The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser. — London, England, 1803-07-06 00:00:00

• ,r.. - . THE CONDUCT' or REVOLUTIONARY FRAN 4 TOWARDS THE KINGS SARI INI‘. Since the French Revolution, one King of Sardi nia has die.! the viaim of French cruelties ; another has abdicated his throne, disgusted with French op pression ; and a third endures yet the repeated in sults, ant the cruel treachery of Corsican France. The royal Sardinian family Has honoured early in the Revolution with the hatred of the French Re 14els ; when, in 1789, Mirabean, La Fayette, Talley rand, and their accomplices, instkuted a revolntion ary prfipaganda. The dominions of his Sardinian 7Nlajesty were the first countries recommended to the pair ctic mi,sion of their emissaries. This honourable preference was drx to t . ..e lin ;mumble and generous conduct of the Corp -t at Turin ; neither the threats or intriglres of the French Jacobins could intimidate it, or dr..: ze its loyalty and hospitality tow:iris the pmscribe , l 1 . - nch Princes, and their followers, the persecuted French Emigrants. This may, by some philosophical Sovereigns, aid their atheistical r*lit:isters, be called imprudence ; but in 1789, I,cobinism was nehhcr seatei on the throne, nor in the councils of princes, except in these f the King of France ; and rebels were treated with a contempt, which, for the welfare of mankind, it is to be wished, neither success would have dimi nished, nor power discouraged. To the standard of revolt and atheism ereCted in France, flocked the dissatisfied, disaffeael, and irre ligious persons cf all countries. Sard'nia, Piedmont. and Savoy, have many proscribed criminals and condemned out/avq, who in a short time become the most aaive french patriot: ; but as long as Louis XVI. reigned, they satisfied themselves with propa gating revolutionary principles, and distributing re volutionary writings amongst their country men ; much discontent and some partial insurrections were the consequences, but until rebellion was organized in France, it could have no consistency any where el-c. The French newspapers, under the direction of the constitutional faaion, continued, during the years 1790 and 1791, to libel the King of Sardinia and kis family, by the most absurd falsehoods and vul ger abuse ; and to the repeated complaints of the Sardinian Ambassador, the unfortunate Louis XVI. had no other redress to give, or answer to make, than that he was himself the most calumniated and insulted of all Kings. In 1792, when the Brissotine ftaion was (as Bris sot expressed himself) determined to put ire to the four corner: of the world, accusations and threats suc ceeded abuse and calumnies, and the King of Sar dinia was reproached as one of the contracting par ties in the fabricated and imaginary treaty of Pil nitz, regulating an imaginary partition of France ; the menaces of the Jacobins, aad the war declared by them against Austria, caused some alarm at Turin, and the King ordered his militia to be em bodied and his army augmented. To suspend those measures of self-defence, Dumourier, then a Minis ter, wrote in May 1792 a letter to the King of Sar dinia, in the name of Louis XVI. stating, that France was determined to continue and respect all its Treaties with hi: Sardinian Majesty. It has been, and is yet an incomprehensible error, into which many princes and states have fallen, to depend upon the assurances of friendship, and the promises of peace of the French revclutiona.ry Go vernment, in the same manner as if made by legal Sovereigns ; notwithstanding that, when they could gain any advantage, no more regard has been shewn to the sacredness of Treaties, than to the respect of acknowledged laws of nations, or established eti. queues cf Courts. Thus depending upon the as surances of France, the King of Sardinia reduced his army ; and whea, in September 1792, the French General Montesquicu invaded, without any trevicus declaration ,i wAr, the .Duchy of Savoy, and some time after Anseline, another Jacobin General, sur prised the county of Nice, little or no resistance was n.ace to the French armies. ft is true, that both in Savoy and in the city of Nice, there were troops enough to resist for some time the French invaders ; but treason has, during the last war, gained for the French more battles, and eonquered them more countries than valour; and the Sar.tin'an troops, commanded by cowards or trai tors, capitulated nearly without fighting. In this brave and loyal manner did France get possession of the dominions of his Sardinian Majesty, on this ai the Alps. In the winter of 1792, a French fleet attacked the Island of Sardinia, but was repulsed with great loss; and England soon after, by a powerful fleet in the Mediterranean, prevented the Frenchfrom executing anf.ther attack, not only meditated but menaced. Having lost, without a declaration of war, two of his most valuable provinces, the King of Sardinia was obliged to join the coalition in war against France, as the only means to preserve the remainder of his kingdom. He entered, therefore, in 1793, iato a Treaty with England, and received an annual absidy of 200,000 pounds sterling; this subsidy re trued. fur three years, the rain of the Sardinian '"*.