Star.
London, England, 1822-07-04 00:00:00


' GENERALWASIIINGTON4 LORD ERSKINE..! TIM LATE J. HUNTER BLAIR, ESQ. M.P.
_ 1 -
When Lord EREMI/In wrote his a View of the Few indivilinals have depareed this transitory lire
Causes and Consequences of the Mir with France," more regretted than this amiable. Gentleman, who
he sent a copy to General WAsurnoioir, with the expired on the 24th ultimo, at Gorden's Hotel; Albe.
following Note, written with his own band on a blank marle-street, after an illness of only seven days data- •
page of the book: (inn. He was an accomplished classic scholar, spoke
a Loam, March 15, 1797. I with fluency the French, Italian, and German lan-
" Sia—l hive taken the liberty to introduce your august and
immortal name in a short sentence which is to be found in the guages, and had attained considerable proficiency in
book I send you. I have a large acquaintance amongst the most . the fine arts. In his politics he was a staunch advo-
valuable and exalted classes of men, but you are the only human cate for the Constitution as established in Church and
being for whom I ever felt an awful reverence. I sincerely pray ' State. In the performance of his Parliamentary duties
GOD to grant a long and serene evening to a life so gloriously de-
he was most assiduous; and as a Member of the
voted to the universal happiness of the world.
"To General Washington." "T. ERSKINE." Agricultural Committee, he distinguished himself by
The following is a copy of the passage referred to: discovering an intimate acquaintance viith the subject
4 The pretence of a war waged against opinions, to check, as under consideration. He was particularly zealous in
it was alleged, the contagion of their propagation, as equally promoting, in the House of Commons, the interest of
senseless and extravagant. The same reason might equally unite
all nations, in all times, against the progressive changes which Scotland ; and, amongst other• beneficial measures
have conducted from barbarism to light, and from despotism to brought for ward by him, that of compelling the Scotch
freedom. It ought indissolubly to have combined the Catholic Counties to be.ir a proportion of the expense attending
kingdoms to wage eternal war, till the principles of the Reforma-
tion, leading to a new civil establishment, bad been abandoned. the rebuilding and repairing the jails of the Royal
Burghs, has proved of the first importance. In pri.
• a It should have kept the sword unsheathed until the unitedßurghs,
provinces returned to the subjection of Spin—untll King Wit- vale life he was beloved by men of all parties, and
ham's title and the establishment of the British Revolution had his memory will be long remembered in the county
given way to the persons and prerogatives of the &uarts—sod of Wigton, which he has represented since the retire-
until Washington, instead of yielding up the cares of a Republican men_ of
Empire to a virtuous and free people, in the face of an admiring
and astonished world, should have been dragged u
a traitor to Lieutenant-General Sir WM. STEWART, in 1817.
the bar of the Old Bailey, and his body quartered on Tower-hill."

The FATE V MURAT: KING of NAPLES.

The following interesting particulars respecting the
fat* of the unfortunate JOAQUIM Mutuvr, and the

tieachery by which he was betrayed into his last fatal
enterprise, are from a source on which we can rely,
and are entirely new to the Public

King JOAQUIM was a stranger to courage but at
the mouth of the cannon. In the field, he was
man—in the cabinet, one of the most undecided, and.

SPORTIAG IN! ELIGENCE.

consequently, weak Princes to whom the destinies of
a people were ever committed. To this latter feature
in his character may be ascribed his fall, and the de-
plorable condition to which the Neapolitans are now
reduced.. Previously to the attack of the Austrians
on this Prince, which ended in his destruction, that

There has been a great mortality among the rouse upon the
Westmorland Moors this season. The shepherds find them dead
in great quantities: with scarcely any flesh upon them, but the
cause is hitherto unaccounted for. The late dry weather, too,
has been extremely unfavourable to the young broods, so that is
is expected to be the worst season ever remembered.

Astcrenea SRA ar Susves.—An account appearing in the News-
papers of a Liverpool hairdresser shaving 82 men in an hour,
J. Finney, of Hardens, Staffordshire, who heard of it, undertook
to shave 100 in the same time, which he completed, in a superior
manner, within one second of the hour, and was afterwards
chaired through the town in triumph.

