The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-10-05 00:00:00

Oct. 5, 1847.

Imports of Indian corn meal, during this year, 430,545'
barrels ; and exports 161,999 barrels.—On reference te„
the above details it will be seen that the great excess of
importation has been in American flour and Indian corm
Comparatively large as the quantities of these articles mat
demand upon this port, and within the last two months
there has been very little accumulation of stock. Lat-
terly, however, the supplies from abroad have been uncoul'
monly heavy. There are no available means of correctly
ascertaining the stocks held here, and in offering the.v fol-
lowing quantities, I believe them to be a fair approals'
tiou at the present time :—Wheat, 120,000 qrs. ; flour,
400,000 brls. ; Indian corn, 300,000 qrs. ; Indian meal'
200,000 brls. Of oats, barley, beans and peas, the quail'
tities are very moderate, and altogether are probably under
100,000 qrs. Of sack flour and oatmeal w e have scarcely
any here. The fluctuation in value, within the last twelve
months, has been important. Selecting three of the
i
principal articles import, American wheat, Western cane'
flour, and Indian corn, I find the maximum and minima
of price of the best samples to be as follow .—Wheat, Per
701bs, May 18, 14s 6d ; September 3, is 6d. W. C. Finer
per barrel, May 18, 49s Od ; September 3,25 s 6d ; Indian
Corn per 4801bs. Feb. 9,75 s ; Aug. 17, 30s.—There seems
to be very little difference of opinion as to the productive'
ness of the harvest in -the United Kingdom. Barley is
probably the greatest crop we ever grew. Wheat, on the
whole, has been good, and something better than last
year, but the quality is not generally so fine. Oats prove
a good fair crop. Beans and peas are deficient probabli
fully one-third. The potato disease is again spoken el'
but as of a less destructive character than the last tul
years. There is, however, only one general opinion that
a considerably less breadth of land was planted with Om
esculent last season ; the present price is about 100 Per
cent. over that of ordinary seasons. Notwithstanding
that a satisfactory result may be anticipated from the late
harvest, the present and prospective rate of consumpl
is evidently greater than it is calculated to supply,
there can be little doubt that in the course of the nel'"
twelve months large importations of bread-stuffs foto
abroad will be required, and obtained at moderate rates;
as the Continental and American harvests are reported °I
even more favourably than our own."

FAMILIES OF CHOISEUL, PRASLIN, AND

SEBASTIANI.

