LON 
Conquered ; and his inference, that it was intended that 
Britain was conquered by France. Difturbance and riot 
were about to commence, when Mr. Otto, after fome fruit- 
fefs attempts at explanation, prudently conceded, and 
the word Amity was lubftituted. But it did nor end 
here, for fome lailors found out that the initials G. R. 
were not furmounted as ufual by a crown : this they pe¬ 
remptorily indited (hould be done, and a lamp-tormed 
diadem was immediately put up. For the particulars of 
the treaty of Amiens, and caufes which led to a renewal 
of the war. Tee the article England, vol. vi. p. 795. 
Parliament was prorogued on the 28th 01 June, and on 
the following day a proclamation was iffued for calling a 
new one; and the 16th of November, the day appointed 
for the meeting of this new parliament, was diftinguifhed 
by the providential difcovery of a horrid confpiracy, to 
overturn the conftitution, get poffelTion of the different' 
branches of the royal family, and murder our beloved 1b- 
vereign. The perfons concerned in this diabolical fcheme 
were under the guidance and command of colonel Def- 
pard, and coniilted, principally, of labourers and the lower 
clafs of citizens, amonglt whom were three loldiers of the 
guards. They were apprehended at an obfcure pubiic- 
houfe in Lambeth, and, after leveral examinations before 
the privy council, colonel Defpard and fourteen of his 
followers were fully committed to take their trial for high 
treafon. In the beginning of February 1803, they were 
tried before a fpecial commifiion, when Defpard and nine 
others were convicted. Three of the latter were refpited, 
and afterwards pardoned : the other feven were executed 
on the 19th of February, on the top of the new gaol in 
Horfemonger-lane. After the conviction of the confpira- 
tors, addreffes from both branches of the legiflature, and 
from moft of the corporate bodies in the kingdom, were 
prelented to his majelty. That from the city of London 
was prelented on the 2d of March, 1803. 
It has been feen, in the page jult now quoted of 
our article England, that, within a few months after 
peace had been ligned with France, difputes arofe between 
the two countries, which our ambaffador, lord Whitworth, 
was in vain Itriving to accommodate. / While the public 
mind was in the greatell anxiety upon that important fub- 
jeft, a molt extraordinary forgery was praCtifed in the city. 
At an early hour in the morning, a man delivered a letter 
at the manfion-houfe, which he laid he had brought from 
the fecretary of Itate, and requefted it might be delivered 
immediately; it was accordingly given to the lord-mayor, 
and foon after the following literal copy appeared in front 
of the manfion-houfe : “Lord Hawkefbury prefents his 
compliments to the lord-mayor, and has the honour to 
acquaint his lordlhip, that the negociation between this 
country and the French republic is brought to an amica¬ 
ble conclulion. Downing-ffreet, eight o’clock, May 5, 
1803.” Printed notices were then polled round the cuf- 
tom-houfe, declaring the embargo to be taken oft’falt-petre, 
&c. In confeqnence of this delulion, the confols experi¬ 
enced an immediate rife from 63^ to ji\. A real treaiury- 
meffenger foon arrived, however, to announce the decep¬ 
tion ; on which the genuine communication was read in 
the public Itreets by the city-marlhal. The confuiion 
which enfued was beyond all defeription : the Stock-Ex¬ 
change was immediately (hut, and the committee came to 
a refolution that all bargains made that morning Ihould 
be void; and the confequence of the detedlion of this ar¬ 
tifice was a rapid fall in the funds to their firil price in 
the morning. 
