Obrazy na stronie
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officer and almost the whole of his crew were killed. The fire, meantime, fed chiefly by the more distant flotilla of mortars and rocket boats be. hind the large ships, had spread rapidly among the Algerine vessels, so that in the course of a short time all were utterly consumed or disabled. About 10 o'clock, the batteries around the admiral were completely silenced, and he began to draw off his fleet from the reach of the few shells which the enemy were still throwing on them from a fort in the upper angle of the city. Having removed further out into the bay he was joined once more by Admiral Van de Capellen, whose squadron had been of considerable service dur. ing the action, by keeping various lateral batteries from bearing upon the ships engaged at the mouth of the harbour. The loss of the Algerines was estimated at about seven thousand

men.

Next morning the spectacle of desolation presented by the city and harbour was such as to convince Lord Exmouth that the chastisement inflicted must have lowered abundantly the tone of the Dey and his advisers. He sent in therefore a letter to the Dey, in which, after stating that the destruction of the city had been inflicted, in order to punish him for the massacre of Bona, and the contempt with which the messenger of the preceding day had been treated, he of fered him the same terms which had on this last occasion so rashly been rejected After an interval of three hours, three shots were fired from the citadel, the appointed signal that the Dey was willing to accept of the terms proposed by Lord Exmouth The mor parts of the negociation were arranged on board the Queen Charlotte, between the British and Dutch commanders,

and the deputies of the Dey. At noon, the whole of the Christian slaves in Algiers were marched to the shore and delivered up to the allies, among whom Capellen had the satisfaction to recognise many of his own countrymen. Nearly four hundred thousand dollars were also paid into their hands, being the amount of ransom money received from Naples and Sardinia since the commencement of the year. Some other articles of dispute being arranged to his satisfaction, Lord Exmouth at last drew off his fleet, leaving be hind him lasting marks of the severest lesson which the Algerines ever had received the whole of their navy annihilated, and one half of their city reduced to a heap of ruins.

The news of this event was received in England, and indeed throughout all Europe, with the satisfaction which might naturally be expected to follow 80

righteous a victory. At home, Lord Exmouth and the officers of his fleet received all the usual tributes of honour; the admiral himself was thanked in his place by the Chancellor, at command of the Peers. Abroad, more particularly upon the shores of the Mediterranean, a wide joy was diffused, by the hope that the outrages of the Barbary pirates were now for ever at an end. But if the reports of recent travellers are to be believed.* the humiliation of the Algerines on the 27th of August, great and signal as at the time it appeared to be, has not been sufficient entirely to extirpate that spirit of rapine, which had been fed and nurtured by so many centuries of cruel indulgence. As yet, indeed, no such open and shameful manifestations of corsair violence have been repeated in the sight of Europe; but the States of Barbary are supposed by the travellers to whom we have al

Signior Pananti, above quoted, and Mr Blaquiere.

luded, to be waiting only till some interruption of the peace, with which Europe is at present blessed, shall afford them better opportunity of practising their old offences, without obstruction or punishment. With a view to such schemes, say our travellers, the governments of Tripoli, Tunis, and Algiers have now laid aside the internal wars with which their country was almost perpetually ravaged, and are cementing their strength by an union which may hereafter afford to any one of them more effectual means of defence from foreign invasion. Nor is it unsuspected by some, that the Emperor of Morocco himself is willing to form a part of the league. Whatever may be thought of these authorities or of their conjectures, it is certain, that the utmost rage of discontent prevails among the Janizariesof the three minor Moorish States; nor do we hold it at all improbable, that ere long anotherexpedition may be necessary to controul their violence. Should such an armament be found needful, we trust a very considerable land force may be sent with the ships employed in the service; for the issue of Lord Exmouth's brilliant expedition has convinced us, that unless the barbarians be pursued into the interior, no effectual humiliation can ever be inflicted upon their spirit. The destruction of a city is an object of comparatively lit tle concern to a despot who subsists by tyrannies over the inhabitants, and whose sole dependence is placed on a foreign militia, quite unconnected with the major part of the population. All our readers must recollect the wellknown story, according to which, an English admiral, in the time of Charles II., having threatened to burn a Moorish capital, the sovereign of the place sent to ask him at what expense to the assailant himself this destruction would be effected. The admiral told the Dey that it would cost so many

pounds sterling; "Give me half the sum," replied the Moor," and I will myself destroy the city without giving you so much trouble." The only ef fectual impression must be produced by persisting in an inland war, till every soldier be compelled to lay down his arms; nor, after all, in so fine a country, and with such superiority of discipline, would the undertaking be either a very lengthened, or a very dif ficult one.

Ever since the Congress of Vienna, but more particularly ever since the termination of the expedition under Lord Exmouth, speculators in politics have found a favourite theme, in expatiating on the propriety of some general combination among the powers of Christendom, to conquer and colonise the coast of Barbary. The easy access afforded by six hundred leagues of coast, abounding everywhere in excellent harbours, the fertility of the soil, which once entitled this region to be called the granary of Europe, but finally, and chiefly, the unpopularity of the present governments, have been enlarged upon, as furnishing the best of motives for the undertaking, and of means for the success of this invasion. Whether or not any such invasion is likely ever to take place, we cannot pretend to offer any opinion; but the whole condition of this part of the world is such, that it would require greater credulity than we possess, to believe it possible that, at the lapse of another century, the sovereignty shall be found in the same hands which have so long abused it. There are many things in the present situation of several of the European kingdoms, (above all in that of Spain) which seem to us to render it far from improbable, that the colonization of Northern Africa may, ere long, be undertaken by some Christian power. Upon whomever the lot may fall, the honour will not surely be inconsider

able, of restoring to Christendom a region which once possessed no less than six hundred Bishops; and which, in the hands of Carthaginians, Romans, and Saracens, has already exhibited so many specimens of all that renders any region either glorious or prosperous. The Italian traveller, to whom we have already more than once referred, mentions most positively the existence of a superstitious belief among the inhabitants of Barbary, that their country is destined to be conquered on a Friday by Christian soldiers clothed in red. The influence of this belief

is, it seems, so great, that perpetual watch is kept every Friday from the towers sea-ward, and the gates of every city upon the coast are closed with marks of particular precaution. Our readers must remember the effects produced on the empire of the Yncas of Peru, by the existence of a belief among these people, apparently of the very same nature with this. We shall perhaps incur some chance of ridicule by mentioning this supersti tion at all; but, if it does exist, it is easy to observe what advantage might be taken of it by a crafty inyader.

