Page:Galignani's Messenger (number 1334, 29 May 1819).pdf/4

 while, on the other hand, their anxiety to sell out expecting a fall, gluts the market and produces the consequent depression.

Much disquisition has been excited in the French Journals on the delicate subject of the recal of the Regicides; and it is pleaded by the Advocates for that measure that his Majesty, having granted a solemn amnesty, and guarantee that all past political offences should be forgotten from the moment of his re-establishment on the Throne, is not justified in thus making use of his regained power to punish men for crimes, over the commission of which he had himself thrown a veil; but to this it may be replied that, the amnesty in question was virtually a conditional one; it did not say indeed in words “I pardon the past on the express condition that you never desert my standard for that of an enemy who may usurp my Throne,” because the possibility of such an occurrence was not then recognized, but surely any one, not wilfully blind, must at once see that such a convention was implied in the very act of oblivion. Louis XVIII. returned in 1814 to tranquilize his distracted country; he promised the people a Charter which should insure them against the aggressions of any possible future despotism; and most religiously he fulfilled his word. He was received by those Regicides with all the hollow devotion of lip-deep loyalty; they professed the bitterest remorse for their former crimes; they swore—Oh,“Oh, [sic] ye Gods! how they did swear!” the most unbounded attachment to himself, and he believed them. He even took some of them into his confidence to be his Ministers and his Counsellors. “One little year—no—not one year” had revolved, and Napoleon Bonaparte returned to France to set Europe once again into a ferment: well, what was the conduct of these same Ministers, “this Council’s consistory, these second selves’?selves”? [sic] D dDid [sic] they continue faithful? oh yes, they flocked in crowds to the steps of the Throne, to assure their Sovereign of their most unbounded fidelity; they imprecated the divine vengeance on their heads, if they would not perish sooner than desert their venerable Monarch, their adored King. The Invader approached the Capital. Still, “fear not, Sire,” was the cry. “The Brigand, while we have life, shall never violate the Throne of your sacred self.”—Bonaparte arrived.—“But where was the constancy never to yield, the loyalty never to fade?” alas, “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin,” when “weighed in the balance they were indeed found wanting.” In one moment, did these men desert that Monarch, whom a few hours before they had pledged themselves by every engagement, divine and human, to meet death for. On the second restoration, it was esteemed advisable to weed the land of those viperous spirits, whom no generosity could bind, no tenderness altach; and, according, the Ordonnance of the 24th July, 1815, was issued.—Yet these are the men whom, by some strange inversion of argument, Louis is desired to bring back to his Councils, to his esteem,—far be it from us to break the reed already bent; but neither must a morbid sentimentality induce us to shut our eyes to the danger arising from the adoption of such a measure as the recal of those Regicides. For those who have been banished from motives of only temporary expediency, we feel no doubt but that the ready clemency of his Majesty will be extended to the least offending. What gives additional stability to this opinion is, the apparently well-founded rumour that Marshal Soult, Lieut.-General Piré, General Pommereuil, Count Réal, and Dirat, banished by the Ordonnance of July, 1815, as well as Messrs. Foucher d’Aubigny, Eschassériaux, Thaband, and Lemaillaud, banished in January 1816, have received permission to return to France. But, reverting to the Regicides—what pledge can they give of their future fidelity? could one be found which they have not already broken? even we ourselves should become their advocates; but how dreadfully apposite to the case in point are the following lines from the “Master Spirit”—

We some days since inserted a letter on the subject of an unliquidated debt of 60 francs, due to the Municipality of St. Cloud, for the space of ground appropriated to the last resting place of the late. We feel called upon to state, that immediately after the publication of the above-mentioned letter, we received repeated applications, both personally and in writing, from various British residents, all expressing an anxious desire to be permitted to take the debt upon themselves, both from a National feeling of what was due to the character of our country, and an individual sentiment of respect for the amiable deceased: and although, as we have authority to mention, the sum in question has been paid by a particularly active competitor in the honourable race of generosity, we nevertheless continue each day to receive letters of the same import, and to the same purpose, from the departments. We should consider ourselves as neglecting the performance of a duty, the fulfilment of which is eminently gratifying to ourselves, were we to neglect making the present statement.

Marshal Blucher is now deligently employing himself in visiting and examining the fortified towns of the Province of Silesia.

It is now rumoured in the political circles, that the Emperor Alexander has revived the project of Paul the First, to invade Great Boucharia, for the purpose of opening a direct communication between Astrachan and Orembourg, on the one hand, and the Afghan Empire on the other. This determination is attributed to some slight shewn him by the Emperor of China; but the Russians in Paris assert that it is absolutely necessary in order to facilitate the interests of geography. This report at first seems romantic; but it is repeated by men of information.

Mademoiselle Mars is about to leave Paris for a couple of months.

It is in contemplation to repair the ancient Palace of Julian, in this city, and to render it the depot of all the ancient monuments at present contained in the Museum, Rue des Petits-Augustins.

We learn from Alexandria, that the Pacha of Egypt, being extremely anxious to bring commerce to a flourishing state in his dominions, has given orders for the formation of an Insurance Company.

This day, at one o’clock, Mlle Mars will perform at the Menus Plaisirs du Roi, for the last time previous to departing for the departments. Her last character will be that of the Jeune Femme Colére. The play will be preceded by a brilliant concert. It is expected that a most distinguished audience will be present.

