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Northern Star (1837-1852), 13th November 1852, Edition 2 of 2, Page 13

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    • OUB PEN AMD INK POETEAIT G-ALLEEY
    • PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS.
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      ig-m ___ rim STAR . „ mH 0 E

      _ Liteeatueet

      _ liteeatueeT

      Hi Story Op The Bess-Oration Of Monarchy...

      Hi story op the Bess-oration of Monarchy in Francf By Alphonse de Lamartine . Vol , iii . Loudon : Vixetellv & C o . J Lam artine fo no historian . He is essentiall y a poet and romanc ist , audit is to be feared , therefore , that his interference with history is a misfortune rather than a benefit for mankind . But in the present work this evil seems , to a great ext ent , to have been escaped , inasmuch as the author has

      sought rather to be a dresser of history than a historian Ho lias taken the works of previous writers , and clothed their un adorned narratives m the language and style of the poet 3 y thus throwing the charms of poetic eloquence over the dry details of history , Lamartine has aided in spreading a knowle dge of the past , for ho has made history more pleasino- dnd attracted to its study many , who would be repelled therefrom by a dry and ummpassioned style . This third volume of M de Lamartine ' s work embraces the period between Fouche's appointment to the presidency of the provisional government and Bonaparte ' s death . Our space will enable us " to < rive but

      two or three extracts . In many , of M . de Lamartines ' s opinions on the men and the events of the time whose history he recounts , we by no means coincide ; but in others he seems to be nearer the truth than French writers in general , the imm ensity of whose egotism distorts the clearest historical fact * Lamartine altogether ^ repudiates the coarse and improbable story of Napoleon being poisoned in his captivity , by order of the ' British government . The following extracts will sufficiently illustrate the merits of the new volume of the Historv of the Restoration of Monarchy in France .

      THE EAGX . E IN HIS CAGE . The active mind sooner tires of repose than of labour . The monotOTiy of this life without any other events than his own thoughts furnished , soon wearied Napoleon . The divisions , the rivalships , the discontents , and the murmurs of some of his servants , saddened and embittered his own mind . He suffered in seeing others suffer impatiently for him and around him . There was gossipping at Longwood as there had been in the palace of the Tuileries . Too close an intimacy produced antipathies and grievances . "Wounded spirits are all the more susceptible , and overwrought sensibility makes us unjust . Xapoleon ' s temper , spoiled by this domestic uneasiness , excited him against a captivity which made

      even his friends seem importunate to him , He turned to poison the tolerance and freedom of his residence . He persisted with an affectation , which his flatterers consider lieroie , but which history will judge as puerile , because it is a misconception of his fortune , in exacting the titles of Emperor and Majesty , which England , never having acknowledged the Empire , was not officially bound to give him . He appealed to heaven and earth against this breach of etiquette . He dictated notes on this trifle , as he would have done on the conquest or the Joss of liurope . The child of his own works , he preferred his dignities to them . The islander , issuing from Corsica to distribute thrones amongst his family , forgot that he was greater as a man than as the founder of dynasties already crumbled

      to nothing , and that the only majesty of which he could not be uncrowned was his name . After having debated , without exhausting it , this text of altercation for several years witli the authorities of the island , he declined the recreation and respect which Uie visitors from both worlds bore to him in his solitude , if they did not conform to this protocol . He soon after refused to himself his rides to the different pa of the island , that he might not sutler , as he said , by the presence , even at a distance of the officers of the governor , the appearance and humiliation of captivity , as if the island under his feet , the ocean before his eyes

      and even the sky above bis head , were not walls and Witnesses of his banishment . He thus restricted with his own hands the circuit of his residence , and changed by little and little his country residence into a prison . His health , which required motion and horse exercise , as his mind did an extensive prospect , suffered from this change of temper . He pursued slowly and obstinately the suicide of his captivity . The arrival at St . Helena of a new governor , Sir Hudson Lowe , rivetted more narrowly his voluntary chains . This governor—whom the myrmidons of Napoleon , and Napoleon himself , persecuted with gratuitous

