Bonaparte completely deprived of the power of exciting disturbances, or of renewing his attempts to obtain the chief power in France. In conformity with the spirit of this treaty, the king of Prussia has issued a proclamation, calling on his subjects, whose banners have already floated over Paris, to march again to the combat, and to save the world from the unutterable miseries which Bonaparte will bring upon it. A general arming is ordered throughout his dominions—and all the male population, from 17 years of age, or upwards, is invited to join one or other species of force, either the regular army, the volunteer yagers, or the landwehr. "Thus, united with all Europe in arms, we again enter the lists against Napoleon Bonaparte, and his adherents. Arise then, with God for your support, for the repose of the world, for order, for morality, for your king and country!" But these hostile movements are not confined to the North of Europe. Declarations have appeared on the part of Austria and Naples, respectively, which leave no room to doubt, that the flame of war will extend from one extremity of Europe to the other. The Emperor has proclaimed himself the king of Lombardy and Venice; and has signified to the Neapolitan Government by an official note, that he considered the advance of the Neapolitan Army into the Ecclesiastical states, as placing the two countries in a state of war.-No doubt can be entertained, that the measures of Murat have been adopted in concert with Bonaparte. He no sooner learnt that the latter had reached Lyons, than he demanded a passage for his troops through the territories of the pope, and, notwithstanding the protest of his holiness, forced his way through them, and on the 30th of March attacked the Austrian posts at Cesena. On the succeeding day he issued a proclamation, calling upon the Italians to fulfil their great destinies, and to become an independent people. "One cry," he says, "echoes from the Alps to the Straits of Scylla; the independence of Italy." "Eighty thousand Italians of Naples hasten to you. They swear never to rest until Italy be free." "The enlightened of all countries will rejoice in your enterprise, and applaud your triumphs. England! can she refuse you her suffrages; that nation which holds out to others the model of a national and constitutional Government, that free people, whose finest title to glory is to have shed its blood aud treasures for the independence and liberty of nations?" "Your courage shall assert your external independence: let a government worthy of your choice, worthy of you and the age, a true national representation guarantee your in ternal liberty, and protect your property," &c. These various transactions and declarations leave no longer any doubt as to the renewal of hostilities. Indeed, the treaty of the 25th of March, to which we ours selves are parties, it is obvious, can be regarded only in the light of a declaration of war (a war which can know no termination but in the complete subjugation and prostration of one of the parties—a war, not merely for empire, but for life) against Bonaparte, and all who shall adhere to him; and these at present appear to comprehend the universal French Nation. There were, indeed, some indications of a movement in favour of the Bourbons at Bourdeaux, Thoulouse, Marseilles, and in Dauphiné; but they have proved totally abortive; and the establishment of the rule of Bonaparte within France, is therefore no longer doubtful. At Bourdeaux the duchess of Angou. lême made some heroic efforts to arrest the progress of revolt; but in vain. The troops of the line, and even the national guards, proved here, as elsewhere, unfaithful; and although a few devoted adherents ventured to oppose force to the torrent, they were overborne after a brief resistance, and the duchess with difficulty effected her escape on board a British frigate, which has brought her in safety to England. The duke, her husband, had collected a body of 6000 men, in the south of France, with which it seemed to be his purpose to endeavour to establish himself at Lyons. But he was met by a superior force, and obliged to capitulate. His personal safety was secured by the capitulation, and he was permitted to embark at Cette.-Louis XVIII. has fixed his residence at Ghent, His councils are directed by the Duke of Feltre, Counts Blacas, Jaucourt, Lally Tullendal, and Viscount Chateaubriaud. Mar- shals Marmont and Victor are also said to be with him. He has thence issued various ordonnances, forbidding the payment of taxes, or obedience to the conscription; and requiring all his faithful subjects to quit the service of Bonaparte. In the mean time, Bonaparte appears to be employing the utmost energies of his mind in preparing to meet the dangers which threaten him. He has issued a variety of papers, the object of which is to justify the conduct he has pursued, in resuming the reins of empire; to form, if possible, a party favourable to him out of France; and above all, to make his cause that of the French Nation. He attempts to justify his conduct in returning to France, by enumerating various breaches, on the part of the allies, of the Treaty of Fontainbleau. He labours to excite an interest in his favour in foreign countries, by assuming a tone of great moderation, by disclaiming all future attempts at conquest, or revolution, or personal aggrandizement (a disclaimer which is sufficiently falsified by the transactions in Italy); by professing an anxious desire of peace; by availing himself of the various causes of discontent which exist in different parts of Europe; and at the same time, by insinuating, that without the counteracting influence of such a power as that of France, a system of spoliation and oppression would be adopted by the allies, fatal to the independence and security of nations. The re-establishment of the Austrian and Sardinian power in Italy; the conduct pursued respecting Genoa; the bad faith alleged to have been