army. The daily expence of the French army soon became 10,000 rix-dollars; and he made the people pay this, at the same time, that he made them pay their own army, WHO HAD LAID DOWN THEIR ARMS TO HIM, the sum of 549,000 rix-dollars! Aye, that very army, who had capitulated with him; who had given him up their arms, cannon, and horses; and who had made no stipulation in favour of the people, though they had bargained for the preservation of the officers' horses, effects, and baggage! And, is Sir Francis Burdett to be abused, because he does not relish this example: -There never, surely, was any thing like this be fore. History furnishes no precedent of such a transaction. Armies have often laid down their arms, when quite overpowered by numbers; but, to yield without resistance; without a battle; without any struggle; to yield upon the receiving of less violence than a corporal's guard would have sustained; to yield a country upon the loss of ONE man killed and FIVE wounded, and their native country too; and, then, in their capitulation, to insert not one word in behalf of the people; of their fathers and mothers and brethren and sisters and wives and children; while (hear it all England!) they took care to stipulate for subsistence for themselves, even after they laid down their arms, till they should reach their homes, well-knowing, that that subsistence must be paid by the people whom they had left to their fate! They even agreed to abandon their military dress; to strip the garb off their backs and not to wear it more; and, is Sir Francis Burdett to be abused, because he complains, in an Address to the throne, that Englishmen, that English soldiers, have been compelled to assume that garb ?--I have now given a true account of the transactions in Hanover at the time of its surrender to the French. I have particularized names and dates. I have referred to and inserted documents of unquestionable authenticity. And I now ask the English reader, whether he believes, that the Hanoverian army ought to be held forth as a pattern to that of England; or, I rather ought to ask him, whether he does not believe, that such a number of English troops would have suffered themselves to be cut to morsels rather than have laid down their arms upon such terms? Whether he does not believe, that an equal number of Eng lish cavalry would have been chopped off from their horses, rather than have quietly dismounted and handed them over to Frenchmen for them to mount, ready caparisoned, and pawing the ground?. Now, the next question is, whether any, and what portion of that Hanoverian Army are now in our service. This is a question that I am not able now to discuss with advantage, not having facts in my possession; but, it is a question of great importance.- -At any rate, I' think, this " Officer of the King's German Legion," will not, if he has occasion to write upon the same subject again, be very anxious to impress upon the minds of his readers, that all the officers of his corps, except a few, are Ilanoverians; for, from the history of what passed in Hanover, that circumstance becomes rather unlikely to inspire us with any degree of confidence in them, which we should not be disposed to place in other Germans or any other foreigners. Sir Francis Burdett asked, and well he might, what the French had seen in Germans that their garb should be more likely to appal them than the garb of the English soldier. What, indeed! What have they seen in any part of Germany but troops that they have beaten and nations that they have subdued; and, is this English Gentleman, who has so much of his own at stake, and, what is still more, a heart so devoted to the liberty and honour of his country; is he, I say, to be reviled, is he to be set forth as a malicious liar, because he complains, that the English garb is supplanted by that of the German; because he thinks and says, that English soldiers and the English nation stand in no need of German example? That example presents to us nothing but defeat and subjugation; and is he to be vilified, because he rejects that example; because he abhors the idea of such a pattern for Englishmen ?There is one more observation, and only one, of this " Officer of the King's German Legion" that I shall notice: it is this, that Sir Francis Burdett made use of what this man has the impudence to call falshoods, in order to mislead "the lower classes."That is, he accuses him of having introduced into an Address to the throne, false assertions, with the premeditated purpose of deceiving the people, or, at least, those of the people of England, whom this man has the modesty to denominate the Lower Classes. But, where did he learn this contemptuous appellation? Who taught | home, of late years, been made too familiar him to speak of any part of the people of with the worth of those things not to have England in this way? Who does he mean? a pretty good standard whereby to judge Where has he found any part of us, who them; and, as I said before, except amongst ought to be placed beneath him? He means, those empty fops, who, in a day of trial, perhaps, that great body of the people, would be swept away like the chaff before the mechanics and labourers, out of the the wind, and who, indeed, would never fruit of whose industry he is paid, and to be heard of, we have all a most hearty whom, in the day of real need, the King contempt for whatever has not intrinsic and country must look for defence, and worth. At any rate, whatever may be who will not, I am convinced, see their our state, I trust, that there is not a man country and their King's crown given up of us, that will ever be found base enough without the loss of more than ONE man to acknowledge that he is inferior to any killed and FIVE wounded. Lower Classes, Hanoverian in existence.