The Sun. — London, England, 1816-05-24 00:00:00

er conduct zit . tour women t: NevUnt 4;11411,1,P. A proclamation %seas next pualished, offer ll ing . three thonsimil francs to any person or persons who Should take the assassin of General Le ,-Ittrtle, or 'mike his name known ;' ltis name at that time was Wa because he Lad been ad vertised, in l'lscre, by name. It was Clear, be said, not withstantlitp , " the proelamations, thittbo . steps were taken to bring to justice the persons offending. Thc'Protestants had been' misled . ivit ii respect to the opening of their temples, and at the last proclamation the_Prefect and iilliiibitituts of Nistnes had received amnesty for the past. lie Was not able to state that the PrOtestants were then in a state of security. No -outrage of a nir derobs description had been committed since De cember; but he understood from a Gentleman at Nistues, in March last, that the Protestants weve driven away from the public vittlks ; the prisons were tilled by that unitappynlescript ion of pet sous, who, in almost every instance, bad been cow mitted on the charge of uttering seditious words. There was evidently no anxiety on the part of the Government to support the Protestants, but; on the contrary, there was great delay in bringing the murderers to justice. He thought the time might. come %%lien all those persons who had plodoCed the. horrors of Nismes, would be again let loose. It was not his intention to addresithe Crown on the subject, but he was desirous of knowing what communications had been matte by the Govern menc of France to this :wintry, on the excesses in the of France. Iu that view, 'he should ly more than their proportion of teas, rind leir joy was unanimous at the return at the But in the course of ten months, a change opinion had taken place adverse to toe Protest , . as, and mention was often made of the neces ty of a new order of things, by a return to th e at wer system. But by the Charter much sec urity 'as ant ded to the Protestants, and fr o m the "Y which it had been confirmed by the King, they, miceived that security to have been increased, specially when combitted with the circumstance of Ite long residence of the King in a Protestant It, the beginning of 1815 the Protest aus began to be insulted in the streets O 1 account if their religion ; mention was made of the ne :essity of a new St. Bartholomew's Day, and that he hands of the. Catholics should be washed in he hlooti of the Protestants. Soon after Burma 'Atte appeared, and the Protestants expressed the itine determination to support the King with his :- . :atholie subjects. The declaration of the municipal Jody at Nismes was signed by all the Protestant Mi dstrts, and the whole body breathed the most ardent loyalty to the King. Soon after the Duke Angottleme made his appearance in the_ South )1 France, and it was said that the Protestants lial not join his standard. Many Protestants , in aeed, did not join him, from the alarm under which they were front the treatment they bad ex perienced, but no Protestant was admitted into the Guards. From the 3d of Aptil; when Blt naparte resumed the Government, up to the 15th' .Lily, it was contended that acts of violence had been committed by the Protestants, 'and that *hat followed on the part of the ,Catholics was only in the way of retaliation and revenge. But no act of violence had been done by the Protes tants in the town of Nismes, though, no doubt, Li some quarters there bad been acts of violence on both sides. On the 15th of July the Duke of A a goulume's army retarned to Nismes, and many of the soldiers in the town, who had laid down their arms, were massacred in cold blood ; the Louses were pulled down; the furniture destroy ed, coutributions were levied, the manufacturers teined, and the vineyards pulled up by the - roots. A woman, far advanced in pregnancy, had been put to death by torture ; and out of thirty other women that had been subjected to death by tor ttue, eight had died under it-200 pet sons had been Intirdered, and 2000 driven into banishment.. No step whatever had been taken, to bring the au-, %hunt of these atrocities to justice. An old man had been thrown over the ballustrades of hips own house, then dragged to the door, and some signs of life still appearing, had' been trampled to *tenth. Five persons had .been murdered at one time, and several at rosother. A wretch