Star.
London, England, 1831-02-22 00:00:00

LONDON.
--..-
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22.

His MAJESTY holds a Levee this day at St. James's

Palace.

A commercial gentleman, who arrived from Amsterdam on
Saturday night, and upon whose authority great reliance
may be placed, states, that the Dutch are in a state of active
preparation for hostilities —having organised an army of
seventy thousand men, besides reinforcements of about ten
thousand Swiss troops, who came to Holland in detachments
of 200 and 300 men at a time. These forces are exercised
daily ; and such is the confidence with which they are in-
spired, that nothing would now seem more satisfactory to
them, than an attempt to redeem their lost character in a
coi.ilict with the Belgians.

The latest news from Warsaw announce, that already the
French Consul, M. DURAND, was making preparations for
quitting Warsaw; he gave, for the motive of his departure,'
the declaration in which the Diet pronounced the fall of the
Emperor NicnoLns, and of the House of ROMANOFF in
71 Loral. The National Government has quitted Warsaw,
.tud is established in the camp of the active army, near
Sicela, at about thirty leagues from the capital.

There are well authenticated accounts this morning in
twn, confirmatory of a passage in the French Papers, f0r-
,•,?,;-ded to us by our Paris correspondent, stating that deter-
mined insurrectionary movements have taken place in the
Tyrol ; and that the celebrated HOFF): ER directs them.—
These have already proved cf so serious a nature, that
true; have been detached from Milan, to watch and coun-
teract their operations. It is likewise affirmed, on the
maim ity of a letter from Munich, that the Austrians
elo•;ing in, more and more, on the Bavarian frontiers ;
'it:d it appears that from forty to fifty thousand men are
:Iced en echelon in Saltzburgh, the Tyrol, and the Princi-
pality of Voralberg ; so that they menace, at the same time,
S,.vitzerland and Bavaria. Another corps advances on the
,ic!e of Bohemia. For these facts, the French paper before
us quotes a new Italian Journal, called /1 Precursors,
printed at Bologna, by the patriots ; and which had adopted
the following motto:—" If you would be free, commence
I'y being just."

The news from Paris, by the arrivals of this morning, may
1,, cLaracterized as more tranquil, and less alarming than
;light have been apprehended ; but still, the state of Paris
v%naot be considered satisfactory. Those who view the
late ci. tilibances, with discrimination, can have but faint
hopes, that the present Ministers will be able to keep
their places ; and, at the same time, preserve that honourable,
and pacific line of international policy, which the present
KING of France has prescribed for his country. The mili-
cal). mania, so consonant to the national character of the
French people, and so inveterately contagious when there
are not existing other means of enterprize and subsistence,
:las been artificially stimulated by the late political events.
The whole youth of France are in arms, and the ambitious
imagination is active, in pourtraying nothing but the glory,
to which the high road of military enterprise, in revolu-1
•:onary times, has been known occasionally to lead the
l•pirant, who is bold enough to take it; and of such are the
autio;ity of the young French. From the (Juliet faction,
A. its machinations, there is no danger to be apprehended ;
hut if the King of FRANCE will attempt to restrain his fiery
subjects, from the course of military ambition, which he
lisely and virtuously may believe, will only produce present
'mu-ors and future humiliation, then the Republican faction
'',; at cry day gain influence ; and ultimately, in all probe-

lacy, obtain the ascendancy. War, we fear, is the destiny
of the French ; and a question arises, which we conceive is
not now excluded from the meditation of King PHlLLlP—
whether he should not give way to the national propensity, or
relinquish a throne which is uneasy and insecure to occupy.
The intermediate course which the last transactions would
indicate him as inclined to adopt, of soothing every popular
explosion by compliance, is, it is to be apprehended, but
feeding the fire he would extinguish. We hope he
will have firmness enough, to repress the tendency to
revolutionaty anarchy ; for all Europe suffers by the
misconduct of the French populace, at the present
moment; and the triumph of an a la lanterns mob in
Paris, would do more in favour of the anti-reform party,
even in England, than any event which could occur.
The

