The Statesman. — London, England, 1818-01-08 00:00:00

di l n . of itio )n -do der . , t, t ut soy doubts should he entertained; 'but it seems woe difference of opinion subsists on the sub. j e d. The proposal of the Nieman to pot the q sestion at rest by espresslx vesting the power i n Congress, or by declaring it to he so, is the easiest mode of settling the point in dispute. Ma- Inn fsctores are recommended to the continued care of c ongr ess, and we have the word of the PRESIDENT that their preservation and encouragement ie con pecud with the high interests of the nation. In ;a iling the attention of the National Legislature to t h e ' s irsetion of those.survivors of the Revolutionary a r my who now suffer the evils of poverty in their pld age, and inviting them to make some provision for their declining days, the PRESIDENT speaks with the feeling of a man and the sympathy of a brother soldier. Ou the whole, the picture of State affairs, which Mr. MuNitoc has thus had the good fortune to 'Omit as the foundation upon which he com mutes bisPreaideatial career, is one which may well • warrant congratulation, and is not inferior in any of the requisite characteristics to the ezpositioncof arty,oylis predecessors. *~ .. • . Both Ibises of Congress met on Monday, the lit ult. and were organized. The attendance was un usually full. Mr.-CLAY was elected Speaker. The National Inlelligencer of Tuesday Says, that the Congress have met ender auspices as favotmble, political and personal, as could be wished by the most sanguine friends to the national interests and the har mony of intercourse. All the Members appear to bring health with them. The elections in the House of itepre►entatives were characterised by an unprece dented pnanimity, highly flattering, its particular to the Speaker and Clerk of the House, Mr. THOMAS DOUGHERTY, whose stations are enviable, but who yet were not opposed. Among the Members of both Houses were to be seen very many who were strangers to those Bodies and to each other ; but what was particularly re• marked, was the somber of highly respectable Mem bers of Congress anterior to the last Congress, who have returned, by recent elections, is Peblic life. The Commissioners to South America arrived at Norfolk on the 28th of November; and on the same day, the frigate Congress, Capt. SINCLAIR, which is to convey them to their destined port, dropped down to C►aoey Island, with the view of sailing the first fair wind. M. HYDE DE Netreim.e, the Minister of France, has taken op his winter residence in Washington city. More Paris Papers have reached us, from which we have made extracts. But there is little interest , Jo the intelligence thus communicated. We regret to state, oit authority from LLOYD'S, that the Expedition, BAXTER, Master, from New castle to St. Lucia, was totally lost near Aberdeen on the 4th instant, end it is feared all the crew are drowned. EFFECTS OF THE LATE GALE IN THE WEST INDIES. _ _ The New Providence, BUTLER / for 1111ifax, was wrecked on the south side of Antigua on the 17th of October. The Rebecca, NI‘CALLAtt, from Philadelphia to St. Thomas's, was wrecked at Barbuda on the 20th of October. The James, the Lark, the John and Mary, and the Young William, belonging to Halifax, were driven on shore at St. Lucia, on the '2lst October k the Harriet, BEvEntneE, for Charleston, was abandoned at sea on the 17th October ; the Maria, PENCE, from Trinidad to Liverpool, put into St. Vincent's on the 11th November, having proved leaky soon after leaving the Bocas ; the Westmorland,Thwaites, from Virginia, lost her rudder at St. Vincent's, '2lst October, and pot into Grenada, 11th November, to repair; the Charles, Bronham, from New haven to Demerara, pet into St. Thomas's Ist November, with the loss of mainmast during the gale. A Leeward Island Mail arrived to-day, brought to England by the Queensbury packet. She sailed from narbadoes on the 6th November, and from St. Thomas's on the '29th of the same month. _ _ The New Yoik Mail arrived to day, came by the Lady * Wellington packet, in 28 days, to Falmouth. WINDSOR, J AN. 6.---Yesterday Lord ARDEN left the Castle for London. The Dowager Countess of PESIBROILE the Countess HARCOURT , Lady SYDNEY, and Lady l IARRIN G T ON, are the Ladies in Waiting at present. This day her M Altsty and the Princess ELIZABETH took au airing through Maidenhead, and returned to the Castle to dinner. Yesterday a Court of Directors was held at the Fast India-house, when the following Captains were sworn into the command of their respective ships, viz. Capt. T. H. HARRIS. Prince Regent, Madras end Bengal; Capt. T. E. WARD, Fairlie, Bengal and Bombay: The first of the series of Subscription Concerts went off with great eclat, on Monday, the sth inst. at the London Tavern, in Bishoptgate.street, which was ettremely well attended. Amongst the company we observed the Right Hon.the LORD M tlfOtt, Lady Miyoness, Alt{e►man IhYGATE, &c. &c. The Duke of Sussex (one of the Committee if Subscribers) ,I was prevented attending from indisposition, his Royal Highness has promised to be present at the next. — Sir GEORGE SMART was she Conductor.; Mr. F. A. CLARKE, the Treasurer, acted as Master of the Ce remonies; and Signior Mogi was the Leader of the Band. Mock credit attaches to the Gentlemen of the Committer, for their judicious Arrangements, *hid gave universal satisfaction. ~:. THE STATESMAN: • NAVAL INTELLIGENCE. NAL, JAN. 7.