fide the unworthy practice of railing against government without juft foundation; that they would confider the extreme difficulty attending the proper direction of public matters; that they would think more for themfelves, and not pay too great a deference to the infinuations of interested, difappointed, or ambitious men. I might with reafon appeal to the generous hearted, if they do not often reflect how much our prefent murmurs and diffenfions muft wound the bofom of our gracious fovereign, who, in fpite of the ungrateful and malignant invectives which have been published with unrelenting diligence, feems to adopt every poffible method of preferving the affection and confidence of his people, and appears to be filled with unlimited benevolence to them in general. Lond. Chron. SIR, JAMES DE SOLIS. London, Fan. 1775. I Observe in most of the news papers, that the parliament is reprefented as venal, and the freeholders all bribed for their votes, at least those who are what they call of the majority: but this is a great mistake, for all the fenfible impartial freeholders in Britain (who have no refentment at government for want of places, or any defire to obtain them) are in its intereft. I fhall give you one inftance out of many. At the laft general election, a freeholder, who never afked or received any favour from government, told the reprefentative he had voted for, that though he was not of the opinionof fuch as thought a reprefentative ought to be directed entirely by his conftituepts [xxxvi, 549.], yet as a freeholder, he advised him to fupport government against thofe hypocritical rogues, the pretended patriots, who had occafioned all the difturbances in America as well as at home: feveral of them he named, which I fupprefs left it might be looked on as a libel. The reprefentative owned the advice to be juft, and promised to do his endeavour for that purpose. Our North-American colonies have found out, that poor Britain is grown old, weak, infirm, and quite superannuated, without judgement to direct, or ftrength to fupport herfelf; they therefore, very kindly, take upon them the care of directing all her councils, not only in what refpects themselves, but in all ther matters. If the refuses to comply with their directions, they will neither import from nor export to her, except tobacco; that they will fend us for one season only. However, it is to be hoped the legislature will convince them, that neither her intellects nor ftrength are fo far reduced, but that he is ftill able to correct them; which may be easily done, by not only prohibiting, but preventing all imports and exports to and from thefe kingdoms, and every where else, not even excepting provifions of any kind. Of thofe they have plenty produced among them. Their cattle, poultry, &c. may be drove, their grain, roots, greens, &c. carried by land, to their fhut-up ports. Since they will not drink tea, they will have the lefs occafion for fugar; and when their rum is exhaufted, they have in general very fine fruits to relish their water with: perhaps it may prove greatly for their advantage to be confined to fuch beverage, it may have the fame good effect in curing their phrenzy as letting them blood. The New-Englanders seem at prefent as much affected with that terrible diforder, as when their jails could not contain the number of witches produced among them. A very small part of our navy is able to block up all their bays, large rivers, &c. and to seize all veffels that may attempt either to go in or come out. There is not a prudent fober-minded man, in either Britain or America, but would be glad to see them all convinced of their subjection to the British parliament; for now they are in a state of anarchy, without any government at all. No man's life or property is safe if he difobliges the mob. The gentlemen of Maryland durft not determine about the tea, without their being called in to advise and direct; they wantonly and malicioufly burnt not only the tea, but also the ship [xxxvi. 656.]. There is a great noise about not being reprefented in parliament: neither I nor thousands more are; yet we chearfully pay the taxes for the fupport of that government which protects us; and think it but juft every perfon enjoying that advantage fhould contribute thereto. I have intereft in America, though not so many thousands as fome others; yet it would be very grievous to me fhould I lofe it; and I am fenfible it is much fafer in the hands of a British parliament, than in the Americans under no government. I am, &c. H. S Cafe Cafe of the Count de GUINES, the French Ambaffador to the court of London, char ged by M. Tort, formerly his fecretary, with having ordered him to flock-job in the public funds of England, on his [the Am "bassador's] account; of having, in order to evade the payment of the Loffes, obliged him to abfcond; of having afterwards caufed him to be imprisoned; and of having defamed his character. To deftroy fuch imputations as thefe, the ambaffador fays, he might have contented himself with denying them, they having no other fupport but the afsertion of the accufer; but a more honourable and more fatisfactory defence was neceffary for his own juftification, as a man; and more fo, in vindication of the dignity of his character, as an ambaffador. I will therefore, fays he, undertake to prove, that the accufation