similar His Excellency the Duke of Wellington having received from Marshal Ney a Letter to that which the Marshal had addressed to the Ministers of the four Cabinets accredited to the Court of France, the Duke communicated at the Conference the Answer he proposed to return, and their Excellencies coinciding entirely in opinion with his Grace in respect to this Note, it is agreed to insert in the Protocol, the letter from Marshal Ney, as well as Lord Wellington's Reply, &c. &c. (First Enclosure in No. I.)-Marshal Ney to the Duke of Wellington.-(Translation.) Paris, 15th November 1815. May it please your Excellency;-In the last extremity, and at the moment when the critical circumstances to which I am reduced, leave me but very feeble means to avoid the notoriety and the terrible dangers of a prosecution for high treason, I take the resolution of addressing to you a justifiable application for redress on the following grounds:-My cause has been removed to the Chamber of Peers, pursuant to an ordnance issued by the King on the 11th of this month, and subsequently to a speech delivered in that Chamber by the President of his Majesty's Ministers. This formal denunciation, and the considerations on which it rests, are of a nature to excite in my mind just alarm. Among other motives for commencing a prosecution against me, I have read with astonishment in the speech," that, even in the name of Europe, Ministers came to conjure the Chamber, and require it to try me." I beg leave to observe, that such a declaration is irreconcileable with the events witnessed during the late agitation of France. I am at a loss to conceive how the august Allies can be made parties to this impeachment, when their magnanimity has been generously exerted in preserving me from it, and when there exists a formal, sacred, and inviolable Convention on the subject. Please to call to mind that the High Contracting Powers by the Treaty of Paris, of May 30th 1814, have formed an alliance with his Majesty Louis XVIII. On being informed at Vienna, the 13th of March last, that the cause of legitimacy was threatened by the return of Buonaparté, they concluded the solemn compact of that day, 13th March, with his most Christian Majesty's Ministers to the Congress. In that compact the Allied Sovereigns declared, that they were prepared to afford to the King of France, and to the French nation, all necessary aid for restoring public tranquillity, and for making common cause against those who should be disposed to disturb it. In the arrangement, confirming that of the 25th of the same month of March, the High Powers solemnly engaged to unite all their forces, for maintaining in all their integrity the conditions of the Treaty of Paris against Buonaparte's designs; they promised each other to act in common. They regulated the respective contingent which they proposed to march against the common enemy. Finally, his most Christian Majesty was invited to give his consent to the above measures, in the event of his standing in need of the auxiliary troops promised him. It clearly results from these different stipulations, that all the European armies, without distinction, have been the auxiliaries of the King of France, and that they have fought, in direct furtherance of his interests, for the subjugation of all his subjects. Victory declared speedily in favour of the English and Prussian arms, united in the plains of Waterloo, and brought them under the walls of Paris. In that post, there was left, to oppose their further progress, a French corps d'armée, which had it in their power to sell their lives dear. A negociation commenced, and on the 3d July a Convention was signed by both Parties, the twelfth Article of which is to the following effect: "Shall be likewise respected private persons, and private property. The inhabitants, and, in general, all the individuals in the Capital shall continue in the enjoyment of their rights, and of their liberty; nor shall it be lawful to disturb or call them to account, in consequence of any matter having reference to the employment which they either hold or have held, or to their conduct and public opinions." This Convention has since been ratified by each of the Allied Sovereigns, as being the work of the two first Powers delegated by the course of events. It had thus acquired all the force which the sacred law of nations, the law of nature and of nations could imprint on it. It is become the unalterable safeguard of all those Frenchmen, whom the calamity of disturbed times might perhaps have left exposed to the resentment, however wellfounded, of their Prince. His Most Christian Majesty did himself positively accede thereto in entering his Capital; he has more than once appealed to the solemn authority of this political contract, as an act from which no portion whatever could be separated. Can it then be doubtful, Sir, whether being of the persons that come within the meaning of the above stipulations, I am jus→ tified in claiming the benefit of the 12th Ar ticle, and of the religious performance of the guarantees there specified? I therefore presume expressly to demand of your ministerial office, and of the august Power