The Statesman.
London, England, 1823-03-27 00:00:00

THE STATESMAN,

BOURBON WAR.
Hell upon Earth.—That is to say, the Stock Exchange
of London, was all in commotion yesterday with the story
about the conspi acy in the French army, which has
been collected together for the invasion of Spain. It
seems that the War Minister, Marshal Vie Ton, bad set
cif for that army, and that another person had been ap-
pointed to act as War Minister in his absence. These
circumstances seemed to have formed the foundation of
the story about a conspiracy. We say seem; for really
ttere may be a conspiracy ; only we must have, before
we believe in it, authority of quite another description
than that of "private letters" to the Jews and Jobbers
who own the lying newspapers of London. That is
the only authority upon which the story rests at pre-
sent. Half a dozen soldiers' trolls conspiring against a
biscuit bag, or a flagon of eau-de-vie, woulct be
quite sufficient fir these audacious liars to build a con-
spiracy in the French army upon. The Old Times news-
paper has, however, sealed• the whole matter. It has
got the Throne already taken from Louts the ldtb.—
Anna Brodie, who sent her soul much above half way to
t'se devil, in her services performed fur this same Louts.
Who was for oversetting even the American tiovernment,
lest it should endanger that of Louts, has fallen ea upon
the old boy with more fury than any of the rest; and
she seems almost fainting with delight at the prospect
of seeing hint bundled into the street. The truth
is, Lours's projects has marred ANNA'S specu-
lailons in Spanish Bonds ; and she could, therefore,
cut his throat as cheerfully as the Quakers could the
throats of our Mini4ers, for having marred their specu-
lations in corn. With regard to the conspiracy whatever
our wishrs may be, it never can be our interest to believe
that to be true which is false. For our parts, we have no
wishes with regard to foreign affairs, which do not con-
vert themselves with our domestic affairs. We do not
care a straw about the events on the Continent, except,
as those events may have an effect with regard to Gattollell
Old Sarum, Knaresborougli, Peterborough, Winchelsea,
Caine and the like. If the prosperity of the Bourbons ;
if their success in Spain ; if the extension of their power
—if their trinmplyGe it over whomsoever it may;
these tend to the annoyance of the pretty things at Peter.
borough and Knaresborough, we wish for pros.
perity, success, and triumph to the Bourbons
.---
In short, we wish ~success to any thing,—
no matter what and no matter where, that will give an-
noyance to English Borough-mongers; and though ma-
ny others do not appear to see it, we think we can clear-
ly perceive, hove the s feces' of the B•urbons would an-
noy those Borough-mongers. lf, indeed, there were a
real conspiracy in the French Army, it might annoy the
Borough-mongers still more in the end ; and, of course,
we should be pleased to bear of the existence of such real
conspiracy. But, as we said before, it never can be our
interest to believe a lie. At present we believe this to
be a lie ; and though we know that it will meet the more
readily with belief on that account, we only do our duty
in expressing our opinions with regard to it. We are for
not carrying our hopes too far, let who will be at war with
one another, we, ourselves, are at war with nobody but
our own Borough-mongers. We know them well ; and
we know that the success of their old friends the Bour-
bons would at this time give them dreadful annoyance.
What they wish for with regard to France is, to see her
feeble and miserable; we, therefore, wish to see her
strong and happy. We du not wish to see her in a state
of agitation and decreptitude ; because that would give
them grounds for being saucy to us. Another revolution
in France would, indeed, be worse for our Borough-
mongers than even the prosperity of France under
the Bourbons; but, if we are to have any thing short of
that, let us have the prosperity, the success, the exulting
triumph of the Bourbons.--!We, for our own parts,riever
wished for this Bourbon War. We wished for all to
lanais quiet upon the Continent while the PUT system