London, 25th May, 1819. At length the great and important question respecting the Bank of England returning to cash payments has come before Parliament. The Committees of both Houses gave in their reports on the subject last week, and the debate which took place in the House of Lords, on Friday the 21st instant, was highly interesting. The speeches of Lords Liverpool, Lauderdale and Grenville, are peculiarly able, but the most curious circumstances are, that the Bank objects to the measures proposed by Government, and that some of the leading Members of Opposition support the Bank, Lord Lauderdale, who is one of the best informed men in that House on matters of political economy, supported the Bank, while Lord Liverpool, who used to be its advocate on all occasions, not only condemned the present system, but threw out a distant hint, that as 20 miliions sterling of Bank notes are issued on Government securities, Government might as well issue notes itself, and save the absurdity of paying 1,000,000l. per annum interest for notes issued on its own faith. His Lordship only gave a hint, and it would appear it has alarmed the Bank, for the shares, that were lately at 250, are now sunk to 212.

The Public Funds are also falling fast; although it is evident that Parliament does not know what to do, and opinions are different respecting the measures to be adopted; yet all agree on the necessity of returning to cash-payments, though they do not know exactly how it is to be accomplished.

In the House of Peers on Friday, the majority was gre in favour of Ministers; but on the same subject, in ththe [sic] House of Commons, they came to no conclusion, as at two o’clock on Tuesday morning, the debate was adjourned.—It is easy to see that it will be similar in the event with that of the House of Lords, but it has never occurred to any of the Speakers or English writers on the subject; that the relative values of gold and silver are totally independent of the issues of notes by the Bank of England-theyEngland—they [sic] think that gold rises or falls as they issue more or less of their paper, though the variations in quantity do not exceed three or four millions. How men of information, with facts before them, can run into so gross an error is astonishing.

In the month of November last, I transmitted you three letters on the above subject, which, had they been attended to, might have at least shewn, that two measures of value at the same time will not answer, and that as other nations have silver (France for instance), it will be necessary for England to adopt the same measure.

The first troubles, or serious apprehensions of troubles on the Continent, will raise the price of gold, and the ingots of the Bank of England will quickly cross the Channel.

The great object of consideration in a political view now is, that the paper system in England seems to be near its close. By paper system, I do not mean paper circulating as cash, when payable on demand, but I mean paper that is not payable when presented, such as the bank of England notes have been ever since the suspension of metallic payments in 1797.

Commerce will feel this terribly, and there is no doubt that the Bank of England will make a struggle to preserve its power and profit. It can refuse to make payments on the Omnium of the next loan, and in a thousand instances, can thwart Government, during which struggle the public will suffer most—and that is an event which must be anticipated.

Ministers, however, have declared their opinion so decidedly, that they cannot retreat. It is possible that their great majority on Mr. Tierney’s motion for an inquiry into the state of the Nation, has rendered them too rash and bold, for they speak of more taxes as well as of clipping the wings of the Bank, both which measures are, as it would seem, totally unexpected.

If England gets over the paper circulation with honour, and without any injury, she will be the first nation that ever has done so, and I confess I have my fears upon the subject; but a short time will shew what is likely to be expected, and, indeed, when the debate in the House of Commons are once finished, we shall all be able to come to a more accurate conclusion.

,—In various numbers of your Journal, I have seen mentioned a work entitled “The Vampire,” with the addition of my name as that of the author. I am not the author, and never heard of the work in question until now. In a more recent paper, I perceive a formal annunciation of “The Vampire,” with the addition of an account of my ‘Residence“Residence [sic] in the Island of Mitylene,” an Island, which I have occasionally sailed by in the course of travelling, some years ago, through the Levant, and where I should have no objection to reside, but where I have never yet risededresided [sic].—Neither of these performances are mine, and I presume that it is neither unjust nor ungracious to request, that you will favour me by contradicting the advertisement to which I allude. If the book is clever, it would be base to deprive the real writer, whoever he may be, of his honours; and if stupid, I desire the responsibility of nobody’s dullness but my own.

You will excuse the trouble I give you; the imputation is of no great importance, and as long as it was confined to surmises and reports. Ireports, I [sic] should have received it as I have received many others—in silence. But the formality of a public advertisement of a book I never wrote, and a residence where I never resided, is a little too much, particularly as I have no notion of the contents of the one, nor the incidents of the other. I have, besides, a personal dislike to “Vampires,” and the little acquaintance I have with them would by no means induce me to divulge their secrets.

You did me a much less injury by your paragraphs about “my devotion” and “abandonment of society for the sake of religion,” which appeared in your during last Lent; all of which are not founded on fact; but you see I do not contradict them, because they are merely personal, whereas the others, in some degree, concern the reader.

You will oblige me by complying with my request of contradiction; I assure you, that I know nothing of the work or works in question, and have the honour to be (as the correspondents to Magazines say) “your constant reader,” and very obedient Humble servant, Venice.

5 per ct. 66fr 60c.| Bank Actions 1500f. 0c. . | 1 month, Paper, 24f. 40c. Cash, 24fr. 40c.—Three months, Paper, 24f. 20c. Cash, 0 fr. 0 c.

.—Jeanne d’Arc à Rouen.—Le Grondeur.

.—La Sérénada.—Picaros et Diego.

.—(Théâtre Royal Italien.)—La Capricciosa Corretta.

.—L’Hôtel Bazancon t.—Les Deux Edinon.—Les deux Valentin.

.—Cadet Roussel Beau-père—L’Ecole de Village.—La Rosiere de Verneuil.—Le Duel et le Déjeuner.

.—Les Mexicains.—Thereprise of La Laitière Prussienne.

.—Le Bane de Sabie.—Le Garçon d’Honneur.—Le Panier de Cerises.

.—Tomorrow.—Grand Fête.—Illuminations.—FirewoksFireworks [sic], etc.

, Rue Faubourg Poissonniére. Grand Fireworks, Illuminations, mountains, etc.

A Paris, de l’imprimerie du Galignani’s Messenger.