Star.
London, England, 1814-10-08 00:00:00

FRAcNCH PAPERS.

PARIS, OC I 013. R s.
S;x Booksellers, the distributors of seditious pamph-
lcte have just been arrested. One of these libels is
wri eel' by a Sep emberiaer, another by a Regicide,
not °illy wish the blood of the King, but
vveHh th it of theusands of victims who perished in
1793, ..ad whose deatlt-warrants he signed--ethis is
quite enough to thew the filth which they contain.
Lut we se little dread their effects, that we intend
givi-e; an account of them by arid bye.—Journal der
Long accustomed to prodigies, we scarly notice
those that now pass before our eyes. It is true, how-
ever, that of all the miracles operated in the course
of a few years, the greatest is the present. happiness
enjoyed by France. Could we reasonably expect so
deep a calm after so long 'a storm ? In order the
better to appreciate .our situation in October, let us
recall our state in the month of March in the same
year.
France was a prey to invasion from the Rhine to
the Loire, from the Alps to the mountains of Au-
vergne, tr. m the Pyrenees to the Garonne. Paris
was occupied by the enemy. Five hundred thousand
Russians, Germans, and Prussians, assembled on the
ri,.ht be, k of the Rhine, were ready to second the
e IF its of their countrymen by a second invasion,
vetichf. would I ave. completed the ee olation of
Ftance. All Eptin was pr. paring to doss the Py-
Tepees in the tr..in of the English, Spanish, and Por
teeuese armies. Xslore than a million of Frenc' men
htd, in the space of thirteen months, been call d to
the field of battle.
A madieran, to whom peace e as incessantly offer-
ed, olevinately resolved to tear the last man and the
last cro it f. •.m tee- nnfOrtucate country, to Sul-port
beyond its troatiers a monstrous system of war, and
Widliti a tyranny still more ho rible. Did he succeed
in protractile; the contest ? France bade lair in a
few mosahs to present noth'ng but one vast heap of
ash !s. Did he at last accept of p. ace ?—that peace
could no linger be made but on conditions dish'.
n urable to him and to our country. We sl ould
tare been compelled to pay enrrmous contributi. ns,
and to give tip our (pettier towns as securities for
the tube trent of the treaty.
Humblel in his pride, and disappointed in.his am-
bitir n, Bonaparte would have filled the empire with
mourning and proscriptions. The lists wet e already
made, the eictims. painted ont, whole towns con-
demned, and sequestrations and plunder would have
billowed their execution. Civil broils would perhaps
have crowned the devastations of foreign war, and
sangqinati despotism would have sat for ever on the
rums il.Fraace.
E What, at that moment, was our only hope ? A
family, which we had load:d with every evil, as a
mead for the benefits which it had showered down
upon us for so many ages I net banished Family,
alneet feigotten by its ungrateful children, did not
find amo. gst strangers, a livelier recollection or
gre...e sispeert. War was not waged for her, not
any the misfortunes by which France was crush-
ed, toted be impe ed to its members,
At Cheellou the Allies treated fer peace with Bo-

naparte sincerely. Scarcely was Monsieur allowed
to lollow, alm .4 unattended, and at a great dis.
tance, the invading armies. He slept amidst the
'nuns which Bonaparte had occasioned, wiped off the
e rs of the peasantry who collected around him,
assisted our wounded conscripts, and out of his Royal-
prerogatives could only exert those beneficent dispo-
slions which he had inherited with the blood of St.
Louis. The Luke of Angouleme was only consi-
dered as a simple volunteer in Lord Wellington's
Army.
At Jersey, the Duke of Berry vainly solicited the
favour of being thrown with his two Aides-de-Camp
on the coast ef France ; and so little did he rely on
the success of h:s courageous undertaking, that he
had caused the lease of his house in London to be
renewed.
It was at that moment of despair, that PUOVIDENCE
achieved the work, which it would perform alone, in
order to make its hand visible to mankind. The
host of the strangers enters Paris. GOD changes the
hearts of Princes, and opens the eyes of the French.
A cry of Vive le Roi saves the world. Bonaparte
exclaims that he is betrayed. Betrayed, Heavens !
by whom, unless by -himself ! Was a more extraor-
dinary and more affecting fidelity than that of his
army ever witnessed Never have French soldiers
displayed mote heroism than at the very msment
when, detesting the author of our calamities, they
still respected in him their commander, and would
have-perished with him had he known how to die.
But when he had obtainei his life, with the mil.
lions which he had the courage of asking, France
turned towards her real father; who returned from
banishment without any stipulations, without any
treaty, without treasures, empty handed, as when
he departed, but his heart overflowing with that
affection and mercy, the natural attributes of our