of paper money and cash payment was producing
all its effects in this country. We wished
for nothing to happen to give the system the smallest
disturbance, and to furnish the Borough-mongers and
their agents with an excuse that might serve to cover
their disgrace. However, we must take things as they
come : and, thanks unto Goo be given, we have a DEBT,
and that Debt insures us some good to come out of every
thing that can take place. Suppose things to go on
without any disturbance whatever, there the Normans
are ousted ; and that is a good thing. Suppose the in-
terest of the Debt to he reduced : that works the Jews
and Jobbers ; and it must work Batton and Old Sarum
too. Suppose the French to triumph in Spain, that will
pave the way to a constant hectoring on their part over
us, and we should not wonder, if they were, at least, to
demand a re-payment of the tribute, which we made them
pay in 1815 ; aye, and payment for the pictures
and statues into the bargain. They may do
any thing as long as we have this Debt ;
and we cannot touch the Debt, without tumb-
ling down Garton awl Old Sarum; so that warn
pretty gentlemen must submit to the French
or give up batten and Old Sarum; and the French,
know very well that they would as lief give the eyes out
of their head. After the French get into Spain and
take possession of it, for the benefit of France : when '
they arc in complete possession of that country, which it
cost 180 millions of money, to put them out of ; when
they shall be in complete possession of that country
I which we then called the outworks of England and Ire-
land, we will wash down Whitehall and Parliament.
street, and just take a look at the faces of the fellows in
blue coats and leather breeches; those fellows that
clapped their hands when the news arrived, that we bad
" conquered France." We shall like to see their faces
at that moment.—The last supposition is that there may
Ihe a refusal in the French army to march ; and then
there will certainly be another revolution in France.—
This would suit Gatton and Old Sarum very
emewell, too.tiet,
The blessed Debt would keep our pretty gentln rp
sotwithstanding all their treaties, awl all their goaran-
tees! They could not stir hand or foot without reducing
'the interest of the Debt, or without coming to
assignats ; so that, let things take what turn they may,
this blessed debt is our security, that our pretty gentle.
men still never triumph again, unless they tir4 give up
Batton and Old Sarum. And this is what we think
about and care about a million times more than we think
or care about Spanish Bonds.—We cannot, however,
quit this article without saying, that we see no ground
for believing, that there is any conspiracy in the French
army ; nor do we see any ground for believing that there
is any thing like general discontent prevailing in France.
We should not choose such a Government as the French
Government is; but we say, that the French people
are well of; that they enjoy more freedom than
any other people that we know of, a part of the
Americans, excepted; that agriculture is in a most
flourishing state ; that real property is widely distributed ;
that the farmers are in easy circumstances; that there is
no want of etnployment amongst the labourers; that
these are well fed and well clad; that there are no tithes
its France; that there are no cruel and tyrannical game-
laws; that the elections of Members to serve in the
Chamber are not a vile sham and mockery; that the
press, if not free is not carried on by a combination of
infamous Jews and Jobbers, and of base agents of per-
sons in power: in short, we, say, and we know, that the
French people are well off; and that wheat at four shil-
lings a bushel is not conveying the estates from the
Landlords, awl the capitals from the Farmers. The
Morning Chronicle has our challenge lying before it.—
We have challenged it to show that the French people
are not more free than we are. It has a long time beeo
talking about the despotism of the Bourbons. We have
challenged it to the detail. We repeat our chal-
lenge ; and, if it dare not accept this challenge;
if it cannot show that the French people are com-
pelled to submit to such things as we submit
to quietly, upon what ground do-s it presume that
the French people desire the overthrow of the Bourbons ;
and, especially upon what ground does it presume that
the French people will rise against the Government,
merely because thattOovernment is about to undertake a
war, which every good Frenchman must approve of;
because be must see that the object of it is, to add to the
strength and security of France? Very natural, indeed,
for us, as the Duke of Fitz-James observed ; very natu-
ral for vs to be discontented against the French Govern-
ment ; for natural, for good Englishmen ; but just as un-
natural for good Frenchmen.—Upon the whole, if there
be discontents in France, we believe them to be confined
to the political Coffee-houses of Paris; to men who
have been formerly in the Army and who are now
unemployed ; to some few speculators in politicit;
but as to the great mass of the people, France is
almost wholly agricultural; the state of agtiCUlture.l
there is precisely the contrary of what it is here, and'
surely nothing more need be said in admiration of it ;
and this being the case, our belief is that the people of
France are not in a state of discontent with regard to
their Government.—Wat as we said before, wish for any'
thing that may tend to shake button and Old Sarum.
Another revolution in France would assuredly shake the
two beautiful things to their very foundation. But the
continued prosperity of France and the triumph of the
Bourbons in Spaiu would shake them too at any rate,
we are not to believe a thing because we wish it: to
form correct opinions is our business ; and, until we
see much better evidence than the "private correspon-
dence" of Anna Brodie and the "City Intelligence" of
the Morning Chronicle, we must continue to believe,
that there is no conspiracy in the French Army; and
that the people of France are not discontented with their
Government.

