than tender her a helping hand; but, to speak of the separation suits the turn of the hypocrites; by having recourse to it, they can cast calumny on their foe without letting their real motive appear. They would, if they dared, tell him that he is a cruel savage for endeavouring to prevent them from pocketing the public money; but this would not suit their purpose; and they therefore resort to his separation from his wife. Trusting now, Gentlemen, that you see clearly the motives of the two factions, and that their main object is to get at a share of the public money, I shall not fear, that, at another election, you will resolutely endeavour to defeat that vile object. The whole mystery lies here. It is the public money that the factions want to get at. They are not attached to any particular set of men or of means. Whoever or whatever will give them the best chance of getting at the public money is the man or the thing for them; and Sir Samuel Romilly has been brought forward upon the recent occasion, only because there were a set of men, who found that they could not get so much of the public money as they wanted under any of the other candidates. They found the old ground too thickly settled for them; they therefore resolved to get new ground of their own; and they chose Sir Samuel Romilly, because he was at once likely to be a placeman, and was at the same time a man of a good deal of deserved popularity. They, if he were elected, would say as Falstaff did of the moon: "the chaste Diana, under whose influence we steal." They mean to make a passage of him through which to get at the people's earnings; and, all this, too, under the guise of virtue and patriotism. With me there wanted nothing to produce conviction of this fact before; and now, I trust, that there is no man who will affect to doubt it ; now when we see them moving and signing resolutions, applauding the conduct of a member of parliament who has become a sinecure placeman, and who is notoriously a most decided enemy of reform of parliament. With these facts before him, it is not to be believed, that any one man amongst you will give his vote for this hypocritical faction. If Sir Samuel Romilly will declare openly for reform of parliament, you will do well to vote for him and for Mr. Hunt; but, if he will not, it is your duty not only not to vote for him, but to do all that lies in your power to prevent his being elected; for, be you well assured, that, without a reform of parliament, no man living can save this country, or render it any essential service. There is no national evil that we feel, be it small or great, which may not be traced to the want of a parliamentary reform, and such a reform, too, as shall cut up corruption by the roots. It is with great pleasure that I perceive, that Mr. Hunt has promised you to be a candidate at Bristol at every future election, as long as he has life and health, unless he should be a member when a vacancy takes place for your city. This promise ensures you an election; it secures you against being sold like dumb creatures; it secures you the exercise of your right of voting, and the right of now and then openly reproaching and loading with just maledictions any of the wretches who may betray you. To be a member for Bristol, in future, a man must stand an election of some days, at any rate; no one will be able to get in by a mere day's parade; an election at Bristol will not in future be a ceremony like that of choosing a churchwarden; your voices will be heard, and, I hope, they will always carry terror to the hearts of the corrupt. You have only to persevere. To keep steadily on. To suffer nothing to turn you aside. Your enemies cannot kill you, nor can they do you harm. If they collect and publish lists of your names; you will do well to collect and publish lists of theirs, and then stand your chance for the final effect. But, above all things, be upon your guard against the fraudulent dealings of the Whigs, who are the worst faction of the two because they are the greatest hypocrites. They make use of the name of Sir Samuel Romilly as the means of deceiving you, and of getting a share of the public money into their own pockets; and of this fact I beg you never to lose sight. I am, Gentlemen, your friend, Bolley, Tuesday, 11th August, 1812. SUMMARY OF POLITICS. NORTHERN WAR. The progress of this war, as far as we have any account of it, seems to prove the correctness of the opinion of Sir Francis Burdett, given in his admired speech upon the State of the Nation. Napoleon does seem still to be a match for Lord Castlereagh and Lord Palmerston. He seems not to have been totally ignorant of the means of carrying on war in the country which he was going to attack.As to the grounds of this war, my readers, who have now all the correspondence before them, must have seen, that it was no other than the refusal of the Czar to exclude the manufactures and trade of England from his dominions. Whether the demand made by Napoleon was reasonable or not must depend upon circumstance; and whether it was wise to refuse it, will very soon, I dare say, be proved. At present I can see, for my part, no sign of any impediment to the French armies, who are, it appears, marching over countries, where the people are glad to receive them.This may seem strange to some persons; but, the cause once known, it will no longer seem strange.