The Statesman. — London, England, 1818-02-21 00:00:00

r ~ 7 . the when the one is so complex and versatile, and she other so dilatory and expensive ? Bot, can a concourse of people, composed chiefly of illiterate persons, irritated perhaps by troubles and disappointments, or oppressed with difficulties • end unrestrained by principle, assembled together to hear some hired demagogue bawl his inflammatory philippics against the constituted Authorities. of the Country, be attemled with any advaistage whatever ; but may it not afford a pretence to oppress instead of relieving them ? And - as such meetiugs disturb the public trangtuiliiy, alarm particaler individuals and families, and MI the. streets with disorderly persona, would it be unjust or enreasonable if ouch jut:audits• ries were made responsible for the mischief they may occasion ? 7rien, what 'sit could result from their unbridled licentiousness of spereh, or from the Ciceronian harangues with which they endeavour to entertain themselves and their polite audience ? But, can a mob of pickpockets, or the puerile and sedi. . tines plots of , imegistary Statesmen over tbeir pots of porter, terrify a Government composed of, eirtecus end able Setvatote; or intimidate.* Country which could treat witti,contempt the ',epistle), threats of the Modern Sylla with his host of assassins, end sit undismayed in their arm-chair, when .that firebrand of bell was loose, and his dogs of war were basking ? Or, is the British Lion • become as timirt as a lady of fashioe, who is frightened at the look of a cow, or any thing with born., oat a gun, titru4li there is no powder in it ? But.„ if thee* ie a crowd bf esteemed and starring peasants and 'mechanics, or aher - siefortanate per sons. driree by'despair from their wretched abodes to demand relief, lest they perish with hanger -a-ea this melancholy and disgraceful sight, in a country aboisndine with wealth, make the inhabitants disperse them with the sword, instead of running out to them with baskets of bread? Ought not the arm of the Legislature to be Wended to the remotest corner 4 the empire, for the support and protection of every' individual, without daring to touch a hair of hie { bead have not numbers of these unhappy beings fought for them in the sanguinary plains of Europe and Asia, or toiled at laborious and unwholesome trades from the dawn of day to the setting sun, that their country might enjoy comforts and conve niences in which they seldom share? and are they alone to be crushed with the enormous weight of its mad ambition or ezpeusive wars ? Is " the nation full of silver and geld, neither is there any end of our vesicles ; is it full of horses, neither is there any end of our eh:idols ;" and are our faithful and industrious tenants " wandering about in sheep-skins and goat skies, destitute, afflicted, and tormented ?" My Countrymen, should we not rooze the slumbering Jonah, from their beds of down, and make them east ill their lots who is to be thrown overboard to Save the vessel of State? Are they to sleep till the ship is wrecked, as if there were no lives on board, net any thing worth preserving, except their useless lumber ? Are these proud rebels to evade their com mission, and yet think thereis no whale whose mouth is open to receive them, but from whose belly they will never escape ? May they not see LAZ Altus again whom they drove unrelieved from their door, but will he not he ton far off to bring a drop of water to cool the fever of their pampered tongue ? Are they now saying, as .looos did, " Lord, we are preaching in thy name, and in thy name casting out devils, and doing many wonderful works'?" But if they are trusted with the Bag, should they . not make a proper use of the contents ? Pa they " live by Faith" on the Providence of Gen, as spiritual Lerites, and like faithfu! .tettardv ; , ...1t their " i ,Lord's money out to usury," in feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, relieving the oppressed, " supporting widows and orphans, a n d keeping themselves unspotted from the world ?" Or, are they professedly Christians, but practically Atheists, feeding themselves, and letting their flocks perish in the wilderness ? Have they been 64 a par taker of the afflictions of the Gospel," and 44 re joked they were brought low," to be afterwards exalted with honour, so that now they can sympathise with those in the furnace, who ere being purified with the trials and exercises they once experienced ? In short, do their lives correspond with their doctrines, and are they reforming the world by their virtues as well as by their swords? Or, has pride hardened their heart, covetousness barred their door, intem perance reddened their cheek, and ambition adorned them with a tawdry robe and a vain title? Have they a seat in the Senate, and does their light il lumine its walls, dispel the smoke of profane liters. tare, expose the deceitfulness of riches, the folly of vain distrinetinus, and the sinfulness of arbitrary power ; and does their wisdom and humility shed a glory around them ?