in whose name you discharge it, that you will put a period to every criminal proceeding against my conduct and my political opinions, on account of the functions exercised by me in the month of March 1815. My isolated and forsaken condition is an additional reason to determine your Excellency to afford me relief, and, by your powerful mediation, to place me in the enjoyment of the right which I have acquired. Had I not implicitly confided in the promise of so many Sovereigns, I should by this time be in some unknown land, and should no more be thought of. It was that august and sacred promise which produced my security; is it possible, that it should be betrayed? I cannot credit it; and I confidently expect from your upright sentiments, that you will grant me your speedy intervention. the question, I explained as clearly as the situation of this lady would permit, that it was quite impossible to return any answer to the Marshal's Letter, unless with the concurrence of my colleagues, the Ministers of the other Powers. The conversation which took place in an interview with the Duke of Wellington having induced Madame Ney to address me, the further remarks I have the honour to inclose, the pretensions of her husband to take advantage of the Capitulation, were considered in the conference yesterday morning. It was determined that the Duke of Wellington, under whose authority that act was negociated, should state concisely to Marshal Ney, the reasons why the twelfth Article could not be considered applicable to his case; and that I should intimate to Madame Ney, in the name of the Four Powers, that no other answer would be transmitted to the communication we had received. His Grace accordingly wrote the answer to M. Ney, which I'have the honour to enclose, and a verbal reference to the letter has led to a further communica (Second Inclosure in No. I.)-The Duke of tion from that officer's lady, which I likewise forward. I have the honour to be, &c. Charles Stuart. Wellington to Marshal Ney. 1 (Signed.) (First Enclosure in No. II.)- NOTE from Paris, 14th November, 1815. Paris, November 15th, 1815. Monsieur le Maréchal ;-I have had the honour of receiving the Note which you addressed to me on the 13th November, relating to the operation of the Capitulation of Paris, on your case. The Capitulation of Paris of the Sd July, was made between the Commanders in Chief of the Allied Prussian and British Armies on the one part, and the Prince d'Eckmuhl, Commander in Chief of the French Army on the other, and related exclusively to the military occupation of Paris. The object of the 12th Article was, to pre-dience granted yesterday to Madame Ney, vent the adoption of any measure of severity under the military authority of those who made it, towards any persons in Paris, on account of the offices which they had filled, or their conduct, or their political opinions; but it was never intended, and could not be intended to prevent either the existing French Government, under whose authority the French Commander in Chief must have acted, or any French Government which should succeed to it, from acting in this respect, as it might deem fit.I have the honour to be, &c. (Signed.) Wellington. gave as the grounds for his determination not personally to interfere in the process of the Marshal; "That his Majesty the King of France had not ratified the Convention of the 3d July." "That the stipulation written in the 12th Article expressed only the renunciation of the High Powers, on their own account, of all proceeding against any individual in France, for his conduct or political opinions." "That it was not their duty to interfere in any way with the acts of the King's Government." Madame la Marechale Ney cannot believe that this first opinion, manítion of the 3d July, can be definitively mainfested upon the 12th Article of the Conventained in the conference of the Plenipotentiaries. In effect, in the attacks and invasion purely foreign of a conqueror, the enemy who penetrates into a country has no necessary concern with the troubles which may have broken out in it, and it does not fall within the character of capitulations that those of a certain party shall not be proceeded against. It is then, because in the present occurrence the war was special, and for the pacification of the interior, that they thought of stipulating it in terms of amnesty. The King, say (2 M) they, has not ratified it, but the ratification has been sufficient, for the possession of Paris was its consequence. The condition of the besieged cannot be changed afterwards, unless things be re-established in statu quo. His Highness has not sufficiently considered what ought to be essentially considered; that this 12th Article was the subject of a discussion between the English and Prussian Commissioners; and the Commissioners of the French Army; and that it was well understood, that this stipulation took place on account of the King, and not on account of the Allied Armies, who had no positive interest to act against such or such party. That the Article is consented to in the name and common interest of all the Allied Powers, an interest indivisible, and which the two Treaties