SIN

FRANCE, INCE our laft, has become more the focus of attention than ever. The reftoration of the Catholic Religion by Bonaparte, a mere piece of ftate policy, fo far from giving general fatisfaction, feems to have excited a number of new enemies, particularly among the military. A regiment of his guards, we are informed, refufed to admit of the Popish ceremony of the confecration of their colours, for which they received orders to quit Paris. The fame fate has awaited General Dalmas, Maffena, and fome others. The former being afked by Bonaparte, what he thought of the ceremony of Eafter Sunday? anfwered, That it was a bare-faced piece of hypocrify; and afterwards refusing to retract the reflections he had caft on the prefent Government, he was ordered away. Gen. Moreau, whom it is thought the enemies of Bonaparte with to fet up in his room, is, from motives of prudence, ordered to Berlin, to be prefent at the Pruffian review. In fome of the departments alfo, the Pope and the Concordat have been treated with very little ceremony by the people, That very few members of the Tribunate, or the Legiflative Corps, dare to fpeak out, is undeniable-otherwife, it is moft probable, that the late propofals of the First Conful, to hold the confulate firft for

an additional ten years, then for life, and to have the power of nominating his fucceffor, muft have excited confiderable oppofition. But fill, with all thefe inclinations for the promotion of fuperfti tion and ceremonies at home, the Firft Conful affects to deplore the diffemination of a fimilar fpirit abroad! A recent Moniteur quotes another Paris Journal, as follows:

"In Tufcany civilization has made a retrograde movement of feveral ages: its King has put himfelf under the guardianfhip of the Priests. An unlimited fpiritual dominion-a pecuniary dominion-a dominion of property, which renders the effects of the clergy unalienable-a dominion over the mind, by fubmitting it to the rod of the bishops. Every thing is furrendered to the church; and the Pope, like his predeceffors, may, at pleature, depofe the new Louis, fhould he dare to depart from the obedience he has vowed to the Holy Sec. France has, with the moft fage precauVol. II. Churchm, Mag. May, 1802.

tions, admitted the church into the hofom of the ftate; but Tufcany has furrendered the ftate to the church; and thofe fine countries which were the cradle of the arts in Europe, will not fail: to become their tomb, unless the founder of that state should prevent it. What a contraft between the Concordat of France, which has almost realized the pleafing dreams of philofophy, and the law of the king of Etruria, which recalls intolerance and ignorance into his ftates! Yet as fome balance in favour of Bonaparte, compared with the conduct of the king of Etruria, it is certain, that the heads of fome of the Proteftant churches in Paris have been very favourably received by him. Even Mr. Ruffel, late of Birmingham; we are told, having returned from America to France, has fitted up a place of worship, near Paris, for Proteftants, which is well attended by about 300 hearers, and a worthy rational minifter. The joy of the people at Mentz has alfo been very warmly expreffed, in confequence of the late opening of a Proteftant church in that city.

Napper Tandy, who was lately permitted to go from Ireland to France, we hear, has not been able to obtain leave to approach the capital; nor would it be by any means furprifing, in the prefent ftate of the French government, if this reftriction should be extended to all perfons who have been violent abettors of Jacobinifm, or revolutionary principles. Here, by the way, it would appear, that the ftate of fociety in England! and Ireland, during the war, has been better known in France than to fome perfons at home, who would perfuade others that Jacobinifm here was only a chimera of the alarmifts. In the fermon of the Archbishop of Paris, at Notre Dame, on Eafter Sunday, there is a paffage in which that prelate, fpeaking of the ravages of the French revolution, has pofitively pronounced a very strong panegyric upon the British conftitution

Into what region," faid he, "into what land, however remote; into what climate, however barbarous and rude, havenot the troubles, by which this country has been agitated, deeply penetrated ? No; it was not the extraordinary courage evinced in battle by the warriors of this nation; it was not the impetuofity of its armies, ably led on by the most Q experienced

experienced Generals; it was not that warlike glory, fuddenly flying from the Drave and the Po, to the Banks of the Nile, which fhook the earth to its centre; but it was when principles, fubverfive of all decorum, were making their inroads into every ftate, and menacing every government with deftruction; when it was found that no form of power, no authority upon earth, was fecure from the affaults of rebellion; when we faw that power, which is the beft eftablished on its venerable and folid Conftitution, and rendered ftill more mighty, by the happy moderation of its ufages, and the equally fortunate afcendance of its national morals; it was when we faw that refpectable power, I repeat it, tremble in all its parts, and start at the idea of the general diffolution of order, with infurrection rearing her unnatural standard in a neighbouring, a fif. ter island—with a mutiny in its fleets rebellion hatching in the correfponding focieties, and with difficulty put down by the wifdom of the National Councils; it was then that every regular government felt what it had to apprehend from the convulfion of only one people, from the revolutionary mania of only one Empire!"

