Star. — London, England, 1816-04-23 00:00:00

G -r - Y - - sts I am persnathicl that every man of integrity, every one of my countrymen, from the highest to the lowest; will approve of it in his heart. LXTH INTERROGATORY ON TILE 9TH FEBRUARY. A packet of Papers was produced by the Com missaries, and opened, consisting of-Ist. Twelve Papers addressed to Lady Wilson. 2d. Eighteen Papers, comprising a Memoir addressed to Lord Castlereagh by General Wilson, for the purpose of recalling the public services rendered by the latter in the late w,r between France and Rusiia, and docu ments in support of the Memoir. 3d. Four original Letters also relating to the above Memoir. 4th. Papers, consisting'of Notes and Observations made in a journey of the General in Asia Minor to Mount Ida. sth a:ld last, Silty-four Papers, consisting of difTerent Receipts and Accounts of Expenses in Eng lish uiJ French. Also, Ist. A Letter addressed to Miss Rhodes, written in English, whom the General stated to be 'with his wife. 2d and last, a Letter signed Bruce, without address or date. Getteral Wilson having read this letter, observed, that it was not addressed to him, and that it was easy to see, from the very respectful. expressions in the letter, which were not conformable to the inti macy subsisting for so many years between Mr. Bruce and himself, that it could only have got by mistake amongst his papers. _ SEVENTH INT ER HOG ATOPY ON THE 14TH FEBEVA RT. Q. Was it through a sentiment of pure generosity, as you have stated, that you took part. in the escar of Lavalette; or was it not rather with views entirely political, and in conseqii,:nce of a decided opposition to the acts of Government begin by renewing my former protest against this inquisitorial system. Passing to your question, I answer, that I have not , named M. Lavalette as the individual whom I ac companied te the Frontiers ; but at all events, when it was proposed to me to save.M.•Lavalette, politics bad not for a moment any influence on my determi nation, and my conduct was directed by an impera tive sentiment of humanity, which would have in duced me to save an enemy under similar circum stances. Q. You will agree, however, that the indifference which you must have for a man who was unknown to you, and the deep aversion which you do not con ceal for the Government, it might naturally be be- lieved that this latter sentiment might alone regulate your conduct in this affair ?—I have answered as to facts, I AM not to occupy myself with a possibility with regard to the profound aversion which I am so gratuitously supposed to have for the French Govern ment. I declare that I have never interfered with any act of that Government, in which the honour and good faith of my nation were not interested, and that I had a right, as an Eoglishman, to criti cise such acts. Q. Why then in the. affair of Lavalette, an affair foreign to your Governmtat, ti:d you employ your self in caseng oJians open perscns whose duty pre: scribed to them the prosecLtion agaiost him ? Why did you trzat them as pasecutors sat) multiplied their efforts to ensure their sar.g4i;lary triumph ? Why did ycu add that they Lad discovered the trace of then prey, and that tLe escape of Lavalette had served to render chase rap:liters more furious?—Re- apecting tue first article of this interrogatory, I an swer that the affair of M. Lavalette, 'abstract the .p:-.ee,al e • • eeray have taken in his escape, we n to an Ene,lislnar. ; there existed a Conveetion signed by an English Geasrai, and ratified by the English Government, and to try M. Lavalette, was a mani fest violation of that Convention. I ant not aware . that I used the welds which you have stated, but of them you must fernish ptoef. As to any thing fur ther, I wish to avoid all political discussion, but as you take the initiative, I do not refuse to answer. O. The proof which you require results from the letter now presented to you. do you acknowledge it? Denouncing this greater crime by which the French Governnunt has seized a sealed letter addressed to a Peer of the Parliament of England, I acknowledge it. I declare that my object is accomplished. The silence which I . have maintained, and with which I bore been so much reproached, had no other motive than to put the French Aovermnent to the necessity of itself unmasking its shame and its guilt by pro ducing the intercepted letter, and which long since 11 knew to be intercepted. 