Dr. Musgrave's Address to the Freeholders of Devonshire. be unfortunately loft, the affair must be for ever involved in uncertainty; an uncertainty, Gentlemen, which may be productive of infinite mischiefs to the nation, and cannot tend to the advantage or fatisfaction of any but the guilty. Lord Halifax, in his excufe for his refufal, will probably alledge, as he did to me, his perfuafion that the charge was wholly groundless. I need not obferve how misplaced and frivolous fuch an allegation is when applied to justify a magiftrate for not examining evidence. But I will suppose, for argument fake, the perfons accufed to be perfectly innocent. Is it not the interest and the with of every innocent man to have his conduct fcrutinized while facts are recent, and truth of confequence eafy to be diftinguished from falfehood? Is there any tenderness in fuffering a stain to remain upon their character till it becomes difficult, or even impoffible, to be wiped out? Will, therefore, thefe noble perfons, if their actions have been upright, will they, I fay, thank Lord Halifax for depriving them of an early opportunity of establishing their innocence? Will they not regret and execrate his caution, if the fubfequent furppeffion or deftruction of the evidence fhould concur with other circumftances to fix on them the fufpicion of guilt? How will Lord Halifax excufe himself to his Sovereign for fuffering fo atrocious a calumny to spread and take root, to the evident hazard of his royal reputation? And what amends will be made to the nation, for the heart-burnings and jealoufies which are the natural fruit of fuch a procedure? Yet thefe, Gentlemen, are the least of the mifchiefs that may be apprehended from his behaviour, upon the footing of his own plea. I will venture, however, to affert, that, as far as hitherto appears, the weight of evidence and probability is on the contrary fide. Now, fuppofing the charge to be true, there can be no need of long arguments to convince you of the injury done to the nation by fuffering fuch capital offenders to efcape. For what is this but to defraud us of the only compenfation we can expect for the lofs of fo many important territories, a lofs rendered ftill VOL. III, 97 more grievous by the indignity of paying a penfion, as we notoriously do, to the foreign minister who negotiated the ruinous bargain? Yet even these confiderations are infinitely outweighed by the danger to which the whole nation must be expofed from the continued operation of so much authority, influence, and favour to their prejudice, and above all from the poffibility that the fupreme government of the kingdom may, by the regency-act, devolve to a perfon directly and pofitively accused of high treafon. Even the encouragement that fuch an impunity muft give to future treafons, is enough to fill a thinking mind with the most painful apprehenfions. We live in an age not greatly addicted to fcruples, when the open avowal of domestic ve nality feems to lead men by an eafy gradation to connexions equally mer cenary with foreigners and enemies. How then can we expect ill-difpofed perfons to refift a temptation of this fort, when they find that treafon may be detected, and proofs of it offered to a magiftrate without producing either punishment or enquiry? The confe quence of this may be our living to fee a French party, as well as a court party, in parliament; which, fhould it ever happen, no imagination can fufficiently paint the calamitous and horrid state to which our late glorious triumphs might finally be reduced. When I talk of a French party in parliament, I do not speak a mere vifionary language unfupported by experience. The hiftory of all ages informs us, that France, where other weapons have failed, has constantly had recourfe to the lefs alarming weapons of intrigue and corruption. And how effectual these have fometimes been, we have a recent and tragical example in the total enflaving of Corfica. I have been thus particular in enumerating the evils that may refult from the refufal of Lord Halifax, not from a defire of aggravating that nobleman's offence, but merely to evince the neceffity of a fpeedy enquiry, while there. is yet a chance of its not being wholly fruitless. Though the courfe of my narrative has unavoidably led me to accufe his Lordship, accufation is not my N object, object, but enquiry, which cannot be difagreeable to any but thofe to whom truth itself is fo. In purfuing this point I have hitherto been fruftrated from the very circumitance which ought to have infured my fuccefs, the immenfe importance of the question. It has been apprehended, how justly I know not, that any magiftrate who fhould commence an enquiry, or any gentleman who fhould openly move for it, would be deemed refponfible for the truth of the charge, and fubjected to fevere penalties, if he could not make it good. This imagination however did not deter me, though fingle and unprotected, from