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consequently an election of war, I must not conceal from your Excellency, that as this is the point of view in which I must consider any new delays which may prevent my receiving a categorical answer to the communications which I have made, pursuant to the orders of the Emperor, my master; I must therefore assure you, my Lord Duke, that if, in the course of the inter view which you have fixed for to-morrow, I should be still so unfortunate as to find you unprovided with instructions from the Emperor to give me an answer to my propositions, and that an answer assuring me that they are accepted without any modification whatsoever (for your Excellency is fully aware that I am not authorized to admit of any), I shall in that case find myself, in consequence of the departure of his Majesty, the Emperor and King, which is announced for to-morrow, and which will preclude all hope of the exp answer, placed under the necessity of considering the withholding of such answer as an indication of an election being made of war, and my further stay at Paris is altogether superfluous; and deeply regretting that I have not been able to contribute to the preservation of that peace and alliance, in the establishment of which it has been the greatest happiness of my life to have participated for the last five years, I shall be obliged to demand passports from your Excellency, to enable me to quit France; and I earnestly request that in such case you will obtain orders from his Imperial and Royal Majesty to grant them without delay. Receive, my Lord Duke, assurances of my high consideration,

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PRINCE KURAKIN.

Copy of a Nole from the Minister for Foreign Relations to Prince Kurakin, the Russian Ambassador. Paris, 9th May, 1812.

Sir-I have received the Notes which you did me the honour to address to me on the 10th of April and the 7th of May. Before I can possibly answer them, I must inquire of your Excellency whether you have full powers vested in you to form, conclude, and sign an arrangement of the differences which have arisen between the two Powers; and in case you have received such powers, I must beg, that, in conformity to the Custom of all Cabinets, you will make a preliminary communication to that effect.I have the honour of offer.

ing to your Excellency fresh assurances of my high consideration. THE DUKE OF BASSANO.

Copy of the Answer of Prince Kurakin lo the above Note.Paris, April 27, (May 9,) 1812.

My Lord Duke-I have just received a letter from your Excellency, dated this day; and you will permit me to evince my great surprise at the question it contains, and which I imagined I had completely obviated by the frankness with which I had communicated, without any reserve whatever, the final instructions which I received from His Imperial Majesty my august master. Your Excellency is aware of the conciliatory propositions which form the object of them, and which clearly and decisively prove the anxious wish of my august master, to preserve peace and his alliance with the Emperor Napoleon. I am always ready to arrange with you as to the most proper form to give them, by a Convention which I will sign with you, sub spe rati, although unprovided with particular and special powers for the purpose; and I can safely answer your Excellency, in consequence of the perfect knowledge I have of the intentions of the Emperor, my master, and of the intelligence I have received of his design to transmit to me full and special powers, that in the event of the basis proposed by me being agreed to by His Majesty the Emperor and King, the arrangement which I shall sign, will be ratified by His Imperial Majesty. I must observe to your Excellency, that even if I were in possession of, at this time, full special powers for the purpose, according to established custom, still the ratification of the two Sovereigns would be necessary, before the act could receive full and complete validity. I have to express my deep regret, that, in the midst of such urgent circumstances, when every instant may produce the commencement of hostilities, the silence which has been observed by the Minister of His Imperial and Royal Majesty, during the long period of fifteen days, with respect to the manner in which His Majesty viewed the basis of arrangements which I have been ordered to present to him, should have so considerably retarded the possibility of concluding them.I must express to your Excellency my astonishment at your thinking the explanation into which I have entered, or rather repeated, neces

sary (as I have had already the honour of
very explicitly detailing in our former in-
terviews every thing that constitutes the
present question), before you could answer
my notes of the 30th of April and the 7th
of May.-
Your Excellency does not men-
tion that of the 6th of May, to which I
have an equal right to require, and do
equally require, an answer. -I.earnestly
entreat that you will let me have the three
answers as soon as possible. They must
contain explanations which are indispensa-
bly necessary to enable me to fulfil the
very positive duties imposed upon me by
the situation in which I am placed.:
placed.
Receive, my Lord Duke, fresh assurances
of my high consideration.

