The Statesman.
London, England, 1815-01-12 00:00:00

THE FRENCII PRIZS.

A Periodical Paper, called the Censor, which had
been for some time printed at Paris, was discontinued
on the enactment of the law ror regulating tins press,
but the persons concerned in it have siNoe resolved to
publish it monthly, each number containi;iz just
the number of pages which are su Ifici-iit to remove
it from tile jurisdiction of the previous Cloisorship.—
Some copies of the first number of this Journal have
reached town. It is full of severe remail:s on the
versatility and venality of the Piris No‘t sp.rters,. a
considerable portion of which consists or'estracts
from a pamphlet. the-author of which is M. Motit-
gaillard, who, at an early period of the Frenc:i
Revolution, published a Political Journal in the
French language le London, and- who, perhaps, is
now one of the Editors of the Censor. M. Mont-
gaillard, in 'his pamphlet,. has made the following
observations:—

46 What it difference has not been perceived be-
tween the Journalists of the 31st of Mart-IN and the
Journalists of the. lst of April, 1814! But lately
those Gentlemen vociferated against the Institutions
anterior to 1789; now they proclaim those Institu-
tions as the chef rtteurrc of legislation, and the
only pledges of public. felicity! They, not six
months ago, entertained us with essays on the per-
fectibility of the human mind—they were p►oud of
the knowledge of the 1-Bth'century, mut at this day
they are disposed to bring us hick to the age of igno•
ranee, of superstition, and intolerance.
" In general, the Journalists have been constant-
ly, in France, since. the. Revolution, the organs of
calumny, the mut_shatneless,persecetors of all de-
scriptions of men—the weak—the proscribed—the
unfortunate. Not to re-ascend to the source of our
troubles—to those fatal epochs which it is the duty
of every good Frenchman to bury in the most pro-
found oblivion, what outrage, what proscriptions
have no► our public prints vomited forth against the
victims of the 13th Vendentaire, of the 10th of Fruc-
ticlor, and of the 18th Brumaire—victims upon
which the same. writers now pour oat their benedic-
tions and their praise ! They base been, for the
most part, the vile flatterers of every new Minister
—of every new Re►olution, successively complying
with the orders, and receiving the wages of the de-
positaries of tyranny, they have obOyed its,evoy im-
pulse, and celebrated its most di•graccful epochs—
they have been RCP!, serving despotism and liberty
by the quarter; taking their opinions from the port-
folio of a Minister, and to extract their pattiolisre
from his coffers ; for the hypocrisy of patriotism has
been the distinguishing characteristic of our Revolu-
tion."

To this the censor in the same spirit adds—
c‘ Men will doubtless be astonished, that after having
shown such unshaken fidelity to the st•asnger party,
the Journals were not abandoned to their own timid
Councils, and that it appeared necessary to place
them under the direction of Censors. Two soffirimt
reasmis may be given for the measure—The first is,
that as it was necessary that they seould prose one
uniform spirit, and that fundamentally ministerial ;
and being destined to spread among the public the
ideas, the views, and opiuiona which the Minister
wished to put in circulation, it was necessary that there
should be men through the medium of whom they
might hold communication with the Ministers—
men who might every day go to . the unoisterial
offices to learn the state of thing—to go there for the
purpose of taking instructions—of receiving the wotti
of command, anti hawking about afterwards, to the
Editor's office at each Journal, the thoughts of the.
Minister—the news which they are to disseminate;
and the spirit in which they are to write. Such is the
office of the Gentlemen who act es Censors to olio
Journals. The second roason is, trsat as there happen
to he.at many of the Journals some men Of a disposi,
tion naturally free and independent—incapable of
modifying their opinions according to the turn 01'
events nod circumstances, and whose principlesand
language night form, perhaps, some unlucky coat rast
with the spirit and style of the day ; it was, therefore,
indispensably necessary to place by their sides some
persons of a more soft and fletihle temper, who
might he instrected to exclude from their articles
every thing which might apps6r to them of tun
frank and anti-ministerial a (104i:4:6=m—surf, i; also
the office of Messieurs, the Censors of the Journals."

The piles having been driven down, Rini Ili, diva is f
nearly formed for one of (he piers of the iotrodett
Southwark Bridge. It will he neeesvary to hive the;,
preparatory works of unusual strength, far :he liver
is very deep where this bridge is to Ile built, nod the
mesons will have to work below the surface of a vast
volume of water. New. at the Strand Bridge, ssliern
the depth is notch less, the workmen, during the last
spriutoiftes, were sometimes if; fear of being
w.helmed from the %eighty rushing of the
against.tfte•darn, in which they are employed up,
only pier unfiiiiifheti there. The depth of ma
much to be considered in all thew cases. •

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