But to return to the civil ftate of France, nothing feems to have given fo much umbrage to the Legislative Body, as the establishment of a Legion of Honour, which being propofed by the First Conful, they look upon as tantamount to an Order of Nobility-Of the privileges of this new body, our readers will be the best judges from the plan itself.

In the fitting of the Legislative Body, on the 15th inftant, three Counsellors of State prefented the plan of erecting a Legion of Honour, the outlines of which are as follow~~

Art. I. In virtue of the 87th article of the Constitution, a Legion of Honour fhall be formed.

II. This Legion fhall be divided into 15 cohorts, each of which is to have its peculiar station.

III. National property, to the amount of 150,000 francs, annually, fhall be

allotted to each cohort.

IV. Each cohort shall confift of feven great officers, twenty commandants, thirty fubaltern officers, and 350 pri

vates.

V. The pay to be as follows: To each great officer 5,000 francs per annum, and during life.

To each commandant, 2,000 ditto.
To each fubaltern, 1,000 ditto.

To each private, 250 ditto.—All du•

rante vita.

VI. Every individual, on his being admitted into the Legion, fhall fwear, on his confcience and his honour, that he means to devote his exiftence to the welfare of the Republic, to the reservation of its territory (in its integrity), to' the defence of its Government, its laws, and the property, which it has rendered facred; to oppofe, by all means, which justice, reafon, and the laws authorize, every undertaking, which may tend to the restoration of feudal fyftem, of titles and immunities attached to them; in fine, to exert his best and most strenuous efforts for the maintenance of Liberty and Equality.

VII. A Grand Council shall be formed, confifting of the Firft Conful, the two Confuls, and four Counsellors, one of whom is to be chofen from among the Senators, by the Senators themselves; the Legislative Body is to select another, the Tribunate is to fend out one of its Members, and Council of State chufes the fourth.

VIII. The Firft Conful is de jure, the Chief of the Legion and President of the Great Council of Adminiftration.

IX. At each station there shall be eftablifhed an afylum, properly endowed, for the Members of the Legion, whom old age or wounds received during the war of liberty, fhall incapacitate from continuing in the fervice.

CONDITIONS REQUIRED FOR BEING ADMITTED.

"To have received arms of honour from the hands, or by order of the First Conful; to have rendered effential fervice in the War of Liberty, either in the field, or in the cabinet. In time of peace, a candidate must prove that he has ferved 25 years. Each year, in time of war, tells for two; each campaign of the republican war, tells for four years."

On the fame day, Sahue, a military officer, prefented the report of the committee, to whom it was referred to confider of the plan for recruiting the army by confcription. Notwithstanding, he faid, the benefits of peace were univer fally felt, and that the moderation and juftice of the prefent Government might be expected to extinguish all thofe paffions, which gave birth to the violence of parties, ftill many causes might bring difcord among the nations; the ambition of individuals of weight, a change of Adminiftration in a certain Cabinet, may again cloud the political horizon. The

fight of that profperity which we are advancing to, and which the national induftry, the richness of our foil, and the nature of our Government, fecure us, may again excite the jealoufy of a rival nation, who lately raised the whole earth in arms against us. He spoke at length in favour of the plan of recruiting, and obferved, that an annual confcription of thirty thousand (the eighth part only of the clafs liable to confcription) would, after five years, give to the nation one hundred and fifty thoufand effective recruits, which would be fufficient to meet any exigency that could be forefeen; and that it was to this mode of recruiting the armies, and to the confcription, that France muft owe her confideration abroad, her peace and fecurity at home; it was the foundation stone, or rather the main pillar of the state.

The amnefty granted by Bonaparte to the Emigrants is as complete as perhaps could have been expected, after fo entire and sweeping a revolution. It extends to all the emigrants, except thofe of the following defcription:-1. The individuals who have been chiefs of armed affemblages against the Republic. 2. Those who have had commiffions in the enemies armies. 3. Thofe who, fince the foundation of the Republic, have preferved places in the cftablishment of the ci-devant French Princes. 4. Those who are known to have been, or to be at prefent, inftigators or agents of civil or foreign war. 5. Commandants, by fea or land, as well as reprefentatives of the people, who have rendered themfelves guilty of treafon to the Republic. 6. The Archbishops and Bifhops, who, difavowing legitimate authority, have refufed to give in their refignation.--Thus the exceptions in this amnefty are comparatively but few; but thofe Emigrants who do not return by September next, cannot be benefited by it. Since its promulgation in this country, the emigrant clergy have been difpofed to return fooner than it was poffible for the Government to accommodate them with paffports, &c.