of the statue of Trestaillon, who had been a principal actor in these , horrible scenes, asked woman if Ire could see her husband who was then sick confine(' to his bed ; being admitted, through' fear., he pulled out a pistol, and shot hint dead ! That man had been twice in custody, and hall not yet been punished. They came to a resolution att Nismes, that no Protestant„should be admitted into the National Guard, and that all but the Nit- Culla' Guard should be disarmed. A dead body had been dug out of the grave, and treated iii the tuost brutal manner. ‘Vhat,steps had been taken by the French Government to put a stop to `these excesses ? The then Prefect of La Garde took. no steps whatever, and another was appoint ed, who at first seemed inclined to adopt mea sures of severity, when an insurrection was likely . to take place. The severity was relaxed, Tres taillou was released, like another Barabbas, at the desire of the people, and after some time.the Pre-. feet became popular. Could it then be said that all possible steps had been taken by the French Government 1 On the 17th of August acts of vio lence had been. renewed ; on the 21st the elections 'were to take place, and .on the lath muny had beep murdered. On the 20th of August the Na tional Guards bad been reviewed, and on the 24th twenty-four companies of infantry and one of cavalry marched into the town'. A sufficient force 'Was thus in the bands of the Prefect, had he chosen to avail himself of it. Upon the arrival of the Austrians in Nistoes, complete tranquillity was re stored They left it on the 15th Oct. and the : next (fey Trestaillon entered the town, at the head of a party, when he was taken into custody, and sent away nobody knew whither'. Not a single mint had been punished of those concerned in these larders. The lion. and Learned Geotleinan pro eeeded to read set eral proclamations issued by the Ptefect and Mayor of Nismes, palliating the ex, tesses that had been committed, and stating that the popular spirit had not been disgraced by • spirit of robbery,—(par nn esprit de brigandage.)--- 't lie Hon. and Learned Gentleman adverted to the 4ttaek on General Lc 'Garde by the Catholics un the 12th of November, at Nismes ; avid calling the attention of the House to the proclamations which followed, be contended that there had been a studied concealment of the enormities committed on the Protestants, and an endeavour to avoid brittging the anurdercrs to intnishinent: lie ad rnitted that he was deficient in extensive informa tion, in consequence of the &fficulty under which the French press laboured. There had been no possibility of obtaining any thing like a true pub lication of the unfortunate events which had dis turbed the department of the Garde. The difficulty txtisoivieg to the VrenchGovernment,which did not suffer any statementin favour of the Protestants to appear. The police were ever vigilant to sun-- press every paragtaph having thae;tentiettcy. - Tbe smile cention was observed in the French Senate. Ile (Sir S. Romilly) was in the Assembly of De puties, when one of the members, M.D'Argenson moont6l the tribune to disclose the state of the country, and the eirettmatances connected with the disturbances in the South. A great part of the Assembly r o se in consequetwe, and though thee "we r e 'ready to a dmit the proposition that the coootry was disturbed, they insisted that M. D'Areenson sltojlld be called td o rder, fur daring speak of miseries in the South. .Such was the conduct of • the - Chamber of Deputies only four , t i e en days bcfore General •Le Garde was woun ded. ?he iltcmpt to assassinate that Officer was made on the 12th of November, laid when time news reached Paris, it w a s received with i n dignation. =mt. L treat ltoptlists, as th','Y were termed, pub the Quotidienne an article, in which they tineertook to 'prove the disturbance was only IL; effect of an alii:ay, occasioned by the hivroz tnove— " That an bumble address be presented to hisnoyal IliA ness the Prince Regent, praying be would give directions to be kid before the 1-louse, copies and extracts of all commu nications received, relative to the Protestants in the South of France." If there should be arty objection to the motion, still he should rejoice that he had made it.' lie was glad that he gave his Majesty's Ministers an opportunity of communicating some information on events which