~ - -` ~'' r!T Monarchy, and is no* proclaimed, by the iradietit ■nd impudent French sophists, one of the reasons of the present distressed situation of the Sardinian Monarch ; but this is not the first time Revolutiona ry France changes generosity into guilt, and libe rality into a crime, and in the name of justice and moderation commits the must infamous deeds, and respells nothing either respeaable or sacred. During the campaigns of 1793, 1794, and 17 `► 5, the Army of Sardinia was united with the Army of Austria in Italy ; but their united efforts made little progress, and their only success was keeping the French out of Piedmont. It may justly be considered as a reproach to Austria and other powers combating against France, that they either despised or feared their enemy too much ; either looked upon his destruction as certain, or apprehended their own ; when, in 1793, Toulon was occupied by the English, Marseilles and Lyons in open revolt, they believed the subjection of France inevitable, but after the unfortunate cam paign in 179.1, they acted as if they thought their own ruin approaching. Fre..ch emissaries had for a long time sown dis cnntent and instigated jealousy between the Austri ans and Sardinians ; and when Bonaparte, in 179 G, attacked them, they were easily defeated. The un fortunate King of Sardinia, knowing the discontent of his soldiers, and with reason suspecting the trea chery of some of his Generals*, WAS forced to nego tiate s ith the Corsican I3cnaparte, whom French puts had rendered victorious. . Before the world knew Bonaparte's pretensions to the charaiter of an Alexander, he had proved him self a yerfea Philip ; he threatened and intimidat ed, he cajoled and deceived the Sardinian Nego tiators into the most impolitic treaty ever signed ; the provinces surprized by France, previous to a de claration of war, were ceded for ever, and fortresses vare givea up by a dash of the pen, which it would have required several campaigns to take. It is a cu rious faCt, that during the whole revolutionary war, France never took a fort or a fortified city by a rt.- gular Jilt, but by blockades, negotiations, plots, treason, and treaties, and that, when once pos. sessed of a strong place, it never surrendered it but after a siege, or when forced by absolute necessity. Since the signature of the Treaty of 1796, the King of Sardinia may be said not to post;ess any ter ritory on the European Continent, and France dis posed of Piedmont as much then, as since June 1800. During 1796 and 1797, every indignity has been offered to his Sardinian Majesty, and every oppres sion inflicted on his subjeCts ; this caused many in surreCtions, and numerous and loud complaints ; and when, in 1798, the French expeCted the re newal of the war, their emissaries raised a revolt in the Capital, and forced the King to give up the ci tadel of Turin to the French troops, and to put himself and his family entirely under their protec tion. In December the same year, the French Ge neral Joubert, obliged the King to renounce, for ever, Piedmont, and in return, he was promised a pension, which has never been paid, and indemni ties, which he has never received. After so many and great sacrifices, the unfortu nate King exported at least to be permitted to de part with his family ; but insult was added to cru elty, and contempt to tyranny ; and it was not be fore the King had humbly petitioned the French Pro-Consuls, and sacrificed a part of his crown jewels to their avarice, that he got their passes, and was permitted to depart as an exile from his own capital : he was, however, accompanied as far as Florence by a cousin of Reubel, under whose con troul and inspection he remained ; and hardly a day passed but the Monarch was abused and humiliated, and monarchy degraded by this revolutionary sans culotte. From 1796 to 1799, two Sardinian Ambassadors were sent to the Temple at Paris, and four ordered away from France with insult ; all his faithful ser vants and ministers were imprisoned as hostages, or punished as traitors ; and he was obliged to choose traitors for his