--A se they the pillars of the Church and State, and do they wield, like Monomer, the Sword of War, as well as carry the Olive Branch of Peace ; and can an ignorant maid confound them, or a poor soldier like me instruct them in the oracles of Goo ? If tyrenny or oppression does in any degree exist, and should be silently iacreasing, may it 'sot grow to such a height and gain such strength, that nothing perhaps hut an earthquake ern o v er throw it, exc ept some spiritual DAVID should attack the impious Goss sit ? Are the treason ible or seditious devices of the People a crime of trio greatest magnitude, and are th 4 tyrannical or oppressive measusea of their Rulers a trivial offence 2—Ought not the former to have the liberty of exposing tyrants and oppressors, as well as the latter of de . tecting rebels and traitors ? As the one possesses, besides other advantages, the sword end the purse, ought not the other to have the free use of their tongue and pen ? Are the sentiments of the People on the conduct of their Governors to be punished as libellous, and may the latter with impunity, load them with the vilest epithets, impute their proceedings to the basest motives, end try to resider them odious and contemptible in the eyes of their countrymen ? Ooght not the word libel to signify an unjust or in jurious attack on the character of private persons, but not free remarks on public men or measures ? For, are not the honours end ernoleMents which the nation bestows op them, a sufficient reward tor the calumny sky may sometimes experience, and must they not eilpect that the higher they eremites!, the mote they will be annoyed by insects? But if the arriticgs of any description of persons enlighten the minds of the People on religious or political subjects, *filch are of more importance than any other ) do they w.c ~ r _ i Yom=- -- ~ . T' Dot &scree praise instead - 1A Gentuge, that punishment ? Do „not such pi however humble the means or obscui iontitle Them to respect, except tbeiL evidently selfish and disloyal ? As the po( many respects on account of their ignarance, are not those who stoop teinstruct them the real friends and oot the enemies of their country ? And may not tha use of terms which have no definite meaning, and which way, therefore, expose persons to unforeseen danger or espence, fetter and intimidate teeny virtuous and able men, who might render their country the most essential service if freed from such restrictions ? Is this almost the midnight of Christiinity, When the blast of the Archangel's Tromp is about to rend the rocks and summon us to judgment ; and_is there no, voice to be allowed in the wilderness to expose the hirelings that are forsaking their flocks, or the wolves that are devouring them? Is this the alarmiug period of the world's approaching dissolution, whets every mind enlightened with a ray of virtuous know ledge, should impart it for the reformation or benefit of otheri, and the thunder of reproof echo round the walls of the adulterer's noisy palace, is well as pierce the gloomy felon's solitary cell. Is a war of words, carried on through the peaceful channel of a Free Press, so dangerous to the State, that we most re turn to our Gothic dependence and taciturnity ? Was it the licentiousness of the tongue or pen that °Cc.- lipoid Magna chart, to be written with blood instead of Ink Was it the unlimited freedom of speech that retarded ger emancipation from Popish tyranny and ? Mal would have become of the Re foPmation if Lerrwasa's rebellious writings had been suppressed, mod hii body consigned to a dungeon ? And is not religious and political freedom so blended that we cannot explain the este without including the other? Are we the. at liberty to expound the word of Goo. and illustrate the predictions that may be now fulfilling; or is the Bible taken from us and sent to Rome, lest we should make a comparison between a Pope and an Archbishop; or lest we should be able to prove that tlse Church is nom in Spiritual Egypt, , groaning andtr its bondage, and PHA R4Oll in creasing his oppression: to drive them out, And is then the voice of reason and religion, which would lighten the afflictions of the one, and avert the jodg asents of the other, more to be dreaded than the sud den and volcanic explosion of rebellion's mate and vindictive rage? Lastly, is IT EVEN LAWFUL to treat the records of Divine Wisdom with impious contempt. yet must we be fearful of offending a worm of the earth, or of erposing the contemptible trash of his uncircumcised lips It—Ye virtuous Rulers ! does not this awful truth flash in your face like lightiritif ; dues it not shake ye like a clap of thundar ? Then what will be your thoughts, when the Heavens