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2nd, it is quite improbable that the editor should deliberately sit down and alter, or add to, the sevaral toasts, by which he would be sure to expose himself to the charge of base falsehood from all those, at least, who assisted at the festival; and, though the Moniteur is a slave, its editor must necessarily be a person of some consequence, and, in all likelihood, of some regard for character. Did the alteration or addition take place previous to the sending of the toasts to the Moniteur? Then the falsehood originated with the French Captain; and, is it likely, that he would have been guilty of a falsehood, which he must know that a few days would make known to the American captain, who was still in the same port with himself? Then, the sentiments and the manner of the toasts are so precisely those of America; they are so exactly correspondent with what captain Reid has so long been used to, that, without any other evidence of their authenticity, this would be nearly sufficient.Opposed to all this we have the word of captain Floger; let us see, then, what his motives might be. He says he can have none, but merely that of a love of truth, which is quite good, as coming from an American captain; but, I think, I can suggest another or two. First, he was at the feast; he had a hand in the ing; he joined in the cheers, at least; in short, he was a party. This fact, though not known to the public in general here, would be well known to the merchants to whom he was consigned, and to whom he was to look for freight home. These merchants, who dread nothing so much as a war between the two countries, would naturally express their displeasure; and, captain Floger is not to be told, how much his profits depend upon the good will of the merchant, who, for the time being, has an absolute command over him; nor, need he be reminded of the fate of scores of his comrades, who, during the last war, were dismissed, upon their return home, for having exposed the property of their owners by volunteering, in French ports, in abuse of England. Here are motives for the statement of captain Floger full as strong, at least, as that of an American captain's love of truth. The progress is likely to have been this. The merchant would reprove him for the part he had taken in the inflammatory toasts; be would deny, and make out a story such as he has published. "Well, then, says the "merchant, it would do a great deal of good, publickly to give the contradiction." This he could not object to; and, as the letter is pretty evidently not of his own

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writing, the merchant would draw it up for him; and thus would the thing come before the public.I should not be surprized, however, if the captain had been schooled by higher authority. I should not wonder, if he had been told, from that authority: "John Bull is no longer to be gulled or bullied. We are got into a scrape here; and the toasts of that fool "Reid will afford us no help in getting ont "of it." The consequence would be what we have seen; and my opinion inclines towards this higher authority; for, the letters. of the captain are certainly above the level of Finsbury Square.This affair of the toasts would have been of no earthly importance, had it not drawn forth captain Floger; nor would his letters have been worthy' of a moment's notice, had they not evidently been written by somebody else, and did. they not tend to shew, that that somebody else has conceived reasons for not wishing to irritate England, I now turn to A. B. of the Morning Chronicle, who, as the Morning Post has observed (it having escaped me); when speaking of the Americans, inadver tantly applied the pronoun us, thereby verifying the old proverb, that hypocrites should have their cloaks sewed on. From the drawling flimsiness of his style; from his manifest wish to wheedle the ministers into further concessions to America; from his cant about the "highly republican "nature of the American government; from his talk about the "virtues, of her revolution ;" and, above all, from the insufferable vanity that broke forth at every other sentence: from all these, I was nearly certain that he was an American. It appeared to me, that many a man had been hanged upon evidence less clear. But, the little instance of forgetfulness, pointed out by the Morning Post, puts the matter beyond dispute; and here, then, is the Morning Chronicle engaged in the laudable undertaking of sending forth to the public, essays written by one of our enemies, as written by one of ourselves.---Mr. A. B. in answer to what some one had said about our capturing all the American ships in case of war, asks, what would you do with all the ships and cargoes; to whom would you sell them?" Why, Sir, to whom do we sell captured ships and cargoes now? If we take her ships, they will save us materials and labour for ship-building; for, they are, in general, very good ships. Supposing them not to suit us in their present shape; still the timber, the cordage, and the sails of them are things of real value, articles of real national wealth, and they will, of course, add to our wealth in the same pro

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"into their ships and keep them there in spite "of us, and unless we will recede from a rule "of neutral commerce which he willingly * submits to at the hands of France. Now, "if you have a mind to trade with us still, " and not suffer yourselves to be sacrificed "to his partialities and passions, why, we "will go on together as usual." There would need nothing more. This the Congress know very well; and, therefore, they will proceed no further than that very common preliminary, which is aptly enough called, shewing the teeth. But, this I say only upon the presumption, that the ministers will not further give way; for, if they do, the Congress will never cease their demands, while we have any thing to surrender.

