improvident, and unwise reduction.-S1xT LY, Mr. Yorke acknowledges, that, besides the foregoing numbers, 7,025 infantry were dismissed, without having an undeniable claim to their discharge; and, of course, they could be reduce i from no other motive, or, at least, no other good motive, than that of economy. Thus, then, my lord, allowing, for a moment, that the ministers were compelled instantly to discharge all the militia and the fencibles, and that they were wise in dispersing over the kingdom the men belonging to the corps of invalids, still there remain, instantly discharged, because it was understood that militia are always to be discharged at the conclusion of a peace. But, by whom was it so understood? There was no law enjoining an instantaneous discharge. It was matter of discretion; and, therefore, as in the former case, the charge against ministers remains invalidated.--THIRDLY, he tells us, that upon the same principle, of vague construction, the fencible regiments were immediately disbanded, to the number of 20,679 men, a fact, with which his accusers were but too well acquainted, but which, most assuredly, they never expected to hear stated as matter to disprove their allegation. --FOURTHLY, the invalids to the amount of 5,172 were reduced, because it had been resolved to form them into a more effective force; and, it is true, that this formation has now actually taken place; but it had not taken place when the charge of hasty and improvident reduction was made against ministers; nor, if the war had not forced the measure upon them, would it have takened to remain in the service. This number, place to this hour, as is very evident from the Of cavalry, 10,493 8945 7,025 men. Making a total of 26,463 regular disciplined soldiers, whom no law or usage fur. nished an excuse for discharging, who had not the shadow of a title to their discharge, and the far greater part of whom even wish- my lord, surpasses that of the total of the regular infantry now in Great Britain; it is nearly equal to that of the raw men, who have been collected together by the Army of Reserve law, and who, by the time that 26,000 of them have been inlisted for general service, will have cost the country, 1,300,000l. at the least farthing, to say nothing of the plague and vexation of the ballot, and to pass over, for the present, the more serious considerations of their vast inferiority, in point of discipline, to the 26,000 men discharged, the shocking drunkenness and debauchery, which their high bounties must inevitably introduce into the camps and garrisons of the kingdom, and the vast injury, indeed the total stagnation, which those enormous bounties have produced in the regular recruiting for the regiments of the line. -And, my lord, what were the reasons, the weighty reasons, for dismissing these 26,000 men? Why, the 10,493 men of the cavalry were "not thought necessary," and were, besides, of the most expensive part of the army. Economy was certainly the real and only immediate motive; but, if a horse and man be more expensive, as they undoubtedly are, than a man alone, the corps could have been dismounted, and the horses sold, a step which has frequently been taken, both in war and in peace. For discharging the 7,025 regular British infantry there seems to be no reason alleged. In the disbanding of the foreign corps the humour of the Corresponding Society and of the rabble in general, the London news-printers inclusive, might, in deed, be consulted, it not being, at that time, imagined, that, in less than a twelvemonth, these same news-printers would gladly catch at, and retail, as matter of national joy, every fact relative to the enlistment of a Hanoverian regiment, in order to obtain recruits for which we are now, with the hearty concurrences of these dreaders of Cayenne, expending at the rate of forty guineas a man! The only reason, however, that was stated for this part of the reduction, was, that they were disbanded in preference to British troops; which amounts to a declaration, that, if there had been no foreign corps, a number of regular British soldiers, equal in amount to those corps, would have been disbanded. So that, the whole immediate operative causes resolve themselves, at last, into a motive of economy; the economy of peace, or, to use the words of the minister, "the husbanding of our resources against a day of trial:" and, my lord, to give the deceived nation just a peep into the budget of tricks, let them be told, that, the whole of the expense attendant on the maintenance of the 20,000 men who were disbanded; the whole expense of maintaining these 26,000 regular disciplined men up to this day, would not have exceeded one-third part of the sum which must be expended upon 26,000 men of the Army of Reserve, even before they have arms put into their hands! This is the economy of the peace of Amiens, my lord. This is "husbanding our resources against a day of trial!" This, my lord, is one of the precious advantages of being ruled by safe-politicians; by ministers of tin-man purity; by statesmen" selected from the " and dismantling system, were, in some sort, compelled to play the mendicant and the spy, in the affair of Switzerland. If they had proceeded with slow and cautious steps in the business of disbanding the army and dismantling the fleet, they would never have had occasion for an army of reserve bill, and for a levy in mass; Buonaparté would never have been able to terrify us with the spectre of invasion; and, perhaps, he never would have shown that disposition and those intentions, which compelled us so soon again to go to war. Of the stripping which the fleet underweut, I shall, at present, say nothing; but, as to the regular army, instead of cherishing and strengthening it i instead of examining its several parts, and putting all in order against another day of trial, it was thrown aside as an useless ske leton, and, generally speaking, in a skeleton state; while all imaginable dispatch was made to return to the financiering system of making an army upon paper, of creating a monstrous mass of immoveable force, and thereby rendering the kingdom a meré station of defence; a consequence, which was, at the time, explicitly predicted by several gentlemen, particularly Mr. Elliot and Mr. Windham, and which prediction has now been so fully and so fatally accom plished.