A fimilar attempt was made two days after through the 
medium of the Times, a morning paper notorioufly in the 
intereft of government, in which a paragraph appeared, 
Hating the amicable termination of the differences with 
France. The committee for managing the Stock Exchange, 
however, in order to guard againlt a fecond impofition, 
would not allow the doors to be opened until the truth 
of the report could be officially alcertained. At their 
inftance, the lord-mayor addrsiled a note to lord liawkef- 
D O N. is! 
bury, foliating information, and Hating the occalion of 
his application. To this note tire chancellor of the ex¬ 
chequer, in the abfence of lord Hawkefbury, returned an 
anfwer, fignifying that no information had iieen received 
by government which couid be the fubjedl of a public com¬ 
munication, and cautioning the lord-mayor againlt receiv¬ 
ing reports through unauthorized channel?. An extra£l of 
this anfwer being made public, the Stock-Txchange was 
opened, and bniinefs went on as ufual. The public un¬ 
certainty relative to the negociations was terminated in a 
few days by a declaration of war, on the part of Great 
Britain againft France, being laid before parliament, by 
order of his majelty. 
In the afternoon of the 9th of June, a moft Angular phe¬ 
nomenon happened in Panton-llreet, Haymarket. The 
inhabitants were alarmed by a violent and tremendous 
ftorm of rain and hail, which extended oniy to Oxendon- 
ltreet, Whitcomb-ftreet, Coventry-ltreet, and the Hay- 
market, a fpace not exceeding 200 acres. For about le- 
ven minutes the torrent from the heavens was fo great, 
that it could only be compared to a catarafl rulliing over 
the brow of a precipice. In the midll of the hurricane 
an eleftric cloud delcended in Panton-ltreet, which ltruck 
the centre of the coachway, and funk in to a great depth, 
forming a complete pit, in which not a veltige of the mate¬ 
rials which had before occupied the fpace could be found. 
The fulphureous odour from the cloud was fo powerful, 
that, for leveral feconds, the perfons near the fpot were 
almoft fuffocated. No farther damage was done, except 
filling the neighbouring kitchens and cellars with water, 
which foon efcaped through the gulph formed by the elec¬ 
tric fluid. We mull beg leave here to obferve, that, in the 
cafe of a thunder-ftorm, the electric fpark is either emitted 
from the impending cloud, or elicited from the fpot of 
earth juft under it. If the earth is loaded with eleflric 
fluid in greater proportion than the cloud, the fpark iffues 
from the earth, and vice verfa ; hut, the effeft being ge¬ 
nerally the fame, and the flafli exceedingly brilk, our or¬ 
gans cannot diltinguilh from what place the dreadful 
Ihock iffues. 
From the ftatements made by us under the article 
France, vol.vii. p. 851-858. we think it will appear evi¬ 
dent that the continual encroachments and unreafonable 
conduct of the firft conful, Bonaparte, were the caule of 
the rupture of the peace of Amiens. This was the ge¬ 
neral opinion in England ; and henceall parties were united" 
in a defire to ftrengthen the hands of government for the 
profecution of the prefent war. Accordingly, a meeting 
of the merchants, bankers, fliip-owners, traders, and other 
inhabitants, of the metropolis, was held upon the Royal 
Exchange, on the 26th of July, for the purpofe of ex- 
preffing their fentiments in fupport of the king and con- 
ititution, and of the honour and independence of the 
country. Between four and five thouiand of the moft: 
opulent and refpeClable of the mercantile intereft filled 
the area; while thole who were more immediately inltru- 
mental in convening the meeting occupied a temporary 
booth erefted within the walk on the eait (ide. Jacob 
Bofanquet, efq. was unanimoufly called to the chair; and 
after having, in a manly and energetic fpeech, entered at 
large into the caule of their affembling,propofed to them the 
following declaration, which was agreed to without a dif- 
fenting voice. “ We, the merchants, bankers, traders, and 
other inhabitants, of London, and its neighbourhood, deem 
it our bounden duty, at the prelent momentous period, to 
make public our unanimous determination to Hand or fall 
with our king and country. The independence and exig¬ 
ence of the Britilh empire ; the lafety, the liberty, the life,, 
of every man ; is at ftake. The events, perhaps, of a few 
months, certainly of a few years, are to determine whe¬ 
ther we and our children are to continue freemen and 
members of the moft flourifhing community in the w'orld, 
or whether we are to be the Haves of our molt implacable 
enemies—themfelves the flaves of a foreign ufurper! We 
look on this great crifis without difmay. We have the 
moft. 