counsellors, and rebels for his nego tiators ; France permitted or suffered no other. According to the Treaty of 1796 with Bonaparte, at a general pacification, all the fortresses of Pied mont were to be restored to the King, and France had guaranteed the integrity of Piedmont to the house of Sardinia ; when, therefore, the imbecility of Melas gave up, in 18(Y), Piedmont and all the strong places, which had cost Austria and Russia so much time, treasure, blood, and valour, to conquer, every body expected that the First Consul Bonaparte, would fulfil tlt. engagements of the Ge neral Bonaparte, and for once be generon: in being juet ; the interest which Russia and Prussia took in the fate of the House of Sardinia confirmed this expec tation ; and Bonaparte, by his machiavelisio and re volutionary manoeuvres, kept all the world in sus pence, until the definitive treaty with England per_ mined him to be above fears, as above honour and remorse, and to order his slavish Senate to incorpo- The Sardiulart General, Count d'Angeraux, wit: accused of high tr2irson, but died stuldeAd; before he could be tried ; another ri a , pected General. Galli,. lowed the French, and is now a Freud; GwaieraL • ••• !f4,rf.= . Z / % , "TVP.".^ . 7 O . y o ~aa • • ate Pizittont u idt France ; L•y this he proVed both to Russia ariti"Prussia, that they were his dupes ; Prtrs!a has, no doubt, been indemnified for this hu miliating affront, hitt Europe looks in vain for Russia to revenge this insulting and disgraceful outrage. No sooner was Piedmont a French province, than Bonaparte intrigued to make the island of Sardinia a French colony, and offered in return to ere& Patina, and a part of Tuscany, into a kingdom for the Royal Sardinian family. This negotiation took place at Rome last. summer, but the appearance of an English fleet in the Mediterranean, in the autumn, niade France suspect that England had been informed of its intrigues, and to pit:lkb the King of Sardinia, ordered him from Rome to Vi terbo, where he could be better watched by his French oppressors, and he is yet obliged to submit to the grossest indignities from the Corsican usurp er, without the interference of one Regal Sovereign on the Continent, who n - ght, however, all read in Lit destiny their own, when French intrigues, ambition, and power, can dictate it with safety. Of the two Kings of Sardinia alive, neither occu pies the throne of their ancestors; one passes his time in solitude and prayers ; the other in negotia tions and humiliations, between hope and disap pointment, the reproach to royalty, the glory of re bellion. Monarchs, as individuals, are submitted to the changes of fortune, and as individuals often, when assailed, overpowered by wretches; the Queen of the late Kiug was the sister to Louis XVI. whose brothers are married to the sisters of the present and late King.' A Princess of their blood, Madame Lamballe, was inhumanly butchered at Paris, in 1792, and the different branches of the Royal Fa mily are dispersed, unfortunate, unnoticed, and un pitied. What makes the sufferings of this Royal Family so much the more cruel, is, that successful power and undeniatle fdicity, arc it: due, if ever virtue deserved a throne, or rtl;gion any biasing.: upon earth. MIDDLESEX SESSIONS. HICKS'S HALL, JULY S. E,ore WILLIAM MAINWARINC, Peter Plank was indicted for a misdemeanour, in having received a gold snuff-box, the property of William James Maddox, Esq. knowing the same to ~•-~ have been stolen. Mr. SYLVESTER the Common Serjcant, stated, that the property in question had been picked out of the Prosecutor's pocket, during the time that Gentleman was at Drury Lane Theatre, some time last season. In about a month after he happened, to be passing through Giltspur-street, near the Hay market, when he observed the box exposed for sale in the window of a goldsmith shop. Such means were immediately taken to recover the property, as were found necessary, and the goldsmith, in whose posses sion it thenwas,proved he had bought the article from a Mr. Holland, a silversmith in Bell-yard. The Pro secutor, anxious to discover the person who had committed the robbery, continued his inquiry, and found that Mr. Holland had also purchased the box from Mr. Palmer, a jeweller and gold smith in Tavistock-street, Covent-garden. From the latter, it was traced into the hands of Plank, who was not able to account for it in any other way, than his having purchased the property of a man who offered the same for sale, at his counting-house, in Long Acre, on the 3d of last Decen - .ber. It was bought for 121. ss. and, as it appeared from the fashion of the article, that it would be more profi table