Jan. 26258 Bank 13per Ct 3 perCt. 4 per Ct.15 per Cent 5 per Ct Long Stock. Redu. Consols Consols. DAILY PRICES OF STOCKS, FROM JANUARY 26, 1815, TO FEBRUARY 28, India Navy. 1797. Anns. Irish 13 per Ct Imp. Omnium. 5 per Ct Imp. Anns. Stock. 65 65 82 182 494 16 9 258 161/ 2217 12 80393) 164 62종 중 15 257 764 64 3 61.93 16 62 16 258 1644 64 16% 17 63 65 4264 3 31 dis. 192 23 3 dis. 192 191 All Exchequer Bills dated in the Months of January and February, 1814, TO BE PAID OFF (or exchanged for New and including Saturday, February 18. All Exchequer Bills dated prior to January, 1814, have been advertised to be paid off, and N. B. The above Table contains the highest and lowest prices, taken from the Course of the Exchange, &c. originally published, every Tuesday and Friday, under the authority of the Committee of the Stock Exchange, by JAMES WETENHALL, Stock-Broker, No. 7, On application to whom, the orig ( 196 ) METEOROLOGICAL REGISTER. From January 25, to February 23, 1815. Kept by C. BLUNT, Philosophical Instrument-maker, 38, Tavistock-st. Covent-Garden. Barometrical Pressure. Temperature Moon Day Wind. Max. Min. Mean. Max Min. Mean. THE NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE. No. 15.] APRIL 1, 1815. [ VOL. III. MONTHLY MAGAZINES have opened a way for every kind of inquiry and information. The intelligence and discussion contained in them are very extensive and various; and they have been the means of diffusing a general habit of reading through the nation, which in a certain degree hath enlarged the public understanding. HERE, too, are preserved a multitude of useful hints, observations, and facts, which otherwise might have never appeared.--Dr. Kippis. Every Art is improved by the emulation of Competitors.--Dr. Johnson. ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. ANECDOTES ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE CHARACTER OF NAPOI EON BUONAPARTE. [NOTWITHSTANDING the multiplicity of works which have been published during the last twelve months, for the purpose of delineating to the world the character of the most execrable tyrant that modern times have produced, we are of opinion that the following paper will be found to contain both novel and interesting information. It is the production of an intelligent foreigner, who resided at Paris from 1800 to 1810, and was written shortly before the great catastrophe which delivered France and Europe from this intolerable scourge.] I have passed ten years of my life at Paris. On my first arrival in that city, at the commencement of the year 1800, I beheld in the man who soon afterwards contrived to secure his election to the consulship for life, what every intelligent person considered him,-a hero, a wise and bold director of the important af fairs of an extensive empire. He lived at that time quite on the footing of a citizen in the full signification of the term. Josephine strove to distinguish herself from all those who surrounded her by affability, urbanity, and amiable manners alone. She was found with her husband in all the houses of fashion, and I may venture to assert, that her presence served only to heighten the pleasure of the company. By an imperceptibly increasing assumption of consequence, and an insensible enlargement of the sphere of her pretensions, she at length attained, and Napoleon, through her, to that degree of etiquette, which they did not es tablish till a later period, because at first it would have kept the people at too great a distance. The affair in the Rue St. Nicaise (the explosion of the infernal machine) was a plan formed by Buonaparte, and by means of which he accomplished several objects at once: of these I shall touch only upon the most important. He had, several months before, proNEW MONTHLY MAG.-No. 15. posed to enlarge the Place du Carroussel by demolishing some streets and a considerable number of houses. It was, however, represented to him, that the purchase of those houses, which were let at very high rents, and for which it would be necessary to indemnify the tenants according to this standard, would require a more considerable sum than the coffers of the state could then afford. He replied, that he had no such inten tion, as he thought these old houses, many of which were, besides, in very bad condition, might be estimated at their real value and even below it, and pur chased at this rate of their owners. He was assured that such a proceeding would render the government unpopular, and that, moreover, it was not compatible with a free republic. He seemed upon this to relinquish the idea, but his mind was still secretly engaged in devising the means of carrying his unjust scheme into execution. The second and very important object which he had in view, was to obtain a pretext for crushing a number of families, whom he knew to be apprized of his real character, and to have it in their power to obstruct his plans. In maturing his infernal project, it struck him that such an event would afford full scope for arrests, confiscation of property and transportation. A third motive was, to incense the people against the English, as the alledged authors of the plot; and a fourth and probably not the least pow erful