5. Our Minister of Marine shall take the FRANCE.-Report of a Plot respecting isle.-April 14, 1811, not have pretended to enter into his view, sums but in order to draw from him the which he had promised; that he never intended to assist his projects; that he had not even the means of doing so, for he had resided only thirteen days in Belleisle. On his arrival at Renues, Laupper was arrested for debts contracted to his regiment. It was not long, he added, before I received a letter from Sieur Owen, in Belle-which he reminded him of their reciprocal promises, and announced the approaching arrival of the money; in fact, he transmitted to him, at two periods, two drafts, one for 1,000 francs, and the other for 400, but they were not paid. In the mean time, the Sieur Owen, insisting and advising him to bring into their interests some of his comrades, he then described to him, as an officer of his regiment, the Sieur Laudis, an old grenadier, who was in prison with him, and he protests that this soldier was totally ignorant of the part which he was made to perform in his correspondence with the English prisoner. Laudis is in fact an old grenadier of the 4th Swiss regiment, who, having been reduced in 1809, remained in the depart. ment D' Illet Orlaine, in quality of Garde Forrestier; he had been imprisoned for firing a musket at some person. It was in this prison that he found Laupper. He declared that he never received from him any overtures respecting his intercourse with the Sieur Owen, and, with the excep Report to his Majesty the Emperor and King-Sire; I had the honour to submit to your Majesty on the 22nd of March, last, the disclosures of the Sieur Cunlisse Owen, an Officer of the British Navy, prisoner of war at Besancon. The result thereof was, that this prisoner had concerted with a Sieur Laupper, an Officer in the 4th Swiss Regiment, the means of surprising Belleisle-en-Mer. Owen, according to the promise he had received, as he said, from M. Mackenzie, to whom the plan had been communicated, was to have been exchanged, and to command the Expedition; and Laupper, whose battalion was in garrison in Belleisle, charged himself with the recruiting of partizans among the officers and soldiers, to favour the communications between the cruizers and the coast, &c. It was at Besancon where Laupper had staid some time, while conducting the recruits to his corps, that this plot was formed. Among the papers which the Sieur Owen produced in suption of the letters of Laupper, the investiport of his statements, there appeared many letters which Laupper had addressed to him from Rennes, and in which be stated that several officers had joined themselves to the conspiracy, and especially a Sieur Laudis, who, he asserted, was to give in his resignation,, for the purpose of following Owen to England. In pursuance of the orders which I had given, Laupper and Laudis were arrested at Rennes. The first declared, that having had occasion to know the Sieur Owen, on his way to Besancon, and finding himself pressed by the want of money, he had appeared to receive the propositions which the Englishman had made to him, of procuring particular information respecting Belleisle, or the plans and maps of that place; but he maintains that he would gation has not hitherto produced any proof against him. Whatever may be the denials of Laupper, and the grounds on which he supports them, it does not appear to me that they can be capable of justifying him in opposition to the suspicions which his correspondence with Sieur Owen establishes against him. I have the honour to propose to your Majesty, to order the transmission of the Papers to the Minister of War.-I am, with the most profound respect, &c. The Duke RoVIGO. Referred to the Grand Judge, to cause the Laws of the Empire to be carried into Execution. NAPOLEON. Palace of the Thuilleries, April 14, 1811. By the Emperor's Order. H. B, Duke DE BASSANO. Published by R, BAGSHAW, Brydges-Street, Covent Garden:Sold also by J. BUDD, Pall-Mall, LONDON:-Printed by T: C. Hansard, Peterborough-Court, Fleet-Street, VOL. XIX. No. 37.] LONDON, WEDNESDAY, MAY 8, 1811. [Price 18. 1121]. "In the Borough Faction behold an army of Godoys."- -WESTMINSTER ADDRESS. WESTMINSTER ADDRESS. IN the present Number of the Register, I have to put upon record what gives me greater pleasure than I have ever derived from any thing that I have inserted in it, from its first establishment to the present hour. The WESTMINSTER ADDRESS, which was passed at the last meeting of the people of that city; at that meeting which Mr. Wilberforce's brother-in-law (lately made a Master in Chancery); at that meeting which this gentleman, MR. STEPHEN, Spoke so contemptuously of; that Address, which was presented to the Prince Regent by the HIGH BAILIFF and SIR FRANCIS BURDETT; that Address has been published in the LONDON GAZETTE, by AUTHORITY.--I insert it below just as it stands in the London Gazette; and I thus do all that lies in my power to cause it to be read, or heard, by every person, not only in this country but in every other country, as far as the English language has reached; and, if I had time, I would put it into the French language also; for, every man upon earth, who is worthy of being free, is interested in it.--This Address is full to all points. It blinks nothing. Bribery, Corruption, Seat-trafficing, Foreign Troops, Star-Chumber work; and all the rest of it are here. This is the truth, told in plain language. We have here the sentiments of honest minds, and expressed without the smallest disguise. Here are no circumlocutions; no going about the bush; no hinting and rubbing; no double meanings; none of those devices to which men who have not power to resist oppression are compelled to resort (under governments really despotic) in order to save themselves from the fangs of what is, in such governments, called law, but which is, in fact, nothing more than the most convenient instrument of the basest tyranny.