      and violent accusations , such as the hallucinations of captivity only could msnire treated by them as a sbirro and an assassin—was neither criminal in thought against his captive nov cruel in his heart to misfortune . But overwhelmed with the responsibility which weighed upon him , should the agitator escape whom Europe had entrusted to his charge , of contracted ideas , suspicious mind , jealous of forms , awkward in manner , and odious from his functions to his captives , he annoyed Napoleon with restrictions , superintendence , orders , visits , and even with attentions . He imparted too much to the duties of the governor of an island , & ad the guardian of an European hostage , the appearance and harshness of a gaoler . He may , therefore , be accused of impropriety , but

      not of cruelty . He was the occasion , rather than the cause of the sad end of Xapoleon . On reading attentively the correspondence and notes exchanged under every pretext , between the adherents of I \ apoleoii and Sir Hudson Lowe , we are astonished at the insults , the provocations , and the invectives with which the captive and his friends outraged the governor at every turn . Napoleon at this period endeavoured by cries of grief to excite the pity of the British parliament and to furnish a grievance to the opposition against the ministry , with a The desire of insulis

      view of effecting a removal nearer to Europe . provoking by insults then to represent these insults as crimes to the indignation of the comment ' andto make of Sir Hudson Lowe the Pilate of this Napoleonic Calvary is evident in all these notes . It is also evident that tne goveror often irritated , sometimes inquisitorial , always unskilful , felt himsel f the victim of his responsibility . England , whichhad chimed the odious part of chaining up this European Prometheus , had to endure the reprobation of his cries and

      maledictions . napoleon ' s death . His friends and servants-wearied , not with duty , but of patience , tired of separation from their families , of the climate , of sickim ; , and of inquisition--oumeaiL , or tried to quit him , under pretence of Ida ; torn from taint by the persdcutlon of the governor , or of rendering aim more useful servtces m Europe . Physical debility broke in upon him with desparr . He felt mereasmg attacks of th / malady which had shortened his father ' s life « I «»* £ »™ a desire to quit you , " he said to his last companions , Montholon and Bertrand . "ThatisnotdiLult . I should escape from you the more ^ by smc , e since my religious principles do not at all trouble me . I am one of t . iose who believe that tUe —men * of the other world have only been . imagtned « . an ad-1

      dition to theinsufficientattraetionswe are promised ^^ S ^™ , ; Htoretum alittlesooner toflodl" Hesuffered rom *™ - ^^ £ ^ of sleep , and from failing strength , which maae the l . gh of day « J ^ J ™ to him as darkness . His mind alone was never enfeebled . He MaI *« slow destruction firm and impassible . His thoughts always dw upon h mse £ and he prepared to die gracefully . « I vegetate , I no ^ !» { J"J ^ £ * servant ! . Mature , however , prevailed at the las ™»«' ^^^ loHophvof his approaching end , in the numerous ™^* f £ cate ^ dictated to bequeath levies to menand women who J ^^ J ^ X of service , or of gratitude iu Ms life . His mother , who rt 1 hvea " ^ me h s Mothers , his sisters , the companion , and servants of ins exile , h » e » *^* £ sons and daughters those who had protected h . m in childhood , hs «^ J ^ to first military companions , and his favour ! es when P ^ ^ ^ uisnrst military companions , aun » " •> *» .- — „„; trncr V-iris in the lie had left nut Paiumm

      , of money from him , out of the millions on „ g Offers of * . Laffitte , his hanker ; and the statues , the P ^^ " * ™ furniture , the manuscripts , the vases , the articles of domest * *^» ; ™* crated by the use he had made of them , a distribution from his heatt , wuerun the ^^ £ S «— -e sought for with ^^^^^ tej ^^^ ssss "fir rsusxs - ^~ are msulted . In s son , -i himself upon earth , his Ihe only great sentiment tbrougn which « e . Pride , hisfove , his dynasty , his name , his prtntj . He « f J *« » j £ ™ for lam . Whether it was a return of the dying man to ¦ thos ea m » « l » eh revive towards the close of life , and bring us back to the ^ mcuc of on Mood's worship ; or whether a political precau " > u of the J »^ ™ » ^ z ^^ d k ^^^^^^ - ^

