The National Register. — London, England, 1817-09-08 00:00:00

~~ SEPT. A. The sudden departure of Marshall Marmont for Lyon, has been the cause of various speculations among the Parisians. fly the following extract from a letter itt 11,- Morning Papa, it would appear that his journey is the effect of another of those half-measures Which M.- de Cazc is so fond of, and the effect of which, in all probability, will be to entangle the nation in still greater difficulties. " For three months past, the Minister of Police has used every endeavour and every artifice to make it ap pear, that the insurrection was, in fact, but ofa trifling nature, and arose merely from the distress and trouble occasioned by the want of corn : but the Military Commander, the Prefect, the Mayor, the Grand Pro vost, and the Piesident of the Royal Court, being con vinced by numberless proofs, that the conspiracy was of u very serious and extensive nature, and that it had n in agitation for more than a year, positively re fits:A to enter into the views of the Minister, whose plan was supported only by his Lieutenant, Sainne ville, a man generally despised, and whom the posi tive declarations of many of the accused persons fairly justify us in supposing to have been an accomplice in the conspiracy. Embarrassed by this unexpected resist ance on the part of all the Local Authorities, the Mi n'ster has determined to send an extraordinary commis sion to Lyon, charged with inaestigating the business aad making a report upon it. And it is - Ntarshal Mar wont, Duke of Ragusa, who is gone as Lieutenant of the King for this military division, taking with him very extensive powers. Yell will observe now what the object of the Minister is in acting thus. Being hostile to the evidence of the facts, not liking their nature as involving his friends of the " Demi Solde," he wishes to be thought ignorant of the truth, which, iu fact, lie knows ktter than any one. Pressed, per haps, by the King to make him a correct report upon this afthir, nothing would annoy him more than the correspondence which has taken place with all the civil and military authorities of that department, who all say the very opiamite of what the Minister wishes that they should say. But, the sending of a King's Commissioner will spare him the pain of shoving all the prior corres pondence. It will be regarded as of no importance now. It is the Commissioner alone, who will be tended to, and it is from him alone that they will expect to hear the true state of afliurs. And truly we here all hope that he will give the true statement, and not report merely what is agreeable to the Minister. It is possible we may deceive ourselves ; but a French General catuwt easily subject himself to be considered es a servile agent of the Police ; and it' the Minister himself obtains not nil the success he may hope fi,r from this appointment, at least lie will be spared the mortification of having yielded to the representations of some functionaries who have dared to act in oppo sition to the sovereign power of the " Police Generale." And thus the Minister will have the advantage of hav im, been able to keep back a correspondence, highly embarrassing to a person who might never to be wrong." TILE DRA.II4. DRURY-LA N E THE tTRE. This theatre opened on Saturday for the season, with the aAhnirable comedy of the School , 1. 7 ,r Scandal. At seven o'clock the curtain rose, and the whole of the vocal corps came forward and sung " God save the King." The house has undergone several alterations during the recess, we wish we could call them all improvements. The boxes have been coloured of a dis . agreeable salmon hue, and the fronts of the lower circle have been made as tawdry as any thing can be conceived. Behind the scenes a useful alteration has taken place. By building a new scene-room wet only has space been obtained behind the wings, but in pro cessions, and for perspective, by a large opening in the centre of the new-room, the stage may be extended to the depth of 140 feet or more. The chief change, however, for the public is the lighting of the flour (as the stage lamps are called), and the lights behind the wings, with gas.. The blaze of light is beautifid, and ppapable of every gradation of intensity. It throws a clearness on the face of persons on the stage, which cannot fail to make the expression more marked; and it may be made free from all undulation, as well u to have a warn► glow or a pure white, as the one or the other may be preferred. Another change is the transformation of the superb saloon into a Chinese pavilion, which however is more likely to attract admi ration from its novelty than from its architectural taste. The saloon and staircase of the theatre as originally formed, were perhaps the most splendid things of the kind in Europe, and we are much inclined to question whether the erection of three Chinese pagodas, illumi nated by paper 'anthems, gall be thought to increase their beauties. A most convenient altemtion fir the half-price visi tors has been made by carrying a stair-case up at each cod of the lower hall, by which they will ascend into the. saloon, and there wait till half-price commences ; >iit these staircases hare time effect of embarrassing the tattauces, a eircumstaucc always to be ivgretted. 