The Sun.
London, England, 1818-03-23 00:00:00

LITERARY REvrEw.

EDGEWoirrn, 50 «•ell hnown as the 'Confessor
who attended Louts XVI. hi his last moment:,
must be read with avidity by the future historian
of the French Ilevolut ion: to us, and to our co--
temporaries, they are more interesting, not
only as they relate to the most extraordinary
epoch in the annals Of mankind, but as they ex-
Itibit,with simplicity and truth, the character• of on
indi'vidttal, who had ceased to be our compatriot,
but whoie exemplary conduct must challenge
esteem, and inspire veneration for the land of 11.'4

fathers.
The Abb?!EDGE*OIITII, whose father emigrAted
from Ireland to France, in consequence of having
embraced the Catholic persuasion, is descended
from that faMily so long established in the county
of Longford, whose name is now familiar to all
literary Europe. Prom an early period be had
been destined for the Church ; on Iris ordination,
when be assumed, in allusion to some patrimonial,
property, the title of Abbe de Yriniont, he re-
moved to the seminary of Les Missions.Etrangers,
flue de Pacq, where he residcd several years,
wholly devoted to the dirties of his profession,
and neither covering wealth nor seeking prefer-
ments. In this on atnhition9 obscurity he remained
till 1779, when the Princess adzar.F.Tll, having
occasion to chose a new Confessor, WAS recom-
mended to tire Abbe EDGEOIORTH, who was thus
brought within the verge of a Court, andaccuq-
tomed to familiar intercourse with the great. For
this excellent I'rinces3 and her unfortunate family

be ever evinced strict attachment and inviolable
fidelity; and it is perhaps the most striking pas.
sage in the life of Louts XVI., that, when be-
reaved of all other friends and comforter•; it kilt,

from an emigrant, a s►ranger, an Irishman, That
he required the last perilous proof of zeal, and
received the List offices of religious consolaticin.
Of the manner in which this sacred duty was pet.
formed, and of some preceding events, the 101-
lowing sketch is given by the AbbtS, in a letter
addressed to Mr. Usher EDGE WORTH :
" I am sure my d• ar Usher will be .agreeably
surprised to hear that 1 have at last escaped front
France, and am now a ife lauded on Britisk
ground. My dismal story, during these last four
years, will, no doubt, be a matter of cariosity for
him. But, were Ito write it at large, a volume,
would hardly suffice. The outlines thereof is,
therefore, all that can be expected from me to-
day; and to them 1 shall confine myself, Until, irk
happier times, I can give him my history .ac
large.

" To begin will what gave rise to all, I must
ell you, (what perhaps you have Beset. known,)
hat hazard, if hazard be not Hu empty word,
brought me acquainted a tew years ago witn
Madame Elizabeth of France ; one of the most
accomplished, and ( 1 really do believe) the most
virtuous Princess, without exception, then exist-
ing in Eorope. Though a foreigner, and in every
respect little entitled to the honour of her .ac-
quaintance, I soot) became a friend ; and she
placed an unbounded confidence in me. Still, I
was not personally known tither to the King or
Queen. They were, indeed, no strangers to my
name ; and in those latter times, had often ex-
pressed their astonishment, on hearing how (reels,
1 resorted to the Palace, whilst round about, ;ill
was terror and woe. 'l' he he( wits, I never ap-
prehended the danger to be what it really waa ;
and while no clergyman dared appear at Court, if
not completely disguised, I event there in open
day, once or twice a week, without ever changing
try dress. Indeed, when I turn my thoughts upou
these shocking times, I am amazed to have been
so bold. Butt Providence, I suppose, blinded me.
nn purpose ; and in reality, though my presence
always occasioned a little bustle ~iniong the guards,
I never received any insul: from them. 'rims I
continued, until the eve of the fatal day on which
due Royal Family was arrested : for the oth of
August, (I remember it still,) Madame Elizabcon
desired to see me, and I s ?cm( a good p trt of the
morning in her closet, little aware of the scene of
horror that was brewing for the
" I shall give no account of the cruel manner
in which the Royal Fatly was trchited oil the
occasion, as I Suppose the public facts are Well
known to you ; and for the present, mutt confine
my narrative to what regards myself.
" Hitherto, the Revolution hail in some mea•
sure respected me ; and though deeply afflicted by
the misfortune of my friends, my person and little
property rein/slued ontouched. Bot I soon lete,
my turn ; and a woetol one it was indeed. No
sooner had the King been transfetred from the
Convention Hall to the Temple, but my house was
broken open at midnighr, by an armed gang- of
about 40 or 50 men. i was fast asleep ; and the
roust. I occupied lying far from the street, they
were already within doors before 1 awoke. Bitt
as they advanced, breaking down whatever sup-
posed their passage, I statted frion my rest, and
soon concluding, from the horrid noise with which
my ears were struck, that my last hour was corns.,
I really had no other thought but that of reuotn-
Tomlin; my sold to God, and preparing for death.
Upon it:fleet:on), however, I tLought it better to