      Hi Story Op The Bess-Oration Of Monarchy...

      to his mouth rlnwi # 1 ii ™ , yms on the C 1 ' 0 SS ' P ^ d cl ° se the soJsenaUt f UlQ l V \ Q [ ih" , na ^ to Virion . At the moment when L wiedTufd ^ " eaknesR <™ % of Mm . breatrilfnvn b »« «^ . bon , and composed his attitude even to his last and „ h £ «„ wTT ° f hlS fT tlemande * ** buried with his a , ™ eCTaiSSiTT ' ' ™ , 7 7 ° , " ° tVeeS nea ? ^ ' "> t"B . hade and Steof Mw ' " , anV , f ^ ? T a Convulsl ™ of the elements / on the bult 111 hi ? . B hf T , SU ihmmcml ° » fc " «* «™ v and France , but it could not be ascertained whether it was a dream , delirinm , or adieu .

      EXECUTION OF 2 TEY . The hour which brought no pardon at ltngth sounded for the execution . The CTpZ « * J he featU 1 ' aml heanl in the niumui , s of the Cham-2 L «!? ' « inexOTable ^? eanc « of party spirit , had expected nothing rom fl » tears of his wife and children . It „„ . , hBP sa ] cc and tl ) eh . s tbat ^ ttr ? tt ? , « l HC d T * WmMlf . t , 1 G ' f ° re , to appear with propriety be or * the last fire he was ever ' to face . He wore a military frock coat on the occasion . The noise of the troops , who were stationed from the gate of the Luxembourg to the railing of the avenue of the Observatory , and the rolling of a carnage m the court yard , apprised hira of the hour of departure and ° the route . He thought he was to be conducted to the plain of Grenelle , to the spot marked by the blood of Labedoyere , the ordinary place of execution . His door

      opened ; he understood the sign . He descended with a firm step , a serene brow , and a lofy look , his lips almest wearing a smile , but without any theatrical affectation , through the double ranks of the troops drawn up on the steps of the staircase , and m the vestibule of the palace , like a man happy once more to see the uniform , the arms and the troops—his old family . On arriving at the bottom of the flight of steps where the carriage awaited him with the door open , he stopped instead of mounting , through politeness to the priest who accompanied him , and who was yielding him the precedence .. Taking the curate by the arm , u , no , " said he , with a manner at once playful and sad , in melancholy allusion to the object of his journey , " Go in first , Mr . Curate ; I shall still arrive above there before you ; " indicating with a look the haven of his rest . The

      carriage proceeded at a foot pace through the broad alleys of the Luxembourg , an < yietween the silent ranks of the soldiers . An icy fog crept along the ground , yielding only glimpses of the leaQess branches of the lofty trees in the royal garden . The priest murmnred by the side of the soldier ; spiritual consolation and resignation to death . The marshal listened to him with manly attention , and expected to listen still longer , when the carriage suddenly stopped , midway between the railing of the Luxembourg and the Observatory , in front of a long wall of a black and fetid enclosure , that bordered an alley leading out of the avenue . The government , ill advised even in the choice of a place of execution , seemed desirons of making it more abject and contemptuous , by striking down this illustrious enemy like some unclean animal , on a cross road , and at a few paces from a palace , the name of which will , for ever bo stained by the memory of so foul a deed . Ney was astonished , and looked round for the cause of this

