Star.
London, England, 1830-10-18 00:00:00

111, NI: r resitlr. the NLirie, the Niansion Lime' ,
should ca►l it ; ,u,L of these are large and strung built
houses, enclosing a court-yard, and may be considered, when,
the portals are closed, as so many fortifications. Each arron-
dissement furnishes its legion, which is called after the num-
ber it belongs to ; each legion consists of four battalions,
making forty-eight for the city, exclusive of the cavalry and
artillery, and amounting to about seventy thousand men,
completely armed, and for the most part fully equipped with
uniforms. A place of rendezvous is appointed for each bat-
talion in some square or open space in the midst of its quar-
ter. Every legion mounts a captain's guard each morning at
the Mairie. In case of any tumult or disturbance, rendering
the armed force necessary, the Mayor orders the drummer
to beat the Generale throughout his arrondissement; each
citizen hastens to his appointed spot, and thus, by these sim-
ple means, in half an hour, seventy thousand are assembled
at forty-eight different points, and hold possession of tho
city in all its best positions. Being all neighbours and
transacting business together, often sharing the same amuse-
ments, they feel the spirit of comradeship, if it may bo so
called, unite them in a bond, and the man who showed either
cowardice, or disaffection in his company, would suffer his
punishment in the disgrace he would carry with him into
private life. It is scarcely possible to imagine a stronger
guarantee for fidelity and bravery than this. Neighbours
connected by local interests, and social intercourse, are
mutually witnesses of each other's conduct in their military
capacity, and undisguised contempt, would overwhelm in
civil society, the hapless man whose actions were unworthy
of the soldier.

This is a description of the National Guard at its first de-
velopement : let us now see what it will be when the pro-
jected law is carried into execution. The first duty of every
Government is to render, as much as possible, the frontiers
of the country inaccessible to foreign invasion. Defence
from aggression was the foundation of the social com-
pact. Happily for Great Britain, she is a sea-girt kingdom,
and does not require those safeguards so essential to tho se-
curity of continental kingdoms. France, from her local si-
tuation, is easily invaded, and the pollution which the soil
has suffered, from the hostile footsteps of the allied armies,
will never be erased from her recollection. Si.o feels at this
moment conscious, that although recognitions of her present j
government have been given, by many powers, still there
has not been accorded to her that warm fraternal embrace,l
that the elements of hostility may still be smouldering in
the cshes, and require but little to raise the spark into a
flame. The Belgic insurrection may yet precipitate her
into a war, and taking into consideration that preparation
for combat is the means best adapted to avoid its necessity,
her present Government have wisely prepared for the worst,
by the projected law above alluded to. By the public jour-
nals you will see the law in full. I shall therefore merely
remark upon some of its clauses which may require expla-
nation to an English reader, and on those regulations which
are now for the first time called into action. After reciting
the duties of the national guard, namely, those of
preserving the integrity of the frontiers, in conjunction with
the army of the Line, repressing tumult, &c. &c. in their
own particular districts, it proceeds to enact, that by a law
passed when the Chambers are sitting, or by an ordinance
when they aro not assembled, the body of men may he ren-
dered moveable to any part of the realm where their services
are deemed requisite. The subsequent regulations confine
this Leyte en Masse to the young men of from 20 to 30, and
provides that, first, batchelons—secondly, widowers without
children—then widowers with children—then husbands and
fathers shall be called upcn, as they are required, in the
above-named order. France contains a population of 32 mil-
lions, and all statists agree that the average of men capable
of bearing arms is as one in four. Consequently, France
will possess, in addition to her formidable standing army,
eight millions of citizens armed and trained to com-
bat, and at least one third of that number will be
at the disposal of the Minister of War, to be con.
centrated at any point whore danger, internal or external,
may threaten. With the usual exceptions in favour of the
priesthood and some legal officers, all who are corporally
capable, from twenty to sixty, aro to be enrolled; and in
case of a non-fulfilment of this duty, even a privation of the
rights of citizens will be the forfeit. Each company will
elect their own officers from the grade of a Captain inclusive
—the Majors and Lieutenant-Colonels will be appointed by
the King. They will be furnished with arms from the Go-
vernment arsenals, and all liability of service, and similar
points, will be decided on by a jury of twelve. Imprisonment
will be inflicted for offences, it is supposed; but this has been
overlooked in the project signed by the Kiug. The former re-
gulation made five years' confinement the maximum. These
are the outlines of this vigorous measure which will render
France an immense garrison, without introducing its idle-
ness and its vices.

I have remarked in a former letter upon the aptitude o
the French to become soldiers, and I can have no doubt that
in less than a year, the whole of this immense machine will
be in full power. France will be in an attitude, so powerful,
that aggression will not be attempted. Armed men will seem
to spring from the earth, like those from the fabled teeth of
the dragon ; and the arts and wealth of Peace, will be the
consequence of her readiness for War. I shall now tutu
my attention to what may be termed a new and won-
der-working power, namely, Journalism. To what
can be attributed the amazing difference between
the conduct of the inferior classes in 1789, and
1630 ? The frantic demoniacs who disgraced humanity
at the former period, at the latter, have amply proved that
their courage is the same, but their ferocity, their rapacity,
have been extinguished. Immortal honour to the lower
classes of Paris, who have ehewn the world at large, that
revolution and robbery are not synonimous, that plunder
and patriotism are not inseparable ! Thousands of well-
meaning, but timid people, who deeply feel the necessity of
reformation in their rulers, have shrunk from the task, fear-
ing the excesses of the former revolution. The cause of
liberty was for many years retrograded by those horrors.
Let them look here, where not a drop of blood was shed
that could be avoided ; let them mix with the people as I
did, during the three eventful days, worth as many years
of common existence, they would ave seen such instances
of mingled heroism and kindness, that the most misanthropic
would have been compelled to love his fellow.
creatures, wounded soldiers carried along by the
populace on whom they had just been firing, with
the tenderness and anxiety of a mother, nursing her first-
born. The tears repeatedly stood in my eyes, as the most
affecting scenes took place in every street. Voltaire, who
well knew his countrymen, called them a compound of
monkeys and tigers. Something of the former still remains
in their habits, but the ferocity and treachery of the latter
animal has vanished. Never was a people more urbane,
more universally kind. It is evinced daily in their treat-
ment of their servants and children ; those dreadful scenes
of brutality which disgrace the lower orders in London are
unknown here. Surely it is not too much to say, that the
extension of information, by means of the Press, has caused
this estcmishing change in a few years. Never was a better
practical commentary offered on the often-quoted observation
of the Roman Post, "hyaenas didicisso faleliter arta
anollit mores, sec Alit as fetus." I have mentioned the
above. hots as introductory to the information, that a very
considerable amelioration is expected to take plate in the laws
regulating that all-powerful marline, thePrear. At present, no