The Sun. — London, England, 1822-01-09 00:00:00

FOREIGN INTMAIGENCE. Puns, J.►:v. 6.—The King transacted.. busi iae!s yesterday with the Marquis of Lanriston and the Minister of the Interior. This evening there will be a grml.diplomatic party at the "Duke cl!Escars. The Dulce de Richelieu is expected this day at Paris, to be present at the marriage of his ne. pbew, Count de Rochechouart, Commandant of ih. Citadel at Paris, with Mlle. Ouwrard. The bad weather we have had for some days pzst has delayed the arrival of several foreign Journals. Those of Italy, which we ought to have received last Friday, have not yet come to hand. . FRENCH FUNDS. Jan. 51,Five per Cents. Bank Stock 1520 f. c. FRANK FOflT, DEC. 31.—1 t is the general opi nion that as soon as war is declared, the Russian army will leave the Turks Mol davia, pass the Danube at. Ismail, and advance rapidly on Varna and Tchournia, the two for tresses which cover the approaChes and the road t 9 Constantinople. But in order to • insure the •success of this triance.uvre it will be 'necessary to have a strong airily of reserve on the' Pruth to .Leep the Turks in check. It is remarked that that the Gazette de Neckar publishes a letter from Munich, dated the 28th of December, in which it is affirmed, positively, that " Austria, on the definitive refusal of the Turks to accept the Ultimatum of the Russian cabinet, had taken the resolution of declaring war against the Porte, conjointly with the four other great Christian powers.", - PETERSBURGII, DEC. .14.—The Manifesto of the Government against the Porte, which is im patiently expected, has not yet appeared. War, however, seems inevitable, and the nation is uni versally in favour of it. VIENNA, Dtc.2s.—(Extract of a Private Let ter.)—Several Greek commercial houses of our town pretend to have received news direct from Dalmatia, which announce that the famous Cours child Paella, after having gained considerable advantages over Ali Dependerli, bad been mor tally wounded in a late affair before Janina and that his troops, discouraged by this unfortu nate event, had retired 20 leagues distal ce,from the besieged town (Janina) without having had time to demolish the forts, the capture of which had cost so many lives. SPAIN. BAYONNE, DEC. 29.—[Extract of a Private Letter.] —Spain is decidedly in a state of civil war, and agitated in every possible way. Re bellious Seville persists in opposing the Spanish Government. Mina has the air of quietude in Gallicia ; but the passing events in Andalusia will no doubt encourage him in fresh attempts. The Biscayau Provinces are in flames. The day before yesterday a tiring was heard in the di rection of Vera, about a league from Bayonne, between the two contending parties, one of whom was driven on our frontiers, and the sanitary cordon fired on them. There were some killed and wounded•on each side. At Severino, a village about three leagues from Bilbao, a junta of Royalists is forthed, under the direction of one Guezala, formerly a commander of gue rillas of some celebrity. The 200 militia, which loft Bilbao to endeavour to destroy this Royalist assemblage, are commanded by officers of the Re giment Alexander ; and we are assured, that on the 26th, there was such a great fermentation at Bilboa that martial law was proclaimed. BANKS OF THE BIDASSOA, DEC. 28.—T1e in surgents of Navarre have not been fortunate in their enterprise. Public opinion has been strongly manifested against them. Those who were most forward and active among them, have been taken by the authorities and the inhabitants. Their efforts may now .be regarded as terminated, for the troops which left Vittoria have returned to that place, and General Lopez is expected this evening at his,. head-quarters at St. Sebastian. The last effort of these wretched men, who have been misled by perfidious connselS, was this day made at Bera. Their intention was to get pos session of the post of the Spanish Custom-house, .but they were vigorously repulsed by the Dona ziers, at the head of whom was M. Loubara mendy, formerly one of Mina's officers. They ,had.several killed and wounded. Five or six of the latter, of whom two are Citrates, have gone into I the French . 7 .,azaretto of Behovlei in order to withdraw .themselves from the inevitable fate which awaits them in their own country. MADRID, 'DEC. 24.—The news from the inte rior not satisfactory for the persons who lave tranquillity. .Cadiz, Seville, Coruuna, Cartha :ena, Murcia, &c. are still in a state of disobe ,dence towards: the Government, which is not a good..example ; but it is probable that every thing will be tratiquilliied by, the dismissal of the Ministry. This change, which may sooft.be expected, is absolutely necessary . for the inte rests both of the Throne and the nation.—The Benedictine Monk, :Mauro Iglesia, one of Me rino's officers; has been executed at Burgos. Ile resisted almost to the last the offers of•the Bishop toadminister religious' consolation to hitn, 'be cause he had persuaded himself that the people would deliv.er .him.