VOL. XXVIII. No. 1.] LONDON, SATURDAY, JULY 8, 1815. TO MR. NILES, Proprietor of the Weekly Register, pubtished at Baltimore, in the United States of America. SIR-After thanking you for the Numbers of your publication, which you have been so good as to send me, I proceed to the subject of this letter, the object of which is to give to the people of the last remaining republic some information, which they might not be able otherwise to obtain, relative to the effects produced, and likely to be produced, by the recent events in France; information which it is very necessary for you to possess; for, time may not be distant, not nearly so distant as you imagine, when you your selves will feel some of the consequences of the events to which I allude. This second fall of Napoleon has caused wonderful joy in England amongst the higher orders, and especially amongst the boroughmongers, who have been now, a second time delivered; or, at least, have obtained a respite a second time. The re-action, which will certainly come, may operate against them. But, in the meanwhile, they get rid of their alarms, which were, a month ago, greater than at any former period. The boasting here is beyond all conception. Though the fact is notorious, that the Prussians and the Belgians were fighting on our side against the French; though it is notorious, that we held a vast superiority of numbers and of means of all sorts, we talk here, as if the victory were wholly our own. Two hundred thousand pounds, at the first slap, has been voted to the "great Lord," as the Spaniards call him. What did you vote to Mr. JACKSON, Who won a more decided and more glorious victory at New Orleans? Burke, with his pension in his pocket, calls nobility and honours the CHEAP defence of nations; and so they may in countries whose people do not receive money along with the honours. But, this [Price 1s. [2 grant of money, enormous as it is, appears to be only a beginning. A proposition has been made to make a grant to the Duke of York, as Commander in Chief of the Army, he having, in that capacity, provided the army for the Duke of Wellington to fight with. He has been paid a pretty good salary for this, to be sure; but this, it seems, is not enough. It is therefore, now proposed, or, at least has been proposed by a Member of Parliament, to give him money on account of these successes of the army. You will ask, what takes place in this respect, when we get beaten; as in the case of Plattsburgh, Lake Champlain, Lake Erie, New Orleans, &c. Why, we hold our tongues. We do not talk about the matter, except to praise the valour of our troops for a day or two. Indeed, the country people in England, and a great many of the towns-people, never know any thing of such defeats. The London newspapers, which alone have any very wide circulation, are employed in, the spreading of falsehood and the suppressing of truth. The Country newspapers, with very few exceptions, are the mere gutters, through which pass a part only of the filth of the more copious London sewers; but, it is, if possible, the worst part. When the news of your grand atchievement at New Orleans arrived, it was at once asserted, that WE had gained a great victory. Details even were published. The same was repeated, with trifling variations, for a week. Thus the Country papers had time to play their part. The victory was believed in, from one end of the kingdom to the other. At the end of a fortnight, out slipped the account of the defeat in the middle of a Gazette, stuffed up with advertisements and promotions. We could not accuse the government of not publishing it; but, in fact, the mass of the people never either saw it, or heard of it; and, to this hour, there is not a man in the village, in which I am now sitting writing, who does not believe, that we gave you a hearty beating at New Orleans. In short, the mass of the people in this country A : .. 3 know less of the affairs of the nation than for his humiliations; and so they have all. any people that I ever heard of. But, what are they to do? They cannot All Europe, At present, however, it would be unrea- kill the people of France. sonable to expect us to show any thing with more than a million of men in arms like moderation. Not only do our news- and with 50 millions of English money, papers approve of the Proclamation of will replace Louis on the throne of France. LOUIS XVIII, in which he talks of pu- But, they cannot remain in France; and, nishing traitors; but, they are preparing if they do not remain in France, they cantheir readers to expect a direct inter- not keep him upon that throne. He is ference, on our part, in the regulating of now, as last year, moving along towards his government, and even in the choosing the capital under the protection of more of his ministers. We are told, in so than half a million of soldiers, who have maay words, that we have a right to inter- made war, and are making war upon fere in this way; that we have a right to Frenchmen, fighting on their own soil, demand the death of some of the "rebels;" and in its defence. As long as Frenchmen are kept down by the bayonet, he that we have a right to compel the king to adopt a strong government. In the mean- will, of course, remain there; but, how while others are proposing to strip the long will that be? He was on the throne city of Paris of its statues and other orna- last year; but, he was not there six months ments to bring them to England, to adorn after the hostile armies had