Star.
London, England, 1830-04-20 00:00:00

LA VALETTE.

The Amu. de Paris, in the number published lest week, con.
talus an interesting article from the pen of M. Cut Ober Fleury, on
the subject of this gentleman, whose escape once created a sensation
in this country, which, from the names connected with it, was
scarcely inferior to that which it produced in Franc•. The article
to which ye allude is compiled front some unpublished authbio-
graphical memoirs by Lavalette, and contains a concise account of
his whole career. His father, a respectable merchant of Paris, gave
hint a liberal education at the College d'Harcourt, on quitting
whishebe tuned his thoughts to the church, and though lie never
took orders, went so far as to assume the short cassock as a prepa-
ratory step, becoming a sub-librarian at St. Genevieve. In 1789 he
enrolled himself among the national militia embodied by La
Fayette, and, in 1792, was one of those that signed the royaliet peti-
tions ; but his conduct on the 10th of August having rendered him
suspected, he hastened to join the legion of the Alps as a volunteer.
In this capacity he served a campaign on the banks of the Rhine,
and rose, by his courage and intelligence, to be aid-de-camp to Ge.l
neral 'Uruguay Some months after he was selected for
a commission of considerable delicacy. The general of the army of ,
Italy, crannied in his career of glory, looked with no slight anxiety
on the conflict of parties then agitating the capital, which rendered
it very difficult for him to ascertain the real state of affairs. Lava.
lette was despatched by him for the purpose of immuring informs.
tion, a task which he executed with great address, corresponding
with his patron by nicans of a cypher invented by Bourrienne. lie
reached l'aris in safety, and mixed without suspicion in the various
societies at the Luxembourg, at Carnet's, Madame Steel, Aug-
reau'it, &c. furthering the designs of all parties, but committing
himself with none. We regret that our limits prevent our giving a
letter, in which he describes, with great humour and graphic deli.
nation, the Directory, or " Five Kings," as he calls them, con.
treating their mantles a la Francis the First,with M. de Talleyrand,
in silk pantaloons, &c. introducing the Ambassador from the Grand
' Duke of Tuscany, " whose dinner the French were then eating up
from the soup down to the cheese." When Buonaparte began to rise
into notice, Lavalette attached himself to him, and was present at the
battle of the Pyramids and the siege of Acre. During the war
with Austria, he was despatched to Dresden, where he remained
with full power, to watch for an opportunity of concluding a peace
with that state, but Moreau, at Hohenlinden, says the editot, was,
after all, the best negotiator, and Lavalette returned to Paris. Here
ended his military and diplomatic career. Buonaparte, whose reibm
under colour of a republic had already commenced, drew around
him those of his old companions, on whose real talents and fidelity
he could rely, and Lavalette among the fine He was named
Commissary General of the Ports, an office on the establishment of '
the empire, merged in that of Director General, at which time he
also received the title of Count, and a seat in the Council of State
and the Grand Cordon of the Legion of Honour. The events of
1814 returned him to private life, which he did not again quit till
the arrival of Napoleon at Paris, on the 20th of March following.
His return to power was marked with a moderation which his
enemies would have done well to imitate at a subsequent period.
A person employed in his department waited on him with a list of
those who had taken part against him, " Sir, ;" was his answer,
1" how an you look an honest man in the face ? Learn to know
me better !" And he threw the paper into the fire unread. On the
first overthrow of his patron, Laralette, conscious of no crime, re.'
mained in Paris ; he was anested on the 10th of July, while sitting
at table with his friends, and confined au secret. Proceedings
were commenced against him as an accomplice in the attempt of the
20th of March preceding. On the 19th of November, he was
brought to trial, when he defended himself with great dignity, as
well as talent, and heard the sentence which condemned hint to
death with the greatest composure, reproving the emotion shewn by
his friends, and saluting with calm politeness those persons from
the Post Office department who had just been giving evidence
against him. It was not till he bad retired to the solitude of his
dungeon that his composure forsook him, and then the thought only
of the ignominious mode of the death to which he was consigned
shook the fortitude of the old soldier; he petitioned that he might
be shot, but his request being refused, he immediately set about
the task of familiarising himself with the death be dreaded, and