Some of the public prints have been ftrangely misled, in the belief, that an order of council had been iffued to prohibit the landing of goods from French veffels. It is, however, a fact, that neither France nor her allies are permitted to take English commodities, as before the war, perhaps not fo much from an hoftile as from a felfifh principle.-It is notwithstanding reported, that, in

confequence of the wife and temperate remonftrances of our Government, Preliminaries for negociating a Commercial Tariff between the two countries, are certainly commenced, with a profpect of reciprocal advantages to both nations.-But in a demi-official paper, alluded to by Lord Grenville, in a late debate, it is certain, that the French have boasted, that neither France nor their allies will fall into the fnare of a new treaty of commerce, and they may one day have their act of navigation. From this language, we may conclude, that France will make every poffible exertion to fecure her whole foreign and colonial trade to her own fhipping, and thus create a marine nearly annihilated by the Englifh.

Both the Berlin and Parifian papers have long announced an intended meeting to take place on the 10th of June, at Memel, between the Emperor of Ruflia and the King of Pruffia, the former ac companied by the Grand Duke Constantine, and the latter by Prince Henry of Pruffia Something of a political nature is argued from this conjunction of auguft perfonages-but refpecting the propofed difinemberment of Turkey, the reports, of late, have entirely fubfided.

GERMANY.

A letter from Ratifbon, April 26, fays, "The prayer for the French Government, appointed by the Concordat, was on Eafter Sunday read in the chapel of the French Legation here. It is as follows

"O Lord, blefs the Republic! blefs the Confuis! and hear us when we call upon thee. Glory be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. We pray thee Almighty God, that thy fervant, our Firft Conful, Napoleon, who, through thy mercy, has taken upon him the Government of the Republic, may increase in every virtue, and, adorned with them, avoid all vice, and thus come to thee, who art the way, the truth and the life, through Jefus Chrift our Lord. Amen."

Private letters from Vienna, of the 12th ult. reprefent the state of health of the Queen of Naples, to be fo defperate, that all hopes of her Majefty's recovery was relinquifhed. The Emprefs had, for the two preceding days, fcarcely, for a fingle moment, left her bedfide. With the laft courier fent from Vienna to Sicily, the Emprefs fent a letter to the King of Naples, at Palermo, informing him of the extremity to which his auguft Confort is reduced. A very few hours

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before

before the last post left Vienna, her Sicilian Majefty, received the factament.

The Duke of Winterberg is now the only Prince among the who have made peace with the French Republic, that has not yet concluded a for treaty with Bonaparte. The Court of Ruffia moft zealously efpoufes his caufe-a circumftance which accounts for, the forbearance of the Chief Conful towards fuch a petty prince

Berlin, May 10. A few weeks ago, Prince Charles, younger fon of the King of Pruilia, innoculated with the vaccine marter by Dr. Brown, firft physician to his Majesty.-The Prince has gone though, the diforder in the most happy manner, and it is not doubted, but that this unequivocal proof of royal approbation, of an invention which promifes to be fo beneficial to mankind, will caufe the vaccine innoculation to be univerfally adopted throughout the Pruflian dominions.

The Court of Vienna have also adopt ed the vaccine innoculation, for the benefit of their fubjects at large. With the approbation of the Emperor, the Regency of Lower Auftria, caufed a public experiment refpecting it, to be made in the hofpital here;-twenty-fix children, who had not yet had the natural fmallpox were, under the direction of the court counfellor, Franck, the vice-prefident of the Provincial Government, Count Cufftein, feveral physicians, &c. inoculated with the cow-pock. During the whole procefs, not one child was fo ill as to be obliged to be an hour in bed; moft of them eat, drank, and played as ufual To prove whether the cow-pock be a certain means of preventing the natural pock, fifteen of the children were inoculated with the latter. Except one child, who had had an ague for fome days, not one was feized with a feveron none of thofe inoculated was any trace of the breaking out of the pock obferved. Hanover, May 8. His Majefty the King of Great Britain, has determined upon the erection of a new obfervatory at Gottingen, and as the patron of the fciences, intends to defray the expences from his own private purfe.

RUSSIA.

A very ftrange ukafe is faid to have been published by the Emperor Alexander, the latter end of laft month. It eftablishes pecuniary punishments, both for judges, who deliver unjuft fentences, and for private perfons, who bring unjuft actions. The judges and fecretaries will be required to pay for cach decifion that

fhall be annulled by a fuperior tribunal, five per cent upon the whole fum in difpute.

The Pope has iffued a bull, authorizing the canonical existence of Jefuits in the Ruffian Empire, and not elsewhere. The bull is dated, March 7, 1801.

THE LOW COUNTRIES.

Antwerp, May 10. Twelve of the principal commercial houfes at Bruffels, are forming the arrangements neceffary for establishing houses in our city. Several American families from the United States have lately arrived here, also with an intention of fettling. We learn, on the other hand, that one of the first merchants in London will fend hither one of his fons, to form a houfe of correfpondence, between England and the North of Germany, in particular. The city of Antwerp becomes, therefore, every day more flourishing. The houfes have already rifen triple in value. The Scheldt is covered with merchant veffels of different nations, which daily arrive with rich cargoes. In the courfe of this year, workmen will begin to clear the port, and to remove the bar, which confines the courfe of the river.