quitted France. a monument to be erected in memory of To hear him threaten the French, as he the late victory. There seems to be no did some time ago, with chastisement by bounds to the degradation, to which some foreign armies, 1,200,000 in number of of our writers wish to reduce the French men, was natural enough; but, to hear Some demand real, him now talking of their sorrow at his depeople and name. solid securities for the future. This, per-parture, and of their joy at his return, is haps, means Dunkirk, before which our calculated to fili one with admiration at Ca- the impudence of his advisers. He knew Duke of York fought a battle once. luis, perhaps, too. The demolition of the well, that it was under the bayonets of Bason of Cherbourg. There is no know- foreigners only that he dared advance; ing where we are to stop. You remember that he, or any of his family, dared show the punishment that our pious king their nose in France; and yet, even while RICHARD I. inflicted on his rebel subjects he is following close upon the heels of in the garrisons which opposed him after those foreigners, he boasts of being the his return from his crusade to the Holy object of the love and admiration of the Land? That, as being the most effectual French people! No, no, Louis: you are mode of preventing the future propagation restored, as you were last year, by foreign of rebels, may, perhaps, appear to the bayonets; and the question is yet to be Borough-monger writers as the mode to decided, whether those bayonets will be be adopted towards the French people upon able to keep you on the throne. You have yet a stormy time to pass. The battle bethis occasion. tween light and liberty, on one side, and darkness and despotism, on the other; that battle, which began in 1789, is still going on. It may rage less fiercely for a time; but, it will not he put an end to unless by the triumph of the former. That there will be bloody vengeance taken now, there is no doubt. The recollection of the battles of Gemappe, Dunkirk, Austerlitz, Marengo, Hulen, Wagram, Eylau, Freidland, Moskwa, Smolensko, the Helder, the capture of Rome, As to the conduct of Napoleon, upova Naples, Turin, Amsterdam, Madrid, Hanover, Moscow, Berlin twice, Vienna this last occasion, it was useless for him twice: in short, the defeats, the humilia- any longer to attempt to support his autions, the shames and the bodily fears of a thority as a sovereign; and, indeed, it quarter of a century, and, above all, the would have been well, if he had resigned exposures of the priests, are now assem-immediately after his return from Elba. bling all their force to obtain vengeance. The convention of the. Helder, and the convention which gave Marie Louisa to the arms of Napoleon, are now to be avenged. The Pope has to get vengeance This was fully expected by many men in England; and, it appears from his last act that we have yet heard of, namely, his abdication in favour of his son, that he was only restrained by his foolish at P the energy of a Republic was necessary in those years; and, it was become now as necessary as ever. But, such, energy could not exist under an imperial and aristocratical government. The French people felt no wore what they felt in the first years of the revolution. The pro but that alone was not sufficient. tachment to the Austrian and her child! After all his glorious deeds; after all his famous battles; after all his wise acts of legislation; all his magnanimous proceedings; all that he has done in the cause of mankind: after all this, how painful is it to see him varmly hankering after the preserving of a crown to his family! and,prietors were anxious about their land; which adds to the rortification, to a son which he has had by the daughter of a T king; and, of an Austrian too! It is melancholy to think of. If it had been the son of some tradesman's daughter! But to risk the freedom and happiness of that gallant nation, who had twice carried him victorious to Berlin and twice to Vienna; to risk the freedom and happiness of this brave people for the sake of the grandson of a king, and that king an Austrian king too, is horrible to think of. If, upon his return from Elba, he had frankly acknowledged his great error; namely, that of connecting himself with the old Royal Family; and had declared again for a Republic in name as well as in substance. If he had done this, and had called for the Convention, no power in Europe would have moved against France. But, when men saw, that the Emperor was still to remain; that they were again to have an Empress to maintain with all her Royal progeny; and that they were likely to descend in fee from father to son; when they saw this, they could not possibly feel any portion of the old Republican fire" holy thorn" sought after in France as warm their hearts. Say what he would, still it was a battle between an Emperor and a King. Nevertheless, in spite of these errors of Napoleon, he is entitled to the gratitude of mankind. He pulled down the Pope, the monks in Spain and Italy, the Inquisition in those countries. He euried light and liberal principles to dark and enslaved regions. He formed a code of wise and just laws; or, at least, he confirmed those which had been passed by the Republicans. He was a soldier, too fond of military glory; but, without arms he could not have effected what he did effect in favour of civil and religious liberty in distant countries. Much of what he did will now be undone; but, it will be