--Perhaps, now, indeed! Out of many millions of them, I ought to offer some apology to the reader, there is not one; no, not one to be found, and particularly to Sir Francis Burdett, for who would not rather perish than lay having said so much, and taken up so much down his arms and strip the coat off his room, in the answering of this German's back and give up his country to an enemy. letter. I acknowledge that less might Lower Classes! Such as that of "the Prin- have been sufficient; but, I could not ter's Bay of Limosin," perhaps; or of suffer such a foul attack upon the best MORTIER himself, who was a farmer's friend of the people and of the press to go son! Low as was the class, from whence unanswered; and, having begun, I could he sprang, the Army of Hanover, with all not refrain from making my answer comits Counts and Barons, did not scruple to plete. To prepare a nation for the yoke, capitulate with him; to implore his mercy; the first step is to make it think meanly of to give up their country to him; and to itself; and, if a venal print, like the Times receive his consent to retain their effects News-paper, is to be found to publish such and baggage. They stipulated with this an outrage upon our character as is conLower Class man for leave to wear their tained in the letter of this " Officer of the swords. Our Lower Classes" would, I" King's German Legion ;" if a print is to trust, wear their swords in despite of all the armies upon earth, if they had them once girded upon their thighs.This man chooses to presume, that there are a considerable portion of us, the people of England, who are incapable of forming any judgment for ourselves; who are incapable of inquiring into the truth of facts or of estimating the weight of an argument; who are little better than brutes; and, I almost wonder, that he had not proposed the sending for Hanoverian masters to enlighten our minds as well as to teach us how to fight the French and defend our country. Lower Classes, verily! I wonder where he ever saw an Englishman worthy of being ranked lower than himself, except those most detestable wretches, who are seen about the streets of London, voluntarily decked out in whiskers and gilt spurs, in order, it would seem, to look like any thing but Englishmen. -Perhaps he means to put us all in the Lower Classes, who have not something of title about us. But, we be found capable of circulating a publication in which England is represented as having its battles fought by Hanover, leaving out of sight all the valiant deeds of our own army and our navy; if a print is to be found capable of circulating a publication, in which a large part of the people of England, the industrious and hardy part, who are the very sinews of the country, are exhibited as a set of creatures unfit to judge of what they hear and read and see; if a print is to be found to convey slanders like these upon the army, the navy, and the people of England, and the most foul calumnies on a member of parliament whose conduct has won him the people's hearts; if such a print is to be found, it were a shame indeed if all England did not contain another print ready and willing to counteract the effect of such base and wicked efforts. W. COBBETT. State Prison, Newgate, Friday, Published by R. BAGSHAW, Brydges-Street, Covent Garden. VOL. XXI. No. 5.] LONDON, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 1812. [Price 1s. [130 | little they will read), suffer it to have no They read a lieffect upon their minds. censed newspaper as they would hear the charge of an accuser, who should tell them before-hand that the accused party was not to be suffered to make any defence. But, where the press is called free, and yet where he who writes with effect against men in power, or against public measures, is liable to be punished with greater severity than the major part of felons, the press must be an engine of incalculable mischief; because, the notion of freedom of the Press is still entertained by the greater part of readers, while there exists this terrific restraint on him who would write strongly, and, perhaps, effectually, against public men and public measures, if it were not for the fear of almost certain ruin. In looking back to the real causes of the miseries, which afflict this country, and of the greater miseries, with which it appears to be threatened, your Royal Highness will, I am persuaded, find, that one of the most efficient has been the prostitution of the Press. It is, on all hands, acknowledged, that the Press is the most powerful engine that can be brought to operate upon public opinion and upon the Thus the press becomes a deceiver of the direction of public affairs; and, therefore, people; it becomes prostituted to the when used to a bad end, the mischief it most pernicious purposes. Few men of produces must necessarily be great. If real talent will condescend to write with a left free, it is impossible that it can, upon bridle in their mouths; the periodical the whole, produce harm; because, from press falls, for the far greater part, into a free press free discussion will flow; and, the hands of needy adventurers, who are where discussion is free, truth will always ever ready to sell their columns to the prevail; but, where the press is in that highest bidder; Falshood stalks forth and state, in which a man dares not freely pub-ranges uncontrouled, while Truth dares lish his thoughts, respecting public men and public affairs, if those