—General Riego, who .'has been lately elected a Deputy for the province of Asturias, is daily expected in this capital. IVIVIICIA, DEC. 18.-The day before yesterday the population of this city and the troops of the garrison publicly expressed the desire which they have long cherished to imitate the conduct of .the inhabitants of Caithagena, in refus ing to obey the Orders of 'the present. Minisiry. commission was appointed by . the people, for the purpose of making known this „to the author4ies, who met the inhabitant's, and were made acquainted with this intention. - The GovernOr, the Bishop, and 'the General commanding - the province, .aCcompanied'bY two battalions of. the local Militia, two - ,battalions of the line, the provincial battalion of Malaga,. the Guarda Costas, and an immense multitude,' pro ceeded to the Plaza de la Constitucion, and there, I amidst vivas for the - Constitution and constitu tional King, vowed ,the downfall of thelViinistry• There was not for a moment the slightest disorder. An address was drawn up to the Cortes, to give an account of this event ; and a courier was dis patched to Carthagena to announce to that city that Murcia acceded to the confederation of Cadiz, Seville, Corunna, and Carthagena. BILBOA, DEC. Cs.—(Extract of a Private Let ter.)—l send you an account of a little affair which made a bustle liere last night. The Curate Gue tala, who was formerly a Guerilla Captain, hav ing renounced his clerical functions, and collected a number of banditti, made his appearance . in the district of Billaran yesterday. He ordered the Alcalde to furnish him with 40 rations of provisions, and to assemble 200 men next day, either voluntarily or by force. The Alcalde replied, that he should be punctually obeyed ; but immedi ately dispatched'a courier to our Political Chief, with an account of what had happened. As soon as thenews wasknown, a considerable stir was observ ed among our constitutionalists. In the meantime the drawbridge in front of the arsenal was raised; the militia assembled voluntarily, the most active part proceeding to reconnoitre, while the rest guarded the arsenal, Tire horse-guards bivouacked in the Plaza de la Constitucion, and afterwards proceeded to the powder-works, si tuated about a league hence, near.the Monastery of the Desert, and arrived in time to prevent the batrati from getting fosse'S‘sion of that esta blishment. A few sabre cuts were exchanged, , and our cavalry have brought in some prisoners ; 1 one of whom, a native of this town, is a young man of good family, but who will be tried by martial law, and executed in twenty-four hours.l —The hopes of the factious will be completely disappointed, for the most prudent measures of defence have been adopted. A detachment of troops has been Sent to Palencia, where there is a manufactory of arms, to secure 600 muskets which are prepared there, lest they should fall into the hands of the banditti. We expect soon to hear the result of the expedition sent to sur prise the Curate Guetala. The troops employed for this purpose are animated with the best spirit, and are full of enthusiasm. They w ill not like to return without the Curate, either dead or alive ; but he is so well served by the fanatics, that it is probable lie will be able to escape in so mountainous a country.—The immediate arri val of 600 or 700 Catalonians is announced, who, with the martial law, will secure us against un favourable events which might occur, were not prompt and severe measures adopted. TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN. Stn, --As I cannot learn at this side of the water, what was the occasion (last Session) of the repeal of the Acts for supplying the Poor of Dublin and Cork with Coals and Turf, Acts re plete with humanity and benefit, especially' in times like the present, perhaps you would be so good, through the channel of your useful Paper, as to ask the question, and you will oblige Cork, Jan. 5, 1821. AN IRISHMAN. LITERATURE. THE WORLD IN NI INIATURE ; edited by FirEnEatcx. SIMBERL.—TuRKEY, being a description of the Manners, Customs, Dresses, and other t eculianties characteristic of the Inhabitants of the Turkish Empire ; to which is prefixed a Sketch of the History of the Turks : translated from the French of A. L. CASTELLAN, Author of Letters on the Morea and Constantinople, and illustrated with Seventy-three Coloured Engravings, containing upwards of One Hundred and Fifty Costumes. In Six Volumes. • We have before noticed this elegant, interest ing, and intelligent work, and its merit well en titles it to renewed attent:on. The very title page constitutes a strong recommendation in its favour, particularly at the present crisis, when the future existence of Turkey, as an independent Empire, is a matterof more than doubt. We have read the work with attention, and consider it as one of the must interesting that has ever fallen under our notice. The historical materials ap pear to have been derived from the most authen tic sources. They are well digested, are con veyed in