Kings.
What did this Prince find at his arrival ? Four
hundred thousand foreigners in the heart (f France ;
seventeen hundred millions of debt ; disorganized
armies that had nit been paid Ix many months ;
more than 30,000 officers who justly claimed a living
and rewards ; 400,000 prisoners ready to revisit
their country, and to increase the embarrassment of
the moment ; a Constitution to be created, fears to
quell, hopes to fulfil, parties embattled on the field,
and all the elements of a civil war.

It appeared prudent to many, that the King, in
the midst of so many difficulties, ignorant of the na-
ture of the ground which he trod, of the prevailing
opinions, of the dispositions of men in France, and
unknown himself to his people, should preserve a
oreign force round his person. His Majesty nobly
'rejected that proposal.
An honourable peace caused the Allies to retire
.from our territory, without its costing us any contri-
butions or fortresses. We preserved our ancient fron-
tiers and were even aggrandised on the side of Savoy.
The monuments of the arts remained in our posses-
sion. All this was the fruit of the esteem in which
the Allies held his Majesty. A charter insured our
' political rights. In a short time that army, so em-
barrassing through its numbers, has seen almost all
its arrears paid off, and the rest on the eve of being
so. The Officers whom the new military organiza-
tion has left without employment, receive in the Iro-
eonr of their families a pension which ensures them
that honourable repose, the natural recompense of
glory. Property has been guaranteed, confidence
revives, manufactures resume their labours, and all
Move with rapid strides towards prosperity. The
*toleration, the genius, and the virtues of a single
Man, have operated these prodigies. They have not
cost France a single drop of blood. No one has
been threatened nor persecuted for his opinions.—
No prison has yawned, save to restore the victims
of tyranny to freedom. No arbitrary act of power
has been joined to so many acts of mercy and of
goodness I We are too close to these wonders or
appreciate their full value; but history will transmit•
them to the admiration of men. It will add to the
name of Louis the Desired, the epithet of wise, which
France has already bestowed on one of her Kings.
Had certain persons been believed, who had pri-
vate reasons fur spreading those reports, France was
going, at the arrival of the Bourbons, to become the
theatre of reaction and of vengeance. What can they
now say ? What ! net a single execution, not a
single imprisonment, not a single banishment, to con-
sole their prophetic spirits ?
When Charles H. returned to England, the Par-
liament caused several criminals to be tried. At
Louis XVlllth's return every one preserves his life,
his fortune, and his liberty, and certain men lose
nothing, save their honour.
Whatever opinion may have previously been enter-
tained, it is generally agreed that France has not
been happier at any period than during the four
months that have passed since the restoration of the
Monarchy. There is no Frenchman who does not
carry in his heart the consciousness of his enfran-
chisement and full liberty. Every one sleeps, certain
of not being called up in the middle of the night to
be dragged by spies to the police, or by gendarmes to
a military tribunal. The Freeholder knows that he
shall preserve his property, the mother her boy : she
no longer dreads every morning to see a new con-.
scription posted up in the streets. The farmer, the
mechanic, no longer torture their minds, to know
before-hand how they will redeem their sole remain-,
ing son. The conscript, who ceases to be one, no
longer seeks to mutilate himself, in order to avoid
death.
Taxes alone still weigh upon France ; but at least
it is positively known that they will be reduced in a
given time, and that they will not be arbitrarily im-
posed by the First Authority of the State, or even by,
Prefects, Sub-Prefects, Mayors, and Adjoints.
The State has debts, and they must be paid. But
wfm has contracted those debts ? Is it the King, or
the Man of the Island of Elba ? Might not the
King have said—" I am not obliged to acknow-
ledge the debts of BOnaparte. The fortune which
most of the Contractors have made will sufficiently
repay them for the loss which they may experknce."
What reply could have been made ? But his Ma-
jesty has thought that his honour was concerned, as
welt as that of all France, in scrupulously liquidating
every debt which might be considered as incurred by
the State, and through that good faith, worthy a
descendant of Henry IV. he imparts a credit to
France which will double public prosperity.
Thus the great misfortunes with which the return
of the Bourbons threatened uh are reduced to a few