LETTErsS. from the ABBE El )(i I.:WORTH to his FRIF.ND.S4,
written hetween the Years 1777 an 1 SO7 ; with etnoirit
of his Life, including; some Acco-unt of the late Roman
Catholic Bishop Of Cork, Dr. Mon.. N, and Letters to hina
from the Right iron. Eom uNn Briatig, and other persons
of distinction. fly the lter. THOMAS It. ENGLAND.—
LoNGMAN, HURST, Itccs, Damn, and BnowN, Paternoster

A little book is just pOh:khe(!, niultuin in parun,
ahiclt We feel it to be an imperative duty to IT.
commend to the niblic. 'Tifc Letters of the A bbC

face the tlanm than to he mnrdercd in my bed.
I therefore fleet' to the door b,fore it ,v as broke
down ; and in opening it, the first obj..rt I per-
elvt-d, was a dozen villains torches hi
tlic;r hand., and armed relit, every insirtiment ot
Ili
kind of officer seemed to be at their
head, and to him I v,,,,ik,A1 op. deu;3.4dj,i;.:
wi It
more assitrance than 1 really had, what ,Vl4i the
meaning of 411 this 1101. e, tit such a time of night
lie looked at me in the face with au iusolence not
to he described ; hail after sktving me a .ew tem-
nevuts, " You are not the mar.: said I,e ; but
sores after, as if he repented having relieved my
mind by these words, he came up to me again, and
rosliing into my room, he demanded to see my
p 'pers. Tt,is pt riposal was a thunderbolt to me;
for I had papers of some importance; and many
tit them, it too nicely viewed, might have brought
me to the block however, I affected ;
and as the number was too great t 6 hr examinet4
in one night, I took care to cast in his way insie-
niticant s, or pieces which I supposed he
would scarcely understand. This puzzled
hint vastly ; and soon losing patience, be con-
cluded I was not the person
w.lone he was charged
to arrest but resolved not to quit the house with-
out a capture : he turned to a feiond of mine,
lodging under the same roof, and finding on his
table a letter just received front Germany, in which
riere happened to be a few suspicions words, he
biirried him away to prison, where he was mug.
dcred a few days after, without any form of trial.
" This horrid catastrophe convincing me more
and more, that the most innocent papers might
become an awful tool in the hands of tbe ruling
party, I resolved to sacrifice all these I had in my
possession, though many of them were dear to
toe, and of real importance. Two days were
spent in this painful task ; and lo.ppy 1 was io
have bad the thought ; for the job seas hardly
over, when my house was assaulted a second time,
but in midday, and with all the form of a regular
pursuit : one hundred men, at least, wera em-
ployed on this occasion. My papers were searched
with a far more attentive eye than before : the
inquest laved until three o'clock in the morning.
But 211 suspicious pieces having been destroyed,
and no charge appearing against me, I was once
more re,tored to peace. I cannot, however, hot
recollect with gratitude, a singular instance of the
- protection of God, which I received on the occa-
sion tor, notwithstanding all my care to destroy
whatever papers could bring suspicions upon nee,
A letter just received from the agent of Monsieur
(now Lewis XVIII.) had escaped my notice: it
betrayed ire very clear terms all my connections
with the court. The villains had it in their hands;

but being fatigued, did nor thiuk of giving it a
glance. I myself wl4 unaware of its existence ;
but meeting it a few days after, and calling to
mind in whose possession it had been, all my
blood chilled in my veins ; and 1 could not but
acknowledge with gratitude, on this, though
seemingly insignificant occurrence, the hand of
-all-ruling Providence."