observed towards the King of Naples; the intended dissolution of the Saxon monarchy, and the actual annexation of a part of its dominions to Prussia, furnish topics which he well knows how to turn to his own purposes. That the Italians, indeed, are almost universally favourable to his cause, cannot be doubted. The deep and irreconcileable hatred which they feel towards Austria in particular, and the indignation they entertain against the allies generally, for having disappointed their hopes of independence, and having consigned them over, without any regard to their own wishes, to governments which they detest, will propably produce a very extensive rising throughout the whole of the Transalpine Provinces ; and on this result Bonaparte has been able to calculate with tolerable certainty. Sax. ony, however, is not likely to be accessible in the same degree with Italy, to the operation of his arts and insinuations. Saxons are a reflecting and a moral people; and whatever just grounds of complaint they may conceive to have been afforded to them by the conduct of the allies, we scarcely think they will hesitate between an adherence to their cause and the risk of again fraternizing with Bonaparte. With respect to Belgium, our expectations are far less sanguine. The general feeling of its population, we fear, is adverse to the Dutch supremacy, and favourable to an union with France; and no means will of course be left unemployed to prepare them for seizing the first opportunity of manifesting their real sentiments.-But it is upon the public opinion of this country that Bonaparte appears most anxious to produce an impression favourable to his views. He is fully aware of the influence of our free press, and free parliamentary discussions, as well as of our party spirit, not only on the measures of Government, but on the feelings and sentiments both of this nation and of the civilized world. Hence, doubt The less, in part, the new tone which he has assumed on the subject of conquest; and the professed imitation of the British Constitution, in the new Constitution he is about to give to France. Hence also the disappearance of all those tirades agamst the ambition and seifisuness of England which used to fill the pages of his official papers, and those appeals to our love of national liberty and independence, to our high sense of justice, and our disinterested humanity, which have been substituted in their stead. Hence, above all, that Decree in which we cannot but exult, from whatever motives it may have proceeded, which has marked his re-entrance into the capital of France, by the total abolition of the French Slave Trade.* "However, the ship owners who may have fitted out expeditions for this trade, before the publication of the present Decree may sell their cargoes on the Colonies." The reflections which appeared in the French newspapers on the publication of the above, will afford a remarkable exemplification of the eager desire which we have attributed to the French Government, of conciliating the favourable regards of the people of this country to the change which has taken place. "The enlightened friends of humanity have long demanded the abolition of the Slave Trade: This salutary measure was expected from a government which made the highest pretensions to justice and morality. This measure appeared so conformable to religion, that it was hoped it would meet no opposition in the councils of a prince subjected to the influence of certain Abbés, who spoke much of their morality and religious zeal. Experience, however, soon convinced us that these protestations proceeded from the mouth, and not the Could we believe these various demonstrations of a friendly feeling towards this country to be sincere; could we believe that Bonaparte is actuated by a real desire heart. Government stipulated for the continuance of the trade during five years, in the hope that after that period circumstances would enable them to perpetuate this traffic in slaves, against which public opinion in Europe was every day more strongly pronouncing itself, "It was in vain that enlightened and judicious men endeavoured to produce the conviction that this trade was condemned not only by humanity and religion, but also that it was contrary to the maxims of sound policy. They proved that the slave trade would be an eternal obstacle to the restoration of commercial and friendly connec tions with St. Domingo, and that it was impossible to replace men under the yoke who had fought for their liberty, and enjoyed it for so many years. The ministerial hired writers replied to these reasonings by declamation and abuse. The encouragement which they received announced clearly enough the ulterior intentions of Government. An order of the police prohibited the editors of newspapers from enlightening the public as to the Slave Trade question; and there remains in our drawers an article on this subject which was suppressed by the censorship, and which we shall publish in a few days. "It was reserved for the Emperor to pronounce the definitive abolition of this dis graceful traffic, to thus give a striking testimony of respect for the sacred principles of morality, and to acquire a new claim to the gratitude of the friends of liberty. The partisans of liberal ideas, who are so numerous in Great Britain, will doubtless applaud this great act of humanity. The only rivalry which can hereafter subsist between France and England, is that of deciding which of the two nations shall make the greatest progress in the science of government, and in the art of rendering nations free and happy. "The Decree abolishing the Slave Trade will put an end to all the uneasiness which exists in regard to St. Domingo. There was reason to fear that the late government was at one time desirous of subjugating by force of arms, a population determined on resistance. Now the idea is altogether relinquished of exhausting the to cultivate the arts of peace, and that he had been so