correct language, and -enriched with curious anecdotes and judicious reflections. The characters of the several Monarchs who succeeded iIIAfIGMET, the prophet of the Mussulmans, whose history is succinctly given, are well drawn, and the events of their.lives are recorded siith suitable remarks on their respective qualities and conduct. The History of the Turkish Em pire reaches down to the year 1811, closing with the history of . I‘.lA lIMUD the .Second, the thirtieth Emperor of the Turks, whose, reign began in 1807. The history of these Emperors comprises accounts or their transactions with other States, with respect- to wars, negociations, stratagems, &c. Sr,e. The descriptions are clear and ample, and are fully illustrated by the plates, which are highly beautiful, and present very numerous and pleasing - varieties of .costume of the several countries that came under the dominion of the Turkish Government. The work is calculated to glite a complete idea of every thing relating to the Tuils that it has been possible t 2 discover. It may be proper to remind our Readers that this account of Turkey constitutes the third division of a series, embracing, first, ILLYRIA and DAL... MATIA ; second, WESTERN AFRICA, and the.work is to be extended to every other part of the knowq, world. The costume and professions of the several countries form a valuable treasure for the managers of theatres in all countries where dra matic entertainments find a place. - As notices of literary works will always be regarded as a pro minent feature in our miscellany,we have deemed it in some degree as our duty. to recommend this interesting and highly gratifying work .to the particular attention of our Readers-, and:we may repeat with truth what we before said of it, that, when completed, 'it will constitute in itself an interesting, beautiful, and instructive library. AIR. LOVEDAY. This Gentleman has presented a Petition to the Chamber of Deputies on the subject of the conversion of his daughters to the Catholic faith. This Petition has been published and circulated in the French capital as a pamphlet. The title is as follows :--- • PETITION TO THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES, BY MR. DOUGLAS LOVEDAY, AN ENGLISHMAN AND PROTESTANT, Complaining of the Rapt de STduction (enticilw away) of his • two daughters and his niece, in a seminary of education in which he had places them at Paris; and- in which-the cre dulity of these young persons was abused by means of su perstitious terrors, besettings, and false miracles,. for the pur pose of suddenly converting them to Catholicism, in the ab sence, without the knowledge, and contrary to the wish of their parents. " Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum !"—Lucret. " Co!rumpere et corrumpi."_Tacit. The following is the Petition of Mr. Loveday: TO THE MEMBERS OF THE CHAMBER or DEPUTIF.S. I am a foreigner ; I came to Prance on the faith of treaties' and under the protectiki of the law of nations. I have faith fully observed the laws of the country ; and yet my most sacred rights and dearest Facetious have been violated : and amidst the misfortune that overwhelms me, I find no authority to which I can turn for protection. I am reduced to the necessity of ap pealing to the first body of the State—to lire Deputies of the French Nation—to obtain the satisfaction to which I am en titled. I ain an Englishman and a PrOfesfapt ; and I came to France in MI6, confidently relying on the 'peace which existed be6veen the two Nations. I became a proprietor on the faith of the laws which permit foreigners to acquire property, and I even obtained from his Majesty the enjoyment of the civil rights, which relieved me from the - law of reciprocity. I carried with me to France my two children, in order to educate them, on the faith of a Legislature which professed to protect all doc trines, and without foreseeing the possibility that any religious intrigue might forcibly separate me from a part of my family. My hopes have been deceived. Men ;'* profess to be Con verters, have depiived me of a.7,e of my. daughters in the bloom of life. A conve)nt,"of.roer a: haunt, withdraws her from my tenderness and My counsels ; I am prohibited from seeing her ; no magistrate is willing to assist me. lam reduced to despair. Deign to listen to me. I ,have two daughters, who were the pride of their father, and who inspired me with ithe most gratifying hopes. The graces of youth, the endowments of nature, the fortune which awaited them, every advantagi which seemed calculated to en sure their happiness and my own, served only to tempt the false zeal of those who have snatched them from me, and to hurl one of them into the abyss, whence I am vainly striving to rescue her. Being obliged to return to England,in June, 1816, I placed my daughters in a boarding-school kept by Mademoiselle Ernestine Reboul, of whose rectitude and virtue I had received the highest character. I believed 'by confidence to be well placed ; and in this persuasion I sent to the same establishment my