of Tort is false. — I will do more; I will prove that it cannot be true. The Count, after thus briefly ftating the accufation, proceeds to lay before his judges the nature of ftock-jobbing in the English funds. Peace or war, fays he, form the thermometer of the value of the English funds. If there is a probability of war, the funds fall; if there is a profpect of peace, they rife. Gaming is carried on there, by purchafing or felling ftock fictitiously, to be delivered at a time agreed on. If, after this fictitious contract, a rife or a fall happens at the time of settling, the difference must be paid accordingly. When a jobber difcovers that he has fpeculated wrong, he may, in the mean time, repair the evil, by covering the operation; that is to fay, by jobbing on the other fide. This ftock-jobbing is prohibited by the laws of England, and therefore no legal procefs can be carried on for the recovery of the debts that may refult from it. It depends on the reciprocal honefty of the gamefters. It is not difhonourable, when it takes place between two perfons who play on equal terms; but it becomes culpable, when a jobber, informed of fome great political event, avails himself of that advantage to ftrip the ignorant. This fraud refembles that of a merchant infuring a fhip which he knows has already perifhed. After this explanation, it is evident, how very contemptible an ambaffador VOL. XXXVII. fecrets of his court, he fhould permit himself to job in the funds upon this certainty. What then must be the crime of his fecretary, who, making a bad ufe of the knowledge he has of the dispatches, to game with advantage, fhould likewife pretend, in order to gain credit for himconfent, and for the account, of his mafelf, that he games in the funds, by the muft render himself, if, informed of the fter? [To thefe preliminary eclairciffements is added fome explanation of the political events which, from the month of January 1771, to the 20th of April, following, (the era of this affair), occa fioned confiderable variations in the Englifh funds, fuch as, till then, had rarely happened.] A very ferious difficulty had arisen, towards the clofe of the year 1770, between Spain and England, with refpect to Falkland islands. These two powers had armed; France had a part in it, as the ally of Spain; and negotiations were fet on foot on all fides, to prevent a war, which none of the three courts defired. In the month of July 1770, I was appointed ambassador at the court of London. Some time before my departure, upon the recommendation of feveral perfons who had interefted themselves in his behalf, I had taken M. Tort into my fervice, in quality of fecretary. He introduced into my houfe Mr Delpech, under the pretext of affifting him in the bufinefs committed to his charge; and had under him befides a Mr Roger, who had been recommended to me by perfons for whom I had a very great efteem. I alfo lodged in my houfe M. Vachon, who, coming to pafs fome time in England, had afked that favour of me. Upon my arrival at London, I placed an entire confidence in my secretary. I had a right to believe, that the person to whom I had fhewn the greatest favour, would, on this account, be the moft devoted to my intereft. M. Tort made a very bad ufe of the confidence I placed in him; but for a long time he prevented my difcovering his infidelity. He first began by engaging a teacher of the French language to quit an employment he had at London, in order to pursue a smuggling-fcheme; he bribed the perfon be longing to my household, whofe bufinefs it was to clear my effects at the customhouse; and he made ufe of my name to favour a contraband trade, of all others, B а alfo, that his operations could not be on a practice which moft degrades the cha- Befides all these English merchants, he it. His fuccefs, on the contrary, was fo rapid with Mr Morphy, that his third part of the profits in one particular day produced him 70,000 livres. He affured his affociates, that I partook of these profits, and had the bafenefs to pafs for my agent. None of the perfons, however, to whom Tort infinuated that he acted for me, ever spoke to me, or caufed me to be spoken to, nor endeavoured to obtain from me the flighteft affurance of it, by word of mouth or in writing; blinded by their avarice, and by the hopes of playing at a certainty, they fwallowed greedily all the fables he related to them. In this career of fuccefsful villany, an anonymous letter, received by the Prince de Mafferano, in March 1771, deranged the enterprifes of M. Tort. The Prince was informed, that his fecretaries, and M. Tort, gamed in the public funds. The Prince imparted this letter to me. An anonymous writing was not fufficient to deprive men of their employments; but it was fufficient to engage us to have a ftrict eye over their conduct. Diffimulation then became a neceffary duty for me; and I withdrew my confidence by degrees, even without fuffering it to be perceived. Agreeable to this plan, Tort no longer registered the interefling dispatches received by me; he no longer wrote nor knew any thing of importance; and the abfurd manner in which he conducted his jobbing concerns after this, proves Before this time, Tort had made confiderable gains; but now, deprived of all light at the moft effential time, he refembled a wandering traveller in a dark night; he loft his way. From whence it happened, that he and his affociates played on the wrong fide; jobbing for the fall of the funds, when they fhould have jobbed for the rife: they were bears when they should have been bulls [xxxiv. 