The Statesman.
London, England, 1824-01-13 00:00:00

ittatecintan.

TUESDAY EVEMNO, JANUARY 13, 4324.

STOCK EXCHANGE, 1.2 &CLACK.—Contots opened this
morning at 89II; and afterwards drooped to 89 I ; with
very little doing.
The war-like article inserted in an Evening Psp.r, la't
night,has not had iny effect on the Funds ; as well informed
persons do not attach any credit to it.
We do not hear of any Express having arrived from
Paris this morning.
Foams FUNDS...—.SptHiSi Bonds opened at 24/ to I ;
and got up to , with little business doing, except in the
above Bends, and in the Austrian Scrip.

Ohl Spanish, 21* to I.—New Austrian, 55 .—Russian,
S 9/ to I.— Poysit, 4—Mexican Mine Shares, 19 to 11
preen.—Colombiac,

The private news in the Courier indicative of war, may
have ceased to be ominous, and the predictions and obser
Cations of that Journal may have lost their importance
since the Journal itself has lost so.mach of the confidence
of the Treasury ; but. unless we suppose that the Courier
is suddenly determined to be indifferent to,or to run counter
to, the views of Government, we cannot imagine that that
paper would so frequently and earnestly sound the alarm of
war, unless the apprehensions of Government were real, or
unless there was a design, that the country should believe
them real In ttve months, says the Courier, fourteen vessels
discharged their cargoes of naval stores at Brest, the men
in the Dack yard were working rates. and on Sundays; S
'sail of the line, and 5 frigates of 68 gUns each, with 4
smaller frigates, sloops, Ste., were getting ready for see,"
&e. &c All this we conceive to be greatly exaggerated,
(mho ever heard of 6S gun frigates, or what nation pos•
ceases even 5 of the new CO gun frigates?); hut these prepa•
rations, if true, would prove nothing more than the natural
anxiety of France to re establish her almast• annihilated
marine. But the French have sent out a considerable mill,
tary force to the West Indies; and this fact, coupled with
the acrisity in Brest, is certainly of no very pacific
aspect. It may be remembered that after the peace of
Amiens, one source of uneasiness in our Government, and
fa great subject of complaint against, Napoleon, was Iris
sending a mili!ary force to the Wert Indies. But Napo'
leon pledged his viers to he pacific, and although subse-
i quent events proved his sincerity, yet his expedition was
one means of hurrying us into a war. The French
King now gives us a similar assurance of pacific
intentions ; but the Courier has discovered that
the word of a pions Legitimate Sovereign may
be as false as that of a usurper; for, sal
the Courier, oh, mortifying reminiscence! assurances of
pacific intentions and wishes on the part of France, were
made up to the very moment of the Duke d'Angoolerne's
invading spain with an army of 100,00:1 men. We ssi,ll
the Courier had informed as, whether our ministry had
really been imposed upon by this royal delusion—yr dots
etc Courier remember, that in the last speech from the
British Throne, the country was assured of tranquility
in Greece, when, within a few days, the papers announced
a massacre of 10,000 Greeks on the plains of Marathon,
and the war has been raging in that country from the hour
of his lojesty's specclil

Then is a situatioa which the most ignorant can com-
p:thews', and the most lethargic can feel. with as much
&cannon and sensibility as the most learned and sensitive
of brings. We mean the situation of dissipated means,
without having attained the object for which such means
have been exhausted. The principle and feeling of this
dilemma apply to nations as strongly as to individuals, and
we lament to say that the situation we have been'ae•
scribing, is precisely that into which our riders have
brought our country. We have exhausted about two thou•
sand millions of money. and we have copiously shed the
bh.od of the country in a war of twenty years, in order to
attain an ascendency in the affairs of Europe ; but so far
frouthaving in any one respect achieved that design, we
have even lost the influence in those Foreign Courts, where
once our star so proudly maintained the ascendant. From
the peace of Utrecht our influence bad been paramount;
at the Courts of Vienna and Berlin, it was destroyed by
the Emperor Napoleon, but having overcome his opposi-
tion by such a vast sacrifice, we have now the mortification
of seeing our interests at those Courts succumb to the influ.
ence of the Autocrat of Russia. Having placed the Boor.
bons on the Throne. we anticipated our reward in a
paramount influence at the Court of the Tuilleries, but even
here the views of Russia are triumphant, and our Ambas
sador is only a secondary object in the circle of diplomacy.
But our fate has been most remarkable In Spain and
Portugal. Our victories in Spain threw the affairs of
that country tinder our complete control, and yet in less
than nine years, our diplomacy at Madrid has been over
reached and overthrown by Russia, a power which from
its geographical and commercial separation from the penim
sula was, of all others, the least likely to thwart our
view.s. .or to over witch's our exertions. But from the
r-ign of Queen Ann and the signing of Mr. Me-
orten's treaty, so undisputed bad been our
kfueuce in P:rtitgal, ibat that country *as