28th October 1814: Louis Allsop outlines the lengths he has gone to, to entrap Charles Sutton

Nottingham
28th Oct. 1814.

Sir

From the Enquiries I had made, in consequence of your former Letter, I had every reason to believe that Sutton had no other paper of the 14th Inst, than the one he kept to be filed; he is not in the habit of printing off any more papers than are printed; because in consequence of your Letter of the 26th received Yesterday, I was determined to make an attempt upon Mr Sutton through the medium of one of his own party in politics, as the only chance, by putting him off his guard, of attempting particularly whether he had a paper left of the 14th Inst; I accordingly went to Mr Coldham who, You of course know is connected in politics with the men of this Town possessing the principles of the party, upon which this Paper affects to be conducted, & put the point to him, as a Matter of Duty he owed the public both as Town Clerk of this place & Secretary to the Association of the Hosiers, to procure me, from his own party, a person for the purpose, I could rely on; I was induced to do this, knowing Mr Coldham's Sentiments respecting this paper, & I think it is a duty I own that Gentleman to state that he entered into the matter most readily & cordially; he fixed upon a person, whom he could rely upon, a Man known to Sutton & me, he could not suspect, & I am sorry to say, my former Information was confirmed; Sutton has only the paper left which he keeps filed, & which he will not part with—I have written to a confidential person both at Derby & Leicester, to try to purchase one of these papers of Suttons Agents at both places & I obtained a confidential person to make the same attempts at Castle Donington & Loughborough; & you probably will think it worth while to make the same attempt in London; Taylor & Co. in Warwick Square, White & Co. in Fleet St. and, [illegible] inform You, [illegible], the Agents—with all due deference to the opinion expressed in your last letter, you must allow me to state that I still think the paper sent up may be proved; The person who purchased it is my chief and confidential clerk; he is in the habit of making his Initials, as often as his handwriting, in the margin of [books] and papers, where alterations [illegible] &c are made; he has also been in the habit of putting his Initials to paper at different times purchased of Sutton; he entertains not the least doubt but that he can be most particularly [illegible] to the paper, quite small as if his name had been written at full length, but to put this beyond all doubt, I will thank You to return me the paper, & I will then report to You most accurately what he says; I can rely upon him, & indeed [could] [much] in the habit of seeing him write, & of seeing his Initials that I have no doubt I can confirm, if necessary, his Testimony – I feel no doubt upon this Subject—

I have the Honor to be,
Sir,
Yr most obed Svt
L Allsopp

[To] J. H. Addington Esq

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This letter can be found at HO 42/141.