thoughts be hostile to men in power, the press must of necessity be an evil; because, while it is thus restrained on that side, there will never be wanting slaves to use it in be-injures her cause. half of those who have the distribution of the public money. Thus the public mind receives a wrong bias, and measures are approved of, which, in the end, prove de-every man contemplates with a greater or structive, and which would never have met with approbation, had every man been free to communicate his thoughts to the public. not show her face; and, if she appear at all, it is under so thick a covering, in so crawling an attitude, and with so many apologies to power, that she always disgraces her character, and not unfrequently Hence we may trace all the severe blows which our country has suffered, and which have, at last, reduced us to a state, which less degree of apprehension. At the outset of the American war, Mr. HORNE TooKE, who wrote against the project of taxing America by force of arms, while Where there is no Press at all, or, which she was unrepresented in Parliament, was is the same thing as to politics, where harrassed with state prosecutions and was there is a Licenser, or person appointed by pent up in a jail, while Dr. Johnson, who the government to sanction writings pre-wrote in defence of the project, and in vious to their publication, the press does no good, to be sure, but neither does it any harm; for, the public well-knowing the source of what they read (and very whom venality and pride contended for the predominance, was caressed and pensioned. The nation, by the means of a press thus managed, were made to approve F " of the measures against America; they | WAKEFIELD lived out his two years in were made to expect the contest to be of Dorchester jail; but he did not for many 'short duration and the success to be com- months survive the effects of his imprisonplete. They were induced to give their ment, leaving a wife and family to starve, approbation to the sending of German had not his virtues bequeathed them Troops, Brunswickers and Hessian Merce- friends. Mr. Wakefield's crime was the naries, to make war upon the fellow-subjects, answering, the triumphant answering of the brethren of Englishmen. If we look a Bishop, who had written against the Reback to that day, we shall see the periodi- publicans of France, and the tendency of cal press urging the nation on to the war, whose publication was to encourage the and promising a speedy and successful people of England to go on with the termination of it. The Americans were war then begun. After the example made represented as a poor contemptible ene- of Mr. Wakefield, after such a reply to his my; as ragamuffins without arms and pamphlet, the war would, of course, meet without commanders; "destitute," as with few literary opponents, or, if any, so one writer asserted, "of money, of arms, shy and so timid as to produce little or "of ammunition, of commanders, and, if no effect; while, on the other side, the they had all these, they had not courage advocates of the war, with nothing to fear, "to apply them to their defence." Thus and every thing to hope in the way of were the people of England induced to personal advantage, could not fail to suc-' give their approbation to the measures of ceed in persuading the people, that to the ministry at the out-set; and, by simi- push on the war was just and necessary. lar means were they inveigled into a con- The delusion was kept up; through the tinuation of that approbation from one same means. In spite of discomfiture and campaign to another, and were only to be disgrace; in spite of facts that might have undeceived by the capture of whole armies been supposed almost sufficient to enof English troops, by those whom they had lighten a born-ideot, they were made to been taught to despise. hope on from campaign to campaign; and, though they saw league after league dissolved, they were still induced to give their approbation to new leagues. Without a Press, such as I have described, this would have been impossible. A total destruction of the Press; or, the establishment of a Licenser, would have prevented the possibility of such delusion; because then the people would have judged from what they saw and what they felt; they would have judged from the actual events of the war, and from the effects which the war, as it proceeded, produced upon themselves. But, by the means of the press, such as I have described it, by the means of a succession of falshoods, coming upon the heels of one another so quick as to leave little time for reflection, the people were hurried on from one stage to another of the war, till at last, they saw no way of retreating; and thousands, when they saw, in the end, the fatal consequences of the measures they had been so zealous in supporting, continued, rather than acknowledge themselves dupes, the partizans of those by whom they had been deceived; and so they continue to this day. To the same cause may, in great part, be attributed the war against the Republicans of France, a war, which has laid low so many sovereign princes, rooted out so many dynasties, and which, however it may terminate, has already occasioned more misery in England than she ever before experienced. If there had been no Press in England at the commencement of the French Revolution, the people of England would have formed their judgment upon what they saw and what they felt; or, if men had been, on both sides of the question, free to publish their thoughts, the people, hearing all that could be said for as well as against the cause of France, Mould have come to a