no such thing. They set a price upon his head, dead or alive; they pursued his adherents with the utmost rigour; and I remember hearing my father say, once when he returned home from London, that he had seen some of their heads still sticking upon Temple-Bar. I believe, my Lord, that these heads remained there for nearly forty years. A pretty good spell to give the loyal subjects of the Stuarts a caution against acting upon the principle of divine right, and in "contempt," as your saucy countryman, the pensioned Burke, called it," of the will of the nation." I should be glad to hear what some great casuist in the rights and duties of princes and of people, had to say, why the French nation should not have a right to act towards the Bourbons and their adherents in the same way, that the English nation acted towards the Stuarts and their adherents. With those, who are ready to contend, and that, too, seriously, that the English nation is not to be put upon a level with any other nation; that we are a sort of chosen people, who are not to be bound by those rules by which we have a right to bind other nations; that we may with great propriety call in foreigners to be our Kings, as we did the Prince of Orange, once, who had not the smallest pretension to a drop of the blood of the Frenchman, who conquered our country some hundreds of years before; that we may employ as many foreign troops as we please, at home or abroad; in short, that, while we have a right to criticize the conduct of all other nations, and even to punish them for any thing that we may deem to be offences, political or moral, we ourselves can do no wrong, our character being, like the person of our King, sacred and inviolable. With those who insist upon this doctrine, I shall not attempt to argue; and all I have to ask of your Lordship is, if the execution of the Duke of Enghien was a murder, what was the execution of the Scotch Lords, and what were the killings of Glenco, in the year 1745? should have been chosen for a wood! A wood is shelter for day-time. Torches in a wood, or artificial lights of som kind, are necessary, not to make an act secret, but to expose it as much as possible. But this, like all the other parts of the story, has been invented for the purpose of giv ing tragical effect to the thing; to make an impression of horror upon mens' minds; to excite at once, their hatred and their dread of Napoleon; to fill them with that sort of feeling which is made up of resentment and of fear; and, thus to make them. dead to the dictates of reason and of justice. Napolequ could have no interest in putting to death this Prince of the house of Bourbon; except that interest, which he had in common with all Frenchmen. He has lately had the whole family in his power. No man of sense will deny, that, if he had been so minded, he might have detained, and brought to execution, every man of that family. At any rate, he had the Duke d'Angouleme a prisoner; taken in arms against his authority, in the interior of France. Ile suffers him to depart. Not a drop of their blood does he shed. And yet, this is the man whom our writers call a tyger, a hyena, and every other name descriptive of bloody mindedness. It is clear, then, that in this case, Napoleon was no more guilty of murder, in consequence of the execution of the Duke of Enghien, than our king was guilty of murder, in consequence of the execution of O'COIGLEY, who suffered death upon the charge of carrying on correspondence with the king's enemies. It is very easy to talk about murder; but, if all the blood which has been shed, in consequence of sentences of treason, during the present reign, were laid upon the head of George the Third, what a figure he would make in history. But, as we are not so unjust as to impute this blood to him, neither ought we to impute the blood of those who have been executed for treason in France, to the government of France. But, in the case of the Duke of Eng hien, it is said that he was not in the French territory when he committed the treason. And, were your poor unfortu nate countrymen, who were executed, a few years ago, for treason committed in the Isle of France; were they in the Eng It has frequently been asserted, that the Duke of Enghien was shot by torch-light, in the wood of Vincennes. It does not seem very likely that the execution should have taken place by night. There appears to have been no reason for it what-lish territory or in the Irish territory, over; and besides, if the object was a secret exccution, it is very strange that night when they committed that treason? No: and your Lordship knows very well, that treason may be committed abroad, as well | Baden, there certainly