—Arrived and sailed for the Rivet the Coward, Johnson, from Bombay ; Diana, Cong.J mins, from Lisbon, and several others, particulars' not known.—Came down from the River the Lind say, Turner, for Madeira and the Brazils ; Rambler, Knight, for Oporto.—The outward-bound that sailed yesterday have put back. DOVER, JAM. 7.—Arrived at thiS port the Neva, Adams, front Jamaica. FALMOUTH ) JAN. s. —Nothing arrived or sailed to-day. PORTSMOUTH, JAN. 7.—Arrived the ship Medusa, Hotchinson, from Halifax, with troops, nut five weeks.—The Hercules ship, with troops, sailed three weeks before the Medusa, very deep, and has not since been heard of.—Nothing else arrived or sailed but coasters. GRAVESEND, J. 7.—Arrived the Corneal!, Jordan, from the Isle of Wight.—Sailed the Pitt, King, and Indus, Callender, for Jamaica ; Po, Hunt Cullen, for Calais ; Marie Louise, Picquest, for Caen ; Ledolf Theodorus, Zyl, for aottettiam. • • _ • DISTINCTION BETWEEN TRUE AND ALS E LOYALTY [Concluded fr m our Paper of the 5i11.] In the definition of Law given by Bravo's, Lex eat Communis Sponsio Rcipublico', great stress is meant to be laid on the word SPONSIO, which has two mean ings, and both applicable ; it signifies both Mil and Pledge. Law is made by the common will, and it is a - common pledge or security to all men. To it, we ell look for the safety of our persons and property. Now this safety depends on the certainty with which the Law is esecoted. If that EXECUTION may at any time be evaded by the Civil Magistrate the pledge is broken. Not only the particular Law evaded is defeated in its object, but the great end and intention or all Law is defeated and subverted. And for this reason our ancestors took particular care not only to bind every 'branch of the Executive by strict and solemn oaths, but also laid it down as a fundamental principle in oar admirable Constitution, that con stant vigilance ought to be exercised over every mem ber thereof, save only the King, with whom it is not so requisite, as he can only act by means of his Mi nisters. hence it is, that our Constitution has been called Loi sans Foi because it swears all, and gives implicit faith to none. Nor does it regard any man as innocent, who breaks his oath. Although it con siders, very wisely, that the Minister, not the Prince, should be responsible for the measures of Govern meld, yet it did not allow John, and Edward, and Richard, and James 11. to break their oaths with impunity. Our spurious Loyalists reverse the masim, they give us Foi sans Loi, and call it the Constitu tion. They tell us, that whatever is done in the name of the King ought to be received with implicit faith, this is their Loyalty, and it was the Loyalty of those men to whom Charles I. owed all his mis fortunes. They profaned the pulpit is that day by preaching from it, where the name of a King is there is poever, and who shall say, what doeth.thou ? Words, which ' no doubt, have been inserpol ated ; for a merciful God could 'lever intend so great a curse to his creatures, as slavery. I will refer to Shakspeare for an elucidation of a text, which, though in the Bible, is blasphemy to suppose it to be a part of Holy Writ. " Hest thou never seen a farmer's dog hark at $ beggar, there might'st thou behold the image of authority." It is, at least, a true image of that authority, which they would esta blish, who set up the name of the King above the Constitution. The quotations I have given in this Letter are from the very highest authorities, and it is altogether im possible that any reasonable man, of a candid mind, can peruse them without being fully convinced of two things : first, of the SUPREMACY of the Law ; and secondly, that true and genuine LOYA L LY consists in an attachment to the Law and Constite tion of the Land; but there is • spurious Loyalty, which is grounded on sordid and selfish principles, and is eternally hunting after place, pension, or pre ferment of some sort or another. It was this Loyalty, that brought Charles to the block, and seduced James 11. to break his compact with the People, and then deserted him in his greatest need. This kind of Loyalty is no more thaw outside littlish, concealing within, treachery and treason ; it may not impro perly be *compared to the gilding upon a counterleit coin, artfully applied to give it the resemblance of sterling money. I have already remarked, that the, deceptive arts have acquired a degree of refinement unknown to our ancestors. The forgers of our paper money defy the sagacity of all melt, but that of the Batik Inspectors, to detect them; and our pretended Loyalists are so confident in the success of their deceptions, that they have even the hardihood to charge our true Loyalists with disaffection, and sedition to their very faces. D:res not this prove, that the efforts of the present age to confound truth with falsehood• have been but too successful ?