Star.
London, England, 1830-10-06 00:00:00

PRIVATE LETTER.

PARIS, Ocr. 3.
You must not be surprised or alarmed at the discussion about Buona.
parte's remains. My own impression is, that it was expressly intro-
duced to show with what indifference the friends of constitutional liberty
regard the memory of a tyrannical conqueror. Even General Istmarque,
while paying a proper tribute of respect to his old commander, who, if
he had lived, would have given him a Marshal's baton, took great pains
to distinguish the hero of Austerlitz from the despot of the Tuileries.
The subject was got rid of by an almost unanimous vote for the order
of the day. The Chamber, as I observed in a former letter, is evidently
anxious to support the Ministers : they have the good sense to
see that order at home and abroad will be best secured by
the cordial co-operation of the Legislature and the Government.—
They are also actuated by selfish motives t the fear of a dissolution
hangs over them,—a dissolution ;which would consign many of them
to comparative obscurity, for there is no doubt that a general election
would produce a very different chamber. A host of ardent and am-
bitious young men would probably be returned, whose vehemence
and inexperience would embarrass the Government,;and might precipitate
it into measures to which it has at present no disposition. The rumour
of a change in the ministry is fast subsiding, and yet it is certain that the
Ministry is less, instead of being more popular. The appointments
made by the Ministers, both of home and foreign affairs, give great
dissatisfaction. Importunate presumption carries off the prise, which
ought to be awarded to modest merit, and family pretensions are preferred
to the claims of long and active service. The King is said to be no
less dissatisfied than the better part of the people; but he has little
power in the Council, where a majority carries every thing for its own
objects. It is thought that his Majesty, who now constantly presides,
will in a short time withdraw his presence from meetings where he is
almost always over-ruled. M. Lafitte lupins to be President of the
Ministers : and if firmness, decision, and practical skill were sufficient
qualifications, a fitter man certainly could not be found, at least among
the members of the present CounciL But surely a statesman should
have some knowledge of state affain, and at a crisis like the present should
have more than an ordinary acquaintance with the political condition of
Europe. Now, even the warmest friends of Lafitte do not pretend that
he possesses any such knowledge, and at an age approaching sixty,
it is rather late to begin to learn. Lafitte, however, is supposed to have
no misgiving on this head. " Neckar, the great banker, was the Mi-
nister of one revolution; why should not he (Lafitte,) a much greater
banker, be the Minister of the second revolution r I should add, that
it is by no means impossible that be may attain the object of his aspira-
tions. If other changes take place, it is thought that it will be merely
an interchange of place between there who are already Members of the
Council, so that those without portfolios may occupy the posts of those
who have; in short, a mere shifting of seats.
The Peers, it is understood, will to-morrow fix the day for the trial
of the late ministers. There seems to be no doubt of the Inuit, and,
except the King, it is said there is not one member of the Govan.
ment, and scarcely is there one member In the Chamber, who does not
see the necessity of the law taking its course on those great
delinquents--at least on one or two of the most guilty. Dread.
tul as such a catastrophe is, it is not so dreadful as that re-action
which might again involve the capital, and perhaps the kingdom,
in all the horrors of anarchy and bloodshed. The royalists, who
an inaccessible to reason, would rise against a Government whose
mercy would be ascribed to want of power and cowardice; and the great
Wily of the nation would utter one shout of indignation against that
:tiistaken philanthropy which would shelter those who Miberate.o
caused the blood of their countrymen to flow like water, and who wne
'fly stopped in their career of massacre by the whole capital rising`
.Aatnst them like one man.
Some particulars have lately transpired respecting !garment, which
Nakc it tortunate for that weak and unprincipled man that he is oat
41' the reach of the national resentment. He certainly would not have
been allowed to escape, had the whole truth been known at the time of
the abdication of Charles X.
P. S. I am glad to see that there is in England as well as France a
s'nely determination to act on the wise pnnciple of non-interference
with Belgian affairs.—Times.