1 1 111 NATIO!4AL REGISTER, ROUND TABLE KNIGHTS. (From the Qturctly Review—ilubli4cd yesterday.) If any of our readers have been accustomed to set: the " Examiner," Sunday Newspaper, they will re collect a series of essays which was published therein, under the title of " The Round Table." Although inculcating some of the weakest and wickedest prin ciples in religion, morality, and politics, they escaped without much notice. As they appeared weekly, few took the trouble to compare one paper with another, and thus their absurd contradictions, their total want of any fixed principles, were overlooked ; and but for the vanity of their authors they would, ere this, have beets forgotten. But unfort unat ely that high opin ion of Reif which ch:u•ucteriiea the Examiner School, prompted them to make a beik. Here the case was at once altered ; reader' could compare the essay of to day with the cssa of that day twelve-month, and discover that, flippant wit, and vulgar satire, were nut the most powertid weapons with which to combat pure religion and fearless loyalty. The Literau Ga.:eite; highly to its honour, was the first to expose the shallow fipix.ry of " The Knights of the Round Table," and the Quarterly Review (that giant in litera ture) has not thought it beneath it to bestow that castigation which such recreant knights deserve. From the number published yesterday, we have extracted the following passages, and recommend to cur readers a perusal of the whole. " Whatever may have been the preponderating feel ings with which we closed these volume:. we will not refuse our acknowledgements to Mr. Hazlitt for a few mirthful sensations which he has enabled us to mingle with the rest, by the hint that his essays were meant to be in the manner of the Spectator and Tinier.' The passage in which this is conveyed happened to be nearly the last to which we turned ; and we were at: ut to rise from ' the Roan(' Table' heavily oppressed with a recollection of vulgar descriptions, silly paradoxes, flat truisms, misty sophistry, broken English, ill-humour and rancorous abuse, when we were first informed of the modest pretensions of our host: Onr thoughts then reverted with an eager impulse to the urbanity of Ad dison, his unassuming tone, and clear simplicity; to the ease and sofiness,cle his style, to the cheerful benevo lence of his heart. The playful gaiety too, and the tender feelings of his coadjutor, poor Steele, came forci bly to our memory. The effect of the ludicrous con trast thus presented to us, it would be somewhat diffi cult to describe. We think that it was akin to what we have felt from the admirable nonchalance with which Liston, in the complex character of a weaver and an • ass, seems to throw away all doubt of his being the most accomplished lover in the universe, and receives, as if they were merely his due, the caresses of the fairy Queen. "Few persons who have read the Spectator have ever afterwards forgotten the delightful papers on the Pant disc Lost, or those on the Pleasures of the Imagination. In this department, as in others, Mr. Hazlitt is not willing to fall short of illustrious predecessor ;' and accordingly we hear much of poetry, and of painting, and of music, and of pato. Of' Hogarth, we are told that he is too apt to perk morals and sentiments in your face, and is over redundant in his combinations.' Of Titian, that ' the limbs of his female figures have a luxurious softness and delicacy which appears conscious of the pleasure of the beholder.' Of Vandyke, that the impression slides off front the eye, and does not, like the tones of Titian's pencil, leave a sting behind it in the mind of the spectator ;'—and finally, that the arts of painting and poetry flow from the sacred shrine of our own breasts, and arc kindled at the living lamp at' Nature.' Addison and Steele never wrote any thing so tine as this ! " Our readers arc, perhaps, by this time as much acquainted with the style of this author as they have any desire to be ; and their curiosity may have been a little excited to know what the man is. It may be told in two words :—he is a sour Jacobin ; a fact which he is so good as to disclose in the following pathetic lamentation over the failure of the French Revolu tion. • The dawn of that day was overcast; that season of hope is past; it is lied with the other dreams of our youth which we cannot recal, hat has left behind it tracrs which are not to be effaced by birth-day and thanksgiving fides, or the eh:muting (4'l'e Dennis in all the churches of Christendom. To those hopes eternal regrets are due; to those who maliciously and oiifidly blasted them. in the fear that they miztit be ;teem- Wished, we feel no less what we owe, hatred and scorn as lasting I' " As we might expect from this confession of feeling, the waters of bitterness flow around this unhappy per son unceasingly. There is nothing in the World which he seems to like, unless we except washerwomen ;* fair whom he does appear to have soma regard. He writes an essay in eager vituperation of g iasi nature and good natured people ; he abuses all poets, with the sin gle exc.:ption of Milton ; he, indeed, was an honest man ; he was Cromwell's secretary ;' he abuses all coun try people ; he abuses the English ; he abuses the Irish; he the Scotch. Nor isit simply abuse, it is the language of Billingsgate, except that it is infinitely inure law:emus thaw any thing which, we are willing to believe, he can have learnt in that school of natural civility. He seems to feel all the warmth of a private quarrel against whole nations ; but against none so strongly as his own. Of poor John Bull his mildest expressions are that ' he is silent because he has nothing to say, and looks stupid because he is so :' that if he has a red face and round belly he thinks himself a great man ; that he has always been a surly, obstinate, meddlesome fellow :' that he is but a dolt—beats his wife—quarrels with his neighbours—daunisji is servants, and gets drunk to kill the time.' This rival of Peri cles, in further eulogy of his countrymen, proceeds to state, that an Irishman who trusts to his principles, and a Seotchman who trusts to his impulses, are equally dangerous.' 