—One of these self-denominated Loyalists has addressed a Letter in your Paper, to the Men of Bibrkshire, on the subject of a recent Meeting, where sentiments breathing the tree spirit of our Constitution, and highly honourable to the speaker, were received, by some such Loyalists as himself, with hissing. groaning, and hooting, a mode of reply only disgraceful to those, who can find no better means of answering the arguments of their opponents. The Letter con eludes with the exclamation " for shame! for shame!!" and indeed, I think so likewise. It hut shame, and a great shame too, that the Mask of Loyalty should he used to cover such sordid hypocrisy and abet such flan gerous treasons against our excellent Constitution.' No doubt the writer of that Letter does not believe what he says, but he writes in a way calculated to make others think he believes it. The indignation that I felt in reading it, has induced me to take up' the pen, conceiving that the best antidote to the poison it contains, would be to show your Readers the distinction between true and spurious Loyalty. —Perhaps I may, on some future occasion, reply to the false interpretation of Prerogative given in the Letters of your Correspondent D. E. F. who, I have no doubt, is conscious also of the attempt be has made to mislead your Readers upon that subject. — For the present s I mean, c. . TIMOTHY TRUEMAN. Om nix STArk of LIBERTY lq FRANCE. A Work under this title, by M. Scheffer, bas been seized by the Parisian Police. The bold truths It contains have drawn down upon him the visitation of Ministerial wrath. He appeared on elth December, ' to answer the charges brought against him, before the Tribunal that condemned Chevalier, Comte, and Dunoyer—a Tribunal that unblushingly consecrited by its decisions the principle, that an attack on the measures of Ministers was an attack on the Sotereigii. This Pamphlet contains an enquiry into several very important questions, which at this tittle agaitate mere or less the public mind, and which the writer takes the liberty of recommending to the attention of the Legislature. Its most obnoxious chapters would seem to be those which treat of the National Repre sentation, of the state of Liberty in the Departments, land of the policy of dismissing the Swiss Regiments wow in the French service. ft is no doubt those which constitute the subject-matter of the prosecu tion directed against trim. In treating of the first of these questions, the National Representation, M. Scheffer reviews the different Legislative Assemblies which have sat in France since the commencement of Ow Revolution. " The first of these Assemblies," says he, " was tftet which truly merited the name of national, and 'which, ftem the talents end virtues of the greater pert` , of its Members, as well at from its prodigious les : i boars, formed the most imposing association of meal that ever any nation exhibited. Nothing was able to intimidate this Assembly, and to take from it its; noble independence, in vain were 30,000 Soldiers, the greater part strangers, stationed betwixt this As sembly and the population of Paris. Warmly seconded by the latter, it obtained the dismissal of those troops, after reiterated applications, which were at length listened to, when the Bastile, that monument of despotism, was taken and destroyed. " After fresh troubles, provoked by the impru• dence of the King's Body Guard, and in the course of which, Le Fayette, at the head of the National Guards, which he had created, saved the lives of the Royal Family, the Constituent A ss e mbl y followed 1 the Court to Paris. There also it maintained its in. dependence in spite of the attempts of a party of Ja cobins, sprung up long after the national insurrection In the month of July, and in spite of the manteuvres of the Aristocrats, whose constant aim was to disturb its proceedings, and provoke from it bad resolutions. Such was the liberty of speech enjoyed in this As sembly, that Despremenil won without danger the bet he had laid, to propose a counter-revolution at the tribune: he proposed It in a string of articles, which the Assembly contented itself with sending to a Committee of mental alienation. Finally, though this Assembly had not, nor could have the necessary experience, tio one can deny it the just praise of having been independent, and having honestly wish ed for liberty and the public good:" M. Scheffer then passes on successively to the Legislative As sembly, the National Convention, the Councils of Five Hundred and the Ancients, tinder the Direc tory ; the Legislative Body and dismiss , d Tri bunate, under the Consulate and Imperial Govern ments, appreciating in a few lines the merits of each at he proceed', and comes down at length in the Chamber of Representstives in the Cent fours, ahich Chamber succeeded the Legislative Body of Na poleon, maintained by the Royal Government at the Restoration.