(From Fraser's Magazine.)
Scarcely a name is better known in the capital, of
Europe than that of Horace Sebastiani ; but few tiler°
are in England, though he was for a considerable time
ambassador in London, acquainted with the details of his
particular biography.
Sebastiani was born some 72 or 73 years ago, in Corsica'
where his father exercised the very useful, but not van
distinguished trade qf a cooper. The Sebastiani's alleg
that they were allied to the family of Buonaparte but
this as it may, young Horace entered the army in his id,'
year, in 1792. By his brilliant conduct at Arcola, he
obtained the rank of chef d'escadron, and at Verona that
of colonel, from Moreau. Buonaparte, on his return frau!
Egypt, was powerfully seconded by Sebastiaui. With the
regiment of dragoons he commanded he greatly influence
the fortunate issue of the 18th Brumaire, and from t'
moment did not cease to enjoy the favour of the Emperor;
His master was prompt to see that he possessed not the
'science for, a great tactician, such as Davoust, Suchet
Soult, or St. Cyr ;—the genius or coup d'eeil of a great
captain, such as Massena, Hoche, or Ney. He was also
aware that he was as little likely to shine as a great
politician, like Cambaceres or Talleyraud. But ther.e
was a sort of middle career—half military, half diplomsog
—in which, he wisely judged, that he might do g°°,
service. Endowed with cleverness and Corsican
.fine'
Horace received from nature a handsome face, a well-
shaped and graceful figure. His gestures and attitude
were dignified and graceful ' • and, though not ex-
ceeding the middle size, he had the air and look of
parfait cavalier. The malicious wits of that day use,
to say he would preserve his graceful dignity if smile',
up in a sack, and his agility if chained to a wash-tub. gis'
long air gave a poetic harmony to his Raphaeleque head'
and it was impossible for women to resist so sentimenta'
and seducing a dragoon. The Bishop of Malines,rzentalt
the Abbe de Pradt, used to say, that if Buonaparte weof
the Jupiter, Massena the Mars, and Soult the Vulcan,i•
the revolution, Sebastiani was assuredly the Cupid. Pr,
countryman, and, as Sebastiani says, his relative, detetr
mined to turn this Corsican comeliness to account. .n „
first, it was necessary to marry the envied, but unsP,
Colonel ; and a rich heiress of one of the most illustn°
houses of Normandy, which had given two marshalls °tact
numerous lieutenant-general to France, the only daugilde
of the Duke of Coigny was selected. Mademoiselleqt,
Coigny was woed and won after the battle of Austen
ay.
and soon after their nuptials, General and Madame Se ate
tiani set out for Constantinople. where the fortullor,
countryman'of the Emperor was appointed ambassa er
At Constantinople, Madame Sebastiani died, in the o,a-di
of her age, in 1807, in giving birth to the unfortunateAin
whose sad fate has been recently deplored. Deprive her
early life of the fond care of a mother—deprived
eighth year of even the superintending care of he tern sire-
Modemoiselle Sebastiani was plaCed with her ma can
ean
latives. But these, however kind and considerayo,wing
never supply the mental aliment and instructilsofan af-
with such eloquent force fm the lips and
beaorrld,
fectio nate mother. Of nagsg to enter into theriase position.
Sebastiani perceived herself completely in a •
A n the grand
In the year 1823, when she first appetite,. 1— ,• l_wentS
monde, she found, notwithstanding her aceompasu
_ons
and grace of mind, but a lukewarm reception lathe SO the
of the Fanbourg St. Germain. Notwithstandinfirits,
position and rank of her mother's family, her own I' the
grace, youth, and fortune, the great dames who gave de
law in the rue de Bourbon, de Grenelle, de Babylonefor,
St. Daminique, de Varennes, &c., looked coldly on The
because of the legislative career of her father.
Duchess de Berry, who was then in the ascendant, rod
her clique, detested and despised the Sebastianis,
considered them in the light of personal enemies•
Of
was this wonderful. For some time before the death
„4
Foy—indeed from the beginning of 1824 Sebast4
sought to rival that military tribune, not with the de7se
of benefiting his country and France, but for the purP
of serving the interests of the House of Orleans.
Mdlle. Sebastiani is understood to have earlY,felP
attachment to a gentleman of the Royalist opinions.
Royalist "par sang ; " but this predilection is sato,,
have been combatted. The cupid of the consulate! ,P4t
Adonis of the empire, though born in the hum
sphere, always aped the airs of a grand seigneur, and_wric
desirous that his daughter should marry into an hisu;:e,
family. The young heir of the house of Choiseul Prase,
intimate with the house of Orleans, whose interests. Tot
bastiana was serving, was chosen, and the nuptials t°