CHAP. IX.

State of Affairs in France at the Meeting of the Chambers.-Interesting Nature of the Discussions commenced in these Assemblies.-Bill for the Suspension of the Law securing Personal Liberty.-Debate on this Occasion.-Some Remarks on the Manner of Procedure in the French Chambers, as contrasted with that of our Parliament.-Bill respecting the Services of the Duke of Angouleme.-Bill respecting Seditious Cries.-Temporary erection of Prevotal Tribunals, for the sake of summary procedure against Persons guilty of Seditious Practices.-Trial of Count Lavalette.-Account of his preceding Life-His Behaviour on the Morning of the 20th of MarchHis Condemnation and Appeal-He effects his Escape from Prison on the Night previous to the Day appointed for his Execution, disguised in his Wife's Clothes. He is assisted in his ulterior Escape by three English Gentlemen, Sir Robert Wilson, Captain Hutcheson, and Mr Bruce.-Detection of this, and Trial and Condemnation of his Deliverers.-Notice taken of this Transaction by the Prince Regent of England.-Reflections.

We broke off our narrative of the history of France under the re-esta. blished government of Louis XVIII., at the opening of the Legislative Cham. bers, in the beginning of October 1815. The majority of these Chambers, as we said, was strongly in favour of the royalist party; but the new ministry, with the Duke of Richelieu at its head, was supposed to contain within it enough to conciliate, in a great measure, the favour of all the more considerable classes, excepting only those who, from their long habits of military licence and military ambition, still hankered unremittingly after the twice-broken despotism of Napoleon. The transactions of the Legislative Bodies during this and the immediately succeeding years, will merit much more attention from us, than has ever, in preceding times, been given by English annalists to the domestic concerns

of any foreign nation. The fury of the revolutionary flame seemed at last to have exhausted itself; and it was now to be seen whether the soil, over whose surface it for a season spread the appearance of ruin and devastation, had really been enriched by its scorching. The people of England, too long compelled to fix their eyes upon France, by the violence of her internal tumults and foreign aggressions, and now restored to tranquillity by her humiliation, were happy in returning to sentiments very different from those engendered during the late hostilities, and anxious to contemplate, with an interest arising out of more generous feelings, the efforts which France might make to improve the economy of her own domestic polity. That country was now fairly in possession of the first true elements of a representative government, and it was an

object of no ordinary interest to observe what use she might make of this great privilege. To the constitutional and legislative history of France, indeed, the attention of men was to be drawn by many motives, apart from regard to the interests of that country alone. The influence which France has long exerted over the continent of Europe, by means of her literature and language, is one of great extent and power; and in the present state of the public mind over great part of the continent-more particularly in some of the German and Italian states-it was natural to suppose, that the success or failure of the French in framing to themselves a moderate and wise system of government, now that they had it in their power to do so, would be studied by the observing men of other countries, as affording the best guides for the future direction of their own opinions and ener. gies. In short, the interest, in former times attracted exclusively to the proceedings of the English Parliament, was now about to be shared between them and those of the Chambers convoked by King Louis.

We have already noticed the peculiar character of the speech with which Louis met his Chambers; his condolence with them on the situation of the country, compelled to be made the camp of foreign armies, by the rashness of her own turbulent and disaffected troops; his calm and rational views in regard to the future government of the country, and behaviour of its rulers; the necessity, in fine, of endeavouring, by a series of judicious and temperate enactments, to heal the wounds of civil discord, and restore reverence for the authority of law and religion among a people more enlight ened, but unhappily more demoralized also, than most of their neighbours. In this speech, as indeed in every act of the reign of King Louis, we recog.

nise the influence of a truly paternal spirit; of a mind which, if it sometimes want skill for planning, and decision for performing, is always, at least, sufficiently desirous of doing what ap pears to be the best. To the French at large, the most agreeable part of the present speech was certainly that in which the king expressed his resolution, always to consider the charter as the best guardian, both of his own prerogative and of the liberties of his people. Previous to the retiring of Talleyrand and Fouché from the ministry, some indications of a wish to depart somewhat from the letter of the charter, had been allowed to escape in a letter of the king commanding the convocation of the Electoral Colleges. All idea of the changes then meditated seemed now, however, to be dropped; and the Chambers were well disposed to give a due share of the credit of this abandonment to the wisdom of the sovereign himself.

The speech of the king was forthwith followed by addresses from the two Chambers. In these, as is usual with ourselves, the substance consisted of little more then an echo of the speech itself; the only new ground on which they touched, was the necessity of sa crificing immediately to the justly of fended laws of the country, those traitorous officers who had been excepted in the treaty of Paris, and in the subsequent ordonance of the king, on ac count of the share which they had taken in the restoration of the usurper's authority previous to the date of his arrival in the capital. The new ministry would not, probably, have stood much in need of this hint had their inclinations alone been to be consulted; but from whatever cause it might have arisen, their dilatoriness in getting over this most disagreeable part of their business, was undoubtedly sufficient to excite some attention, and its policy has been already condemned

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