-In short, we [1122 have here, the words of men of independent minds, addressed to a Prince, whom we have every reason to believe worthy of reigning over such men. But, exce!lent as the language and the sentiments of this Address are; wholesome as are the truths that it promulgates to the world; hard as are the blows which it deals on that which is our country's bane; still, the circumstance that gives it most value in my eyes, and will, I trust, in the eyes of the nation, is, that this Address has been published by the order of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent. This is what I most highly esteem; for it is to me, and so it is, I believe, to the people of Westminster, a proof that his Royal Highness is, as we have always believed him to be, on the side of Purliamentary Reform,―That this publication took place in consequence of his special order, there can be no doubt at all; for until now, not a single address, in favour of reform, has ever been published in the London Gazette, under any ministry. Nay, as I am informed by those who have searched the File of the London Gazettes for the purpose of ascertaining the fact, there has not been any address or petition published through that vehicle, which called for a redress of griev ances of any sort.- -To the Prince, therefore, we must direct our thanks for what has now been done; and certainly not to the ministers, under whom, or whose predecessors for the last thirty years, nothing that was not complimentary to men in power has found its way to the world through this authentic channel, the London Gazette. With what feelings the persons named in the Address have seen it published thus to the world, under the authority of government, I know not, neither do I care. Their time for real feeling is yet to come. But, it must be confessed, that the Prince has here had an opportunity of repaying them a little of that which he has so largely received at their hands. It is not he who speaks of them here; it is not he who characterizes their actions; it is not he who draws the picture of them; it is the people of Westminster, who speak the sentiment, of all the virtuous and public-spirited part of the people of England; it is that part of the people who set the noble example of returning their member free of expence; it is the people, the real people of England, who draw the picture, and the picture being by them presented to the Prince, he holds it out to the world; he says to the parties described, "look! this is the picture the people give "me of you! Here are the words of the "people of England! Such is their opi"nion of you! Such are their accusations "against you!"--And, surely, nothing could be more manly or more wise. knew, that, in this Address of the people of Westminster, he heard the voice of the people of England; the real people of England; those upon whose hearts and arms the safety of his throne must finally depend; those, without whose attachment and zeal fifty armies would not save the country from subjugation in case of an invasion by a powerful enemy.I look upon this step, on the part of his Royal Highness, as having decided the question respecting his being in favour of a Reform of Parliament. In this step he seems to me to have declared for the people, and He against the system of corruption: against all those who are guilty of the crimes of bribery, corruption, subornation: against the whole of those infamous miscreants, of whatever grade they are, or by whatever name they may be known.His Royal Highness is, I sincerely believe, in favour of a Parliamentary Reform from principle ; but, if this were not the case, policy points out this path to him; for, is it possible, that any man can be so blind as not to see, that, in these and the nearly approaching times the good will, the cordial attach ment, of the people will be of infinitely more consequence than it ever was at any former period? In short, there appears to be, and, indeed, there evidently is, no other choice than that between the People and the Borough Faction; and the Prince has very wisely declared for the former. With this Preface, I insert the Address, and I do it, too, in a larger character than usual, as well for the purpose of distinguishing it above other articles, as for that of rendering it more easy to be read by persons of all ages. Numb. 16479. [ 751 ] The London Gazette. Published by Authority. From Tuesday April 23, to Saturday April 27, 1811. THE Carlton-House, April 23, 1811. HE following Address has been presented to His Royal Highness the Prince Regent; which Address His Royal Highness was pleased to receive very graciously: To the PRINCE REGENT. The dutiful Address of the House. holders of the City and Liberties of Westminster. May it Please Your Royal Highness, Sincerely attached to your Person, as on the present Occasion will be evinced, it is with a lively Sensibility we participate in the Sorrow Your Royal Highness must feel for the Cause of your having been called to your present Situation. But we trust, that, by taking on you a Nation's Care, demanding, as they now do, an undivided Mind, the private Griefs of Your Royal High, ness must be less painfully felt. It has been, Sir, with extreme Dissatisfaction we have contemplated those habitual Suspensions of the Regal Authority, some of which have been but recently brought to light, that have been so derogatory to Your Royal Highness, and are in their Nature so portentous; but we trust 'that a Repetition of such Suspensions, as we arc credibly informed, was once which we know not how to distinguish bought by a French King's Mistress from Usurpations, will be rendered Impracticable. for