e

but this is a very unjust perversion o
meaning of the writers from whose
ings the passages which we have cited, or
passages
of a similar import, are cited.
Not one of them approves of any act of
temporal power which the Pope or any
body of churchmen have ever claimed in
right of their spiritual character. In the
cited passages the writers mean to assert no
more than that the faith and essential disci-
pline of Roman Catholics have always been
what they now are. But they admit, that
the resort of the Popes, or of other ec-
clesiastics to temporal power, for effecting
the object of their spiritual commission,
was not only no part of the faith or essential
discipline of the Church, but was diame-
trically opposite to its faith and discipline.
The passages, therefore, to which we al-
lude, can never be brought to prove the
position for which they are quoted. To
urge them for such a purpose, is evidently
a gross perversion of their meaning.

XIV.

any

Such, then, being the charges brought against the Roman Catholics by their adversaries, and such being the Defence made by the Roman Catholics to them, will not every candid Protestant admit, that the unfavourable opinion, which some still entertain of the civil and religious principles of Roman Catholics, is owing, in a great measure, to prejudice.

But we have the satisfaction to find, that the prejudice against us decreases rapidly. With the mildness and good sense which distinguishes his respectable character, the Earl of Liverpool thus expressed himself, in his speech in the debate of the House of Lords, on the Petition presented by the Irish Catholics in 1810." I have heard allusions made this night, to doctrines, "which I do hope no man now believes the "Catholics to entertain: nor is there any ground for an opinion that the question "is opposed under any such pretence. The "explanations which have been given on this head, so far as I know, are completely "satisfactory, and the question, as it now "stands, is much more narrowed than it was on a former discussion." (See his Lordship's Speech, printed and published by Keating and Booker.) How very little beyond this declaration, and a Legislative enactment in consequence of it, do the Ro

man Catholics solicit!

CHARLES BUTLER.

Lincoln's Inn, February 5, 1813.

OFFICIAL PAPERS.

of

FRENCH PAPERS. (Continued from page 192.) tremity of the cold, had sneaked into the villages. With regard to the cannon, they have not carried off a single piece, although it is true, that I was obliged, by the loss of my horses, which perished through the excessive cold, to abandon the greater part my artillery, after having dismounted and broken it. I know that the Russian statements are quite false; the extent of the country, and the extreme ignorance of the greater part of its population, give the Russian Government great liberty in this respect, and they take good care to profit by it, in causing the most nonsensical reports to be spread about. We were at the gates of Moscow, when that people believed us to be beaten.

< (Signed) EUGENE NAPOLEON.

Leller from the Marshal Prince of Eckmuhl to the Major-General.

Thorn, Jan. 8. My Lord, I read with astonishment, in the St. Petersburgh papers, that on the day of the 16th November, the enemy took 12,000 prisoners from my corps d'armée, and that they had scattered the remains of that army in the neighbouring woods, in such manner, that it was entirely destroyed. It would be difficult to push impudence and falsehood farther, if all the Russian statements since the commencement of the campaign, and in the preceding ones, were not already known. Did they not sing Te Deum at Petersburgh; and were not ribands distributed there for the battle of Austerlitz? Did they not say that they had taken 100 pieces of cannon from us at the battle of the Moskwa; and did they not again, on that occasion, chant the Te Deum which filled England with joy? How many difficulties did they not raise in acknowledging the taking of Moscow? Did they not likewise proclaim themselves conquerors at the battle of Maloyaroslavetz, where we pursued them for the space of 40 wersts?The fact is, that his Majesty, knowing that the Russian army from Volhynia was marching towards the Beresina, was obliged to set out from Smolensk, notwithstanding the rigour of the season. By a sudden change in the temperature, the cold, which was but six degrees, advanced to 20, and even for a moment to 25, according to some of our engineer officers,

who had a thermometer. All our horses, | same infantry, for they several times atand our train of artillery, perished. His tacked me, and notwithstanding their great Majesty no longer wished to come to an en- superiority of number, could make no imgagement with the enemy; he no longer pression. At 10 P. M. a Colonel, with a even wished to allow himself to be amused flag of truce, was sent to propose I should by petty affairs, desiring to gain with all surrender; to this impertinence I replied, speed the Beresina. When His Majesty by making the officer prisoner, and carrypassed through Krasnoy, he had to drive ing him to the other side of the Dnieper, back the enemy, who placed himself be- to which I made my troops repass, and I tween the guard and my corps d'armée. the next day conducted him to the headAs soon as my corps had rejoined the army, quarters of his Majesty, at Orcha; when I his Majesty continued his march, and my arrived there with my corps, I scarcely corps was to follow, without employing it-wanted 500 men, who were killed in the self in maintaining a contest in which the enemy would have the advantage of a numerous cavalry and artillery. But my corps never met the enemy that it did not beat him. It has suffered very heavy losses, from fatigues, cold, and that fatality which caused all the cavalry and artillery horses to perish. A great number of my men dispersed, to seek refuge against the rigour of the cold, and many were taken. Your Excellency knows that I do not dissemble my losses; they are undoubtedly considerable, and fill me with grief; but the glory of his Majesty's arms has not for a moment been compromised.