PRINCE ALEX. KURAKIN.

which you think should determine me to prolong my stay at Paris, and not to press for my passports.- -This silence, on your part, places me exactly in the same situation as when I first required them.—Not having been able to obtain from you the official and written explanation which I required, of the reasons which should induce me to postpone my departure-an explanation which I reckoned on being able to submit to the notice of my august master, in order the more fully to acquaint him of the hope which you entertained of the still existing possibility of an accommodation I find myself compelled to renew my most pressing solicitations for passports, grounded upon the unhappily too great certainty that my presence here can be of no longer use.I beg your Excellency may Copy of a Letter from Prince Kurakin to have the goodness to make his Royal and the Minister for Foreign Relations.- Imperial Majesty acquainted with this forParis, 29 April (11 May), 1812. mal requisition, on my part, the first time My Lord Duke-I intended going this that you may have any communication with morning to your Excellency's, for the purhim. I indulge a hope, that his Majesty is pose of reminding you that I had not retoo well aware of, and will too readily call ceived an answer to my letter of yesterday, to mind, the personal attachment which when I received that which you did me the has caused me so zealously to fulfil my duty, honour to write me last night, some hours in endeavouring to preserve peace and conprevious to my departure, which, from cord between the two empires, to admit of what you had the goodness to state to me, for permission to quit my post is grounded his supposing, that the requisition I make I did not suppose would have taken place for two or three days longer. Although upon any thing but the complete and painyou are so kind as to say I shall have the ful certainty I feel, that every hope of being passports which I required, I have received able, in the character of a negociator, to only that for the Gentleman of the Chamber, bring about a reconciliation is cut off. Kologrivoff, on which even it is not noted Although I have to acknowledge many perthat it is for a courier going to Petersburg.sonal obligations to your Excellency, Í shafl I beg your Excellency to send me the consider it as a greater proof of friendship three others which you promised me for than you have yet honoured me with, if you the persons attached to my chapel and will exert yourself to enable me to quit a household, and who are to set off with place which you must be aware it cannot be carriage drivers for Vienna, already en- otherwise than extremely painful to me to gaged for the purpose, and with respect continue in, since the departure of his Royal to whom not being able to send them away and Imperial Majesty, and that of your at the appointed time, I have suffered a loss Excellency, deprive me of the satisfaction of the price agreed on with them for the of thinking that I am capable of effecting carriage from here to Prody.Your Ex- any thing useful. I am about to quit cellency has not thought proper to answer Paris, never to return thither. I shall rethe three communications, made to you on main at my country-house at Sevres, till the 30th of April and the 6th and 7th of your Excellency shall have sent me my May, with respect to the more important passports. I shall there anxiously expect objects of our intercourse, notwithstanding your Excellency's answer to enable me to the established custom of answering every set off, having already made every necesofficial communication made by an Ambas- sary arrangement for the purpose, and sent sador, in a manner so authentic, and under away such part of my household as I could such pressing circumstances. Neither have dispense with, only retaining the few seryou written to me, according to promise, vants who are to accompany me on my to acquaint me with the motives which in journey.I renew, my Lord Duke, the duce you to consider an arrangement be-assurances of my high consideration. tween the two Powers as yet possible, and

PRINCE ALEX. KURAKIN.

Copy of the Answer of Count Romanzoff to the Note of the Minister for Foreign Relations of the 25th April.-Wilna, May 7 (19), 1812.

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shall give to them, and which we are de sired by Prince Kurakin to expect, will definitively settle the important question of peace or war. The moderation which marks that I have now the honour of addressing to you, offers you, my Lord Duke, ample security that any overture that may be made of a pacific nature, will be anxiously accepted. His Majesty is much pleased with the step which has been taken with respect to the British Govern

ment.

