The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-12-09 00:00:00

PAR!.'.

TZOII OVR CORRESPONDENT.

PARIS, Dec. r.

The fanjet which I mentioned to you in my last, of
placing the officers above fifty years of age on the retired
pension list, occupies their tneditatior.s in a manlier no
way favourable to the popularity of M. DE VILLILE, or
to the tranquillity of the Government. They repeat em-
phatically, with reference to the Minister, the energetic
questions of SALY•NfIY.

" toms fail pone. rarnWe ? Cale arnde qui,
ne pourant duo-cher so gloire duns le namtre des balailler
gagnies, a sts s'en crier time pins belle darts les it iamphes de
la discipline; ceile arnize yui d•rns la guerre s'est
par la MOllirtaiOn, COMM!' /MIT la raillanrr, el pour qui L•
PAIZ Est. ries Al Ell aTRIE RE, rt.es FA tIGA EYE QUE
L♦ GI:EACE DEM ? (27. are; mus
.1;:ii pour elle ? Cr
teat wine pas dans ses rang:: pm cons arc:: clout le 31.-
nistre qui dais desormais Sir iger: par vn rare banhenr,
it roue a fella Cemprunter d L. ET A T MAJUIt lie Rot
Josnrit, el a eboix pnurra sari rendre les soldats de It
*overlie d'unaeage les :rutin:en!: uts yt EL LES VA sots."
Assuredly this new disagreement will not make these
veteran soldiers less impatient apace, or tend to seconcile
them to this loan from the ETAT MAIO 3. it was certainly
the true interest of M. DE Vu.r.er E to arcid any measure
which might give offence to this body of military, as his
resources for the formaticn of a royalist army are not such
as ar: likely to furnish him with much better materials.
Three years ago the army favoured duo J.daerals, but
since that time, buying ben allured by ribbons, and
crosses, and ensigns of honour, and being, moreover,
drafted with the Royalists, its nature is changed : but the
army is a body by no means to be depended on in the
present condition of the French nation, for they greatly
mistake who fancy that all republican feelings arc extinct.
The military are at all times strongly influenced by their
personal situation, and the proposed measure will put
aside many officers of skill and talents, who may make
the Minister repent, at some future day, that their interests
were not better consulted.

The priesthood are daily increasing their influence at
court, and losing their credit with the people. The fol-
lowing affair has caused no slight sensation in the !own of
Nevers, in one of our southern departments. Mr. Fee-
l/:LT, the Chief Surgeon of the Hospital of NOTTS. lately
• departed this life, and on finding that his end was sil-
-1
proaching, he began to search out for spiritual consola-
tion. His afflicted family behtld with pleasure the
choice he had made of M. l'Abbe CRETIN, Curate of
one of the parishes of Never!, as his confes.or, and
the consoler of his last moments, not suspecting that
this ghostly comforting priest could busy himself with
earthly concerns, or could have any other care than
for the soul of thar expiring parent ; and particularly
as he well knew that Mr. Farnaeur bad a daughter in
Paris, the issue of a first marriage, and who was far front
being in easy circumstances, and that he also knew that he
had several children by his second marriage. The wife of
the sick man being disquieted on finding this priestly visit
of an unusual length, ander lily entered the room, and be-
held,
with grist surprise, M. l'Abbe, with much precipi-
tation, shut the drawer of a secret !ire, from which be had
taken pen, ink, and paper, and, at the same moment, thrust
into his pocket a written paper which he strove to hide,
and which turned out to be nothing less than the lust
will and testament of the dying man. Ile avoided re-
plying to the questions put to him by the mother of a fa-
mily he was preparing to plunder of their property, and
retired with unparalleled. sof gfrcil. Madame Fara sul.r
at length discovered from her husband, that, acceding
to the pressing and reiterat, d mild:a Cons of M. CaErtN,
he had slispesed of a very considerall: portion of his for-
tune in favour of the church of which M. l'Abbe Cur-
TIN was the pastor. As soon as lhie REAL was spread
abroad in the town, it excited very general indignation,
which manirested itself to so high a degree against M.
I'Abbc, that he returned to Mr. Fneastar.r, who still
breathed, and advised hint instantly to place the will in
the hands of a notary, and accordingly a Mr. Rou.a xi)
received this deposit. In the meanwhile M. FUE:AULT
dial. 'Clio will being presented to the President of the
Tribunal de Premiere Instance, was opened and read by
him, when the Clerk of the Registry observed, that :here
was a great omission in this instrument—tlict of the signs-
tura of the testator. The hurry with which M. ['Abbe had
made the disposal of the property of the defunct, and the
unexpected entry of the widow, was the sole cause of the
omission of this essential formality. You may easily con-
ceive the joy of time public, and the confusion or the Curate,
on the occasion. This is by no means a solitary instance
in France, of the widow and the fatherless being despoiled
of their property by the Ministers of religion, when sent
for to disarm death of its terrors. Put we shall be en-
lightened by degrees, and real Christianity will in the end
triumph ov,:r fanatieiam.