Letter from the Marshal Duke of Elchingen

to the Major-General.

Elbing, Jan. 10. Monseigneur,-I have read in the Petersburgh Gazettes, that on the 17th of Nov. at midnight, my corps, 12,000 strong, sent a flag of truce and laid down their arms; that I saved myself. alone and wounded, by passing the Borysthenes over the ice. I cannot believe that the General of the Russian army could, in his reports, have given place to such untruth; and although I knew the little confidence which in Europe is paid to these reports from Russian Gazettes, constantly discredited by the absurdity of their tales, I nevertheless take the liberty of writing to your Excellency, and I entreat you to have my letter printed, to give a formal contradiction to the statement, that my corps laid down its arms, and that I alone passed beyond the Dnieper. Very far from that, on the 17th of November, I alone sustained all the ́enemy's efforts. I had at that moment but 8,000 men under my orders, 'and in consequence of the unfortunate circumstances in which we were, I had no artillery. The enemy had a numerous one. I halted all day. I then discovered that it was not the

battle of the preceding day. All the Russian reports are romances. There is nothing true in what they say, excepting the loss of my artillery; and your Highness knows that it was not in human power to bring it away in the midst of frosts, and over the ice, all my horses having fallen under the fatal mortality occasioned by the rigour of the cold. During the whole course of the campaign the Russians have not taken, either from me or my comrades, a single piece of cannon in the face of their enemy; although it is true, that when our drafthorses fell dead with the cold, we were obliged to break our artillery, and leave it behind us. To hear these reports from St. Petersburgh, it must appear that we were all cowards, who could not choose but fly before the terrible Russian legions! It is true, that, according to their statement, we likewise fled at the battle of Moscow, and that they pushed us to the distance of 16 wersts from the field of battle; consequently it must have been in our flight that we occupied Moscow. -The Spring will do us justice for all these vain-glorious boastings. The Russians will every where find the men of Austerlitz, of Eylau, of Friedland, of Witepsk, of Smolensko, of the Moskwa, and of the Beresina.

(Signed) The Marshal Duke of ELCHINGEN.

FRENCH DYNASTY. Conservative Senate, Sitting of Feb. 2.

The sitting was opened at two o'clock, P. M. under the Presidency of His Serene Highness the Prince Arch-Chancellor of the Empire. Their Excellencies Counts Regnaud de St. Jeas d'Angely and Disemon, Ministers of State and Counsellors of State were introduced.- -His Serene" Highness the Prince Archchancellor spoke as follows;

GENTLEMEN,-His Imperial and Royal

Majesty has ordained that you should pre-matter so very serious, you will judge, Monsieur, that it will not be sufficient to weigh a few principles. The Legislature extends its views still further, and without aspiring to say every thing, it is a part of its duty to banish at first a number of doubts, and to suffer but few questions to subsist.- -Whatever, Gentlemen, may be the utility of the dispositions on which we call for your suffrages, yet it is pleasing to hope, that according to the order of nature, their application will not occur until a period of time distant and uncertain.Happy France, if all the Princes of this august Dynasty should not come to the throne until matured by age, animated by glorious examples, and long nourished by the lessons of wisdom!

After this discourse of his Serene Highness Messieurs, the Counsellors of State, presented a Projet of organized Senatus Consultum, and M. Count Regnaud de Saint Jean d'Angely explained its mo tives.