niece, the eldest daughter of my : brother, the Governor of Benares, and a Major-General in the British army. It was expressly agreed!ulion WlthPe mistrsss of the board ing•school, that the education of tfiy children was to be con fined solely to accomplishments , and Mademoiselle Moil] entered into a solemn engagement not to endeavour in any way to disturb the religious faith in which they had been brought-up. Without apprehensidn concerning their fate, I remained in a deceitful security ; while unlier the cloak of a sacred promise the confidence of a wretched father was abused. In July, 1821, 1 wrote to my.daughters, informing them that on my return to Paris I intended to take them from the school. I then received from Mademoiselle Reboul a letter, in which she complained of the injury her interests would sustain by my removing all the three young ladies at once. She begged that 1 would at least leave my niece, who is younger than my daughters, to finish her education ; and she added, that I should do her injustice if I entertained any apprehension on the score of religion.—(Letter dated August 7, 1821.)—Thus she endexhmred to set my conscience at rest at the very moment when, as it will be seen, she was perverting that of my children ! I entertained no distrust. On my return to Paris, in the month of September, questioned my daughters, as I was ac customed to do, concerning their religious principles. Already initiated in the art of dissimulation, they replied, with apparent sincerity, that they followed the religion in which they had been educated. I soon explained to them some views which I had formed re specting them ; and then fell the veil which had hitherto con cealed the dark intrigue, and I beheld the full extent of a mis fortune which I had not even suspected. On the 23d of October, my two daughters declared to me that they were Roman Catholics, and that their firmness and faith were not to be shaken ! The feelings which this terrible avowal excited in my mind may be better conceived than described ! My confidence was deceived, my family seduced, and the rights which religion, nature, and the law had given me, were violated. As a Prd testant, my conscience was wounded in its most sensible points; as a father, my heart was lacerated in its tenderest affections ; all my notions of religion, honour, liberty, and justice, revolted at the idea of so cruel a violation of the most veneiable and sacred rights. Still, however, I moderated My feelings, and entered uppn a correspondence with my children ; and I now learned the ex treme degree in which their youth, inexperience, and credulity, had been imposed on. ~Their conversion had been effected in the space of a fort night ! And what had they learned ? What idea had they acquired of the new dogmas in which they had been initiated ? Odious superstition, which seems destined to plunge France once more into the gloom of ignorance and the horrors of fana ticism ! Deputies of a nation on which such brilliant lights have shone, and which has given birth to so many great men, would you credit it ? It is the history of a Jew and a prosti tute tormented by the apparition of a bleeding Host suspended over their heads ; Such are the ridiculous fables, the absurd miracles, worthy to adorn the legends of a people degraded by superstition, which imbecility and deception' can alone believe and promulgate ; and which the enlightened followers of your religion reject with indignation and contempt ; these are the lessons which mistaken or designing men•teach their unfortu nateproselytes—such is the doctrine which they inculcate ! Not satisfied with raking up the shameful monuments of fa naticism and ignorance, they seek to render the present'age the accomplice of-their gross errors and impious designs ; and the account of the pretended miracles now performing at Amiens is one of .the means which have been resorted to to work on the minds of my daUghters. Abusing the most sacred weapons, these converters revived in the recollection of my daughters certain passages of Scrip ture ; and by the aid of the holy text, thus perverted by their Worthless masters, my uttfortutiate children disputed with their father the sacred authority which he received from God. I determined to remove them. For the space of a week I persevered in addressing to them such arguments as I thought best calculated to produce an impression on them. I found imaginations exalted—spirits awed by the image of ever-, lasting :damnation—souls subdued and exhausted•by, supersti. - • tious terrors ! I had the happiness to succeed with my youngest daughter. I redoubled my efforts with respect to the eldest ; but in vain. The lessons she had received had left the deepest impression on her mind, Still I could not believe that Mademoiselle Reboul, the mis tress of the school, had knowingly.been an accomplice in these infamous gonvertons ; and, in letters dictated by her, my daughter .succeeded in persuading me that she had taken no part in the affair. Under this conviction, I suffered my niece