carrying my papers to the Speaker, to be laid before the late Houfe of Commons. The Speaker was pleafed to justify my conduct, by allowing that the affair ought to be en uired into, but refufed at the fame time to be in ftrumental in promoting the enquiry himfelf. What then remained to be done? What, but to wait, though with: reluctance and impatience, till a proper opportunity fhould offer for appealing to the Public at large; that is, till the accumulated errors of government fhould awaken a fpirit of enquiry too powerful to be refifted or eluded? That this fpirit is now reviving, we have a fufficient earnest in the unanimous zeal you have fhewn for the appointment of a county meeting. In fuch a conjunc ture to withhold from you fo important a truth would no longer be prudence, it would be to difgrace my former conduct; it would fhew that I had been actuated by fome temporary motives, and not by a steady and uniform regard to national good. Indeed the declared purpofe of your meeting is in itself a call upon every Freeholder to difclofe whatever you are concerned to know. I obey this call without hefitation, fubmitting the profecution of the affair to your judgment, in full confidence that the refult of your deliberations would do honour at the fame time to your prudence, candour, and patriotifm. Plymouth, Aug. 12, 1769. A Tranflation of the Chevalier D'Eon's Anfower to Dr. Mufgrave's Letter, bearing date Plymouth, August 12. SIR, YOU will permit me to believe that you never knew any more of me, than I have the honour of knowing of you: and if in your letter of the 12th of Auguft you had not made a wrong ufe of my name, I fhould not find myfelf obliged to enter into a correfpondence with you. You pretend, that in the fummer of the year 1764, overtures were made in my name to feveral Members of Parliament, importing, that I was ready to impeach three perfons, two of whom were Peers and Members of the PrivyCouncil, of having fold the PEACE to the French." And you feem to found thereupon the evidence of a charge, which, you fay, you carried yourfelf to Lord Halifax. -I declare, therefore, here, Sir, that I never made, nor caufed to be made, any fuch overture, either in the winter on fummer of the year 1764, nor at any other time: I am on one fide, too faithful to the office I filled, and on the *ther too zealous a friend to truth. 1 I confefs you do not fay it was I that made thefe overtures; but only that they were made in my name, particularly to Sir George Yonge and Mr. Fitzherbert. I affure you I do not know either of thefe Gentlemen, and never authorized any perfon whatever to make in my name fuch overtures, which the abhorrence alone I have for calumny, would make me deteft. I call upon you, therefore, Sir, to lay before the Public the name of the audacious perfon who has made ufe of mine to cover his own odious offers. The Gentlemen whom you have given as your witnelles, cannot deny you this juftification of their own veracity and your's. Though I cannot but commend your integrity in citing your authors, yet it appears to me an act of the laft imprudence, in an affair of fo much weight, to build upon report, for naming publickly a perfon of my character, without having previously confulted him. If you had recollected the contradic tion The Chevalier D'Eon's Anfewer to Dr. Mufgrave's Letter. tion I gave in the St. James's Chronicle of October 25, 1766, No. 881,* to an advertisement in the fame paper, No. 875, importing in fubftance what you alledge in your laft letter, you had faved me the trouble of replying to you at this time. What must be the refult? The Public will have read greedily your letter; will have believed its contents, because you appeal therein to my teftimony but what will they think now when your own intereft, my honour and truth oblige me to deny all that you have advanced thereon with refpcet to me? It is the fame with your pretence, "that about the 17th of May 1765, Mr. Fitzherbert told you, he knew that overtures had been made to me to fell for a fum of money the papers that were in my hands." I have always flattered myself with being poffeffed of the efteem and friendhip of the English with whom I have lived. Who of them then in thefe fentiments would have prefumed to have shewn sufficient contempt for me to have made me fuch an overture? the injury would have been more felt by me, as the character of the perfon was the more respectable. I fhall not follow you, Sir, either in all the steps you have thought it your duty to take, or in the arguments you made ufe of to fupport them: thefe fbew the orator; and thofe, if they be well founded, prove the patriot. But I here certify to you, on my word of honour, and in the face of the public, that I cannot be of any fort of ufe to you; that I never entered into any treaty for the fale of my papers, and never, either by myfelf, or any agent authorised on my part, offered to make 99 appear, that