      halt half-way , as he supposed , when the carriage door opened , and he was requested to alight . He felt that he was never to return , and gave to the priest who accompanied him the few articles he had about him , with his last remembrances to his family . He emptied his pockets also of some pieces of gold for the poor of the parish ; he then embraced the priest , the last friend who supplies the place of all absent friends at this flnal hour , and marched to . the wall towards the place indicated by a platoon of veterans . The officer commanding the party advanced towards him , and requested permission to bandage his eyes . " Do you not know , " replied the soldier , " that for twenty-live years I have been accustomed to look balls and bullets in the face ? " The officer disturbed , hesitating , undecided , expecting perhaps a cry ot * pardon , or fearing to commit

      a sacrilege of glory by firing on his-general , stood mute between the hero and his platoon . The Marshal availed himself of this hesitation , and of the immobility of the soldiers to cast a final reproach upon his destiny . " I protest before God and my country , " he exclaimed , " against the sentence which has condemned me . I appeal from it to nton , to posterity , to God J" These words and the countennnce , enshrined in their memory , of the hero of the camp , shook the steadiness of the soldiers . " Do your duty , " cried the commandant of Paris to the officer , who was move confused than the victim . The officer stumbling , resumed his place beside his party . I \ ey advanced a few paces , raised his hat with his left hand , as he was accustomed to elevate it in desperate charges to animate his troops . He placed his right hand on his breast to mark well the

      seat of life to his murderers . " Soldiers , " said he , " aim right at the heart . " The party , absolved by his voice , and commanded by his gesture , fired as one man . A single report was heard ; Ney fell as if struck with a thunderbolt , without a convulsion , and without a sigh . Thirteen balls had pierced the bust , and shattered the heart of the hero , and mutilated the right arm which had so often waved the sword of France . The soldiers , the officers , and the spectators turned away their eyes from the body , as from the evidence of a crime . During the quarter of an hour . which the military regulations required that the corpse

      should lie exposed upon the ydace ot execution , no spectators , except a few passers by , and some women from the neighbouring houses , looked upon the body , or mingled their tears with his blood . Some groups demanded with a low voice , who the criminal was , thus abandoned on the public highway , and shot to death by soldiers of the grand army . None had the courage to reply that it was the body of the ' * bravest of the brave , " the hero of tiie Beresina . After the legal period of exposure , the hospitable sisters of a neighbouring convent claimed the body to bestow funeral honours upon it in private , had it carried to tiieir chapel , and watched and prayed alternately around the forlorn coffin .

      Oub Pen Amd Ink Poeteait G-Alleey

      OUB PEN AMD INK POETEAIT G-ALLEEY

      Daniel Webster. Daniel Webster Was Born ...

      DANIEL WEBSTER . Daniel Webster was born in the town of Salisbury , New Hampshire , January 18 , 1782 . His lather , Major Ebenezer Webster , was one ot the pioneers of the settlement in that quarter , and had served with credit as a soldier in the OH French War , and also in the revolution . The early opportunities for education with which Mr . Webster was favoured were of course very limited , and when quite young he was daily sent two or three miles to school , in mid-winter , and on foot . The school , which was kept for only a small part of the year , was of an indifferent character ; but under these disadvantages he showed a

      great eagerness for learning . In May , 1796 , Webster was taken by his father to the academy at Exeter , which had been endowed in 1781 by the Hon . John Phillips . In this celebrated school he enjoyed the advantage ' of only a few months' instruction ; but , short as the period was , his mental powers were thus early developed , aud he exhibited to his instructors evidence of his superior intellect . After a few months at Exeter , he returned home , and having passed his 15 th year , was placed by his father with the Rev . Samuel Wood , of Boscawen . In six months , from February to August , 1790 , he completed his preparation for college , under the instruction of Mr . Wood . This

      preparation was , of course , very imperfect ; but the standard of classical literature stood very low in America at the close of the last century . In 1797 Webster entered Dartmouth College , at Hanover , New Hampshire , where , after four years of assiduous application to his studies , lie graduated in August , 1801 . He was not only distinguished for attention to his collegiate duties , but devoted himself to general reading-, particularly to English history and literature . He took part in a small weekly publication , to which he contributed selections and original articles . He also delivered addresses before the college societies . He persuaded his father to send his brother Ezekiel to college , and during the vacations taught school to aid in furnishing means for the Immediatelafter

