SECERT HISTORY OF THE COURT, MINISTRY, AND TIMES OF GEORGE IV. WITH ANECDOTES OF REIGNING DYNASTIES, ARISTOCRACIES, AND PUBLIC MEN, INCLUDING RUSSIAN CZARS, AUSTRIAN EMPERORS, FRENCH KINGS, ROYAL DUKES, SECRET SERVICES, &c. &c. BY AN OLD DIPLOMATIST. CHAP. XIII. London, March 7, 1817. All the contending parties are gravelled excessively! The ministers are not so triumphant as they had hoped to be! The Green Bag, the greatest humbug ever attempted, has produced nothing. They have not ventured to take up any individual of the rank of a barber! Cleary's petition was a thunderbolt to them ; but as they blundered through, they hope all will go on well !—there are different opinions on the subject. The thermometer with Castlereagh is greatly lowered within these few days ; he seldom speaks in the House, and, when he does, he is scarcely audible. As to Canning, in spite of the Courier's panegyrics, he continues to sink. Last night that paper talked in a high tone of public services rendered by in the Peninsular war. I well recollect the events which led to the noble lord's military career, and here they are : The heir-apparent of the house of some years since, entered into an engagement to marry the daughter of a clear-starcher, who then resided in Curzon-street, Mayfair ; she had caught him by the doux yeux. Through the instrumentality of Lord — who had been entrapped into the noose by a sister of hers, the marquis gave a bond for ten thousand pounds as a pledge that he would forfeit that sum if he did not abide by the agreement. This transaction reaching the ears of the duke, the latter applied to the Prince Regent to interfere, i. e., to use his authority in prevailing on his son to join the British army in Spain, as an aide-decamp to Wellington. The novelty pleased the young man ; he went to achieve laurels, not by personal risk, but by the old course! He returned, and the clear-starcher gained the price of her bond. Our old friend whose ups and downs are become proverbial, will certainly be provided for at last. In a few days he will be vicechancellor. Sir Thomas Plumer will then be no more ! He continues in disgrace at the great house, but empta dolore docet experientia. One more effort he will make, and if that fails, he will take another course -join the Opposition again forthwith. Lord - being ill , and Gin the dumps, not a line of information can be picked up: The former has been attacked by a liver complaint, which prevents his visiting Cumberland House. The lord-chancellor's fears have wholly upset him ; he actually knows not what he says when in the House ; better would it be for him to retire from office, than, by continuing in, give even his friends an opportunity of predicting his downfall. In the Court of Chancery his procrastination of business has given great offence, even to the adherents of government : I merely re-echo their sentiments. Major Cartwright says the meeting in Palace Yard on Thursday next, to petition for the removal of the ministers, will excite more interest than usual, in consequence of some new matter being introduced. Sir Francis Burdett brings on a motion, relative to the speaker's right to reject petitions, in which he will attempt to disprove the authority on which he acts. The commandant of the military police, acting in the metropolis, does not draw the most favourable portrait of the existing order of things. Four o'clock.— The Prince Regent's health continues indifferent. Parliament, it is now said, will not rise until the of May. The rumoured suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act renders that arrangement necessary. Monday Evening, March 10, 1817. An event of great importance is on the eve of taking place, viz., a junction between the contending parties for reform, i. e., Annuals and Triennials. Cleary, the secretary of the late Union Society (whose petition to the Houses of Parliament has done much irreparable injury to the Green Bag), waited this day upon Lucas, the chairman of the late meeting for moderate reform, to request his attendance, to-morrow evening, at the Crown and Anchor Tavern, for the express purpose of receiving a proposition from Cobbett. The first measure to be proposed, is the drawingup of a petition for the removal of his majesty's ministers, which is intended to be read at the meeting in Palace Yard, on Thursday next, by Major Cartwright. Twelve o'clock. Sir Robert Wilson has been exerting all his eloquence, without effect! Lucas is so much disgusted with the conduet of the leaders of Opposition, that he declares he will not meet Cobbett. W- left him with a declaration that he deserved to lose his liberty “ For my own part,” said Sir R- “ if this arrangement does not take place, I will iminediately quit the country, and never again return." “ It is a matter of indifference to me,” replied L- ; Opposition are fighting for place, and not for the liberties of their country. I'll not be made an instrument for so base a purpose. I have no objection to meet Mr. Cobbett, but first let him make his own recantation. He called us every thing that is vile. Let him, at the Palace Yard meeting, acknowledge his error, and then I will alter my determination.” A part of this conversation was held in a frenzy of rage and indignation. Tuesday morning.