T. escape from the persecution which menaced
bis safety, the Abbe retired to Choisy, hut was
soon called from his retreat by the Archbishop of
Pods, who being obliged to fly from his diocese,
transferred to him the charge of his flock—" An
willl trust," observes the Abbe, " at any time,
but in the horrid confusion that then prevailed, a
trust far beyond my capacity or strength. How-
ever, •I deemed it a duty to comply ; and from
that day all toy thoughts were bent. upon return-
ing to Paris. lint, as 1 was debating in my own
mind the different measures to he taken, in order
to discharge the trust with HS little danger as po,.
sible for myself, 1 trust still more awful was
thrown in tov way.

'' The unfortunate Lewis XVI. foreseeing to
what lengths the malice of his enemies was likely
to go, and tesolved to be !rebated, at all events,
cast his eves on me to assist him in his last mo-
ments, if condemned to die ; but wrildd not make
any application to the ruling party, nor eves men-
tion my name wit hunt my consent. The message
he sent was moving beyond expression, and
worded in a manner which I never shall forget.
A King, though in chains, had a right to coin-
sland ; but he commanded not. Nly attendaoce
was requested, merely as a pledge of toy affection
for Lim—as a favour which he hoped I would not
refuse : hut, as the service was likely to he at-
teode4 with some danger for me, he dared nor inif
bist, and only prayed (in case I deemed the danger
to be too great) to point out to hint a clergyman
worthy of his confidence, but less known than I
was myself; leaving the person absolutely to my
choice."

We conclude these extracts with the inter-
Isting passage in which the Abbe describes his
almost,miracnlous.escape from the perils to which
be had !mut) exposed by heroic fidelity
" You will undoubtedly 'be curious to know by
what luck" escaped the danger, which both ft iends
and foes apprehended on this .occasion, for my
life. To this, the only ans xer Lean give is, that
I really know it not : all that I ofin say is, that as
soon as the fatal blow was given, I fell upon my
knees, and thus remained until the vile wretch,
who acted the principal part in this horrid trage-
dy, came with shouts of joy, showing the bleeding
head to the mob, and sprinkling the with the
blood that streamed from it. Then, indeed,
thought it time to quit the scaffold ; but casting
-rny eyes round about, T saw myself invested by
twenty or thirty thousand men in arms; and to
pierce the crowd, seemed to me a foolish attempt.
However, as I mast take that party, or by re-
maining, kt,p-pe*r to share the public joy, my only
resource was, t•e.recommend myself to Providence,
and steer m y course towards the side on which the
ranks seemed to have less depth, AU eyes were

fixed on me, as you may suppose; but as soon as
reached the first line, to my great surprise, no
resistance was made : the second Nue opened in
the same manner; and when 1 gat to the fourth
or fifth, my coat heing a common surtont (for I
was not permitted, on this occasi-ou, to wear any
exterior marks of a priest), I.,vas absolutely lost
in time crowd, and no more ooticed than if 1 had
been a simple spectator of a aceae which for ever
iiiskonour France."

PARLIANInNTARY PAPERS•

roux LAWS.
it ErORT FROM THB SELECT `CoMMITI4EB ?HE

r.,011 LAWS.

