to make up my packet, I am informed that a treaty of
partition, disposing of several parts of Poland, was signed at
Petersburg on the 15th of last month, and that as soon as the
certificates can be exchanged between the courts of Vienna, Berlin, and
Russia, a congress will be held at Warsaw." A few statements respecting
the Prussian officers dispatched to the Polish frontier are given; and
this seems to be the whole announcement of one of the most atrocious
acts of perfidy and blood in the memory of Europe.

The French Revolution was begun on grounds independent of foreign
disturbances. But no man can read the annals of the French war, without
a conviction, that one of its providential purposes was the punishment
of the three monarchies which had perpetrated this atrocity. Within a
brief period from the first ruin of Polish independence, the French
armies began those sweeping conquests which were destined especially to
ravage Prussia, Austria, and Russia. The punishment seemed even to bear
something like a proportion to the degree of guilt in each of the
parties. The original proposer of the partition was Frederick, the
strenuous participator was Catharine, and the unwilling, though
consenting accomplice, was Joseph. Before that war was over, Napoleon
reduced Prussia to the lowest condition of a conquered country,
plundered her of millions of gold, held her fortresses by his garrisons,
and treated her like a province. His invasion of Russia was next in
havoc: the ravage of the country, the repulse and slaughter of her brave
and patriotic armies, and the destruction of her ancient capital, were
_her_ share of the punishment. Austria suffered, but her suffering was
of a lighter order--defeat in the field, havoc of the people, and the
double capture of her capital; yet those wounds were rapidly healed, and
the close of the war saw Austria taking a higher rank in Europe. Those
struggles and sufferings extended over nearly a quarter of a century of
unexampled bloodshed. It is remarkable that a project so fully entitled
to excite the vigilance of all courts, seems to have been almost wholly
overlooked by the English ministry; Lord Suffolk, in his confidential
answer to the ambassador, simply styling it a curious transaction; and
even in the more advanced stage of the affair, when the attention of the
cabinet was called to it by the memorials of the Polish king and people,
all that could be obtained was a verbal answer, eviden