— •" This Chamber," says M. S. 4 4 was the second of our Assemblies which preserved their independence. Its short session of two months has given it due celebrity, end its labours will perhaps not be quite lost for posterity. But what can be said," adds M. S. " of the succeeding Chamber in 1815, of that Chamber, which had it hot been for the wise Ordonnatice of the Otis 14epternber, would have plunged France into fresh troubles; convened under the influence of a faction, the instrument of such faction, that Chamber was seen to suspend again the liberties of the nation, to pass the severest laws of exception, among others, that which a celebrated Legislator branded by the name of • Second Loi des Suspects,' this same Assembly was seen to set bounds to Royal clemency, to violate the sacred promise of the Monarch, by adding to the already too numerous victims of our troubles, fresh victims, who still lan guish far from their country, or have perished in indigence in a foreign land, far from their relations, their friends, who have been unable to close their eyes, or pay the last duties to their ashes. It was worthy of such a Chamber to greet with shouts of fury the news of the escape of Levalette ;—it was worthy of this Chamber to stifle by dreadful howl. ings, a proposition to the end of arresting the moi sacre of the Protestants in the South • * .*." M. Scheffer forbears passing any judgment on the Assembly which sat lest year, since it was chiefly composed of Members of the existing Leeistat ore.— We pass over a very Interesting Chapter on the state of Public Liberty in the Departments to arrive at the one which has probably given the most offence to Government and furnished the grounds of the prosecution in question. It is witted, "De l'En tretien des Regimens Suisses en France." 1 extract it in foto : " After this important subject (of the State of Liberty its the Departments), or perhaps before it, that which should claim the attention of an indepen dent Letislatere, should be, in my opinion, an in quiry into the necessity of semling back those fo. reign troops, which France still mairitaiiis to the amount of 1'2,000, in addition to the Russian, Eng lish, Austrian, Danish, Prussian, Bavarian, and other contingents, which the High Allied Powers have left in this country to secure its happiness and watch over its interests. Among the customs of our ancient Monarchs, which was re.establishe 4l by Bo naparte, was that of maintaining foreign troops in France. This custom was in perfect unison with his system of military domination ; though he could reckon on the attachment of h is own army, he (pia that strangers were to he prefered for moveable co lumns to Frenchmen. Yet , a s these strangers could not in any respect vie with the Imperial Guard, nor even with any other French body, whose jealousy he was at the same time unwilling to excite, he kept them constantly at a distance from the capital. The maintaining foreign troops being thus a principle with Bonaparte, the reigning dynasty found Swiss troops in France at the first restoration. These were made to remain, and even called upo n to form part of the garrison of Paris i and to the honour of watching at • hi, , the gales of Ike Louvre. The march frets Fleertse to P4ris showed the uselessness of a Swiss Guard is cello of commotioe in the interior. Bonaparte was, however, solicitous to retain then' in his service.—. The Swiss refused with an honourable firmness, and preserved the Emperor from the affront which Wil liam 11/. experienced from a British House of Com mons. "After the second Restoration Goverementhed to choose between two measures: the first, tftat of maintaining the Army .of the Loire, and adopting the cockade of 89 ; this measure, it is to be presumed, was attended with too many difficulties to be token; it became therefore necessary to embrace the other measure, that of disbanding this army i and, under such circumstances, a faithful and disposable force of some kind being necessary, it was natural enough to real the Swiss regiments ) and even to lateen them. " But since that period the Constitutional Throne has been daily .gaining strenzth, both by the Ordon mince of the sth of September, and still more by the Election [Ave of 1816. The French Army has been re-organised : Government is menaced with no dattger from within. One may be therefore justified in offering the following reflections t— " Ist. History shows that a few foreign regiments mutat sate a Government threatened with internal commotion. 