the peace had been fold to France. If Lord Halifax, or the Speaker, tɔ whom you fay you addreffed yourself, in order to call upon me as evidence with respect to the validity of your charge, had caufed me to be cited, he might have known by my answers what my thoughts were, that England rather gave money to France, than France to England, to conclude the laft peace; and that the happiness I had in concurring to the great work of peace, has infpired me with fentiments of the jufteft veneration for the English commiffioners who had been employed in it, and with the moft lively esteem and fincereft admiration for the late Count de Viry, who in his attachment to the welfare of the two nations then at war, and thanks to his indefatigable zeal, had the glory of bringing that peace a happy conclufion. Judge now, Sir, with what folidity you can depend upon me to make your charge clear. I am too well known in England to have been under any neceffity of this reply, if the franknefs of your letter had not appeared to me to merit my preventing you from taking any further fteps which could not but turn to your prejudice, in as much as they would be founded folely on falfe reports of MY proceedings. In order to enable you to be as prudent as patriotic, I fign this letter, and therein give you my addrefs, that for the maintenance of your own veracity you may furnish me with the means of convicting publickly thofe flanderers who have dared to make ufe of my name, in a manner fill more repugnant to real fact, than the dignity with * Sir, I have feen, with much furprize, in your paper of the 7th inflant, an advertiserpent of a work, faid to be preparing for the prefs, dedicated to the Parliament, containing, amongît other extraordinary pieces, An Account of the Chevalier D'Eon's Overtures to impeach three Ferjons, by Name, of felling the PEACE to the French, and other Papers of that Narure. If I had been the author, I fhould not have had the impertinence to have dedicated them to the Parliament, nor to have inferted names fo refpectable as thofe in the faid advertisement. I declare to you, Sir, as well as to the Public, upon my honour, that I have no concern, directly or indirectly, in the impreffion of any fuch work; nor in any other which may be published under my name, or in any way infinuating that I have had, or will hang, any concern therein. And to authenticate, as inuch as poffible, this my declararlon, i beg you will immediately print the above in your paper. I am, Sir, your fevant, Le Cheet D'ION. York, 08. 18, 1766. which I have ever supported my cha racter. I have the honour of being In Petty France, Weftminfler. The M- -y having failed in their attempt to corrupt Dr. Mufgrave, changed their battery, and applied to the Chevalier D-. The late French refident proved more pliable than the English physician; and in confequence of the strongest threats, and a round fum faid to be p id down, with the promife of his outlawry being taken off, and a full pardon, the Chevalier D undertook not only to fupprefs his evidence, but even to attack the doctor. One of the minifters faid to the Chevalier, "Sir, "If you do not comply, you shall be "given up next week.” TH To Mers. Halifax and Shakespeare, Sheriffs of the County of Middlesex. Take notice, that D'Eon de Beaumont, Capitaine de Dragons, Chevalier de L'Ordre Roial et Militaire de Saint Louis, and an outlaw, is now to be found in Petty France, Westminster, within your Sheriffwick. (By order) WILLIAM THOMSON. Though the Chevalier should be bought off by the miniftry, it does not at all invalidate what Dr. Musgrave has advanced. And it is to be hoped, that a grateful nation will now more particularly fupport him in his patriotic endeavours, for which he can furely have no motive but the good of his country. The amount of the Chevalier's address is no more than a declaration, that he will not co-operate with the doctor in ferving a country, to whofe protection he is indebted for his life. Folly of a Prince fuffering himself to be governed by his Ministers. HE mind of that weak and ridiculous Prince, James the First, was strongly tinctured with notions of arbitrary power, which put him upon all expedients for making himself abfolute, and ftretching the prerogative above law. But he had another foible, which is always dangerous, and has often proved fatal to Princes; that is, fuffering himself to be governed by his Minifters and Favourites, in oppofition to the general fenfe and frequent remonftrances of his people. In the former part of his reign, the Earl of Somerfet gained an abfolute afcendant over him: To him fucceeded the Duke of Buckingham, who kept him in leading ftrings all the remainder of his life. God hath given him the use, but the Devil the application. In a word, I believe him that grand enemy to the commonwealth, who must not expect to be pardoned in this world, till he be difpatched to the other." - Lord Digby's