impossible for all the kings and priests in the world, to make men as ignorant and submissive as they were be fore he marched over the Alps. The enemies of freedom, the black-hearted friends of despotism, flatter themselves, that now they shall see mankind as superstitious and as slavish as they were a quarter of a century back. They will be deceived. They will never again see a touch of the Then the new nobility. It was impossible to animate a people in their cause. They had suffered under the nobility be- | fore. It was difficult to see why a man should risk life or property for the sake of preserving to these gentry their titles. To see these old republicans forming a House of Peers, and calling themselves Dukes and Counts! This was, indeed, no more than a consequence of the Imperial part of the plan; but, it could not fail to fill with apprehension all those who wished well to the Republican cause, and who recollected, that it was under the banners of "Liberty and Equality," that Brunswick was chased out of France, and that the coalition of kings was covered with disgrace, in the memorable years, 1793, 4, and 5. The truth is, that to defond France against such a coalition all a cure for a cancer. The present race of perverse old women cannot live for ever; and they will have no successors. The young ones do not, and will not, believe, that holy water will preserve them from thunder and lightning; and, unless they believe this, there is no fear of their husbands becoming slaves. The common people in England believe in an Almanae, called "Moore's Almanac." They be lieve, that the cunning people who publish it, have a fore-knowledge of events of all sorts, and especially of the weather. Many of the farmers refer to this Almanac to know when they ought to cut their grass or to spey their pigs. You will hardly believe this, in America; but, I, in the face of my countrymen, assert it to be a fact. The men who sell this book find their accounts in it. It is sold by the Company of Stationers, who serve our rabble, in this respect, in the stead of priests. The people of France are far more enlightened. The pairings tion to his "loving subjects," denied that of St. Andrew's nails, which used to be he ever meant to restore the tythes or the a most precious relic, would now be used feudal rights; and yet these are of older only as manure in that country. The date than his title to the throne. At any breeches of Pocomo, so wonder-working rate, he will never long maintain his in former times, would now fetch only throne without them. They are as necestheir worth as old rags. Napoleon (and sary to his political power as food is to his that was his greatest fault) gave, in some body; or, rather, as swords, guns, and sort, a sanction to falsehood and hypo-powder, are to the army now employed in crisy and impostor by going to Mass. He his restoration. did not, indeed, compel any body else to go to Mass; but, his example in this was of evil tendency. The act was, besides, compromise with fraud. So you see, that a counter-revolution is not a thing so easily accomplished as many seem to imagine. Your New England noblesse and priests will, I dare say, rejoice exceedingly at this triumph of the kings and priests in Europe; and we, in England, have in some sort, good reason to boast of it; but still, if Napoleon were to be murdered to-day, and all the old republicans hanged up to-morrow, the Still the world owes him much, and particularly for having, by his return to France, left no doubt in the mind of any man, that, in the restoration of the old family the French people had no share. It was always asserted, that the French people longed for the return of the Bour-thing would not be more than a tenth part bons. Louis was called le desiré. But, now it must be clear to every body, that he was, and now is, restored by FOREIGN FORCE ALONE. The case is now too plain to be confused or misrepresented. It is a triumph of kings or priests over republican institutions. None doubt of the triumph: no one can deny that but, it is not the act of the people of France. They had tried the ancient dynasty before; they had tried the new order of things; the ancient dynasty was restored; and they again drove away the ancient dynasty, which is now again (by this time, I dare say) restored by the means of a combined foreign army, who have defeated the armies of France. So sensible are the Aristocrats of this, that they, even now, are almost afraid of the ultimate consequences of their success. They do not see their way clearly out of the adventure. Are the foreign armies to be kept up in France? Is France to be disarmed? How long can either last? The truth is, France is too extensive and too populous to be long kept down. She is not, and cannot be, loaded with debts. The moral effects of the revolution cannot now be eradicated. It is useless, in short, to restore the King, unless they could also restore the breeches of St. Pecomo and the virtues of the Holy Thorn. These and divine right must rise together, or either can stand for any length of time. The King, who will hardly call himself be desiré this time, has, in his proclama over. Foreign armies must remain in France, or there is no security for the king's remaining on the throne. When, then, is this state of things to terminate? Not, at any rate, before another hundred millions are added to the debt of England; and, even for years to come, it will be impossible for the allies, upon their principles, to disarm