-The question with every people, in such a case, is, "shall we be beller or worse off by be"coming subjects of Napoleon?" And, if the answer is, that they shall be worse off, they assist in opposing him; if the contrary, they do not assist in opposing him. It is as much in vain for us to abuse the people of Poland or of Russia, as it was for us to abuse the Dutch or the Italians. They do not hear our abuse; and, if they were to hear it, they would only hate us a little more for it. Every nation must feel for itself. It is very amusing to hear people in England execrating the Polanders because they do not fight, because they do not shed their blood, for the Russians who conquered their country, who have held it by force, and who have always considered the people as a conquered people. It is amusing to hear us abuse the Polanders for this, while, in the same breath, we abuse the Emperor Napoleon as an Usurper, and while we call upon all his people to shake off his yoké.- -To predict any thing as to the result of this war would be absurd; but, it may not be amiss to endeavour to prepare the public mind for the consequences of the success of Napoleon. That success would, it seems to me, be decisive of the fate of the continent of Europe. The whole force of France, a great part of which has been always held in readiness for a Northern War, would then be directed against Spain and Portugal, which latter even would, in that case, probably not be long in our possession. -It has all along been my opinion, that Napoleon meant to end the continental war in the Southern Peninsula, whither we were and still are sending such immense sums of money, and where employment is found for so large a part of our military -If force. This opinion is now confirmed; because, if he had been so minded; if he had wished to send a larger force to Spain and Portugal, he could have sent at least a hundred and fifty thousand of those men, whom he is now marching against the Czar. His war against the Czar did not press. It could have waited. Its object was merely to enforce commercial regulatious. The North offered no danger, no insult, to the Empire of France. The object to be accomplished by the war could have been accomplished after the war had been ended in the South. It is, therefore, clear, that, though he had the means of sending 150,000 additional troops into the Peninsula, he chose rather to let the war drawl on there as the means of drawing off the blood and treasure of England.he now succeed in the North (which is, at least, possible), what terms of peace does the reader suppose will be offered to us next time? Does any man imagine, that we shall ever again hear of such terms as those which we have rejected? I, for my part, imagine no such thing; and, I shall, I am pretty confident, hear those lamenting that rejection who are now applauding it to the skies.--The terms were not only good, but the time was singularly favourable. Russia ready for war, and a great dearth of bread in France; two circumstances that we can never hope to see unite again. But, such appears to be the aversion to peace, that even these circumstances, so singularly favourable, were wholly overlooked or set at nought.--The people of England have been told very often, that those of France sighed for peace; that the war was unpopular in France; that the people there hated Napoleon because he would not give them peace with England. I have never seen any proof of the truth of this; but, supposing it to be the real state of the fact, would it not have been wise in us to show a disposition for peace when the offer was made to us? If any thing were wanted to reconcile the people of France to the continuation of the war, what is so likely to do it as a rejection, on our part, of reasonable terms of peace? -When the circumstances of the war are in our favour, we refuse to treat upon the ground of its being unwise to stop our army in its career of victory; and when the circumstances of the war are unfavourable to, we refuse to treat upon the ground that it would be unwise to appear to be frightened into a treaty. In the former case we treat a proposition for peace as proceeding from the fears of Napoleon; in the latter, as (6 property, and can take it away at their proceeding from his arrogance. So that," pleasure, are, by the same means, bereally, I do not, for my part, see what" come masters of the Crown and its Excase can arise, in which we shall see it" chequer. -7th. That this Meeting wise for us to treat for peace with France. "knows but of one crime meriting punish--Nay, I almost fear, that the notion "ment by a confiscation of their estate, of of re-establishing the Bourbons has been" which the People of England have been revived. I have lately seen, what I have" guilty, namely, the crime of having too never seen before, the whole of the per- 66 long submitted to Taxation without Resonages belonging to the French Royal" presentation-a crime of which they Family forming part of a party with the "must speedily repent, or inevitably sink Queen and Prince Regent, which is very "into a slavery the most abject and the little short of being openly received at "most hopeless.