TO THE PUBLIC. INVINCIELE STANDARD. They are inserted here, 1st. for the purpose of easy reference, when I come to reply to all that has been, or shall be, set up against the claim of LUTZ; and secondly, to show my readers, how little, how very little, what poor miserable tricks, the opponents of that brave soldier condescend to have recourse to. "We have the authority of an officer of rank, "now in this city, who was an eye-witness and "bore a part with the 42d reg. in the engage"ment in which the Standard of the French In"vincibles was taken, to contradict the report cit "culated in the English papers, that it was taken "by one LUTZ, a French emigrant, a private in "the Queen's German reg. The Invincibles were "all taken, killed, or destroyed, by the 42d reg. "a full quarter of an hour before the Queen's -True Briton, 4th Jan, 1852. reg. came up."-(Chisgow Herald and Advertiser ) 68 dict" any thing that they do not like. But No doubt they have authority" to contrawho is this officer? What is his rank and what is his name? Why does he not put that to the contradictious, as I did my name to the narrative? In presenting to the public this first Number of my Third Volume, I think it not im- two following articles, relative to this subSince my last, (See Vol. II. p. 865.) the proper just to state what has been the suc-ject, have appeared in the True Briton. cess of my labours. There are sold, weekly, of this Work, upon an average, in the United Kingdom alone, more than two thousand Numbers; which, when it is considered, that only fifty-two Numbers have been published, is, I believe, an instance of success, unparalleled in the history of periodical publications.-The Register is formed into two volumes in a year, one ending on the 30th of June, and the other on the 31st of December, each volume having a Supplement containing rather more matter, in point of bulk, than the Numbers of which the volume is composed, together with a Title and a copious Index. The first volume has been re-published, and the edition is already nearly sold off. The Supplement to the Second Volume will appear in about ten days from this time, and will be furnished to those gentlemen who take in the Numbers, by the same persons by whom those Numbers are supplied. This Supplement will contain, amongst a great variety of very important articles, A Complete Collection of all the Debates on the Preliminary and Definitive Treaties, also of the Parliamentary Papers for the subole of the last Session, including the very interesting Papers relative to India Affairs, and A Complete Collection of all the Debates during the present Session of Parliament, up to the Christmas recess. The other articles are too numerous to be specified in this place; but, I trust, that the two volumes will be found to form A Political Register for the Year 1902, as complete as it is possible to make a work of that kind, and much more so than any thing heretofore offered to the Public. My eyes have been constantly and steadily fixed on the passing political transactions and events, and, taking the contents of the Numbers and the Supplement toge ther, I have, I am persuaded, omitted nothing worthy of being preserved or remembered. London, Jan. 1, 1803. WM. COBBETT. "The glorious circumstance of the capture of "this standard has of late become much the subject of discussion in the public papers, from "unauthenticated statements, ignorant assertions, or avil. "fully malicious represensations. It has been posi❝tively denied, that Serjeant Sinclair, of the 42d 66 reg. took the Invincible Standard. No fact can "be more certain. Such has been the statement, not only of the officers of the 42d, but of every "officer who served in the glorious campaign in "Egypt. In addition to a mass of verbal testimony, we have now that of a most gallant "and respectable officer, who himself was pre"sent in all the battles in Egypt, and who des"cribes them in a work just published, entitled, "A History of the British Expedition to Egypt, ""&c.' That officer is Sir Robert Thomas Wil 66 son, Lieut.-col. of cavalry, and knight of the "imperial military order of Maria Theresa. Ai"ter describing, with the greatest spirit and per"spicuity, the battle of the 21st of March, he 66 says, In this battle the French standard was "taken.-Se jeant Sinclair, of the 42d reg. and "a private of the Minorca, whose name unfur"tunately cannot now be acquired, (this we ་་ ་ presume to be Lue, claimed equally the "trophy, and it appears that each merited the honour; Serjeant Sinclair first took it, but B "being ordered forwards by an officer, he gave it "to a private who was killed. When the Minorca "advanced, the French had recovered the colours; "but the private wrested them from the man "who had possession, and then bayoneted him.""' -After this clear and convincing testimony, we think no doubt can remain upon the mind of any candid individual with regard to the truth of Serjeant Sinclair's narrative, or the motives of those who would wish to rob him of an honour which is so justly his due. We are far from desiring to detract from the merit of LUTZ, in recovering the colours after they had been re-taken; but in doing justice to one brave man, it is equally unjust and unjustifiable to calumniate another.True Brit. 5th Jan. The readers of the Register will remember, that I noticed this error (Vol. II. p. 821) of Sir Robert Wilson, which arose, I presume, from nearly the same causes as the error and consequent mistatement of the Highland Society.-I shall, after a reasonable time has been allowed to that So ciety, for explanation, resume the subject at large; in the mean time, I beg the reader to compare Sir Robert Wilson's account with Serjeant Sinclair's narrative, published in the proceedings of the Highland Society, (Vol. II. p. 806.) Such a comparison will at once prove how far the above article will operate to the prejudice of LUTZ's claim, or rather of my claim in behalf of Lutz. - Paine's Letter to the People of the United States upon his arrival in that Country. This wretched traitor and apostate, who went to America in consequence of a letter of invitation from his worthy friend, President Jefferson, (which see Vol. I. p. 756.) has published a letter, by way of recommencement of his labours in the cause of rebellion and blasphemy. We here insert it, not as a curiosity, but as a criterion whereby to judge of the notions and principles of the party, of which, debased as he is, we doubt not he will become a principal organ. That there are, however, people in America who think of this miscreant as he deserves, our readers will perceive by the introduction to his letter; which introduction we here insert, and which is taken from a Maryland village news-paper. 