      preparation of his brother for a collegiate course . y leaving college Mr . Webster entered the office of Mr . Thompson , of Salisbury , as a student of law . Mr . Thompson was a lawyer of high standing , and represented New Hampshire at various times in both houses of Congress . While in the office of Mr . Thompson , Mr . Webster accepted an offer to take charge of an accademy , at Fryeburg , in Maine , where his salary was a dollar a day . He was able , by acting as assistant to the Registrar of Deeds for the county , to earn enough to pay his personal expenses ; and , therefore , his salary was all saved as a fund for his professional education , and to help his brother through college . During his residence at Fryeburg , Mr . Webster borrowed , and , for the first time read Blackstone ' s Commentaries . In September

      Daniel Webster. Daniel Webster Was Born ...

      1802 , ho returned to Salisbury , and resumed his studies under Mr lhompson , in whose office he remained for 18 months , extending his ' knowledge of law , besides giving much time to general reading especially studying the Latin classics , English history , and Shakspeare lie also read Puffendorfs Bistort / of England in Latin . Being desirous of witnessing a more enlarged course of practice in the law , Mr . Webster went toBoston , and took up his residence there in July , 1804 . Previous to entering upon practice he pursued his legal studies for six or eight months in the office of the Hon . Christopher Gore , a distinguished advocate , and afterwards Governor of Massachusetts , who soon S JTiSr T \ , P P hefcic % of tne tdwts of his pupil . In the spring , of I 8 O 0 MrWebster

      , . was admitted to the bar of the Court of Common Pleas , Boston , and soon after returned to his native State , and commenced practice at Boscawen , near his father ' s residence , Judge Webster dxed the following year . In May , 1807 , Mr . Webster was admitted as attorney and counsellor in the Superior Court of New Hampshire ; and m September of that year , he removed to Portsmouth , m conformity with his original intention . Here he remained m the practice of his profession for nine successive years . He soon , with such men as Smith and Mason , eminent in the profession , appeared m the leading cases in all the courts . His practice in New Hampshire , however , was never lucrative , and , although exclusively devoted to his profession , it afforded him only a bare livelihood .

      During the excitement which prevailed previous to the declaration of war with England in 1812 , Mr . Webster participated in conventions of his political friends , and in his speeches and essays displayed such extraordinary ability that many of the prominent men of the State were anxious to see him in Congress . At the election next ensuing after the declaration of war in 1812 he was brought forward as a candidate for Congress , and elected on a general ticket , in November , 1812 . He took his seat at the first session of the 13 th Congress , which was an extra session , called in May , 1813 . A presentiment of his ability had proceeded him , and in the organization of the House he vras placed by Mr . Clay , the Speaker , upou the committee of foreign affairs , which was the leading committee in time of war .

      On the 10 th of June , 1813 , Mr . Webster delivered his maiden speech in Congress , on a series of resolutions moved by himself , relative to the repeal of the Berlin and Milan decrees of the French Emperor . No full report of this speech was preserved , but it took the House by surprise , from the vast amount of historical knowledge and power of illustration which it displayed . In 1816 , Mr . Webster removed from Portsmouth to Boston , where he at once took the highest rank as a lawyer . In 1817 he made a long speech in the Dartmouth College case , before the Supreme Court at Washington , which produced an astonishino- effect at the time , and fully established his reputation as a jurist and advocate . In 1820 he was elected to the Convention which was called to .

      revise the Constitution of Massachusetts , in which body he held unquestionably the leading place . In 1822 he was chosen a representative to Congress from Boston , by a very large majority . He took his seat in December , 1823 , and early in the session made his celebrated speech on the Greek Revolution . In the autumn of the same year he was re-elected almost unanimously , receiving every vote but ten in five thousand . In 1826 he was again elected with not a hundred votes against him . In 1827 he was elected to -the senate of the United States , where he occupied , for twelve years , a most prominent and influential position . In 1830 he made in the Senate his famous speech in reply to Col . Hayne , in which ho nobly defended Massachusetts from the ungenerous assaults of the South Carolinian . In