debates last night were in better accord with the
feelings of the country, than some which we have lately
had to notice. The topics in the Lords were, the treaties
which secure to Portugal a preference of her wines, in re-
turn for her preference of our •woollons—said to be violated
by the proposed equalization of wine duties.
The Parish Union Law in Ireland, under which it ap-
peared that the Archbishop of Dublin had united no less than
four livings in favour of his own son, who, over and above,
was Rector of St. Johns, held two Prebendaries, and an A rch-
deanery ; yet Lord FA RIM tM complained of a conspiracy
against the Protestant Church of Ireland. The late minori-
ties on the former question, appeared in full array against the
present Ministers ; and some neutral men, as Lords STAN-
HOPE and STRANOYORD, declared their opinion, that the
proposed change was a violation of the Methuen Treaty
which has so long united the two countries. On the
other side, the poisoning and adulterating system of the
Royal Oporto Wine Company was enforced with effect.
In the House of Commons, petitions poured in ; and
one of the most important was that from the City of
London against the Bankrupt Courts, which, though
signed by 4,500 persons, by a strange lapse, was without
a prayer, and therefore rejected as informal. It was stated,
that within the Sessions, some change is intended ; but whe-
ther in principle or form did not appear, for the forms only
were spoken of ; whereas the vice is in the principle which no
mere change of form can amend.

A long and spirited debate occurred on the motion for a
Committee of Supply, and also in the Committee, which
lasted till nearly two o'clock. Sir J. GRAHAM was so in-
discreet as to explain, that in a former debate he had applied
the term Demagogue to Mr. O'CoNxEm., which led to an
announcement of that gentlemen that he would, this evening,
address the House on his conduct and position.
Lord ALTIIORP gave notice, that he had commuted the
proposed duty on cotton, by taking off the former ad va/o-
rens duty, and establishing a general duty of five-eighths of
a penny per lb.

The Marquis of CNA NDON, who had in the afternoon pre-
aided at a great meeting of West India Merchants, then
demanded some concessions to that suffering interest, and
moved a declaration on the subject. Mr. P. Titomrsow
maintained, that no relief could be afforded beyond the re-
duction of the dutiies on coals and candles, and resisted a
proposed bounty of 58. 3d. per cwt. on West India Sugars,
as contrary to the theories of Husxtssow. Mr. ROBIN-
sox illustrated the subject by his great practical knowledge,
and argued in favour of relief. Lord ALTHORP lamented
the distress, and suggested a Committee to inquire and report.
Mr. Humz stated the abominable fact, that 75,0001. assessed
on sugar in the islands, cost 68,0001. in the collection. Mr.
BERNAL replied to Mr. THOMPSON, and urged immediate
attention to the subject. Sir R. PEEL thought Government
ought not to be embarrassed ; and that the revenue would
not admit of further concessions. The motion was then
withdrawn.

In the committee, the increase of the estimates appeared
to be 136,0001. in the army, and 72,0001. in the volunteers,
and that the number of regulars were to be 88,496. Col.
Deo/ is proposed a committee, alleging that in 1821, there
were but 81,106 men ; and in the year 1822, but
73,000. Mr. BEAUMONT and Mr. ►STANLEY al-
luded to Ireland as a cause ; which drew some severe
animadversions from Mr. O'CoNN ELL, who contended
that the expensive volunteers were armed partizans.
Mr. HUME stated that 15,000 of the 88,000 were
Officers, and opposed the extravagant vote, as tending to
encourage foreign interference. Mr. HUNT closed the dis-
cussion, by moving, that instead of 88,000 only 71,000 men
should be granted ; on this a division took place-250 to 6 !
Afterwards, Mr. HOEHOUSE carried his Vestry Bill
through a stage; but not without opposition, since it ili -

tated against the arbitrary provisions of Bourne'; Act. Mr.
HUGHES then obtained returns of the number and amount
of Sinecures, which, when it appears, the public will con-
sider as valuable.