new expreffions to characterife them, did not manifeft the pernicious confequences of that fyftem of unity, which he had already prefcribed; and which they want ed to establish in principle, at the fame time they were bold enough to put it in practice. I will not fuffer (faid his Majefty) an aflociation to be formed in my kingdom, which might grow into a confederacy of reliftance," &c. March 4, The parliament of Rouen fent a grand 1766. deputation to the king upon the fame occafion. In their remonftrance which accompanied it, they ftrongly reminded his Majefty of his coronation oath; from which they infinuated a compact between the king and the people. In the king's anfwer to which, he made ufe of the following remarkable diftinction, viz. The oath which I have made, not to the nation, as you take upon you to fay, but to God alone, obliges me, &c. He at the fame time annulled all the arrets that had been made by that parliament, upon the fubject of thofe of Pau and Brittany. The Spirit fhewn by the counfellors of the parliament of Brittany upon this occafion, is very memorable. They abfolutely rfufed, though ordered by the king, to refume their functions; alledging, that as they had taken an oath to their parliament, they could not plead before the commiffion, which the king had appointed in its room. In confequence of this refufal, they were ordered to be included in the lift of those that were to be drafted for the militia; fuch as the lot fell on, were immediately obliged to join their refpective battalions, and the reft employed in forming the city guard. It remains to be feen, in what manner the Britons will acquiefce in the jurifdiction of the new commiffion, and what farther effects it may produce in the temper of the parliaments of that kingdom. In the midst of thefe agitations, the unfortunate Count Lally was tried and condemned by the parliament of Paris, for faults laid to his charge during his command in the Eaft Indies. The affairs of this extraordinary man had engaged much of the public attention. The rain of the French power in the Eaft Indies had involved all who were concerned in their affairs in that part of the world in the moft furious difputes. Things were come to that pafs, that either Lally muft fuffer, or many confiderable perfons, the moft ftrongly allied, and the moft powerfully protected in France, be expofed to infamy and ruin. This was a bad fituation for an unpopular man and a ftranger. This officer petitioned to put off the trial for only eight days, to give his judges time to read his defence, which was refufed to one who had been kept a prifoner near three years. Sentence was palled on him the day May 6. after his trial. In three days after he was executed. He was not apprifed of the fen- May 9. tence which was paffed againf him, till within a few hours of his death. By the arret which the parliament paffed on that occafion, his effects were confifcated to the king; except the fum of three hundred thoufand livres, which was ordered to be diftributed among the the poor inhabitants of Pondicherry; and ten thousand more that were to be laid out in bread, for the prifoners in the Conciergerie. This unfortunate victim of his own pride and rafhnefs, and of party-refentment, was gagged at the place of execution, under pretence, that he had attempted to choke himfelf with his tongue, He rad indeed made fome fruitlefs attempts upon his life, which might have given fome colour to this proceeding; but it was fuppofed the real motive to this extraordinary act, was to prevent his attefting his innocence to the peoples who were much affected, as well at his fentence, as the manner of executing it. The rage of the parliament purfued him even after death, and would not fuffer his being buried according to his rank. They alfo iffued a fevere arret againft those who fhould conceal any part of his effects. It was remarkable upon this occasion, that no particular crime was fpecified in the fentence against Lally, but a general accumulative charge, in which treafon was comprehended, but the particular overt acts not specified. He made his defence with great prefence of mind, eloquence, and precision. The public, though far from exculpating this unfortunate gentleman, thought they faw many circumstances attending his trial and execution, which it was impoffible not to object to. The incompetency of the judges is among this number; as decifions upon the merits of military operations feem to be entirely out of the fphere of the gentlemen of the long robe. The precipitancy alto of his fentence and execution, the circumftances of cruelty that at tended them, and the violent fpirit of party which appeared through the whole profecution, do not ferve to improve our opinion of the coolnefs or temper of the tribunal which condemned him. Upon the whole, while this trial, as well as fome others, which late years have produced in France, give but very indifferent ideas of the state of juftice in that kingdom, they ferve to make us more fenfible of the bleflings of a free confiitution, where the meaneft