NARRATIVE OF THE LATE STRUGOLE IN
BRUSSELS.

On the evening of Wednesday, the Itzd, it was understood that the
Prince commanding the King's forces had published a proclamation,
stating his intention of entering the city of Brussels, and promising an
amnesty, excepting to the ringleaders of the disaffection end to strangers.
The vague terms of the exception excited no small consternation. Every
man engaged in the affair of course imagined himself of sufficient im-
portance to come within the vengeance denounced by the cont.
mender of the King's forces. Strangers, in particular, were in-
censed, and determined not to be the tame victims of the
Prince's unresisted success. In consequence, they did not re-
gard that part of the proclamation which ordered them to retire
unarmed within their dwellings. Much of the ultimate success of the
revolutionists is due to the gallantry of the foreigners who, from various
causes, arrived in Brussels. English, Scotch, Irish, Americans, French
(in considerable numbers), and Spaniards, all fought well; sonic ac-
tuated by attachment to the popular cause, others by the natural pug-
nacity of their characters, and many front the conviction that, implicated
or not in the practices of the revolutionists, they would be equal endurers
of the sufferings which it was not doubted that the Dutch, if successful,
would inflict.

Had the Prince proclaimed a general amnesty, and marched in at the
head of his Belgian forces, and not attempted to force the Dutch Pol-
-1 dices into the city, I am confident he would not have been resisted.—
' AI any of the most opulent inhabitants were attached to the cause of the
Crown. They felt and appreciated the commercial advantages resulting
from the Royal residence at Brussels ; they had experienced the evils re-
sulting from several weeks' stagnation of business; were wearied of sod.
dieting, and desirous to compromise, on any reasonable terms. A party
certainly was determined to attempt to achieve a revolution at all hazards;
but their efforts would have been rendered abortive (had the Prince
acted more consistently) by the men of property, who had much
to lose and little to gain by a revolution, and by the disinclination of
the lower class of inhabitants to continue the longer endurance of the
great privations they had undergone, for several of the bourgeois soldiers
were almost starving. To prove this, I shall just mention one fact :
Two gentlemen who had been walking about the city on this evening
(Wednesday. the 22d) were taken up by the Garde Bourgeoise, and con-
ducted to their hotel to ascertain if they were the persons they described
themselves. These gentlemen requested the guard to partake of some
refreshment, and the poor fellows ate like famished men and stated that
for several days they had scarcely tasted bread— that their present supply
had given them new vigour, and requested to be allowed to carry with
them a loaf or two of bread for their comrades. Though thus evidently
lenduring starvation, the Garde Bourgeoise committed no excess ; and I
can speak from personal experience of the admirable conduct of most of
the privates of that corps : not so of most of their officers.
Thus stood the matter on Wednesday evening; the Prince had an*
army under his command ; he enjoyed popularity in the city ; he
was aided by famine and disorganization prevailing amongst his op-
ponents, who were deserted by the priecipal part of their chiefs,—
the foul cravees who blenched from the helm when the wind blew
the hihest, but who returned when success became probable, to
guide the efforts of those few who still struggled on when all was dark,
gloomy, and hopeless.
Despite all his advantages, in opposition to all human foresight, the
Prince has been the defeated piety. His Highness was aided by many
circumstances, but he forgot he had a formidable opponent in the cx.
cited, the ineleAsibably excited hatred of the Belgians to the Dutch,'
and which could only be rendered tractable by a conqueror's success, or'
by the conciliation of a beloved Prince. His Highness had the choice
of two courses—to enter Brussels in triumph, as the vanquisher of the
Belgian nation, or as the friend of the people, relying on their love,
and unaided by a mercenary foreign army, as the Dutch are con.
sidered by his Belgic subjects. The Prince was indecisive: he
adopted neither course, but traversed front one to the other. To
pursue the first course, and to enter as a conquering Prince,
