The National Register. — London, England, 1811-07-14 00:00:00

432 , • ment alone, seems to have beeliburried for the pur pose of rendering the hostility cf America so marked as to prevent all an - tempts at :conciliation. For to follow up an offence by a justification of it, is at once to proclaiM the most decided hostility. But it may be said, Commodore RODGERS'S ac count was, perhaps, so clear, that no doubt of his having acted right could remain in the PRESI trINT'S mind. The statement of this officer, as might naturally be expected, is such as to throw all the blame of the engagement on the Little Belt. But the very description which he gives of the conduct of the two vessels, however art fully laboured, proves—that he chased our sloop, which manoeuvred for hours so as to avoid the Pre sident—that although he could nut all day perceive the inferior force of the Little Belt, he could, at night, and after a firing of some minutes, which must have covered her with smoke, see that her gaff and colours were down, and her main-topsail-yard upon the cap—that the gun said to be fired by our ship was not heard by him, although the two vessels .were uot more than 70 or 100 yards distant from each other, but by his Captain of Marines ; and that his very MCI& knew so well the intention with which he chased us, - that even before he had given Me 'order, a gun was fired from the 2d division of his ship. Then, indeed, his -bearing was cleared, and with the greatest surprise and indignation he found that we committed the unprovoked outrage of returning the fire of a vessel that for hours had pursued us as an enemy ; that refused to tell us to what Power . the belonged, and could not, therefore, be thought a neutral, although she might wear, the colours of one, but a foe in disguise ; for why should a Nen tral Power at peace with all the world, refuse to quiet the suspicions of a Belligerent ? Still UllaC• quainted with the nationality of our ship, but . thinking. " that the insult was premeditated," al though we had for a whole day endeavoured to avoid him ; and that the American neutrality had been vio/oted; through a vain wish in the Cap tain of the unlinottln ship of acquiring promotion, Commodore Ronct:tts at last fired his whole broad side, and less than tea minutes we were twice silenced and finaly put hors de combat. Such an account, so full of glaring inconsistencies and con tradiction's, and which in the estimation of all men of impartiality and common sense, must stand self refuted, was however too satisfactory to the Ame rican Government s to justify even an inquiry into Its truth. They have-not only expressed their ap. probation of the past conduct of this officer, but have sent him out again with, the American Pa pers assure us, positive orders to renew it whenever he shall find occasion. This, with NAPOLEON, they call, , 4 Supporting the dignity of their flag !" We. _ hope that Commodore RODGERS wilr soon find a fresh opportunity of adding to his laurels, by en gaging a ship nearer his force, when . we trust the insult offered to our flag will be duly expiated. \ FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE. FRENCH EXPOSE. M 4) ••••••••••• 1-r" PARIS, JULY 1. . • • 4 ..•: . : 0 0 ? IXPOSITION OF THE STATE OF TILE EMPIRE, Mi. SEXTET) TO THE LEGISLATIVE BODY AT ITS SIT• TING Or .ruvf.: . 29, RI HIS EXCI..I.I.ENCY COUNT I.I , I4.`TALIVET, MINISTER FOR THE INTERTOR. His exposition begins by stating that since the last sitting of the Legislative Bady, the French empire has received an ad dition of sixteen departments, five millions of people. a.terri tory yielding a revenue of one hundred millions, three hundred leagues of Least with all their maritime means, and the mouths of the Rhine, the Meuse; and the Scheldt, as well as those of the Ems, the Weser, and the Elbe, whilst the French frontiers are supported on the Baltic, It then mentions the union of the Simplon to France, and that of Rome, in the following terms:—. The union of Rome has removed that troublesome interme diary which subsisted between our armies in the north and south and in the south of Italy, and has given us new coasts on the Mediterranean, as useful and necessary to Toulon, as those of the Adriatic are to Venice. This union also brings with it this double advantage—that the Pope's are no longer Sovereign Princes, and in the relation of strangers to France. To bring to our recollection all the evils which religion has sustained, by the confounding of temporal with siiritual power, we have only to look iiito history. The Popes have invariably sacrificed eternal thing; to temporal ones. The divorce of Henry the Eighth . was not the cause ofEng land's separation from the church of. Rome. The pence of - St. Peter occasioned that event. If .it be advantageous to. the State and to Religionothat the Pope should not continue to be a Sovereign Prince, it is equally desirable that the Bishop of Rome, the head of our Church, should not be a stranger to us; but that ke should unite in his heart, with the love of religion, that love for this country which characterises elevated minds. Besides, it is the only means whereby that proper influence which the Pope ought to possess over spiritual concerns can be rendered compatible with the principles - of the Einpire, which cannot suffer any foreign Bishop to exercise an authority therein. THE NATIONAL . RE I ,IGION. After expressing the Emperor's satisfaction at the spirit that animated his Clergy, this article mentions the establishment of secondary ecclesiastical schools, commonly called small schools : the founding of many large seminaries for higher studies : the re-establishment of the churches that have been destroyed,.and the completion of several grand cathedrals, of which the revo lution had interrupted the construction. It then describes the means adopted to elect Bishops without the Pope's consent. Twenty-seven bishoprics having been fora long time vacant, and the Pope having refused, at two different periods, front 1805 to 1807, and from 1808 up to the present moment, to exc• cute the clauses of the Concordat which bind him to institute the Bishops nominated by the Emperor; this refusal has the Concordat—it no longer exists. The Emperor has been, therefore, obliged to convoke all the Bishops of the em pire, in order that they may deliberate about the means of sup plying the vacant sees, and of nominating to those that may be come vacant in future, conformably to what was done under Charlemagne, under St. Louis, and in all the ages which pre ceded the Concordat of Francis I. and I.eo X.; for it is of tkie essence of the Catholic religion not to be able to dispense with the ministry and the mission of Bishops. Tnus has ceased to exist that famous transaction between Francis 1. and Leo X. against which the Church, the Onlvei sky, and the Supreme Courts, so long protested, and which made the publicists and magistrates of that period say, that the King and the Pope had mutually ceded that which belonged neither Lu the one nor the other. Henceforward it is to the deliberations of the Council of Paris, that the fate of episcopacy is attached, which will have so much influence upon that of re ligion itself. Fhe Council will decide whether France, like Germany, shall be without episcopacy. As fur the rest, if there have existed other causes of dlsunion between the Emperor and the temporal Sovereign of Rome, there exists none between the Emperor and the Pope, as the head of religion ; and there is none whi c h ca n cau s e the least inquietude to the most timorous souls. JUDICIAL 012,DER. Here we are informed that civil has been united to criminal justice, and that Imperial Courts have been instituted afsnied with the right of accusing and pursuing to conviction and exe cution of their sentence. Witnesses are also ordered to be con fronted, and examinations to be public. Men who still re- • .