perlon must be tried, for every crime, by his peers, and no fentence can pafs, without fome particular crime is fully proved, the degree of punifhment for which is affixed by fome known and pofitive law. An odd commotion happened this year in Sweden; which as it was begun without any feeming plan or defign, fo it ended without any other confequence than the execution of a few of the ringleaders. One Hoffman, who was what they call, in that country, a rufthalter, that is, a pealant who occupies a farm belonging to the crown, and is thereby obliged to maintain a trooper and his horfe, had been elected by the pealants of the diftrict of Weden, in the government of Elfsbourgh, as their deputy, to reprefent them at the diet. The order of pealants refufed to admit him, because they knew he was of a refilefs difpofition and turbulent (pirit. It is impoffible to say how far this reafon (the only one affigned in the public accounts) was valid, (agreeably to the Swedish conftitution), to exclude him from the feat to which he had been elected. It is certain that he thought himfelf highly injured, and determined on on revenge. For this purpofe he affembled fix hundred pealants, with defign to march directly to Stockholm. On his arrival before Boras with his troops, he wrote a letter to the regency of that town, in the fame terms which a general makes ufe of when he fummons a fortrefs. But when he heard that troops were in march against him, and had cut off all hopes of a communication with Stockholm, his heart failing him all at once, he ftole away from his company in a cowardly manner, and hid himfelf in a wood. The peasants whom he had feduced, irritated at his abandoning them on the firft glimple of danger, and being now fenfible of the illufion, feized, and delivered him into the hands of the Baron de Poffe, the governor of thofe quarters. That nobleman having made a proper inquiry into the affair, fecured twelve of the ringleaders, and fuffered the reft to return quietly to their habitations. An extraordinary commiffion was eftablifhed at Stockholm, to try the delinquents. Hoffman was feveral times put to the torture, which could extort no difcovery of accomplices from him; though it is faid he confeffed, that his defign was to overturn the whole frame of government. At length he and two more of the ringleaders were hanged; fome of the reft were fent to work on the fortifications, and others whipt. A general pardon was granted to the rest of the peafants, many of whom, the account fays, were drawn to affemble themfelves without well knowing what purpose was intended. The diet of this year was full of vigour. They attended with un common diligence to the interior affairs of their country. They made feveral œconomical regulations of great confequence. One of the most confiderable fell upon the revenues of the church. This regulation deprived the clergy of a tenth, which they had railed for time immemorial on fome of the king's eftates. This tenth had been originally granted, to enable the clergy to exercife hofpitality; but the other three orders of the diet, being now of opinion that it was not applied to that purpofe, or that the purpofe itself was no longer of national importance, they united this revenue to the other funds of the flate. They alfo recalled a great number of penfions which had been granted by former diets. But œconomy, like all other virtues, when carried to an extreme, may degenerate into a vice. The diet reduced to a thoufand crowns, per annum, the penfion that had been granted to the celebrated Count Teflin, who is now in the 74th year of his age; had been governor to the prince royal, ambaffador to feveral courts, prime minifter, and was twice marflial of the diet; all which offices he had difcharged with the greateft honour, and was equally eminent for his talents and integrity. This circumftance is however (it is hoped) fome proof of the overthrow of the French faction in that kingdom, as the Count had been always the great fupporter of that party and fyftem. A remarkable incident happened at the breaking up of this active diet. One of the deputies of the order of peafants, who had af fifted filled at it, was on his return home arrefted by his conftituents, in order to bring him to an account, how he became poffeffed of a large fum of money, amounting to feve ral thousand dollars, which were found in his chest.. This manner of procefs feems very extraordinary, and tends to excite in a native of this country, an odd opinion of the fpirit of the laws and conftitution of Sweden. The diffidents of the kingdom of Poland, by which name are diftinguished the members of the Greek and reformed churches in that country, having laboured un-, der divers oppreffions and difcouragements, applied to the great powers, who are guarantees of the treaty of Oliva, to ufe their mediation with the king and republic in their favour. In confequence of thefe applications, the courts of Petersburg, Berlin, Great Britain, and Denmark, prefented memorials ftrongly in their favour, to be laid before the diet as its