he oniTbutsday, the.23d, required but a few resolute troops for the
disunion of his enemies and the flight of their chiefs would have left
but little for disciplined men to effect. To have adopted successfully
the other alternative, and to have commanded in Brussels as a Prince
beloved by the people, he needed only to have granted a more precise
amnesty, and have promised to enter the city with those troops alone
who were Belgians by birth, and who, as events have proved, were not
inclined to desert his cause till its success became more than dubious,
and that of his opponents was absorbingly popular.
When in possession of Brussels, he might have conciliated all parties,
for the people were weary of anarchy, and the possession of the capital
' by the King's forces would have crushed the hopes of the revolutionists
in other places. It is difficult to say what the Prince designed : his
attack on the town was just sufficient to excite hatred and inspire con-
tempt his soldiers must be most atrocious cowards—their leaders the
vilest of traitors, or the most unspeakable idiots.
On Thursday morning, the 23d, the Prince entered in the direction
of Scaerbeck: his troops marched down the rue Royale, and entered the
park. At seven in the morning, he had encountered but little resist.
ante, and at this period I first saw the conflict. The Place de Louvain
(which lies between the gate of Scaerbeck and the Park) wax at this time
ddended by not more than f3O or 70 undisciplined Bourgeois, with only
one officer that I could distinguish. They complained bitterly that they
were betrayed, and I did not imagine that above an hour would elapse
before the Prince would have had full possession of the town,
of which he already occupied the higher part, with the con-
sequent means of early subduing the remainder. At this time
(about seven in the morning) the Prince's army exhibited them-
selves in considerable force (of cavalry and infantry), taking up po.
sitions in front of the the streets, which, however, they speedily retired
from, sheltering themselves behind the corners of the houses, though
they were resisted only by a handful of the Bourgeois and a few stran-
gers, who fought behind the barricades, which had been thrown up
eery carelessly, and which were not of sufficient height or breadth to have
offered any malarial obstacle to either foot or horses a very indif-
ferent hunnter would have thought little of leaping these barriers.
At this time there was no firing from the houses. 1 saw the in.
habitants close their doors, and refuse to allow their houses to be
used as forts for the defence of the city against the Prince's forces.
The Prince, however, instead of advancing, commenced to re.
treat ;:his troops yielded up several of the barticades they possessed,
and retired behind the trees of the Boulevards. Their cowardice is
inconceivable to men who have not witnessed it. I saw six persons
drive a company of Dutch from a barricade. Amongst these six
were, a gallant French youth, apparently about 16 years of age, one
of the bravest of the brace ; a Belgian, who displayed the most ad. ,
venturous valour the whole day ; and two brothers, the eldest of
whom, in 1825. obtained the double first honours of Oxford, and
the other a member of the Jamaica Assembly. Both these brothers were
wounded, the latter slightly, but she former very 'evenly in several'
places, partieularly by a shot, which, at a later period of the day, he re-
ceived through the leg at the Place Royal, whilst leading on the Bour-
geois at the Café de I'Ansitie, in front of the Park. He was
carried from the field by his brother and an Irish gentleman to
the next hospital ; some of the vagabonds who were in the rear endea.
vowing to rob him. He was afterwards removed from the hospital to
his hotel by the Bourgeois, and almost stifled with caresses. Several
ladies of Brussels have continued to visit him during the procrastinated
cure of his wounds, expressing their gratitude to him for having come
express frogs Paris to defend them when many of the leaders of the
pe-ople had deserted them. Gen. Van Helen called on him to express
h approval of his conduct and that of his brother, which last had
been his companion in his nocturnal expeditions to surprise the enemy
in the Park, and who was introduced by the General to the Provision.
ary Government as one of two brothers who had eminently served the
cause of the people, and well deserved that medals should be awarded
them.