was a violation of neutral rights, which I am, my Lord, not at all disposed to justify, but which I will not speak of in very violent language, lest my words should be quoted and ap plied to the seizure of Napper Tandy at Hamburgh; to the forcing of the Grand Duke of Tuscany and the Republic of Genoa into our war of 1793; to the seizure of the Danish fleet, because the Danes refused to declare war against France; to the late affairs of Valparaiso and Fayal; to the forcible passage, by the Allies, through the Swiss territory last year; or, to many other cases, which I have not now time to particularize. The truth is, that the rights of neutrality are good for nothing, except to strong powers, as experience, during the last five and twenty years, has amply proved. In the year 1793, the Americans were sending great quantities of flour to France, where the people were supposed to be in danger of being starved. What did we do in that case? We seized on the neutral ships of America, bound to France with food; brought those ships into England, and compelled the owners of the cargoes to sell them to us. After this, we would not as at home. Therefore, there is nothing here that makes against the measure adopted against the Duke of Enghien. There is one remaining point, connected with the death of the Duke of Enghien. The foul-mouthed man who writes in the TIMES newspaper, always is representing Napoleon, as having gone by night, like an assassin, into the territory of the Elector of Baden, to seize this same Royal Duke, and to bring him away into France to murder him. At any rate, a great outcry is made by all the haters of the French about the violation of neutral territory. The truth, my Lord, is this:-after the trial of Pichegru and his brother conspirators; after the discovery of the correspondence between Mr. Drake, our envoy at Munich, and persons in France; after the developement of the whole of the grand scheme which was then carrying on against the existence of the French government, and the life of the First Consul, the French government made a requisition to the Elector of Baden, for the purpose of arresting the Duke of Enghien. This requisition, which was dated at Paris on the 10th of March, 1801, stated "that the First Consul, from the suc-expect to find people impudent enough to 64 cessive arrests of the banditti which "the English government has sent to "France, and from the result of the "trials which have been here instituted, “has obtained a complete knowledge of "the extensive part which the English 86 agents at Offenburg have had in those "horrible plots, which have been devised against his own person, and against the 446 safety of France." The requisition then proceeds to state, that the First Consul had learned that the Duke of Enghien was in the territory of Baden, and that, looking upon him to be amongst the most determined enemies of France, the First Consul had found it necessary to send some troops into the Baden territory, to seize these, the authors of a crime, the nature of which put them out of the protection of the law of nations. The requisition concluded by saying, that General Caulaincourt was charged with the execution of it. The seizure of the Duke did not take place till after this notification; so that the thing was not done so suddenly, and so by stealth, as we are told it was. But still, as no permission appears to have been given by the Elector of assert, that we cannot live at peace with Napoleon, because he has been guilty of a violation of the laws of neutrality. But, what would astonish any body, not ac customed to the perusal of the columns of these impudent and corrupt writers, is this: that, at the very moment they are insisting, that no peace can be kept with Napoleon, because he violated the terri tory of the Elector of Baden, they are also insisting, that the cantons of Switzerland ought to be compelled to join the coalition against France, and, that, in this war, no neutrals ought to be allowed to exist. To argue with such men is out of the question; but it can hardly fail to be useful to expose, as far as one is able, their insincerity and their baseness. I have only to add, upon the subject of the Duke of Enghien, that the documents to which I have referred, will be found, in the fifth Volume of the Register, at pages 496, 497, 498, 499, 606. As to CAPTAIN WRIGHT, I shall speak, as in the former case, of the official documents, which have been published with regard to him; and shall offer no opinion of my own, much less shall I attempt to 2 B3 66 "PLACED IN A BALANCE WITH "THAT PERSON, IN A CARTEL OF 66 make any assertion. Captain Wright was "directing this department were, of made prisoner, along