to remain seven days longer in the boarding-school. Being younger than my daughters, the work of iniquity had not yet been consummated with respect to her ; but I soon learned a lesson from fatal ex perience. My intention of removing her was known ; the'przy was about to escape from those who had seized it ; they availed themselves of the time which I afforded them, led on as I was by a blindness with which I reproach myself, and a fatality which I could not resist. • _ __ • • I removed my daughters on the -3d of - November. On the sth my niece was baptized; on the 6th confirmed; on the 13th she communicated. "In four days (said she to me) 1 have performed the most important actions of my life, which - require months of reparation !" . I return to my eldest daughter, and I henceforth abstain from all reflection ; the facts speak sufficiently. - • On the 10th of November . she left my house clandestinely, while all the family was asleep, leaving a note, in which she ap pointed to meet me at Mademoiselle Reboul's. Thither I went. Mademoiselle RehOul affected the most perfect ignorance that had happened ; and, joining insult to perfidy, she re proached me in the most offensive manner. with having taken away my children. At this moment she received a letter from my daughter, which stated that she would not come to her house ; that she was in a place of safety, and was happy. 1 had intercepted some letters from my daughter, and had found that she maintained a correspondence with some person whose name I have not been able to discover. In vain I de manded from MadernoiSelle who this person was ; 'I could only learn that my daughter had made hinia .present, which the mistress charged - to her account. I was not able to learn of what this present consisted ; my daughter in a letter to Ma demoiselle Reboul said that she hoped he had been present ed with her heart, referring to the person before alluded to. I know not 'what mystic,meaning is concealed in these obscure words. Let any one picture to himself the mortal anguish which I felt respecting the fate of my daughter. The next morning I returned to Mademoiselle Reboul ; I conjured her to inform me what had become of my child--to tell me whether she was living or dead. The prayers of a despairing, father had not power to reach her heart : she replied that my daughter had eloped from her house, and that I might seek her where I pleased. - This insensibility did not permit me any longer to doubt that Mademoiselle Reboul had sported with my credulity, and that she had herself managed the intrigue of which I was the vic tim. 1 removed my niece from the school. I was then i,gnor ant that she had received three sacraments in four days ! I suc ceeded in making her confess the whole truth. I learnt that from the moment when Mademoiselle Reboul was aware of my determination to remove my children, she began to work on their minds, holding out to them the prospect of damnation, if they did not embrace the Catholic religion. Mademoiselle Re boul soon betrayed herself. She wrote to my niece, and the letter fell into my hands. • It was filled with hypocritical coun sels, and the most, reprehensible insinuations. The conduct of this worthless woman was exposed, and the abuse of confidence of which she had been guilty completely proved. The mind of my unfortunate niece was in a most pitiable state. Tormented by ideas of profanation and sacrilege —per suaded that she could not escape the punishments of the world to come--assailed by terrors which haunted her in the night, and prevented her from enjoying rest—possessed by the gloomy despair of superstition, she wished to abandon father, mother, sister, rank, and fortune. Such was the terrible result of the suggestions to which she had been exposed. From this moment I knew the whole extent of the plot which had deprived me of a part of my family. Some letters which I possess,and others which I haveplaced in the hands of the King's Attorney, . and. which that magistrate doubtless will not refuse to return to me, informed me what springs had been set in mo tion, what perfidious stratagems had• been resorted to. Infamy doubtless belongs to crime; not to the courageous voice of the accuser, or the complaint of the victim ! However, I shall abstain from mentioning names which I believe to be . respectable. I will not exhibit in my sad story princes of the church, prelates placed near the throne ! One of them especially, who has been represented to me as the principal author of my misfortunes. I spare religion and morality the shame of being introduced into those scenes of infamy. I made useless efforts to- recover my daughter. I applied to an advocate, who promised to speak to the King's a tt orney .