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consider , that they are totally unscripturaJ , will draw a comparison between a doctrine that is founded merely on the traditions of men , and that which has God for its author , and our Saviour as the grand promulgator of it to heathen nations , and who made it binding on all who are called by his name .
The mockery of amnesty that was introduced into the French legislature , has given way to milder measures , which have been introduced by the cabinet . How they may be modi fied in their passage through the houses , time will shew : but it is
strange , that men who have so long been under adversity , should have so little feeling either for themselves or their enemies . They do not seem to consider , that the edge of the laws , which they now make , may be turned , against themselves . But the
French character remains the same , though the actors are changed . Already a club is formed much upon the same principle as the Jacobin club 3 and though the avowed object is the support of the throne , yet an ascendancy may be gained as fatal to the interests of the crown and
people , as that which occasioned such bloody scenes in the republic . The royalists , as they are called , have rauch to learn . It is in vain that they attempt to bring things back to the ancient regime . They cannot destroy the people born during the years of revolution , and who have lived under the Napoleon code .
The peers of France have exercised their judicial authority in the trial of a peer , who was also marshal of France . To those who are accustomed to the solemnity of a trial by our House of Lords , the whole of
the proceedings will appear to want that dignity which the occasion required . After the arraignment for high treason , examination of witnesses , and the council of the crown had advanced what they thought necessary in support of their cause , the counsel for the defendant
endeavoured to repel their arguments , but were stopped when they introduced the convention at Paris signed by Wellington and Blucher . The accused , finding tliat he was thus debarred from defending himself upon this ground , prohibited his counsel from proceeding farther , and the court
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then retired to pass its judgment on the case . The peers were not , however , unanimous . A very great majority voted for death , and the sentence was executed with very little
ceremony early next morning , by shooting the criminal in the presence of a few spectators , who were accidentally in the place chosen for the purpose . Bow far the court was justified in refusing to admit the
convention is a question on which the public at Paris is much divided , and it has given occasion for much discussion . Be this as it may , the French have still to learn the respect that is due to man . Whatever may be the
degree of criminality , life ought not to be taken away , but with that degree of solemnity which tends to shew , that it is not vengeance but justice which requires the execution of the fatal sentence . The most atrocious
murderer in this country is allowed two nights , and , by the intervention of Sunday , they are generally made three , to prepare for his awful change : but in France , they have been so long accustomed to slaughter , that human life is held there in as little estimation as that of a dog .
Let us hope , however , that a better spirit will gradually be infused into that unhappy country . Other nations are likely to derive some lessons of wisdom from the scenes that have
taken place in it , and Germany will be among the first to improve its institutions . The dispute between the king of Wirtemburg and his subjects is carried on much to the
advantage of the latter , and a constitution is likely to be settled in which the people will have some share a * well us the sovereign . In this petty state , changes may be made without much difficulty . To reform Prussia is a more arduous task . Nothing
scarcely could be worse than its government , if a government carried on by the military is deserving of that
name A . change is taking place in Prussia , which promises much for its future welfare . It is proposed to exchange despotism for a limited monarchy , and this with the consent of the sovereign himself . A representative government is to be established , suited to the different classes of the inhabitants of his former a «« newly-acquired atates . "The liberty
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77 S State of Public Affairs .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Dec. 2, 1815, page 778, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1767/page/50/
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