to sell it again inks original shape, than throw it into the melting-pot, Mr. Plank dispatched his ser vant to sell it at the house of Mr. Palmer, in Tavi stock-street, where it was bought, and from thence found its way into the hands of the person before mentioned. These, the Learned Counsel observed, were the principal faits of the case; and, when the same came to be supported by evidence, the Jury would see that the Defendant stood in a very suspi cious situation. "Ile property was examined by the Prosecittor, who deposed he was robbed of it while he was at the Theatre, I ut by whom he could not tell. William (lark, Mr. Plank's servant, said, he was present when the snuff-box was offered for sale; the man who bro , :ght it said it was the property of a gentleman confined for debt and in much distress. Mr. Plank offered 121. 3s. 4d. which the person he sitated to ta!ze, observing, that before he could sell it for that he must consult the owner; he accord ingly- went away, but shortly after returned and was paid 121. ss. the witness was then sent to sell it again in the manner already described. Mr. K WL Es remarked to the .lury, that the situation in wl ich the Defendant stood did not ap pear to be a criminal one ; he was a respeCtable tradesman, nod in the progress of his business, which he had carried in for a considerable time with credit, frequent transactions relative to the purchasing of gold, had occupied his attention, and never before had an unfortunate circumstance like the prevent taken place. The Jury would plainly observe, that the price which Mr. Plank had given for the article was a fair one ; it had been sold again, and the profit arising did not amount to more than a iew shillings. From such considerations, the Jury would feel for the situation of the Defendant, and believe him ignorant that the property was stolen. If a doubt did but exist on that subjeet, they were bound to acquit him. The Cnatax am made a few observations, after which the Jury pronounced their verdict—Not Guilty. We believe it is not generally known, that the motto of Lord NELSON is an anagram of his name • " Honor at a Nilo" being transposed, forms " Ho- IL AI 10 NEI.SOs.'P The town of Leeds has seldom been so healthy as at present; one of the principal Undertakers not having had a funeral these five weeks ! though iu the preceding month he frequently attended two, and sometimes three, in a day. The Influenz.a killed or cured all that crate within its influence. * „►..:~ .~:' _ .►. LA WY L ICI NC E. cotTßT.pr KING'S ISENCII, Ji.o.ie 5. Befol'al.oktoELLENnOlw%.nal. WOOD V. D ENY F. 14 This was an aLllion brought by the Plaintiff; a tailor in Pall-Mall,• to recover of the Defendant the sum of 581. lls. 9d. a debt contraned for clothes during his infancy, and a further sum of 41. Is. for money lent. It appeared that till Defendant, at the time the debt was incurred, was clerk- in the house of Mr. Boddington, of Mark-lane ; and that although he wits only the son of the PeLworth car rier, in no very great line of businett, he had had, in the course of fifteen months, nu let; than sever, coats, ten pair of breeches, and a propoiti - nre number of waistcoats; besides which, the Plainta had lent hint four guineas. The Defendant ha.? p.tid 301. i Ito Court. It was attempted to be p:•)veJ, that the Defendant had math an absolute pro mise of payment since he came of age, but it ap peared he had merely promised to g.,•;.! the Plaintiff a bond, payable in the event of his receiving a legacy, to which he expected to be entitled upon the termination of a cause in Chancery. Mr. PARK, for the Defendant, observed, that this was a cause of very great importance to the rising generation Fie v..as ttell acquainted svitl i the character of Mr. Boddington, and he wa.; sure he would not have been well pleased to have kept the Defendant in his service, had he known he had bees so extravagant as to have had seven coats in the short space of fifteen months. The Learned Counsel having, by reasonable arguments, and pal pable deduaio+, shewn, upon the face of the Plain tiff's own evidence, that the promise of payment, af ter the Defendant came of age, was conditional, and dependent upon contingencies, left the question to the Jury merely upon the point, whether the ar ticles furnished were necessaries for a person in the Defendant's situation and rank of life. He con tended that the 301. paid into Coart was an ample sum. _ _ _ Lord Etttweo aouc H said, there were two ques tions for the Jury—first, whether the Defendant, af ter he came of age, had completely ratified and con firmed the obligation entered• into during his non age, so as to make it now