The National Register.
London, England, 1821-12-30 00:00:00

BRUSSELS PAPERS.

Sr. PLTERSBURGII, Nov.l6.—The great interests
treated of in the Cabinet arc still covered with an
. impenetrable veil. Though we cannot know what
will be the decision of our Court with respect to the
• Rate, the generadopinion hero is, that under the
present cireuiastances,. war is inevitable. For some
months plisC our armies have been in a formidable
attitude, occupying a strong position on the Pruth.
—They only wait Kifthe signal to exact a dreadful
vengeance ter the unlitipy bite of the Greeks, their
p.!rsecuted brethren.-:,,gut the penetration of the
Emperor Alexander foAsees the dreadful carnage to
which the lawless pail-limns of Islamism would then
deliver up all the Greeks. His noble soul, his hu-
manity, would wish to sec this sad fate averted
from them, betel.° he -Makes known his irrevocable
will.
A private letter from the southern provinces of
the empire contains the following particulars respect-
ing the war mid themmed force of Itussia:—" I
, learn at this moment' that there arc such active

( From the Quarterly Review;)
'l4 One evening that Diderot and Roux had outdone each
other in talking atheism, and had said things to call dew si a
thousand thunderbolts on their heads, If thanderbui(s / .1 on
such occasions, the Abbe Goliath, who hid listened rat'i,t4
to this dissertation, at last said—' Gentlemen, gentieno
allow me to say that if I were Pope, I would clap you both
up in the Inquisition; or if I were King of France, in tie
Bastile ; but having the happiness lobe neither, I have only
to promise to meet you here next Thursday, and I hope s oa
will hear my answer as patiently as 1 have heard )ou."— •
" Very web,"—we all exclaimed, and particularly out
At hei..as,—" un Thursday!"
" Thursday came, mid after dinner and coffee, the Abbe .
gathered himself up into an arm-chair cross-legged like a •
tailor ; and us the weather was hot, holding his wig aloft oh
his left hand, and gesticulating with his right, he proceeded
its follows :
" ' Let me suppose that one of you, gentlemen, who be-
lieve that this world us the production or chance, were to go
to n gaining table, and that your adversary were to throw
seize-ace, mice, twice, thrice, tour, tic e, and six torts
running, our fiiend Diderot would lui-e his money, and Ili ck
the devil was in Ilte dice. Very tie 11, the game roc.
and your adveisnry stilt goes on throwing the main ul s,•ve;i,
nod withuut variation or inter' option *ins evcry bta:..•.—
Didc rot willinow I e his temper as well as his money : hr
will now swear that the dice tire loa•led—that the adversary
is a blackleg, and that the house is a he!! I All, Mr. Pniat-
SOpiler becau-e the same side of the two dire come upper--
mast for ten or u dozen times, and you lose a few shillings,
you firmly belleSe that it is caused by a trick, an art, a com-
bination, by, in short, a master swindler and his subservient
laid-, and yet, seeing to the universe around you, milliorsof
cambium ions, more regular,n7 ore difficult, ii ore complicated,
and all certain—all useful—all he .utiful—you never suspeLt
that the dice of nature are loaded, that there is, indeed, as
art, a combination, and a Master ingelligenee above, who
regulates the gie n play by his subservient tools, and con-
foniids the rca t and the skill of such short-sighted crea-
tures as you.' ''.— 1/eurairs de l'Abbs ,lfor•ellell

Lord Melville, Sir G. Cockburn, and Sir George
Clerk, attended by Mr. Secretary Barrow, arrived
at the George Inu, Portsmouth, on Monday mini*
last, from the admiralty, and at ten o'clock the next
morning they proceeded to the duck-yard, and com-
menced a series of inquiries into all the various de-
partments, with a view to make reductions therein.
Their 'tabours were continued on the following day ;
and on Thursday morning they returned to the
admiralty. Nothing is known of the precise nature
of the reductions contemplated, and which are soon
to take place.
It is confidently reported in the upper circles, that
Sir Benjamin Bloomtial is out of favour ; some go
so far as to say, that in a few days he will be no
longer in office.