20 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1814. 



called from his bed to examine the 

 officer. Before the impostor pro- 

 ceeded on his journey he addressed 

 a letter to admiral Foley, to the 

 purport, that he had ordered his 

 boats crew to France, and request- 

 ed the politene!^s of the admiral, 

 in case they should be intercepted 

 by any of tlie British cruisers, that 

 the men mit^ht be properly treated, 

 and sent to France without loss of 

 time. To this epistle be subscribed 

 the name of Colonel De Burgh. 

 Ko boat, however, was seen ; and 

 it is to be presumed he was not 

 landed from anj, but tiiat his 

 clothes had been purposely made 

 wet, to induce a belief that it was 

 from the spray of the sea. For 

 every thing he had, and even at 

 tlie turnpikes, he offered Na^joleons 

 for change. How near he ap- 

 proached town in an officer's garb, 

 does not appear. The fellow, 

 whoever he may be, was supposed 

 to have entered Dover on Sunday 

 morning, by the road leading from 

 town. Such a person, with a 

 companion, was met in a post- 

 chaise and four. A landlord of 

 one of the inns at Rochester, was 

 seen in the company of the sus- 

 pected person; and he will be re- 

 quired to give some account of his 

 companion. Besides the principal 

 plot acted at Dover, there was a 

 sort of under one, connected with 

 it ; the scene of which lay at 

 Northfleet. Tliis was deemed ex- 

 pedient, it would seem, in case the 

 Dover scheme should miscarry. 

 About five o'clock on the Mon- 

 day morning a party arrived at 

 Northfleet in a six-oared cutter. 

 The)' called up a Mr. Sandon, to 

 request that he would accorapanj' 

 two of them to town, who repre- 

 sented themselves to be messen- 



gers from France, to communi- 

 cate the death of Buonaparte, and 

 the hoisting of the Bourbon stand- 

 ard in France. They were deco- 

 rated with white cockades, and 

 horses with laurels. They told 

 Sandon that they would first pro- 

 ceed to the Lord Mayor, and as if 

 vvitli that intention, they took their 

 route through the city. Their 

 progress was greatly impeded by 

 the mob, who stopped them at 

 every short distance. Pretending 

 to recollect themselves on a sud- 

 den, they said it might be deemed 

 disrespectful by the government, 

 if they did not first communicate 

 with the ministers : and then, as 

 if for that purpose, they ordered 

 the post boys to Downing-street. 

 Before they reached this destina- 

 tion, however, they discharged the 

 chaise, and got rid of their com- 

 panion, supposing, no doubt, that 

 their purpose had been already 

 answered. It would seem almost 

 impossible, that some of the indi- 

 viduals engaged in the different 

 branches of this nefarious transac- 

 tion should not be discovered ; 

 more especially if a fact mentioned 

 in an evening paper of yesterday 

 be correct. It is there stated, that 

 the pretended Col. De Burgh find- 

 ing a difficulty, on some occasions, 

 to get his Napoleons changed, 

 produced an English Bank note, 

 which was indorsed by a mercan- 

 tile firm in London, with the date 

 of 15 Feb. 1814. 



28. The murder of Mr. Var- 

 ney, an aged man, in his 80th 

 year, who kept a chandler's shopj 

 in Newtownlongville, near Fenny 

 Stratford, having been attended 

 with the most wanton circum- 

 stances of aggravation, the gentle- 

 men of that part of the country 



