other calumnies, which could never have been at tempted to be palmed on the moft credulous, had I been allowed to refute them. And the facts been given to the world, the Minifter of England could never have enjoyed thofe malignant, and fcurrilous calumnies, which have been diffeminated, here-and and in England, of the oppofition, who gave evidence on my trial at Maidstone, by means of those Anti-truth, prostitute prints, upon which fuch enormous fums are lavished to panegerize corruption, and to affaffinate the characters of those who oppofe it. Believing, as I do in my foul, that this calumniation of the Oppofition of England, has been one of the principal reasons, why the flipulation I made for publication, has been violated with fo much injustice and menace, I feel myself peculiarly called on to fet forth the truth, in vindicating myself from having given the fmalleft grounds for thefe calumnies, which have been propagated, with so much malignity, againft men fo truly honorable, and fo justly revered.

I was arrested at Margate, and profecuted at Maidstone, on a charge of inviting the French to an invafion of England; to fubftantiate which a written paper was produced, faid to have been found in a great-coat pocket, faid to be found in a publichouse, in a room in which there was no one, faid to be the property of Coigly. This paper purported to come from fome fecret committee, of whom no account has been given; it contained an invitation to the French to invade England, and a moft infamous, unmeasured profcription of the whole Oppofition, as men wholly unfit to be trufted.

In

In order to exculpate myself from having any concern, in inviting the French to invade a country, of which I was not a native, and where I had been received by thousands of the most diftinguished, not only with the greatest hospitality, but with the moft affectionate kindnefs-As the foremost for rank, fortune, talents and virtue were those, against whom this infernal paper had denounced this unqualified profcription I called upon them to declare to the world, whether they believed I was that monster, who has attempted to affaffinate thofe venerated characters, who had honored me with their fociety, bleffed me with their friendship, and enlightened me with their inftruction. The enormity of the charge was, that I had most basely betrayed thefe kind benefactors, and to thofe very men I appealed for my juftification. The testimony they bore was," that they were convinced I was incapable of the diabolical treachery, contained in the paper, with which I was charged; that fo far were they from conceiving fuch perfidy formed any part of my character, that I was of an open, unreserved difpofition, and that my principles were those of the Revolution of 1688, which were their own.” That I have impeached this teftimony fince, by what has fallen from me, has been propagated by every perversion of truth, which malignity and falfhood could invent; but thefe are the mists of the moment, which vanish on the appearance of truth. Deal fairly by thofe honorable men and by me, I dare you to the test, and in the prefence of God and truth, I call on you to publish the whole of what has come from me, verbal and written ; then

then let me be ranked lower than the lowest, lower than the exposure of thefe detailed breaches of honor fhall rank you in the eftimation of every honeft man, if, after the publication, thofe honorable men, who gave evidence at my trial at Maidftone, would not be bound, in truth and justice, to give the fame evidence they gave before. Nay, fo unequivocally has every word that came from me, fince my trial, put it beyond the poffibility of doubt, that I was utterly guiltless of every par ticle of the indictinent, that if the whole of what came from me, had been made public as the fun in its meridian, I would defy the most fanguinary of my perfecutors, from the man whofe memory is a sponge for every thing that could make for innocence, and an indelible tablet for every malignity that could make against it, to the pampered informer, whose tongue outstrips the office of his ears, and who, when he casts up the ledger of his perjuries in his murderous account, can tell you all he is worth, to adduce a fingle fact that could stand between me and an acquittal.

The first part of this evidence I fhall notice, is, that which refpects the paper, which contains the unqualified profcription of these great and good men, and the invitation of the French to invade England. In declaring their conviction that I was utterly incapable of thus perfidiously profcribing them, no one can doubt their fincerity. If they could have fuppofed me to have been capable of fuch perfidy towards them, they must have been the laft men living, who could have found inclination or interest in bearing teftimony of my inno

D

cence,

cence. Will their calumniators affert, that they were convinced I had been to them this perfidious friend, and will they alfo accuse them of the more than Chriftian forgiveness, in proving my innocence? Thus calumny itself is driven to admit, that the opposition must have been convinced of my innocence of this part of the paper which profcribed and betrayed them. How then was it poffible they could conceive that I was guilty of the other part, which invited the French to the invafion of England? Was it in the nature of things, that they could believe me to hold one part of the paper in the utmost abhorrence, and approve of the other; and be the author, or have any part in being the bearer of the entire. Thus the contents of this paper, which in fact comprises the whole of the charge in the indictment, if examined with the smallest attention, muft carry conviction, that the oppofition regarded me as one of the last men who could have been guilty. If, however, there had been any doubt, my examination fince, has put it beyond all fufpicion. These are my words before the secret committee of the Commons, which I fet down to writing the inftant I came back to my prifon. After ftating my having formed the firft alliance, that ever exifted between the Union and France, in August 1796, and that I had arranged the expedition with General Hoche, which failed in the December following for Ireland, I ftated," that it was propofed "to me, that a body fhould be fent against Eng"land, to cause a diverfion, and to retaliate for "the Quiberon expedition. To diffimde the

«French

11

"French from the invasion of England, I used "every argument in my power, I faid from my "knowledge of England, I was certain the beft "men in it would be most hoftile to any interference " of the French, in the government of their coun

try on the fame juft principle, that they condemned "the interference of England in the government

of France, that the ftate of England and of Ire<< land were very different, that in Ireland the peo*ple were moft folicitous to rescue themselves from

foreign and domeftic tyranny, but that the majo"rity of the people of England would be moft ad«verfe to their interference, that many of the peo

ple of England were beginning to fee, and to «feel the ruin, which the minifters had brought on "the nation, by engaging in the war, but that if an

invafion was attempted, all confideration of the «injustice of the war would be buried under the im

mediate confideration of felf-defence; that it would "prove the greatest fupport to an unpopular mi"niftry, by giving them an unlimited power over

the remaining wealth of England, in any way they "might think fit to take it, while a guinea could "be extorted. Thefe, together with other argu"ments were thought conclufiye by thofe to whom "I addreffed them, and the invafion of England

in 1796 was abandoned." And again, before the fecret committee of the Lords, on the 6th of September, after pointing out fome mif statements, which had been made of the examination I had given, as published in the Appendix to the Report,

*In the examination I spoke of myself in the third perfon, but so as to be understood to mean myself, and fo the fecret committee has taken it,

on