The Sun. — London, England, 1815-01-17 00:00:00

sA'xoNY. To HIS - ROYAL ITIGLINV.SS Sta,—Ti,e wisdom and sound policy of your measures, in the *Government of Flanover, hold ont a bright example for imitation, at this moment, to the Sovereigns of turopt. When Revolutionary tleatli menaced their!Civil and Political-Existence,. 'they were indebted, not only to The wise and , energetic - examples, but to the splendid achieve ments, and unbounded generosity, •a. Bait,ain in supplying them with the sinews. war. lie; treast:re and her example insured their. I;olitiCal .:alvatiOn. And nations, in their gratitude, . have , bailed her as the bulwark. of karoee---thesolial 'and splendid shieldoltheeiviliml under your Government, Sir, Britain has. risen to a height before unattained, and invests you with an ascendency. rmong Sovereigns._ honoura ble to the wisdom of your policy, and due. to its results in. Naval- and Military Glory. The Usurper lms been exPelled by arms out ot' yortti g4, and Spain ; his choseri and most. retiow,n etL iGencrals hare been vanquished one after. another; and, his viet‘itious .httpihled : rance. 'they laid down their Eagles, their &- Signs -of Triumph, and their-Laurel CrOwns, at the feet of WEti..txoroN-L.atribilte ofthechas tieed " and Champion of Revolution,'': to the Child and Champion of Moral Order. amid Bri tish Glory. Under suet circumstances, Sir, a question highly important in. itself, and comprehensive in its results, excites at this period throughout Eu rope an anxious . inquiry into the Rights claimed, or the Wrongs iutended, with respect to Saxony. There is no geperops nature but is touched, no just principle but is alarmed ; on 4p occasion, that.! appeals with such force and feeling to. time head and heart. .To your Royal flighness it may be, perhaps, a. matter of some interest.:. Saxony WAS the prowl : inheritance of your - renowned.Aneesr tors, whose rights stand secured in part, by re servations for their Descendmas, 'the People of 'England it is .not tt istic,tion.ofindiKerence : Saxony was. the cradle of- our forefathers ; and it is our country bydescerit. But besides such mo tives to awaken personal lure for that country, there are abuses O t excite public f ears f or ot h er nations. it . s 'lioiietkith4t the Reign of Usurpa tion sVZA,S past, It fuel long stalked Over , this quarter of the Globe with bloody strides, desolat ing the moral'atid physieal world. But has' the defeated Hydra furnished by its rentains but seeds for Discord to raise-up armed men lOr does U-surpat fon beget Usurpation ; like a contagion, ptl T et!lath47, itself by pestilential influence, and multiplying. by, caniple.% . If.. s 9, Sir, where .or when is it to end % Has the Parent Monster left behind a growing progeny . , who, like the infant a cr e u l o .. cradle, are putting forth their. strength. to strangle- all that crawl near or anti the i,i . S'fr, the thouglltt as rifiction, is intolerable—then what would the reality be Ustirpatioll may strip Kings of their Rights ; but eau it ve,t itself with that attribute 'of duration, : , that species of setnpiternity peculiar, to .lawful Majesty l• Never•! Ito: NI.: Mal 1:71' jANIA tg.--- t is the universal law of wisdont'and sound policy evhieh declares the King never dies, but an . Usurper cannot die too soon. Such maxims are, founded- upon a broad basis, in the solid combinations of. moral and civil hap piness. Rulers may be Modified by the change , or pressure of public opinions ; and -may . be dis- • torted atnitlst the shock of nations. • But prin-.. ciples remain, eternal and unalterable; whereby justice is cOunmio to all men, and their rights 1 4 acred. Through the breach of this principle, calamities have deluged Europe during twenty seven ycai s. And to enforce its observance, mil lions of human beings have been sarrificed. After such exertions for the restoration and observance of this great principle, the case of Saxony strikes men and nations with proceedings wholly irrecon- .cAeable to justice, _wisdom, or policy. But these matters require onlr:to be considered in order to be confirmed. Let ars• sift them: One of two things is inevitable. , Either this Monarch has forfeited, or has not forfeited his rights. For I do reject the sul.position that such an act and example of immorality, as an attempt to strip a , Sovereign of his crown, territories. and revenues, and of' what is dearer than life itsClf, his personal , honours, could originate rtithont SQUIC charge of • _ p r ivate guilt or public crime. ; Yor such proceed-, ing there exists no moral law, nor the sanction of any civil code whatever. I shall try this ques 7 Lion, therefore, upon grounds the, Veyy strongest which c as e a uraisa. against this Monarch llis' Ca' f'. ' I I Shall admit, if it he required as favourable to his accusers, ill order to give a colour of morality to their conduct, that the Imperial Law h a d ceased to exist on the abdicatiOti of his dignity by tllc liaiperor, mid that the Kiu of :.;:txoNY had, 1•.:y di/teat:cc tot`•;Alf.O . L'Ebt,T, tbrfeiteA his tigh't-. Nothing stronger can be urged. Then ; whitt follows / All it 3 strength woes to prove. clta: and • tunkliVably.