shall split asunder and roll away with a great noise ; wheu the earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and heaving with convulsive throes is laying every mansion and city in ruins ; when the sea is boiling with billows of tremendoes height, and tumbling with frightful roars around the trembling world ; when the sun, ashamed of his powerless role, is covered with a midnight blush, and the moon confounded, is flying from the dread. ful scene ; when Satan, with his innumerable host of ghastly forms, is filling the bottomless pit witb horrid clamour, and bursting its adamantine gates, is rush ing with inestingeishable rage and hideous shouts on A Dam's carnal race; when a fiery deluge, rolling in mountains round the globe, is sweeping them head long down the vast abyss, and the elements in wild uproar hurling them up to the lofty concave of Ilea. ven's stupendous vault; then falling swifter than the lightning's flash then what will be your thoughts of your verbal patriotism in the British Senate, or how feelingly you talked of year coun try's injuries and wants in your splendid palace or at a sumptuous feast ? Will then the upright Judge, who condemned a startle( thief to death, " call for a bason of water to wash his hands from innocent blood ?"—Will some spritual Lord pot on his decent robe of modest merit, his nicely-powdered :aphid wig, and crown of humility and grace, and spread ing his hands over his deluded flock, bestow on them his valuable benediction ?—Will each nomintpl Saint, without repentance or good works, bid deli ance to Satan's accusations of inhumanity and un. cleanness, and boldly take his seat among the vir tuous elect ? What will our female idols then think of their Grimalkin virtues and Jezebel airs ?—Will they put on their transparent veils to hide the blushes of their painted cheeks ; their Cyprian girdles, whose power ful charm had kept them chaste so long ; their modest dress, which excited no carnal thoughts ; their meek and gentle manners, which prevented domestic strife, and their amiable sensibility, which made them so generous to the poor ?—Bat let me pause and lay down my pen, lest it become so rude and law less as to offend same modern Jezebel or titled paramour; for then, like ELIJ Alf, my name may be proscribed, and my child be made an orphan, except the arm of Omnipotence should save me, or the ex piring freedom of my country protect me from tyranny and oppression. Jun. 16, Iblik PIIILO•SABINUS I FRENCII PAPERS. Petals, Fss. 17.—M. Theodore Morellet, the new Mayor of Dijon, pronounced, on the day of his in stallation, a speech very remarkable for the royal words which that Magistrate communicated to those' over whom his functions are to be exercised. We hasten tp transcribe them as they are printed in the Journal de la Cole d'Or, of the 14th inst. " It remains for me t Gentlemen, to fulfil the or ders of the King in making you acquainted with the expressions of his Majesty, in a private audience with which hedeigned to honour me. At the end of a conversation, the details of which I am prevented from communicating to you out of respect to his Ms. jesty, the King said to me, ' You have bein de. ceived. I know all that passes. My government, means myself. Nothing is done but by my orders, sod according to thy will. I am not the King of two different People; I em only the King of one.— I wish what is past to be forgotten, end that the public union may be consolidated. The system of my government is .not the system of my Ministers, it is mine. They only execute my orders under my direction.' . " Will your Majesty permit me to report to sky you have now _ L 'HE STATESMAN e, rewarttratber kilehs.cftizetts what patriotic efforts, asnoicate to me? :ore the channel, 44 tin permit, tviv motives ■re them I desire union the poor antler in '• Such;Gentlemo • * . ~: 1 ' to cola• and even command you. Tell and oblivion.' _Amen; is not only the sense of the Royal espression, but the very words of his Majesty, sech as I remembered and transcribed them upon hewing the palace." The King has granted the tide of Baron to -Hoe, one of his first valets de ehambre, by en Ordi stance dated the 9th instant. In the Chamber of Deputies no business of im ' portents was transacted yesterday. French Funds, 5 per cents. 664. 40 c. COPENHAGEN, Fri. s.—The Noblesse of the Duchy of Holstein have presented a new Petition to the King of Denmark, in which they demand the constitutional institutions which which were promised them by the Federal Act, and which for two years Wive been the object of the labours of a Commission. LELECTION.-Sir RORT. • .A. 4 HERON.