The Sun.
London, England, 1833-01-10 00:00:00

THE DUCHESS OF BERRY.

EX TRACTS FROM 0 r, Q s LETTERS IN THE
!MORNING CHRONICLE.
PARIS, JAN. 6, 1833.
Sir,—As to woman we are indebted for all that Cm-
vtitutes the happiness of social life—a 4 to her we I ,ok when
oriune frowns, or when pleasure smiles—as she is our
companion wh n the skies are most cloudy, and
•he heavens most threatening—as she is the last to forsake
us, and even le -ve s us not to perish, though we sheuld he
reel and ungrateul ; you will not expect from me one
word of attack on the person, or the relationships of the
Duchess of Berry !! She iv a WOMAN ! It would he
tsy to say, and will truth and justice, " But women are
unman heinee—e, jay the privileges, anl are suhj-ct to
he pains and penalties of human society—are b quad to
hey human laws, enjoy rights as citizens, and are in
every other respects Our equals Then why should any
listinction he made? A woman may he a tyrant, an
p ressor, an insolent, cruel, and wicked mistress; and
may render her family, her peasant' y, or her suLjeets,
wretched and foilern." I have nothing to reply to all this—
int- it. is as true as the Gospel of Sr. Matthew ; but you must
sa.isfied with env first apology, " See is a woman !"
She undertook the d fficult, the arduous, the H rcu-
eon to .k of bringing atioot by her presence, a second
Vendean war ! But the Duchess had been deceived—
zrossly deceived, and cru lly entrapped. She found in
the West same hundreds of desperate Chouans, some score
of inf itua•ed Priests, and some faithful ann devoted women,
who saw in the mother of the Duke of Borde:rex their
former benef ,ctre-s, and therefore, from sympathy and
gratitude, attached themselves to her cause. Thus de-
eeived and di-concerted, she remained in the Bocaee.
The geographical position of the country rendered her
.evrecy most easy, and she therefore continued to
visit the Chiefs—conspire in the chateaus—inspire the
minority with hope, by the mere fact of her presence—
and above all, by reading to them communications which
she received from the Prussian Princes—from the Empe-
ror of Russia—from the King of Holland—and even,
it is said, from some Tory Chiefs in Great Britain.
Her arrest was desirable, most d e.irable, an event at which
we must rejoice, and which has already produced benefi
eial effects in the West ; but that arrest is a far less good
than her legal detention, her non-examination, and prose-
cution by the ordinary laws ; and the resolution come to
Yesterday by the Chuniier of Deputies is a calamity. It
would have been far better that the Duchess of Berry
should have remained in La 'Vendee, should have continued
to excite trouble, and even civil war, and should have even
o this day kept four departments in a state of agitation,
than that the Charter of 1830 should be violated, the laws
of 1831 be dimreg Irded, and the penal code be set at defi
ante by a Government which is the offspring of the Paris
Barricades. Chateaubriand, in a pamphlet which,
tier the few days past, has exclusively occupied
Public attention, has discussed this question with
great eloquence and irresistible force. He says that
there were three ways of deciding on the fate of the
Duchess of Berry from the moment she was arrested. The
first was to subject her to an arbitrary imprisonment,
wholly disregarding the Charter and the laws. The second
was to liberate her and send her out of France. And the
THIRD was to try her before the Tribunals established by
law, and to pronounce on her guilt or her innocence. The
Doctrinnaires have decided on the first plan, and the
Camber of Deputies has refused to derange it. M.
Chateaubriand, of course, demands that the second me-
thod be adopted, and that the Duchess be set at Ebert),
end sent to her family at Prague! Whilst France insists
that she be tried—and if found guilty, be condemned to
imprisonment or exile. This is the mode of proceeding
which I also de-ire to he pursued ; and et Ido so with
the full knowledge. and under the feeling and sentiment
that " she is a woman."