— In the mean time, I received a letter from my child, which bore the post-mark of Amiens. It being perceived that I was not the dupe of this pretended removal of my daughter, and that I was about to apply for the aid of the English Ambassador to discover the place of her concealment, I received, at the expira tion of a - fortnight, another letter which bore the post-mark of Ostend. At the same time, a letter from my niece, which I had intercepted, gave me reason to suppose that my daughter had retired into an association called ' La Maternite, ou les En fans trouves' (the Foundlings); but I do not very distinctly re collect this particular. I transmitted these letters to the King's Attorney, and received an answer from that magistrate. He had inquired into the affair. He told me that Mademoiselle Re. , boul had acted fairly. He observed that my daughter was 21 years of age, and added that it was a delicate and difficult affair. I was a father, and I was applying to the Magistrate, whom the law charges to protect me, for assistance to recover my daughter ! 1 may spare my reflections : you must have anti cipated them. . I found in the Commissary of Police, of the first arrondisse ment, to whom 1 made my declaration, the zeal which 1 had in vain sought for elsewhere. 110 called on the King's Attorney, and returned himself to inform me that that Magistrate would come to an explanation with the Prefect of Police. At the same time I had recourse to the English Ambassador. A se paration of 35 years had not effaced me from his recollection. I found in him a protector, a friend. 1 was consoled, and my hopes revived. Time, however, gave birth to new alarms. I uselessly await ed the effects of the protection due to me from the French 111a g;stracy- ; and I received from the English Embassy a piece of information, on the Bth of December, which made me forget all my previous misery. Sir. Vaughan, the Secretary of the Ambassador, informed me that my daughter was found. She was in the hands of M. k lerningliam, a gentleman whose family was originally English; a Catholic, but one of those men who honour a religion which so many.others abuse, and who absolve it from the crimes which are committed in its name. My daughter did not hesitate. to deliver herself up to him, because he was a Catholic; but her heart was now so hardened, that she would no lonr er. acknowledge her father, because he professed a different faith ! Jerningham delivered her up to me on the evening of the 12th of December ; but she refused to accompany me. Until one o'clock in the morning, I remained waiting. for her at the rate, endeavouring to overcome her repugnance through the me diation of her brother. Tenderness and authority, prayers and commands, all were unavailing. The voices of those who had seduced her still resounded in her heart; and superstition, which hovered around her, armed her soul against the impressions of nature. Finally, at two o'clock in the morning, I extorted from her a promise that she would go home with me at two in the after noon . a promise which she mentally disavowed, and secretly swive to violate. Already was she skilled in the too-well-known art. of her instructors, of making a cloak of the interests of Heaven in order to break a promise. Upon this understanding I left her to pass the night at the house of M. Jerningham. Before the family rose she had succeeded in escaping: M. Jermingham, . who had pledged himself to answer for her safe keeping, threatened to denounce to the authorities all those who had contributed to her elopement, if she were not brought back to his house in two hours. The firmness of an honourable man terrified the guilty : at two o'clock s h e wa s r e stored to him, a nd at four he delivered her up to me. Let it be judged whether I wished to exercise a tyrannic controul over her conscience—whether I claimed too great an authority. I promised not to constrain her in the exercise of her new religion, and I kept my word. The next morning at eight o'clock her brother accompanied her to the church of the Assumption to hear mass. . At four o'clock I went out, hoping that I bad taken from her all pretext for flying from me. I deceived myself. In the evening she eloped for the third time. During* three days I was ignorant of the place of her ret:qat. On the.l7th of December I was put in possession of a lettei, written by Maclaine Sophie, Superior of the con 'Cent of , the Congregation de Notre Dame, Rue de. FeVres, No. 6. The letter was addressed to an English lady. The Su perior stated, that a young person, Mademoiselle Emilia. Love . . day, had .come to her esitablishmett to, .riaira hozpitality ; and she (the'Superior) whiled to know what'her parents intended to do for her I sent, in consequence, my youngest daughter to the convent. By accident she was dressed in same manner as her sister. A. novice, named Cleinence, who apparently had. not yet been instructed in the part she ought to play, exclaimed, upon seeing her, that it must be her sister who had taken refu g e in the con. vent ! My wungest daughter. asked to. see her sister ;.but Clemence ham* :reported this request to the Superiors, and having learnt from them how indiscreet her frmikness had been, returned to my youngest daughter, and informed her that she .had been .deceived, and that the young-person of whom she had intended to spea'e