-8th. That as the court and acknowledged in their royal ca- "House of Commons exercises the authopacities. Whether this was looked upon "rity of a Court of Judicature, with exas a good occasion to revive the claims of "clusive jurisdiction over whatever relates that family, or whether the meeting was "to the Elective and Legislative Rights of accidental, I know not, but I think it is "the People, so as no redress of any inthe duty of the minister to advise the Prince" jury touching the same can be elsewhere Regent not to suffer any thing to be done," obtained, the Meeting, on behalf of which may tend to countenance the idea," themselves and the nation at large, will that that family is again to be put forward " present to that House a Petition of Right, by us; for, in that case, a war of extermination will be, in fact, proclaimed. WESTMINSTER MEETING. -On Wednesday, the 5th instant, there was a Meeting of the Inhabitant House-Holders of the City and Liberties of Westminster, at which the following Resolutions were moved by MAJOR CARTWRIGHT and seconded by MR. HARRIS: "Resolved, 1st. "That the Chancellor of the Exchequer "having taught us to expect, in ad"dition to all the grievous taxes on In66 come, an early tax on Capital, it is ex"pedient to distinguish between these "modes of taxation.-2d. That to tax "Income, is to take a proportion of the "rents or profits of an estate; to tax Ca"pital, is to take away part of the estate "itself.3d. That a tax on Capital, "annually repeated, must shortly take 66 away the whole of the estate. 4th. "That between the effect of taxing Capi"tal, and the effect of confiscation, this "Meeting is not able to distinguish. 5th. That although the whole of Men's "Estates may be taken away by arbitrary "Taxation, yet, as neither land, nor its produce, nor other personal property, is "thereby annihilated, so the real effect of "the system is, to transfer all property, "real and personal, from the right owners "to those who, possessing a power of ar"bitrary Taxation, can take away that "property at their pleasure.-6th. That "the Oligarchy, which, by usurping a great majority of the seats in the House "of Commons, are become masters of all 66 -A "claining Representation co-extensive with He 66 66 There was one point, however, which I shall notice rather more particularly: Mr. Martin said: "Let us fight the public enemy, and then, when we have done our duty to our country, it will be time to think of our private wrongs." If Mr. Martin, by "public enemy," meant to say foreign enemy, and by "private wrongs, domestic wrongs, I differ wholly from him in opinion. I think the danger and the disgrace from these wrongs may be much greater than from any efforts of a foreign enemy; and, I am for beginning the work of redress at home, before I pester myself with what is going on abroad. Before men begin to "fight," they ought to know pretty well what they are fighting for. In short, I am as ready as Mr. Martin to fight the foreign enemy; but I am for a redress of grievances at home at the same time; because, if my right to redress is to wait till the war is over, I may never live to see it.-- This is an old and stale device, to turn the attention of the people of a country from their domestic grievances to their foreign dangers; but, this trick can never succeed at a time when the people in general are thoroughly convinced, that their domestic grievances are the cause of their foreign dangers. WM. COBBETT. Bolley, 12th August, 1812. THE LUDDITES, OR HISTORY OF THE SEALED BAG. Report of the House of Lords, from the Secret Committee appointed to inquire into the late Disturbances. Your Committee, in pursuing the Inquiry referred to their consideration, have endeavoured to ascertain the origin of the disturbances which have arisen in the different parts of the country, with respect to which they have obtained information, the manner in which those disturbances have been carried on, the objects to which they have been apparently directed, the means used to suppress them, the effects of those means, and the state of those parts of the country within which the disturbances have prevailed. -The disposition to combined. and disciplined riot and disturbance which has attracted the attention of Parliament, and excited apprehension of the most dangerous consequences, seems to have been first manifested in the neighbourhood of the town of Nottingham in November last, by : the destruction of a great number of newlyinvented stocking-frames, by small parties of men, principally stocking-weavers, who assembled in various places round Nottingham.-By degrees the rioters became more numerous and more formidable; many were armed and divided in different parties, disturbed the whole country between Nottingham and Mansfield, destroying frames almost without resistance. This spirit of discontent (amongst other causes to which it has been attributed) was supposed to have been excited or called into action by the use of a new machine, which enabled the manufacturers to employ women in work in which men had been before employed, and by the refusal of the manufac turers to pay the wages at the rate which the weavers demanded; and their discontent was probably heightened by the increased price of provisions, particularly of corn. The men engaged in these disturbances were at first principally those thrown out of employ by the use of the new machinery, or by their refusal to work at the rates offered by the manufacturers, and they particularly sought the destruction of frames owned or worked by those who were will-, ing to work at the lower rates; in consequence of the resistances opposed to the outrages of the rioters, in the course of, which one of them was killed, they became. still more exasperated and more violent, till the magistrates thought it necessary to require the assistance of a considerable. armed force, which was promptly assembled, consisting at first principally of Local Militia and Volunteer Yeomanry, to whom were added above 400 special constables; the rioters were then dispersed, and it was hoped that the disturbances had been by these means suppressed.Before the end of the month of