My Lord Duke,-The Count de Narbonne has given me the dispatch which your Excellency confided to him. I have not delayed a moment to place it before the Emperor. His Majesty, always faithful to the line of conduct which he originally marked for himself, always persevering in a mere system of defence, in short, He is grateful for the attention of always more moderate in proportion as the the Emperor Napoleon in informing him developement of his power enables him to thereof. He will always duly appreciate repulse with greater vigour such attempts the sacrifices which that Sovereign shall as might be made against the interests of make, in order to promote the conclusion his Empire, and the dignity of his Crown, of a general peace, for the attainment of is satisfied to adhere to the wish with which which great and attractive object, no sacriyou, my Lord Duke, conclude the interest-fices can, in his opinion, be too consider. able.I have the honour to offer to your ing communication of your Court. Constantly seeking to prove how much he has Excellency, &c. &c. it at heart to avoid every thing which might infuse into his connexion with France a spirit of animosity and acerbity, such as would endanger its continuance, he

any

COUNT DE ROMANZOFF.

1

Copy of a Letter from the Minister for Foreign Affairs to Count Lauriston, Ambassador of his Imperial and Royal Ma jesty, at St. Petersburg-Dresden, May 20, 1812.

has directed me not to enter into refutation of alleged grievances, nor to oppose assertions which, for the most part, are grounded upon imputed facts, quite destitute of probability, and upon hypothesis al- I have the honour, Count, to send you together gratuitous. The dispatches ad- copies of two notes from Prince Kurakin, dressed to Prince Kurakin, by the Baron de dated the 30th of April and 17th of May, Serdobin, have partly anticipated the an- of a note which I addressed to that Ambasswer to all the accusations which have been sador on the 9th of the same month, and of made. They have represented, in its the answer which he returned to me on the true light, the loyal conduct which the Em- same day; and, lastly, of a note of the 11th peror has observed in all his relations with of May, which reached me yesterday, and France. They have given, with respect to by which Prince Kurakin renews, in the our armaments, explanations, confirmed in most pressing manner, his demand of his such a degree, as appear to have even out-passports.His Majesty, Count, could stripped the hopes of the Emperor Napo- never have believed that this Ambassador leon. Since, notwithstanding the menacing would have taken so much upon himself: movements of his armies beyond a line, he thinks it fit that you should, by a note, where, for the security of our frontiers, addressed to the Count de Soltikoff, dethey ought to have stopped, affairs continue marid passports for yourself, in order to here in the same state as at the time of the proceed to the Count de Romanzoff to departure of the last Courier. Indeed, Wilna, or to any other place of meeting not a single man has entered the territory that shall be appointed. You will anof Prussia, or that of the Duchy of War-nounce to Count Soltikoff, that the commusaw, and no new obstacle has tended on nications with which you are charged, and our part to prevent the continuance of which you cannot make but to the Chancelpeace.- On the contrary, the last instruc- lor or to the Emperor himself, are as im tions which Prince Kurakin has received, portant as they are urgent.-You will furnish him with ample means of termi- show Count Romanzoff all the documents nating all differences, and of opening the which I transmit to you. You will express negociation which your Court desires.- the astonishment which his Majesty must have felt, when I gave him an account of proceedings so unexpected, and so contrary to the dispositions which the Emperor Alexander manifested to yourself: when he

We have learned with satisfaction, the reception which our propositions have met with on the part of the Emperor Napoleon. The official answer which your Excellency

perceived, that in the notes of the Russian | sions to his Majesty, has been unable to obAmbassador, the evacuation of Prussia tain permission to pass the frontier into his was put forward as a condition upon which States, and that it has been necessary for him to turn back.- -Acts so extraordinary France was not even to deliberate-a condition such as his Majesty had never pro-require to be cleared up. His Majesty, not posed after the greatest victories; when, in being previously apprized of the nature of fine, by the demand of the independence of the communications with which your ExcelPrussia, his independence was violated, in- lency is charged, faithful to his own sysasmuch as the destruction has been insisted tem, which is to follow the ordinary course on of those political engagements which he of things in the relations of the two Cabi has contracted in the exercise of the right nets, invites you, Mr. Ambassador, to You choose rather not to quit St. Petersburg, which belongs to all Sovereigns. will, Count, make it be felt sensibly, how and to have the goodness to do me the homuch the notes of Prince Kurakin are, in nour to address to me, in writing, the comtheir form, and by their contents, opposed munications which you have to make, or to those pacific dispositions, of which that else to convey them, in writing, directly to Ambassador had given the assurance; by his Imperial Majesty, at your own option; what spirit of conciliation his Majesty is and in order to afford you the means of so induced to suppose, that in presenting their doing, his Majesty has commanded me to notes and combining to them the demand of place, for this purpose, at your disposal, his passports, he has trangressed the the Sieur Baereus, an Officer in the corps of bounds prescribed to him, and with what Field, who will have the honour to deliver regret, if they were really the expression you this letter.—I entreat your Excelof the intentions, and the result of the lency, &c. Orders of the Court of Petersburg, his Majesty would see every hope vanish, of succeeding, by a negociation, which he has been constantly soliciting for nearly two years, in the adjustment at last of the differences that divide the two countries. You will insist, Count, on obtaining explanations which may still leave the way open for an accommodation. I have the honour to be, &c. &c.