24. This &rag* exists no iongeir for a Govern sent, who, by its prudent system, reotlera itself more mister. " 3d. These Swiss, according to an article of this Copitelations . , cannot serve out of the kingdom ; and in case of aggression from without, their aid would soot be worth taking into considers C.o. • " 4. They yearly cost above f 2t)i000,000 to the State, a sum of money which might be more beneft• ciatly employed. " 5. Their protracted stay in France would he. tray a fear and suspicion equally unjust and Una fount:ed; a feeling which would be offensive to the French military, who have evinced attachment to the Throne, and who are; no doubt, capable of defend ing it, if its existence were menaced. " Whence I conclude, that it were desirable Alt the King be prayed by the Legislature to send back forthwith the Salsa regiments, or, et least, In give orders that the Capitulations he not renewed t that his Majesty he prayed also to provide a law similar Co that existing in England, to the end that in future no foreign troops he called into the French territory, without the authority of the Legislature. Such law would form a good additional At title to the Consti• tutional Charter. " Such a measure would be the strongest proof of confidence which Government could afford the na. tiott. It would free it from the presence of a mer cenary body of men, strangers to our Constitution, our law!, end our usages. The Frenchman, proud of his liberty and his rights, would no longer grieve at the &girt of these wretches, condemned, in order to earn their bread, to live far from their country and their friends, and to' follow through necessity a calling which the civilized part of mankind should only embrace through the honourable motives of glory end patriotism." Schetfer having examined these first questions, devotes his remaining in,r,es to the consideration of several others, not less important to the French public, all of which are discussed with the same spirit with the foregoing. These last questions are—" The Liberty of the Press, and judgments relattog thereto ; French Legislation in criminal and political matters ; Imports, Commercial Regulations, and Finances in general, as connected with public liberty ; and the State of Liberty in France, compared with the State of Liberty in other European Countries." BAST INDIA-MUSE. Yecterdsy a General Court . of Proprietors of Celt Wirt stock was held, pursuant to adjournment, for the purpose of confirming the Resolution entered into en the 17th ult. approving of the grants made by the Court of Directors to different individoals, at va rious periods. partly from the Company's cash, and partly from the Fee Fund. The Resolotions, confirming the pen'ion conferred on Mr. G. Dominicus, Mr. Coggsn, Mr. Holland, Mr. Frost, Mr. l'eart, J. M. Neale, W. Harter, W. Coward, and Lady AVinterton, were put from the Chair, serialim, and agreed to unanimously. . On the question for confirming the appointment of Colonel l3ryce, as Assistaut Military Assistant to the 'Auditor. Messrs. HOWARTII and Hume shortly addressed the Court, on the importance of selecting for officers requiring talent and integrity, Gentlemen who were reared in the house, instead of introducing strangers to the establishment. Mr. GRANT (the Director) shortly answered, that the Executive Lindy were most anxious to make use of that talent for the performance of the business of this great Company, .which they found within their own walls; bet, when circumstances rendered it ne cessary, he submitted that they were perfectly justi fied in looking elsewhere for ability. The Resolution was then agreed to; arid the Court adjourned, sine die. ----- The Duke of [korona has,with hit usual liberality, tranimitted 30 guineas to the Treasurer of the Eire. ter Btitish School Society, in Baitholomew.yard ; and 20 guineas to S. F. :Ammar), Esq. President of the West of England lye Infirmary, towards seg menting the number of in-patients to that charity.—. llis Grace has also become an annual subscriber of two guineas. Lord SIDMOUTII, some days since, !diced war rants for discharging all the terneining State Pd. snners, upon their giving their own recognitances to appear to any charge which might he brought against Clem nett Term, a condition with which they all most cheerfully complied, eacept two London Pri soners and a man of the name of. Beerimier, from Manchester. The 2 London Prisoners are the Messrs. F.eass, who, it is said, demand to , be either tried, or released, witboofgiving recognitances. An ingenious minohictuter at Birmingham has in vented • method of plating copper with pure gold, which it is intended to apply to a great number of t articles, table services, Bcg. r t r t , • 1 :~ 1 '=!..7T 7 ~~ .YR. -: - •