- -Numerous are the instances, in which the ministers were cautioned against a hasty reduction of our effective military force. This was one of the subjects, en braced in the advice, which was proposed to be tendered to his Majesty, in that address, which Mr. Windham moved, and which your lordship seconded, in answer to the message on the Definitive Treaty. "A scale of naval and military defence, adequate to the scale of our danger, and to the importance of the "interests which we have to maintain," was one of the means which the new opposition proposed, for preserving the peace that had been made; and of these words, in particular, the ministers took care to retain no trace, in the address, which was finally voted by the House, and presented to the King.The only ground, therefore, on which they could now attempt to justify their having disbanded so large a part of the regular army, is, that they did not at all apprehend that the peace would be of so short a duration. This would middling class of society "Bot, my lord, not only these 26.000 men might have been preserved in the service of the country, but the militia and fencible regiments, both in Great-Britain and Ireland, might have been so discharged, if discharged at all, as to render our difficulties and our danger much less than they have been and now are. These corps might have been discharged by degrees; and, the discharging might have been so managed, as to time, place, and other circumstances, as to have rendered perfectly complete, by means of the men discharged, every regular regiment in the service. This slow process of discharging, together with great activity in the recruiting department, would have kept us constantly in a formidable attitude, and would have enabled the ministers, if any thing would, to assume a becoming tone, and to act with becoming dignity, resolution, and effect, at the time when they, from their disbanding be very weak ground, indeed, for statesmen to take; but, even this they have deprived themselves of, by calling the peace “a peace * See Mr. Elliot's Speech, 31st May, 1802, on the Scotch Militia Bill, Register, vol.ï. p. 690 et seq. "of experiment;" by repeatedly declaring that they foresaw it could not last; by circulating, at the public expense, a pamphlet, in which every one, who believed in the permanence of the peace, is called "nature's fool," and not the fool of the minister, who, it is there stated, never could regard the peace as likely to be permanent *; by the whole tenor of the state papers, relative to the rupture with France, whence it appears, that no ministry, not bent on the ruin of their country, could, for the moment the peace was concluded, have ever expected it to last for a year; and, finally, they have fully and formally deprived themselves of this ground of defence, by advising his Majesty to issue a paper, in which he has solemnly declared to his subjects, and to all the courts of Europe, that "the system of vio"lence, aggression, and aggrandizement, "which characterized the proceedings of the "different governments of France during "the war, has been continued with as little "disguise since its termination +." It is, indeed, very true, that declarations exactly contrary to this, were, many times, made by the ministers; and it is also notorious, that the ministers acted, in many very important instances, upon the presumption of a long continuation of the peace: but, with these inconsistencies, with these flat contradictions, we need not trouble ourselves, in the discussion of the present subject; for, either they believed the peace would be durable, or they did not: if they did, let them acknowledge their ministerial incapacity; if they did not, let them plead guilty to the charge of having, from wicked motives, disbanded 26,000 regular disciplined soldiers, and thereby exposed the kingdom to the danger, with which it is now menaced.Deferring the other points of the subject to my next, I remain, with the greatest respect, my lord, your lordship's most humble and most obedient servant, November 9th, 1803. WM. COBBETT. P. S.-My lord, since I sat down to wr this letter, I have learnt, that MAJOR SHE commandant of the Dover corps, is a gent man of great military talents and experien who has served many years in India, a who went to Dover at the express requ of Mr. Pitt, who has allotted him apar ments in the castle, and by whom his s vices are highly valued. Such a man, ift volunteers, as they are called, were und proper regulations, would be a perfect tre sure to the district; but, amongst me who are under no law but that of their o will, he can be of no use at all. SUMMARY OF POLITICS. Under this head, there are many subiect which, were there room, would occupy mu of the reader's attention. In the next she they will find a place. Where, also, w be inserted the 1Xth Letter to Mr. Sherida -On the subject of invasion, which s continues to occupy all men's minds, it ma be necessary to say a few words.