Star.
London, England, 1814-10-20 00:00:00

AMERICA.

The followisu are the remaiks of an American I
Paper on the President's Proclamation :
44 The President says, the enemy wantonly de.
stroyed the public edifices, having no relation in their
.structure to operations of war ; and adds, that the
destruction was under the insulting pretext of retali-
ation, for a wanton destruction committed by the
army of the United States in Upper Canada,
44 is it supposed that the capture of York is al-
ready forgotten ? York was the capital of Upper
Canada, and there ALL the.public buildings were de-
stroyed, including the Capitol, where a Scalp was ,
found in the Executive ind Legislative Chamber, sus- '
pended near the Speaker's chair, in company with
the mace and other emblems of royalty.—(Vide
Dearborn's letter.]
" This destruction was not only nevet g sliewn to
be unauthorised,' but was the theme of continued ex-
ultation during the whole of the second year of the
war. We regret as much as Mr. Madison himself
the destruction of the costly monuments of taste and
of the arts at Washington, and more particularly of
the' public archives,' because we fear that the con.
flagration has removed evidence of the 4 original
transactions) which ought to be preserved ; but corn.
plaint certainly comes with an ill grace from the
Captain General of our armies, under whose auspices
similar atrocities have been committed."

ME EVENING STAR.

LON DON.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1814.
PRICE OF THIS DAY AT TWELVE O'CLOCK
Reduced 641-4 per Cent. 8I —5 per Cent. Navy 96i
Couto.% 6.5M—for account, obi-omm 21i
Bal.k Loos Anne. /6 1-16th—Bontis 14s. ISt. pr.

We have received Paris Papers of Sunday. The
most interesting article they contain is that in which
the subject of Washington is again taken up. There
is a sympathetic feeling between the Editor of the
,Vurnal de Paris and Mr. MADISON, which deserves to
he noticed. The former, in the subjoined article, and
the later, in his Proclamation, which we gave yester-
day, breathe precisely the same sentiments. Both,
bo e ever, have, as usual, lost sight of the Laws of
War and of Nations —from MADISON we could ex-
pert no depth of erudition on this or on any other
subject ; but from the writer who quotes the atroci-
ties of Generic and Attila, something like an acquain-
tenCe with Grotto,: may have been reasonably expected.
Now this most enlightened, and certainly the most
respectable of all the authorities on the subject, ex-
sressly leys it down as a principle, that, if in war we
have a right to kill our enemy, ®fortiori, have we the
tight of carrying off and destroying bis property: the
latter is, indeed, pointed at as the humaner method
*of carrying on the war. Those who wish to see the
authority of this venerable Civilian on the subject,
may turn to his chapter De rebus vastandis eritsiesefisque.
Here he expressly says, that it is lawful to destroy
44 stores, harbours, cities, men, ships, fruits of the
earth, and every thing thin like thim (si qua own
winailia)." He even does not clearly except churches
built for pnblie worship, from the vengeance of an
enemy; end he adds that, with respect to their images,
ind ,other decorations, it is perfectly consistent with
the Law of. Nations to destroy them if the conqueror
is of sse different religious persuasion. But the tender
misty she by the French Generals to the Church
of St. Peter's, at Rome, does not bear upon the ques.
tion : the French entered Rome as robbers and assas-
sins ; they entered it anima renal:null ; but, first, it was
recessary to cut the throats of the inhabitants ; which
they set about with all due diligence. The chief
glory of the conquest lap in the occupation of the Pa-
laces of Rome and tl.eir spl:ndid furniture, by the
banditti, the Bout, and the Canaille of Paris, who then
composed the Officers of the French Army.
The capture of Washinron by the British has no
analogy with that of Rome, Madrid, Berlin, Mos-
cow, Vienna, or any others of what the French call
their glorious conquests. The object of the British in,

their contest with America, is to disarm a wicked
and most mischievous enemy, and to put down some
most daring and unprincipled interpretations of the
code of nations.

$o hr from lamenting the dowafal of the Capitol
of Washington, that Temple of blasphemy, impiety,
and false philosophy, it is, perhaps, to be regretted,
that the industry of the inhabitants was not inverted
from supplying the equipments for continuing the
war, to the more peaceable occupation of rebuilding
their demolished houses !