9. It would appear as if the honour of your coun try were not the only consideration to which you would have yielded in this circumstance, since you put Yonrself forward and justify it by the catastrophe of Lavalette, which you reg trded as dishonourable to the cause of liberty and humanity ?—These two words liberty and humanity afford the proof of my explanation. In fact, the word liberty, well under.' stood, expresses respect for the laws and for justice ;. these laws were outraged by the violation of the, Treaty ; and it is therefore with reason. that I re tarded the cause as: that of liberty united to huma. atty. The subsequent phrases will still further sup port the jestness of this interpretation, since I express the wish that England will escape the shame of again • participating in an assassination, and that every ho nourable and independent man in Europe !why have at least once the opportunity of rejoicing in these times of mourning and ignominy. There was no occasion for me to detail the different sentiments which animated me, and according to the order in which they presented themselves to my mind, I merely wished to give a general representation, and • there is a great distinction to be made between the brevity which essentially belongs to a confidential letter addressed to an enlightened friend, and the de velopernents which a letter ought to contain that is laterite:l to b.l submitted to public consideration. o t ylit not the expressions which you employ to 6.:SVII:tW the persons who acted by the orders of Government, apd the hatred that is to be p e rceived in the manner in which you speak of the Government itself, to indece a belief that the escape of Lavalette was not with you a principal object, but simply . a means, a commence:tient of the execution of an (elm wise vast project of a conspiracy antecedently formed and determined upon, for the purpose of de stroying or changing the Government, or the order of successica to the Throne ?--The expressions which I silted, originated in the spirit of vengeance which I ternarked in the persecutions . directed against Mar -421 /icy and M. Lavalette, persecutions which have always appeared to me an outrage 9n the honour and good Lahti of -the English nation identi fi ed with the Convention of Patit. T Mite , intruded to point out individually either the agents of Government. or any other person as blameable for the persecutions at which I revolted, but I meant to speak generally of all those who with a . furious, or at least exaggerated zeal, persisted in demanding blood, and opposed themselves,to the wish which had emanated from the heart of the King in the face of the whole world, to exercise clemency towards M. dc Lavaleue. Q. How can you escape. from the strong presump tion which is raised against you, of having wished to destroy or change the Government, you having your self furnished this reasoning, and having, in the letter which has been produced, not disselnblvd that the facts which you relate may cause you to be suspected of clandestinely conspiring; a suspicion which you announce your intention of preventing, by communi cating to the Duke what you have done ?—My avowed and acknowledged political opinions have al. ways been, to let every independent nation alone, and not to meddle with the affairs of their Government; bat T have seen with pain the English Government sacrifice the English Constitution, in order to connect itself with French policy. I should have witnessed with pleasure the cessation of this connection. I have never entered into any conspiracy or association against the French Government, I have limited my self to the confiding to the breast of friendship the , thoughts and desires with which circumstances in spired me; it is the birthright of an Englishman, and no one can deny it him when he merely exercises i without accompanying it by any act prejudicial till Government. The Duke, respecting whom thtie a question in the passage w)ich has been gitoteJA l the Doke of York, brother of the Prince Regent, ig.3.1 Commander in Chief of the English Army. Tiiel desire which I indicate of communicating to hint .what 1 had done, in order to do away all suspicion of clandestine conspiracy, is the best proof I can ad- duce of the purity of my intentions. Q. Does not one of your ft iends, in an answer ad- 1 dressed to you, consider it as beyond a doubt that the nation_was strongly indisposed against the Bourbons,. and does lie not seem alarmed at the want of a de.. monstration of discontunt in this respect ?