Selret Committee appointed to consider of
thc• L4ws, mud to report their ohaeryations
thercopoo trout time to time to 'lit flo.ise, have,
porstuant to the Older of the fionse, considered
the same accordingly, and agreed to the following
Report : _

•
The Committee appointed by the House in the
last Session of Parliament having in their Report
presented to the hose such a comparative view
of the assessments for the relief of the poor at
ditferept periods as the matetials which they
then possessed enabled them to form, have now
to make some important additions and corrections
to suelm statement. For they hare been firnished
with some returns, made in pursuance of ihe or-
ders of the [louse, of the assessments in the years
1748. 1749, and 1730 ; which were not known
to exist, till they were discovered by the researches
of Mr. Speaker into the Records of the [louse
during the recess. And thoti2b those accounts,
ft om all the counties, except lour, appear to have
been more or less deficient, yet it will be found,
by a reference to the appendix, that such deti•
ciencies have been supplied by the assiduity Of
Mr. Hickman, one of the Cletks Assistant, in a
way that will probably he thought to render them
sufficiently accurate for the pmpose of compari-
son with those of subsequent years. Nor is this
the only advantage to be derived from those do-
cuments ; for it limS stiggotted a inure situ nary
method of obtaining similar information, it' it
should be required by the House, through the
promrt and eifectnal means of the Post-Office.
true 1-10,ise have now Hip', at length, in their
possession, the returns mide tinder the Act 55
Geo. 111., of the assess in ruts for the years end-
ing 25th March 1813, 1814. and 1815, embracing
an abundant and valuable mass of intottnatiou.—
From these it will .appear, that the abstract of
the Assessment for the year ending 25th March,
1815, which was returned to time Committee in
the last Session, and printed in the Appendix to
their Report, was materially incorrect, in conse-
quence of mistakes made in preparing it, and defi-
ciencies existing at that time in their returns,
which were wholly unnoticed. The whole sum
raised by assessment in that year was stated to
amount to 7,068,9991. ; whereas it was really
7,457,6751. ; the sum expended on time poor was
stated to be 5,072,0281. instead of 5,418,8451.
The result of the whole of these additions and
corrections will afford the following comparative
view of the sums rsised by assessment, and the
sums expended on the poor, at the diffetent pe-
riods to which these authentic documents relate:
Total rained. Expended on
Average..l7ls, 1749, 1750—L.730,135 k 689,971
Year._ um
Average..l7B3, 1784, 1785..2,167,748 2,004,2.37
Year.... 1803 5,348,204 4,267,963
Avrragce..lBl3, 1814, 1815..8,164,493 6,129,644
Your Committee have placed in the Appendix a
summary of these latter returns ; but to the vo-
luminous details contained in these returns they
feel it unnecessary to refer, except to express-their
apprehension that the Bth col+onn, which states
time number of persons relieved froni the Poor-rate
permanently, not including the children of such
persons. must be, in a considerable degree, cal-
culated to an erroneous conclusion, from the pre-
valence of time practice of affording relief nomi-
nally to parents, though it be really on account of
their children.

Your Cunimittee, upon their appointment in
this Session, proceeded to csitisider which of their
former suggestions it might be expedient to sub-
mit to the House, for the i-oloptisiil of Parliament,
without further itchy. No time has been lost in
putting such measures into the form of legislative
enaetweuts, snd they have instructed their Chair-
man to move tor leave to blin4; in a Bill sir Bills,
on those suggestions (ti the first jos:Alice) u hid),
as far as they can judge, are most generally ap-
proved, and tent to attend the administration of
the existing laws ; u hilt they are proceeding to
te•consider other parts of tie subject, iu which
more doubt sod difficulty may amorally be ex-
peet-ed to arise.

The Appendix giyes the Assessment for the re-
lief of the poor in 1748, 1749, and 1750, by %%bid)
it appears, that on the average of those thiee
years about 690,0001. per annum was applied to
the !chef of the poor ; in the year 1776, the stun
of 1,531,000/. was expended On aceonnt of the
poor ; in 1783-4-5, the stun of 2,000.0001. per
MINIM) ; in 1803, 4,268.0001.; and iu 1813-14 15,
the arerare stun of about 6,130,0001. per annum
seas expended for the maintenance of the poor.—
But the sums raised by Pours' Rates, Bi!cl any
other rate or rater in these years, was in 1813,
8.651,4311.; 1814, 8,392,7281.; in 1815,
7,460,8551. 'flue number of paupers relieetu in
1813, eras 971,913 ; itt 1814, 953,995 ; in 1815,
895,973. The. Appendix contains the following
observations:—