Copy of a Leller from Count Romanzoff to Count Lauriston.- -Wilna, 27th May (8th June), Evening, 1812.

COUNT DE ROMANZOFF.

Copy of a Letter from Count de Lauriston to Count Romanzoff. St. Petersburg, 31st May (12th June), 1812.

Sir, Count,-The goodness which I have experienced on the part of his Majesty the Emperor Alexander, the marks of confi dence with which he had condescended to honour me, prevented me from foreseeing any obstacle to the journey which I proposed to make to Wilna. I had, therefore, made arrangements for my journey, notwithstanding the very violent rheumatic pains which I have suffered for many days, sensible of Mr. Ambassador,-His Imperial Majesty all the importance of the communications has just been informed by Count Soltikoff, which I was charged to make to his Ma that your Excellency had demanded pass-jesty, or to your Excellency, under circumports, for the purpose of attending his Ma-stances when the smallest delay might be the injurious.jesty, with a view to execute in person orders which you had received from the Emperor, your master.- -Though, in the midst of his troops, his Majesty would have felt pleasure in withdrawing himself for a short time from his present occupations, in order to receive near his person the Ambassador of a Sovereign, his Ally; but a circumstance, totally foreign to all his Majesty's thoughts, prevent him.- -He has just learned that the course of the post by letters between his Empire and foreign nations, has been suspended at Memel, and, according to every appearance, all communication with his Empire prohibited. He has since been informed, that one of his Couriers, returning from one of his mis

-What, then, was my asto> nishment on receiving your Excellency's letter! I saw all my hopes vanish; I saw that I had deceived myself in the idea I had of the confidence which I supposed his Majesty would be pleased to confer on me, inasmuch as he refuses me any direct communication either with himself or with your Excellency, at a moment when this confidence, which I believed I had merited by my conduct, by my invariable zeal for the maintenance of the alliance, might be, as I have no hesitation to say it would have been, of the greatest advantage to the two Empires. The reasons even which your Excellency has put forward to prevent my (To be continued./

159]

As illustrated in the Prosecution and Punishment of

WILLIAM COBBETT.