—This ques tion has been discussed in England since the re-esta blishinent of the Bourbons, and is still discussed there, but I must see tloe letter of which you speak to ena ble me to enter into further d: tails. Q. The exhibition of the letter 'cannot be of any importance to you, my obiect at thii moment in re. calling to your recollection the answer is, to induce you to perceive the presumed, or rather the well known, sense of the letter which provoked it, aqd of drawing this consequence, palpable to the eyes of the most ignerant persons, that your opinions were in unison with those of your correspondent, although they were in contradiction to those of your own Go. vcrnment, those of France, and I may add, those of , all who are the friends of tranquillity and the happ;- ness of nations ?-Ist. I protest against all responsi bility far the correspondence of men born free like myself. 2dly, I oppose the logic of the induction. In fact, if the person who wrote to me had been con. vinced of the conformity of our opinions, he would not have taken so much pains to develope his own, and to induce me to participate in them. Lastly,' . not to agree with the policy of his Government is no crime in an Englishman ; and I frankly confess, that the constitution of my country, her indepeodeoce, and her happiness, are superior to every consideratioo for the safety of the French Government, aed sheesse s a ii qudlity established on the ruins of England. Q. What you 'call liberty of opinion rests upon a principle to which our Government and our Consti tution render equal homage. Tire law interrupts ne person on account of his private opinions, unless they are delivered with the intention of disturbing the public tranquillity, such is the character which may be remarked in the strange words which I find in this letter, and which I am about to recall to your recol lection.—" If it is proposed to overthrow the present order of things the tire ought to be constantly kept up, and always visible, to wive as a beacon of alarm in France and in foreign countries ?"—I dem.'nd sight of this letter beloie I make any reply, both for the purpose of ascertaining the writer, and judging r the motives which might have induced hint to make use of such expressions. Q. There it is a do you recognize it ?—Yes. The writer has authorized me to name him : he is My brother. The passage you have cited is a piece of reasoning purely speculative and hypothetical, with. out any present object ; and his inteot'on, which is proved by the rest of the letter, wad only to establish the accuracy of his calculations on the state of France and England. Q. The passage which precedes appears to me to repel this interpretation ; and there appears much less of hypothesis than of actual fear in the expres sion, 44 There reigns in the provinces a degree of tranquillity that may degenerate into . a positive adhe rence to the views of the Sovereign ?" It is not " the views of the Sovereign," but " of the Sove reigns ;" which gives an entirely different sense. I am not obliged to defend my brother ; he is able and ready to defend his own cense : but my brother, being an enemy of the system on which the allied powers 'h a v e acted, which he thought calculated to proclaim' much evil and no good to his country, has expressed his fears lest the present system should become con. firmed ; and, to arrive at the end he proposed, he wished to see all the people of Europe interesting themselves in their own affairs, and regaining what he calls their Sovereignty, which isahe basis of the British Constitution. This letter, written in English, and never publicly circulated, cannot be cited as an unlawful act against the French Government. Q. This correspondence appears to. me to have established between your brother and you a sort of consolidation and identity, which-makes you mutu -ally responsible for your - opinions ; it proves that there not only existed in both of you an opinion hos tile to the Government, but a plot and a real inten tion to effect its overthrow t of this I find an 11641,. swerable proof in the last paragragh of this letter, where your brother, seeing but too clearly that actions were wanting to support his opinions, says, 4 ‘ that he must have actions to establish his hopes ; but if out' friends discover too much weakness, (and this :hews that they were on the point of action) or unless the great mass of the people bestirs itself first, every hing that follows will be of no effect ?"—First, I re. peat always my first protest against any responsibi. fity for opinions which did not proceed frorn . me ; se. con*,l believe, for the following reasons, dot int br abortion not speak of France in this paragraph.