The National Register.
London, England, 1814-12-25 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

DEC. 95.

that it %%ill either ct;nipel him to an act which shall degrade
Lim, or bust l►e tees which unite the States.

From Ghent the accounts are contradictOry. Some state 1
that the commission is partly dissolved, and that only one
Minis er w►ll be left tli;re to► avail himself of any circum-
stance that may arise. The leading gentlemen there, are cf
different nnlit'cal parties, and perhaps an expectation of
something happening in America, which may render the com-
mands of Mr. Madison not quite so.,veremptory, has con-
triltuted :o make the federal part of the commission wish for

a delay.
When an American gentleman of splendid attainments,
some Years since, composed his celebrated review of the
Conscription Code of that monster Buonaparte, he could
not rnsibly foresee that his Own country would, in so short
a time, be subjected to the same barbarous humiliation.
The prime and flower of the American citizens are to be
taken lot, and delivered over to the Marshals, who are
to deliver them over to the officers authorised to receive
them, who are to act at the discretion and under the arbi-
trary direction of the Preside ot. Thus does Mr. Madison,
from a simple Republican Magistrate, suddenly start up into
a military Despot of the most sanguinary character--a double
of the blood-thirsty wretch at Elba. We ate convinced that
this sudden and violent shock to all republican feelings, to all
the habits of the people in all pat is of the Union. cannot be
made with impunity. Certain it is, that this law cannot
stand alone. To give it the least dance of being put in
execution, it must be accompanied with all the other chap-
ters of that bloody cede by which France was disgraced,
barbarised, and detnorali-.•ed. Who is to hunt down the
refractory conscripts ? Who is to drag them, chained together
in rows, to the head quarters of the military division ? Who
is to punish them, their parents, relations, and friends ? Even
Buonaparte was many years in bringing to its diabolical per_
fectiou the machinery of his system : and, carefully as Mr.
Monroe may have studied in that accursed school, it cannot
be supposed that he has at one flight placed himself on a
level with his great instructor. It is highly probable that
many of the men who have laboured in the details of Oppres-
sion and violence under the Disturber of Europe, may have
by this time made their way to America, where they will
doubtless receive a cordial welcome from Mr. Madison, and
be set at work to rivet the collar on the necks of the. Ame-
rican citizens ; but we own that, 66 with all appliances and
means to boot," the President, in our opinion, must fail. •

FRENCH PAPERS.

After an unusual suspension of intelligence from France,
the late dreadful gales having for neatly a week cut off all
c, mmunication between the two countries, Paris Journals
came to hand on Tuesday the t6;h inst. Although on the
deliberations of Congress, there is no more certainty of in.
lot mAtion now than there was a-month ago, yet this is po-
sitive, that the Emperor of Russia had not quitted Vienna
in disgust, as was lately asserted ; since he was present at a
great entertainment given in honour of him on the 2d inst.
The intelligence from Vienna is of the 4th. Nothing seems
to have been then known as to the period when the o.elibera-
Cons of the Congress would close, nor is any mention made

F5l

the intended departure of th.• Sovereigns. The mission
of General Keller to. Elba is at ain .pt►ken of, and the re-
'poitii-teneived,7tbit relates 'to ail intended divorce be-
tween Buonaparte and the Archduchess Maria Louisa.—The
accounts from Madt id speak of the continuance of arrests.
The Sicilian Parliament has sanctioned the loan frOm Eng-
land, but pronounced it unconstitutional, as contracted with-
out their consent. The Chamber of Deputies have voted a
projet for the payment of the debts contracted by the King
and Royal Family, in foreign countries, almost unanimously.
Elis MajestY, w►th great. liberality,, had proposed that these
debts should be insctibcd as part of the public debt of
France, and that he should pay
.the interest out of his.
own income: this was rejec►ed by the Committee and
by the Assembly a: large, as derogatory. from the splendour
with which they wi,hed to see his Majesty surrounded.
Wednesday, adtrtional
.Paris P.,,pers were received to the

loth instant; notwithstanding the lateness of the dates, the
intelligence from Vienna being of the 10th, the delibera-
tions of Congress remain as much in the dark as ever. Re-
soecting Saxony, nothing apnea's to have been known upon •
the subject, nor, pet haps. had any determination been .come-
to. Prussia, it is said, claims indemnities, to place him in
the same state of power and consideration in which be stood
in 1806; but whether these indemnities are to come from
:.4axony, or be sought in some wher quarter, remains to be •
ascertained. The Emperor of Russia is stated to have pro-
posed several conciliatory measures, but with what success
we are not told. The same para:Japh alludes to the numer-
ous armies assembling on the frontiers of Gallicia, and a
~Hiwerful Austrian al my on the borders of Saxony. A grand
fete, it is said, wds to take place, to be called the Fete of
Peace, when the business of the Congress was filially ar-
ianged ; but five days afterwards no nutice had been given
of the appointment of the day for the fete, all appealing as
much unsettled as ever. The protest of the King of Saxony
had been transmitted to the Ministers at Vienna, and the
communications between that capital and his Majesty's re-
sidence were, it was said, very frequent. The dissolution of
the marriage of floonaparte• with the Archduchess 11 aria.
Louisa is no v said to be certain, and the report is again le-
vived of the residence of the former being changed, to which
it is rumoured the mission of General Koller to Elba also
relates.

A projet has been proposed to the French Chamber of
Peers by l‘larshal Macdonald, the Duke of Tarcnte, for ma-
king a provision for the emigrants whose property has been
sold, and for paying the pension (fall those wounded military
officers, whom Buonaparte first led into the al.)-ss of misery
and suffering, and was then forced to leave in a state of ab-
solute pi ivation for want of funds to pay their pensions.—
Marshal Macdonald excludes from his plan all indemnity to
the Clergy for Church property. 4. They," he states, .6 had
only a life interest in that property, and ought not to be Rut
upon the same footing with the proprietors who have been
banished from the domains of their fathers." The value of
the property belonging to. emigrants confiscated and sold,
he estimates (after deducting the debts owed by them and
paid, and the sequestrations taken off formerly and lately)._
I• at 300 millions of francs, rather mote than twelve millions
sterling. Ile proposes to give annuities to the fot mer pro-
prietors at the rate of 4 per cent. upon the amount of pro-
petty. This amount to seven millions and a half of
francs annually, about 420,0001. stet ling. The emiowments
of the military, he reckons, will amount to three millions of
francs yeady, about 125,0001. sterling. These two sums,
545,0001. a year, he proposes 'to defray with the Regists.