The National Register. — London, England, 1815-12-31 00:00:00

I , l_ • s. a •• Sang. ft- this file ) suggested, that he was assisted in his flight by some British efficers. We trust. thil► last idea is mere ima ginatioti Th. national Representatives are excessively indignant at the circumstance of the traitor's escape from justice ; and they would doubtless feel additional, dissatis faction if this event had b..en brought about by the Officers of an %Hied Power. No such hint, however, sas thrown out in the warm debate which took place on the proposition for demanding information from the Keeper of the Seals and Minister of Polir•e. M Dr Sesmaisons who had given notice of this motion, seems to have been very unwilling to press it hastily on the two Ministers. Ile ofli.red, there. fore, to defer its consideration ; but the Chamber would' not hear of this : and yielding to the general wish, he read, as is usual, his speech in support of the motion. He was succeeded by others. who remarked some circumstances a little extraordinary in t he scape ; such as that a large man, as Livalette was, should pass for a small and delicate wo man; and that, under an order for admitting his wife to him, three persons should have been allowed to enter. These and many similar remarks were at least sufficient to justify enquiry ; and we ow n it appears to us, that it would have been more politic, as well as more manly, to have met so natural and reasonable a demand at once with all the information that it was possible to procure. As it generally happens in cases of such a nature, where the ma jority of an assembly desire information, the resistance to their ..emand, especially if supported on weak and frivolous grounds. only tends to impress them more deeply with the importance of the object. The order of the day was in vain called for the majority rejected it : and the original proposition was, of course, referred to the Committees. This, at least, shows that there is in the present Chamber a spirit of independence, and a resolution to require what would undoubtedly be required in a similar case by our House of Commons, full and satisfactory proof that there has been no crimisal evasion of the law by those whose duty was to look to its impartial execution. The other important subject which has occupied the attention of the Chamber, is the Budget. The outline is simple, and, on the whole, we should think, not unsatisfac tory. The Ways and Means for the year amount to 800,000,000 francs, the ordinary expenditure (including a Sinking Fund of 14,000,000) to 524 1 700,000 : and the Extraordinaries (incliiding a surplus of 4,500,000 to meet eventual expenses) to 275,300,090. Among the Ways and Means, the only article which appears to us very objection• able, is , the sale (if we understand it right) of 100,000 Hec. tares of Woods, the property of the Clergy, or some other revolutionary spoliation. Surely it is "above all things expedient that no unnecessary sanction should be given to injustice. Since it has been determined that 'those who bought the estates of which the Royalists were soCruelly robbed, shall enjoy their purchases, let it be so : but let not the nation, which has so solemnly abjured confiscation, continue to make confiscation a source of revenue. The first necessity of France is to be just : and foreign nations can reckon but little on her justice to them, if she is unjust to her own subjects. The disturbances which had broken out at Avignon have been quieted by the voluntary submission of the people themselves to the law. It seen►s•some Rebels had been put on their trial before a tribunial which either was in reality too favourably inclined towards the prisoners, or which the people thought to be so. mob collected on this occasion. The ringleader was arrested and put in prison. - I ........4.. 49m .. a.. 841 • : The populace liberated him. The Prefect, with somewhat. more of timidity then bedsit'', his station, withdrew from the city but in his absetfee the Municipal Council sue-. ceeded in' pacifying the people, and persuading them to give up their leader; who was reconducted to prison. The French Budget was brought forward (so the i3d iti the Chamber of Deputies by the Minister of Pinance: The. indirect Taxes are to be increased in a variety of ways. Under the had of Custom-house Duties; it iFtpropo4ed to lay a' duty of 60f per metrical quintal upon French coffees, and 10D upon foreign coffees. French raw sugar,, 45f. foreign dm sugar, 70r. foreign. white sugars, sOf. rho, prohibition against riefined sugars iss to be kept up—Frencht cocoa; 100 t foreign, 120 r. Tea, St per kilogram, French pepper and pimento, 120 f. foreign, 145 f. Additional Twaqtre td be laid upon wines; beer, brandy, leather, iron, paper, oil, woollen anti linen cloth, licences, 6cc. ; the mannfacture and sale of tobacco is continued as a monopoly for the exclusive profit. of the state ; and di., same principle is now applied to playing cards; a deductiork according to a graduated scale is also to be made fraltt all salaries above 600 francj. We have received Americio Papers to the lit instant. These papers mention the nrrival at Washington of the Ministers and Corps LliploMiticiltO preparatory to the opening of Congress. (From. a Baltimore Paper, of the lath Nov ) " On our side we again and again repeat, that to be well prepared for war is the best way to Maintain peace. " We have long seen various repocts of the cession of the Floridas by Spain totngland. livery wan must clearly see the consequence of England being its poswsion of this " tongue of land." It is a serious warning khe people and government of these United States to be on the alert, and to be well prepared for coming disputes and frOttess negotiations about the extent of the Floridas, which border so closely on the disputed limits of Louisiana, which we assert extends to the Perdido. " The United States will now be nearly surrounded either by the English or their red Allies; by the English in Florida; by.the Creeks in Georgia; by the Indian tribes, nearly all of whom are in the pay of England, on . • the Missouri; the Mississippi, and the Lakes ; by the Eng.. list, in Upper and Lower Canada ; and alsosin Nova Scotia ; we therefore say, that to be welt prepared for war is the best way to 'maintain peace.' '' FRENCH. PROTEST ANTS.—It is said, that there has been de: livered to the Duke of Wellington, a paper, under the title of— ., Aceerate and-authentic Details relative to ire Affairs at Nimes' between Me Catholics and Protestants."— The object of this nar rative is to show, that the Protestants of the South of France been hostile to the Bourbons, t o have, ever since the year 1799, whom the Catholics of Nistnes and the adjacent country have been always particularly attached. To these Bourbonite and Anti-Bourbonite principles, the writer of the article in question' attributes the excesses committe lat Nismes ; alleging, that. the Protestants were, in many instances, the perpetrators, and . the Catholics the sufferers. 1 . 40 whole statement, however, is matter of unsubstantiated, assertion, and of argument unsupported by fact; and its design, appears to be, to put a stop to the exertions making in this country lor the relief of the persecuted Protestants in Franoe. The I rish papers contain a long letter from Cardhral Litta to the Right Rev. 0. Pt in answer. to the representation from the English Catholic with a view to such an arrangeme.ir et a their religious particularities as might induce the Goverment of their country to concede to them the full rights of British' subjects. r .INV • 6../1te...,....•,••••••••,p41.*...10.•••••••