-Buonapar does not tell people, at least not the peop who correspond with our ministers, what intends to do; and, therefore, he keeps u just as he wishes to keep us, in a consta state of uncertainty, anxiety, and alarm, state in which no nation ever long preserv its liberty or its independence. As to b preparations, they are certainly formidab though, perhaps, not so formidable as fe has represented them: one fact, howeve relating to these preparations, is of impo tance, and it is a fact, on the truth of whic perfect reliance may be placed; and that that many thousand suits of red cloaths, fo the army, have, within these few week been made at Paris, and sent off to some the regiments lying on the coast, and said be destined for the invasion of this kingdom The object of such a stratagem is evide enough; and, if a successful landing were take place, it would require great vigilance o our part to prevent the completion of the object. The naval force at Brest is grea er than has been generally thought; and, is far from being certain, that, favoured little by the weather, the Consul would no be able to send, even in defiance of our fleet a formidable army to Ireland, where let u hope that God will be our defender an keeper, for there every thing else seems t be against us. P 744. Printed by Cox and Baylis, No. 75, Great Queen Street, and published by R. Parhaw, Bow Street, Cova Garden, where former Numbers may be had; sold also by J. Budd, Crown and Mitre, Pall-Mall. VOL. IV. No. 20.] London, Saturday, 19th November, 1803. [ Price 10D "The solid foundation" [mentioned by Sir F. M. Eden], “on which our commercial connexions with “ America are fixed, is a treaty, all the commercial and maritime regulations of which, are of them"selves to cease in two years from the end of the late war with France. Then, Sir, it is to be de"termined, in the negotiations of a new treaty, what further regulations shall be adopted, with respect to the American commerce with the West-Indies; and also it is to be determined, whether in any, and in what cases, neutral vessels shall protect enemy's property. These are points, Sir. "on which America will be much more obstinate than you imagine. They have ever been the objects nearest "her heart; and, she will ere long obtain them, or she will effect the ruin of our colonies. Your peace "has at once humbled us, and exalted every other nation, whose interests, or views, are, or may be, opposed to our own.' -MR. COBBETT'S LETTERS to Mr. Addington on the Preliminaries of Peace. New Edition, p. 248. Published in January, 1802. 705] LETTER VIII. TO R. B. SHERIDAN, ESQ. M. P. SIR,--How far the London news-printers have profited from the advantages, offered them by the singular circumstances of the tanes; what have been the nature and tendency of their publications; how those publications will bear a comparison with former publications from the same pens, and respecting the same principles, and the same person or persons; what degree of credit, for fair and honourable conduct, the nation is likely to derive from their labours, on which you have bestowed such unbounded applause; these, Sir, are amongst the objects of the examination, which will form the subject of the present letter. The circumstances of the times offered most striking advantages for making of the press such an use as would have not only excited a spirit calculated to resist the efforts, which the French may make against this country, but as would also have completely revived the ancient salutary prejudice against France, generally speaking, at the same time that it eradicated every fibre of those poisonous principles of republicanism, which the modern French have scattered all over the world, and which the London news-printers and yourself have heretofore used no common exertions to propagate in this kingdom. But, so far were the conductors of the press from giving this drection to its powers, that, with the exception of Buonaparté, the persons, whom they thought most worthy of their hatred, were precisely those, of whom no harm could be said, without implicating, in some sort, the cause of royalty; and, of course, without injaring that in which we were engaged, it being very evident, that the ultimate object of the present war is, on the part of France, to destroy the British government; and that, therefore, the question with us is," monar"chy or no monarchy?" Instead of endeavouring to convince the people, that the tyranny, [706 in France, had arisen out of the levelling principle, the London news-writers were, and yet are, continually, crying out against. Buonaparté for having destroyed that principle. It is as a despot, not as a demagogue, that they rail against him; as a tyrant, not as an usurper; as a traitor to the people, not to his Sovereign; as the apparent friend, not as the real enemy of the Gallican church. The grounds of hatred to Buonaparté became more and more evident from the description and character of the persons, who were associated with him as objects of attack, and amongst whom the French Bishops occupied a prominent place. Mandates were, upon the breaking out of the war, sent by the several bishops to their clergy, the greater part of which mandates contained sentiments disadvantageous to the government and the people of England. This circumstance, which was by no means extraor dinary, which was nothing to be wondered at, and, indeed, nothing that could justify rancorous expressions, even in an enemy, was laid hold of, with an eagerness that surprized every one, who had not been an observer of the persecuting spirit, which these writers had ever manifested towards the royalists of France, and particularly towards those of them, who had given the strongest proofs of their attachment to the Catholic church. The moment the mandates appeared in the Moniteur, all the