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

-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,ale • • 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.
otylit 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 perceived
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 identified 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 gitoteJAl
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 sheessesaii
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
'have 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.—
if
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 reoposi.
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 111
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 dornes,;,
and violating the sacred secrecy of letters addrys,e
to friends, I do recognise the three lemrs sPiewn
me, as being written at the t;7T.J.s wli,n the dz,
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 giving
my brother and Lord Grey interesting •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,lev•
respondence, or to explain the meaiis by wt. c!, ,
letters may have Mien into the h tills of 0
la-
ment; but I ask you, if a pets, n has any ri..
cmoTymphlaiimnsoelfftheNei
be neglectsuipect oedf
of
rhdpv,ii,t,gy
Jbroken tlrrr
them ; if the government is bet: ei to respect 0:,
correspondence of a man, when there is teases, 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 mitai
ask you, if in such an exigency, it els
the same right as every private individu
tural right of defence; if it is, in fact, al tease,
teamed than one who, when his life is .ceed, Ire
ploys in definite's the same weapons as las e-resie
hi though such are
Governnae,nt ought at once to be the pre
or of
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 the 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 ()as
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 expressions 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-nianiacg:rnFrna‘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
apmightsrethceainvethaonse
intitterup•rchttnantiotabedyiffec•reernet at-cd. tiresse2i
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 King, and
eig, that
you callesi Inctlh-rt
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
timacyEngli of
shmans,olvedreoignnost, ri6e.shpeenct
nwohtats.ilsilcctaiollnedcd,thbeyiot!:•
people. The word " countetereeolutior..a.ry. ' _i
I have used; was not applied to this legitung,v, 0-.