— i f is recalling to my recollectiSn a critique which I h d made on Perry, the Editor of the Morning (Aro. n Is, and he has not any acquaintance in France which could justify the expression, a our friends." Besides, it would be absurd to suppose that a man who lives it England. in the country, at a distance from all business, could or would enter into a plot in France. 1e always recurs to the desire, which sras perfectly llowable in him, of seeing the political system of urope changed. If his letter had any political ob ect, we should not see his family afFa;rs, and other ndifferent matters, mixed up in it ; and what com pletely proves that there was no conspiracy between us is, his adding, • I am tired of your sentiments and your violent opinions ;" from which it is cloy to con clude, that nothing was passing between us hut a communication of opinions. Besides which, if the whole letter be read, it will prove much better than each separate passage, that it relates principally to the situation 01 England, and to the re-establishment of its independence, distinct from its present con nexions with France. Q. Without renouncing the inferences which may be drawn against you from this correspondence, did not you yourself, in the month of January last, write with au enthnsiasm, and in language which was for merly among us—that of the most ardent friends of revolutions—" The general cry is always, they will 'be turned out ;' this cry has resounded even in Downing-street, ore rotund& ?"—lt is possible I may have done so, but I do not recollect it; if it is true that I male use of such exprePssiwts, they must have alluded to some new envoys either to or from the Ist itish Government. What mal:es me ctear on sots point is the expression Downing street, which means the scat of Government ; and the words 4 , they will be turned out" had probably an application altoge ther foreign to the French Government. I must add, that 1 have not formed my language nor my opinions in your revolutionary schools ; both ar2 conformable to the true principles of En.tlish patriots. Q. Did not one of your'friends, in a letter which he wrote to you last November, testify his regret at not seeing some prominent chief appear in France in a situ ition to please; and that submission to which die French people spewed itself so disposed ?—lt is possible : the English Journals give an incontestable proof that this desire exists in one party, and I have friends of all parties; but I do not remember having received such a letter. Q. Did not you say in the presence of many per sons on frequent occasions, and did not you write to your brother Sir Edward Wilson, that the dethrone ment of the Bourbons was inevitable is possible; but always .on a condition understood and antece dently expressed, in case of a system of severity being persistedin, framed only to estrange the heart of the French from their King. Q. Did you not in another letter announce the news, at once doubtful and alarming, that gloom in creased every day in Paris, and that every thing be spoke the approach of a crisis ?—I never correspond with any but my fellow countrymen, and it is possi sible I may have transmitted to, them the impression which I thought I had remarked in Paris, which did not escape the English Journalists, and which at last was announced Lvcir in the House of Commons. Q. Does not this language refer rather to a con spiral, antecedently averted ; and does not this infe rence result from the following expressions, which ~:ono' belong to a vague and ittchrverfte:nate r eoposi. tion—" The blow winch will be struck will be heard in a terrible manner, and I hope that the people of I.u. will not be deaf to the appeal that will be wade to them r'--I have always denied the existence , of any plot within my knowledge. I protest against these extracts without date, and mangled from the body of the letter ; I repeat, that, as an Englishman, I had a tight to communicate my political to my fellow countrymen, and that I am an enemy to the system now established in Europe, so detri mental to the interests, the honour, and the constitu tion of my country I declare that Ido not recollect the passages cited ; but the:e very passages only an nounce what I think wilt still happen in Frarrc ; the I appeal is not to the French people, but to all the people of Europe, in i•eppoit of the principles I have just announced. Q. Why, if you have no desire to interfere in the affairs of France, do you announce so ardent a wish to introduce there, and to cause to be translated into French, the political articles of the Edinburgh Re. view ?