had been studioeily conceided. He was anxious to bear (as the Duke. of Wel lington stated in his letter) that the French Go. vernment had . done all it could do to put an end to these. excesses. The unhappy Protest ants suffering in France were objects to whom the benevolent intentions' of this country might well he extended. They had exerted themselves in behalf of the natives of Africa, and certainly they Could not refuse to interfere for Europeans perse cuted for their rCligiouS tenets. At the moment the horrible scenes were passing iu Languedoc, two Protestant armies were in Paris. The Icing 'could "not look out of the palace windows without seeing cannons loaded ready to deluge the streets with blood in case of insurrection.. Deep would be the responsibility, it With the power iu our hands we did nit interfere, in order to prevent a r e c urrence of the melancholy calamity of Nisnies. The Protestant iiihabitants of that city were now obliged to be jostled in the streets by the noir derers of their wives, mothers, and brothers. The appeal of such persons to our hemanity he consi dered irresistible. Sir Samuel Itomilly concluded by making his motion. Lord CASTLE,RFACM tail, be bad beard with pain the statement of the Hon. and Learned Gen tleman he could assure hint, 'however, that the picture he had drawn was a mostexaggerated one, and more likely to create sentiments of ho3tility between the different religions of Europe than im part the balm of comfort to minds distorlied.— The Hon. and Learned Gentleman had placed hint .in a painful situation : he had called on the Go vernment to answer and explain a case with as much confidence as if he knew that Ministers had the power of ascertaining all the truth belonging to the disturbed affairs of another nation. He begged to enter his protest ugainst the line of ,policy the Honourable and Learned Gentleman had recommended. His Mrsjesty's Ministers could not be the Ministers of Foreign States, and exe cute the duties which solely belong to those States.. The Hon. ,Gentleman had congratulated the Government on its benevolent intentions, some time since, with a View to compose the minds of the Protestants of France ; hitt it the lion. Gentlemau thought his Majesty sGovernment had ever taken up that question, he was in error. Government had, on'the contrary, been impressed with a be lief that more isarMthan good had been done by interference, and that those who endeavoured to serve the Protestants of France had done them injury. The'Noble Lord deprecated the policy of interterence in the religious disputes of foreign States. There was a time when it was the inte rest. Of States to mix policy and religion together, but that time was guise ; the spirit of philosophy, of tolerance, an Christianity, had rendered all in terference its religious matters. unnecessary. He called to the recollection of the House the reli gious feuds which had occurred in this coit•ttry andlreland, and chew a conclusion that the rsri fish Government. would not have permitted any foreign power to interfere. The conduct of the French Government had been improperly described. France was only distorbed by local feud, carried on by persons infitienceti by politics and religion. The same feeling had Owl' to a great extent in Ireland. In Arileigh the two accts had levied war against each other for two years, anti the aria of the law was not , able . to reatraiu their animosity. - The lion. Gentleman admitted that no excesses had occurred since December in France, yet he came to hat row up the feelings of the House with tales of religious severity. He could not, consisten with public duty, consent to give the information required. Ile would not give it to Parliament," because. he could net constitutionally ask them to make use of it.