2s0 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1795. 
verned without taxes is folly in the 
extreme; this pretence has been 
subservient to the designs of the 
seditious of all nations, but has 
always been the ruin of those who 
have been so unhappy as to be de- 
ceived by it. Such an error as 
this ought to have less effect in 
Corsica than any other place, since 
the heaviest charges are defrayed 
by the liberality of the king, and 
where no duty is imposed with- 
out the law, and where the laws 
are framed by the representatives 
of the people. It has been our 
wish to enlighten the majority of 
the nation to whom we apply with 
confidence, in reminding them of 
the oath taken to his majesty and 
the country ; and that oath does 
not promise a bare homage, but a 
perfeét submission and obedience to_ 
the laws, and to the orders of the 
legitimate government, a deviation 
from which is not permitted to any 
true and Joyal subje¢t of his majesty, 
under any pretence whatever, A 
benign compassion, which inclines 
us in favour of those who have been 
deceived, and the affection we re- 
tain for a nation, in whose pros- 
perity we are interested, has de- 
termined us to prefer admonition 
to every other measure, which, we 
flatter ourselves, will be sufficient 
to persuade the Corsicans to an en- 
tire submission tothe laws, and obe- 
dience to the government. We 
pledge ourselves to answer every 
just demand ; but we likewise de. 
clare, that we will never adhere to 
any measure produced by violence 
against the course of the laws’; and 
that we will maintain the constitu- 
tional rights of the king and his 
government, in Corsica, with dig- 
nity, and unalterable firmness, as 
‘well as the exercise of the preroga- 
tive accorded by the constitution 
itself. 
Done at Bastia, Aug. 7, 1795- 
Note of Mr. Drake, the British Mi- 
nister, to the Genoese Republic. 
THE undersigned, &c. thinks it 
his duty to expose to the most se- 
rene government the following 
circumstances : ' 
The report having been cireu- 
Jated and credited, that on the 6th 
inst. two French privateers endea- 
voured to sail from this port, with- 
out having previously given the se. 
curities stipulated in the 6th article 
of the edict of neutrality, long ago 
published by the most serene go- 
vernment, and the most strict exe- 
cution of which was promised in 
the face of Europe ; an edict which, 
among other clauses, expressly 
states, that no vessel shall be mo. 
lested until zy hours after her sail- 
ing: that the officer commanding 
the battery of the Mole, endeavour- 
ing, conformably to the express or- 
ders he had received from the most 
serene government, to prevent the 
privateers from sailing, and thus 
obviate the manifest and insulting 
infraction of the formal laws of the 
country, ordered a gun to be fired 
without ball; but this measure 
having had no effect, that the offi- 
cer, respecting his duty and the 
express orders of the most serene 
government on such occasions, fired 
with ball, and by this means obliged 
the privateer to submit to the laws 
of the port: that, in consequence 
of this event, an agent of the con. 
vention having taken on him to 
make the strongest complaints a- 
gainst the conduét of the com. 
manding 