accustomed himself to hear from his jailors all the details of
the degrading mode of punishment he was to undergo. Time
few swiftly on, the Court of Cassation rejected his appeal; an ap.
plication to the Royal clemency, presented by madame Lavalette
herself, met with no better success; the day of execution was at
bend. The evening preceding the day on which it was to take
place, his wife entered the prison dressed in a pelisse of Merino
richly lined with fur, such as she had been accustomed to wear
home from a ball, and having a black taffeta petticoat in a bag.—
All, she told him in a firm voice, was lost; flight was the onlyl
thing that could save him, and produced the disguise ; a sedan
chair, she added, would receive him at the gate of the prison, and a
cabriolet was in waiting on the quay Des °risme ; a devoted
friend and a secure asylum would answer for the rest. M. Lavalette
at first refused to avail himself of a scheme which he disapproved.
" I am prepared for a tragedy," was his reply, " but 1 cannot
figure in a farce; I shall be detected in this ridiculous dress, which
will expose me to the jeers of the rabble ; besides, I must abandon
you to the insults of the rascally turnkeys and the persecutions of
my enemies."—" If you die, I die with you: save your life to pre-
serve mine," answered this devoted woman. The prisoner yielded,
made his toilette hastily, and attending to halirection to stoop as
he passed through the wicket, that he might not disarrange the
feathers in his bonnet, passed out followed II his wife's attendant,
and leaning on the arm of her daughter, while his preserver con-
cealed herself behind a screen from the turnkey, who let him out ofl
the dungeon. On reaching the sedan, the chairmen were not there ;
the moment was a terrible one, exposed as he then was to the gaze of I
the sentinels and other soldiers, assembled out of curiosity to get a
sight of Madame lavalette. Fortunately the servants soon arrived,
the chair was lifted, and in a few minutes the pave of the bridge of
St. Michel echoed to the feet of a horse drawing a cabriolet at full
speed. This was on the 23d of December; Lavalette remained'
concealed in Paris till the 10th of January, beneath the same roof
with one of the most powerful and inveterate of his political ene-
mies, and within hearing, from his garret, of the rewards for his ap.
prelienadon cried about the streets by order of the police. The bar.
riers were closed, all passports suspended, descriptions of his person
posted on every road, while a general alarm seemed to pervade the
courtly circles that all would be lost unless they should succeed in
catching Lavalette. At eight o'clock in the evening of the 9th of
Jan. 1818, he repaired on foot with a friend to the house of Captain
Hutchinson, and next morning, at the very moment they were ens. I
ployed in executing him in effigy in the Place de Greve, passed the
barriers in an open cabriolet, in company with Sir Robert Wilson,
and dressed in the uniform of a general officer in the English service.
On the road he held a handkerchief to his cheek, as if afflicted with
the tooth-ache, a precaution the more neceseary, as several British
officers met them repeatedly, to whom his Inability to speak Entlish
must have betrayed hint. When near the frontiers, a captain of
gendarmerie, looking at the name of Cesar in the passport, hesitated
for some time, observing, he did not think there was any general
officer of that name in the English service; but Sir it. Wilson
assured him he was mistaken, and they were at length allowed to
proceed. Before the ftiends separated, which they did at Mons, his
generous guide inquired hew it was that he had wished to be shot,
then correcting himself Immediately, added, " but I can understand
it, you did not like to have your throat cut like a calf." Lavalette
found a hospitable asylum at the Court of Bavaria, where the
Duchess of St. Leo lent him her house, and Prince Eugene lavished
attentions on him ; he might now be considered happy, but no—.
one circumstance embittered all his reflections. When he was at
length permitted to return to Paris, amidst the thousand voices
which welcomed him, one was silent, that of his heroic self.devoted
wife. She did pot even recognize him; the emotion of that terrible
moment when they parted was too much for her e she saved him,
but her senses left her for ever in the effort. To sooth and render
bee the most grateful anathema, was the business of the remainder
of lavalette's life; he appeared no more in the world except on one
occasion, whoa be cane to London in order to assist at his friend
Wilson's election; that secured, he returned to France, and, amidst
his books, the only consolation left him in his seclusion, dedicated
his days to that melancholy duty, the rellexion on his strict pevionn.
ante of which rendered his last moments happy—he had discharged
the debt of gratitude and affection.