--A report (generally credited last night in the gallery of the House of Commons) that Cobbett had been that day served with an ex-officio information. I have this moment (11 o'clock) seen Cleary; he has just left Cobbett ; is untrue. I have received a letter from a gentleman connected with the Roman government requesting me to undertake a negotiation for a loan for one hundred thousand pounds to pay Austria her claims. Cardinal Gonsalvi offers land and houses in the papal states, also pictures for security. The arrangement, I believe, will be made at twenty per cent. Cobbett is perfectly safe. I have just now seen a person who has for ever. 66 the the report visited Garrow this morning. The attorney-general laughed at the report, and said his safety depends upon his future good behaviour. The Prince Regent has it in contemplation, and in fact it is determined upon, to deprive the Marlborough family of the lord-lieutenantcy of Oxfordshire, a command which the Churchills have held for more than a century. It is said to be a measure of caprice only, and not from any political considerations. The information comes from good authority; not a whisper is yet in c'rculation on the subject. London, March 14, 1817. Rumour states that the Opposition are playing a treacherous game. You may perceive that there is among them a disposition to play booty by their having begun to panegyrise the Regent. Hunt, the mob orator, began, Cobbett followed in his Register, when he ascribed the unpopularity of the Prince to the attacks made on him by Parry ; and Sir Robert Wilson, at the Maidstone meeting, played what he thought a trump card, by eulogising the great personage more than any of them! Even Lord Holland must not be forgotten. Amidst all this, people suppose that Castlereagh sits easy at the helm, and “rides the whirlwind and directs the storm.' He talks of his uncontrolled influence at home and abroad. See him, and he affects all the ease and urbanity possible. On Wednesday he passed the night at Almack’s-rooms, iu King-street, St. James's-square, wherein balls are given once a week. The noble lord waltzed with one woman and flirted with another. “Certainly,” said Lady S—,"we have no reason to despond when we see our premier (Liverpool is become a dead letter) exhibiting whim and vivacity like this.” “ Appearances are deceitful,” said Mr. B-, “the noble lord although a disciple of Lindsay, has not built his house upon a rock ; the foundation is sand, and a flood may carry it all away." I send you this day a copy of Santini's memorial and the appendix, viz., the Letter of the Emperor Napoleon addressed to Sir Hudson Lowe by Count Montholon. The latter Î forwarded in MS. on the Wednesday by post. I also send this day An Address of the Sicilians to the British Nation, which guaranteed the constitution violated by the King of Naples. No name is affixed, but I have seen the person who gives the Address to the world. It is Count Bettera, one of Murat's generals, who distinguished himself at the Battle of Marengo. It is dated Palermo, Feb. 9, 1817. All the best friends of the Regent opposed the carrying into execution : the sentence against Cashman, the sailor, but the Lord Chancellor was: furious when the proposition was made to him. He declared that his instant resignation should follow such a determination. During the time the unhappy man was suffering the sentence of the law, the Prince was occupied in the inspection of a surveyor's estimate and plan for the erection of a house for the Duke of Wellington. “A palace it shall be,” exclaimed his royal highness. Lord Burghursh detailed to the Prince all its proportions, it occupying four fronts. The architect of this design is young Cockerell , and his estimate five hundred thousand with us. pounds, every farthing of which the Prince says shall be expended upon it. How the funds are to be raised is another question ! The ministers throw out the most positive assurances that they have no apprehensions—that now the Habeas Corpus Act is suspended they can sleep in security! It is asserted to-day that they do not intend to act upon the power they possess at present. The greatest cause for alarm is the news of the failure of the mission to China. In the best-informed circles in the commercial world the most alarming reports are in circulation, nothing less than an interdict having been issued by the Emperor of China against all future commerce The Times of this day alludes to the above, and draws a most gloomy picture of our prospects. Napoleon's Address is not deficient in talent-it sells well. Last night, in the House of Commons, Mr. Brougham brought forward the consideration of the state of our trade and manufactures. In a comprehensive and argumentative speech he detailed the progress of the present universal distress, which he mainly attributed to the injudicious principles that have too long influenced our