The National Register. — London, England, 1816-04-29 00:00:00

APRIL . The a i iele applicable to our countryman WAS No. 211, which pr. set doll imprisonment for a term not exceed.ng t o years. nor less than three months, nt the discretion of the judge : and the President, without hesitation, pronounced fur tile shortest allots able period, three mouths. Stu Ittint.iir and Mr. HaLCE had both previonAy heideeaged the court in long speeches, explanarlry of their motives for a conduct which they did nut deny. INSERT obtelVed, that those who blamed what he had done, would pruoanly have cen sured hint for 'Mittman; ty, hied tic refused to assist in snatching a ti flow-creature from destruction. Mr. BRICE avowed him self a fiend to liberty, and to the constitution of bis c. try. as nettled by the glorious revolution of Inuti; but he deckled his detestoi.ou of that fictitious revolutionary liberty which bud de. ',dated Europe. Both these speeches were listened to with great attention by the c tort, which thrunghout the proceedings showed a marke.l degree of respect to our uttrsmen, as r as their relative situation would permit. Oa a diaput. which arose as to Cie official translation clone of Sir Itourtur's letters, the Advocate-General allowed the prisoners the benefit of the inttrprctation wh.cli was most favourable to them. The curt Was hiller on the third day than on the second, but less so than at the opening of the trial. Madame LAVALL'ITI: was among Slur auditors. THE NATIONAL REGISTER. LONDON : MONDAY, APRIL 29. -+- WE this day lay before our Readers the three days proceedings in the trial of Sir Robert Wi:son, and Messrs. Hutchinson and Bruce, for aiding the escape: of Lavalette. The trial concluded on the third day (Wednesday last). The Jury pronounced a verdict of Guilty against them ; and the Judge passed the lightest sentence which the law allows in such eases—Three Monthss Imprisonment. The severest sentence allowed by the law would have been Two Years; to which the turnkey (Eberle) has been adjudged. The adoption of the Budget has improved the French finds. It appears from the Budget, as passed by the Chamber, that the ordinary expences of the Government are estimated at 548,252,520 f.; and the ordinary re ceipts at 570,454,940 f.; leaving a balance of more than u:..! millions. The extraordinary expences, arising from war contributions, and the maintaining of 1.50,000 fo reign troops, &c. are rated at 290,800,000 f.; and the extraordinary receipts, derived from new taxes, at f..!91.243,141 f., leaving a balance of mare than half a million. The whole of the expenditure, therefore, amounts to 839,052,520 f., or about 36 millions sterling, and the receipts to about 87 English money. Our Readers are aware that this heavy system of taxation is to continue only five years—the period of occupation I,y the foreign armies; at the end of which, France will be relieved from a yearl; burthen of 12 millions sterling; leaving a sum of 24 millions sterling to be provided for annually by a country so populous, and so richly favoured in respect to soil and climate, as France is known to be. A French Paper, published at Brussels, contains on article from Toulouse, dated the 7th instant, stating that M. Boyer Fontrida, an inhabitant of the city for 12 years, who first established the cotton-manufacture there, brother of the Girondist of that name, was arrested and thrown into prison, on the second return of :he Bourbons; and, notwithstanding three different orders of the Minis ters of Police to release him, be was unable to obtain his liberty; the answer unifirrinly that the prisoner was detained by the Agents of the Print:et. At length, on the 7th of this month, Le was released, on condition of quitting his country, and retiring to a foreign land. A New Journal has been published at Ghent, which treats with some humour the present political situation of France. The following may serve as a specimen : Panr., APR ir. 9.--The French Ayadetny will henceforth hold two sittings p,.r. work. This resolution has In en come to ' in consequence of the necessity of correcting thy Dictionary of the lastitste, in which the words .Imicity, Clemency, Courage, I. , Propt-rta, Ghana! menu. .ke. are to receive new acyclic:- lions. M. M. Hs de de Scoville. Castel de }Nat., Bellart and Co. are to correct the pan's. The Grand Prevot, the Mar- Alois de Messey, has dema n ded of these Gentlemen a new word 'to substitute for the word silitions; thinking that according, to his own obse:vation the number of seditious iu Trance may be considered as the majority." They are occupied at Paris with a Medallic History of the Reign of a great Sovereign. Our Zephyr has blown us the following; specimens of this beautiful work : 1. Medal—the head of a Monarch; a strong rrsemblanre. On the reverse a foot of a king, with these words—Nita Ar rays,. Y. A Genii (a clove, also tic City of Ghent), with these worth —Drportoice for the Chmagel. 3. A Coamack, carrying behind him the Gud Sitenus, with tht words--Serand Return. 4. A soldier 'toiler arms, with the words— innesiy—Partion. 6. A Bottle and o Hain, ornamented with laurels, with the words--/ drank—l ate-1 comptcred. 8. A I'ot lin the Fire, with the words—Saroolt of the Belvidere Apnifes.