liable, or had only sanc tioned it conditionally ; and, secondly, whether, if that fast was not proved, the sum paid into Court wassufficient,laying out cf the question the advanceof four guinea sowhich was certainly a most mischievous thing for a tradesman to do, with regard to a young man, like the Defendant, as it could only have been done with a view to encourage him to go to places of dissipation. As to his ratification of the contrast, he had stated he would pay when he came to his for time ; and, when talking about a bond, he said he would settle and arrange the account, when he re. ceived a legacy he expeeted. He had offered to make the bond payable, when his affairs in Chancery should be settled ; but it is evident he had made -aa admission of the debt, in ca e his affairs should tal,:e an adverse turn. It was consequently not a pro mise till the condition was pe formed ; it was a mere conditional promise, and ther f ire he was clearly nct liable. This reduced it to the other question, whether 301. was an adequate suns. The station in life of the Defendant had been proved. He was the son of a waggoner, but not one of that description which ranked among persons of the first commer cial consequence. His Lordship said, he had par ticularly endeavoured to ascertain this lea, because he remembered hearing it proved, that a Mr. Pick ford, a waggoner and carrier, had dealings to so large an extent, that he was able to bear up against a loss of 10,001. in the course of one winter, occa sioned by the canals being frozen up. A similar proof of immense capital has occurred, in the case of Mr. Russell, of Bath. The situation of the De fendant's father was very different _; he was the pro prietor but of one waggon • therefore, with regard to a young man like the Defendant, it was a moral obligation, upon the part of a tradesman, not to ex tend the reasonable limits of his credit. Was it to be endured, that a lad, in a merchant's counting house, should have seven coats in fifteen month:? What was the effea of such extravagance, but to enable him to make an appearance beyond his sphere in life. It tended to lead him into habits of idleness, corruption, and dissipation. The Learned Counsel had justly observed, that the encourage ment given by such tradesmen as the Plaintiff to on• thinking youth, afforded them access to scenes where their passions were irritated, and induced them, in order to support an expellee beyond their means, to rob their masters, and involve themselves in ruin, infamy, and disgrace. He was of opinion, that the 301. paid into Court was full enough fcr a youth circumstanced as the Defendant was. The .lury would, however, look into the Bill, and say, whether it was, or was not, reasonable, putting out of the question the four guineas advanced, to which the Plaintiff was clearly not entitled. The Jury, after a minute's consideration, returned a Vet did for the Defendant. STRATFORD V. BAR ETT. Mr. WOODF A I.L stated, that this was an action of assault and battery, to which the Defendant had pleaded ; he sac possessed of a certain dwelling house, into which the Plaintiff, without his licence, introduced himself, he bad gently laid his hands up on him and turned him out. Mr. GA Rum. said, he was extremely sorry to be called upon to open this case against Mr. Barnett. who had long been an attorney, resident in Sob.' Square, and who ought to have learnt, that it was highly unbecoming in him to have concluded him self in the manner he had dona. He was a goof deal surprised to find, that after he had got into tl , e situation the declaration described him, and when he might have got his Learned Friend to have ex cused him on the ground of some supposed irrita tion, that he should have been so imprudent as to have put a [plea of justification upon the record. The Defendant had a son in the army, who had con traaed a small debt of 31. with the Plaintiff's bro► ther, a corn-.:Handler, at Wycomb, in Buckinghant shire. When Captain Barnett was about to leave the town, he desired his creditor to call upon him at hip father's, intimating to him, that if he was not in the way, his father would pay the debt. Mr. Stratford, accompanied by the Plaintiff, who was a. student in physic, called in Soho-sqoare, and en. quired for the officer, but were informed he was not at home. They then asked to see his f..ther—th were shewn into a parlour, and told he would soots come to them. Ina few minutes Mr. Barnett came into the room; and enquired into the nature of the. business ; upon being informed, he seemed mach ofTeuded, and asked why they had not cued their business to his cies k. Thai replied, tout , 44i-' OP • I -1 1P414 ~~_.•_