how much he was displeased, that in contempt of his orders I should have employed secret means to write to Sir Samuel Romilly. I replied to the Captain of the Bellerophon, that I could not comprehend how he who had stipulated with me every circumstance relative to the arrival of the Emperor on board of his ship, could think it strange that I had endeavoured to find in the upright soul of an enlightened man, who was above deception, that support which had failed me in trusting myself to his flag. I asked him if Admiral Keith was laughing at me, to suppose that I should suffer myself to be immolated without making an effort to defend myself, notwithstanding I had told him I did not come to England to be sent to St. Helena? and I might even have turned his observations into jest, had I not feared to add fresh inconveniences to the restraints of my situation.

The Captain of the Bellerophon felt the justice of my reply. After this occurrence, he communicated to me an order from Admiral Keith, by which I was sent on board the Eurotas, where were already six other French officers who had also accompanied the Emperor until this trying period.

Nothing was said to us of the fate in reserve for us. The frigate set sail on the 18th of August, and arrived at Malta the 18th September, after having touched at GibralThe Captain preserved profound silence respecting our future destiny, and deprived us of all communication with land both at Gibralter and Malta during the time we remained on board.

ter.

I wrote to the Governor of Malta requesting him to relieve me from the incertitude of my situation, which had lasted for two months; my letter remained unanswered, and it was not till the 23d of September that Colonel Ottó Beyer, commanding the 1st battalion of the 10th regiment,

came on board with a Swiss officer of the Regiment de Role as his interpreter.

He read to us, in the presence of the Captain of the ship, the orders he had received, of which I have annexed a copy marked No. 1. After this cotamunication, we got into a boat with Colonel Otto Beyer, the Captain, and first lieute nant, and were conducted into the harbour to Fort Emma. nuel, where we were confined till the 1st day of April, 1816; and according to the orders of government, which were strictly enforced, all foreign communication was prevented.

Such were the consequences of the unfavourable impressions and opinions that had preceded our arrival at Malta, but on all other points considerable indulgence was granted through the kind interference of Colonel Otto Beyer with the Governor General of the island, our grateful sense of which we beg leave to acknowledge.

It was about the latter end of October that I read in the French journals, a slanderous article against myself, which was afterwards published in the English papers, insomuch that the calumny may be said to have spread itself to the extremity of the globe.

I would fain answer to it through the same channels by which it has been diffused. The article I allude to was as

follows::

"Journal General de France, Vendredy, 6 Octobre, 1815,

No. 40.

"La Gazette de Liege of the 30th September has the following article. We see in the General Gazette of the Low Countries, dated yesterday, an article concerning the unfortunate Englishman, Captain Wright, the author of which is strangely misled in relating the facts as they have been made up. They are here given in their true colours.

1

I was a prisoner of state in the Temple when this political murder took place. The evening before the day when Captain Wright was found with his throat cut, Savary, at that time general and first aide du camp to Napoleon, whose right hand he used to be called, came with some soldiers to make a rigorous inspection of this dreadful pri son, of which he had the special charge, even independent of the Minister Fouché. 'Go to your rooms,' was the order given by Savary to the prisoners. The Captain's room was searched as well as the rest. The object of this enquiry was to discover a pretended correspondence with England, which they were unable to prove. The next day another search took place, but only in Captain Wright's room, by three police officers escorted by two soldiers. This procedure no doubt irritated this brave officer exceedingly, as we heard him vociferate loudly, and even call down imprecations upon Bonaparte and all the savage ty ranny of his police; towards midnight the assassins entered his room and cut his throat with a razor, and they were believed to be the same that had strangled Pichegru.

Signed,

A

D'HE’NOUT, (Avocat).”

Of all the calumnies which had been levelled at me, none, until this moment, had been positively affirmed, on which account in a great measure I had forborne to reply to them; notwithstanding that on board the Bellerophon and the Eurotas, the most minute questions were put to me respecting the death of Captain Wright, as well as of: Mr. Bathurst and General Pichegru, putting it beyond a doubt that it was very generally believed in England that I had been the author of them.

5. During my detention I employed myself on a small work which would have done me justice in the public opinion,

when the article alluded to first appeared. I shall tell the writer of it that whether he be a fictitious or a real personage, I shall prove his falsehood, or be myself put to shame.

With respect to this defamatory publication, repeated in all the ministerial prints in England, I wrote on the 8th November to Lord Bathurst, the letter annexed under No. 2. to which I added the remarks given under No. 3. relative to the death of Mr. Bathurst, as well as a refutation of the article signed D'Hénout, avocat, concerning the death of Wright and Pichegru. I have not been able to find a copy of this last, but I recollect the contents, and if the refutation that I now make should not perfectly coincide with that I sent to London on the 8th November, the difference will only be to my advantage, as the facts are in this, perhaps, more distinctly related; on the other hand, if I am betrayed into any contradiction, my enemies can turn it to their own account.

The Advocate D'Hénout does not positively assert that he saw me in the Temple, or that it was I who personally committed or directed the assassination of Captain Wright; but in diverting suspicion from M. Fouché, great anxiety is betrayed to fix it upon me, though in the attempt he advances as a fact an assertion which is perfectly ridiculous. The object of the visit, he observes, was to discover a pretended correspondence with England, which however could not be proved. But I would ask, what other person in France than the Minister of the Police could have been concerned in the discovery of such a correspondence? Who but he could have had intelligence of its existence, or have given directions to apprehend its agents? Even granting that I was at Paris at the time, and had condescended so far as to undertake the investigation which this advocate talks about, to have done so I must have acted as the agent

of M. Fouché, which he certainly never would have ven. tured to propose to me.

However, this Advocate asserts, that the day preceding the death of Wright I went to visit the prison in which he says he was himself at that time confined. We shall shortly see who speaks the truth.

From what I have heard concerning the death of this British officer, it must have taken place in the course of November or December, 1805. That is to say, whilst the -French army were on the campaign of Austerlitz, where I myself was present with the troops. I attended the Emperor thither in the early part of September, 180.5, and did not return to Paris till the 26th of January following, still in attendance on the Emperor, whom I did not quit for a single day. If all that the public papers have said respecting the three negotiations with which I was charged to the Emperor of Russia, both before and after the battle of Austerlitz, can be forgotten, I can bring the testimony of a great number of respectable persons who saw me many times every day during the whole of that campaign. I will first mention Lord Leveson Gower, who, in his capacity of English ambassador to the Emperor Alexander, was stationed near that monarch at Olmutz, where he saw me on my arrival on the 28th or 29th of November. I do not recollect noticing him particularly, but he himself told me so at Petersburg, where I became acquainted with him after the treaty of Tilsit. I may likewise mention M. De Talleyrand, to whom I had to report the detail of my negotiation; he was minister of the exterior: also General Clarck (Duke dé Feltre) present minister to the King of France; he was in this campaign with the Emperor, and saw me almost every day. I can moreover appeal to the Emperor's secretaries, one of whom is at present a member of the chamber of deputies in Paris-in short, to all the