Star.
London, England, 1821-11-03 00:00:00

A GENEROUS INFORMER!

A French paper relates the following anecdote:—
" A diligence was on the point of passing the French
frontiers to enter a neighbouring kingdom, where se-
veral articles of French manufacture are not admit-
ted ; a beautiful female, who was one of the passen-
gers, expressed her hopes that she should be enabled
to smuggle a • fine lace veil, which was concealed
very secretly about her person. A taciturn Gentle-
man, who was one of the passengers, and who ap-
peared to be absorbed in a reverie, said nothing, but
on arriving at the Custom-house, he, on some pre-
text, alighted. On the passengers entering the of-
fice, the Lady received a hint to retire into another
room, and divest herself of the lace veil which she
had about her, with which request she, of course,
found it necessary to comply. On resuming their
seats in the diligence, the Lady who had lost her
veil broke out into a torrent of invective against the
taciturn Gentleman, whom she accused of having
been the informer, and the other passengers joined
her in heaping abuse upon him. On their reaching
A considerable distance from the frontier, 6 Madame,
said the taciturn Gentleman, who had hitherto said
nothing in return for the invectives ponied so pro-
luiely upon him, ' you are right, I am the guilty in-
dividual, but please to tell me what was the value of
the loss which you so much regret?' 'lt was wroth
nearly 100 Louis, monster that you are!' said the Lady
in a great passion, and shedding tears. • Well, Ma-
dame, dry up your tears, and if you will accept one
of 1,00() crowns, I am ready to offer it to you at
—, where we are to alight." Is it possiblef—
' Du not imagine, however, that my offer is the ef-
fect of remorse of conscience ; I have introduced, by
means nearly similar to those you employed, contra-
band goods of the same kind, of the value of nearly
100,000 francs, into this country. My denunciation
against you turned aside all the suspicions that might
have been conceived against 'fie, and you see that
only one of us has been caught—thanks to the trifling
reparation which I owe you.' This explanation had
an immediate effect : the taciturn Gentleman was
then pronounced one of the honestest men in the
world: and the fair traveller, quite delighted, cried
out, in which she was joined by the other passengers,
e Charmant voleur t ".

A singular circumstance has lately taken place in
a village near Alost:—The Curate had made himself
obnoxious to the keeper of a brothel, by designating
his house as a place to be avoided by.the youth of
the viilagc. The man, to be revenged, shortly after
feigned ill, and, as if on the point of death, sent for
the Curate, under the plea of requiring the consola-
tion of religion, but with the intention of shooting him.
The Curate arrives, and is desired by tile wife to pro-
cee.l to the man's room—be goes to the bedside,
and i:;_•ifectually endeavours to make the poor man
listen to him. Returning down stairs, he expresses his
regret that they had sent so late for him ; when the
wife, in astonishment, exclaims—" It is impossible!
it is not ten minutes since he went to bed in good
health !" The bed was searched, and the man found
dead, with a pair ot‘ loaded pistols under the bed-
clothes. The woman has b.eu sent to jail to take her
trial as an accomplice.
The following i.urious anecdote is told of a Noble
Lcrd just arrived ‘town; His Lordship, in a private
gallei y Of paintings in England, saw a portrait of a
Gerrrian Lady, and was so struck with her beauty,
that he passionately longed to see the original. His
• parents had no peace till they consented to his visit-
ing the Contin.mt in search of the adored idea, and
they found that the unknown and her connexions,
were of so amiable a de±cription, that instant consent
was given to the alliance—proceeding so far, that
the intended bride was biought to Paris to meet the
• • en:mowed lover, when lo! the original and the copy
mot pleasing alike, the lair one was rejected !
A Lady, returning from a friend's house home be-
tween six and seven o'clock on Thursday evening,
was seized in Edmund-street, St. Pancras, by two
villains, one of whom tore her 'shawl from her shoul-
ders, while the other struck a female servant who
was wi:h I a vi.-lent blow on the bead, while in the
I act of callinz• Igurdet! The villains escaped.

In consequence of this mode of payment, it wa I n
vain that notes to the amount of S 00,000,001? were
burnt; the discredit still continues, and silver disap=
pears from circulation. Even copper carries an agio.
From 7 to S per cent. is paid on silver, and as high
as 28 per cent. on gold. This holds out no prospect
of advantageous dealiacs, more especially as some
Portuguese houses have just stopped, and fears are
entertained for some foreign houses, the names of
which I have not yet learned.

AUGUST 22.—From the fetes which are given by
the Prince Regent and the military, it might be sup-
posed that we were living in the most perfect security.
Nevertheless, Bahia seems to set up for itself, and to
disregard the authority of the Prince Regent. The
dissension is so notorious, that the Buenos Ayres
cruizers, which have a sort of tacit treaty of amity
with Rio de Janeiro, treat the Bahians as a distinct
people, and take their ships, while they allow the
vessels belonging to this province to pass untouched.
The Heroine, of Buenos-Ayres, alter capturing two
Spanish brigs of war from Lima, is said to have taken
off Bahia a slave-ship destined for the Not th of Africa.
—When it is considered that the spirit of the Cortes
leads the-n to neat this country as a Colony, there is
reason to fear that we shall soon see a state of things
here nearly approaching to anarchy.
The people of this country ate not fit for a Con-
stitutional system. Ignorance, venality, selfishness,
and the most silly [nide, are with them inherent Vices,
which seem rather to tegune a Monarchical Govern-
ment, and which lead us to anticipate great misfor-
tudes, should the boundaries which retain them, if,
not in perfect order at least in a cc: tain habitual route
be removed.