character of the Earl of Strafford, on the bill of attainder, may not be improperly applied to a more modern statefman:- "I confidently believe him, fays he, to be the most dangerous Minifter, the most infupportable to free fubjects that can be characterifed. I believe his practices in themselves as high, as tyrannical as any fubject ever ventured upon; and the malignity of them hugely aggravated by thofe abilities of his, whereof It is the opinion of Machiavel, that an abfolute government would be the beft in the world, provided we could always be fure of a fucceffion of wife as well as virtuous Princes; but as the vicious and the foolish must have their turns, he thinks the people must be mad who would put it into the power of even a good Prince to encroach upon them, only because they hoped he would not make ufe of it; and fure we may fay the fame thing in refpect of Ministers, A ftate writer in the reign of King William, fays, "If our conftitution be out of order, it may still be cured; for the body politic differs in this refpect from the human body; life shortened or impaired by irregularities, is not to be extended by art beyond a certain period; but it is quite otherwife with the body politic, which, by wisdom, honefty, and good conduct, is to be made long-lived, if not immortal; its diftempers are to be cured; nay, its very youth renewed; and a mixed go vernment A Letter from an Alderman of vernment grows ftrong, young and healthy again, whenever it returns to the principles upon which it was firft founded. Edward II. loft his crown and his life in the most miserable manner, by fuffering himself to be governed by his Minifters, and protecting them from 101 Bedford to his Son in London. the refentments of the people; but his fon very early exerted his own authority, and freed himself from the fubjection of his Mother and Mortimer, who had long oppreffed the nation, and dishonoured the young King by their fcandalous conduct. A LOYAL SUBJECT. Extract of a Letter from an Alderman of Bedford to his Son in London, giving an Account of the contested Election for a Mayor. Mr. Heaven, our Mayor, was offered three thousand pounds, and on his refufal of that fum, a carte blanche. Hill, Cave, Skevington, Howard, &c. the Aldermen and Common-council will be immortal. They have refufed five hundred pounds a man, and one of them fifteen hundred pounds. As foon as the Duke of Bd knew that we were determined to shake off his yoke, the Swan and other houses were opened at Bedford, and for the last week a conftant negotiation has been on foot. All the tradefmen and others in London, that were fuppofed to have any intereft with the Corporation, were franked down to Bedford to try their influence in favour of the Duke. On Friday laft Sir Robert Bernard, with about two hundred Gentlemen, came down from London, which encouraged us exceedingly to persevere in fpite of menaces and bribes. Above two hundred more came in from the neighbouring country: amongst whom were the Hon. Trevor Hampden, Sir Giles Payne, Bart. the Rev. Charles Dickens, D.D. the Rev. James Favell, D. D. the Rev. John Kippax, D.D. the Rev. James Torkington, LL. D. &c. On Saturday the Duke of B-d came to the Council-chamber, and objected ftrongly to Mr. Cawne, who was proposed by the Court of Aldermen as Mayor for the enfuing year. He was Bedford, Sept. 6. answered by the prefent Mayor, Mr. Heaven, that they had fixed on Mr. Cawne in conformity to his Grace's former directions to chufe a Gentleman of the best character, fortune, and abilities; and that they knew no one fuperior to Mr. Cawne in thofe refpects. His Grace then objected to the making of any Freemen, though many had been made to oblige him at different times. He called it a Theft, and robbing him of the Borough-faid it was illegal, impoffible, that they could not justify it : but not being able to prevail in reverfing it,his Grace then defired they would likewise make some Freemen in his intereft, which the Corporation confented to, and above twenty have been made Freemen to oblige him. The names of the propofed Freemen were then read: all which his Grace heard in filence, till the name of John Horne of New Brentford, Middlesex, Clerk, was pronounced: his Grace could then contain himself no longer. He faid, if that was the cafe, if they admitted fuch a man as that, all was over, he gave them up; they must expect no more Peace; that Mr. Horne was a man that would let no one be quiet either in his county or his borough; that he had been the cause of all the disturbances in Middlesex, London, Surry, and the whole kingdom; that he was a stirrer of Sedition (we fuppofe he meant fuch Sedition as this) a reftlefs, turbulent fpirit, &c. That if they would go on fo, he would bring them into Weltminster-hall. He would fhew them no mercy. If they made the flightest mistake in their proceedings, they should be profecuted with the utmost rigour, &c. He charged them with |