binding in law, or freer from exceptions than the bond of which we have given an abstract; and on this bond Mr. de Beaume proceeded to act, the same being verified by certain notaries, both in London, Paris, and Holland, to the several parties concerned therein. It is pretended, indeed, that Mr. de Beaume never raised the whole of the money, or, if he did, that he never paid it over to the Princes' trustee, the late Mr. Thomas Hammersley; but, supposing this statement to be correct, does it change the nature of the security on the bona fide holders of any of the 'parts or portions' of the said loan? It has been held that the demand of a clear title and adequate consideration, evidently intended to embarrass and defer the payment, was known to be clogged with almost insuperable difficulties, arising out of the revolution, and the impossibility of tracing out the heirs and assigns of the original holders of those bonds amid the confusion of such times as those which shortly succeeded the royal contract. Abundant means, however were to be found in this country to establish the validity of these bonds, duplicates of which were attested by the notaries, Sutherland and Bonner, and afterwards deposited at Messrs. Hammersley's, through whose hands the whole transaction passed; nor has it been proved, or attempted to be so, that Mr. de Beaume ever abused the powers with which he was intrusted, by issuing other than the bonds contracted for. If he had so done, the fraud would have been easily detected, as these bonds were numbered and dated in the order in which they were issued, with all the formalities of exchequer or navy bills. When, therefore, these bonds became payable, or interest accrued, the onus probandi lay with the trustees to vouch for their genuineness or falsehood, as they would have been ready to do, if the originals had been either lost or destroyed. It has been said, in order to magnify the breach of faith on the part of George IV and his royal brothers, that several of the bond-owners were sent out of this country, under the Alien Act, to avoid the claim; and that, on their return to France, the greater number were massacred or guillotined; and of the latter fact some substantial proofs can be found, especially in the case of Monsieur Vette, a rich jeweller, whose wealth, however, was more likely to have caused his death than the holding of the bonds alluded to, which, neither in the amount nor object, could offend or alarm the French government, jealous and barbarous as it proved itself at that period. It was indeed asserted very confidently, by a journalist in 1823, who seems to have been imperfectly informed on the subject of these transactions, and who involves the narrative in much obscurity, for purposes which we are not now called on to investigate, that fourteen persons were executed in Paris for negociating, or being concerned in circulating such portions or shares of this loan as bore Mr. de Beaume's signature: but it might be as well insisted upon, that, because several of the reputed or actual owners of these securities were lost, on their passage to France. in consequence of the leaky state of the vessel, that such vessel had been scuttled by order of the Home Department, as that the revolutionary government could apprehend a reaction from the fact of this loan, which did not exceed 100,000l. sterling. We confine ourselves to this subject, having already touched on the various attempts to relieve the Prince in 1786, as a complete failure. When Mr. Goldsmidt became a party to the loan of the Boas, the Princes agents talked of appropriations, savings, &c., to be backed by a parliamentary grant, secured by a mortgage of the revenues of the duchies of Cornwall and Lancaster, of which Mr. Goldsmidt was to be the receiver; instead of which, no preparations whatever were made by the Prince to meet the first quarter's accruing interest on this loan. No man could urge the matter with more grace and propriety on the attention of the Treasurer of the Household than Mr. Goldsmidt. But punctuality at Carlton House was no part of its economy-the keeping an engagement no voluntary duty; for, although the Prince could not be said to break the engagement, yet he never troubled himself about the conditions 13. 2 P of the agreement, when broken; nor, when the consequences were pointed out to him, was he at all solicitous of providing against the recurrence of them, or supplying a remedy for the future. Notwithstanding the result of this want of principle was fatal to the credit, and destructive of the life of both parties, the orgies at Carlton House were never suspended for a moment, and the claimants under this loan were treated afterwards with the same injustice and cruelty as the subscribers to Mr. de Beaume's loan. A knowledge of the intrigues of a court, like that of the Prince of Wales, can alone authenticate its want of principle; and, although remonstrances dropped in, day after day, in private, and the journals obscurely alluded to the facts of the alarming embarrassments with which the royal Princes were at this time surrounded, no notice was taken of them, nor were any measures devised to avert the consequences which threatened to overwhelm them in ruin. The whole of the plans at last began to excite the attention of parliament, on account of the manner in which the honour of the government was compromised by a course of