Motives of the Senatus Consultum on the Regency of the Empire, the Coronation of the Empress, and the Coronation of the Prince Imperial of Rome.

sent him with a projet relative to the Regency.-This part of our institution not having yet been able to obtain such a degree of perfection, as the laws received by time, it has appeared useful to add more extended dispositions to those already existing, and at the same time the necessity has been felt of reviving the usages in our constitutional anuals, founded on the ancient manners of the nation. Thus, the plan which is submitted to you, will reestablish in its full latitude the uncontested right of the Sovereign to settle the Regency. -At all events it will prevent an excess of precaution, by arbitrarily restraining the powers of this said Regency from denaturalizing the issue of the Monarchial Government. -If the Emperor had not manifested his will, the Regency would, by course of right, appertain to the Empress. Whatever the heart and understanding can suggest in such matter, with regard to private families, ought to apply to the great family of the state. None can have a greater degree of zeal than the Empress Mother, for preserving the authority of her charge free from all attempts. No one can, like her, present to the imagination of the people the imposing and proper remem- MONSEIGNEUR SENATORS,-To add new brances, so as to render obedience noble guarantees of stability to our institutions, and easy. A system of exclusion would to ensure in every case which experience constrain the choice of the Monarch. Pro- can indicate, or prudence conceive, the unhibitory laws, by the restraint which they interrupted action of government; to look impose, frequently contain the seeds of dis- forward with calm reflection on the absence cord.- -In defect of the Empress, there of every interest, in the silence of all the is an order established, so that there can passions, in banishing all sorrows, to the be no uncertainty concerning the choice of difficulties which embarrass a minority; a Regent. In this matter the law, in re- this is the principal object of the important specting hereditary rights, has been ob-act which is prescribed to your deliberaliged to enter into all the details of foresight, and to adopt every wise precaution. The least interruption in the exercise of the Sovereign Power, would become a great calamity to the people.This power, during the minority of the Emperor, is to be exercised in his name, and in his sole behalf, by the Empress Regent, or by the Regent. -After them the Council of Regency will concur in the decision of matters of great importance, and fortify their authority with all the weight of public opinion.The other articles of the Projet are either drawn from those which I have just announced, or relate to them.In a

tion.The motives which have dictated these dispositions, Gentlemen, are founded in the experience of nations, in the lessons of history, in the traditions of the French Monarchy, in the examples offered in its annals.It will consequently suffice rather to indicate than develope these motives, and in the hasty picture which I am going to make, I shall follow the methodical manner traced out by the Senatus Consultum.

TITLE I.

Of the Regency.

A Regency of the State has never been (To be continued.)

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

VOL. XXIII. No.9.] LONDON, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1813. [Price 1s.

257]

TO JAMES PAUL,
OF BURSLEDON, IN LOWER DUBLIN Town-
SHIP, IN PHILADELPHIA COUNTY, IN THE
STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA; ON MATTERS
RELATING TO HER ROYAL HIGHNESS THE

PRINCESS OF WALES.

My dear Friend,

Letter I.

The excellent effect which attended my letter to you, has made me resolve to discuss the present subject in the form of letters to you; a form, which, for various reasons, I have a great liking to, and which has always this strong recommendation, that it affords me an opportunity of proving to you that your friendship and that of your brother and children is always alive in my recollection. At this time, however, another motive has had some weight with me. I understand, that our Government has issued orders for causing all letters for your country to pass through its hands, or, which is the same thing, the hands of its agents; and, as I am resolved, that they shall never have the fingering of a letter of mine to America, I will put what I have to say into print, and then it can no more be impeded in its progress than can the clouds, or the rays of the sun.

-[258

It is, therefore, in the full conviction that I shall communicate information to a great portion of the people here as well as to the eight millions of people who inhabit the United States, that I now renew my correspondence with you, leaving my promised communication, about the mode of keeping large quantities of sheep upon your farm, till the return of peace, lest, by ful filling that promise at this time, I should subject myself to the charge of conveying comfort and giving assistance to the enemies of my Sovereign, than which, assuredly, nothing can be further from my heart.

The subject, upon which I now address you, is one of very great interest and of very great importance. It is interesting, as involving the reputation of persons of high rank; and it is important, as being capable of raising questions as to rights of most fearful magnitude.

one insinuation following another, till, at last, the ear sickens with the sound; but, you will find no where any clear statement of her case.

You will have seen, in your own newspapers, copious extracts from our English daily papers upon the subject of Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales; but, these extracts you will find so confused, so dark, so contradictory, so unintelligible upon the whole, so topless and tail-less, that you will from them be able to draw no rational conclusion. You will see Her Royal Highness In the case above alluded to, my letter the Princess of Wales abused by these jourdid, I understand, settle all men's minds at nalists; you will see all sorts of charges by once, as far as it went; and, as it was re-them preferred against her; you will hear published in America, it gives me great satisfaction to reflect on the extent of its influence. Nor was it without its uses here, where the people, at a distance from London, must, of course, know almost as little I shall, though for a second time, insert beabout the local circumstances of the case as low for your perusal, does not go far enough the people in Pennsylvania themselves. back to produce that view of her case which Indeed the publication of that letter soon ought to be exhibited, in order to a defence convinced me, that one ought not to take it of her against the base insinuations which for granted, that the mass of the people have, for a long while, been in circulation. know much about particulars as to any sort In short, all that will reach your country, of public matter; and that to suppose one's through the channel of these corrupt Lonreaders to be on the other side of the At-don Journalists, can only serve to mislead lantic is no bad way of making any case that one discusses quite clear to the people of England; nay, even to nine-tenths of those who walk, in decent clothes, about the streets of London itself.