opening. It may not be unnecellary to premife, for the better underftanding of the following debates, that, by the treaty of Oliva, the diffidents, who are a numerous body in that kingdom, were to be fecured in the free exercise of their religious rites, and in the poffeffion of all fuch privileges as they had enjoyed before that time. In the changes which have fince happened in that so often unfettled kingdom, various conftitutions, according to the temper of the times, have been passed against the diffidents, which have been more or lefs enforced, in proportion as the fame tempo. Lappened to be violent or moderate. The mediat ing powers wanted to go back to the lpirit of the treaty, without any regard to thofe intermediate conftitutions, which were not only in direct violation of it, but had been made in troublesome and unfettled times; while, on the other hand, the Poles infifted on the, strict observance of their laws, of which the conftitutions are now a part. 1766. The memorials we have taken notice of, were unfortunately far from producing the defired effect. On the opening of the 1ft Sept. diet, the Bishop of Cracovia (or, as latter accounts fay, the Bishop of Wilna) declared in an inflammatory fpeech, "That the firft point of the Pacta conventa ordains the maintenance of the Catholic religion: that, according to the laws of the kingdom, nothing could be granted to the diffidents; not even the toleration of their worship; and that they had violated the laws of the republic, by applying to foreign powers for protection. He then read a plan for a law, enjoining that the republic fhould never grant to the diffidents any other privileges than what they now enjoy; and demanded, whether the two chambers unanimoufly agreed thereto. The ftates anfwered him by a general acclamation. The king, however, found means to fufpend the execution of this plan for the prefent, and had it deferred, till it should come in due course, along with the other new laws that were to be propofed to the diet. In the mean time, fome Ruffian troops advanced within a few miles of Warfaw; and new declarations were were made on the part of 4th Nov. the mediating powers; among which, that of Mr. Wroughton, the British minifter, (which the reader will fee in our ftate-papers), is remarkable, as well for its energy, as the tender and friendly terms in which it is expreffed. These steps, inftead of mollifying, ferved only 21ft Nov. to exafperate the diet, which fell into violent heat and diforder; and many of the members demanded with great impetuofity, that the propofal of the bishop of Wilna fhould be figned. The king finding the members were in a great ferment, attempted to adjourn the feffion to another day; but not being able to accomplish it, his majefty retired from the affembly. Then the Prince Primate was preffed to continue the feflions; and the marshal of the diet went to far, as to declare in the name of his party, that he would not quit the palace till this affair was fettled. This importunity induced the Prince Primate to retire likewife; upon which the nuncios were fo irritated, that they fuddenly left the fenate, in order to go to their own place of meeting, and finding the door locked, would have broke it open, if fome of the fenators had not interpofed, and moderated their fury. In a few days after, 24th Nov. the propofal of the Bifhop of Wilna was again read; and there was not a member of the affembly who dared, or would oppofe it; fo that it was generally approved, and afterwards figned. By this decifion, all the conftitutions againft the diffidents, which we have already taken no tice of, particularly thote of 1717, 1723, 1756, and 1764, were revived and confirmed. Some time before this, a ftrong memorial was delivered, at the motion of the Bishop of Wilna, to Prince Repnin, the Rufian amballador, upon the fubject of the Ruffian troops that had entered Poland; and to infift upon their immediate departure out of that kingdom. This memorial pro duced no manner of effect, and feemed to be very little attended to; on the contrary it was faid, that orders were given to quarter fome of thole troops on the elates of the Bishop of Wilna, and others, who were moft remarkable for their violence in the proceedings againf the difüdents. The laft day of its fitting, the diet fecm- 29th Nov. ed to have recovered greatly from that heat and violence with which it was fo lately agitated. The affair of the diffi dents was again brought under confideration, on which they fat feventeen hours, and came to the following refolution: "We have received, with all poffible confideration, the declarations which the ambaffador of her Imperial Majefty of all the Ruffias, the Prince de Repnin; the minifter plenipo tentiary of his Majefty the King of Pruffia, M. Benoit; the English minifter, Mr. Wroughton; and the Danish minifter, M. de St. Saforin, have prefented, in writing, on the part of their respective fovereigns, in favour of the Greeks and diffidents in the kingdom of Poland and great duchy of Lithu ania. We aflure thofe minifters that |