was, that in consequence of his apparently miraculous escape, he might be furnished with an opportunity of trumpeting himself abroad, as a favourite of heaven and of fortune, and as the chosen instrument of divine providence for res toring the prosperity of France. Thus was this atrocious plan gradually ripened in his black soul. The carriages with gun-powder were provided and placed by secret agents. The Rue St. Nicaise, which is near the Thuileries, leads to the Opera-house; the chariot of VOL. III. 3 D the first consul, whose coachman had general orders to drive as fast as possible, dashed like lightning through the streets and overturned the infernal machine. The chariot had scarcely turned the corner, when the explosion took place, and produced effects too well known to need being related here. The first consul entered his box without raising his eyes from the ground, or exchanging a word with any individual. His face was pale as death, his lips and hands were convulsively contracted, and in this state he remained during the whole performance. Let me ask any impartial person whether this would be the condition of a man who, through the favour of heaven, has just escaped the most imminent danger. It was the last unavailing effort of the accusing and warning voice of conscience which he was endeavouring to stifle. The infernal powers which had instigated him to this enormity now left him for some time to the castigation of the inward monitor; but unfortunately, it was productive of no benefit. At the moment when he rose from his seat, he said to his secretaries and counsellors who were about him: Cette rue fatale, j'en ferai arracher jusqu'à la dernière pierre! He then observed the same silence as before. The very next morning the work of demolition, begun by the inferual machine, was set about: the inhabitants of the street, the people of Paris in general, were filled with consternation at the atrocious attempt. Small compensations were offered, and every householder in the whole street was glad to prove, by this sacrifice, that he had no hand in the execution of the infernal plan of the English, the partisans of the Bourbons, or perhaps even of the Jacobins. Adjoining to the Rue St. Nicaise stood the buildings which were so offensive to the delicate taste of the First Consul; there too were doomed to destruction; in two months the site formed an extensive and regular square at the expense of the proprietors, who were totally ruined; and several years afterwards, when the plan of forming the Louvre into one vast quadrangle had arrived at maturity, two other streets, together with a range of handsome hotels, inhabited by distinguished statesmen, shared the same fate. Not less successful was the First Consul in his plan of securing many obnoxious persons on this occasion. The very same evening five hundred individuals were apprehended by the police,-a promptitude that would appear surprising, did [April 1, we not know that the necessary orders for the punishment of the crime were, in the morning of the same day in the hands of those who bad to forward them to the subordinate agents. By the following morning the number of arrested persons amounted to 1500, and under the pretext of preventing a just resentment from operating to their prejudice, their trials were deferred, and most of them had so much time left for their justification, that their prison was likewise their grave. Very few indeed of these unfortunate wretches recovered their liberty.” But, above all, Buonaparte now succeeded in exhibiting himself to the public as a highly favoured being, and the Rue St. Nicaise opened the way to the consulship for life, as a pretext for which he urged his desire of discouraging his enemies, or rather the enemies of France, from any new attempt for the purpose of assassinating him. This step nevertheless opened the eyes of many, and made the first breach in the affections of the people. In spite of all that was known, the people certainly did love him at the beginning. In his person, consecrated by the supreme power, they cherished their fondest hopes of peace and prosperity, and the restoration of religion and order: the First Consul had as yet shown no arbitrary disposi tion; every thing seemed to have happened of itself; but the consulship for life denoted, by the assumption of the highest authority, without regard to the two other Consuls,-a stretch of arbitrary power. Such of the French as yet retained any energy and presence of mind, said," Why Consul for life? and why should he alone be so? If he had devoted the allotted time to the general welfare, should we not be ready enough to implore him to continue to perform *From an Account of the Comora Islands lately presented by Messrs. Capmartin and Colin to the Society of Emulation in the Isle of France, we learn in what manner some of the victims of this diabolical plot were disposed of. The 24th of December, 1800, was the day on which it was executed, and on the 4th of January an order was issued by the Consuls for the transportation of 129 persons, on the alledged suspicion of their being imfirst landed by the Chiffonne frigate on the plicated in the sham attempt. They were Isle of France disliking neighbours of such Seychelles; but the colonial assembly of the bad repute, sent 33 of the principal, in the Belier frigate, to Anjouan, one of the group of the Comora Islands. Here 20 of them died in 21 days, and of the other 13 not one survived in 1804,-EDITOR. 