portion that they take from the wealth of America, besides the consideration of putting off, to a great distance, the day when America can possibly become powerful upon the sea. And, as to the cargoes, suppose we capture ten ships laden with Indian corn for Spain or any other of the ports in the Mediterranean; will it be of no use to us to acquire, thus, two or three thousand quarters of the best stuff in the world to fat hogs with? Will not the millers and farmers buy it? and will not an addition, be thus made to the national wealth? This is the real way of making an addition to the national wealth; because we send none of the fruit of our labour away in exchange for what is brought in. We should take tobacco, rice, lumber, salt-meat, flour, and butter; and, does A. B. really mean to make us believe, that we shall not know what to do with all these? We should take wine and brandy upon their way from France and Portugal; and will there be no call for them in England? Or, shall we find them the worse, because we have them without giving cloth and hardware in exchange? Verily, if A. B. could persuade us to believe this, his country might well laugh at us.The Congress are not, it seems, to come to any decision respecting England, till they know the determination of our government. That they do know by this time, unless the determination, expressed in the King's proclamation, be given up. If it be adhered to firmly, the Congress will postpone the discussion, resume it, postpone it again, and so on. There will be a great deal of talk about dignity and honour and independence, but it will all end in smoke. They may, at last, have recourse to a partial prohibition of export, with the hope of distressing our West India Islands, in which case we have only to issue an order for capturing all their ships trading with other West-India Islands. This would reduce them to reason in two months; for, we might, at the same time, give orders to let pass all ships which should unlade at any of our West India ports, whither numbers would then go, in spite of all the prohibitions of their government. In short, whatever measure of prohibition they may adopt, we should answer by a retaliatory prohibition, exempting therefore the ships of any of the States that chose to set the President's decree at defiance. Our language should be this to the New Englanders, for instance: "We want salt meat

andlumber from you, and you want rum and *. coffee from us, but your President will not *suffer us to carry on this exchange, unless "we will permit his Southern friends (for you *want none of them) to inveigle our sailors

PORTUGAL.The Royal Family of Portugal has, to my great surprise, been prevailed upon to embark, with many of its nobles and officers of state, with a view of setling amongst the slaves and serpents of Brasil; but, I must confess, that my surprise proceeds rather from the Prince Regent having had the courage to encounter the difficulties of the undertaking, than from his having been desirous of quitting a country, where, if he had continued to live at all, he must have lived in disgrace.It is officially stated, that, on the 24th of November, the whole of the Royal Family, consisting of fifteen perfons, embarked on board the Por tuguese fleet, consisting of 7 line of battle ships; 5 frigates; 3 armed brigs; and 30 merchant vessels; escorted by 4 English line of battle ships, under the command of Capt. Moore. It is further stated, but not officially, that this fleet sailed out unmolested by the Russian ships, now in the Tagus; that the French were fast approaching to Lisbon, and were expected to enter it the day after the fleet sailed; that a considerable number of the nobility, officers of state, heads of the church, royal body-guards, and law-officers (what a loss to Portugal!) accompanied the royal family, as also a considerable number of wealthy individuals, and a large military force; that the whole number of persons embarked, (including the "large military "force,") was seventeen thousand; that all the treasures, jewels, archives and records were taken away; that the people beheld the mournful spectacle, with the liveliest emotions of sorrow, but without any attempt to impede the departure of their beloved rulers; that, when the court was preparing to embark, the Queen's confessor was missing, but that our ambassador, Lord Strangford, sent his horses to Mafra to fetch him, and thus was this valuable person sent off amongst the