'smarms, which, when their origin is searched, are
always found to spring from some deceived hope, as
the refusal of a place vainly applied for.
One half of France, under the late despotism, was
paid by the other. How could such an abuse be long
maintained ? Could Bonaparte himself, had he re-
mained on , the throne without being the master of
Europe, have kept all the places which he had created ?
He had already ceased to pay their revenue. To
silence the discontented, he would have shot them.
B:sides, can all the traces of a Revolution of 25
years be erased in the space of six months ? At the
death of Henry IV. old Leaguers were found who
applauded the parricide committed by Ravaillac.—
We must therefore expect to see for a long while, and
perhaps during our whole life, the opinions of the
French divided on a crowd of subjects. Some will
detest what others love ; these will praise and those
will defame the Government.

According to the Comtitationd Party, the Con
stitution is not sufficiently liberal. According to
the ancient Royalists, we had no need of a Consti-
tution. May we not tell the former—" If there be
any thing defective in the present Constitution, time
will remedy it. The English Constitution, that ob-
ject of your admiration, was net the work of a day.-
-It is sufficient that the foundations of public
freedom be laid amongst us—that the people be re-
presented, and not subject to be taxed without the
consent of its Representatives—that no man should
be exposed to be despoiled, banished, confined, or
put to death in an arbitrary manner. Let us rest a
little on these great bases, and let us breathe at least
after so violent and so rapid a course !"
Might we not say to the latter—The ancient cos
stitution of the kingdom was undoubtedly excellent ;
but can you reassemble its elements? Where will
you find an' independent Clergy, representing by its
extensive possessions a large prtion of the n roperty
of the State? Where will you discover a 'body of
Gentlemen sufficiently numerous to form, by their
ancient feudal rights, by their Lordships, their vas-
sals and their patronage, and their influence in the
army, a coup erpoise to the Crown ? How will you
restore those privileges of provinces and of towns—
those provincial states, those great magisterial bodies
which every where checked the exercise of absolute
power ? Is not even the spirit of those corporations
altered? Will the equality of educations and for-
tunes, the public opinion, or 'the increase of mental
intelligence, permit, in these times, distinctions which
would shock one's vanity ? The institutions of our fore-
fathers, in which we recognize the traces of the holi-
ness of our religion, of the honour of our knighthood,.
of the gravity of our magistracy, are doubtlessly ever
regretted ; but can they be made to revive entirely ?
Since, then, something is necessary, let us be permit-
ted to attempt the honour of the knight by the dig.
nity of the man, and the nobility of the individual by
the nobility of the species.
In vain would you return to ancient times. Na-
tions, like rivers, do not run back to their sources.—
One cannot rest re to the Roman Republic the kn.
vernment of its Kings, nor to the Empire of Augus-
tus the Senate of Brutus. Time' changes every
thing, and its laws can no more be resisted than its
ravages.
Supposing that a little warmth still remains in oar
opinions ; this is a matter which could not be other-
wise. The despotism which has just ended,- had
caused us to deviate from the natural order ; all our
passions had been exalted ; the soldier thought of no-
thing but becoming a Marshal of France, at the ex-
pense cf the lives of a million of Frenchmen ; the
meanest Clerk in the Custom-house saw himself in
perspective a Minister of State ; the journeyman, on
quitting his shop, did not wish to enter it again; our
youth, d:sencurnheied of the domestic yoke, plunged
into all the p'easures and all the chimeras of their
aRe. A duty which was reduced to a meanness,
blindly to obey the will of a master, superseded all
the morality of life. Bonaparte is the visible chief
of evil, as the Devil is its invisible head. Every sort
of disorderly ambition was collected around him, as
the Visions were said to assemble and hang them-
selves on the fatal tree which Virgil places at the
gates of Hell.
At present, it will cost us something to return to
our duty : rest appears to us insipid: but, as order is
the natural state of things, we shall resume, in spite
of ourselves, a taste for upright and legitimate duties
and pleasures.
It is curious to witness the surprise of men accus-
tomed to govern by the violent means of despotism.
They predict revolutions and insurrections which do
not happen : they take their private opinions, their
humours, and their secret interests, for the opinion,
the humour, and the interests of France. There is
.no Administration, say they : this will not do—this
cannot go on.—And why not ? Because nobody has
been shot today on the plain of Grenelle—because
the Police has not sent some dozen of persons to
night to the Castle of Vincennes—because there have
not been brought from the extremity of France a
number of prisoners in poet-cages—because a sufficient
number of spies are not kept in pay—because nobody
is prevented from speaking, writing, and printing
whatever he pleases—because people do not concern
themselves either about the operations of commerce or
agriculture—because the Council of State has not is-
sued a hundred contradictory decrees in a single day—
because having to choose from twenty-five millions of
Frenchmen, it was not thought that all the talents were
not exclusively contained in the heads of a few men
whom public opinion repels, and that these men have
not been called to the head of the Government ?
These persons, (distinguished, however, by their ex-
perience in business,) are notwithstanding bad judges
of the proceedings of a legitimate Government : they
knew only the Revolution and its outrages ; occupied
only in what related to physical strength, they had
no idea of moral powers. They are astonished that
'every thing can go on without efforts, and almost
without any interference ; they do not know that a
legitimate king is a plant which naturally extends its
branches and its roots, strengthens of its own accord,
and affords protection and shelter, for the sole reason
that the heavens and earth are favourable to it, and
that it grows on its natal soil. It is impossible but
that this feeling of security whiCh is now experienced
must penetrate every heart, entering the cottage as
well as the palace, and that in the end it must be
said, " but we are nevertheless happy !"
Let-those who think the Government is weak exa-
mine it by (amend results, and they will see that it
is already much stronger titan the Government of