with his crew, upon 66 course, not ignorant of the kind of serthe French coast, in a sloop of war, by" vice to which he was destined. The some French gun-boats. He was carried" shame attached to the premeditation to Paris, as we complained, and which was "of a project as atrocious and vile, as the fact, there subjected to close impri- it was cowardly, remains entirely with sonment in the Temple "and obliged to "the men who devised the plot, and 66 undergo repeated interrogatories, before" with him who undertook to accomplish 66 a court of justice, when more of the their views. I am ordered, Sir, to de"facts alledged against him, would, if "clare to your Excellency, that his 66 true, authorize the French government Majesty, the Emperor, will never suf"to consider Captain Wright in any other "fer Mr. WRIGHT to be EXCHANGED. light than as a prisoner of war." This NO FRENCHMAN BELONGING, was our statement with regard to Captain" WITH WHATEVER RANK HE Wright. "MAY, TO THE IMPERIAL NAVY, This complaint the French government" CAN EVER CONSENT TO BE did not listen to. At last, our ministry applied to the Spanish Ambassador in London, to apply to the Spanish Ambas- EXCHANGE. But, Sir, the Emperor, sador at Paris, to procure, if possible, from "having at heart to do every thing which the French government, the release of "depends upon his Imperial Majesty, to Captain Wright. The Spanish Ambassa-" mitigate the scourges of war, and willdors did, at last, prevail; and the consenting to prove, that in his breast such a of the French government was obtained ; disposition preponderates over even but, let us hear the language in which this "motives of useful and just severity, has consent is expressed, in a letter from the" authorised me to declare, that his ImFrench Minister to M. Gravina, the "perial Majesty will give orders, that Spanish Ambassador at Paris, dated Paris, "Mr. Wright be placed at the disposal 27th August, 1804, in the following" of the English Government. May I words "I have laid before his Majes- "beg yon, therefore, to make known to "ty, the Emperor, the letter which you "Lord Harrowby, this generous determi "have done me the honour of communi- "nation of his Majesty. You will see in ❝cating to me. By his order, I must re- "it, Sir, the marked intention of doing "capitulate to your excellency some facts," what may be personally agreeable to which relate to the object of that letter. yourself, and his Britannic Majesty's "Mr. WRIGHT was taken by our cruis- new ministry will be constrained to reers, at the very moment he was land- cognise in it, a proof of the disposition, ing Jean Marie and two other of his so often manifested, on the part of his 66 accomplices, on the coast of Britan- " Imperial Majesty, to shew himself above ny. Prior to this, he had already land-"not only those sentiments which offences "ed at three times banditti of a simi- "in general excite, but even above those lar description, who have since been" which might spring from the attempts, brought to judgment, convicted, and of which his own person has been the "punished, for having conspired against object." the state, and attempted the life of the "First Consul. These species of acts, "under whatever point of view they may otherwise be contemplated, certainly do "not appertain to WAR. There is no 66 age, nor any nation, in which they "would not be regarded as crimes, and 66 one may, with truth, aver, that it was in "flagranti delicto, that Mr. Wright was captured by French mariners, then officiating as an armed force. According "to accounts, to which full credit must be given, this officer had been demanded from the English Admiralty. The Lords 66 66 66 66 Now, my Lord, it was never denied by the English ministry, that Captain Wright had done those acts which the French imputed to him. Indeed, they seemed pretty clearly to confess, that he had done them; and, in answer to the letter of the Spanish Ambassador, conveying this letter of the French Government, Lord Harrowby expressly declines making any remark on the French statement. This, then, was the charge against Captain Wright; that he suffered himself to be employed in landing in France, “banditti," who were afterwards convicted of ward any proof of this murder. Nobody, a design to assassinate the Chief Magis- But, the death of Capt. Wright? The Emperor had given permission for his being placed at the disposal of the English Government. But, between that and the time for his recase, he was said to have killed himself in prison. He certainly found his death there. That was enough. There needed no more to authorise our writers to impute his death to Napoleon. And, by degrees, he has been, and is