proceedings that would have convicted any other man, of inferior rank, before the tribunals of the country. And in the case of Mr. Goldsmidt, the sympathy of the mercantile world in particular was excited, on account of the injuries, which one of the worthiest men in it, was sustaining through the profligate and unprincipled manuers of the Prince's advisers. Mr. Goldsmidt's character had for many years been rising in public estimation; his credit was unbounded, and his conduct as a money-broker unexceptionable, and esteemed all over Europe. Rather too easy of access, too liberal in his advances, and too confiding in the principles and probity of others, such a dispositon was little calculated to resist the importunities of a man of the polished manners of the Prince, and every attempt which flattery could embellish, which promises could satisfy, or personal civility confirm, was made to evade the crisis then impending in Pall Mall, and in which the Prince would have succeeded, but for the unconquerable probity of the negotiator. He, however, at length withdrew, alarmed and disgusted; and without coming to an open rupture with his employer, assisted the Boas, far exceeding what might be deemed prudent, in reference to his extensive foreign transactions. But the event preyed upon his mind; it weakened his influence abroad, and was the first cause of those dismal occurrences which led to his death and the ruin of his fortunes. We may be allowed to speak our humble praise over the grave of this benevolent Jew. Never was a man lamented by his friends more sincerely. The death of Mr. Goldsmidt was a loss to every man who stood in need of his assistance; and it is no hyperbole to say, that the young lost their benefactor, the widow her husband, and innumerable families their father. The heart of Mr. Goldsmidt was like "the gush of fresh springs," fertilizing what was before barren, and planting flowers amidst the waste of the human affections, to refresh and console the indigent and the unfortunate. Proud Christian! go thou, and do likewise*. On recurring to De Beaume's loan, it is impossible to forget the time at which it was raised. Never was there a period of greater public excitement - never one when a temperate and wise policy was less listened to, between the rulers of France and England. The prejudices which had existed for centuries between two rival nations-the new position in which France stood, with respect to her ancient polity-the strength she displayed, and the doctrines she maintained in asserting her newly-acquired power and liberty-and the revolutionary spirit * The case of Aslett, the sub-cashier of the Bank of England, must still be fresh in the recollection of our readers. He may owe his salvation from the the scaffold, and his subsequent pardon, to his pecuniary negotiations with the Prince of Wales, and particularly to the active part which he took in assisting Mr. Goldsmidt in raising money on the Prince's bond. Nero was once known to pardon a man for the crime, but then the tyrant was drunk the Prince of Wales was once known to show his gratitude for previous services, by pardoning a criminal; but Nero was not less the tyrant, nor was the Prince of Wales less the libertine. which her example excited among surrounding nations, caused all the monarchies of Europe to unite in misrepresenting both her internal and external administration. It is, therefore, by no means surprising that De Beaume came in for his share of the obloquy; nor, knowing the necessities of the Prince, that his creatures should take advantage of the slander to repudiate and defraud his agent. For, at the same time that De Beaume was afraid of meeting the storm in France, the Prince felt the weight of the censure of his father's government, as likely to end in a parliamentary inquiry. Indeed, all the parties implicated in the transaction began to see the situation in which their time-serving servility had placed them; and they, as well as the Prince, trembled at the idea of a public investigation : yet it was found impossible to withdraw from an obligation which was perfect in all its parts, without having recourse to chicanery and false pretences. Rather, therefore, than risk the trial, it was pretended that De Beaume had deceived the Prince, that he was not the man he assumed to be, and had never paid over the consideration stipulated for and agreed upon. But suppose the whole consideratien had not been received; still it is acknowledged that it was in part paid, and in such valuables as were most likely to abound in the then state of France, and could be most readily conveyed and parted with. Is it not, therefore, presumptive evidence, at least, that other bonds might have been subscribed for money, in a country like France, where persons then, as now, hoarded the specie, be- ́ cause it was the only circulating medium, or, foreseeing the storm, provided against its explosion by an investment on the security of persons of supposed unimpeachable honour? By either of these means, a bona fide debt was created, which no ultimate chance could repudiate nor invalidate. How could the trustees of the Prince say when and to whom these securities were conveyed? how ascertain the uses to which they had been converted, supposing it a fraud on the part of De Beaume, or impugn and deny the claims of the holders who tendered them for payment? The diamonds transmitted by |