66 career. "ple, by publicly shewing how much he despises their religious opinions? Or is it "done for the purpose of using him as an "instrument to root out Christianity in "this country? Perhaps the President does "not know that blasphemy is a crime which "the laws of Maryland punish severely. "It will be necessary for him to procure a "repeal of those laws; or his friend may "(if disposed to pursue his useful la"bours,' as Mr. Jefferson calls them) in "this state be checked in his infamous Instead of friendship and ho66 nours, for the first offence he would be "bored through the tongue, and fined "£20. sterl.: for the second offence he "would be branded in the forehead with "the letter B, and fined £ 40 sterl.; and "for the third offence suffer death. And yet the very man who has done what in "this state would subject him to such ignominious punishment, who has blas"phemed his God, and endeavoured to "destroy every vestige of Christianity, he "is the man whom the President of the "United States has invited to this country, and publicly meets on terms of inti แ macy and friendship. Such, people of "Maryland, is the respect paid by your "President to your laws and your re"ligion!" To the Citizens of the United States, LETTER THE FIRST.-After an absence of alin whose dangers I bore MY share, and for whose most 13 years, I am again returned to the country greatness I contributed MY part.-When I sailed for Europe in the spring of 1787, it was MY intention to return to America the next year, and enjoy, in retirement, the esteem of MY friends, and the repose I was entitled to. I had stood out the storm of one revolution, and had no wish to embark in another. But other scenes and circumstances than those of contemplated ease were allotted ME. The French revolution was beginning principles of it were good; they were copied to germinate when I arrived in France. The from America, and the men who conducted it were honest. But the fury of faction soon extinguished the one, and sent the other to the scaf fold. Of those who began that revolution I am almost the only survivor, and that through a thousand dangers. I owe this, not to the prayers of priests, nor to the piety of hypocrites, but to the "There is no man known in the U. continued protection of Providence-But while I "States, who has blasphemed so openly beheld with pleasure the dawn of liberty rising in " and wicked as Tom Paine. The Chris-Europe, I saw, with regret, the lustre of it fading in "tian would shudder at hearing his ex"pressions repeated. This man has been "selected by the President, as his most "favoured friend. He has not taken so "much paius to procure a meeting with any other person. Is this done for the purpose of insulting the American peo 66 America. In less than two years from the time of MY departure, some distant symptoms painfully suggested the idea that the principles of the revo lution were expiring on the soil that produced them. I received at that time a letter from a leher I expressed MY fears on that head in the folmale literary correspondent, and in MY answer to lowing pensive liloquy." You touch me on a very tender point when you say that my friends on your side the water cannot be reconciled to "the idea of abandoning America even for my na❝tive England. They are in the right. I had rather see my horse, Button, eating the grass of Borden"town or Morissana, than see all the pomp and "shew of Europe.-A 100 years hence, for I **must indulge a few thoughts, perhaps in less, "America may be what Europe now is. The inno"cence of her character, that won the hearts of ** all nations in her favour, may sound like a ro**mance, and her inimitable virtue as if it had "never been. The ruins of that liberty for which thousands bled, may just furnish materials for a "village tale, or extort a sigh from rustic sensibility; whilst the fashionable of that day, enveloped in dissipation, shall deride the prin"ciple, and deny the fact.-When we contemplate the fall of empires, and the extinction of the nations of the antient world, we see but little more to excite our regret than the mouldering "ruins of pompous palaces, magnificent monu "ments, lofty pyramids, and walls and towers of the most costly workmanship; but when the * empire of America shall fall, the subject for contemplative sorrow will be infinitely greater *than crumbling brass or marble can inspire. "It will not then be said, here stood a temple of **vat antiquity, here rose a Babel of invisible height, or there a palace of sumptuous extravagance; but, here! ah painful thought! the noblest work of human wisdom, the grandest *scene of human glory, the fair cause of freedom ROSE and FELL. Read this, and then ask if ← I forget America.”—I now KNOW, from the in formation I obtain upon the spot, that the impressions that distressed ME, for I was proud of America, were but too well founded. She was turning her back on her own glory, and making hasty strides in the retrograde path of oblivion. But a spark from the altar of SEVENTYSIX, unextinguished and unextinguishable throughout that long night of error, is again lighting up in every part of the Union, the genuine flame of rational liberty. As the French revolution advanced, it fixed the attention of the world, and drew from the pensioned pen of Edmund Burke a furious attack. This brought ME once more on the public theatre of politics, and occasioned the pamphlet, RIGHTS OF MAN. It had the greatest run of any work ever published in the English language. The number of copies circulated in England, Scotland, and Ireland, besides translations into foreign languages, were between four and five hundred thousand. The principles of that work were the same as those