[160

In order that my countrymen and that the two sureties in the sum of 1,000 pounds each; world may not be deceived, duped, and cheated that the whole of this sentence has been executed upon this subject, I, WILLIAM COBBETT, upon me, that I have been imprisoned the two of Botley, in Hampshire, put upon record years, have paid the thousand pounds TO THE the following facts; to wit: That, ou the 24th KING, and have given the bail, Timothy Brown June, 1809, the following article was pub- and Peter Walker, Esqrs. being my sureties; lished in a London news-paper, called the that the Attorney General was Sir Vicary Gibbs, COURIER:"The Mutiny amongst the LO- the Judge who sat at the trial Lord Ellenborough, "CAL MILITIA, which broke out at Ely, was the four Judges who sat at passing sentence Ellen« fortunately suppressed on Wednesday by the borough, Grose, Le Blanc, and Bailey; and that "arrival of four squadrons of the GERMAN the jurors were, Thomas Rhodes of Hampstead “LEGION CAVALRY from Bury, under the Road, John Davis of Southampton Place, James 66 command of General Auckland. Five of the Ellis of Tottenham Court Road, John Richards << ringleaders were tried by a Court-Martial, and of Bayswater, Thomas Marsham of Baker Street, "sentenced to receive 500 lashes each, part of which Robert Heathcote of High Street Marylebone, "punishment they received on Wednesday, and John Maud of York Place Marylebone, George "a part was remitted. A stoppage for their knap- Baxter of Church Terrace Pancras, Thomas "sacks was the ground of the complaint that ex- Taylor of Red Lion Square, David Deane of St. "cited this mutinous spirit, which occasioned John Street, William Palmer of Upper Street << the men to surround their officers, and demand Islington, Henry Favre of Pall Mall; that the "what they deemed their arrears. The first Prime Ministers during the time were Spencer "division of the German Legion halted yesterday Perceval, until he was shot by John Bellingham, at Newmarket on their return to Bury." and after that Robert B. Jenkinson, Earl of LiThat, on the 1st July, 1809, I published, in the verpool; that the prosecution and sentence took Political Register, an article censuring, in the place in the reign of King George the Third, and strongest terms, these proceedings; that, for so that, he having become insane during my impridoing, the Attorney General prosecuted, as sedi- sonment, the 1,000 pounds was paid to his son, tious libellers, and by Ex-Officio Information, the Prince Regent, in his behalf; that, during my me, and also my printer, my publisher, and one imprisonment, I wrote and published 364 Essays of the principal retailers of the Political Register; | and Letters upon political subjects; that, during that I was brought to trial on the 15th June, the same time, I was visited by persons from 197 1810, and was, by a Special Jury, that is to say, cities and towns, many of them as a sort of depuby 12 men out of 48 appointed by the Master of ties from Societies or Clubs; that, at the expira the Crown Office, found guilty; that, on the tion of my imprisonment, on the 9th of July, 1812, 20th of the same month, I was compelled to give a great dinner was given in London for the purbail for my appearance to receive judgment; pose of receiving me, at which dinner upwards of and that, as I came up from Botley (to which 600 persons were present, and at which Sir place I had returned to my family and my farm Francis Burdett presided; that dinners and other on the evening of the 15th), a Tipstaff went parties were held on the same occasion in many down from London in order to seize me, per- other places in England; that, on my way home, sonally; that, on the 9th of July, 1810, I, toge- I was received at Alton, the first town in Hampther with my printer, publisher, and the news-shire, with the ringing of the Church bells; that man, were brought into the Court of King's Bench to receive judgment; that the three former were sentenced to be imprisoned for some months in the King's Bench prison; that I was sentenced to be imprisoned for two years in Newgate, the great receptacle for malefactors, and the front of which is the scene of numerous hangings in the course of every year; that the part of the prison in which I was sentenced to be confined is sometimes inhabited by felons, that felons were actually in it at the time I entered it; that one man was taken out of it to be transported in about 48 hours after I was put into the same yard with him; and that it is the place of confinement for men guilty of unnatural crimes, of whom there are four in it at this time; that, besides this imprisonment, I was sentenced to pay a thousand pounds TO THE KING, and to give security for my good behaviour for seven years, myself in the sum of 3,000 pounds, and

a respectable company met me and gave nie a dinner at Winchester; that I was drawn from more than the distance of a mile into Botley by the people; that, upon my arrival in the village, I found all the people assembled to receive me; that I concluded the day by explaining to them the cause of my imprisonment, and by giving them clear notions respecting the flogging of the Local Militia-men at Ely, and respecting the employment of German Troops; and, finally, which is more than a compensation for my losses and alt my sufferings, I am in perfect health and strength, and, though I must, for the sake of six children, feel the diminution that has been made in my property (thinking it right in me to decline the offer of a subscription), I have the consolation to see growing up three sons, upon whose hearts, I trust, all these facts will be engraven.

Botley, July 23, 1812.

WM. COBBETT.

Published by R. BAGSHAW, Brydges-Street, Covent-Garden.
LONDON: Printed by J. M'Creery, Black Horse-Court, Fleet-street,

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