Star.
London, England, 1831-01-17 00:00:00

•t

lIIRIMI/Mr9r.. RIFT

at large, on bail on their recognisances. In this mem must
donfsse, we have been Aiappoinied,ani inmakingthis decla-
ration we are satisfied weicho thsf
.eefings of nearly the whole
comanniti.We 'Certainly never esibelid,all the circumstances
considered, that sentence of death would be passed against
such numbers as we should shedder to sum up—that these,
and hundreds of others, were to be doomed to transportation,

and other hundreds to various periods of incarceration •
but if such could have been imagined to be the I
possible results, we should, with suitable deference,
have ventured to doubt the policy of pushing forward the
scales of justice, in a period of great irritatation, and haie
advised, from respect to thellaw itself, that as the guilty
were in custody, their trials should be postponed
till the Lent Assizes. The public peace, the true

object, would have been assured by custody, the
passions would in the meantime have cooled, plans of
relief would have been adopted, and charity substituted for

law, in cases of repentance. We think, therefore, that as the

question now stands before the world, the Special Commis-
sions were a:mistake : and, in conclusion. we venture to state,
that the only course to set wrong, right, is forthwith to pro-
claim A GENERAL AMNESTY, and restore the deluded to
their families. The energy of law has been displayed—a

lesson has been given, never to be forgotten—and the par-

•

POLAND.

a - ' ,

FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE:,

szcs.osays. .
PORTUGAL.
Communications, mode through wend Mims from Lis-
bon, have arrived by the way of England, all of which an-
nounce that *revolution has taken plans in Portugal, and that
Don Miguel has been killed. We believe that it is in our power
to give this news as nearly certain. We have it frees a geed
source, and we can Arm that several Portuguese refuges.
have received advice of a favourable change in their country.
We think that the Monitsur should not be the last to pro-
claim the revolution of Portugal, and that the ministers of
Louis Philippe should not long keep silent in thenmsposk..
La Tribune.

SWITZICRLAND.
•' The news from Basle presents a lively interest. Pri-
vate letters announce that it was expected, on the 10th, that
an attack would be made by the peasantry against the city.
Both sides are making preparations to fight with ardour.
The Government of Basle had acceded to the first proposi-
dons of the peasantry for the more equal assessment of the
Deputies of the country and of the city in the Grand Coun-
cil. Out of 154 members, of which that assembly is com-
posed, the city reckoned formerly 90, and the country 64.
The Grand Council have made the offer of 79 to the
country ; the city will then count no more than 75. The
peasantry were satisfied the first day with that concession,
bat rejected it on the following day ; they this day exec t
five-sevenths of the representation, and that is the question
which is on the eve of being decided by arms. A Journal

announces this morning the entry of the peasantry into
Basle. The letters received this day do not confirm this
news.—Joaraal des Debate.

The Polonese deputation has been received by the Emperor
Nicholas. Prince Lubecki was to be admitted on the 26th
of December, in presence of his Majesty. Enthusiasm i s
at its height in Warsaw. All Poland is in arms.—L'Btoile.
PETZASIIIIROH, Dec. 29.—From the
new disposition of the forces of our armies in the Western
Provinces of the Empire, there has been raised nearly two
hundred thousand men. Poland being a very flat country,
a numerous cavalry will be employed, it is estimated at about
forty thousand. A part of the Imperial Guard is already put
in march to join the corps of the army of reserve which is
formed in the neighbourhood of Wilna. Prince Lubecki,
Minister of Finances of the Kingdom of Poland, arrived hers
on the 25th of December, from Warsaw. The Emperor,
has named the Senator, Abukumoff, Inspector-General of

le Army, to Field-Marshal Count Diebitsch. The 25th of
the month, being the day of the fete of the Finland regiment
of the Imperial Guard, the Emperor passed the corps in re-
view.—Gasette de Berlin.

" The frontier of Russian Poland is shut by a double
cordon. The Russians send the cholera-morbus to the
Poles; the Poles throw their ideas to the Russians. The
part/ is not equal ;
..the pest may be cured : but the ideas I"
—Figaro.
Extract of a letter from Cracow, dated January 2 :
•' Scarcely had the news of the revolution of Warsaw ar-
rived here than the love of country awakened in all hearts ;
we have taken arms, resolved to succour oar brothers, and
to share their fate, to die or live free with them. Public
order has not been troubled. We kncw not how the three
Powers, under whose protection is placed our little republic,
view our conduct ; but we are all determined. The country
and the environs are raised the same as the population of the
city. Our peasants are armed with scythes, as in the time
of Kosciusko, and the Russians cannot have forgotten that
that arm was terrible against them."

The following singularly prophetic letter, addressed by
M. de Roche to M. de Polignac, was found amongst the ex-

Minister's papers :
BLOIS, Jar. Isr, 1810.
Sts,—Cardinal Polignac was undo to my grand mother,
Madame de Lagorie, born at Rama, ay grandmother,
who, in a second marriage espoused M. de Bournissac,
uncle of him who was your eseapasiss in misfortune at Vin-
cennes. At the death of my maw aimpt her papers I
found several letters of yours, and, besides the portrait of
the Cardinal in a beautiful medallion, which she Lavin in-
herited, it is entirely at your service. lam then your rela-
tion. With this title I take the liberty to write you part
of my reflections. They will prove to you that lam very
far from soliciting favours of a Minister, who is in opposition
with all opinions, and whom nearly the whole of the nation
repulses. Your prwsnce in the Ministry is the black flag of
the Constitutional Monarchy, probably that of the dynasty ;
your political opinions compromise its existence. if you
Mow all the projects which you countenance, the House of
Bourbon will be lost, and a blow as sure, you will not be saved.
Napoleon, in one of his fits of generosity, rare among
despots, pardoned you ; but the indignant reople never
give pardon to those who, like you, without any illusion of
glory, would put them in slavery. You will perish, sir, and
the sacrifice of your life will not expiate your faults. The
life of a man, Ist him be whom be may, is nothing ; dynasties
are extinguished, or are annihilated ; the best constituted
diplomatic bodies perish ! In the midst of these catastrophes
nations alone remain aftn&ng, after, having overthrown all
the obstacles which opposed their liberties. Your administra-
tion will be a devouring caustic applied to the wounds of the
country, still unhealed ! Our griefs are recent; irritation ac-
companies them ; you augment by your presence that which
is an outrage to liberty. Your name is anti-national. Re-
tire, for whatever may be your intentions, you will not be
believed. Your life, civil and political, your name, year
person, in fact, in you all is unpopular! You sun only repre-
sent feudalism, in consequence, you awaken all old balm&
The unhappy and ridiculous manifesto of the Duke of Bruns-
wick, which, in 1792, provoked the massacres of the 2d as
3d of September, excited not more republican fury Oa die
10th of August than your presence in the ministry excited
national indignation. Reds*, then ! the times know you, if
already you can be saved, and know that you can never fix
the destinies of a great people who are not with you. Go D,
in his mercy, pardon your temerity, in having wished to go-
vern France, in seeking to bury our liberties under the ruins
of the charter, and in wishing to establish a despotism which
will not exist without again provoking the 10th of August,
the 2d of September, probably still worse. I have the ho-
mer to be, your very obedient servant,

BARON HXRCULE DX ROCHX.
BELGIUM AND EUROPE.
We as certainly alma that the members et the
Couples who would pleas the mown apes the bead of;I:
Augustus de Leochtenberg, have hopes that General Se-
hastiani, Count of the Empire' and Minister et Loa's Phi-
lipps, wi l support with all his Lansaw a candidate who is

.„•

•. • '

t y