—I don't know that I ever expressed this wish, but the work being written by the most enlightened men in England, and containing an abstract of all the books that are published there, I may have de sired to see its circulation in France, at the request of many of my friends. Q. These articles contained political principles, which, according to your own admission, could not be circulated except by manuscript copies, which for this reason would not produce so much good as might have been hoped from their publication. By these words sg so much good," did you not mean the agitation of men's minds, and the circulation of ideas dangerous and subversive of Government ?--First, England would not permit the publication of a work which contained dangerous principles ; secondly. the Edinburgh Review is not confined to politics, and, besides, appears only quarterly ; thirdly, as an Eng lishman, I have been brought up in the opinion that political discussions produce no evil, and are the soul of tempered liberty and public good. Q. Can you explain the nature of the extraordi nary events which you announced we should soon hear spoken of in Germany ?—The judicial curiosity ,of France ought to confine itself within the limits of its own territories ; besides, I cannot answer without seeing the pieces from which these expressions are taken: so tar from dreading, 1 even solicit publicity, provided it be of the whole that I may have said or written. [The accused maintains that his answers contain the truth; he persists in them, and, on their being read, has signed them with us and the Clerk. atid has also signed and subscribed with a tie varictur the two letters which we have shewn to him. The mi nutes being thus signed— WILSON, DUPUY, and Denosrs.i ErGHTH INTICRROOATORY, WEB. 20. Q. Do you recognise as having written them, the three letters which I now thew to you—one dated the 6th of last December, the other the 28th of the same month, and the third the siath of last January ; and do you consent to sign and inscgbe them w;111) a it variefar P—Rdn(Vring my fi 11 1 protest against this interrogation, and my cnn ,, plaints against the crimes committed by ill, yf.v, rn. ment for the purpose of c , mrupttng my dorn es ,;, and violating the sacred secrecy of letters addrys,e to friends, I do recognise the three lemrs sPiew n me, as being written at the t;7T . J.s wli , n th e d z , Pari s was occupied by the al:lee Arni , -.1. a " 3 ' pally by the English troops, and colltA:n:ng the new land reports circulated in dipi4ni.ctc .nd military se , cieties, not obtained in any ,reset or itiy:a!rantahle manner, and only written with the intention of givi ng my brother and Lord Grey inte rest i ng • ace..it.:,. which they would sooner f.r Imer rave received the newspapers. I consent to stgn and imcribt. :; with a ne varietur. Q. It is no business of nib e to examine here • merits of the complaints that you taink , have 4 right to make on the violation of tie secrecy t,l ev • respondence, or to explain the meaiis by wt. c!, , letters may have Mien into the h tills o f 0 la ment; but I ask you, if a pets , n has any r i.. c m o Ty mp h la i i m n s o el f f the Nei be neglect suipect oedf of r h dp v , i i , t ,g y J broken tlrrr them ; if the government is bet: ei to resp ect 0 : , correspondence of a man, when there is tease s , t , believe he regards not the repose of goverrati of a man, whom it may in some s tt acres ; rs: having violated the laws ut hospit.h4.-1 mit a i ask you, if in such an exigency, i t e ls the same right as every private individu tural right of defence; if it is, in fact, al tea s e, teamed than one who, when his life is .ceed, I r e ploys in definite's th e same weapons as las e-resie h i though such are Governnae,nt ought at once to be the pre or o f law and the support of morals ; but it cam.ot a greater outrage on them than is suleening aee mestic, and engaging him by base reward t 3 violate his duty towards his master—het, is t, utie the fruit of this crime has been nothing more than the disco. ', very of smne private letters, write;,, pe:! all, with some indiscretitm, inasmuch us t h e news 'vi ich they transmitted was not well ascert-tiled ; night nut to give umbrage to Geerermitie, a; tier did not expose it to ane Jaeger, cersidtri:z dart mere was no mention of aey thing that was m.t the - subject of public coeversaeon, aril prlbabiy rep:, : a in all the letters addreved tsr England. Q. But did not you ado to tl.ese public err ( ) a s your own private sentiments ? Did you net me suffer to appear a want of respect ier the pers.,' of , the King, in saying, for example, " Lerd ton, seeing lie could no longer support the id:lse had raised," &c. ? Do you not admit that ti;:s . as ; expression could only have b en emplyed in a grading sense, and in a sort or irony iajutious tl his Majesty ?