iron orhich it tuts succeeded. Would it, for enmple.
have been possible to print against the last mentioned
despotism such books as are daily printed against the
existing authority, without that despotism having been
shaken by them?
The most infamous libels, works of the most anda.
cions-nature, are hawked about and publicly 501 d....
Is this nothing to nobody ? Who reads these works?
And if they are read, who are the readers who allow
themselves to be persuaded by them ? It may be said
th it the authors, on signing the libels, destroy the
very effect of their works, as poisons neutralize each
other ; the; the infamy of the author corrects the ve.
nom of the writing. For one reason or an0,11.2r, it is
nevertheless certain, that a Government whicii
scarcely yet date its existence at four or five months,
which has established itself, as we have seen, in the
midst of so many factions and misfortunes, resists a
test which might have overthrown Bonaparte at the
very height of his power. In et:free-houses, it, st•
loons, they decide. dogmatically upon the acts rf
the Government, the laws discussed in the two Chain.
bers are criticised by them—they exclaim —Cley
praise or blame—the march and process of the Go-
vernment appear to them deranged.
France is open in all its parts, it may be travelled
through at pleasure. If she has secret enemies they
have free ingress and egress. They may correspond
and appoint places of rendezvous ; in a word, they
may conspire openly, in public places, and at the very
corners of the streets. Are they feared ? Not at all!
Would BOnaparte have allowed such licence ? The
Xing would even take no precautions against them ;
they may be overwhelmed before the goodness and
indulgence of a paternal Government, which with.
holds the arm justly prepared to punish them. The
King would overpower Vem by the weight of his
excessive goodness and forbearance. They cau, in
fact, °prise nothing formidable against an maim.
rity founded i:: legitimacy and injustice. France,
however, is filled with the adherents and creatures
of Bonaparte, who are protected as the t•tt.t:r cla-
ims, without a thought of guarding again.t them.
A gteat Princess has come under the generous protec.
tion of the King, to take the waters in ~tir provinces.
This Princess could excite the most affecting remem.
brances, for the wound was very deep and very new;
but what' is it that her presence has produced ? Would
it have been possible to imagine the Duchess D' An.
gouleme at the waters of Aix, under the stung g ;-
vernment of tyranny. when yet the name atone cf
Bourbon made the King of Kings to liens ble ? In
a word, the brother of the Stranger is established on
our frontier, where he exhibits a degree of wealth
which it would be more 'decent in him to conce.d.
Have we, at this, testified the least inquietude ?
I Have we demanded his removal ? We should learn