Even her own Letter, which

you as to the real merits of the case; and, even I, with a most earnest desire to lay before the world the means of forming a correct judgment, should fail of my object, were I not to revert to the earliest period of

that connexion between the Princess and the Prince, which has, unhappily, been, for some years, interrupted.

It is generally well known, but not improper to state here, that the Princess of Wales is the Daughter of the late Duke of Brunswick, and that her mother is a sister of our present King. Of course she is a first cousin of the Prince her husband. They were married on the 8th of April, 1795, the Prince being then 32 years of age, and the Princess being 26 years of age; the former will be 51 the 12th day of next August, and the latter will be 45 on the 17th of next May. On the 7th of January, 1796, that is to say, precisely nine months from the day of their marriage, was born the Princess Charlotte of Wales, who, being their only child, is the heiress to the Throne, and who, of course, has now completed her 17th year.

Here you have an account of who the parties most concerned are, and of the how and the when of their connexion. But, there were some circumstances, connected with the marriage of the Prince and Princess, to which it will be necessary to go back, in order to have a fair view of the

matter.

in 1787, upon a clear understanding, that
no more debts should be contracted on his
account, the nation ought not to be called
on again, and that the King ought to pay
the debts out of his annual allowance,
which we here call the Civil List, and
which amounts to nearly half as much as
your whole American revenue, though
there are eight millions of you on whom to
See how rich a nation
raise that revenue.
we must be!

The proposition was, however, at last agreed to; but, it ought to be borne in mind, that, through the whole of the discussions, the ground upon which this new call upon the publie purse rested, was the Prince's marriage. The debts were not paid off in a ready sum; but, were to be liquidated by certain yearly deductions to come out of an additional yearly allowance to be made to the Prince; and, in case of the death of the King or of the Prince be fore the debts were all paid, the payment of the remainder was to fall upon the public revenues.

So that it amounted to exact

ly the same thing in effect as if a simple vote had been given for the payment of the debts, at once, out of the year's taxes.

The Prince, at the time when he was about to be married, in 1795, was greatly in debt. He had an annual allowance from the nation, besides the amount of certain" spouse,' revenues in the county of Cornwall belonging to him as Duke of that county. But, these proving insufficient to meet his expenses, he was found, in 1795, to have contracted debts to the amount of £639,890. 4s. 4d.; for we are very particular, in this country, in stating the fractions of sums in our public accounts. You will, perhaps, stare at this sum; but, you may depend upon my correctness in stating it, as I copy it from the documents laid before Parlia

ment.

When the Prince was married, a proposition was made to Parliament for the payment of this sum of debt, which, indeed, seems to have been stipulated for before the marriage; for, in the report of the debate upon the subject of the debts, the Duke of Glarence is stated to have said, "that, "when the marriage of the Prince of "Wales was agreed upon, there was a "stipulation that he should be exonerated "from his debts.". Much and long opposition was, however, made to the proposed payment by the country, and those who made this opposition contended, that, after having paid his debts, to a great amount,

"

The King, in his message to the Houses, in about twenty days after the marriage took place, asked for an establishment to be settled upon the Prince "and his augst and, at the same time, told m them, that the benefit of any such settlement could not be effectually secured to the Prince, "till he was relieved from his pre"sent encumbrances to a large amount." Upon this ground the Prince's annual allowance from the nation was augmented. It was raised, at once, from £60,000 a year to £125,000 a year; and, of this sum, £25,000 a year were set apart for the discharge of his debts. To this was added a sum of £27,000 for preparations for the marriage; £28,000 for jewels and plate; and £26,000 for finishing Carleton House, the residence of the Prince.

It was necessary to enter into this statement, in order to show you what were the circumstances under which the Prince and Princess came together, and to make you acquainted with the fact, that Her Royal Highness did really bring to her Royal Spouse one of the greatest blessings on earth; namely, a relief from heavy pecuniary encumbrances, which encumbrances would, it is manifest, have continued to weigh upon His Royal Highness had his marriage not taken place.

But, Her Royal Highness also brought