continental system, and to the immense taxation by which this country is burdened. These sentiments he embodied in four resolutions, which he submitted to the House, but the question, which could not be met by a direct negative, was waived according to the usual tactics of parliamentary finesse, by moving the orders of the day, and ministers were finally successful by a majority of 118 to 63. London, March 18, 1817. Humiliation is said to be the element in which we now live-we so lately, the proudly triumphant! The effect of the publication of Nap's Memorial has been inconceivably greater than even the Opposition calculated upon—it is the topic of conversation in every circle. Count Bettera (the secret author of The Address from the Sicilians to the British Nation) waited on Sunday morning upon the Russian ambassador, when the Count Lieven spoke as follows: “ Must not the British ministers be aware if the report is true, that it cannot be long before they receive a protest from all the continental powers ?” These documents were ushered into the world in a most extraordinary Santini, Poniatowski, and another, arrived at a printseller's in Spur-street, Leicester-fields, about a fortnight since. Oldfield, the author of the “ History of the Rotten Boroughs," was there at the time. He came to me with the outline. The next day he wished me to see the parties, and to undertake the publication. This I declined, but recommended him to Ridgeway. Seeing me again on the day subsequent at R-—'s, he againurged the measure. 1 replied, “ There stands Sir Robert Wilson and Maceroné; apply to them.” O. introduced them, and thus ends Government speedily received intimation of these aliens on the second after they arrived. Poniatowski and the third stranger, were sent on board an American vessel. Intimation was given to Santini in time, consequently he returned to Spur-street no more. He was under the protection of the Bavarian minister. In the course of this day, or to-morrow, I expect to receive another warrant of importance, or rather a series of documents upon the same manner. my detail. subject. It is a correspondence between Buonaparte and the Russian you copy of the foregoing. Let me hear from you. You seem to have dropped all correspondence with me. Two o'clock.—Lord Grey is gone down to Woburn Abbey, upon some affairs of vast importance-of this I am assured by a leader in the Opposition. The object is, at present, industriously concealed. By a gentleman just arrived in town, I learn that not a bed could be had in Liverpool for the last fortnight, owing to the wind-bound fleet, for America, being in harbour. He declares that there are 5000 persons waiting there to embark : the charges are forty guineas for the cabin ; ten for the steerage. The whole are people of some propertyagriculturists and mechanics. Five commercial houses in the city stopped on Saturday last. Poniatowski has been permitted to land again, in consequence of a letter having been addressed to Lord Bathurst. Ministers deny the authenticity of the published documents ; they say that they were fabricated here. There is a book announced by Murray, of Albemarle-street, which is said to be a reply to the documents from St. Helena. It is entitled 66 Manuscrit venu de St. Helene.” See Chronicle of this day. R says it will not be ready till to-morrow. Abstract from the Documents sent to Lord Holland.-Four o'clock. “On the 2nd of June, 1816, three commissioners-one for France, one for Russia, the other from Austria-arrived at St. Helena, appointed by the respective courts, to watch over the person of the Emperor Napoleon. It is, however, extraordinary that those gentlemen had been two months on the island before they were made acquainted with the object of their mission, or they took any steps towards communicating with the emperor; at length, the Austrian and French commissioners invited the Russian commissioner to join them in drawing up a letter, addressed to Marshal Bertrand, for the purpose of informing him that they desired to see General Buonaparte. The Russian commissioner refused to sign or interfere in any way with this letter, declaring that such a proceeding would neither be conformable with his duty, nor the instructions he had received in the handwriting of the Emperor Alexander, by which he was enjoined to entertain with the same respect and consideration the person of the Emperor Napoleon, as if it had been the Emperor Alexander himself. The two other commissioners were not discouraged by this defection of their colleague; they forwarded the letter to Marshal Bertrand. The latter having consulted the emperor as to the reply he should make to it, was ordered to send none; but in a moment afterwards the emperor added, you may inform them, by the first person who may happen to come, that I will receive them as private individuals, and they may be accommodated as such. “ The emperor expressed himself in the most flattering terms respecting the honourable conduct of the Emperor of Russia's commissioner. Spoke of the noble and magnanimous disposition of his old friend, the |