(hatailtc Kings of PitusslA . , +,; VA itt d d; . ‘ViIITI4)4 . IIG have all forfeire,d si- . tiiiinr'iights*siinOtar acts'; and nittne'rcitts other at]istiTll, whoaid ed mud . adiwygd to &lONA PART.E.,- . until thgy, were detached like exiiiTote9t plrts fr..om, a, destructive ruin.. by. the weight of. its fill. 'Fo Siixony, therefore, Prussia can have no claim, singe Prussia is as•critninJ as Saxony, • e.onscrpternly as much liable : to penalty,. but not more de;erxiugef, reward. Next : y shall ~tltl►it, it be re,ipti•ed as , fay.,ourOile ,to h S ac cusers, the very reverse of: the preceding . case: . that not,lttintandlng_ths .Foppir,e h ci ceased in. corporate form, yet. the Imperial Laws_ continue: in spirit.or force over established Rights, until ' they be formally abrogated by new, codes. Tyten, this question follows - f What is the operation of thcbnperial Law in this case %vial respect to for feitore of ? 111 - 9 airkwer to this question requires some The proudest days of the' Empire, in modern times, :tvere \viten the Em ; peror wai animated and attathed to it by his tin ; divided aw w over it, and - t.hrg,,V all the wei , ,. ; iit his other different Sovereignties into . the imperial scale. He consolidated , by his power, '9pd corn ; pressed.by his, influence. into one. mass, all the; ; divided members of that body: of which being thc head, be gg,ve unity of action to the whole, i and directed all with one spirit. Plans of power; however, which have proved ruinous in policy, prompted IFaEntatc the Second of Prii sia . to clip ' the wings of the Austrian Eagle, and bring Clown is ascendancy over' the Empire. - Germany then )ecame•a speciei - of- political monster, with two heads; and two wills, moving the members of One body to counteract each other ; and instead of force from unity of action,- there ensued wea k,. • • • _ • • ••• • • ness from divi•iion, .and ultimately death fro:a discord, PrevioPs to this disastrous pc,licy, th e Empire and the Emperor enjoyed their proudest (lays. And during this petiod, the Princes and Sovereigns .of Germany were !rye, according to the Imperial Low, to wage, war even with the •Prince wearing. the Imperial Crown as: posses - ied of other titles •and dominions, uncmlnected ith his'lmperial station. This was exemplified to be th e fixed i;aw - of Uerinany in the 'Seven Years War. 'Consequently it follows: a fortiori, that . ‘1 , 1 ) 0 the chord of IMperial union was ,hrok eh :when Empire and Emperor ceased-to exist ; when the laws did not forbid it, if : they did exist ; and could not forbid it, if, they did nut exist ; the. Princes were free to wage war with' each other. The Emperor, in rirdri to get over this legal pri vilege of the Imperial Sovereigns, in the case of the Seven ,"ears IVar,• endeavoured to have it considered as a (vat- of the Empire, and the peace •of• the Empire to have bten violated h‘rt the King- of• Paosstk. Rut the violation had ori ginated. on the .side of the Emperor and Saxony, by their entering . into - a league with fol'eign Powers against the King of etiosslA; Therefore. Hanover, Brunswick, llcssia, and others, joined that Pimer against the Emperor •and,Saxony.- But neither Ilanover, nor Brunswick were put under the Ban, .nor Punished •hy deprival nn of those territories which rendered their Princes Members of the • Ethpire. SaxOny also was nut committed to • any punishment by the , Laws, although partly the first source of war; because it waa not :a war against the Majesty of that , union or collective :body . of Sove reigns which formed the Empire. Bat in the Pre sent days, Saxony did, not begin the Nvar' Saxony , neither did, nor could.; wag: war against the Empire, for the Empire did, not exist. Saxony did not wage war against the collective body of • •.. • its members ; for • the great body of its members. fought on the same side for. NAPOLEON. And