The Sun.
London, England, 1822-08-28 00:00:00

[NEW TIMES.]

The Paris Journals of Sunday arrived last
night. They contain little besides the Report of
the proceedings in the case of the..conspirators of
La Rochelle. This, like other trials of the same
kind, proves in every stage of its progress that
inadequacy of the French laws to punish persons
which we have often had occasion to point out.—
The most notorious culprits not only shelter
themselves under technical forms, but even pre-

tend that they are the injured parties in being
brought to trial at all. The impudence of
these men, however, is almost eclipsed by
that of their apologists and admirers in this
Country. Can there be a greater insult on the
understanding and common sense of the public
than a passage in The Times of yesterday, which
speaks of" the absurd prosecutions now carrying
on i❑ all parts of France against absurd and im-
probable conspiracies ?" Improbable Conspiracies!
when all the world knows that attacks with an
armed force were made by several parties of
rebels on different towns of France—that the

Flag of Rebellion was openly hoisted—and that
General Berton was in arms for several days—
and when this same journal The Times has been
for years past asserting that a powerful faction
existed in France hostile to the Government !
With these considerations before our minds, what
words can we find to characterise the conduct of
a journalist, who now pretends that there has
been no conspiracy at all

[THE TIMES.]
Our report of the Edinburgh dinner to his
Majesty, on Saturday, will be read with atten-
tion, and we may add, in reference to some of
the proceedings, with keen and rare surprise.—
The King on that occasion was pleased to give
two toasts, and to make three speeches I—better
speeches, more gracious, and exhilarating to the
hearers, we confess they must have been, than
any of those laboured and formal productions
to which the •term " King's Speech" has been
hitherto exclusively appropriated; but the won-
der is, upon what precedent they were mo-
delled, or by what resolution of the Cabinet
they were authorized. Mr. Peel was absent
from the feast; but does that contingency render
the Right Hon. Gentleman less responsible for
sucl a tremendous innovation ? The ice of eti-
quette thawed at once I—the venerable frost of
antiquity dissolved ! It is all up with the craft
when the Ministers have no longer a bridle upon.
the Royal emotions,when Kings deliver their
own sentiments from their own lips, and invite a
personal contest of courtesy and joviality with
their subjects. It is a remark, however,
prompted by the nature of the Royal experiment
itself, rather than by any cirCtunstanee.which ap-
pears on the face of things to have produced it,
that a sombre, proud, and wary people, are now
and then salutary remembrancers to a Sovereign.
The teach him that lie is not always to meet un-
conditional smiles, or gratuitous eagerness of ad-
miration. By their stately gravity of demeanour,
they call upon hini,even at the banquet, to pay his
club. The poor prodigal Irish gave all for nothing.
Ile mustgo half way who expects to meet the Scotch.
His Majesty's .condescending eloquence would, in
that point of view, have acted as a seasonable
stimulant, and have been considered less as a su-
perfluous boon than as the discharge of a princely
obligation. It is of the French that Goldsmith
speaks, as of a people who begin by commuui
cating pleasure, and end by securing it—
" They please, are pleased : they give, to get esteem ;
" Till, seeming blest, they grow to what they seem."
The converse of this description may, with some
degree of accuracy, be applied to the native cha-
racter of Scotland.