But these acts of bravery were at this period of the fitst day almost
solitary, and a general depression lowered over the city. About nine
o'clock an side-de-camp of the Priuce,and as I understood a Count, but
whore precise title I do not remember, appeared on horseback at a cor-
ner of a street near the Place Louvain. He waved a white handkerchief,
and called on the Bourgeois to advance to him. They did so, princi-
pally the six individuals before-mentioned, who were in advance. Whilst
the aide de-camp was stating the message he had received, a rabble
broke in and dragged him off his horse. At first I considered they were
showing their gratification at his arrival, but I discovered they intended to
treat him as a prisoner, and to insult him. The gentlemen before men-
tioned (Messrs. Beautnonts) and several of the Bourgeois, defended
him at their own imminent bawd; they dragged off his epau-
lets, and tore away his cockade ; still the gallant man,; as he was car-
ried through the streets, manifested no particle of fear, his cheek was
unbleached and no sign of dread came over him; occasionally his fine
aristocratic face was lightened by a smile of scorn he cast on his base
assailants. All that the really brave men could do to defend him was
done at their own imminent peril. Ile was guarded to a barracks, and
it was stated he would be considered as a prisoner, in retaliation of a
similar detention of one of the delegates from Brussels. It is
due to the bourgeois soldiers to say, that they in no way partici-
pated in the infliction of the insults this brave man received ; it
was the sculking cowards who assailed him, and one of them attempted
to assail him with a dagger, which was wrenched out of his hand
by one of the Messrs. Beaumont and a bourgeois. A most intolerable
coward boasted he had made the aide.de-camp • prisoner. As well
might Isaac of York have boasted of making Ivanhoe a captive to his
spear, or Woraba, Ike witless, that he had vanquished King Richard
with a shield of brawn. The Courier des Pays. Bas contains a dispute
between two other persons,who both claim to have made an officer of rank
. If they allude to the aide-de-camp I am referring to, they
prisonera both an equal right to the honour of his capture. The truth is,
he came with a flag of truce, and was detained in reprisal ; and, as far
as I know, justly Mained, for I have seen the Princes troops more than
• once fire on the white leg of the Bourgeois.
The detention of the aided!-amp gave vigour to the Prince's op-
pandits, for a report was speedily propagated that the Dutch bad
been beaten, and she aids-do-map of the Prince, " and several ofii-
cers," made prisoners. Then forth came the coward and the dubious
man. The revolutionary party understood well the value of such ru-
mours. Immediately after the event of the Prince's aidc-de.canip
coming in, a considerable number of volunteers came forweid, and
proceeded with them to the Place Royale, which lies on the oppo-
spite side of the Park to the Place de Louvain, from which last the

Dutch lad L. .1. beam', or rather 1.. d most shamefully run away
from allsolut, fright. Indeed, the face of a Dutchman was scarcely
discernible duHig the whole period of tyre extraordinary conflicts.
At the Place Royale two young Irishmen, resident in Brussels.
(whole names I do not mention for obvious reasons,) distinguished
themselves tight valiantly, and made repeated attempts to induce
the Bourgeois to resort to the bayonet ; but I never saw this course
adopted.
fine first day of the conflict many of the townsmen were killed and
wounded, because there was no discipline, and no small portion of the
rabble was intoxicated.
The succeeding day there was some confidence, and the Provisionary
Government published a proclamation without any signatures. In the
night an expedition was or;anized to surprise the soldiers in the pat k.
1 saw the Bourgeois at midnight assembled in the Hotel de Ville; hut
they had no stomach for the tight, and many declared they would not
go to the butchery. The expedition did not succeed—whether rendered
abortive by treason or cowardice 1 know rot- On Saturday all was
gloom. It was understood that the city was to be surrendered. The
lower class of citizens were in great distress from hunger, and I saw many
instances of armed bourgeois asking bread from the inhabitants, but
they demanded nothing else.
On Sunday, the 26th, there was a continued firing from the Bour-
geois into the Park, but the Dutch being sheltered by a deep hollow,
in which they were lying hid, could not have sustained much loss : the
trees were the greatest surerem Had many of the Dutch fallen, num-
bers would have remained on the field, or large graves must have
appeared, or numerous waggons would have been seen convey-
ing oft' the slain. None of these circumstances took place,
therefore hut few must have been killed. On Monday, the
17th, when the Park was evacuated, I did not see so much
as twelve botl;es : there might have been more, but I speak of
what I raw, and I walked through the old Park, but there was
an immense assemblage of empty bottles, from which the
spirit had departed, but certainly not entered the heads of the Dutch.
men, for even their proverbial Dutch courage did not avail them. How
the Dutch came to quit the Park I do not know, as I did not see them
decamp, but my opinion is that they " summoned up a coward mind,
and ran away." The cowardice of the Dutch is, I fear' unbelievable,
excepting by eye-witnesses. I who saw the wonder, can hardly imagine
it possible.
During all the period of the four days the Dutch threw occasional
bombs,rockets,and red.hot shot into the city; theydeatroycd I or 2 houstas,
and excited the hatred and contempt of all classes. These soldiers
of Holland kept themselves mit of the way of all danger, but made a
most vigorous attack upon the dram-bottles, as the untenanted bodes
of the numerous slain I found at their quarters amply evinced. The ,
homely apophthegm says, that Dutchmen require their courage to be
excited; but nought excited that of the Dutch at Brussels. Oxen
and wain-ropes may drag them to the combat, but native courage
never : they resist even the charm of their bottles. " A plague of all
cowards I"

