The National Register.
London, England, 1811-06-30 00:00:00

LITERARY PRODIGY.

The following account is extracted from The Monitcur, urn.
dcr the head of Kingdom of Westphalia:--
Got riNGEN, MAY '2o.—We have among the students of
our Uuiveniity, a boy ten years and a half old, who is a real
phenomenon. The name ut this you sravtlfe is Charles Witte.
He understands the languages, histoi y, gt ograpliy, and litera-
ture, as well ancient as modern : at the age of eight yeArs he
posses.;ed, besides his mother tongue, Greek, Latin, French,
English, and ItaliAtt, to such a de:.:ree of perf,ction, that he could
not only translate currently, the Eneitl of Virgil, and the Iliad
ut Homer, but could besidrs speak, with an astonishing faci-
lity, all the living languages which we have just mentioned.
Of this hi: last year gave such satisfactory proofs, in a public
examntation which he underwent at the University of Leipzic,
th:,; that body honoured hint with the following diploma :
Alma:. Universitatis Lipsiensis Rectore Carol() Gottlob Kula-
nio,

Carolus Witte Lochariensis Auer IX. annorum.
Propter prienniturani eximianque ir. its qui:4B non puerilis,
adults entum ;etas imbui sulet, solerEum ; potisbimum vero
limuarum antiquarum ac item ricentiorum
franco ctruscie, notitia'.n, !loud vulgarem,
quatn a neraine nisi a patre- Carule Henrico Gudofrego wilco
et solo prceceptore act:op:A. '
Exemplo plane sitr,;tilari nnu niodo alb() Philyrim (Leipzic)
insertuq, serum edam data fide, civibus Acadensi:e nostrx ad-
scr'ptu, est.
Till his arrival at Gottingen this child hail no other instructor
than his lather, the Clergyman Witte. Majesty the King
of Wtstphalia, desirous th,it shouid continue to direct Olt-.

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Mb

studits of his son to their termination, haS granted him a pen-
sion. wale!, nas enabled him to quit his pastoral functions, and
to accompany hii pupil to our University. 'lle young Witte is
philosophy : he is engaged in a course of mathe-
.niatics, physic,, and metaphysics, and shows the most happy
disposition for all the sciences.

SWEDEN.

INSURRECTTON AMONG THE PEASANTRY.

TickslNatißGH, Jo Ne 20.—A serious insurrection took place
among the peasantry in *the neighbourhood of Malmoe, on the
17th and 18th inst. on account of the conscription : from 1200 to
150 u men assembled, armed with scythes, flails, forks, &c. The
milit:try were called in to disperse them ; a dreadful scene en-
sued ; forty of the peasants were killed, and 130 wounded, be-
sides 200 taken prisoners; the others retired to their respective
hoines. Similar acts of insubordination have occurred in other
part, of the kingdom, some of which have been pardoned, and
others visited with death, and the severest punishment the law
can inflict. It would seem as if these deluded men viewed the
conscription, not as a measure dictated by motives of national
policy and benefit, but as the copy of a similar,measure origi-
nated by a great Continental Power, and adopted only from a
congeniality of designs and sentiments with that Power.
set:Ecit OF BERNADOTTE, PRINCE RECENT OF SWEDEN, ON
THE OCCASION OF A REVOLT Of THE INHABITANTS Of
WERMODEN, IN CONSEQUENCE OF THE ORDER FOR ENFORC-
ING 1111 CONSCRIPTION.

The King received with the deepest affliction, the intelligence
of the criminal outrages which have taken place in Wermoden.
If his Majesty had not yielded to those emotions of clemency,
which influence his conduct on all occasions, he would have de-
clared your isle out of his Constitution, anti affixed to the Inha-
bitants the seal of general reprobation.
The King has not commanded any thing to be done contrary
to the laws. He has only caused to be enforced a resolution of
the States of the kingdom, sanctioned and approved by himself.
His Majesty has therefore a right to exact the strictest obedi-
ence. The season of disorder is passed—the reign of the laws
must begin.
The King being empowered to levy 50,000 men, in conformity
to the resolution of the States, for the recruiting of his army,
has required only 15,000, because he thought the latter number
al ,ply sufficient for the defence of the country.
And do you presume to put a false construction upon the
paternal motives of his Majesty I Had your ancestors been no
better patriots than you, Sweden would now have been under a
foreign yoke. I would put this question to you—have you a
Mind to remain as you are—free and independent Swedes ?
I ant a true Swede in my heart. I was summoned to this
country by the united voice of the nation and of the King. I
catue with confidence CO protect and defend you; but if any
one dare to resist the execution of orders, the guilty shall be
s: ruck by the arm of the law, as promptly as it he were struck
by fire from Heaven. I will for a momont put myself in your
situation. You still cherish a remembrance, though a melan-
choly one, of the venerable I,andtvarn, who beheld the cruel
death of one s f his sons ; he, indeed, might have beeu excused
fer giving reluctantly his consent to abandon another to the
earn:: fate. You have no such excuse—and I repeat what I
have already said, if the interest of the St ,te required your
tons to march, which is not likely to be the case immediately, I
am ready to march at their head, and they shah be treated wits
parental tenderness.
Banish then your groundless apt.rehensions, and always bear
in miLd that the most effectual mode of preset ving tne indepen-
dence of your country, is to be prepared to tei,el foreign ag-
gression.
I have bolreld. with satisfaction the contrition you have ma-
nifeited in your countenances, which -experience has taught me
to decypher ; your consciences, I perceive, accuse you, and I
ant t,aristied th rt your mind,: are nut corrupted. You have
b: en under a momentary delusion, and suffered yourselves to
be the vic;;.ins of misconception and misrepresentation.
' I wit! beseech the King to extend his clemency to you, and
to bury what has just happened, in oblivion, in conslderation of
your prompt submission ; but I admonish you to prove, by your
5111),e:clue:It demeanour, that you were worthy of such a signal
mark of the Royal bounty.
I do not desire even to know the names of those who took a
pert in the late disturbances; but I shall always hold in grateful
remembraoce such of the inhabitants of Wermoden as have
proved themselves to be good Swedes; and happily their num-
ber greatly exceeds those a an opposite description.
To convince you of my wish to draw a veil over recent occur-
rences, I propose ere long to pay yob a visit, accompanied only
by my son ;" no guard shall attend me, being confident that my
best security is in your affections.