---"The FREEIMLDERS of the COUNTY of LINCOLN. ce•ident. in London and its Virinuy, is the Imerest of Sir Robe'. Heron, ore ennwstly requested to owes his Committee at the Rum Intr. Wept Smithfield, on FRIDAY, the 27th 'aslant. at Six o'clock in the Eseuing precisely, to consider of the hest nwaus fur scenting his Election. By Ordrs'ilt the Committee, 18th Feb. 1818. • All Consouniettiium addressed to the (;ununittee will be thankfully received. PRICE OF STOCKS THII Bank Snick 9,814 3 per Cent. Red. 1103 3 per Cent. Conwls 7R; Consolv for Ace. 79ii 4 per Cent. 996 • IS nAT AT OAK O'CLOCK. 5 per Celt. Navy 106; India avails 100 p Stock Lang Ann. 901 15-16 lizebequer Bias IS 1.6 p LONDON: SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1818• The Report of the Secret Committee of the House of Commons, which has been so long expected, was yesterday again postponed, and will not be made be fore Monday of Tuesday. It is, of coore, conjec tured, that there has been much difference of opinion in the Committee. Considerable additions seera to be making to the labours of the Lords' Committee, but it does not appear that any of the Petitions presented for redress form part of the ad ditions that cnotinoe to be made to the contents of the Old Bags. Yesterday Lord St nuorru appeared at an early hour in the House of Lords with a new Green Bag of testimonials to his own good con duct and that of his Colleagues, which, open. his Lordship's motion, was, of course, referred tp the Select Committee.—This addihoual Appendix ke doebtless to enable Ministers to correct their errata, and avail themselves of the oversights pointed oat to them by Parliament. This evinces pretty clearly the limited character of the proposed enquiry, when we find in the lapse of SQ very few days, that even the Ministers can add considerably to the information of the Committee. How essentially the sources of t►st information might be increased it is easy to imagine, were the Committees empowered to examine on oath the several Petitioners who have offered their testi mony at the bars of the two Houses of Parliament. The Paris Papers to the 18th have reached es . The attempt upon the Duke of %Yocum . ..Totes life is not noticed, and his name is merely introduced to observe that he was visited by the old Prince of CONDE. This silence of the Journals on a subject conceived to be so intimately connected with the in terests and honour of the French nation, is a perfect riddle to the alarmists in this coontry. What ! cry they, is the life of the Great Conqueror who re stored liberty to Europe, a thing of no value '• They beat thew brains and think that wit aid come. Knack as they will, there's n!ilsolly at home." No satisfactory answer is given to the question. — The Police is extremely retire, but unfortunately it now appears that the caution of the Police extends to the Journals ; and there is no way of supplying the deficiency of communicat" but by the diffuse pen of private Correspondents, all of whom are so many oracles in their own way. This expedient answers the purpose. The " indefatigable activity" of these sources of information produces stories in abundance. The worst of it 1,, that the accounts thus furnished do seem a little ersggerated, notwith standing the importance of the event. Though the 64 horrible attempt" has ceased to. be the subject of remark in the Papers, we are Old •it con tinues to create a sensation that can only compared to that produced by the explosion of the infernal machine, which threatened the tife of the First Consul; that the Ultra-Royalists accuse the Bona ps lists of the• actual design to assassinate his Grace, and that the latter party reproach the others with a feint upon his life, for the purpose of exas perating him against the Revolutiouists, and of thus priming him to lend his assistance to the Ultras, in their scheme to overturn the Ministry. Another speculation trill have It that this criminal act is list to be attributed either to the demi-soldes or as Ike Ultra-Royalists, but to certain Jacobins eti wer own nation, hostile to public order, and jealous of the glory of the Duke of W ELLINOTON, and of the family of the Welleskys in general.— Bat if these suppositions must all give way, on ' account of the want of proof, still wider fields open to conjecture in the numerous enemies which his Grace's glory has created, in Belgium, Spain, &c. and the room for jealousy which his Grace's gallantry in another respect is said to have occasioned. The assassin in one instance is no other "»~^~ k ‘l puk 4 thin a Hancrierlsor Offiter, *hose ,oirt accused of having had an intrigue vr t t, b at 44 ikei well-known mofai chajpcter of his , aft repos such an *dimes impatatirte." nbwever, ig Do te ie said to have dlttinctly sees the individual w h o fired upon him, and to have observird that h e wore mustachios ; in consequence of this indicati on, many half-pay Officers have received orders to quit Paris, ind others are put ender strict earveillmice." This mustachio plot is, therefore, a very enlecky circumstance for those who are fond of loch ores. (Penis. Mustachios may consequently be expect e