The Sun.
London, England, 1828-07-11 00:00:00

L'INTRIG UAIS TE.

In 1818, St. Marks and Pensacola, Spanii,fi
towns, were taken by the American General, A,
Jackson, in order to reduce an Indian tribe,
which disturbed the Americans, and had taken
refuge in those towns. The General went a
beyond his powers, and though he had justifieft
his conduct by an important victory, his Go-
vernment was very near considering it as a crime.
England demanded explanation and satisfaction
for three Englishmen taken in those places, and
who were tried and executed by order of Jack-
son, as secret instigators of the revolt. One of
the Englishmen, who perished as a traitor, had
for a companion in all sorts of intrigues and
plots a French woman named Madame de
F. This lady was hardly twenty rears of
age : she pQssessed, with many personal graces,
an elegant form and agreeable deportment, and
was gifted with that kind of beauty which ren-
ders the French women so fascinating. Those
natural advantages were supported by a dazzling
mind ; but the soul which inhabit&l this seduc-
tive Imvelope was not worthy of it. To intrigue
by taste, to intrigue for interest, to do good or
evil in order to attain her end, were for Madame
de F. the same thing, and perfectly indifferent to
her ; and the man with whom she associated, by
a conforthity of taste had fortified these disposi-
tions, by the audacity with 'which he hazarded
every thing to accomplish the objects he had in
view. HiS awful end, instead of operating as a
salutary lesson on her who had witnessed it, only
added to her. predominating dispositions, a de-
sire for revenge, which even in her eyes would
have justified a crime. Full of confidence in her
powers to please, Madame de F. tried them,
but vainly, upon the incorruptible American
General.

Mada,miatreiiii.gfdutielelF;y F. departed for London, where
she lived for some time unknown. All at once
her fortunes appeared to change. She took
apartments in Portland-square, and a country
seat near London. Her evening parties were
well attended i she was frequently seen at the
theatres, and she kept up a very active corre-
spondence with France. At this period Mr.
Canning was Secretary of State for Foreign Af-
fairs. Ambitious, and a coquette, it was natural
for Madame de F. to endeavour to attract the
attention of some high authority ; but the fame
so honourable to the man, of whose services death
has deprived his country, and frustrated the fond
hopes which his eminent qualities had created,
being not yet at its zenith, excited but feebly the
ambition of Madame de F. ; and all her intrigues
/V ere confined to obtaining an easy access to
the Secretary of State. But when the title
of Prime Minister was conferred, so honour-
able to the monarch and tile subject, she could
not rest any more ; to write to the Minister
Canning, talk to the :Minister Canning, and
'of the Minister Canning, were entirely her
daily employment. She made, in the month
of April, a short voyage to Paris, returned with
eagerness, more bewitching, and became more
than ever assiduous it.: her visits to the new Mi-
nister. Madame de F. affected an air of succes3
which her society did not interpret as it should
have been ; but a few of her intimate friends
knew how to guess better. I have from one of
the latter, who returned with Madame de F.
some time before the death of Mr. Canning, the
truth of the story, and the cause of the disap-
°ointment of the beautiful traveller. When
Madame de F. went the first time to London,
she had told her tale so well, and arranged so
artfully her connexion with, and the awful fate
of her accomplice, that Mr. Canning be-
lieved in her pretended misfortunes, pitied
the handsome stranger, and became serviceable
to her, with that honest confidence which renders
so vile and so despicable the abuse made of it.
A happy husband of a virtuous wife, the pure
heart of Mr. Canning did not suspect that at-
tempts were making to please him ; and, under
this impression, Madame de F., notwithstanding
her personal charms, was altogether indifferent
to him. The friend of the lady did not say that
to please the Minister would have been an oh-
o
please him, even the most confidential secret
jbeuctt theobfe sai
said
etabtaets t
nicloaatbpbliie)ni happiness s‘i\v
atiosnillele afatdnalinil
il.nlei(gi do. en
undone
were made. Madame de F. began to perceive
Un ministre qu'onfatte est a moitie vaineu,
that this verse of Danedm
'
A flattered minister is half subdued,
was not at all applicable
~I soon as Mr. Canning perceivedfiattcry, he sus-
de F. lost in
one moment all the Hopes I, she had nourished
since the elevation of the man
lookp e sus-
pected
std. she so little de-
oiNuis
at ide
Madame
,in e
de-
served to have had as a benefactor and protector.
At an interview, moreof
friendship than
coquette, Madame de Fallthe cunning
and 4., with
and graces she possessed, introduced the de-
licate subjectof politics. CoMbined with a
cold, and a calm dignity, the
following words of Mr. Canning were like a
o
thunder
h It : " As long as I believed you unfor-
tunate, I assisted you ; as long as you appeared
to me ;.espectable, I received your grateful ac-
knowledgments ; now that I have found you out,
I ought, perhaps, to punish you, but the anger
which our sex feel for yours cannot be without
pity ; depart, Madame, for this pity cannot hence-
forward be considered as a protection to you."
Madame de F., pushed to ingratituue bv disap-
pointment
and vexation, in reporting to, her in-
timate the words of Mr. Canning, said, " This
man is not fit to be a Minister."—Americait
Paper.