to any considerable extent. The whole of Europe is in a ferment. Light has gone forth, and it is impossible to put it out. Hanging and quartering will do nothing towards it. Men must again believe in the virtues of Holy Water. That was the main prop of the power of the Bourbons; and, without that they will in vain endeavour to keep themselves long upon the throne without the aid of foreign armies. How a sensible man in France, quietly settled on his farm, must laugh at all that is passing! He must be highly amused at seeing us taxed a-new to the amount of a tenth part of our possessions for the purpose of forcing him and his countrymen to endure the sway of a Bourbon, a Bourbon desiré too! He must laugh to see how we are fretting and fuming, and arming and fighting, and paying away our money to prevent him from being a republican citizen. He must wonder what we are taking all this trouble, and incurring all this expence for. But, if he knew what boroughs were, his wonder would soon cease. If he knew what effect these have in making us so generously anxious about the regularly governing of other coun trics, he would soon cease to be surprised | LORD COCHRANE AND THE DUKE OF CUMat our late zeal and our present joy. You, in America, understand this matter well. I read with great pleasure, in many of your papers, the just descriptions which you give of our motives in these wurs. But you may be deceived as to the effect of them. Nations are often ruined wile their governments are gaining force. We are screwed up to a war pitch, and, while we are at war, we are strong. You saw how we were enfeebled by the last peace, short as was its duration; and, I assure you, that there is now, in this country, a general dread of the effects of peace. Our situation is this: the taxes on account of the Debt and the Army and Navy are, and must be, so great, that England must be the dearest country in the world. Even this second restoration of the Bourbons will, I should suppose, cost us about four millions of taxes annually FOR EVER, | which alone is more than the whole of your revenue. As to discontents in England, think nothing of them. They are not worth your notice. But, income, ingenuity, industry, will all seek cheap living; and those who have to buy goods will go to the cheapest market. This debt and army will produce a serious change in our affairs, in a short time. We may, possibly, see the French people tolerably illtreated; but that will not pay our taxes. By these wars against the French, wel have added nearly fifty millions a year to our peace taxes. And, what have we got which we might not have had, if we had remained at peace? The French had then a king; they then had abolished feudal ghts; they then had abolished tythes. And have they not done so now? But, the noblesse are now to have their titles. The fools might have had their chateaux and their lands, if they had not run away to join the foreign armies; and now these are sold away from them. What, then, have we gained for our fifty millions of taxes to be paid annually in peace? Ask your New England Right Honourables | this, and they will tell you, that we have got a great deal; for, that we have got 36 regular government and social order," BERLAND. There never was, perhaps, a stronger instance of retributive justice, than in the late triumph of the cause of honesty and independence over infamy and corruption. The day on which that most injured and persecuted nobleman, Lord Cochrane, took his seat, for the city of Westminster, in the House of Commons; on that very day his single vote gave the death blow to one of the most impudent attempts at extortion that ever disgraced even the Castlereagh administration, and that is saying no little. I will explain this projected job in as few words as possible:-It appears that his Royal Highness Ernest Duke of Cumberland, Colonel of his Majesty's 18th regiment of Hussars, Chancellor of the University of Dublin, Ranger of Windsor Park, &c. &c. &c. has lately entered into the holy estate of matrimony with a certain woman, the daughter of the Duke of Mecklenburgh Strelitz, and, consequently, niece to our most beloved and gracious Queen Charlotte, whom God preserve. This woman, it is understood, has already had to husbands. The first was the Prince Louis of Prussia, brother of the Duchess of York. It is said, that this marriage did not turn out perfectly happy, and the Prince, though a young and healthy man, yet, as we are all no doubt liable to, he unfortunately diel suddenly. His widow soon after married another German Prince, called the Prince of Salm. But this marriage, like the former, was not described as being the most happy in the records of hymenial bliss; and this second husband, like the first, went the way of all flesh, and with, it is said, no very long illness either. Some time after this, his Royal Highness Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, one of our be loved Regent's brothers, who is also a Regent of our new kingdom of Hanover, became enamoured of this twice widowed Princess. But, on certain information reaching him, which, it is said, was not of a nature the most decidedly flattering to the lady, he broke off the projected alliance, and would have nothing whatever farther to do with her. However, this. did not prevent his Royal brother, the Duke of Cumberland, from trying his fortune; and as, perhaps, on acquaintance, the lady and gentleman, as Mr. Tierney called these illustrious personages, aqtici. |