NEWS OF THE WEEK.
SOME movements have taken place, which indicate an intention in the Government of Louts PHILIP and of WILLIAM the Fourth to bring the long-disputed question of Belgium to an issue. A French army of 25,000 men is said to be assembled on the Northern frontier, and Marshal GERARD is said to be appointed to command it.. We use the phrase "is said," for the private letters from Paris throw considerable doubts on the sincerity of the French Cabinet, notwithstanding all this warlike display. The most sanguine of our speculators have, however, eagerly caught at the prospect of a change in the stale, flat, and unprofitable calm of peace : and the firimr, of the artillery during a review in the neighbourhood of Calais, a few days ago, was confidently set down to the bombardment of Antwerp ; by which feat LEOPOLD was ex- pected to make his military debt. It was announced in a letter from Portsmouth, dated Tuesday, that on the following day the French fleet might be expected at Spithead. Wednesday passed over, and no fleet appeared. On Thursday, a frigate arrived, sent, it is said, by Admiral VILLENEUVE, who has the command of the French men-of-war at Cherbourg, to Sir PULTENEY MALcoi,m, who commands at Portsmouth, to inform linn that the French were ready to sail. The object of this combined squadron is said" to be to blockade the Scheldt ; by which very considerable injury will be inflicted on the town of Antwerp—on the citadel of Ant- werp, no injury at all. The illessager des Chambres lays down the subsequent steps very regularly— "The King of Holland will have to the 1st of October to decide. If at that epoch he shall not have evacuated Antwerp, the French army will pass the frontier, and the Belgian army will advance; a delay of ten days will be granted to William to make his arrangements. If, by the 10th of October, he has not answered in a satisfactory manlier, the .Belgian army, supported by the French army, will invest Antwerp only, without approaching Maestricht or the Meuse, and ;anther delay of ten days will be then granted before con-wincing the work of investment. .Then, on the 20th of October, in case of the refusal of the King of Holland, the army will prepare to attack the citadel ; and accord- ing to the imuranee4 given to the Council by a general officer, who is to direct the operations of the siege, the place will be taken on the 5th of November, anti the French army will re-turn to its cantonments on the 15th."
Nous verions.
• The Ministry of Louts PHILIP is still unformed. The Dutcbess DE BERRI is still at large,—as the Nantes journals assert, by the connivance of the Government, who, had they directed the search of the convents in La Vendee ten days earlier, would have found her in one of them. The rumour of her having proceeded to Jersey has been repeated. A riot took place on the 13th, at Marseilles ; but it seems to have been immediately suppressed, by the capture, of the ringleaders. The cholera has almost entirely ceased in Paris. The journals of Tuesday give only four deaths for the entire city.