--4 Hear, hear 1) There had been no communication that did not satisfy the Government that 'bis most Christian Majesty was influenced by a sincere desire to prevent the metannloily events which had disgraced pert ofhis tiontinious. The Protestants 'Of It'rance, protect. ed first by Louis XVI. and taken urebyßuonstearte, had acquired power and interest previous to the restoration of the House of Bourbon, which had led to the animosity between both religions. He • had on hesitation in saying, he bad acquired the 1 best informatiou On the cause and state of the excesses in France. The_ Noble Lord then re (erred to a letter, received front en individual on whom he could rely for impartiality. The pare _ graphs read by the Noble Lord were in substance us follow Both parties (speaking of .Catho-,. tics and Protestants) are changed since the, au army in France ought rather tn prevent out in» terference than to prompt it ; in delicacy to a tree (;'overnment, we 'Shoot(' not ASStitte an authority in their domestic policy becanse We have Lord Wellington and his army there. Mr. W. Sstrrit supported the Motion, and fe tnarked that the excesses had been proved and ad» mit(9l On all hands' to have been conimitted by. Cathoties, under a Catholic: GoVernment, had not brought a single aggrlis4or - to punish meat ; and this was ground ,sufficient for the in. terterence. . superiority was foun d anumg the Protestants,wl n o were superior io wenltleand power, To toy know decLe they were the strongeso party, -Hod they succeeded infproctiring tor them P. tt r ei a maim ity of puldie oftices. - • These •they c oo tio n ed' to en joy under the tosterieg care of Hawn - Tarte. The sue - - eess of the flint hoot sepplanieh the P ro t es t an ts, and gave roont to the Cathidies to hook for situa tions, Which they conceived they had a right to in consequence tit their fixed loyalty. On the-de- . feat of Ileonapirte, great animosities ensued, ite;. &owed, no doubt, by Priests, and increased by the weakness Of Government. I could not learn that between 1814 and 1815, any tactual hostility took place between the parties of the Garde.-Be earal songs were sun t ;, insulting to the Protes tants, by the lower classes, hut as the respectable parties concealed their itnintosity, their resent. : meta might ,have been smothered, if the re-; „appearance of Buoneparte had not led them to ex press indignant -entiments. The Duke d'Aogott lame, then in the South, prepared to meet him; and to save Lyons, but deserted by .his generals and troops, be could do nothing. Two hundred of his faithful followers fell victims to the Pro testants or Bonapartists, which are synonymous terms. .(Ilear, hear !) The Protettants brought troops- to the Usurper, and did much injury to the Royal cause. The re-action then commenced, and the Protestants of the higher order suffered. Marn,: travelled through the department of - the Garde, and remained auNismes, I can ven ture to say, the lives lost in the Gattleavere under one thousand; those lost at Nisines were three hundred. A considerable Monber • of houses were plundered. Although there was a diSposition on the part of theMagiserates to keep the peace, they could not for want of military. Matters were In this state, when the arrival of the Austrian corps tinder Count Staremberg diqiersed the inhabi tants. The severity tell on the Protestants, who were excluded front the national guard. A consi derable body of Protestant peasantry marching on Nistnes were dispersed, after 'some resistance by no Austrian corps.. These evils could not have been remedied by any Means so well as by the appointnient of General Le Garde, and in that officer the Protestants lost a friend. It is sa tisfactory to state, that while the Protestants of Nismcs were suffering, their brethren in the sur rounding departments have been tranquil. The 'troubles appear to have been Cie effect of a poli tical and religious feud. •In Moutoelier, where the Protestants arc in great numbers, no interrop !ion has occurred ,between time two sects. At ,Lyons, where the Protestants arc GOOO in num ber, there has been no interriiption. One of the Ministers of the Reim-died Religion is ninCh ad mired as a preacher. Many of the Roman Cutho lie persuasion attend hint, and his sermons are more admired than those of the Catholics.'' The documents' then draw the conchision, that 'the disturbances were eoufiaed to the depart ment of Nismes and the Garde, anti ptaceeded from political as well as religious 'party feel ings. ~ That this department is now in a state of perfect tranquillity, and further there was no probability of the disturbances. being renewed, and the Protestants feel that the . Duke d'An goulemehdd been eminently useful in suppress 'ing the evils which,hed afflicted them. A post script is added, in which the interference oldie Protestants of this country is.condenmed, et cal culated to excite fresh mischief, amid bad -done a' . great deal of harm to the persons whom it was intended to