1815.] Popular Festivals-Restoration of Religion, &c. the arduous duty of guiding the helm ?"— Such was the general cry raised, but to no purpose, throughout all France. Well aware of the sentiments of the people, the crafty ruler contrived so dexterously to involve the interests of the most important persons in his own, and to occupy the multitude with popular festivals, frivolities, or grand plans, as he styled them, that the sentiments of just alarm were expressed in vain. The juggle with which he silenced many, was the formal re-establishment of religious worship, that had long been restored without his interference. The discharge of cannon, the ringing of bells, a solemn Te Deum in the church of Nôtre Dame, which was attended by himself and family with unusual pomp and etiquette, and an illumination at night, produced the desired effect. The excellent disposition of the citizens of Paris occasioned even clear-sighted persons to be duped, and this day certainly regained him the affections of many. No one considered how extremely inconsistent it was that the illumination, the rejoicings, the pomp of the night of the 14th of July, 1801, the celebration of a genuine revolutionary festival, the storming of the Bastille, should have immediately preceded this ceremony; that the same evening, the column erected on the spot where Louis, Antoinette, and Elizabeth suffered martyrdom under the axe of the executioner should be decorated and lighted with the utmost splendour. The 14th of July, which has not been celebrated since 1801, was followed by the fêtes of the five complementary days and of the 1st Vendemiaire, which were also revolutionary. The ingenious farce of the exhibition of the productions of industry was devised to amuse the manufacturing classes, while this fair in the porticos of the Louvre was calculated to engage, for some time, the attention of the public and of the journals. The fete of the 18th of Brumaire, in honour of the new constitution, founded by himself, when on his return from Egypt he suddenly appeared at St. Cloud, surpassed in extravagance of splendour all the preceding, among which I forgot to mention the Jeux des Eaux de Versailles. These and many other amusements which he took care to provide for the public, were succeeded by the 18th of Germinal, or the Restoration of Religion. He had now had enough of popular festivals; they became every year less frequent and less magnificent, and entirely ceased, till he thought fit to renew them in 1810. 199 It was not like the lightning from heaven directed by the hand of the Almighty at the seasonable moment, that Buonaparte all at once appeared in the assembly at St. Cloud: this appearance had been six months in preparation, as well as the scene of which he was to be the hero. I have myself spoken with a man, who, travelling at the risk of his life by night, and in disguise, reached Toulon, where Buonaparte's dispatches from Egypt were waiting for him, and where he delivered those of which he was the bearer. With the former he then returned to Paris, and many of these journeys to and fro were performed before the negociations arrived at maturity. Extreme caution was used to veil this business in the most profound secrecy, and a select few only, at whose head was the celebrated Td, knew any thing of the matter. This statesman at first considered Buonaparte as his tool, without ever conceiving the idea, that he himself was destined to be for a long time a mere instrument in the hands of the latter. The other chiefs of the party flattered themselves with the same idea of making Napoleon subservient to their elevation. They discovered their error when too late, and then they had no other alternative than to submit. A few months after his appointment to the consulship for life, a rumour concerning an Empire of the Gauls began to be circulated, apparently with a view to ridicule its absurdity, but in reality to observe the effect of these sparks dispersed at random upon the public mind. The result was such as had been expected from the character of the French. The people laughed, but in so doing diffused the baneful seed still wider, and with greater success than could even have been hoped for. To flatter the vanity of the nation was the same thing as to win it; and nothing was more capable of flattering it than the idea of a new and unprecedented greatness supported by the vast extent of the empire, and an army to which no other in Europe could be compared. I am not acquainted with all the springs which Buonaparte set in motion to accomplish his arduous purpose; only single instances have come to my knowledge; but those are so numerous and of such a nature, that I am almost inclined to pity a man who, sacrificing all the plea sures of which he might still have been susceptible, has laboured with incessant industry for so many years solely for his own destruction. I take not into the |