PARLIAMENTARY COMMENTARY.
To•n:ght the two.llouses adjourn for a fortnight—
We shall, therefore, postpone until to-tuortow, our ob-
servations on the closing debates.

The Paris papers of Monday so anxiously expectfd. eon- I
tains only the following paragraph (in the Journal derlie-
bats) that has any reference to the conspiracy, which is int-
derstood to have been detected in the army of the Pyrenees :
6° We announced yesterday the arrest of a diligence at the

barrier, d'Etafcr, in which were six individuals, who were
conducted to the Prefecture of Police. These irdividuals
are Marechal-de-Cainp I'iot, two other Officers, end three
persons engaged in trade, of whom one is from Lille. They
have been lodged at Salle St. Martin, and examined by a
Judge of Instruction. Their papers were seized, and the
contents of them have cruised the arrest of three other per-
sons. The Prefect of Police, this morning (Sunday), waited
very early on the Minister of War, and had with him a con-
ference of an hour and a half."—Though the extent of the
conspiracy may be exaggerated, the New Times of this
morning expresses a belief in its existence, and considers
it to have occasioned the appointment of Marshal Victor to
succeed General Guilleminot as Major-General of the
Army of the Pyrenees. Our Coin* Journalist, referring to
the account we quoted yesterday, of the two Aids-de-Camp
of General Guilleminot having taken part in the plot, and
of the General himself being likely to be implicated, thinks
the first part of this statement probable enough, but dis-
credits the latter. The reasons he assigns for this opi-
nion, are very curious. General Guilleminot, he says,
is not a Frenchman, bat a Belgian, by birth. From his
youth up, he has been inclined to Revolutionary princi-
ples, having taken part in the Belgian insurrection so
early as 1790, and served in the French army down to
1814, when, though he received particular rewards and
distinctions from the King, he took an active part in the
rebellion of 1815, and was appointed Major General of
Fouchelarmy, in which capacity he signed the capitula-
tion of Paris. Notwithstanding all this, and though the
General has ever since been kaown as a Liberal, he is in-
clined to think him too honourable.to be engaged per-
sonally in a conspiracy. But the case he says, is very
different with his Aides-de-Camp. The connections of
such a man must, in all probability, be disaffected per-
sons ; and Guilleminot, on discovering their criminality,
may have chosen to withdraw from command, rather
than compromise his own character.
A statement in the Journal des What:, of the effective
force of the army of the Western Pyrenees, including the
troops now marching for Bayonne as well as those al-
ready there, makes the total number 59,522. A para-
graph in the Constitutionncl says the Portuguese army
begins its march to enter Spain at the same time with
the French army. A private letter from Madrid, of so
late a date as the evening of the 19th inst., states that the
whole of the mules, carriages, &c. were then in the Pr
lace-yard, and that the men were even amounted for the
ltoyal Escort on the ensuing morning at an early hour.
Everything was Perfectly tm anquil,and not the least opposi-
tion coot mnplated in any quarter. The whole of the trea-
sure had already been sent off, without the least seemy
being observed as to this movement. No change of Mi-
nisters had taken place. Those formed under San Miguel
continued to enjoy the confidence of -all parties, and the
Constitutional cause was gaining ground every moment.
Sir W. A'Court. accompanies the King. Lord Fitzroy
Somerset remains at Madrid. The French Armies, it is
added, are to be upon the Ebro on the sth of April.
FRENCH FUNDS. 11ARCII 24.—Five per Cent. Consols
opened at 7Sf. 90 c.; closed, at 7Sf. 10c.—Neapolitan 5
per Cents. f 7.—Exchange ou London, one month, 25f.
70e. ; three months, 25f. 50c.

