Star.
London, England, 1821-04-25 00:00:00

came so crowded with goods, it was difficult to land.,
' At this time every man in the town was armed with
his brace of pistols, sword, and dagger, moving
through all parts of the .town,_which you may sup-
pose was in the greatest consternation and disorder.
The women became alarmed, and went on board ;I
their fears and apprehensions made it really distress.
ing. At nine o'clock on Sunday night, the attack
commenced; after a few exchanges of shot, the sol-
diers in the town joined their comrades, and the Offi-
cers fled. Capt. and myself had just then reached
the wharf with a trunk, and had found our boat, when
with difficulty we could keep it from sinking, from
the great number of trunks thrown into it. Such
screaming, hallooing, and confusion, I never before
witnessed. After much scuffling and confusion the
most of the'people got off, and in ten minutes after
every vessel left the harbour, crowded wiih women,
children, and officers. At ten o'clock the soldiers
were dismissed to pillage the town, and on Monday
morning, a place that -had improved beyond expec-
tations, looked like a heap of deserted ruins; not a
person was to be seen, save the straggling villains,
conveying off the plunder through the streets, which
were strewed with pieces of furniture, crates, straw,
and a thousand remnants of destruction.

At ten o'clock on Monday, the army of SOO rag-
gamuffins were reviewed on the Place d'Armes : the
,General spoke to them an hour and then was ripe for
plunder himself—atter taking up an unfortunate
Frenchman, they plundered his house and store of
all he possessed, among which was 60,0001b5. coffee,
which was irnmediatefy offered for sale. This con-
fusion continued until yesterday, when 1500 Repub-
lican troops entered the town from St. Marc's with-,
out meeting with one person to oppose them. We
expect the President here in a few days, and now
look for the best.

From the great destruction among the shops and
stores, in which their entire contents were destrOyed
or borne away, great loss must accrue to those Ame-
rican merchants having claims or property in the
town—and it is feared that the time will not soon
arrive when a cargo of American produce can be
disposed of at this place.

FOREIGN PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE.

PARIS, APRIL 20.

With respect to the state of political parties in this
country, the first thing. that strikes a foreigner on
being admitted into intimate conversation with the
leaders of either party, is the utter want of candour
in appreciating the character of their opponents. Of
the right side, every man, however distinguished, is
considered by the left (the LIBERAL left) as not only
a scoundrel', but a fool; the right is not backward in
returning the compliment, and does not hesitate to
call the left, orators, fools, knaves, and traitors into
the bargain. Both parties join in calling the Minis-
ters ignorant and incapable; while the Ministers,
with mixed contempt and satisfaction, are almost si-
lent spectators of the furious strife which serves to
keep themselves in power. The mutual hatred, which
is at once the cause and consequence of the want of
candour between the two great parties, makes it ut-
terly impossible that any important question should
be fairly and soundly discussed. A Frenchman's ex-
treme impatience (which, by the way, he calls viva-
city, and complacently piques himself upon it) ren-
ders him at all times a bad listener, and consequently
a bad debater; add to this natural vivacity, a hatred,
amounting to loathing, of his opponents, and then
guess how far the cause of truth is likely to be pro-
moted by discussion between such disputants. But
this is not all: a French politician (doubtless from
self-knowledge) takes it for granted that every pub-
lic man is actuated by self-interest, and by self-in-
terest alone. If, therefore, that mutual hatred (which
perhaps is to be ascribed chiefly to temporary and
peculiar circumstances—for I cannot persuade my-
self that a Frenchman is naturally malignant)—if that
mutual liatred were totally removed, yet that utter
disbelief in political honesty, which is absolutely
rooted in a Frenchman's constitution, must destroy
all confidence and mutual respect, and seems to pre.
dude the remotest possibility of anything like a quiet
establishment of any system of rational liberty. But
take away both these causes, another still remains
which would alone defer the establishment of a Con-
stitution like that of England to a period indefinitely
distant. A Frenchman, like a child, as soon as he
sees anything desirable, wishes to have it imme-
diately : the French politician begins to have suffi-
cient acquaintance with English institutions, to see
that they are at once the strength and ornament of
our country; and forthwith, per
into the French sys-
tem, forgetting that our institutions are the growth
of ages, and have acquired all their force by their
congeniality with our national tastes, and even our
national prejudices. It is true that they might flourish
in another country ; but then it must be by a gra-
dual and almost insensible accommodation to the
habits of the people. One people can no more be
persuaded by royal ordinance or legislative decree
to be happy and free at a moment's notice, and after
the precise fashion of another people, than the olive
tree of Marseilles, or the vine of Burgundy can be
ordered to increase and multiply in the frozen deserts
of Siberia; and yet the French Liberals are unrea-
sonable enough to expect such a miraculous perver-
sion of the natural order of things!

APRIL 21.—Longchamps ended yesterday : there
was a great crowd of carriages, but nothing very
splendid. The French are far behind us in the beauty
of their equipages ; the handsomest set-out was that
of the English Ambassador. The weather was fine,
and the clouds of dust made the promenade quite as
fashionably disagreeable as Hyde Park on a July
Sunday.
GENOA, APRIL 12.

Since we kddressed you on the 9th instant, a sud-
den and total change of things has taken place in
Piedmont, which has restored this city to obedience
and loyalty towards the King.
This effect was produced by the news that the
Austrians had crossed the Po and the Tesino at sun-
dry points, and hadjoined that part of the Piedmon-
tese army at Novara, under the orders of General La-
tour; and of an engagement which took place on the
Bth instant, between the Loyalists, with the Austrian
troops, against about four regiments of Constitutional
soldiers, as they styled themselves, ou the road from