Cape Town Gazette vol. II no. 55

The Cape Town Gazette, and African Advertiser.

Published by Authority.

Vol. II. Saturday, August 29, 1801. Number 55.

Official communications

 * Proclamation abolishing duty on grain, wine and brandy; reinstituting testing of wine and liquors (Castle of Good Hope, 26 August 1801).
 * Authorization to private citizens to take up lost anchors out of bays and harbours (Castle of Good Hope, 25 August 1801).

Advertisements

 * Auction at the salesroom of Bray, Venables & co., 47 Strand Street.
 * Public sale at warehouse of Walker, Robertson & co.
 * Mr W. Marshall to settle debts.
 * Public sale by the executors of late Mrs Engela Maria Rhenius, of a house and two warehouses on Heere Gracht, a warehouse on Koffy Street, and a garden on the Leeuwenbil.
 * Public sale at stores of Messrs. Strombom & co., Berg Street.
 * Private sale of a vineyard in Wagenmakers Valley. Particulars available from A. S. Du Toit, 57 Bree Street.
 * Sale of considerable quantity of China porcelain, European earthernware, glassware, and furniture at Miss Elizabeth Hemmy's, 15 Berg Street.
 * Public sale by the executors of Mrs Van Eerten of six houses and premises, slaves, gold, silver, furniture, two pianofortes, a cabinet organ, and a number of waggon horses.
 * The William, to sail 1 September, can take freight to Surinam or London.

Cape Town, 29 August 1801

 * Packet to St Helena's overshot the island and sailed on to Rio de Janeiro.

London, 5 May 1801

 * Dispatches from fleet.
 * Movements of English ships and messengers between Denmark, Sweden and Russia.
 * News from Hamburg that Danish troops to leave the city.

Copenhagen, 28 April 1801

 * Admiral Parker's ceasefire with Russians, Danish and Swedes.
 * English Fleet at Copenhagen expected to return to England.

Hamburg, 1 May 1801

 * Orders given for Danish troops to retire from Hamburg and environs.
 * City treasury forced to go into debt to meet extraordinary charges.
 * Elbe reopened to shipping.

The Hague, 28 April 1801

 * Consitutional changes expected to restore aspects of older system of government.
 * Servants of the House of Orange to have their pension arrears paid.

Book review

 * M. Roux-Fazillac's Recherches historiques et critiques sur l'homme au Masque de Fer (Paris, 1801).

Slave auction

 * Slaves made prize from French ships to be auctioned.

The Man with the Iron Mask
A French author, M Roux-Fazillac, has just published at Paris, a Treatise, in which this subject, about which curiosity has long been so much employed, is again brought under examination.

M. Roux-Fazillac has long been engaged in historical investigation relating to the reign of Louis XIV. and previous to the Revolution he had obtained from the Government permission to collect, in the archives of that period, all the information he required. By this means he was enabled to see and compare every document that could throw light on the question.

M. Roux-Fazillac, in his book, which is entitled “Historical and Critical Researches concerning the Man with the Iron Mask,” first endeavours to refute the different hypotheses that have been maintained. He shews that theprisoner could neither be Fouquet, or Lauzun, nor Monmouth, nor Vermandois, nor Beaufort, nor an elder brother, nor a twin brother, nor an illegitimate brother of Louis XIV.

His opinion is, that the arrest and confinement of the Man with the Iron Mask was the result of a diplomatic intrigue, of which he gives the following explanation:

In 1632, the French Monarch had purchased from the House of Savoy, Pignerol and its territory. But, as one of the keys of Italy, Casal was of great importance. The difficulty, however, was to prevail upon the Duke of Mantua, a Prince governed by his mother, who was much in the interest of Austria, to agree to give up that fortress. The Abbe d’Estrades, French Ambassador at Venice, in the year 1677 undertook the difficult negotiation. A person of the name of the Count de Matthioly, a kind of intriguant, but much in the good graces of the Duke of Mantua, was applied to. Matthioly, ambitious of acting an important part, engaged to manage the affair and brought over, or pretended to have brought over, the Duke to it. He waited upon the Abbe d’Estrades at Venice, where they drew up a treaty. He then repaired to Paris with full powers, was well received and rewarded by the King, who ratified the treaty. Matthioly was to procure the ratification of the Duke of Mantua, but on his return to Italy, he told the secret of this intrigue to the Duchess of Savoy, who imparted the treaty to d’Estrades. Louis XIV. indignant at being duped by a sharper, concurred in a proposal of d’Estrades to get hold of this man. He was entrapped to the French frontiers, seized by Marshal Catinat, and put into the hands of St. Mars, who had the custody of him till his death.

The author adduces a great number of proofs to show that this Matthioly was the man with the iron mask. But this hypothesis will encounter much incredulity unless the proofs are very strong and direct. It is scarce credible that Louis XIV. should have descended so low as to inflict this species of vengeance on a faithless diplomatic agent of such inferior importance. No adequate motive can be assigned for the treatment. Most of the preceding hypotheses had the advantage in this respect, however difficult it may be to ascertain the real person doomed to the singular fate of the man with the iron mask.

Sale of Slaves
Under a Decree of the Vice Admiralty Court, Notice is hereby given, That on Thursday next the 3d September, At the Garden of Mr. Kannemeyer, Will be Sold by Auction,

About Fifty slaves, captured on board the ships La Raisonable, L'Amitie, and L'Oiseau, by His Majesty's ship Diomede, Captain the Hon. Charles Elphinstone.


 * GEORGE REX, Marshal.

Cape Town, 29th August, 1801.

Colophon
Published every Saturday, at the Government Printing Office, No. 35, Plein Straat, where Subscriptions, Advertisements, Articles, Intelligence, &c. are received daily from Nine till One o'Clock.