far impressed by the lessons of adversity as to determine to employ his recovered power, no longer in the pursuit of those projects of ungoverned ambition which have covered the civilized world with misery and desolation; but in pro. moting the general tranquillity and happiness of mankind; we should have far less doubt than we now entertain as to the course which this country is bound in duty to pursue. But it would be difficult under any circumstances, and in the face of the recent occurrences in Italy impossible, to give credit to Bonaparte for any such motives. The measures of Murat cannot be independent of Bonaparte: they have manifestly been concerted with him: and if we look at the dates of the various steps in his progress towards the open rup ture which he has at length consummated, we have at once a complete falsification of the pacific professions of Bonaparte. Whether Murat can or cannot plead, that the conduct which has been pursued to wards him by the allies, fully justifies his aggression, is a point which we mean not now to discuss. All we mean to infer from what is now brought to light of his plans and purposes, is, that Bonaparte must have been actually committed to war before he was apprized that any hostile declaration had as yet issued against him from Vienna; and that, therefore, all his amicable over tures, all his loud professions of an intention to maintain inviolable the stipulations of the Treaty of Paris, must have been made with the view either of gaining time, or of detaching from the ranks opposed to him a part of the general confederacy of Europe. public treasury in an attempt to re-establish slavery in St. Domingo. The Government which wishes to remain at peace with all powers is occupied with objects of the highest importance to the happiness of the French people. It is preparing a true constitution, which will guarantee the rights of all, and will place under the safe. guard of positive laws the security of per sons and property.-France, thus re-constituted as a free nation, will think only of the conquests of peace, of industry, and the arts: she will arm herself only to defend her independence and rights; but then all the citizens will become soldiers, and will be invincible, guided by the tutelary genius who is come to oppose the return of barbarism, and to recall us to liberty and honour." But there is another object, which he seems to have still more at heart, than even that of conciliating the good will of a portion of the population of Europe; we mean that of inducing France to espouse his cause as her own. And in this object, we apprehend, he will be more successful. The means by which he labours to accomplish it, are, inflaming the passions and alarming the fears of the people. It is with this view, doubtless, that he has taken into his alliance, and even into his councils, the most distinguished leaders of the Jacobin party; that he has accredited maxims of government and legislation, which are of the most liberal description; that he has affected a kind of republican simplicity; and that he has laboured to impress upon the minds of the people the sure prospect, in case the allies should succeed, of the humiliation, disgrace, and perhaps dismemberment of France, and to connect with the restoration of the Bourbons, the certain revival of feudal privileges, the inevitable extinction of the rights of property acquired by the national sales, and the re-establishment, in their former plenitude of power and oppressive exaction, of the Romish hierarchy. He labours to make the people feel, that it is his supremacy alone which can protect them from these evils. Should he be crushed, there will be no measure to the retribution which the expatriated and exasperated princes, and priests, and nobles, will then think themselves justified in requiring. They will then glut their vengeance.-These are topics addressed to the great mass of the population of all classes, and which can not fail, with such a people as the French, to produce a powerful effect. But Bonaparte's grand reliance is doubtless on the army. This tremendous instrument of evil is devoted to his purposes. The soldiery have fully imbibed his spirit; and to this may be attributed, not only his almost miraculous restoration to the throne which he had abdicated, but the necessity in which he is placed, if he would retain that throne, of avenging past defeat and disgrace, and surrounding himself with fresh trophies of military glory. On this point, an eloquent journalist has expressed, with so much force, all we feel, that we cannot better convey to our readers the sentiments we would wish to communicate, than by employing his words. "If the peace of the world is again to be sacrificed to the gratification of individual ambition; if, as we have learned to fear, the little gleam of tranquillity with which we have been mocked is about to be swallowed up in the returning cloud of war; if blood is again to flow, and devastation to spread over the fairest portion of the civil. ized world, it is to the unhappy diffusion and prevalence of the military character that we shall be indebted for this dreadful catastrophe. It is because France had become a great barrack of discontented soldiers, languishing in inaction, and eager for pillage and promotion; because her intrigues and her conquests, her conscriptions and her legions of honour, had accustomed the predominant part of the population to the deeper and more animating game of war, with its hazards and its triumphs, its disasters and its glories, and estranged their hearts from the natural feelings and duties of reasonable beings that they have flocked anew to the bloody and dazzling standard of a leader, who has no pretext for raising it but his own personal aggrandizement, nor any allurements to hold out but to the sanguinary and unprincipled ambition of military adventurers. It is sickening to be obliged to look again upon such scenes and to think that this new harvest of calamity and desolation has been prepared by the busy and eager hands of those who are to reap it. France is not misled now by any splendid illusion of liberty or virtue: she invites disorder and despotism with her eyes open; and openly proclaims war against the independence of her neighbours, without any other pretext than the gratification of her own inordinate vanity and ambition.”