The article about Washington s not the only one
in which the French Journalists display their malig-
nity against England. Mach agitation is said to pre-
vail in Saxony —the affairs of Norway Are by no
means settled-the Belgians are discontented—and,
last of all, comes Monsieur TALLrfamtn with a most
furious note to the Cougreu at Vienna, from the
early deliberations of which be has it seems been ex-
cluded. Once more we must be allowed to doubt the
tguth of all these vague insinuations,

PARIS, OCTOBER 14.

Yesterday there was a Secret Committee of the
Chamber of Deputies. It is said that they delibe-
rated upon the four amendments appended by the
Chamber of Peers to the proposition for the itikrpre-
tation of the Laws; and that they have been adopted
unanimously.
The Chamber afterwards heard several opinions on
the proposal of the law relative to the responsibility
of the Ministers.
Much has been said, wiain these ire dart of ;be

arrest of a General Officer on the Italian Boulevards.
This pretended officer was nothing else than a swind-
ler, who wore a military habit, decorated with various
French and other Orders. He was a Serjeant in the
army, and has been guilty of robberies, forgeries, and
frauds innumerable.

[FRONI TFIE JOURNAL DE PARIS.]
The Gassetie de France, which cannot shake off the
habit of changing every thing which it touches, yes-
terday addressed some reproaches to us. which we
are forced to answer ; and, as usual, our answer
shall be moderate.

44 All this Rhetoric of the Journal de Paris," says
the Gazette de France, " has for its object to prove that
the taking of Washington was not only a violation
of the received laws of war, but an attack upon the
rights of humanity."
There is very little good faith in this assertion. It
was not of the capture of Washington that we were
speaking ; we know, as well as the Editor of the
Gazette, that it was a natural consequence of the war ;
but we were surprized stile destruction of the public
buildings, and particularly of the Capitol, the resi-
dence of the President, where the Congress used to
hold its Sittings. What should we say of a General
who, after having entered Rome, should blow up the
Pantheon, cr the Church of St. F.:tcr ?
There is no man of sense who has not remarked
the absurdity of the language of the Gazette. " The
public edifices of a country belong," it says, " to the
conqueror who takes possession of it." Here we have
a new maxim to add to the law of nations !

Without doubt a Conqueror may dispose of the
fortresses and arsenals which force has put into his
hands, but the edifices destined to public utility, and
which cannot injure the enemy, ought to be respected.
Such at least is the rule of conduct which the Gene-
rals of civilized nations have been accustomed to fo;-
low. It would be grievous to adopt other maxims at
the commencement of the nineteenth century.
The surprise which we felt and expressed does ho-
nour to the English character; and the Journalists of
London would have had the right to be offended if
we had regarded the destruction of Washington as
an event which we ought naturally to have expected
on the part of any General of that nation. As to the
interest which we take in the Americans, it is quite
natural ; it is the leaning of generous minds in fadour
of the weakest. We desire anxiously that Peace
should be reestablished between the United Stat
and Great Britain ; but if the war is to continue,
we put up the most earnest wishes that the country of
Washington and Franklin should preserve its inde-
pendence, and not fall again under the yoke of Eng-
land, We shall never be so base as to forget the true'
interests of France. This is all that we have to say
to the Gazette de France, and its English coadjutors.
'Pope Benedict XIV. in :7.53. united the Isles of,
France and Bourbon to the Diocese of Paris: conse-
quently, the Metropolitan Chapter of Paris has nomi-
nated to one of the vacant Cures in the Island of
Bourbon M. Delmotte, Vicar of St. Vincent-de-Paule.

The restoration of Marseilles to the privileges of a
free port has been solemnly proclainied there by the
public functionaries, amidst the greatest acclamations-
Notwithstanding the state of disorder which France
has recently experienced, the crimes for trial at the
Courts of Assizes have been comparatively few of
late ; and what is peculiArly honourable to the cha-
racter of the French army, no soldiers appear among
the criminals.

A small vessel which lately arrived at Ostend has
imparted a vast qqantity of false coin, bearing the
effigy of Louis XVIII. and particularly five-frank
pieces. Every individual having them in his posses-
sion, without being able to say where he got them,
will be arrested by order of the Government of the
Low Countries.