1824.] 
Mr. Canning’s journey to Dublin at 
first excited much speculation. As it is 
the fashion of the day, or rather of the 
hour, to give him credit for all sorts of 
good intentions, it was supposed that 
his visit inferred some grand scheme for 
the amelioration of Ireland; but, ona 
sudden, he hears of the French king’s 
death, which of course he had never 
dreamt of, on which he returns~as 
speedily as he set out. We do not, 
however, belong to those who imagine 
that he has returned re infecta, and at 
‘all events can give a shrewd guess at 
what is to take place in the ensuing 
session of Parliament, though it would 
be difficult to say how that is connected 
with a visit tc Dublin. We allude to 
the great probability there is of the 
Catholics being emancipated; and at 
the same time, as a sort of compensa- 
tion to government, the forty shilling 
freeholders of Ireland being deprived 
of their elective franchise: the only 
matter of surprise is, that none of the 
journalists have had any foresight of 
such a measure. 
' But there is another and worse mea- 
sure in contemplation, which we have 
from good authority. This is a scheme 
for the further restriction of the press ; 
and some of the members of the Oppo- 
sition have promised to lend their sup- 
port to Government for the prosecution 
of it in the ensuing sessions. If this 
design should really be carried into 
effect, and it will assuredly be tried, 
there is an end of British hberty. 
The East-India Company have taken 
the field against the Marquis of Hast- 
ings with a formidable folio volume of 
800 pages. The sum and substance 
are,—that the house of Palmer and 
Co., bankers at Calcutta, were counte- 
nanced by the government of Lord 
Hastings in advancing large sums, by 
way of loan, to the court of Hyderabad ; 
that the Company at home were not 
satisfied, either with the imperfect ex- 
planations received from the governor- 
general in council relative to these 
transactions, or with so much of the 
nature of them as could be understood 
from his despatches; that Sir William 
Rumbold, a ward, or some other inti- 
mate connexion of Lord Hastings, who 
had accompanied his Lordship to India, 
was a partner in the banking-house of 
Palmer and Co. ; that by an act of par- 
liament, no British subject can embark 
in pecuniary transactions with any na- 
tive power, without incurring severe 
penalties; that in the opinion of the 
Monruty Mac, No. 401. 
Political Affairs in September. 
278 
Court of Directors, a licence from the 
Bengal government to the banking- 
house, exonerating them from the risk 
of such penalties, was granted without 
an adeguate necessity, and was abused 
by the bankers, in the terms of their 
contract with the Nizam, and in the ex- 
orbitant interest for which they stipu- 
lated, “ to purposes injurious to the 
interests of our ally, and discreditable 
to the British character ;” that Lord 
Hastings had in words, though not in 
substance, lent the credit of the Com- 
pany to the pecuniary transactions with 
the Nizam. The defence of Lord Hast- 
ings, in his reply of 1823, is made to 
rest on the peculiarly dangerous circum- 
stances of the moment, and the happy 
result of his measures to the interests 
of the Company. 
FRANCE. 
On the 16th of September, at four 
o’clock in the morning, died Louis* 
XVIII., in his seventieth year,—cer- 
tainly not to be regretted as a king, 
whatever he may be as an individual. 
The usual quantity of court-like grief 
has been got up in the French papers, 
and, like the grief on all such occasions, 
proves only the impudence of those 
that govern, and the stupid servility of 
those that are governed. “ Terrible 
catastrophe !”” ~“ Wishes of a people !” 
— Glory to our standard !””—“‘ Ascen- 
sioninto heaven !” are the current phrases 
of the day, in ludicrous opposition to 
established facts, and the feelings, not 
only of France, but of Europe. The 
death of an old man of seventy, being 
in the common order of things, seems 
no such “terrible catastrophe.” The 
“ wishes of the nation”? were shewn by 
driving this same Louis out of the 
country, and only receiving him again 
on the compulsion of English and Rus- 
sian bayonets. The “glory of the 
French standard” consisted, not in fight- 
ing at the head of an army—that is. a 
vulgar trick of usurpers, unfit for legiti- 
macy—but in eating and drinking in the 
Thuilleries, while his troops assisted the 
wretched Ferdinand, in violation of 
his most sacred promises, in enslaving a 
gallant nation, whose only crime was a 
wish for their rights as men. Finally, 
the ascension into heaven has either no 
meaning, or is rank blasphemy ;—we use 
the 
* It is a curious fact, that all the kings 
of France, for a period of 214 years, that 
is, from the accession of Louis XIII., 
have borne the name of Louis, without in- 
terruption. 
2N 