French Bishops were immediately accused, by the London news-writers, of perjury, of blasphemy, and of the basest of treason to their Sovereign. If these charges had been well-founded, they would have had an odd appearance in the very same papers, and other periodical works, wherein the French had been openly applauded for their rebellion against their king; in many of which Robespierre had met with most strenuous advocates; and all of which bad approved of a peace with Buonaparté. But, the charges were unfounded. Out of 131 French Bishops, who were in existence in 1790, 47 died before the Pope's brief, for résigning their sees, was issued; 37 refused to resign; five never were consulted; so that, there remained but 42, who had resigned, and who alone could, of course, belong to the new Gallican church. To impute perjury, blasphemy, and treason, therefore, to all the French Bishops, was a false and malignant libel, and a most cruel and cowardly attempt to add to the pain already endured by a number of aged and most respectable, though unfortunate, gentlemen; who, besides the offences against their Sovereign and their God, were charged with ingratitude towards this country, "where they had been fed and protected." But, as to this latter point, it appeared, upon inquiry, that of all the French Bishops, who had resided in England, only five resigned their sees; these five of them, and these five only, returned to France; one of them died before the present war broke out; so that, there were only four, who could, in their mandates, possibly have shown any ingratitude of the sort alluded to; and, it so happened, that, in the mandates of these four, not one word was to be found injurious to this country or its people! From the same motive that the Bishops were chosen as objects of abuse, the other French emigrants were selected. It was industriously reported, that the plans for the invasion were all furnished by them; and that they collected the mate rials for these plans, "while they were eating the bread of this country." Upon this assertion the news-writers founded a proposition for hanging in chains every man, belonging to an invading French army, who, upon being made prisoner, should be found to have been in this kingdom, in the character of an emigrant during the last war! So base a thought as this never before entered the mind of man; and never could have found its way into any mind, except one of those, which are continually on the rack to discover new means of humouring the worst of the rabble. The monstrous injustice of this proposition shocked every man of sentiment, and was reprobated, more particularly, by all the foreigners whose ears it reached. Amongst the persons, coming under the character of emigrants, were many of the officers and soldiers of those foreign corps, nine thousand persons belonging to which were, by our wise ministers, disbanded at the close of the last war. There was, indeed, in the amnesty of the Consul, an exception against persons, who had borne arms against Fronce during the war; but, this exception was suffered to lie a dead letter, and the men, who had so gallantly served under our colours during the war, and whom Mr. Yorke and his colleagues were glad to spare" the moment peace was made, Buonaparté was equally glad to receive into his service. Against these persons the cry of ingratitude was doubly strong. What! to refuse to remain to be kicked and cuffed, like dogs, by the door-keepers at the HorseGuards and in Downing Street; to refuse to stay here and starve to death, or to beg their bread in the street, after having ventured their lives a thousand times in his Majesty's service; to prefer the service of Buonaparté to such an existence, or such an end; was this a proof of ingratitude! Was this something which it became the British nation to regard as an offence? Which it became the British nation to complain of and to threaten to punish by an ignominious death? What were these men to do? Arms was their profession; they could not turn shop-keepers; if they had been willing to debase themselves by taking up a mechanical or dealing occupation, they would have found neither work nor customers; and, therefore, they were compelled to leave the country and to become soldiers again France, or to remain here and beg or starve; and, because they were not disposed to end their days as paupers, to lick up the crumbs that fell from the tables of the generous shop-keepers of London, they ought, according to the notion of the news-writers, if taken in the service of their new master, to be put to death, in defiance of the laws of war, and to "grace "the loftiest gibbets" that could possibly be erected! Your friends, Sir, were very parti cular as to the gibbetting part: the gibbets were to be very lofty, and the ceremony was to take place instantly after the unfortunate victims should fail into our hands !———In both these instances, the batred to royalty really appears to me to have been much greater than the hatred towards the enemy, whose threat seems, up to the time of which I am now speaking, only to have furnished the news-writers with a pretext for exciting in the minds of the rabble a desire to abuse, or to commit violence on, the French royalists, to whom there was, as yet, a strong disposition to attribute the "unfort mate" recommencement of hostilities." But, when it was stated, and believed, that Buonaparte had made a solemn declaration, that, the mo ment he took possession of London, be world ship all the news-writers and printers off to Cayenne, these gentlemen entered, in good earnest, into a mortal league against him and against all his subject, his army in particular, Not; therefore, for the sake of their country |