P.S. I made every inquiry relative to the charge of rape made
against the Dutrh, and I have no reason to believe it founded on fact. An
English gentleman whom they had visited stated to me that they only
ravished a few silver spoons, &c.—Times.

SPIRIT OF THE JOURN.ILS.

Tutzs—.The de Potters, and their republican partisans, are now at
the head of affairs in Belgium, and their " High Mightinesses" of die
States-General are only the subjects of the new Government which tie
Potter directs. Their invitation, therefore, to the Prince of Orarge to
proceed to Brussels, may be of little value. Had his Royal Highness
been as popular as he once was in Belgium, and had his merits as the
advocate of the project of separation, not been counterbalanced by other
conduct to which we need not more particularly advert, he would na-
turally have occurred to the insurgents as the proper person to
be placed at their head. But we defer to a future oppor-
tunity any farther remarks or speculations on this subject.—
The Brussels and English papers seem, since the repulse of the Dutch
troops, to have taken a particular pleasure in dwelling on the atrocities
which they are alleged to have committed during their fruitless attacks.
The accounts which they give are either entire fictions or gross exagt e.
rations, and we feel DOC a little mortified that any respectable English
journal should have allowed itself to become the vehicle of such
incredible crlumnies. We shall not go over the catalogue of alleged
excesses one by one, and point out their gross improbability in
the circumstances of the parties, but shall content ourselves with
one sample, which ought to have opened the eyes of our cootem-
to the character of his authority. After ascribing to the ma-
lignity of the Dutch against the English, some misfortunes (such as the
death of Lord Blantyre) which are known to have been purely mei-
dental, and some acts of cruelty which, either never occurred or were
perpetrated by the Brussels rabble, this inventory of crime has the fol.
lowing most appalling article of intelligence :—" An English servant,
living in the faubourg of Schaerheck, was crucified at the door,
burnt by a slow fire, and his body pierced with balls and bayonets."
We shall not allow ourselves to make a scene of real calamity the sub-
ject of profane merriment; but if we could be tempted to such an act,
what a rich treat we should find in the bill of fare here presented by our
contemporary 1 We are aware that he might have been misled at first
by the reverend character of his correspondent, from whom the üblic
may afterwards learn further details, under the captivating title of Dutch
Atrocities " Illustrated," but he should have inquired whether that
correspondent might not have the little judgment which he possesses
so perverted by partisanship, as to make him the dupe of any
impostor who personates tthe character of a Belgic patriot. If he
had so inquired, he would have found that his letter-writer not only has
adopted the side of the Belgians against the Dutch Government—not
only has worn the tricolour of independence—but has actually shoul-
dered the musket with the Burgher Guard. Far be it from us to sus-
pect him of exposing his life during the battle, when perhaps he was
only thicking of exposing the character of his enemies, but the very eir.
cumatance of his joining the insurgents invalidates his testimony on
those points in which his Belgic friends had the greatest interest to de.
ceive him. Let him say that he himself saw this crucifixion and confla-
gration of an English servant, and we will believe the story, but not
till then. In a former age, when our jealousy of the Dutch was to
be wrought upon in order to exasperate us to a declaration of war, Dry-
den accuses them of a disposition to " pickle" John Bull—but never to
crucify him.
" The Straits, the Guinea-trade, the Herrings too,
Nay—to keep friendship, they will pickle you."
It would not have entered into the imagination of the satirist, who has
recorded the massacreof Amboyna, and who always allows his eilemies
a sufficient portion of revolting cruelty, that a Dutchman would " cru-
cify, and roast and riddle with balls," the subject of his English ally
out of mere pastime, when he nitght have been so much better em-
ployed in killing his Belgic foes. But it would appear note, that with
every motive to treat our ancient Allies with kindness, and with none
of the ancient reasons for jealousy, we arc to heap upon them every mea-
sure of calumny, exclaiming with the satirist whom we have above al-
luded to-
4, Think on their rapines, falsehood, cruelty ;
And that which once they were, they still would be.'