      1839 Mr . Webster visited England and France , in both of which countries he was received with the highest distinction .. In 1841 ho was appointed by President Harrison to the office of Secretary of State , which he held for two years . During this period he negotiated the treaty at Washington , by which the disputed boundary line between Maine and the British Provinces was finally settled . In the spring of 1843 Mr . Webster left the Cabinet , and in 1845 . returned to the Senate of the United States , of which he continued ai member until the death of President Taylor in the summer of 185 < k On the 7 th of March , 1850 , he made in the Senate his epeech in support of the Compromise measures . In December 1850 , as , Secretary of State , he wrote the famous Hulsemann etter .

      On the Tuesday previous to his death not the slightest danger had been apprehended from Mr . Webster ' s illness , which was disease of the bowels , accompanied by dropsical affection of the stomach , and his physicians anticipated that he would be able to resume the duties of liis office in a few days , but on that afternoon the disorder unexpectedly assumed a more menacing aspect , and he gradually grew worse and worse , and finally expired at 22 minutes before 3 o ' clock , on Sunday niorning , October 24 th , 1852 . The American Union has sustained a heavy loss in the death of Daniel Webster . Though he had reached the age of 70 , he still occupied so large a space in the attention of his countrymen , and so prominent a position in the service of the Republic , that his demise will be felt

      throughout the Union as a public calamity . The newspapers are filled with expressions of grief , and at all the towns which the sad news had reached , meetings had been held and measures adopted to evince the sorrow which such a loss had inspired . He was a great and patriotic statesman . For thirty years he upheld the cause of human freedom against the vile doctrine and practice of slavery , and although the last two years of his life somewhat tarnished the lustre of his previous : reputation , in consequence of their being spent in defending the infamous Fugitive Slave Law , that course seems to have been dictated , soley by the patriotic fear that the abolishioii of slavery would lead to the distraction of the Union .

      Public Amusements.

      PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS .

      Adelphi Theatre.—The Melodrama Of The Fl...

      Adelphi Theatre . —The melodrama of the Flowers of the Forest has been revived at this theatre ; and although very ranch inferior to the Green Bushes , has been received with great favour . On the same evening as the FLowers of the Forest revived was the force of A Wife for a Bay , which met a most favourable reception Soiio Theatre . —This little theatre , constructed b y Miss Kellv for her project of a dramatic school , has been lately occupied occasionally by amateur associations for the purpose of theatrical representation !? . One of these , the Vanburgh Club , had a performance on Wednesday evening , very creditable to themselves , , and satisfactory to

      a crowded audience . The entertainments consisted of the Rev . Mr . White's historical play , Feudal Times , Mlowcd by the afterpiece " The Captain of the Watch ; and the farce of Box and Cox . Theplay was got up with a cave and completes which did oTGat honourto the amateur management . The costumes of the old Scottish court and nobility were tasteful and correct , the scenic decorations wem rich and elegant , and the whole stage business was well conducted * Some of the actors evinced considerable talent . All parts were creditably filled , and the piece , in its ensemUe , was effectively represented , and received with the warmest applause .

      Mauylebone Theatre . —On Tuesday night a large and highly respectable audience ^ witnessed Mr . Buchanan ' s Virginius , which was a vigorous portraiture of the noble lioman father , and elicited the enthusiasm of all present . Seldom , indeed , has so much applause been bestowed upon the Bomau hero . The other characters were well represented , and received their share of approval . Mr . Frazer ' s Icilius and Mrs . Linghara ' s Virginia were especially worthy of commendation , i

  • Citation
    • Northern Star (1837-1852), Nov. 13, 1852, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/ns2_13111852/page/13/