C L: I 7* A .

OI:NEBAL MEI:TING OF THE INHABITANTS OF
CALCUTTA, m the 15.11 of DECEMBER, 102:i.
J. PALMEII, Eaq. in the Chair.
l ON S.

I. Nloced by Mr. J. SMITH, ant' t.ectbuded by Mr. E. TROTTER.
That this meeting considers itself ctlkd upon, adverting tu
pending discussions in the Legislature on the renewal or the liar..
Company's Charter, to make known and declare unreservedly to
Parliament its a ishes and views in regard to such matte' Mae
particularly touching the interests and welfare of this country.whethei
the administration of its government shall be conducted for the
future directly by the Ministers of the Crown, or through Cie corky
of the East India Company.
2. Moved by Mr. 6r. Bitacx Ex, and seconded by 51i. J. 1. •Is I-
CHEW. That this meeting deliberately adheres to the epinss,.
pressed by a similar meeting on the sth of November, 1821. to Its
I leading Resolution, and embodied in petitions to both Houses of
Parliament, .6 That the commercial intercourse bt;arcu Enghtra
and India Is susceptible of great and indefinite extensioo, which i.
prevented by the imposition of extra duties on the products at
and by legal obstructions to the application of British skill and cs-
pital to the cultivation of those products, and entertains a just car.-
fidence that the wisdom and justice of Parliament will, by the ie-
moval of such impediments, give an immediate impulse to the
commercial prosperity of both countries, and incalculably promote
the general interest of India."

3. Moral by Mr. Li MOND and seconded by Mr. J. IV Li.t
That it is an obstruction to the industry of i,.tiividualst, prejudici.J
to good government and to improvement, imd wi•L
positive mercantile loss to the Hon. l'omputty, that it I, huuld cin-
tinue "to employ a considerable portion of its territorial revenue'
in the production and mar.untetine of the d fferent articks com-
posing tl,e internal and export ttAc of the country, where tt also
exercises the powers of govermnett. That the recognismi ei
such a union of incompatible functions appear not susceptible in
medy by any arrangement short of the entire abolition of tbat bunch
of the Company's commercial trar.sactions in India.

4. Moved by Mr. 0. PIIIIISEP, and seconded by Mr. J. ALLAN,
That the throwing open of the China trade monopoly to all subj.,::
of Greatßritain, wheresoever resident, is not less desirable for lndi
than fur England, inasmuch as it will assist in removing one of th
greatest obstructions to our commercial interzourse with the mot',.
country, the difficulty of procuring adequate returns for goods :...
ported, and sill promote tho general of con:inure:al irte. •
course in the EttaL

Co. Moved by DWAIICANATII TAoOUE, and seconded by Pat
SUNATII TAt:OltE, That this wee. ing, cousiticring one of tit.
main legal ebetructions to the cennuereaul, agricultural, sod mar u •
tacturing imprint:m(lns, to coinist in the (an:inch-it which are oppostd
to tin: occupancy or acquisitional:4nd by Ilritisit subjects,andapins•
their free resort to and unmolested residence within the incits el tit •
Company's Administration, does approte and confine the con-
cluding prayer of the former petitions to Patliament fen the •• abo•
lition of all such restrictions on the rest British subjects
and on their residence in India, its are calculated to aff.ct the com-
mercial prosperitY oldie cousin y."
6. Moved by Mr. JA3IEa Youxo, and seconded by Ur. Rourr te.
That it is a duty we owe to the presntt local Gay: minim in
gal, a duty which we discharge with unfeigned pleasure, to crept ens in
the strongest terms our satisfaction and our thanks for the mild-
ness and toleration toot and the European part of the wttiniunity
which it has evinced, and continues to tit:tin:min to the utmost
of its limited powers. In particular, we are bound to notice the re.
motel of a national reproach, and an obstacle to improsemant. by
the recognition of a great principle, in extending generally the rule
of 1624, for permitting Europeans to hold lands for cultivation of
coffee In their own names ; bat stripped of the obnoxious clauses in
that foitucr rule, which placed the property as well as the planter at
the disposal of the local authority. Without perfect security for
person and property it is numilest that true " commercial prosperity"
cannot permanently exist, nor the '• unfettered application of Euro.
peen skill, capital, and industry, to the conitmrcial and agricultural
resources of India, have pl.,ce :" wherefore, although we feel mute
confidence In the liberal dispositions of our present local tutees, ye
desire the establishment of a legal right for all subjects of hi. 31:1•
jest, to establisa themselves and remain in this part of his domi-
nions, subject only to the restraints of just and equal law., duly ad-
ministered in open tribunals.
7. Moved by .ter. It. BROWNE, and seconded by Mr. Pert:lE.
That the unequal duties levied in England upon articles of Indian
produce, compared with the produce of other dependencies of the
crown, are unjust in themselves on the consumer as well as the
producer, and constitute a great obstruction to the industry and
provement of India, and to the beneficial intercourse between der
two countries.