Saxony did not fight . in violation of the Imperial Law, whether the Imperial Law or theire P did•or did not exist. Neither the Crown;therefore, nor the Dothi niOns. Of Saxony can he affected by the most ri .gid interpretatiot, of the Imperial Laws. Every Printe was Sovereign in his own Country, and , under the Imperial Law, enter into alli ance, and. pursue by all political measu t e s , his own private . interest as o the r S overe i gns -And in'ease ,an Imperial War had been declared, which certainly was nht the case, an y S overeign Might even then have remained neuter If he pleas ed, as the_Prince of Darmstadt did in the seven years war, paying only his contingent. Whether,, , thereltire„:we suppose the Empire existing or not existing, whether we supp os e i ts L a g s to remain . . of torceor nut of force, whether we appeal to any Moial Code that ever has existed or does nosy ex ist, we still find it t o b e an utter violation of alt :sense and principle, that one Power should. for fgit.crown and Dominions for an imputed trans und another Power Merit the Sallie Crown . and Dominions amidst traeogression , . laritiViatUlt ) aria eiotil, if not ulo're 'ekc. , :ivc, in j flerrree. ~. Sir, this woliiti he, imlecd, a gross :ge.ujn all that is, v. i 0 in toligy, , . qr,Virtuons the,re %fere for 1, reit tire on the t)arl of-Siix(m 4 i,fin such cor.dret, it rely is not Prussia,. nor - any .of the Princes of I-the Confederation of. the Rhine, nor -the CoimPe 1. ramekin the miiii.ary usurpations of BUONATAR TR , i• who could- eluhn sun it;rfeitures as their due re_ ward in moral.riglit or roasolj. .• `4 7 ,4:‘ live seen tiw.t Prusssia has no clajrn , Ly!:4t - ever to Sakonv. _ . NVeltare: seen. also, that Prussia has no claiin not could there he any forfeiture under And lastly, to set 4sik, po*:a9d for eyeli, these claitils of Prussia, 1 shall -take tlrc most - un - favourable view of the question rem iiitiug Cor,the Kilw, of SAX6NY. I shall ~~r;►pose that li and his family had forfeited the dominimis ot. Saxony_ A. plain question then occurs—Who has the right in case of such forfeiture ? To answer this question we must turn to . the Records_ of Ristori and O P . Imperial..-1A33/7..-7 HENRY the Lion was tyrannically deprived of the llutchvof . gre: . niiess of this PAinciv, who wa; - 3 ancestor to hi.'s.".pr,.;si . :4l raitann'}c 1\4 7. aWii'down tipon him a renew4l tif jealous persecution, which his Father, liEts:,RY, the Magnanimous,- had experienced front FRE DERIC the First. HEN tiY t'be .I.ion . being.thus de prived of the llutelly, in which were compre hended the two entire Circles' Of 'Saxony and f i t a har.ing Lanenbrirg wat.,condefuned to banishment. for three years. Being married to an English Prin cess, he repaired to England to..speml the time of .his bauishment. How tinforseen is the title of human events ! •Little did itr.N'av imaginti that the sceuet.olhis exile and abasement should" be to his descelnlai4s the sent of happiness and Roy alty. After llENtty hail limn deprived of his poS .sess'iohs there exisied a greaf„ . dr . wtil Of disturbance 'from Successor's. It. was. lA. that the ,depri volion was not fair and.' not v a lid. The 'step, hoSVever . , which was taken to render it V . klid was t h e most demonstrative and, consummate nwans to confirm and continue its invalidity, and."defent its pnrposes. By some management,•one of the tle sceudants of clesav the 4'6 s induced to re- . nounee part of these .tinniei.oits2 territories in fa your of the Finuily of A r iffeisf l ach. Out. this rq nuticiation demonstrated that the rights of tile descendants. of 1-lENav LION were'such-a5 11,0 itijustiee - contiLever.trialie vhid--:wh e tber the in justice tags m committed Sotely 'by an act o f force, as in the first - in Stance ; Or' conjitheily with an act of- fraud, as in the second, which was but an accuMulated outrage upon nioraiity sense, to make that which was originally-unjust -become just by a thmble Oct. of, injustice. sop 'pose, however, the rigli,t,s..thits acquired lo have Men long enjoyed by this fatuity ; and such - an . ,event to occur as an. extil,ction of this family • OT its rights; what then tollo,es a case ? answer i6—that if a. lathily beconie the Emperor has the right of reversion. But there Is Liu ann'Otht-re were, an EMperor, he could in this case litve no c;lortu.; because, with the extinction of the 'Fayii-ily nt WittelSbach dies also the io;i• having been ipatle stile( y the trtit tories must consequeritty revert •to th.: la