Cnaosticts.—We would fain persuade ourselves that there is exag-
geration in the accounts of the outrages to which the English at Brus-
sels have been subjected, but we fear that there is but too much founda-
tion for them. The letter which we inserted yesterday is from a gen-
tleman who gave us his name, and we have seen no contradictions
which were not anonymous. The following letter, on the subject
of the death of Lord Blantyre, sufficiently disproves the state.
meet in The Courier of last night, that it was accidental.
Our Correspondent is a respectable gentleman of this metro-
polis, and his authority is an officer just returned from Brussels, whom
we know to be of unquestionable character:—
" To TitE EDITOR OF THE MORNING CHRONICLE.
"Sift,—la reference to the statement of the lb/trier in reply to your
Correspondent, ' that Lord Blantyre was killed by a random shot
whilst in the act of closing a window,' and the inference that the dca:h
of this excellent Nobleman is not to be attributed to the fury of
;he Dutch troops ; 1 beg to inform you, that I have just learned from
an officer of unquestionable character, who was at Brussels at the time,
that Lord Blantyre's house was tired into by the ferocious Dutch troops,
and that his Lordship received the fatal shot en the staircase, as he was
descending to the ground floor. So much for the Courier's veracity in
this particular.--I am, Sir, your humble servant, " FROTH."
e insert also the following letter, on another point on which we may
have been misinformed. The writer has not given his name to us, so
that the letter is but anonymous:—
To THE EDITOR OF THE 31ORNIN6 CHRoNICLE.-81r, Having
resided for many years in the Netherlands, I can positively deny the
statement contained in your respectable Paper of this morning, via.
—" That in' Brussels it was understood if any English family visited
in a Belgian family, they were exciuded from English society." On
the contrary, many of the most respectable English were on terms of
the closest intimacy and friendship with some of the principal families
in Belgium. and received the Oust marked hospitality at their seats
in the country, whereas in Brussels they were not In the habit of enter-
taining. So far from the English despising their acquaintance, they
were but too anxious to be permitted to become members of the " noble
balls," exclusively Belgian, and were generally admitted with the
greatest politeness. As a sincere friend to the Belgians, as well
as to the House of Orange, from whom the English experienced the
greatest kindness and favour, I request you will contradict a paragraph
so utterly devoid of truth. The conduct of the Belgians during their
late strugle has been most kind and considerate towards foreigners, and
more especially to the English. I remain, Sir, your most obedient
servant, 11. N. W.

Prince Paul of Wurtemberg is represented to have nc-
cepted the vacant throne of Greece, but only on condition
of an additional grant of territory. The Turk, it is true,
will have to give his consent, and some of the great powers
of Europe have a few urgent calls upon their attention just
now, se that the Prince may continue some time longer, a
gentleman of great expectations.—Haniburgh Reporter.