The number of persons relieved permanently, both in and
out of any work-house, tee the average of the last three years
appears to he f.,l6,(di;:i; (f eta', occasionally being parishioners,
4.24,663;—total exclusisr of any children of those
permanently relieved ti of the house.
Your thousand guil iiiss-aty-four pari,lies or places maintain
the greater part of their prior in wink-houses, averaging fur
the last three years 9:1,14--2 persons•
The population of EncJand and Wales, as taken front the
Abstract laid before ltrrliament in the year 1511, appears to
have been 10,150,615„: -so that the number of persons relieved
from the Pow: Itates,e-tirears to have been 91 in each lOU of
the porubition.
The total of .Ibe rososay raised by poor-rates, or other rates,
appears to hare averaged, for the last three years, the sum of
b,168,3401. las. Sid. being at the rate of 16s. Id. per head
on the population, or ;It. tad. ins the pound, of the total
amount of the sum of fi1,5941,4431. its. tiid as assessed to
the. Property Tax in the year ISIS.
The amount of money expended in suits of law, removals,
and expenses of parish offices, fur militia purposes, and for
all other purposes, is, independently of the maintenance of
the poor, 2,114.,7991.
The number of parsons belnngingto Friendly Societies ap-
pears to be, for the last three years, nearly s in the 100 of
the resident population.
The area of England and Wales, according to the latest
authorities, appears to he 57,960 square statute miles, or
37,094,400 statute acres; wherefore, the number of iuhabi-
Lints in each square mile, containing 640 acres, averages 176
persons,
The greater propOrtion of the population of England and
Wales appears to he employed in trails' and inannfactutts,
there bring 770,199 families returned -employed in agvicule
ture, and fiso,f;3t in trade, manufaoluresi, and Laudiardt; be-
sides 418,816 other

From the LONDON GAZETTE, MARCH 21.

Furrign-Office, March 21, 1918.
The following Extract of a Dispatch, and the list therein
referred to, wincili bare been received by Viscount Castle-
reagh from 11ie British ( Linn Commissioners at Paris, are pub-
lished for the information and benefit bf the parties con-
cerned

Office of Convaiscioners for British Claims, under
Convention No. 7, Paris, March 16, 1818.
A number of claims having been cent to our Office by dif-
ferent Bankers and Agents in this country, fur persoas who
had formerly employed them to make purchases in the Funds,
and whose addresses have been mislaid and lost, we have the
honour to inclose a list of the names of kuch persons, and re-
quest your Lordship will he pleased to give directions that
the same may he published in the London Gazette, fur the
information and benefit of the parties inttrestcd.
LIST oF PPK9ONS UNKNOWN. FOR WHOM CLAIMS
HAVE BEEN PRESENTED BY DIFFERENT AGEN l's,
To THE BRITISH CLAIM COMMISSION, UNDER
CoNVENTIoN NO. 7.
liarbutt, Rachel and Anne—Rente Vingere.
Stratton. Gco-ge—Rente Perpdtrielle.
Bermingham, John—Rentes Perpetuelles.
Mary—Rentes Viageres.
Bryan, Gem ge—Rentes Perpit Mies.
•
Chichester, John—Rentes Perpetnelles.
Dalton, John Baptist—Rentes Perpetitelles and Viageres.
Godin, Martha and Sophia--.Rentes Perpetuellts.
Gires, Mary Madeline—Rentes Viageres.
Gardner, Samuel—Rentes Viageres.
Kennedy, Thomaißentes Viageres.
Manning, Elizabeth—Rears Viageres.
It is requested that the persons named in the Above list
will send their addresses without delay to the Foreign Of-
fice, Downing-street, under cover to the Under Secretary of
State.

Crown-Office, March 41.
Member returned to serve in this present Parliament.
nurahs of Anstruther, Easter, &r.—The Hight 'Honour-
able Alexander Maconoeliie, Lord Advocate of Scotland,
in the room of Sir John Carmichael Anstruther, Bart.
deceased.

tANKRUPTCIES SUPERSEDED.
R. Scott, Liverpool, merchant.
R. Carter, New Woodstock, Oxfordshire, ironmonger.