place in 1825.
As Sebastiani's opposition to the ministers and sYsisteerit
of Charles X. was fiercer in that year than it had ever "the
—as the " Comedie de 15 Ans," which was to end
tragedy of 1830, was drawing nearer to a close, the the
bourg St. Germain, then the arbiter of fashion, tookeiress,
note of the marriage of a great heir and a great 11,, is:-
both considered "des etre.? mal pensants," to use to, 'evir
gon of the time. Those, however, who intimately Ni'syss
the bridegroom, lamented the fate of the bride, for he .0
then considered, by those who had been brought up .Wl,
him, to be a contemptible profligate and degraded belnet;
From the period of 1825 till 1830 M. and Mde. Ch°':
seul-Praslin were certainly little seen in the society of th'
Faubourg St. Germain. The political conduct and ass°;•
ciations of the father of the duchess, and of the father 0:
the duke, effectually shut against them the doors of yr,
the select set then called, la bonne compagnie.” 4,4 m.
father of the duchess is said to have felt this acird;
but Madame de Praslin felt it not to any extent:eafgy-in-
had become the mother of a numerous and ydaily oc-
creasing family, lived in a small circle, and was ~,,Ave on
cupied in the minute yet engrossing duties that de'
,band,
maternity even in the highest rank. As to the hair' core-
he must have felt that, under no combination of c
stances, could he have been a favourite in any, c the
Without any of the natural cleverness of the roues aisia,
Regency, he was distinguished by all their moral tieroutt,,
tion. He was vain, avaricious, sensual, susritcLeet
haughty, narrow-minded, ignorant of the value, indinci,l3,
to the existence, and neglectful of the practice of tru_'lo
In all the ramifications of his private affairs, no 111111:,iii
being could depend upon him ; and while he was entrie
profligate and promiscuous, he was penurious even of
meanness. Neither of sentiment, nor romance, nods,
moral truth, did he possess a particle. He had no frienv
for he was gloomy, morose, and unsocial ; and with top
instruments of his degraded pleasures he did not, acc°ole
ing to report, unbend or compensate by generosity
.for.
suspicion and arrogant haughtiness which were his 0'
characteristics.
Though at one time austere and apparently superstit.ii°o,ti:
in the practice of the ceremonies of religion, he was %g-
-out religious or moral principle of any kind, without I"
rality, and without propriety.
Such a man could not comprehend the exalted f e opt
the enthusiastic devotion, the excess of virtuous pas
the
the ecstatic joy, the excruciating sorrow, the polg"i4.o
grief, of his doating and distracted wife. All that th.,t
good and gentle in her nature was unknown to
the excess of deprivation renders men insensible tOter
01,
enjoyment. It is well said by the author of the Consi',,
ations sur les Mceurs, that this excess is to be deprec*,
even in the interest of unlawful pleasures : "Car it aPPV
tient a, l'exes de la depravation de detruire toils
plaisirs."
nl
Much may be, no doubt, pardoned to the ardent 3 0
tuosity of youth, but there is not one redeeming trsJottiS
the errors and crimes of Choiseul-Praslin. The IV Of
of pleasure may, perhaps, to a certain extent, be paploiS,',
in a young man of nineteen or twenty ; but the pro hot
cuous pursuit of debasing amours in a man close upc,cirefit
forty-fourth or forty-fifth year, the father of ten chub the
six of them daughters, is infamous, and shows thal,
delinquent was deprived of all the purer feelings of ha( 11i5
nature. To have made his own house the scene atoirt
profligacy, and the instructress of his children his
~is
tress, is a turpitude nearly unparalleled in the ant";tife
France. We must go back to the friend of his re'D 4
and kinsman, the prime minister of France, for Steve 0'
exemplar, and we find him in the person of that Da‘ie,
Chartres, afterwards Egalite, who visited Choiseul,-.°oor,
villa in his exile, and who subsequently installed Nla a
Geniis Sillery simultaneously as his own mistress e„,s
son's instructor. Fortunately the virtuous disposittfLtfr,"
the youth were proof against the contagion of 1•700"
example and governess practice ; for the prince ,'OO/1'
Louis-Philippe) was an incarnation of virtue hi )0/0"
and is a model of innocence, simplicity, generosity,
lessness, and purity in old age. anse
Madame de Praslin was not a singular wife in theiator;
in which our clever weekly contemporary, the SPec, olias
calls her so. She had Corsican blood in her veins
,10e•
side, and on the side of her mother some of the, ',.efote'
and best blood in France. That she was, there I>e
De'
warm, impassioned, sensitive, and high-minded, n'ed he
ot
conceded ; but these qualities ought to have secar ,ote,
the affection and esteem, and not the murderous
her monster husband.