had been for a long time in the convent, and was not more than 15 years of age. It was necessary to abandon these wretched subterfuges, when the Superior was informed that her letter was in my pos session. She then confeSSed t: at my daughter was in her house. Hitherto any person had been respected; but henceforth you will behold me the object of vexations,- of which, however, I woUldlict • complain' if they did not serve the better to make known my persecutors ; wounded in the most powerful senti ment of nature, could I 1;6Se:1%11)1e of any thing which regarded myself alone ? On two following days :I went to the convent, and on both occasions a father, who tiolight to recover his daughter, was ar rested by, the military force under the direction of a. Commissary - of Police. . Once'l was sent back after toy arrest, having vainly 'demand ed to be taken to the prefecture, in the hope of finding more jus tice and eoMpaSsiOn in a more elevated tribunal. The secondlime the scene was still more remarkable. I was aecompanied by my son, toy youngest daughter, and my niece. .The door of the convent was shut against us, and we were coil stituted prisoners. The Commissary of Police arrived; he re mained shut up for three quarters of an hour with my daughter, leaving me and my children in a chamber without a fire, guarded •by soldiers.' 'l'll6 'Connnissary afterwards returned, interrogated me, and went so far as to refuse tai insert in the. proces verbal, which I was compelled to sign, all my answers, and the terms in which they were made. Finally, under four bayonets I secured to my daughter a. pension to enable her to. remain in a house • which was , detained against my will ! , Have I not been sufficiently outraged ? And can I Feld ex pressions capable of characterising. such a e sitnaticn ? Gentlerhen, My 'statement will appear - pat ' le:Credible ; and yet how can . you refuse to believe e father who corn- plains of a child whom he 'fondly loves ? Is it not obvious that his- heart must have been.a thousand times torn -with anguieit - before he :could speak an accusing word against her ? daughter has become the instrument of the persecutions which 1 have described. -It was she, who desired the. Cothndssary of Police to come; she uttered imprecations and calumnies against her family. - When the bayonets surrounded me, Isaw a smile on her • lips. Great God. ! How powerful must have, been the Seductions exercised on my unfortunate child to'extin guish in, her all the sentiments of nature, to perveether heart, And to bring her to that degree'Of insensibility that she could insult by a smile the. sorrows and the despair of her 'father ? Alas ! during the whole of her previous life, I had found her • the model of virtue, aMetion, and filial piety ! • My other visits to the convent, without being attended by the same circumstances, were not less cruel. They-were limited to ;:t) > minutes, and I was only permitted to see my child. threugh A grating. Dining the greater part of this thort time, not address a word to her ‘;' 1 save her surrounded by.perfidio773 counsellors ; I heard them uttering calumnies against me ; ar2, to fill up . the measure of my anguish, these calumnies were re peated by my daughter! • In vain didel request that a precise hour should be appointed in which I could see her alone, without giving trouble to the , 'Society., or deranging the conversations - destined to complete her seduction. Even that favour I could not obtain. I implored the civil . and religious Authorities ; I applied. is the Prefect of the Police, but received no answer. I waked on the Official ; from the 22d of December I solicited an audience of the Archbishop, but could obtain nothing. Such, gentlemen, is the relation of the greatest of iiiisfortu: . c that can befal a father. lam ready to prove to you all that have stated. I demand justice ; and surely my cause is sv sacred, I cannot fail to obtain it from you. My daughter is taken from.me—if not by violence; at least by means still more dangerous, since the characters of these means are less distinct, and they are therefore more difficult-to be guarded against—by means which your laws do not punish with less severity. The crime committed with respect to her is the rapt de seduction, And by whom has she been seduced? By the mistress 'of the boarding school to whose care I intrusted her ! A base con duct in the profession which she exercises !—an abuse of con!