serve Hod protect, Ile did not deny that' much suffering had been endnied, but it teas not the way to alleviate these suffering', to blow u p into a fi e ry religions ' controversy the disputes of a single department of'France • and he would protest against the right to inter fere, with the in ternal concerns of that country, though we hail found it necessary to place an army there, to pro-n tect the peace of Europe against. the designs of 'the revolutionary factions which cyc l oid again in. volve the world in blOod and warfare. .The ,Bri- tish people should support the Government of France, not . for its preservation there, but fur the preservation of the peace , of the world..(HcAr, hear 1), 'Mr. Beotionam begged most distinctly to dis claim, for himself and his friends, the smallest intention of giving tiny sanction to those prin ciples w Web . the Noble Lord had in such 'a lofty tone been combating-. The whole of the state ments made by, his flon..Friend were inore,than made Out by the official statements of the Noble Lord. In the le ter which he had reed, and , the candour of which he did not intend to impeach, it appeared that atrocities of the blackest descripe. tion .had taken place-1000 Protestants had been murdered, and thousends persecuted nod iihpri boned, and this, too, in the short space of three months. The ease thenarna clearly made out ; end what was propOSed to be done ? why, to pur sue the settle course which this country hail al ways adopted in, cafes of a similar nature; not et ante -to address:the - French Government, And threitten theer.with the sword, as the "Aherne tive between.- an attention to omit. representa tions, and the disregard of them, but to ad , . Yesterday the friends of Parliamentary 'Reform dress our own Sovereign, requesting, that toe . influence of the . Executive should he delicately J , tinted together at Freemasons' 'r avert), to cele and most 'respectfully exercised, in behalf of ' brata the purity of election : they, consisted of about' 400. Among. the persons, present we no our tinfortonate fellow Protestents its another country.' And then, too, there was a long tlisser aiced Sir .F. Burdett (chairman), Lord Cochrane, Sir John Throckmorton, Mr. Curveen, M. P. etc. tation elm the intetference,of the Protestant As sociatious in this country, who had been stimulut- Lard COCH-RAcoursea, in the course of the evening, ed by the most honourtdde motives d lo t . . Call ac= entered into a refutation of the har late ce . es that et 'taste the human breast ; these excellent men were had , beams brought against hint. told, that they most not take any part in a tines- .- . Major CAItTWKWHT stated, that a Petition from tion so powerfully appealing to their 3yrnpathies, Edinburgh in favour of , Parliamentary Reform, because it wou4l only make the bigotted atroci- signed by 12,000 persons, was about to be pre. Otis persecutors more ferions,- and would excite - seated to 'Parliament. Many more, lie stated, them to inflict new miseries upon their defence- 'would have been presented, had not the Speeker less lellow-countrymen.--What an argument was j 7 refused:ttl receive them in a printed form._ this! It would at once condemn all the exertions. Some characteristic toasts were given ) which which this country had ever 1113 tle in hehalinf : were followed by tones—meant, no doubt, to be afflicted .huntanity. ,. —Fle: was 'anxious that this ! .pecnliarly,appropriate. We give three of them as question should be discussed to shew that the Par- specimeos, and leave out Reeders to decide is liAtuent of this country still 'intim:tined a strong of the three is the most facetiotts :---- , feeling in the cause of PrOteStallisM, and of the ! " Ttio King ftndr(,!Dnsii,tition, and a speedy recovery et rights of - religious liberty i n ever y p ar t o f : both." Tette, " Itnte Britannia." i " The Princvss Charlotte ; ,tail tufty her dorrieslkkappliwirs Europe. , i lie as great as the litople's love ,vi ! th: isertaio, if site i,ets net Lord Btettetbo-contend e d that there was no ma tention on thethose. principiei her fatii4r professed." Tone, 4 $ Rope, told putt of his N o ble Friend to int , » : a fbtter4; " I ' 4" puce intwor..lty tnotives to - the Learned Gentleman" The only reowdv for our grio,.ances—a radical Reform in who had introduced: ti l l* Metion to the lintlae. , .. .' nettles oat.", ' the Commons notite et Partiauteet,"- , -T env , e. sick the Sir S. RostiLLY, in reply, complained of the injustice which' had been done him on this sub jest by the Noble Lord. Nothing gas further from hit views than the interference ascribed to. him. All he wanted was' the papers explaining the interference which had already taken place.