Star.
London, England, 1822-01-11 00:00:00

EXTRACT OW A PRIVATE LETTER PROM PARIS.

As the reign of the Censors is drawing to a close,
the Journalists are preparing to take their revenge on
the deposed despots. One Editor is going to publish
all the rejected Articles, among which are several
official documents : another is going to hold up. to
public scorn their partiality and injustice ; and a third
is going to prove them enemies of the Chirter and
the Bourbons ! At every office there is a sackful of
the destructive labours of these literary Atropos; and
out of such a depot, no doubt, very curious instances
of absurdity and contradiction may be drawn. The
manner in which they sometimes exercised their
power would appear almost incredible. They allowed
the annunciation of no Ay book to- appear, of the
contents of which they disapproved. They curtailed
extracts from foreign Papers, and mutilated stateH
meets of foreign intelligence. Even slight paragraphs,
which had no reference to politics, were curtailed 01'.
their most innocent expressions. One of the Papers,
for instance, placed the following sentence under the
scissors of the Censor :—"The young Duke de Char-1
tees has resumed his studies at the College of his an-
cestor Henry IV." and it came out without the words
" his ancestor," as if that arbitrary Gentleman was
resolved to alter the descent of the young Prince.
As it may be of some interest to the English Pub-
lic to know a little of the characters and history of
men who have exercised such powers as those en-
trusted to the Censors, I shall state a tew facts re-
karding-the-most notorious of them, extracted prin-
cipally from a small pamphlet entitled the Biography
of the Royal Censors. It is a striking circumstance,
though not difficult of explanation, that they are
nearly all apostates, or weathercocks—that they have
Dearly all been the most abject creatures of Bona-
parte, and are now the most servile flatterers of the
restored dynasty. The Abbe d'Andrezzel, one of
them, who is now a great enemy of philosophers and
revolutions, is the translator of Mr. Fox's History of I
the Stuart:, out of which, during the time of Bona-
parte, a Censorship different from the present struck
out some prominent passages.
M. Baudus, another, was at first a warm partisan
of the Revolution. He then turned against it, and
emigrated : he returned to France under the Consu-
late, and afterwards became tutor to the son of Murat.
—He is now a furious Royalist, and having for his
department the surveillance of foreign intelligence,
he took care that the Public should know as little as
possible about the late Revolutions in Italy and Greece.
The muse of M. Briffaut, a third of the Royal Censors,
was indefatigable. in eulogising the Government of
Bonapatte. He wrote on the marriage of Napoleon,
he sung the birth of the King of Rome, and he was
on other occasions an equally obsequious flatterer of
the late Emperor. He is now a Royal Censor; and
wises to apply the scissors wherever he sees the name
of his former idol. M. Alisson de Chazet is likewise
a girouette, and a writer for the Stage. He also was
inspired with sweet strains on the marriage of Napo.
leon and the birth of his son, and is said to be a man
of merit. Of the Abbe Chcrval, M. d'Aviigny, who
is one of the Dramatic Censors, of Messrs. d'Er bigny,
the Secretary Hubert, and M. la Chaize, the Censor
of the Journals, little is linown„ M. C. Lacretelle,
the author of the Liberal History of the Revo/ution,
was a Censor under Bonaparte, is a Censor under the
Bourbons, and would be a Censor under any dynasty.,
as long as the Censorship.ivas a profitable profession.
The following is an account of the productioni of
M. Yiellard, one of the most versatile of the body t
In 1810 he sang the return of Astrza ; on the 21st
, of January last year, the Tomb of Louis XVI.; in
1810, he made songs in Celebration of the 14th and.
15th of August; in 1816, his muse was put in re-
quisition to celebrate the marriage of the Dbke de
Berri. The biographical sketch of him adds—" He
has changed—he changes—and he will change."—
Such are the persons to whom the direction of the'
mind of France has been entrusted. They have been
particularly busy since the change of Ninistry,. asp
you will see by the lacuna: in the Papers. In the
time of Bonaparte, who despotically ruled the nation
by influencing public opinion through the Journals;
the tyranny of the Press was greater and more direct,
but not so irksome and unreasonable as it has °Plate;
been. If he inflicted penalties, he likewise rewarded
talents. The Duke of Rovigo had a monthly levetr,
for the Journalists, and his manner of treating them
' was sometimes arbitrary, and sometime* ludicrous.
A short time before the entry of the Allies into Paris,
, at one of these levees, he thus addressed themu—
• Messieurs, VOW des paresserex--Saere, si sous ne
remoste; pas Cerprit pablique let Cossaes seront a
Paris avast six sensasnes. The prophecy was fulfilled;
public spirit could never be excited by such Means,
and the COssats were in Paris.