01* the Irish he is moreover pleased to discover that they are hypocrites in understanding— that there is something crude and discordant in all they do or say—that they arc a wild people—that they be tray principles, unite fierceness with levity, have an undercurrent ofselfishness and cunning—and that their blood, if not heated by passion, turns to poison.' All this is venomous enough. No abuse, however, which is directed against whole classes of men is of much im portance ; if undeserved it is utterly impotent and may well be utterly despised; but we shall be excused if stronger feelings have been roused by the foul and vul. gar invective which is directed by such a thing as this against individuals who now rest in their graves, but who, in the bright career of their lives, were, perhaps, the chief sources of the glory which has been shed over our country in these latter times. Of Pitt it is said; - that he possessed few talents, and fewer virtues; that his reputation was owing to a negation (together with the common virtues) of the common vices of human na ture, and by the complete negation of every other ta lent but an artful use of words and a certain dexterity of logical arrangement ; that he had 'no strong feelings, no distinct perceptions, no general principles, no co•n prehensivu views of things, no moral habits of thinking, no system of action,- no plan, no insight into human no. titre, no sympathy with the passions of men, or honsion of their real designs,' &c. " We learn from the Preface that a few of these es says were written by Mr. Hunt, the editor of the Ex aminer newspaper, We really have not time to ascii.. minate between the productions of the two gentlemen, or to mete out to each his due portion of praise we beg that they will take the trouble to divide it themselves according to their respective claims. We can only mention here that Mr. Hunt sustains the part of the droll or merry fellow in the pertbrmance : it is he who entertains us with the account of his getting the night-mare by eating veal-pye, and who invents tut that disorder the facetious name of Mnpvtglnau-auw auw•w : who takes the trouble to inform us that he dis likes cats ; to describe the skilful spat of the finger nails which he gives his newspaper,' and the mode in which he stirs his fire : it is he who devotes ten or twelve pages to the desertation on' washerwomen,' and who repeats, no doubt from faithful memory, the dia logues which pass between Betty and Molly, the paid-. servants, when they are first called in the morning, and describes, front actual observation, (or, it may be, experience,) the conclusive digs in the side' with which Molly is accustomed to dispel the lingering slumbers of her bed-fellow. Extract of a letter from the Agent to Lloyd's at Btu.. nos Ayres, dated June 17.—" The brig called the Go. neral Artigas, is fitting out for a cruise : she will mount to guns and have 80 men on board, and it is expected ' will carry a commission from Artigas against the, Por. tuguese." We are happy to find that the garrison and town of Gibraltar remain perfectly healthy ; letters received yesterday, are of the 14th ult. The communication with Spain remained perfectly free. From the strict quarantine enthrced, there was little fear entertained of the fever being induced. from Algiers. No recent accounts had been received of its progress there, as all communication with the ports of Barbary wu prohibited. The causewaying of the streets with blocks of cast iron, as has been lately begun in London, appears to be in contemplation even at Edinburgh, the neigh our. hood of wfiich used once to supply the streets of Lon.. dou with stone. Part of North College-street . ready laid with iron blocks, by way of experiment. EXPEDITION TO THE CONOO.—We are sorry to state the • death of Captain Campbell, the able and zealous mull:under of this mifortnnats, lint well meant rude:lo'ollr to explai e the interior of :Africa. A letter from Sierra. Leone, or June so, states, 'hat intelligence of the toss bail arrived at that place a few days before, Captain Campbell was reported to have . died a a broker heart, awl the expedition was expected to retort,. The second naval officer in command, who had been left at Sierra Leone, on account of ill-health, bat was reec. verell, and on his way to join the expedition. roomed to Sierra Leo. , e, on bearing of Captain Campbell . .. death, to consult the Governor, upon the fplare conduct expe• dition. A dispatch was iniiivsaiately sent bothICK Lord • Bathurst. We copy the above from the Courier of yesterelafT but we apprehend Otero is a misconception in the watentent, as Cap tain Campbell did not belong to the Congo aavat expedition, but to Ma military one arm to explore the course of . Niger, to the command of whic2i, lit succeeded on the death of bli;jor Puddie. I ruuula. . -