of the 13th and 25th of March designated, as being principally the interest of his Majesty the King of France. That it will be no interference in the acts of the King's Government, to recall to his Majesty engagements made in his name, engagements which his Ministers forget, which individuals proceeded against claim, and of which it becomes the dignity of the High Powers that the effect should not be null. Finally, in all events, since his Highness allows that at least the High Powers themselves are bound by a renunciation, what must they think of being brought forward as conjuring and requiring the trial of Marshal Ney? Ought it not to be their first duty, in such a conjuncture to disengage, without delay, the balance of criminal justice from this enormous weight? (Third Enclosure in No. II.)-LETTER from the Duke of Wellington to Marshal Ney, dated Paris, 15th November 1815.-See Second Enclosure in No. I. (Fourth Enclosure in No. II.)-NOTE of Madame Ney to Sir Charles Stuart.(Translation.) I have the honour to send to your Excellency, for the second time, a Reclamation, for that protection assured to my husband, Marshal Ney, by the Convention of Paris; and I trust (notwithstanding the answer which you returned to me yesterday through your Secretary) that your Excellency will lose no time in causing a stop to be put, by Articles XII, XIV, and XV, of the said Convention, to the proceedings already begun: But, if your Excellency should not already be sufficiently convinced of the validity of this Reclamation, I ask of you, in the name of your country, and of justice, to cause all process to be suspended until the receipt of the answers from H. R. H. the Prince Regent, and from Lord Liverpool, to whom I have already addressed the same Reclamation, which I have now made to your Excellency; but as these letters have been forwarded by private hands, and they might chance to miscarry, I give into your hands copies thereof, for the purpose of being forwarded by the messenger of your Government. I request your Excellency, &c. (Signed) La Maréchale Ney, Princess of the Moskowa. (Fifth Enclosure in No. II.)- Further Communication from Madame Ney to Sir C. Stuart.-(Translation.) It is neither practicable nor desirable to recapitulate the results and consequences of the Capitulation of Paris, signed by the Duke of Wellington and Marshal Blucher in the name of the Allies, which Capitulation was immediately made instrumental to the restoration of the King. The following observations bear upon the faith and validity of capitulations, taking into consideration the 12th, 14th and 15th Articles of the Capitulation of Paris. Capitulations and Conventions made by Commanders in Chief, are not temporary engagements, but are every where considered binding and permanent. A Government cannot arbitrarily set aside a Treaty thus entered into by their representatives, especially when an infraction of it would operate to the prejudice of the safety, of the property, of the liberty, and of the lives of the parties whose interests were guaranteed by the original contract. It is not even just to dispose of any possession acquired by a Capitulation, unless all the stipulations specified as the conditions of the acquisition, be previously fulfilled. A Government ceding any possession, cannot get rid of the guarantee of a Capitulation; and as the obligation does not cease, the oppressed retain the right of calling upon that Government, to protect them fron subsequent violations of their personal safety. No per sons, civil or military, guilty of any political offence, but protected by a Capitulation, can be given up for judgment to a new Government, or even to an ancient Government restored to its rights. Time has consecrated these principles among all civilized nations; it is particularly the practice of England; the History of Great Britain offers a scries of cases in point. The Capitulation at Naples is the only exception; there the engagements entered into by Captain Foote, were not respected by Lord Nelson; and the persons who had surrendered upon the faith of the British Government, were delivered up to that of Naples; but Lord Nelson urged that Captain Foote was not authorized to conclude a Capitulation. Nevertheless, this odious act has thrown a shade upon the character of Lord Nelson, and the sensation created by it in England was so great, that it required all the eminent services of Lord Nelson to screen him from Parliamentary impeachment. In a recent instance, Generals Savary, Lallemand, and several others, were not given up to the French Government by that of England, because the Captain of the Bellerophon had pledged his word of honour to these in dividuals; yet there was in this case, no, in answer to the Marshal's Note to his Grace. written Convention; the only engagement That Letter was as follows: consisted in an understanding, that the personal safety of all those who should embark under his protection, should be guaranteed by the British Government. For these reasons, the King of France cannot urge that the Capitulation of Paris is not binding upon him; how can he attempt to violate this single Article (the most solemn of