, in point of property, and what is more essential to the true dignity of the aristocracy, they have proved themselves, on trying oc casions, men of probity and honour. Their batons of Nobility will, therefore, be so many additional palisadoes around the Throne. write from the head-quarters of Cambray, that the Duke of Wellington is slucly expected there.— During his stay at Paris Lord Hill connnands the Eng lish army. They talk of a meeting of several of the Gcr ncrals of the Allies at Cambray. _ _ . _ _ The French Papers notice an incident exhibiting a praiseworthy determination, on the part of the Law Officer of the Crown. The case alluded to is that of a monster who stabbed his wife and daughter in u com pound lit of brutal rage and incestuous lust. The Jury who tried the cause returned a verdict of—" Guilty of stabbing; but not with intent to kill." And yet the medical practitioners who examined the wounds stated, upon oath, that the knife had entered three inches into the right breast of the daughter ! The Court, upon such a verdict, could only award five years imprisonment to the offinider. The Public Prosecutor, however, availing hiubelf of the privilege allowed him by the French laws, has moved tin. a new trial. A Royal Ordinance of France appoints Paspier, President of the Deputies, to the office of Keeper of the Seals, which office is therefore taken away from the President of the Chamber of Peers. We might in this case take an useful example from France, and separate the functions of Lord Chancellor and. Speaker of the House of Lords. The King has fixed the mode, in which the Chamber of Deputies shall be renewed. The eighty six depart ments of the kingdom are to be divided into five series, and each series is to be renewed, in any order to be de termined by lot, during the present Session. A Law upon Hills of Exchange, and out 'firr fish* the allowance to be made to prisoners fin• debt by tit( it creditors, chiefly occupied the Chamber of Deputies, on Monday. The Paris Papers of Monday and Tuesday contain nothing of importance, except the melancholy details of the exhumation of the Royal dead, and of the pre parations which are announced to be making for the celebration of the anniversary of the murder of the on-• timtunate Louis XVI. Tha French funds have suffered ;1 slight depression, having declined from Got. 9.0 e. (the :ast quotation,) to .19f. 50c., at which they left (Arun M enday. The German Papers inform us, that the Swedes and the Algerincs arc augmenting their respective navies.— Of the increase of the Swedish navy, no European. Power is likely to complain ; but the Dey of Algiers ought to be asked, what he means to do with the new fry of armed vessels now fitting out in his haiblurs. MIL %v, Just. 6.—The Princess of Wales is to pass the Carnival in our city. It is understowl that her Royal Highness will reside ut the surerb Palace of Bel giososo. Part of the ancient npagnitieent furniture is to be put in the best condition. LAUSANNE, JAN. B.—Naples is still in a painful amt. icty r,:srceting its tiiiticultics with the Uuited Statcs.. 41 1 t 1 .l 1