The Enquirer

Holland is at present strangely situated—she is apprehensive of an invasion, and she is without a chief magistrate—Louis Bonaparte, according to private letters from Holland, has abdicated the throne in consequence of a misunderstanding with his brother.—His conduct, tho' grateful to the people because it favoured their commerce, displeased Napoleon—the wish of the latter is to distress the English trade by all possible means. Does he ruin his Ally or his dependent by carrying his wishes into execution—this is to him a matter of indifference.—

Private letters state that as soon as Louis Bonaparte was placed on the Throne he saw the ruin which his brother's system was bringing upon the country—the people approached him with representations of their common distress, and implored him to abrogate that prohibitory commercial system, which by cutting off foreign communication, intercepted all foreign demand, and thus ruined a country which could only support itself by means of its richer neighbours.

Louis Bonaparte appears to have been moved by the scene of distress before him: the system was partially abrogated, and the communication opened between England and Holland thro' the direct medium of neutrals. It is stated that these indulgencies provoked the indignation of the Emperor Napoleon.

The first experienced by the King of Holland, was the desertion of his wife, the daughter of the French Empress: who, after some unsuccessful intrigues, withdrew from her husband to her mother.

Louis Bonaparte, wearied with these intrigues and having in vain solicited permission to retire, has at length abdicated the Throne, and withdrawn himself to Italy.—The Dutch provinces are in consequence in the greatest confusion: they have implored the return of Louis—“that Monarch whom they have known long enough to love, and whose retreat will renew that state of confusion and distress, from which his moderation and princely humanity had but begun to relieve them.”

Such are the statements which private letters have brought—Louis Bonaparte is the best of his family; no very great compliment this, our readers may think.—His character is mild and humane—it has all those softer qualities which his brother wants, without any of those strong traits which his brother has—he is affable in his manners, unostentatious in living—wishing to make the people love rather than fear him. It was with great reluctance he ascended the Throne, and he has been often heard to say, that he wished his brother would have suffered him to remain his subject—This disagreement between the brothers will increase the dissension which has always prevailed in the Bonaparte family—Lucien and Louis have ever been the greatest favourites.—Napoleon, from the impatience and violence of his temper, was never beloved—Joseph preserved the situation of a mediator in the family. Another source of disagreement is the marked preference which Napoleon has always shewn to his wife's family the Beauharnais—The rumoured separation of Louis Bonaparte and his wife, who is one of Madame Bonaparte's daughters, will inflame the hatred between the two branches.