all) when, in respect to the others which are to the prejudice of France, he has been compelled to submit to their most rigorous execution. This Capitulation was made in the name of the Allies; and the King of France at the period of its signature, was only a Member of the Coalition: this is proved by the text of the Declarations and Proclamations issued by the Allied Powers, and particularly by that of the 22d of June, signed by the Duke of Wellington himself. The friends of justice put forward these observations the more earnestly, because the whole population of Paris, the lives and property of so numerous a body, have no other protection than this Capitulation. It is essential to observe, that the City of Paris has never been given up to the King, that it is actually under the military dominion of the Allies, and that no person can absent himself from its neighbourhood without a Passport signed by the military Commandant of the Allies. "I have had the honour of receiving the Note which you addressed me on the 13th November, relating to the operation of the Capitulation of Paris on your case. The Capitulation of Paris of the 3d July was made between the Commanders in Chief of the Allied British and Prussian Armies on the one part, and the Prince d'Eckmuhl, Commander in Chief of the French Army on the other, and related exclusively to the Military Occupation of Paris. The object of the 12th Article was to prevent the adoption of any measures of severity under the military authority of those who made it, towards any persons in Paris, on account of the offices which they had filled, or their conduct, or their political opinions; but it was never intended, and could not be intended to prevent either the existing French Government, under whose authority the French Commander in Chief must have acted, or any French Government which should succeed to it, from acting in this respect as it might deem fit." It is obvious from this Letter, that the Duke of Wellington, one of the parties to the Capitulation of Paris, considers that that instrument contains nothing which can prevent the King from bringing Marshal Ney to trial, in such manner as his Majesty may think proper. The contents of the Capitulation fully confirm the justice of the Duke's opinion. It is made between the Commanders ARTICLES of the Capitulation applicable to in Chief of the contending Armies respec this Question. ART. XII. Persons and private property shall be equally respected; the inhabitants, and in general all the individuals who are in the Capital, shall continue to enjoy their rights and liberties, without being in any manner subject to any inquiry or punishment in consequence of any office they may at present hold or may have held, or in consequence of their political conduct or opinions. ART. XIV. This present Convention shall be observed, and shall serve as a rule for all mutual relations, until the conclusion of Peace. ART. XV. If any difficulty should arise in the execution of any of the Articles of this present Convention, they shall be interpreted in favour of the French Army and of the City. No. III.—MEMORANDUM of the Duke of Wellington, communicated by his Grace to the Ministers of the Allied Powers. It is extraordinary that Madame la Maréchale Ney should have thought proper to publish in print, parts of a conversation which she is supposed to have had with the Duke of Wellington, and that she has omitted to publish that which is a much better record of the Duke's opinion on the subject to which the conversation related, viz. The Duke's Letter to the Marshal Prince de la Moskowa, tively, and the first nine Articles relate solely to the mode and time of the evacuation of Paris by the French Army, and of the occupation by the British and Prussian Armies. The tenth Article provides, that the existing Authorities shall be respected by the two Commanders in Chief of the Allies; the 11th, that public property shall be respected, and that the Allies will not interfere "en aucune manière dans leur administration, et dans leur gestion ;" and the 12th Article states "seront pareillement respectées les personnes et les proprietés particulières, les habitans, et en général tous les individus qui se trouvent dans la Capitale, continueront à jouir de leurs droits et libertés, sans pouvoir être inquietés, ou recherchés en rien relativement aux fonctions qu'ils occupent, ou auroient occupées, à leur conduite et à leurs opinions politiques." By whom were these private properties and persons to be in like manner respected? By the Allied Generals and their troops, mentioned in the 10th and 11th Articles; and not by other parties to whom the Convention did not relate in any manner. The 13th Article provides, that "les troupes etrangères" shall not obstruct the carriage of provisions by land or water to the Capital. Thus it appears that every Article in the Convention relates exclusively to the operations of the different Armies, or to the conduct of the Allies and that of their Generals, when they should enter Paris; and as the Duke of Wellington states in his Dispatch of the 4th of July, with which he transmitted the Convention to England, "decided all the military