The Statesman.
London, England, 1820-01-20 00:00:00

Mut the village, a, the inhabitants anti about forty trio'_
tar troops have retired into the interior.

By accounts from Luba, we learn, that the Insurgent
brig Liburtador, Captain Chitty, had been at Marv;_
cello, and sent in to demand a ransom of Pul,Ufill
otherwise be would set fire to the place. This extort:on
lot being complied with, he commenced a bomhartlineht
on the town; bet theCcnnnyandant being welt prepared,

gave him a warm recrption from a battery. Thirty
men were then landed from the brig to attack the town
taa the rear, hut in this attempt they also failed, awl
were compelled to ►etreat to the boats, with the loss of
some killed and wont/Jed.

llt produces a mingled sensation of pleasure and
pain to observe a subscription for affording tem-
porary relief to the destitute, and nightly shelter
to the heuseless, during the present inclement
season, rise in • few days to the great sum of
nearly ten thousand pounds ! Tite first idea ex-
cited by this prompt, this liberal charity, mast of
course be highly pleasurable, as it shews that
the British public poasesses that virtue which
not only " corers a multitude of sins," bet also
distinguishes and exalts the nation in the eyes
of foreigners from all quarters of the globe.
But then a painful reflection arises in the be-
nevolent mind, which surveys thiogs at a dis-
tance, and looks beyond the present moment.
As far as the remedy goes, it is a blessed cordial;
it heals or soothe all to whom it is applied. But,
then, how far can its happy effect be extended, and
to what length of time can it be continued These
observations are, however, not intended to dimi-
nish, in the smallest degree, that energy arming
from sympathy, with distress, which has so moved
the liberal hand of the affluent, or of those in easy
circumstances ; Heaven forbid ! They are thrown
out in time, in the hope of preventing, if possible,
the sad recurrence of the evil to which the com-
passionate part of the community are so readily
called up to relieve. The present liberal provision,
designated for the uses of the class of our fellow
creatures, pointed out by the advertisements,
was calculated upon only to remove temporary
suffering. It was not the less wise and benevolent
because it could not be considered a perpetual
cure, or preventive of early recurrence of the
disorder. The wise physician first prescribes to
the symptoms of an acute disorder, and•atter
assuaging their violence, he trusts to nature, or
the excellence of a constitution, for the future
restoration of the patient to perfect health. We
are led—nay, we are impelled to these refiectlon,
from 'seeing these frequent calls upon iodividest
bounty and generosity : all that imuld in reams be
expected, or be wished for, in This way, has been
done: as Oronooko is made to say, " What friendly
care can do, you have applied." Now, must we
add what follows in the same sentence! " Rut
oh, there is a grief admits no sure." That there
is a great grief behind, none can deny, for the
pristine cause of all remains ; bet we maintain that
it admits of a cure. That cure, however, must be
administered by the fostering hand of Government.
The cause of all this is a sore subject. It is not a
latent cause: it is pretty well known; but it is a
tender part for the public press to touch ; and any
other portion of the press taking it tip, will have
but little effect. The newspapers now are become
almost the sole organs of praise or censure of the
measures of Government. Ministers, therefore, by
their secret service-money (an assassin-like pro-
vision or armoury in all the Governments which
employ it), take care to keep some sturdy fellows
to fill the pipes of those instruments with wind ; by
which, the well-practiced On;..rers of the performers
know well the tones which please the most. Thus,
then, the Journals that arc actually tinder the dic-
tation of Ministers never give occasion for their
reflecting readers (if their readers have any reflec-
tion) to suppose these scenes of woe are more than
natural, and incident to our social condition. The
other part of the diurnal press, looking up, as it does
to the aristocracy, for support, by the circnlatioa
of their papers; and knowing that this class of
readers is linked by interest, or by corneae, Ihn4"'"
governmental car, by whatever heads or hands It
may be guided, or through whatever miry roads it
may be driven, " go about it, and about it," with-
out having courage to enter into the slightest coo-
tact with the lamentable cause, much less le meet
it fully, " and by opposing end it." This is men is
The Time* of this day ; a paper which, altheogh it
bas sometimes exhibited a transitory gleam of re-
turning reason, " a symptom of a symptom," of
public virtue, is nevertheless more hurthtl to the
oause than The Courier, Peet, Ban, sad
all the smaller satellites of the baneful planet which
rules the destiny of these kingdoms altogether. It
was the groat trumpeter which, with ikighttilly
distended cheeks, blew the charge of war, year
after year, at the instance of the Win.t.sautv
family, till the Exchequer was nearly exhausted le
the last farthing, and the pockets of every one of
that family Oiled with the treasure.—The one at
the Mint of coarse is not to be excepted from the
coafratereity. The Ministers, then, are spared the
censure of this disintereolerl regulator of the public
feeling ; bemuse thnae collaterally or obliqoely
cooarsted with the Ministry must not be wounded.
Mr. Winna* Mee said, as every body knows.