PEDESTRIANISM.
Betteridge started last Monday evening, about seven o'clock,
to run 10 miles in one hoer and three minutes, over a half-mile
piece of ground on the 011 Dover Road, near Shooter's-hill, for
a bet of 10 sovereigns. He ran the fine five miles in 31 minutes
and a half; the neat three miles were run in 19 minutes and a
half, and only 12 minutes were left him to tun the last two
miles. Betting was three to two on time. The ninth mile was
run in six minutes. Betteridge was quite fresh, and the last mile
was run in five minutes and a half. He won by half a minute.
Saturday, the 22d ult. a match of running took place at Wing-
bans, between the married men and bachelors of that place;
which was won by the latter, to the no small chagrin of their
opponents; who, from their success in former years, had risked
considerable sums of money that they again carried off the palm
of victory.

spirit of freedom—that breathing after constitutional
liberty—which has since manifested itself in the king-
dom of Naples, but, unfortunately, only, at least for
the present, to be subdued, existed from one end of
the country to the other; and Mom himself was
not altogether unfriendly to its cultivation, nor
to the consolidation of its great objects, well know-
ing that the tenure of his crown was in no small de-
gree dependent on a conformity in his Government to
the spit it of the age. Such, howevtr, was the inde-
cision of this Monarch's character, and so great his
fear of bringing down on him, by a change of sys-
tem, and an acquiescence in the ardent desires of
those whom he governed, the wrath of his neigh-
bours, and of exposing himself to be abandoned by
professed allies, whose support had been promised on
conditions to which MURAT never could pardon him-
self fo7 having consented, that his assurances to his
People never received their accomplishment; and he
was himself hurled from his throne, as an eye sore to
legitimacy, at the moment when a decision of cha-
racter, and an honourable fulfilment of his repeated
declarations, would have guaranteed his security, and
placed Naples in a high rank, as a constitutional Imo-
narchy, among the nations of Europe. After all,
will not say that Waar did not entertain any love
for that principle—l mean the principle arising -out
of legitimacy and despotism united—of which he
was ultimately the victim. MURAT was a fool : his
people were sacrificed.
But if MURAT was of an indecisive character, and
if enlightened Europe—not the legitimates—now be-
moan the consequence of his indecision, such, at least
in one respect, as will be evinced by what I am going
to relate, was not the character of his legitimate suc-
cessor—the perjured tragic actor at Laybach !
Shortly after the restoration of the aow celebrated
FERDINAND, sonic letters of JOAQUIN, which he had
written from Corsica to some of the Nobles of his late
Court, and which, in the eyes of legitimacy, were of
a treasonable nature, fell into the hands of the Nea-
politan Minister of Police. The Minister waited on
the per sons to whom they were addressed. He stated,
that he held in his hands letters from the Usurper,
which were of a highly criminal nature, but of the
contents of which, although addressed to them, the
KING, who had never doubted their fidelity, would
not believe they had any knowledge. "To prove
your fidelity," added this unprincipled Minister,
" there remain; only one course to be taken ; and that
is, for you to affix your signatures to the answers
which I have prepared to this correspondence." The
parties were thunderstruck, and as no hesitation could
be shewn, they instantly complied with the Minister's
demand. The answers assured MURAT of the un-
bounded attachment of the Neapolitans to hint, and
of their enthusiasm in his cause. They represented
the whole population as being ready to take up arms
in his favour; and that he had only to present him-
self once more on their shores, in order instantly to
regain his throne 1 They stated that the bearer of
the letters was a person chosen to conduct him back
to his capital; that he enjoyed their full confidence,
and possessed the requisite talents for giving com-
plete effect to so confidential a mission ; and that he
had only to place himself under his direction, in re-
spect to quitting Corsica and landing in Italy, when
all would be well, and his MAJISTY shortly wel-
comed back to Naples by his devoted subjects !
MURAT could not doubt the truth of the persons of
whose signatures he had a perfect knowledge ; and
therefore embarked from Corsica under the escort of
this pretended confidential agent, who was an ens-
ployi of the Police, and landed in Calabria, where
he was instantly shot Thus is the mystery revealed,
of MURAT'S apparent insanity in invading his former
dominions with only one or two attendants ; and thus
have we another specimen of a legitimate act in its
quintessence!

CHAatzs V. who bad so long distinguished him-
self as a persecutor of all who differed front the or-
thodox faith, appears in his retirement to have come
to his senses on the subject of intolerance. He had
thirty watches on his table, and observing that no
two of them marked the same time, he exclaimed—
, a How could I imagine that in matters of religion I
could make all men think alike r A servant carelessly
entering his cell, threw down all the watches. The
, Emperor laughed and said—" Us are more lucky
than I, for you have found the way to make them all
16° together 1"