now, familiary called, "the murderer of Capt. Wright." There never has been any proof of this attempted to be produced. It is a sheer falsehood on the part of the assertors, because they possess no proof at all of the fact. One might leave it so; and insist on their being impudent calumniators; but, let us ask, what motive could induce Napoleon to order such a murder to be committed? He had pardoned the man, and had taken credit for the act. He had, at the time of Wright's death, put down all the conspirators and all the conspiracies; and, he had been chosen Emperor by the people of France. Besides (and this I beg you to attend to), DURING HIS YEAR OF EXILE, nobody was found to bring for himself uncertain as to his fate. He had But are there no ways but those of as- the Westminster Mecting, discharged in a | ever, be charged with partiality, I shall most manly and able manner; in a manner worthy of the public-spirited and enlightened citizens, to whom his speech was addressed. I am, &c. &c. WM. COBBETT. Botley, June 21st, 1815. No. I. HISTORICAL NOTICES OF THE WAR OF The mighty contest has begun. The new crusade against France and against liberty has commenced. The Times newspaper says, that the campaign has opened with a great and glorious vic<6 tory; that Bonaparte's reputation has "been wrecked, and his last grand stake "has been lost in this tremendous con"flict; the fabric of rebellion is shaken "to its base." The Morning Chronicle, that pink of hypocrisy, tells us, that it has been a "brilliant and complete victory, "which will for ever exalt the glory of "the British name; that it is the grandest and most important victory ever ob"tained." The Courier, in the height of its frenzy, declares, that there could not have been a greater victory in point of "glory, more vital to the real interests "and safety of Europe, big with more im16 portant political consequences."-Of course, as this same Courier says, "the "city is a scene of complete confusion; "business is entirely neglected; the im"mortal Wellington is the universal "theme; the streets and Exchange are « here insert the official details, which have been published respecting the first battle, or rather series of battles, that have been fought for the purpose of determining, whether France is, or is not, to be permitted to exercise the right of choosing her own government?-When the phrenzy, which has seized the public mind, has somewhat subsided, and we are in pos session of the French official accounts of the opening of the campaign, without may DOWNING-STREET, JUNE 22-Major the Hon. H, Percy arrived last night with a dispatch from Field Marshal the Duke of Wellington, K. G. tọ Earl Bathurst, his Majesty'« Principal Secretary of State for the War Department, of which the following is a copy: Waterloo, June 19. MY LORD--Bonaparte having collected the 1st, 2d, 3, 4th, and 6th corps of the French army, and the Imperial Guards, and nearly all the cavalry on the Sambre, and between that river and the Mense, between the 10th and 14th of the month, advanced on the 15th, and attacked the Prussian posts of Thuiu and Lobez, on the Sambre, at day-light in the morning. I did not hear of these events till the evening of the 15th, and I immediately ordered the troops to prepare to march; and afterwards to march to their left, as soon as I had intelligence from other quarters to prove that the enemy's movement upon Charle. roy was the real attack. The enemy drove the Prussian posts from the Sambre on that day; and General Zeiten, who commanded the carps which had been at Charleroy, retired upon Fleures; and Marshal Blucher concentrated the Prussian army upon Sombref, holding the vil Crowded to excess-all anxious to hear lages in front of his position of St, Amand and details of the glorious victory ob"tained by our noble countrymen."While this delirium continues at its height, it would be useless in me to attempt to bring the public back to reason. I might as well think of reaching conviction to the minds of the inhabitants of St. Luke's; I might as well expect that a drunken man could discuss, with calmness and perspicuity, an argument in mathematics or moral philosophy. That I may not, how Ligny. The enemy continued his march along the road from Charleroy towards Bruxelles, and on the same evening, the 15th, attacked a brigade of the army of the Netherlands, under the Prince de Weimar, posted at Frasne, and forced it back to the farm house on the same road, called Les Quatre Bras. The Prince of Orange immedi ately reinforced this brigade with another of the same division, under General Perponcher, and in the morning early regained part of the ground which had been lost, so as to have the command |