--'- The Noble Lord had characterised the. distur bances as the quarrels . of two parties, viz. Protes tants and Catholics. He denied that such was the fact, there had not heeti a single Catholic put to death as such, and it was clear front the statements of the Noble Lord, that the instigators of the 'ig norant Catholic people were actuated by political. animosities, - and the Protestants were made the prey of these malignant passions compoutided with the fanaticism of the workers of the ruischief.---, lie was satisfied that much good would result„ ; from the di9cussion of this day, as it would shew that there was a Quarter of the globe in which atrocities of this description would be stigma tised with all flit:indignation and abhorrence ‘vhicit it merited. Ile would animadvert as freely upon the proclamations of Louis XVI. as upon those of our own Prince Regent, because both were acted upon by their Ministers ; and he. was de cidedly of opinion, since he had heard the expla nation of that Noble Lord, that Lord Wellington was not justified in the facts of that letter, in which he took upon him Self to say, that religious worship was restored.. tie had no intention of pressing the motion to a division, being satisfied that much good had been done by the discussion itself, and he felt happy that the motion had been brought forward. Lord CASTLEREAGH . and Lord BINNING seve rally'explained. The question was then put and the motion ne gatived. Mr. BANKES moved, that the Report of the Committee on the Elgin Marbles should he re ferred to a Committee of Supply. The motion was agreed to. and it was agreed that it should stand for an Order of the Day on Monday. The adjourned debate ou the Alien Bill was funher postponed till Monday. The Report of the Soap Bill was brought up anti rtgreed to, and the Bill ordered to be read a third tune on Monday. The other. Orders of the Day were disposed of, and the House adjourned at One o'Clock. this Morning. THE PRINCE REGENT'S COURT: Yesterday the PRINCE REGENT held a Court, for the purpose of investing Prince LEOPOLD With the Orders of the Garter and of the Bath. , The Princess CHARLOTTE was present at both der em o foes. His :serene Highness was first invested as Knight . of the Bath with Sir John Abercromby„ He .thett, with.all the usual grand solemnities, Kurt in presence of a large. hotly Of Knights, vit. : ViS count Custiereagir, the Earl: of Liverpool, the Duke of Montrose, the Marquis WelicShiy, the M a rquis of Hertford, Earl. of Lonsdale, Marquis of Stafford, Earl of Wittehilsea, of Pembroke, Duke of Beaufort, Duke of Hutland,Marquis Cam den, Earl 'Spencer, Earl of Westmorland, Mar quis of Salisbury, Earl of Chatham, the Dukes of . (4lotteester, Cumberland, , Kent, ' Clarence, and York---was invested with the Order of the Gar ter. Our Readers will e erhaps be- amused with the perusal of tlle two admonitions which the Chancellor pronounces on the putting on of .the Garter and theniband. They are as follow t-- " To the honour of God outnipOterat, and f.in Memorial of 'the blessed martyr St. deorge, I tie about thy leg, for thy re nown, this noble garter ; wear it as the symbol of the nrost•ilW Instrions order, never tube forgotten or laid aside,that there by thou mayest be admonished to be courageous, and haring undertaken a jest war, in which thou ,halt be 'engaged, thou raayest stated firm, valiantly fight, and successfully conquer:" 6, Wear this ribbstni about thy • neck, adorned with the image of the blessed martyr and soldier of Christ, St. George, by whose imitation, provoked, thou tuayest ;o.overpass both prosperous aMd adverse adventurers, that having constantly vanquished thy enemies, both of body and son!, than maYist n.,t. Only 'receive the praiSe of this transient combat, .but ba crowned with the Peat of eternal victory." As soon as these ceremonies were over, the Prince Regent held a .Pt-ivy Council, which wag nttendecl by the Cabinet Minisiers. The Prince afterwards went to Came Void-house to. di n e, i vith his it.(441 iliughtor and her'llitsband. AVEsaTM INS I E:t DINNE:t.