311.]; and, continuing ignorant of their error, they plunged themfelves deeper and deeper into the abyfs they had prepared for thofe with whom they had contracted. About the 12th of 'April, Tort began to grow uneafy, and gave Meff. Vachon and Roger to understand, that he should be obliged to abfcond, because I should lofe, and fhould not be able to pay my debts. He took care alfo to ask my y leave to pafs a few days in the country. His prefages were foon realized. The funds rofe confiderably; and on Saturday the 20th, he fled from London. On Sunday the 21ft, I was dreffing myfelf to go to court, when about eleven in the morning, Madame Moriencourt, whom I had never feen, having defired to speak to me, was introduced into my apartment. She appeared to be in great trouble; and told me, without doubt I muft know, that Mr Salvadore had jobbed for me in the funds, by order of M. Tort, for confiderable fums. Astonished and exasperated at this effrontery, I anfwered this woman, as I ought, with fome warmth. She then affured me, that Tort must be gone off. She entered into a detail of the odious means he had made ufe of to gain her confidence; and added, that M. Vachon was at her house in tears. I opened the door, and told Madame Moriencourt, difmiffing her at the fame time, that, if Tort had deceived her, 1 was forry for it; that I fhould know how to recover him; and that I would give him up to her dead or alive. It was now time to go to court. As foon as I returned, I loft no time in procuring further explanations from my household. I fent to Meff. Roger and Vachon. They confeffed, that Tort had given them to understand, that I gamed in the funds; and that they were informed, that he employed for this purpole, not only Mr Salvadore, but several other other English merchants. I reproved them in the strongest terms for their underhand dealings, and their concealment. They excufed themselves, by faying, that, being fubordinate to a man who enjoyed my entire confidence, they had thought it their duty to be filent, and acknowledged, that he had gained them over to it by promises of rewards. I have fince difcharged both the one and the other. About feven the fame evening, I heard of Tort, by one of my couriers who returned from Calais, and had met him. A few minutes after, the domeftic who had attended him, arrived, and brought me a letter, in which Tort informed me, that fome unforeseen affairs of confequence had forced him to go to France, and to fet out precipitately. I made up my dispatches immediately, and the fame evening my couriers fet off. I gave an account of all that happened to the Duke de Vrilliere; I imparted the measures I had taken to the English miniftry, and to the diplomatic corps. I wrote at the fame time to my uncle the Commandeur de Guines, to inform him of the behaviour of Tort, and of his flight. The next and the following day, I was more circumftantially informed of his infamous practices, and I wrote in fubftance to the Duke de Vrilliere, that when I first had the honour to give him an account of the flight of my fecretary, I was ignorant of the particulars of the crimes of which he was accufed; that I now had proofs, that he had betrayed the fecrets with which he was intrufted; that the King was interefted to make an example of him; and that the notoriety of his crime demanded an exemplary punishment. I annexed a description of Tort's perfon; and I reprefented the neceffity of reclaiming him, where-ever he should be found. The fame day, or the following, I heard of Tort from a perfon who had met him at Montreuil. This was the firft intelligence I had received of the route he had taken. I inftantly fent off a courier to the Duke de Vrilliere, and gave him fure indications to have him arrefted. At Montreuil he had an interview with Salvadore the Jew, and they there concerted their future operations; in confequence of which, Tort purfued his journey to Chantilly; and, as it after wards appeared, Salvadore went directly to Paris, where he delivered a letter to M. Boyer, my agent, informing him of the fum of 85,000 livres being due to Salvadore, and requested an interview at Chantilly, where Tort faid he would more fully explain the matter to Boyer. This fortunate event led to the discovery of Tort, who was afterwards apprehended at Paris by means of Delpech, and committed to the Baftile. Delpech, now the friend of Tort, and one of his witneffes, endeavoured to make a merit with me of his imprisonment, and wrote me two letters, foliciting his place, and offering to lay open all his manœuvres and treacheries. It may well be imagined, I did not condefcend to give him any answer. Tort was obliged to fubmit in the Baftile to the two firft examinations by interrogatories, in which he accused himself on every point. The Duke de Vrilliere tranfmitted them to me; I infifted on a fevere punishment. After two months imprisonment he underwent a third interrogatory, which the same minifter addreffed to me on the 30th of June; at the fame time acquainting me, that it appearing evident, that Tort had no other defign but that of gaining money, it was hardly poffible to detain him