—First, the King of France is lint my King; secondly, I may make use of the same expre ssions in speaking of the King of England, wit out ;thy of fence or crime, supposing an ironical idea were at. tacked to them ; tnirdly, I will not el ter into any discussion on private letters intercepted in the manner I have reprobated. I wrote what I thought, n,t what I did. I cannot be prosecuted for my credu lity ; but I may reproach myself with having written anecdotes compromising other persens on mere re ports, without having ascertained their truth ; and I further repeat; that these letters were addresst cl to my brother an.t Lord Grey, whom I considered as my nne.t intimate friends, and the roost disriiet wipe. T.a prove that 1 wapa /2,4 !.e!e int I:3e ) eft or exerting myself agairir4 the Geeei [anent, it wel be sufficieat to read one of lho paragraphs of my letter of the 28th of Decemher last, conceived in these terms-4 , I seldom go (...ut to appear in any public se• ciery, and it is full sit weeks since I have Lea any where but in the society of my best friends." and th..'se three letters taken together, catinot but prove :he teed e of my precediea amwe.s, that is to say that I WAS indignant at the infra:C:ln of the conyent'.on; Ibut I publicity to the di3cussions of P.:rtia i ment, in order to instruct the people on the Cal. ; and that I thought a Throne planted rPi..r h...yaretf. -.td in great dang,:r I.f fetais, mo t much tie it ciid not take its :,atut al hit:- s i 3 j 6),:rrn of clemency and respect tor good As an hags lishain I grad a rig et to express in) telf thus, par;.• cuiarly under actual circe.mstances, the ie-es• tablisliment of t; e King was our own asork. Q. How can it be believed that these expressions were suggested to you by a simple idea of foresig;:t, when, in your letter of the 2ttrh of last December, you " blame your Government for its fear el com promising the cause of the Baur-bole., and that et le gitimacy in general ;" and that, in :mother passage, a little below, you speak " of one of pui friends who had exhausted your patience, because, (says yon) he is become a legitimacy-nianiac g : rn F rn a‘Ll not answer a French functionary cm the subject of my observations on the: Enelish condly, I had a right to tall an Englaliman veu adopted the doctrine of legitimacy, eit;:er a bid, it maniac, or a traitor, because he outrages the tatty principle under which the House of Bruitslvick reigns ► in England. Thirdly, lam delieleed at having this opportunity of tepairing as 1 have , creaq dOne in pirate, the wrong thus offered to this Irivnd.. Q. Your answer t.oe: riot embrace the whcle Lion I put to you, and whicii had for its ollect, not only your observations on the carve cf I..gittrn.:cy in general, but also tote that applied to t:;e cart.e the Bourbons in particular ?-1 have already expleitne my sell on my politics,-and ins- dcterrni.iation pt , t to , enter into any diseussiuti on detached passages.. which the souse, considered separately and by etlelf m ier a p might s re th ce a i n ve th a o n se in ti t t er u p • rc ht t n a n tio t a be d y iff e c • r e e r n e t a t-c d . tiresse 2 i meaning. Q. But at least there are some passages. el of which it is impossible to mistake: thus,.for exa:vo ple, when.in this letter of the 6.1 t of December yon announce changes in the French Gcvernitent,_%a!: " affairs take a turn quite cotetter•rerolet nary," is it possible to doubt t!•at lion the legitimate authority of the Ki ng , and eig, that you callesi Inctl h - r t ciple of violence and revolution ?-1 . , us you regarded it as being only est into a grammatical discussion, which rn:ght 'eau ' •cl the last; of last time, that I have always considerc too far ; but I will frankly say, and .1 hope for the tblislitiolnnoat enter trance as re-established by force.; and tha:, P..; an timacy Engli of shman s , o l ve d re o ig n n o s t , r i6 e . s h p e e n ct n w o h t at s. i l s ilc c t a io ll n ed cd, th b e y io t ! : • people. The word " countetereeolutior..a . ry. ' _i I have used ; was not applied to this legitung,v , 0-. IW - I) t % t I