d to he out of fashion for some time in Paris. Certain it is, according to the Correspondent of the Cosner, that the person who fired at his Grace cannot be in the regular Freud army, for a young man who h is just published a Pamphlet on the Coalition and France, is going to address a Letter to the Doke of WELLINGTON, in the name of the French Army, t o convey to hisG tete he sentiments of abhorrence w hi ch these brave soldiers feel for the Conspiracy with which he was menaced ! This is the most convincing view of the clink affair that has . y 0 been gives, and the young man who thus boldly hazards hit pen, will doubtless by this act entitle himself" to the thanks of the Secret Committee, who are of course deciding on the conspiracy. We have stated what has bee n communicated to ourselves from good sources on this mysterious transaction, namely, that by the re. suit of the investigations made by Count Ammo Sub-Prefect of Police, it appears that the person w h o fired the shot most, from the position where the coachman and footman swear they sa w him stand, harri been only three or four feet from the carriage ; that the carriage was not touched, but that the direction given to the ball was five feet &Wive the head of it, and that the bullet was found in the ceiling of the gateway. We have now merely to remark, in add,- ion, that the crime was committed in the night be ween the 10th and l Ith, and the Police, so late as he 17th, if the above account furnished to us is nut true, had discovered nothing at all but a double-bar relled pistol its a cellar at some distance from the 'put ; aad a doable-barrelled pistol is not the most likely weapon to have been used in firing a single shot. it is said iii the letters, and (lie Brussels Pa pers assert the same, that many persons have been arrested on grounds more or less suspicioas, but nothing has transpired of the interrogatories to Which they have been subjected.--it is mi llions enough, if such arrests have taken Our that these at least should not be noticed 11011. Paris Papers. The French Police might be better, gruptnyed in directing public opinion in France thou in writing correspondence for our Government News. pariets. But they probably do justice to Jolts BULL'S soperior capacity of swallowing in titian. spect, and thus oblige us with a dish in our oen Park style. The Sitting of the Chamber of Deputies on Mon day affords nothing of novelty or interest. The King has created his Valebde-Chansore a Baron, and the Gazelle de Prance has a Second Edition to announce this important intelligence. We are almost ashamed of saying the French Papers con• tain no news. The French Fends Experience no material for mation. The Five per Cents. are at 66 f. 40 c., and Bank Stock at 1,555 1. No accounts of the death of the King of SWEDEX appear to have reached Paris; and it is rather is. mar kable that no further confirmation from the uthet Continental channels has been received 4 The fact is eatreasely probable, both from his advanced age, and from the attack of illness under which he labouredat the date of the last official advice* ; but of his actual dissolution the only authority as yet its that of the Ilamburgh Papers. It appears cer tain, that there is a strong party in Sweden favour. able to the claims of the son of the deposed GUM. ova ; and,uorne communications have lately been re ceived this country, intimating that this party were likely to take decisive measeres in the event cr a demise of the Crown. We shall look with some entiety to the contents of the neat dispatches; for though the interests of England are not directly in volved in the event; yet, from the establishoteut given to the Holy principle of interference in 114 choice of Kings, it will be impossible to Vet" au ea• tire - change of dynasty in a neighbouring Mosarch), 1 without disregard. A Dutch Mail brings Brussels Papers to the 15th, which, as we hive abote observed, are chiefly re writable for statements which, if true, are carefully suppressed in the French Papers, that several per sons have been arrested on suspicion of having heed implicated in the attempt to assassinate the Duke of WELLINoTom. The re-organisation of the Frencb army, on the plan of the new Bill, is expected to commence shortly after Lent. It is presumed tbst 3000 ti:ltlßi.ccoart•ti attire nos:, f vice.2n half.pay, will in couseciseuc e en The frill of the W,kes of corn in the Northern French •Dopartments-has - tended to reduce the prices in Flanders ; where the:winter corn also presents s most promising appearance. The Elector of Ilmt CASSELIII staled to be seriously ill, a circumstance which would retard the marriage of the Duke of CAMBRIDGE. It is an article dated 46 Cassel t reh 6 ," which mentions this ; soother from Fraulfort,dat44 on the 12th, says nothing of his Highness's it though it notices an order made at bis Coed, THE ST4 . TESMAN. J