then to judge of the strength of a Government, not
by its administrative acts, but by its degrees of mo-
rality, moderatiot, and justice. The power of Kings
is the most stable, when it proceeds from the light of
their minds or the rectitude of their hearts.
The Bourbons have wandered, almost without an
asylum, on the surface of.the earth; exposed to the
fears of an Usurper, they cauld not, above all, ap.
proach the frontiers of France; without incurring
the risque of their lives, as the 'fate -of the unfiartu.
nate Duc D'Enghien too well has testified. This day
they do not pursue those who have so cruelly perse-
cuted them—they leave these persons to live freely
about them, without manifesting the least lear—
without taking the least of those pretautiems w.)ich
would appear so natural. Who cannot aomire -a
confidence so magnanimous—so total an absence of
all resentments ?
Louis XVIII. is wise, in thus abandoning himself
to the loyalty of Frenchmen, he iocontestibiy proves
the legitimacy of its rights, and the solidity of his
throne ! It would appear -that he exclAithed to us,
on arriving at Calais, as Philippe de Valois did at
the castle gates of Broye—" Open ; it is the fortune
of France l" We have opened to him ; and we will
thew him that we are worthy of the esteem which
he manifested for us, when he so nobly committed
to our faith and loyalty his misfortunes and his virtues.

•••11•1

During the Session of the Congress at Vienna, it is
settled that the Princess Maria Louisa shall reside
at the Castle of Schiossof, near that capital.
The Duke de Berry arrived yesterday at Stras.
bourg, amidst the acclamations ot the garrison, and
the inhabitants of that city. The time of the atten-
dance of the Duke de Pienne, as Captain of the Body
Guards, upon his Majesty, being expired last Satur.
day, he was succeeded in the office by Marshal
Prince Berthier. ,
On Tuesday the I 1 th, the corps of Black Mus-
keteers will give a grand dinner to the corps of Grey *
Musketeers in the hall cf the Olympic Theatre, which
has been arrayed and decorated for the occasion.
The Prince of the Peace, who has hitherto been is
constant attendance upon King Charles IV. was
lately obliged to retire to Pessano, and it is thought
thattis Holiness will not suffer him to remain loner
in his dominions.
The Knights of the Order of St. John of Jerusalem
intend to claim of the Allied Powers the restoration
of their ancient establishmeiits.
The Orddr, as once possessed of sovereign power,
invokes the justice and generosity of Kings. As a
religious and military order, it appeals to the religion
of the illustrious Chiefs of Christendom, so lately
armed in the cause of civilization and order ; and now
assembled in peaceable discussion to confirm b"th.
It is still confidently asserted that t-e Quee4 of
Etruria will be married to the Grand Duk.. us.
cant'. Her Majesty receives frequent visits from the
Austrians of distinction now in this city.
P.O ME, SEPTEMBER 18.
His Holiness has ordered its Vice-Aulitor to ex-
pedite the requisite letters of translation anJ elect on
for the vacant Bishoprics, viz. that ot Castelio, in fa-
vour of Mgr. Mondelli, now Suffragan of l'ertacine ;
Sezze and Piperno, de Benti, to M. Fioraventi, Rec-
tor of Saint Pierre ; of Bagnarea, • to M. Jean &Li,-
tiste Jacobini, Pro-Vicar of Albano; of zili.iletto, to
the Archdeacon Perousi degli Oddi ; of Guiti i, to M.
Mario Ancajani, Canon of St. Peter's; of Citta della
Pima ,to M. Jean Baptiste Licca, Canon and Vicar-
General of Montefiasconne.
His Holiness appears greatly fatigued from the la-
bour to which he unceasingly delivers himself. The
embarrassments of the Pontifical Estates, its wa it of
means to create resources without leaning
too wavily
on the subject, causes Dips s iu k isqutetude. du

E%.raerdiaary Colnca of Finance has been appointed,
con.isting of the Treasurer of the Chamber, as Presi-
dent, three Cardinals., and three Prelates. Isis Ho.
Tress means to proceed to Castle Gondolfo on the Ist
: October.