The First Conful, with a large retinue, is expected at Bruffels very foon, to meet the deputies from thefe departments, and thofe of the four new ones from the left fhore of the Rhine.-He will alfo infpect the port of Antwerp.

SPAIN.

Monday, the 7th of April, the bullfights of Madrid opened for the feafon, and attracted, as ufual, immenfe multitudes in the Arena, constructed for that purpose. The inclination of the people for the fanguinary part of this fpectacle may be judged of from the receipts of the morning and afternoon performances, as mentioned in a private letter."In the morning, only fix bulls were to be run, and the produce of the feats amounted altogether to 45,950 rials.→ In the afternoon, when ten bulls were flaughtered, the money taken was 72,019 rials. Nineteen horfes were killed during the attacks, by the impetuous goarings of the maddened animals, the skins of which, with that of the fixteen bulls, and a contribution of the people admitted to fell water to the spectators, amounted all together to 126,528 rials for the day's exertion; in juftification of which, humanity feems to exclaim, that no other argument can poffibly be adduced, than that the profit is applied to the fupport of the hofpitals of Madrid."

REPUB

REPUBLIC OF THE SEVEN ISLANDS.

Corfu, March 16. The Sublime Porte, as might have been expected, has de clared its difapprobation, of the Democratic Conftitution of the Seven Ifles; and has in a firman, denounced the innovators as herefiarchs.

The Sultan there commands, that things be immediately re-eftablished on the fame footing as they were before the 21st of October, 1801. The order was complied with, as it was enforced by Sooo men, difembarked a few days ago from an English fquadron from Malta. The English have put a garrifon in the fortrefs, and occupy the gates of the city. The fame announces the fpeedy arrival of fome Ruffian battalions from Naples to fecure public tranquillity. It is certain enough, that the Porte, England, and Ruffia, are efficaciously inclined to establish tranquillity here:the question is, if they will be always fo inclined. It is faid, in this firman, that France herfelf would not approve, but be offended with the illegal innovations of the 24th of October. We wait the iffue of all thefe things.

SWITZERLAND.

Berne, May 18. Extract of a letter."An account of the divifions between the Senate and the Leffer Council, and the adherents to each party would exceed the bounds of any ordinary letter-but as they have had recourfe to arms, this will no doubt furnish the French with reafons for regulating the next conflitution they give us by the bayonet.

M. Neckar declined a fitting in the New Conftitutional Affembly, on very frivolous pretences-but he is not the only one of the 47 who has purfued the fame line of conduct; five others bear him company-their places, however, have been immediately filled by others.

The Journals will have informed you, that the Valais has been declared in a fort of mock independence, as the paffage is to be open to the French troops, whenever they want to pafs into Italy. It is fuppofed, that the conditions of Piedmont, will be precifely fimilar; and that it will be retained as another debouche into the Italian Republic. Befides, the

French official paper has declared, Switzerland is a prey to factions--and the neighbouring nations will find it neceffary (fays France) to interfere, in order to prevent any injury being done to their own fecurity.

Poftfcript, May 27. It is now very confidently expected, that a Commiflioner of Trade will fhortly arrive from France, and there is even a talk of overtures for fettling a Commercial Treaty with Great Britain.

The Paris Papers, juft arrived, con tain very important intelligence from the Weft Indies.-Touffaint, instead of being fubdued, makes the campaign a war of pofts. The French General, Le Clerc, promifes himself no fuccefs, “till they can once occupy cantonments in every point of that vaft colony." The inhabitants, who had declared for the French, it feems, join Touflaint's party in the abfence of the former. The Black General is, lately, in a number of inftances, acted on the offenfive-One fort, La Crete a Pierrot, was fortified and defended with fo much skill and valour, that it coft the French 500 men killed and wounded, with four Generals, only to diflode them. Le Clerc himself was ftruck by a fpent ball, and four of his aides-decamp were wounded. The French icem to give no quarter, the war being conducted by a kind of indifcriminate maf facre on both fides.

Since the above was written, the war feems, at prefent, virtually to be at an end; and Le Clerc has withdrawn his arrete which ftates Touiffaint to be a Rebel.

Arrefts of perfo fufpected of confpiracies against the First Conful, ftill cons tinue at Paris; and there is a great tardinefs in figning of the rifters of the votes for Bonaparte's poflro of the Confulfhip for life, &c. In one of the most populous districts, only its names have been entered. The alarm alfo of the First Conful, for his own infery, feems evident, from the orders given by the Military Commandant of Paris, recommending vigilance to the troops. against the difaffected.

SUM