- - !The remainder by the first fair wind.] The New York Parer of the 16th ult. mentions a re port, to which it attaches credit, of Lavalette having ar rived in the Eugene, from Ilavre, on Tuesday evening, the Uth ult. Congre,:s has been chiefly employed upon the question of establishing a National Bank. The necessity of one has been aukno , .vletiged ; and New York has been fixed upon as the spot. An a:tempt has been made to excite an insurrection among the Negroes in part of the Unitci States. Sc moral NLsgraes have bcmezecuted. TIIE NATIONAL REGLIT.Tt. We have received Madrid Gaxettes up to the beginning of April, containing General Morillu's dispatch relating to the capture of Carthagena. These details fill the mind with horror; the traces of no war were ever before more unfeeling and unnatural—neeer more bloody and revenge ful. if the victims of Carthagena have been less than at Ismail, the traits of atrocity are of as 'deep a dye as when the latter place MIS abandoned to the fury of the Russian soldiery. Murillo, however, confesses, that &trine the whole time he was intrenchel before the place, he had been unable to make the smallest impression, either on the outposts er clay walls; that he had been repelled in every attack, and his best troops had already been sacri ficed. His only hope was to take the place by starvation. He confesses that " women and children dying with hunger came forth, and when the Spaniards entered the city it presented the most horrid spectacle. The streets were filled with dead bodies infecting the air, and the greatest part of the inhabitants were dying with hunger." The whole garrison, alter spiking the guns, had evacuated in the teeth of the Spaniards. The privations Carthagena endured, certainly deserve to be compared with those of Leyden, Wien opposing the Duke of Alva. Tie country round had equally been devastated; and if they could also have inundated it, the result would have. been similar. The scenes of horror and calamity which succeeded time entry of the Spaniards into this unhappy city, cannot be described. The official dis patch states, that in the castle of San Fernando, 60 sol tilers, and two ()dicers of the Independents had been found; they def.:laded themselves till the last moment; they were pet to the sword, but the last words each pro nounced, were, "May America be free." Another descent was made by the Barbary pirates in Sardinia en the Gth instant, where they committed the most horrible atroeiiies, and carried oil' 88 individuals, men and women.—A Treaty of Peace has since been concluded between the King of Sardinia and the Dey of Algiers, through the interference of Great Britain. It seems not a little humiliating, to hear of the gr eat Powers of Europe attempting to negociate with the Bar bary States, to induce them to respect the flags of those Powers. It seems like a negotiation opened by our Police to oblige footpads to respect the pockets Of passengers on the highway. Surely it is in the power of the smallest navy in Europe to annihilate the mischief at once. A Mail from Holland communicates the arrival of the Dille of Wellington at the Hague, where lie was received with the most enthusiastic ma.rks of public esteem and gratitude. Gen. Drouot, on being liberated after his trial, waited upon his Majesty by desire of the Minister of War.— " You have been acquitted, General," said the King to him, "and that event gives me much satisfaction; but you must allow que yore aver donne dan. le travers." " My conscience is free from reproach," replied the Ge neral.—Upon which his Majesty turned his hack upon him, and left hint to withdraw. Shortly after, he re ceived an order from M. Lespenois to quit Paris in :24. hours. In debating the French Budget, a Vendean Deputy, a flaming Ultra Royalist, took occasion to utter a tirade against Angltm ania. Flc related, at the saute time, an anecdote respecting the rigour of our laws with respect to prohibited merchaudize. A Lady, he said, who was tra velling in England, quitted her carriage, and made part of the journey a-foot, fitr fear the carriage should be seized, as she wore a pair of French gloves! The Lady might have spared herself this inconvenience, had she thrown the gloves out of the window, and purchased another pair in the first village. The story, no doubt, is a rank fabrication, and invented by M. Puymanrin, to have an opportunity of expectorating his bile against this country. By order of the Council of State of Fribourg, the works of Rousseau, found in the library of a celebrated Agricul turist lately deceased, were committed to the fixates, on the ground of their being immoral and dangerous. The statues of Mirabeau, and some other rerFonagcs who rendered themselves celebrated during the Revolution, have been withdrawn from the Palace of the Luxembourg.. Lord Byron sailed from Dover, fir Ostend, on Wed nesday evening. Thursday, a Court of Common. Council was held at Guildhall.—Mr. Favell moved an address to tilt Prince Regent, requesting his Royal Highness to become a party to the linty Treaty (as it is called), concluded between Russia, Austria, and Prussia.; but the motion, being op oosed, was in the end withdrawn.—The freedom of the City, in boxes of oak, value 100,;s. each, was voted to the ' Dukes of Kent and Sussex, in compliment to their bene volent exertions, iu promoting the religious education, and relieving the wants of the poor. The books and pictures which the late Lord Fitz william left to the University of Cambridge hare been strangely over-rated in the Papers. Instead of 24.0001. the books were valued only at 10,0001.; and the pictures fir are a very miscellaneous collection od and indifferent. The Empress of Anstria, tl.c.;s: we n.: Ic;:d in our last, died on the 7th of this nunith, at Ve:ooa. She was of the illustrious family of Este, an I sister to the Archduke Ferdinand, who made Cue finnous retreat with his division when Mack surrendered at Ulm. She died in her twenty-eighth year, and was the .second wife of the Emperor Frauds. POLITICAL DISQUISITION. [' a • Though the • fuHowing was writ!..n before the fermi tidtion of