- deuce more cruel than any other. else was to have been 7. representative with my daughter, and she employed the autho rity I had given her over my child to turn it against myself She employed it for purpose of ~ r aining possession of her mirA!, and filling it with terro rs ; sh e kept me in a state of secarity while she completed her work . : in contempt of the formal ea.: gagement she had made on reqeiving my daughter froai srsy hands, she took advantage of her credulity to inspire her with. horror towards the religion which I had ;,, , iven.her, and towards myself, and to make her the enemy of her faith, of her father, of her family ; and thus is my child lost, perhaps for ever, to him to whom she owes her birth ! Am Ito be told that my daughter is of age? She is; bet she became 'so at school . ; she vas underage when I intrusted her to IVademoiSelle Reboul she was under age when the plans of seduction commenced, when her mind was first im pressed with those principles which she too faithfully imbibed ; she was a young, inexperienced girl, seduced and abused, in the absence of her father, by the very woman to whose care he had confided her ! Is there a country on the earth where a deed so infamous is not considered a crime worthy of all the hatred, of men, and punishable with all the rigour of the laws ? Sacrilege has been added to perfidy. Holy things have been profaned ; that religion of which the mask has been borrowed, is insulted by those who invoke it. In fifteen days my daegh• ters became Catholics ; in four, a child of fourteen received in succession sacraments which the greatest saints of our church approach with terror ! No, no ! it is not for the service of religion that such conver sions are made ! it is to satisfy some ambitions desire, sonic proselyting passion, and every means appears legitimate which lead to this end ; crime itself is veiled under.the cloak of false zeal—a garb so often snatched from off the instrument s of those sacrilegious intrigues, and with which they still seek to cover themselves I And how can religion pride itself in these pretended conver sions, obtained by means of the most deceitful stories, and the most absurd miracles, which cannot be performed -without brutalizing the minds which are to be acted upon ; without perverting the heart ; without suilititating fanaticism and de lirium for natural feelings—in these works of darkness, of horror, and deceit, which must recoil upon those with whom they have originated ! The true convert does not need to mark his adoption of a new religion by the disregard of social virtues and family duties ! He does not - abjure, along with his for Mer faith, the duty he owes to the author of his bring ! He does rot purchase the worthless applause of some fanatics, by meriting the contempt of all men of sense and true piety- . • The respect for paternal authority mixes itself with respect for the Divinity. Filial piety is a religious duty, and the most agreeable of all in the eyes of a beneficent Creator, who has himself engraVed it on our hearts. In the eye of religion, as of the world, paternal malediction is the. most terrible,ailliction. This is the language of all times, all places, and all faiths. • Here I not only invoke the interest of families, but of ee- . ligion. It is not incredulity, but intolerance which gives it the severest wounds. But I may venture to assert, that of all known persecutions, no one is more cruel - than that whiell point out—more capable of destroying the influence, of religtca among men, who cease to b e j us t w h en th e y ar c 'driven to de spair, and - Cannot - distingnish - between religion itself and the frightful abuse which is made of it: , • • By all fathers my language will be understood. The dungeons of the Inquisition - never plunged an unfortunate victim into a agony of soul so terrible as feel at the idea of my daughter being seduced from the faith of her ancestorstorn from rof affection—and, to complete the horror ofniy recolleetioas e de testing her &ther, who weeps for her errors, and only wishes to pardon her. If France tolerates so shameful a violation of all that men hold most dear and sacred, foreigners must fly from this l a nd. It will be in vain to display to them its advantages and claims to the admiration of other nations ; the man 'who fedi his own dignity will never stop in a country.where the rights of paternal authority are trampled under foot—where fanaticism, penetrates into the bosom of families to disturb their peace-- where conscience is not allowed to be an impenetrable - sane- • tuazy ! But one word more. Suppose th 6 son or the daughter of a Catholic carried ofFfroin him by proceedings similar to those of which I complain, and made to abjure CatholieisM, and egi brace the Protestant religion. Could imprecations, anathernag i strong enough be formed against an action so horrible ? ' Well! Either liberty of worship' and equality of rights are empty sounds, or the same horrorought to attach itself to the aet.whlch 1 have denounced. Deputies of Franee,--Having seen my child torn from my arms, the sentiments of - nature extinguished in her breast, the sacred arm of religion turned against me, the authority which cught to proted me hinte iii my defence, for a nion , .nt I felt myself without resource for a moment I said to myself--' There- is no longer any redress for , an injured; father in a- coon• try which boasts of the virtues of hospitality.; —but I turn my eyes towards th'e RepreSentatives of the Nation, and I Ftill haYd hope., •• • • ..DOM-LAS 1,0 VEDA VI, 14 Paris, Dec.2B, Rue Godot, No. 1, Boulevert de la Madeleine. ! ~ i : 1 , • 3