points then existing at Paris, and touched nothing political."" But it appears clearly that not only this was the Duke's opinion of the Convention at the time it was signed, but likewise the opinion of Carnot, of Marshal Ney, and of every other person who had an interest in considering the subject. Carnot says in the Exposé de la Conduite Politique de M. Carnot, p. 43, "Il fût resolu d'envoyer aux Généraux Anglois et Prussiens une commission speciale, chargée de leur proposer une Convention purement militaire, pour la remise de la Ville de Paris entre leurs mains, en écartant toute question politique, puisqu'on ne pouvoit préjuger quelles seroient les intentions des Alliées lorsqu'ils seroient réunis." It appears that Marshal Ney fled from Paris in disguise, with a passport given to him by the Duc d'Otrante, under a feigned name, on the 6th July. He could not be supposed to be ignorant of the tenor of the 12th Article of the Convention, and he must then have known, whether it was the intention of the parties who made it, that it should protect him from the measures which the King, then at St. Denis, should think proper to adopt against him. But if Marshal Ney could be supposed ignorant of the intention of the 12th Article, the Duc d'Otrante could not, as he was at the head of the Provisional Government, under whose authority the Prince d'Eckmuhl must have acted when he signed the Convention. Would the Duc d'Otrante have given a passport under a feigned name to Marshal Ney, if he had understood the 12th Article as giving the Marshal any protection, excepting against measures of severity by the two Commanders in Chief? Another proof of what was the opinion of the Duc d'Otrante, of the King's Minister, and of all the persons most interested in establishing the meaning now attempted to be given to the 12th Article of the Convention of the 3d of July 1s, the King's Proclamation of the 24th July, by which nineteen persons are ordered for trial, and thirty-eight persons are ordered to quit Paris, and to reside in particular parts of France, under the observation and superintendence of the Police, till the Chambers should decide upon their fate. Did the Duc d'Otrante, did any of the persons who are the objects of this Proclamation, did any person on their behalf, even then, or now, claim for them the protection of the 12th Article of the Convention? Certainly the Convention was then understood, as it ought to be understood now, viz. That it was exclusively military, and was never intended to bind the then existing Government of France, or any Government which should succeed to it, No. 4.--DISPATCH from Earl Bathurst to Sir Charles Stuart; dated Foreign Office, 21st November, 1815. Sir; In the absence of Viscount Castlereagh, I have had the honour of laying your Excellency's Dispatch of the 16th instant, together with its Enclosures, before his Royal Highness the Prince Regent. His Royal Highness cannot but feel great sentiments of compassion for Madame Ney's unhappy situation; but he can return no other answer than by referring her to the communications which have already been made by your Excellency and the Duke of Wellington on the part of the Allied Powers to her, and to Marshal Ney. I am, &c. Bathurst. (Signed.) No. V.-DISPATCH from Sir Charles Stuart to Viscount Castlereagh: dated Paris, 4th December 1815: with two Inclosures. My Lord; In obedience to the instructions contained in your Lordship's Dispatch of the 21st ult. I have stated to Madame Ney that the Letter she has been pleased to address to his Royal Highness the Prince Regent has been duly received; but, that notwithstanding the commiseration which his Royal Highness feels for the situation of that unfortunate lady, a reference to the Letter which the Duke of Wellington addressed the Marshal upon the same subject, is the only answer which the circumstances of the case will admit. The day after this answer had been returned to Madame Ney, I received the accompanying Letter through the intervention of a third person, and in the evening, the Memorial signed by Messrs. Berryer and Dupin, who are charged with the conduct of the Marshal's defence, which I have the honour to inclose, was transmitted to me. I propose merely to notice this communication in concert with the Ministers of the other Powers, by a reference to the answer already given. I have the honour to be, &c. (Signed.) Charles Stuart. (First Inclosure in No. V.)-Communication from Madame Ney to Sir C. Stuart.(Translation.) A Circumstance has been stated to me, Sir, which has given me much pain; and as you have formerly proved to me all the interest which you are pleased to take in my case, under the unfortunate circumstances in which I am placed, I hope that you will deign to afford me a new proof of that interest, in taking on yourself the explanation of this painful occurrence. The subject in question is as follows:-I am assured that Sir Charles Stuart believed I complained of the manner in which he received me at the audience which he granted me. As I know that you are acquainted with his Excellency, I intreat you to be good enough to tell him in my name, that, so far from having complained of |