of Common Sense, and the effect would have been the same in England, as it has been in America, could the vote of the nation have been quietly taken,or had equal opportunities consulting or acting existed. The only difference between the two works, was, that the one was adapted to the local circumstances of England, and the other to those of America. As to MYSELF, I acted in both cases alike; I relinquished to the people of England, as I had done to those of America, all profits from the work. MY reward existed in the ambition to do good, and in the independent happiness of my own mind-But a faction, acting in disguise, was rising in America, that had lost sight of first principles They were beginning to contemplate government as a profitable monopoly, and the people as hereditary property. It is therefore no wonder that the Rights of Man was attacked by that faction, and its author continually abused. But let them go on; give them rope enough, and they will put an end to their own insignificance. There is too much common sense and independence in America to be long the dupe of any faction, foreign or domestic. But, in the midst of the freedom we enjoy, the licentiousness of the papers called fe deral (and I know not why they are called so, for they are in their principles anti-federal and despotic) are a dishonour to the character of the country, and an injury to its reputation and importance abroad. They represent the whole people of America as destitute of public principle and private manners. As to any injury they can do at home to those whom they abuse, or service they can render to those who employ them, it is to be set down to the account of noisy nothingness. It is on themselves the disgrace recoils; for he reflection easily represents itself to every thinking mind, that those who abuse liberty when they possess it, would abuse power could they obtain it; and therefore they may as well take as a general motto for all such papers, WE AND OUR PATRONS ARE NOT FIT TO BE TRUSTED WITH POWER.-There is in America, more than in any other country, a large body of people who attend quietly to their farms, or follow their several occupations, who pay no regard to the clamours of anonymous scribblers, who think for themselves, and judge of government, not by the fury of newspaper writers, but by the prudent frugality of its measures, and the encouragement it give to the improvement and prosperity of the country, and who acting on their own judgment never come forward in an election, but on some great occasion. When this body moves, all the little barkings of scribbling and witless curs pass for nothing. To say to this independent descrip. tion of men you must turn out such or such persons at the next election, for they have taken of a great many taxes, and lessened the expenses of government; they bave dismissed my son, or my brother, or myself, from a lucrative office in which there was nothing to do, is to shew the cloven foot of faction, and preach the language of ill-disguised mortification. In every part of the Union this faction is in the agonies of death, and in proportion as its fate approaches, it gnashes its teeth, and struggles. MY arrival has struck it with a hydrophobia; it is like the sight of water to canine madness. As this letter is intended to announce MY arrival to MY friends, and to MY enemies, if I have any, for I ought to have none in America, and as introductory to others that will occasionally fol low, I shall close it by declaring the line of canduct I shall pursue. I have no occasion to ask, and do not intend to accept, any place or office in the government. There is none it could give ME that would be any ways equal to the profits I could make as an author, for I have an established fame in the literary world, could I reconcile it to MY principles to make money by politics,er RELIGION. I must be in every thing what I ever have been, a disinterested volunteer. MY proper sphere of action is on the common floor or citizenship, and to honest men I give MY hand and MY heart freely.I have some manuscript works to publish, of which I shall give proper notice: and some mechanical affairs to bring forward that will employ all MY leisure time. I shall conti nue these letters as I see occasion, and as to the low party prints that choose to abuse ME, they are welcome. I shall not descend to answer them. COBBETT's ANNUAL REGISTER. I have been too much accustomed to such common stuff to take any notice of it. The govern ment of England honoured ME with a thousand martyrdoms by burning ME in effigy in every town in that country, and their hirelings in America may do the same. THOMAS PAINE. City of Washington, Nov. 12, 1802. have sought there a refuge, from whence they embark in fishing-boats, and come upon our coasts to assassinate unfortunate women and unfortunate proprietors.-But these plots are vain; let us hope that they will continue to be so. The French government Extract from the French Official Gazette, the will always cut the thread of such in Moniteur, dated January 1, 1803. Lord Pelham, a Minister of the King of England, made use of these words in the trigues, although they may be woven with much art, like the Gordian-Knot. The Continent will remain in peace, but the glory will accrue to the French people, and Yes, the remorse to the friends of war. the remorse, after ten years of war, when a third part of the generation has perished. Is there now a mother in England, Germany, Italy, or France, who must not regard with horror, Grenville, Windham, and Minto! those men who provoke war which they never make. In the bosom of a wealthy and magnificent city, surrounded by all the delights and comforts of life, they provoke the massacre of the rest of mankind.-Is there a sovereign upon the Continent whose essential study is now not to read with attention, and to meditate profoundly, on the speeches and the ideas which reveal that infernal policy, confessed now with a shamelessness unexampled in the history of nations, and which can only be the effect of delirium, the first punishment of crime? House of Peers" Lord Grenville was having allies, and at the same moment be See the refutation of this falsehood, Regs. ter, p. 859. |