November, however, the outrages were renewed; they became more serious, were more systematically conducted, and at length the rioters began in several villages, where they destroyed the frames, to levy at the same time contribu tions for their subsistence, which rapidly increased their numbers, and early in De cember the outrages were in some degree extended into Derbyshire and Leicestershire, where many frames were broken. In the mean time a considerable force both of infantry and cavalry had been sent to Nottingham, and the commanding of ficer of the district was ordered to repair thither; and in January two of the most experienced police magistrates were dis patched to Nottingham, for the purpose of assisting the local authorities in their endeavours to restore tranquillity in the disturbed districts. The systematic combination, however, with which the outrages were conducted, the terror which they inspired, and the disposition of many of the lower orders to favour rather than oppose them, made it very difficult to discover the offenders, to apprehend them if discovered, or to obtain evidence to convict those who were apprehended of the crimes with which they were charged. Some, however, were afterwards proceeded against at the Spring assizes at Nottingham, and seven persons were convicted of different offences, and sentenced to transportation. In the mean time acts were passed for establishing a police in the disturbed districts, upon the ancient system of watch and ward, and for applying to the destruction of stocking frames the punishment before applied by law to the destruction of other machinery. The discontent which had thus first appeared about Nottingham, and had in some degree extended into Derbyshire and Leicestershire, had before this period been communicated to other parts of the country. Subscriptions for the persons taken into custody in Nottinghamshire were solicited in the month of February at Stockport, in Cheshire, where anonymous letters were at the same time circulated, threatening to destroy the machinery used in the manufactures of that place, and in that and the following months attempts were made to set on fire two different manufactories. The spirit of disorder then rapidly spread through the neighbourhood; inflammatory placards, inviting the people to a general rising, were dispersed, illegal oaths were administered, riots were produced in various places, houses were plundered by per-tempt to detect and lay hold of the offenders sons in disguise, and a report was industriously circulated, that a general rising would take place on the first of May, or early in that month. This spirit of riot and disturbance was extended to many other places, and particularly to Ashton-under-line, Eccles, and Middleton; at the latter place the manufactory of Mr. Burton was attacked on the 20th of April, and although the rioters were then repulsed, and five of their number were killed by the military force assembled to protect the works, a second attack was made on the 22d of April, and Mr. Burton's dwelling-house was burnt before military assistance could be brought to his support. When troops arrived to protect the works, they were fired upon by the rioters, and before the rioters. could be dispersed several of them were killed and wounded; according to the accounts received, at least three were killed and about twenty wounded.On the 14th of April riots again prevailed at Stockport; the house of Mr. Goodwin was set on fire, and his steam-looms were destroyed. In the following night a meeting of rioters on a heath about two miles from the town, for the purpose, as supposed, of being trained for military exercise, was surprised and dispersed; contributions were also levied in the neighbourhood, at the houses of gentlemen and fariners.About the same time riots also took place at Manchester and in the neighbourhood, of which the general pretence was the high price of provisions. On the 26th and 27th of April the people of Manchester were alarmed by the appearance of some thousands of strangers in their town, the greater part of them, however, disappeared on the 28th; part of the Local Militia had been then called out, and a large military force had arrived, which it was supposed had overawed those who were disposed to disturbance. An apprehension, however, prevailed, of a more general rising in May, and in the neighbourhood of the town many houses were plundered. Nocturnal meet-: ings for the purpose of military exercise were frequent; arms were seized in various places by the disaffected; the house of a farmer near Manchester was plundered, and a labourer coming to his assistance was shot. The manner in which the disaffected have carried on their proceedings is represented as demonstrating an extraordinary degree of concert, secrecy, and organization. Their signals were well contrived and well established, and any at was generally defeated.The same spirit of riot and disturbance appeared at Boltonin-the-Moors. So early as the 6th of April, intelligence was given, that at a meeting of delegates from several places it had been resolved, that the manufactory at West Haughton, in that neighbourhood, should be destroyed, but that at a subsequent meeting it had been determined that the destruction of this manufactory should be postponed. On the 24th of April, however, the destruction of this manufactory was accomplished. Intelligence having been obtained of the intended attack, a military force was sent for its protection, and the assailants dispersed before the arrival of the military, who then returned to |