decision warranted by truth and reason. But, while those who wrote against the Republicans of France and urged the nation on to a war against them were at perfect liberty to make use of what statements or arguments they chose for that purpose, those who wrote on the other side were compelled to smother the best part of what they might have urged, that is to say, they could not write with effect; or, if they did, they exposed themselves to ruin, and, perhaps, to premature death; for, there are not many bodies able to endure sentences of long imprisonment, without receiving injuries that are seldom overcome. Mr. GILBERT But, Sir, amongst all the instances, in which this prostituted press has abused the public ear, I know of no one where it has worked with more zeal or more apparent effect than with regard to the present Dispute with the American States. The grounds of complaint on the part of America have been sedulously kept out of sight; her remonstrances, against what no one can deny to be a violation of her rights, have been constantly represented as demands made upon us to give up some of our rights; her people have been represented as being on our side and against their government; and, at last of all, when this prostituted press can no longer disguise the fact, that the Americans are preparing for war against us, it represents the American Legislature as well as the President as acting under the influence of France, as being instruments in the hands of Buonaparte. And, by these means, it has drawn the public along, from stage to stage, in an approbation of the measures, which have now brought us to the eve of a new war, in addition to that which we find sufficiently burdensome and calamitous, and to which there is no man who pretends to see the prospect of a termination. other produce of America, bound to any part of France or her dominions, is, if she chance to be seen by one of our ships of war or privateers, brought into any one of our ports, and there she is condemned, ship and cargo, and the master and seamen are sent adrift to get back to America as they can, or to starve in our streets. The same takes place with regard to an American vessel, bound from France or her domi nions to America. These captures take place on any part of the ocean, and they have often taken place at the very mouth of the American ports and rivers; and, as great part of the crews of vessels so captured are taken out by the captors to prevent a rescue, the sailors so taken out are frequently kept at sea for a long while, and, in many cases, they have lost their lives during such their detention, which to them must necessarily be, in all cases, a most irksome and horrible captivity. That this is a great injury to America nobody can deny, and, therefore, the next point to consider is, whether we have any right to inflict it upon her; whether we have a right thus to seize the property of her merchants, and to expose to hardship, peril, and death, the persons of her sailors. And, here, Sir, I have no hesitation in say ing, that our conduct is wholly unjustifiable according to all the hitherto known and settled rules of the neutral law of nations, even as recognized by ourselves. For, never until since the year 1806, that is to say, till since the issuing of the Orders in Council, did England pretend to have a right to make prize of a neutral ship, even carrying enemy's goods to or from an ene I have before taken the liberty to address your Royal Highness upon this subject; and, if I now repeat, in part, what I have already said, my excuse must be, that the state of things is now more likely, in my opinion, to excite attention to my observations. Under this persuasion, and in the hope of being yet able to contribute something towards the prevention of a war with the American States, I shall here again take a view of the whole of the question, and shall then offer to your Royal Highness such observations upon the subject, as appear to me not to be un-my's port, contenting herself with seizing worthy of your attention. There are two great points, upon which we are at issue with America; The Orders in Council, and the Impressment of American Seamen. The dispute with that country has lately turned chiefly upon the former; but, it should be made known to your Royal Highness, that the latter, as I once before had the honour to observe to you, is the grievance that clings most closely to the hearts of the people, so many of whom have to weep the loss of a husband, a brother, or a son, of whom they have been bereft by our impressments. In proceeding to discuss the first of these points, I will first state to your Royal Highness how the Americans are affected by our Orders in Council. An American ship, though navigated by American citizens and laden with Indian Corn, or any the cargo and suffering the ship to go free. And, as to the seizure of the goods of a neutral on board a neutral ship, the very attempt to set up the pretension of a right to do that would have marked out the author as a madman. Indeed, such a pretension puts an end to all idea of neutrality; it at once involves every maritime nation in every war that shall exist between any other maritime nations; and is, therefore, a pretension so tyrannical in its principle and so desolating in its consequences as to be abhorred by all but those who delight in the troubles and miseries of mankind and the waste of human life. Conscious that general usage and reason are against us, we ground our justification upon a rule of war, which says that one belligerent may retaliate upon another. It is not, for instance, held to be right, to kill |