8. Moved by Mr. L. Czanne, and seconded by Mr T.
Drcenws, That this meeting, bearing in mind the circus.
sumstances attending the levying of stamp ditties, end the pro-
bable event of that precedent being followed up by other
taxes fixed upon the inhabitants of Calcutta without their
knowledge even of such intention, seeks from the wisdom of
Parliament some reasonable and constitutional protection
against the enactment of local regulations, which might by
possibility render nugatory nil general securities of property or per-
son, and against which they have no means or opportunity
afforded them of petitioning or remonstrating here or at home.
That in some degree such protection could be afforded them by ex-
tending to India the regulations lately made fcr other remote de-
pendencies of the crown—ramely, that every enactment requirinA
previous sanction from authority in England should be promulgated
by the local Government a sufficient time before it is sent home, to
enable those whose rights or property may be affected by it, to send
in representations through the same channel, or take such steps as
they may deem necessary for being fully heard before measures are
finally adopted which may affect their dearest interests.
9. Moved by Mr. J. BLAT.ON, and seconded by Mr. W. C.
HURRY, That a petition to both houses of parliament be prepared,
embodying the substance of the foregoing resolutions, and that the
petitions so prepared be left for signature at the Exchange, and sub-
sequently transmitted by the standing committee of inhabitants to
Mr. Crawfurd, our general agent, by the earliest opportunity, with
instructions to forward their object with all his zeal and ability, and
to place them for presentation in the hands of Lords Lansdowne and
Grenville, Messrs. Whitmore and lluslisson, or such other mem-
bers of either house u circumstances may enable to act for us with
the best effect.

10. Moved by Mr. J. PALMER, and seconded by Mr. PATRICK,
That the following gentlemen be requested to prepare a petition, and
submit the same forthwith for approval to the meeting :—Mr. J.
Smith, Mr. E. Trotter, Mr. T. Bracken, Mr. J. Minchin, Mr.
Limond, Mr. J. Willis, 51r. G. Prinsep, Mr. J. Allan, Dvrarka.
oath Tagotre, Prusunath Tagote, 111 r. J. Young, Mr. R. Browne.
Mr. Petrie, Mr. L. Clarke, Mr. T. Dieker.s, Mr. J. Ikatcon,
W. C. Hurry, Mr. J. Palmer, Mr. Patrick, and Mr. Melville.
U. Moved by Mr.Baacxzx' and seconded by Mr. ME Les s.t.r,
That the petition now submitted be approved and adopted.
12. Moved by Mr. Mt &unlit, anti seconded by Mr..i..iimEric.
That the thanks of this inectifig be offered to W. W. Whitmore,
Esq. M.P. far his disinterested, persevering, able, and at length
successful exertions in Parliament on our behalf.
13. Moved by Mr. YOUNG, and seconded by Mr. PATRICK,
That the subscription for the support of our general &gel:4,y in Eng-
land as heretofore, and for providing for the nec.ssary expenses of
our petitions. be continued, and that the Treasurers do use all deli.
gence in promoting the same.
14. Moved by Mr. PALMER, and seconded by Mr. Bases sx,
That the thanks of this meeting be given to the Sheriff for his Dad:-
nest in attending to die wishes of the requisitionists.
15. Moved by 111 r. J. SMITH, and seconded by Mr. J. You nu.
That the thanks of this meeting be presented to the Chairman.

BRITISH AND FoREIGN SHARES. TWiw ()CLOCK.
ailAk Z. ?AIM FIR SWUM
300 300 500

Bolan°,
Brazilian Company 20 5
Brazilian Imp. (iss. £5 pm.) 35 20 81
Ditto Subscript. Thirds 5 86
United Itlex, (iss. at £1 pm.) 40 ;96 206

Do. National 25 14 24}
St. John Dil Rey 20 5 94 1 9 I
Real del Monte 400 400 61
Ainance British and Foreign 100 10 10
Van Diemen's Land Agric. 100 10 41 1
Protector Fire 20 2 ,61 ISs 6d
Royal Exchange 20 2 .€1 13$. Od.
Provincial Bank of Ireland 100 25 27i
Real del Monte 400 400 53
Colombian (iss. at E 5 pm.) 55 40 10
Droitwich Patent Salt 25 25 22
United General Gas 50 41 31
Liverpool &Manchester 100 90 152
Continental Gas 25 15 2e _

Australian 100 21 91 I
Bolivar 25 10 19
Anglo Mexican (iss. at £5 pm) 100 100 57f
London 78