the trial of Sir ROBERT WILti)V, dee. WAS known, we do not feel inclined to wi•lilield fioin our readers au article which lids a tendency, by the' rce of comparison, stAl more tit endear our excellent Constitution to every subject. Heim; under its protection.] NO situation can b.: more interesting than that in which our three countrymen, implicated in the escape of Lavatette, are placed. Never had criminality appeared in so noble a lilt. They are offenders, but their offence is a virtue; anal whatever punishment the law of France may dare to inflict upon them, they stand not only ac quitted in the eyes of the world, but loaded with its praises, and its blessings ; at once the heroes and the martyrs of humanity. Who is there, with hearts to feel and courage to execute, who would not have sheltered and saved a man, condemned, like Lavalette, to die for a doubtful political offence ? Who would have closed the dour of pity against him ; betrayed the sacred minden= due to mistbrtune, and restored the victim to the bands of his tormentors ? No Englishman would, be his rank or his politics what they might. Nu Englishman can con template the feeling conduct of Sir Robert Wilson, Mr. Bruce, and Mr. Hutchinson, in assisting Lavalette, and their firmness, candour and dignity on their trial, with out a sentiment of national pride and exultation.. After having tried the strength of British N . abyar, the French will at length learn to appreciate the manliness of the British character. They will see with their own eyes the effect of those principles of freedom imparted by our Constitution, to all those who live beneath its influence. They who, crouching beneath imperial or royal despotism, know only how to tremble and to obey, will view, with aleortishment and admirution, melt, against whom the veigeance of the laws is let base, meeting the storm un appalled, and exprming themselves with all the fearlev ness mid majesty of freemen. That Sir Rub. rt and his friends will be condemned, there is little &AIL.; bat their sentence, whatever it may be, will ealy prove a seal of honour set to their names fir ever. And what a deplorable view do the whole proceedings of the trial present of French justice ! The only evidence against each of the accused i 3 himself! In England, the confes sion of a criminal is of no avail against him, coleys it be corroborated by disinterested witnesses. In Fiance, not only is a conti2ssion admitted as a proof of guilt, but it is extorted in the must artful and unfair menner. Secret examinations are multiplied before the trait, in order that, in the multitude of his answers, the accosed may erimi, nate himself; and his private eorresponden., aod indi vidual politics, are dragged before a jury, however un connected they may be with his offence, to prejudice their minds against him. The charge of being parties to a plot against the tran quillity of Europe, and of the French Government, hay ing been abandoned as totally untenable, why should the French Advocate General, in his exposition of tl,e case, have renewed it in all its violence, as though it was upon it that the prosecution was founded? Why should he have said, contrary to the declaration of the court of accusation, who had dismissed the charge, " that by saving Lavalette our. countrymen wished, or at least appeared to have wished, to excite to sedition, or to revolt, and to excite any kind of disorder, provhicd only it was disorder?" Why did he attempt to persaa..ie the Jury that "- an appeal was to be made to the friends of liberty, who were to put themselves in motion ; th tl y et were to be movements in the provinces ; and, above ali, a good means of cOtation would be the persecution of the Protestants, real or pretended! Oh ! excellent! This is an idea which catches like wileffire, which :preterit like contazion among the p,...9p1e in general, (and, mark this) which engenders a spirit ref mortal hatred and coltenri t . tic the n-n' driaastv." Why bring forward the sentimerits . of Mr. Edward Wilson in England against his brother in France, and all this upon the charge which had been abandoned ? Why not abide by his own darlariti2r, " that, instead of being accused of a system, .our coon trytnon are only accused, and have only to dekul them selves, on a het." Fseellence is only known 1r• trust. Happy those who, oiler having considered suit sickening exam; lee of forek,m justice, may turn to the Briti s h constitution and say, " this is the shield of my rights, and the rock of my .wkly." • By a Jamaica Mull we have receitted the following : " Admiral I)onteas has liven notice of a Proelamation put). fished at tin Cameras, by tlit• coptain-General :ae Pt OVII:CCS, relative to the blockade of Idarawrita, which thee:cells with death the crews of all oc.seis found conveying supplies of any description to the patriots. " The tints- Spanish Patriot*, who hail been delivered up by the Governor of tiiitraltor to the agents of Fe r di tiam i vI i . and stibrieirsently confined at Ceutt, but u %% ere liberated in Itr eettiber List, MOOR to the into, prontion of the Itriti,h •Govccit !tient, had arrived ill .1011134'4, na th-ir way 40 the tit.anish set b 'tient. in America, of who.b they air. natives. "Fltry sirs a .I+e t:air* Paper, ' that their restitution to is the edect of theexcel:enee of iho E Constitution, the integrity of his Royal Hitchricts the Prince Regent, sad tin. noble patriotisupof the Parliament o f ti r ,.„ t , rheir gratitude,' they -..y. • requi , es that the whole wor!ti UMW o.stent of their .ibiisations to tie Itritish Government :and its Charta:--Thene observations are fol:es e d by copies of scVetal documust, r Lative a lane liborat ion."