any longer in the Baftile. About this time, the Duke d'Aiguillon was nominated by the King to fill the department for foreign affairs, in the room of the Duke de Vrilliere. This minifter fent me, the latter end of Auguft, a recall, which I had not required. As foon as I arrived, he told me, that the fecret object of my return was a recrimination againft me on the part of Tort, which had already been laid before the council of ftate. I was greatly furprised to find myself thus accused to the King, by a man, whom I, as accufer, had delivered into the hands of government. Two months had elapfed fince this affair had been carried to the council, and no information had been fent to me, of the unheard-of change that had been operated in it. Tort had begun by protesting beforehand against every thing he had faid in the course of his examinations. He had undergone three upon oath: these three interrogations had been tranfmitted to me, but I had not been informed of the proteft. B 24 M. M. Tort produced proof of his imputation. I thought myself obliged, however, to oppofe him by feveral memorials, which I prefented to the council of ftate. I proved, that all the particulars of his accufation were alike abfurd and contradictory. While I was employed in this refutation, a report prevailed, that the embasfy with which I was honoured, was going to be given to another. I apprehended it the more, as it had been engaged the first hour of my return to the Baron de Breteuil; who, informed of the object of my recall, had the civility to release the Duke d'Aiguillon from his promife. I had the honour to write to the Duke; who, on the 5th of November, wrote me the following answer. "His Majefty has always appeared to me determined to fend you back to England, as foon as you have given the neceffary eclairciffements, to deflroy the imputations of M. Tort. He has never varied upon this fubject, and you ought to look upon all that may be told you to the contrary as falfehoods." My last memoir was read at the council-board, and completely overthrew all calumnies; at least I had reafon to think fo, because my return to London (made dependent in the moft precife terms, in this minister's letter, on the annihilation of Tort's imputations) had been refolved on by the King. I fet out for England on the roth of January 1772; M. Tort was releafed from the Baftile a few days after. I heard publicly at London, that the ufe he made of his liberty was to publish that he had been juftified by the council; I know that he caufed the fame impoftures to be circulated at London, a jetter which M. Theluffon wrote to me confirming the report. It was fome time after before his plan of recrimination manifefted itself. M. Tort attacked me in the criminal court; and, to give more weight to this procedure, he has prefumed to affure the officers of juftice, that he had been obliged to make his complaint to the ministry, before he depofited it at the office. The effrontery of this affertion is, however, contradicted by a letter from the Duke d'Aiguillon, which proves, that the miniftry never had any cognisance of Tart's complaint but from the lieutenantFriminal, after it had been lodged in the of fice. The fame letter concludes with the following intimation: Before any thing is decreed refpecting this matter, his Majefty would know, Sir, what you think of it, and what you may defire on his part; be it to leave a free courfe to the complaint, or to prevent the pursuit of it. I fhall expect your answer, that I may let his Majesty know." I replied, that I hoped the King would do me the juftice to believe, that I was incapable of accepting the aid of his authority, to stop the course of a complaint already lodged, on an affair, the result of which, moreover, muft be the juftification of my conduct. Thus was I forced into the neceffity of maintaining a criminal procefs, which but ill agreed with the character of the reprefentative of the King's perfon. The fituation I found myself in was very novel, and very delicate. As a citizen, I had no other part to take, but to follow exactly the course of justice; as an ambaffador, having delivered up a criminal into the hands of government, and that government having punished him, I might have availed myself of the King's authority to ftop the progrefs of a decifion in which the fecrets of state were neceffarily involved: but I chofe to begin, by condefcending, in the eyes of all Europe, and of the whole diplomatic corps, to put myself on a footing with a man who was formerly my fecretary, with refpect to a justification, from which I took care not to fhelter myself under my public character. [Here the Ambaffador brings together a variety of circumstances, which, he fays, amount to fo many proofs in his favour; but finally refts his caufe on the truth of the four following facts.] FIRST FACT. That England offered France and Spain to fet them the example of disarming. SECOND FACT. That on the 5th of April, I had received the dispatch from my court, which politively announced to me, that France did not refuse to follow the example given by England of difarming, and that Spain concurred with France on this point, THIRD FACT. That the dispatch of the 4th of April, which arrived at London on the 7th and 8th, as pofitively announced to me, that Spain was determined to rely on his Britannic Majefty and |