her English Correspondent in Time of War; and it stands on 'ReIndependent of these unconstitu- cord that, at another 'Time, those tional Proceedings, there had been Seats were purchased wholesale by much Cause of Complaint, if not of the Nabob of Arcot for his intriguing Suspicion, in the Obstacles interposed Agents. None then, Sir, can assure by Ministers for preventing the ac-us, that at this Day a whole Troop in customed Access of the Subjects to the Pay of a Napoleon may not sit their Sovereign; wherefore, Sir, in and vote in that House. now beholding Your Royal Highness Regent of the Kingdom, we are inspired with a cheering Hope, because His Majesty, should his Health be happily restored, will assuredly, through the faithful Report of Your Royal Highness, learn the true Condition of his Kingdom, and the real Sentiments of his loyal and aggrieved People. The Inveteracy of this Disease was niade manifest to the whole World, when, in the Cases of Mr. Heury Wellesley, Lord Castlereagh, and the present Minister, Mr. Perceval, all accused of trafficking in those Seats, not only no Punishment ensued, but the Traffic was vindicated-and for this extraordinary Reason, that it was become as notorious as the Sun at Noon-Day. Here, Sir, is the Cancer of the State. With a House of Commons rapidly becoming, by the Virulence of this Pest, a mere Mass of Corrup Cancer to its last Fibre be eradicated, and free Parliaments restored. In habitual Suspensions of the Regal Functions it is not a mere Token we discover whence to infer the Existence of Evil. In Breaches of the Constitution so flagrant we do not witness mere slight Indications of some-tion, Death must ensue, unless the thing wrong; but they are so many Proofs that a Borough Faction, trampling on the Rights of Crown and People, triumphant Reigns. In the Example now fresh in all our Minds, the indignant Nation hath seen in full Display that Faction's odious Preten-ters can become a Substitute. sions, and Your Royal Highness has been made sensible of its detested Power. Thirty Years ago it was declared by Sir George Savile, in his Place in Parliament, that the Commons House was no more a Representation of the People of this Kingdom than it was of the People of France. The Seats in that House, both for close and for open Boroughs, are notoriously marketable. One of them, For such a Restoration Your Royal Highness must perceive that no Talent, no Wisdom, no Virtue in Minis up Proud and light Men have indeed, in all Ages, pretended to such a Skill. Puffed with a Conceit of their own Sufficiency, they have been abundantly ready to dispense with But did not all the Constitution. History proclaim the Absurdity of such. Pretensions, that Absurdity must, to every reasoning Mind, be self-evident. The Nature of the nefarious System of Government, which hath 2 P 2 grown with the Grewth and strength- unjust War. For, after Hundreds of ened with the Strength of the Borough Faction, is ascertained to us by long and calamitous Experience. Its Root is Tyranny; its Fruit is Ruin. It scourged America into Resistance: Ireland it tortured into Rebellion. It disinherited Your Royal Highness of many and flourishing States; and the numerous Seamen of those States it alienated from the English Navy. It was this System of Government which peopled our Prisons with innocent Persons, for the malignant Persecution of whom Ministers took Shelter under a Bill of Indemnity passed by themselves and their Abet tors. It is this System of Government which hath pauperized more than a Million of our English Fellow-subjects; and which daily augments the Number. Millions have been insanely squandered, after Rivers of Blood have been inhumanly shed, after the Nation, foiled and disgraced, has been reduced to a forlorn Hope,-after all this has been brought on us by corrupt, short-sighted and tyrannical Men, for putting down and treading under Foot Parliamentary Reform, it is at length seen that in this Reform, and in this Reform alone, national Salvation can be found. During the Machinations for fettering Your Royal Highness and bringing you under the galling Yoke, you must, Sir, have noticed the Faction's base Ingratitude to the King your Father, for whom with the deepest Hypocrisy they affect the greatest Devotion. That System of Government which has been our Bane, that System of Government which had its Origin in the worst Corruptions, and the most treacherous Counsels of ill Advisers, they made no Scruple to call the King's own System of Go It is this System of Government that covers our once free Land with Bastiles and Barracks; that brands the Millions of England as Cowards, needing foreign Soldiers for Defend-vernment. ers; and that brings back upon us the Doctrines and the Cruelties of the Star Chamber. This System of Government, by a blind Infatuation, confers on French and other foreign Roman Catholic Officers what it offensively refuses to native Irish, filling the Hearts of the Irish Millions with Indignation and Resentment; combustible Passions, which, so pent up, cannot without Terror be contemplated. This System of Government hath in the End demonstrated the Wickedness and exposed the Folly of those who, to tear from the People all Hope of a just Reform, forced them into an There is no View, Sir, of the Nation's Affairs but must impress on Your Royal Highness a Conviction of the pernicious Consequences of a System of Government founded on a House of Commons in which the People are not represented. Wherefore, the Subject which above all others, for its paramount Importance, we are anxious, Sir, to rivet on your Thoughts, is that which Your Royal Highness has found to be uppermost in our own,-Parliamentary Reform. It being our confident Hope that the present Session will not pass away without a Renewal of Parliamentary |