The Statesman.
London, England, 1815-05-12 00:00:00

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To S.IMUSL tPII4MREAD, Esc.

Quo; Dees suit perdere, pries dergentat.

SlR,—The writer of a letter addressed to you, in
a Paper called the Dag, after professing great ad.
miration of your talents, sagacity, and experience,
describes yoo as one led away " by the democracy
of your passions," a phrase so elegant and ex-
pressive, as to extort our applause for its keenness,
against our better judgment, and win our admiration
for its folly, in spite of our reason ! But it is not
the language of that letter, blundering and ungram-
matical as it is, full of ill-assorted metaphors and
tinkling phrases, which induces me to claim your at.
sention. As to the ornaments of his opinions, I leave
him in the midst " of the fermentation of insatiable
ambition, settling into some innocent rob or jelly,"
to use his own expressions. The only compliment
I can pay him is a willingness to give credence to his
belief of the ridiculous doctrines which he preaches ;
and, if he does believe them, to pray for the restora-
tion of his senses. He directs your reflection to the
assertions which Bouaratrre has made, since his
ie-ascension to the Throne; which he absurdly de-
scribes as arising from the fear of leaving behind
him provinces or communes, doubtful or dissatisfied.
Before this letter sees the light, over 99-100111 parts
of France will wave the tri-coloured flag. This fear,
which is conjured up to account for the alteration
in the language and conduct of NAPOLEON,
is j 'lSt as ridiculous as the numerous stories which
were told of the rebel, whilst on his march to.
wards the Imperial Throne. --- This day he
was deserted by his troops—the next lie had fled
to the mountains, leaving his cannon behind—and
the succeeding he was depicted hopeless and forlorn,
a wanderer, from the dread of the 66 loyal" peo-
ple, who were about to rid the world at once of a
" base assas,in," and a " furious monster !"—These
stories were circulated as long as there were gudgeons
to be caught by the bait ; bet when the State.
fishermen could no longer deceive by their lying
tricks, they assumed much gravity, glossed over
their knavery and folly in silence, and prepared other
litres for the ignorant and unwary. The most sac-
eessful, lit the passing moment, is at once extravagant
and inconsistent. It is, that BONAPARTE marched
through• the midst of the French people to the Throne,
against their inclinations, and by the aid of the army
alone ; although the National Guard, whose hopes
and desires are identified with those of the people,
might, in many of the departments, in an instant,
pat an end to his power ! For the men, who are so
silly as to credit this absurdity, Bedlam is the proper
receptacle- It is notorious that nineteen-twentieths
of the population of France unite with NAPOLEON
and his cause, and that the other twentieth part is
composed of lovers of the old Regime, of the Gabelle
end the Bastile, with a few admirers of the ancient
House of CAPET. Evident as is this fact, equally
evident are the causes which produced it. The re-
storatiou of the good Louts at the point of foreign
bayonets--the assumption of the title of King of
France by hereditary right—the pretended grant of
a Charter by one man to millions, instead of the
King's acceptance of it, as a compact between him
and the nation—the 'suspension of the Liberty of
the Press—the restoration •of the reign of faint-
ticiem—the loss of all conquests—the infractions of
the Treaty of Fontaiubleau—the aggressive system
of the Congress—the fears of the new proprietors,
as to the return of feudal times ;—these were the
causes which operated on the impassioned French
nation to make them ardently wish for the restora-
tion of NseoLuost ; and these causes, like the burst-
ieg of a mighty volcano, overwhelmed, in an instant,
the power and authority of the race of Bounaosm
in France.
After indulging in an infuriate strain of vulgar abase,
the writer winds up the climax by depicting the
French nation as "utterly decayed and rotten," and
consequently unlit for the unsullied purity of the
BOURBONS. They therefore need not regret the
event, unless '' they would rather rule in hell than
serve in Ipavea." His description of the army, as
composed of savages, banditti, robbers, ruffians, and
cut-throats, is quite ludicrous, except as a contrast
to the other armies of Europe, which are formed of
civil, well-disposed, and gentle beings, who use
their muskets only as pop-guns, their swords as
razors, end their cannon harmlessly to announce the ,
approach of a birth-day ! Moral depravity unfortu-
nately takes an extensive range; and while fornica-
tors,
adulterers, gamblers, dehauehees, contractors
public peculators, and insatiable placemen, are per-
mitted to riot in the sunshine of Courts, hope of re-
formation dies in the bud, beneath the chilling klasts
of pestilential depravity.
What Constitution the assembly of the French
people will produce in the Field of May, it is fruit-
less to conjecture; a few short weeks will tell the
tale, and denirnist rate whether the iron hand of ad-
versity hes expelled from the heart of BONAPARTE
that inordinate ambition, which. made him one of the
curses of the world. if he is grown wiser, he will
see the folly of sacrificing the interests of millions to
gratify the vanity of one little animal.
In fact, the whole of the reasoning of this writer,
if argument may that be called which sense has none,
comes to this at last : that France has no right to
expel the reigning Monarch, imposed on her by fo.
reignen, and to elect another iu his stead. Shades
of our ancestors ! you who would not bear for a
moment the interference of -foreign nations in
the internal affairs of England, what would you
say to your degenerate sons, who threaten war
against a people for making choice of a king ?
Who endeavour to paint it as the interest of
the Allies to restore the legitimate Horse of
Boustans, and to crush the illegitimate House of
BONAPARTa ? The flourishes about the vices of the
latter, are accompanied by no tinge of the colouring
of sech actions of the former !—they are all angels,
he a devil. It is not vice in the abstract, or vice in.
bit friends, Which the writer abominates, but vice
only in an enemy. In the work of Congress he sees
nothing but justice—the dismemberment of Saxony
—the slavery of Poland—the transfer of Italy—
the destruction of the Republic of Genoa—the union
• of Belgium with Holland, with or without the con-
. currence of the inclinations of the millions tbas
disposed of like herds of cattle, by the stroke
of a pen, was all good, . all just, and all.
wise. The atriiihilition of the Cortes—the

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