This morning two Hamburg and one Flanders Mail
arrived, from which the following are extracts :—ln the
Stockholm Gazette, of the 1 lth inst., it is announced that
a forged letter intended for the worst of purposes, had
been put into the General Post Office, either on the nth
or the 23th of Februaw. sealed with a wafer, and directed
in the Norwegian language, intimating that a secret in-1
trigue was carrying on through Sweden, by which his
Majesty and the whole of the Royal Family were to
be assassinated. His Majesty has therefore commanded
that, any one who may discover the writer of the
said Letter, shall receive the reward of 10,000 Dollars
Banco. The Frankfurt papers of the 19th, state that M.
de Croix who has been a resident for upwards of twenty
years in Spain, and is thoroughly acquainted with the
country, paised through Frankfort on the 18th on his
way to the head-quarters of the Duke of Angouleme ; he
is to he employed in a diplomatic situation. Letters
from icirttia say that the Countess of Lopona, (Ex
Queen of Naples), had applied to that Court, for permis-
sion of her two sons to go to America to their uncle Jo-
seph BuonapartP, which was granted her, on condition
that they never return into the Austrian dominions. •

STOCK EXCHANGE, TWELVE O'CLOCK.—The conspi-
racy in the French army which was to invade Spain, not
being confirmed, up to the present hour, has disappoint-
ed the public. The story is said to have originated in a
dispute between Generals (Minot 2::(1 Guilleminot
on
some important military movement, and this dispute, it
is also asserted, has caused the French Minister of War
to depart for the army. The well informed, however,
think his departure is the signal for the army being put
in motion to enter the Spanish territory. Consols opened
at 741118!, with a very heavy Market. We do not hear
of any Express basing arrived from Paris, but it is
anxiously looked for. Lord Liverpool's speech of last
night bas bad some effect in the market.
FOREIGN FUN Ds.—As the King of Spain's departure.
from Madrid on the 20th instant is anticipated by the
public, and no new negotiation is likely to be entered
into by the Spanish Ministry present, Spanish Bonds
opened at 262, got to 27.. and fat
ell igain to 262.
Chill, 692—New Spanish, 20,-01d, 331-.-New Prussia,
79-01 d, bl to 88----Russian, 711 to 7i—Colombia,
69 68 67.

Tenders are now lying at Deptford, for the reception
of seamen who chuse to enter into the Navy ; and in
order to make a choice selection none are taken above the
age of 37.
Sir Henry Hardinge, who served under the Duke of
Wellington in the Peninsula, it is said, succeeds Mr. Ro-
bert Ward at the Ordnance.
It has been suggested by a friend to the Spanish cause,
that the inusquets belonging to the late Voluntier Corps
night be collected and sent to Spain at a very trifling
expellee. Fifty thousand might be furnished. from the
metropolis alone and its vicinity.
Yesterday a Conrt of Directors was held at the East
India House. when Capt. William Manning was sworn
into the tommand of the ship Thomas Grenville, con-
signed to Bengal direct.
'This day being Maundy Thursday, his Grace the Lord
Archbishop of York. distributed at Whitehall Chapel. his
Majesty's annual donation of money, clothes, lines, victuals,
&c. to es many aged men and women as his Majesty is
years old. Time Lord Mayor gave a dinner at the Mansion-
house yi.sterday, to a large party of gentlemen connected
with the Committee of City Lands.