—Edinburgh Review. It was our intention to have discussed at some length the important question of peace or war, which appeared to hang, in some degree, on the decision of this Government. But that question appears to be already decided. Much might doubtless have been urged on both sides of that momentous discussion; and we were prepared to state fairly, what appeared to us the conflicting arguments, which had produced no small degree of doubt and hesitation in our own minds, as to the course which it was just and expedient for this country to pursue; and which certainly had on the whole inclined us to prefer the hazards of peace, confessedly tremendous as they are, to those of war. But more recent occurrences have scarcely, we fear, left us an alternative. We ap pear to be committed, beyond the possibil ity of retracting, in this awful and vital contest; and what we have now to consider is rather the terms on which we shall consent to be again at peace, than whether we shall enter into a state of war, Deferring, however, for the present, the consideration of this question, we would confine ourselves to one suggestion; and that is, that our Government should take care to have it distinctly understood, that in lavishing British blood and treasure for the freedom and independence of Europe, Great Britain must stipulate, that she shall not be made to contribute, in any degree, to the renew. al of a French Slave Trade; to the re-establishment of the papal power; to the revival of the order of Jesuits; or to the rekindling of the fires of the Inquisition. If a satisfactory arrangement on these points were previously made, we should feel much less of despondency in contemplating the issue of the approaching conflict, than we confess we do at present. A cause which involves the defence of these institutions cannot inspire with confidence those who regard the favour of Heaven as of infinitely more consequence than the strength of armies and we, therefore, most earnestly desire, because we desire the prosperity of our country, and the peace and happiness of the world, that we were delivered at the very outset from the ruinous incumbrance of any alliance, which shall involve us in the guilt of upholding such enormities. GREAT BRITAIN. Accounts have been received of the capture of Mobile, in Louisiana, by the force under General Lambert and Admiral Co. chrane. The happy termination of the war with America, an event which spread great joy throughout the United States, renders this conquest of small moment. On the 6th inst a Message was presented to Parliament from the Prince Regent, announcing, that, in consequence of the recent occurrences in France, he had ordered his sea and land forces to be augmented, and that he would lose no time in concerting measures with his allies for the general and permanent security of Europe. In a conversation which followed, we were happy to hear Lord Castlereagh distinctly state, that there was no secret engagement in the Treaty of Paris to maintain the Bourbons on the throne of France; and in the treaty lately concluded with Austria, Russia, and Prussia, there is an express reserve on the part of Great Britain, as to this point. She reserves to herself that is to say, a right of judging whether it be proper to pursue the contest for the sake merely of their restoration.-We certainly think this a very important reservation, and we could have wished that she had contrived to disembarrass herself of some other obligations which are in our view still more inconvenient. We have already alluded to them-Would it not be right, for instance, to make it the price of our aid, that France should maintain in full force the Abolition of the Slave Trade, and sanction the freedom of Hayti? Our limits will not allow us to say more on this point. The Property Tax is of course to be revived. The price of the funds has fallen greatly, both here and in France. The price of gold is stationary in the latter country. Here it has risen from 41. 9s, to 51. 8s, an ounce. Mr. Barham has brought a Bill into Parliament for rendering it penal to employ British capital, either directly or indirectly, in the Slave Trade: it is likely to pass without opposition. A great mass of interesting papers on the subject of the Slave Trade, containing the substance of the various negotiations, with a view to its abolition by foreign powers, which have been carried on since the month of August last, at Paris, Madrid, and Vienna has been presented to Parliament. We must defer an abstract of them to another opportunity ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. The Latin Verses from J. D, and Z.; J. P.; S. X. Y. BACCULAREUS; A FRIEND TO THE OLD SOCIETY AND ITS SAFEGUARDS have been received. M. J. A THEOGNIS; G C. G.; G S FABER, will be inserted. TALMIDON'S judicious communication is not inserted, only because his topics have been anticipated by another writer. The communication of PHILALETHES, though valuable, is scarcely sufficiently popular in its topic for our purpose This also is the objection to the paper of EVANGELICUS, which is returned as he desired. A work is, we understand, in contemplation, which is likely to satisfy the scruples of EUMANTHES. We have no hesitation in commending the Society to which he refers. We beg to suggest to JUVENIS, that the Benediction is not a prayer; and we need scarcely say to him, that such benedictions, and the position in which they are pronounced have the warrant of Scripture. We thank ESPERANCE for his ingenious letter, and should be glad to hear from him on other topics. |