The Statesman.
London, England, 1814-12-28 00:00:00

rA,Ris•,- Dec. U.

•
0, .• ' .DIATfIACT QV A TATTr.a4] •
• toiellatation lulus at present. on .the case of the
. Gene* ft( Divisien .Count, ,Dlticatmatty. to whose
• petition' * theOtambre des Deputep.the newspapers
have • but eery slightly alluded.: .The question is one
*Melt has sometimes occurred in-English, history, as
• it is between the personal freedom of• the subject,
and the attempts of arbitrary power. You may
. recollect that soon after the King's Restoration, the
French Government became sensibly alarmed at the
,Prodigieus influx of military men to the capital. Order
• after older was issued by the Minister at War,
worded 11';!h progressive rigour and severity,and hold-
., ing out at length severe punishments to such officers
And soldiers as remained at Paris, instead of repairing
to the bead- quartrrs of their regiments. General
Officers, moreover,were invited to apply for liberty to
.soktorn at Paris to the barna of the Minister it War.
. These orders and invitations, during the ministry of
• Dupont, had been but imperfectly attended to.
.Idlemeis or cabal had so infected the French Mili-
, tells that upwirds of 60,(X)0 individuals were sup.
. posed to continue here in .direct violation of their
dal. On fault's appointment, he issued a sweeping
.declaration, that- no officer, of any rank •nhatever,
• whether in activity, or-redueed upon halting, should
, Presume to stay et Paris, without leave front his of.
. Soult is not a men to be trifled with, and his
orders were no sooner issued then enforced by the
• arrest of several officers. Amongst the .class •of
those upon half-pay is General Count D'Excelman,
on officer of distinguished bravery, talent, and popu-
larity ; and whose least honourabte memorial is, that
he was one of the Aids-tie-Camp of Bonaparte.
General D'Escelman could not conceive, that a mili-
tary man without any duty assigned to him—no,
longer in the service, and enjoying only the half-pay
which belongs by law to every retired soldier—pos-
.sessing, moreover, no home but at Paris, where his
establillinient had been fitted for many years, could
come so far within the spirit of the new order as
to be•molested in the bosom of his family, and at a
time when his lady was confined' by -airlines! to
her bed. lie was arrested, however, by iothority of
.the Duke of Dalmatia, though he had contrived to
escape from the gens d'armea who had seized him,
and hos been searched -for by the Police during the
lad three days, in every (patter of the environs of
, • bjltory.tv occupied. the .whole world;
, tiny° via spaimoct oT last; as to iltelWtivatielllP
,giectiltre Oovern&ent to apace from his florae& do
;Officer retired from the service, without a chargat
or any biut of a charge against him, for public or
private misconduct. It opens a question of wisdom
and of policy, how far a prerogative so terrible (if
it exists at all) ought to be exercised upon the per-
eons of Alen of high rank and character. It• has un-
fortunately engaged the feelings' of. the army, who
do not act .upon a preponderance of . reasoning,• but
on the impulse of passion—and, in fact, it has thrown
society into a ferment. Soult, with every deference
for his great talents, has been bred in the school of
force,. which knoes no. restraint but Torce. Bethinks
little about Civil Authorities, ex political Consti-
tutions. Uiv hand is described as being too strong ;
'big touch too coarse ; he squeezes and throttles the
infant:charter of French liberty, Which requires to
be eenbraCed with the utmost gentleneSs, and to be
directed With delicacy to its important objects. -,We
vatinot gulls how ibia.besiness is to end.. • • '

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