htfug heir. It is'possible, fore', thsit tv , :. shalt the Family of our Mon-trch tfp'9ll'en'Hy ing part (it' these eNtensivedomittif ins and great ness, which drew down:envious animosity' and lawless Imo pation out :their celebrated Ancestors. To these territories,,, or tid any part 'of Saxmly.. I am confident the giro t ot. Paossta will, in his magMmitnity and i n stil aarnit, that he Ibis lit) ground .of pretensions. -Far be it troll] Om ; to deny the wise sentence - of 'the Law of Nations, which enyhwers•Btates injured by unjust War to st:ek ludemnity as a ri;,ht ; but that can never he a right which is the-reshit of wrong: supporz, therefore, .of • the chthus on 's,txofiy, there exists not throughout all the range of fixed and 'cOutin gent rights,applieable to tbiS case,' the*leaSt sha dow of justice or law'; 'unlessive ttilcipt, for t future practice, that. Roman law,. when the weight of the sword turned the balance of right. Or are'we to continue the lex-tailing, Napoleonis, given at the mouth °ibis cannon as - amitkethun- . der, when the Usurper assumed an e sceptre, and used it 'as that gre-: Leader's' and Lawgiver's' . nod among the to Swal lbw up alt 'the . S . ,ceptres of other . But what is the Usurper now ! an Emperor A thing of state and scorn : bumbled to the mockery. of 'fitulaiGreattiess,—an abject object Of Iniperial. Nothingness without a vestige of his vast do minions, his ensigns of towering greatness, his splendid indaces, his superb nuilluments, the costly , but vain 'memorials - of little self.—llls 14a7ing arms that, like a sniumer's torrent rellect ing the glittering rays in its rolling, course, swept the earth with' desolation ; his Iron CrOwn and' Iron 'Age of universal : Conquest and boundless Dominion —all are gone, and have 'left "behind but. a wreck of ituibition---the moilumeliCof crimes—himself—a livin ,SpectaVie fur universal Gaze ! incarcerated in little insular hounds, sur rounded with Ocean's chains : a punishment -be yondten thousand'deaths;though every iteath.had ten thousand pangs., What a Memento. 'for Ulurpers ! 'Let . hitit live . th - en--- 7 Hilth o . bilve cried out ill the voice of olle'tuan--- 4 ‘ lie is No high bj a head," Sir, With most profound respect for Your Royal Highness,. , • I 'haVe honour ,to be, AN. ANGLo.sAxo.N. And yhttr obedient Servant', • 'EE LEsEE-.VoN -RAC KIN 117., . . . • State in ' Europe, except 1:11;413rul, hay felt the intluenee of hu usurping 'cceptte: IVe.uphalia, W.irtemberg, S:txony, yksyti-a; Bruns, Cologne, Menti, 'Switietsland : Portugal. Spain re• saredily the arm; of England ; Russia resisted ai4il triumphed; but if subdued, Persia would 1134 e followed; then the lir+fists Empire in the East ; and, finally, tnglatid was to have been the LO.UNC bouche. courr i OF JOIN MURRAY. The Court-trartitl app'ointed I'4 the trial of • Sir John Murriy vesterday assembled at Win chester, at ten o'clock General SieALuttErP CLARILE:, PresidA - it... The Mendaers having been sworn, and the !barges, vel4eb Were three in .;71100-INE. t.lq,Depnty, JudgeAdKo.cate„ Mr. ! LARPENZ, -aildres,td-the Court at great length; Mut ray previothly pleaded Not Guiltjr to all, the ch . ..:rgs. began by ohservi‘ng; 04t-the Iti - gb tank had Station of the individual; • the merits of - Avtlose conduct the Members. o. ilW L .Cqiirtwer.e now:assembled to investigate, in.: , volving both his 'icy : son-A honour And his tniiitar chara - cter, rendered itstinneceSsary !lita , to itn; _ . press, upon their minds, either by..cantion or ex•i ! hortation, the duty of patient attention, or the necessity of dismissing from their recollection . • whatever imptessionthes . toight have heretofore received. The question Which they had to try, asit equally affected. the advantage of the service and the reputation of. Sir John Murray, ruquired . that the decision should be founded excursively ot i t the evidence, documentary and oral, whicb would; be produced before them. These were consider-' , . ations so important, and at. the same time so ob v,ions, that it would he. an unnecessary, and..thcre fore an idle waste of their time for him to laboUr any longer in enforeing..them. feint to which .he had in the outset to thaw their attention, was '• the: length of . time that had elapsed since those events had taken place that • gave rise to the present charges, both treeause it was desirable to be accounted for, and because, beneficial as he was 'convinced it had been to Sir John iliturray; lie would : probably wake it a sub ject Of complaint the hoarse of his defence: It was necessary for him, therefore, to enter into a brief trirrative of the eikconisiliw.:es w,hich had made, the delay uravoillable, and of the thrum& 111 which, )'eferehce to this object, the dine had been employed Since'tbe . raising Of the siege, rof.l7arragona, Order Ur satisfy the Cowart that blaine 'was. •inspntable to any-party. In -the -second week, of July, 178,13, his X:,!, , j,esty's Ministers first, bet: J une. Officia4iv.acquainted with that event, and the circumstances with which it wasaktentled. The Duke of NVellington had teed -Jed the informa. :ion shine dine previously, as Aellironi_Capt. Car rail-, as. from the reports ot-Sir J. Murray hhnsaif, skeir . fali en bv Eris, ' - LArtis4;io was., to cadton Oen. Muriayfn,a fair ex pi anation of the cohduct andoper-40ns both or the force ithmediafely under liiS comhh,ttid, and of that tinder the disection .Admirai Hallowell. had .in themeau -time forwarded his t.atetiteut, and -the nature of his representations kYn5 such . its to render it impossible that further cuqiiiry shOuld not take place. IT was probable that sii t John 'Murrav - hinisOf wool," tee-th 4) g , °l . f nict• nt calling for t i 'ill...isrvest.4;.ar.ion. • Lord 1 1;alhoi.4 inimediaietv &new& that a Cputt-martial should be assembled: in 'Spain wifft dl, practicahle.dis- , patch for this purpi.•se. \:,t.liington's state-. meuts,'howeVcr, did not arrive till. the folitiwihg y..ar,'whun thethi et eharges_intheir present shape. w ransmittyd tO,Engkand..:l,4iitansequence of the ditheulty of assembling. a. Comt the- Peninsula at That tiwe, or o f I).,,singl ) . ,,sin g i sti ff: a ient nmber of Offieers of.due rank, from the. Wtst,'Qrn. army, the year 1613 expired before any proceedings could be institutett.... Sir J. 111-urraywas,:7, ho,eyee, fur, dished with 7t,coPy . of the Char ,es, amid required to send 111 a lint of. witnesses tcr:be..,intitimoned int bi defence. _ A letter was reeiliVed, ti can) ilun►ii a:I ILillo~s ell, stating, that he was. : d.esionts. of in snpport of the. third. Charge, a nitmberof Spanish w,itneSses of high. rank ; .41, before. this . could be accomplished; was in;testar,y. to , pro cure the sanction ortlteAegeh.C.Y• a*st:ltt wits obtained, but coupled; with the condition, that their Ciiainiiiiiiion-must bc.condheteA r accord- . ingto SpaniSh fortii,xi7..' that the tines dons hit hi be" put in Writing-, itul,"be. answered inthe same way, .but not. upon oath.. A practice so , duns to tit" honour and character •of a Ph-itish Of • fiver,' and. So . - MI: the, established principles of, our own law_; could be, atitui► ted duly by Consent of Sir ,'John Murray, wile, would still be entitled, hr,his defenee; to urge the objeetion.of its illegalitylo testimotly. so de-- livere,t against hint, 'This brought them to the month of 'Mardi; 181.4. LOrd.,Welfington.had sent away the Eastern Army, and none of the de lay, certainly, Whielt had Uccarred wai•attributa hle-to Sir .folin:Murray, ,Who,' in the7following. nninth, acceded tO.thehaffer of the , Snanish, Re ~- gency . on'one Or two equitable conditions; Lord . ‘Vellington then ordered a . .Coairt Jo be:assembled 'at Tarragona ; but on finding the reluctance en , tertained , by General Cole, anti others, to try as Officer .so -lunch senior to thenisciVes in ti)e . stn.- vice, and on their' representations of the'imPro , piety of hOlding a Court-martial .on a British Offi cer of such high rank in a foreign garrison town, all parties were . ordcrecilto return home, when Sir John Murray might have the advantage of an in quiry before a competent tribunal. The time had • . becir since occupied in colleeting the various mili tary and naval witnesses, 41iti in endea"Vours which .i had not, however,-Been- littentled'With success, to obtain the consent of the Spanish Authorities to apow the attendance of the Officers named by Ad niiral Hallowell.-He should now proceed to describe , what the position of tit'e army under time c-nnmand . of Sii J, Mtirray.was, at-the period alluded to itt the first Charge;: . ..what the intentions of Lord I'llel!ington had been ; 'and what ivere the. pro-• ceedings of Sir John Murray under these instruc tions, ' He should submit as the hest evidence'on this head, in:the first; lace, Sir J. Murray's owra adehunts of the operations referred -to in the first and second Charges. The third Charge was in the Admiral Hallowell, and was founded" on that Officer's report to Sir Edward Pcllew. This report, he conceived it necesary, should 14