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rest; that a remarkable circumstance, is, "that the Queen, whose mental ailments "are well known, experienced a very great "improvement in health,after having been a "few days at sea," a proof that the salt water agrees with persons, or, at least, with crowned heads, when in the state alluded to, which is a discovery that may, one would fain hope, be, in other cases as well as this, turned to good account.――Such is the intelligence, which I have obtained upon this subject, through my ministerial oracle, the Courier Newspaper. But, I want some of the supernatural light of the editor of that print to enable me to perceive, how the day, on which this intelligence was received, could be considered a "proud day for this "country" because, it appears to me, that Portugal will be as much, though, I confess, not more, in the power of Napoleon now, as it would have been if the embarkation of the royal family had not taken place; that Portugal is as completely subjugated by him as it would have been without the embarkation; and, that any resources, whether local or others, which Portugal is capable of affording him in the furtherance of his designs against us, he will now have the command of as fully as he would have had, if the royal family and law officers had remained. Why, then, was Saturday last, of all the days in the year, a proud day for us?" The emigration of the royal family "cuts off the Brazils from Portugal." But, the Brazils would have been cut off from Portugal without the emigration. The Courier may say, indeed, that it is better that they should be cut off in this manner, than by conquest on our part, with all its consequent train of fleets, troops, governors, commissaries, and law officers," to the enormous increase of the patronage of the ministers and the burdens of the people; but, I much question, whether he will say this; and yet, it appears to me, that the only possible good of the emigration to us is, the preventing of the Brazils from being a colony of England. Yet, on the other hand, we are not without evils; for, in the first place, we have 4 ships gone now. shall soon have others to follow. Perhaps troops besides; and, who will venture to insure us against parliamentary grants or loans (which is all one) for the service of New Portugal, as, I suppose, it will be called? So that, as far as I am able to judge, the degree of our joy upon this occasion must be regulated solely by the degree of injury that we shall sustain by the expences attending the emigration of the Portuguese government, less than we should have sustained

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by the conquest of the Brazils for ourselves. And this is the mighty good, the "auspi"cious event," the "new and memorable "æra," in the affairs of nations, which was to make Saturday last a proud day for England. Really, Mr. Courier, I do think that a trip to sea might be as serviceable to you as to the Queen of Portugal.As to the situation of the Prince Regent and his family and friends, it. will, if he, instead of listening to flatterers and sycophants, resolve to act for himself and act wisley, certainly be preferable to a miserable dependance upon Napoleon or one of his vice-roys.; but, to hold a language, as some of our news-paper people do, that he is going to be at the head of a great kingdom is ridicu lous. The whole of the civilized population of the Brazils does not exceed that of Hampshire, and, as to the natives of the country, they are his enemies to a man. It is, if I recollect rightly, nearly, if not quite, two hundred years, since the Brazils were settled; and, if such has been the progress of their population, how is it to be expected that the country should ever be able to defend itself against a powerful invader, if any one chose to invade it? All those who work in that country are slaves; aye, Mr. Wilberforce, negro slaves, twenty or thirty thousand of whom are imported annually from the African coast. This is a fine people whereof for an European king to become sovereign.. As every country that we, no matter how, get hold of, is the finest in the whole world," it was quite in rule that the Courier gave that quality to the Brazils; but, compa with the very worst country in Europe t is a villainous country, abounding in tormenting and venomous reptiles, both in the air and upon the earth, and possessing no lone quality which can place it, for a moment, in competition with the country, from which the Portuguese government has been driven. When, therefore, I view the Prince Regent in his new situation, when I consider the difficulties that he must necessarily have to encounter; when I anticipate the longing looks that he will, in a very short time, cast back towards that country, which in all likelihood, he is doomed never to see again; and, when I behold that really fine country, with all its corn-fields and orange groves and vineyards, in the hands of a conqueror wha will not fail to turn them to account, that conqueror being the mortal enemy of England: when I thus contemplate and consider, I cannot help despising the man, who tells me, that the day when the intelligence thereof was communicated to us, was a "proud! day in the annals of England."——It is,

from what has been said, pretty evident, that, if Napoleon should choose, at any future time, to destroy the Portuguese government in the Brazils, he may do it (especially in time of peace), before we can be aware of his intentions; for it is impossible for that government to keep up a military force able to resist ten thousand Frenchmen, because there are in the whole country no persons to mould into soldiers. The masters will not be soldiers, and the negro slaves cannot be trusted. Whence, then, are the troops, now there, to be recruited? There is now no mother country to drain, remember, as we drain England for India! From England, then, the recruits must go, or there will be no army in a very short time; and, an army will be necessary to enable the king to raise taxes for the support of the law-officers" and others. In short, look at the event which way I will, I see it full of miseries for the prince and the people of Erazil, and full of mischiefs towards ourselves. Nor is there any ground for the sons of commerce to chuckle. They can have no more trade with Brazil now than they had before; and, as far as they pay a share of the taxes, they will pay more dearly for it.I understand you, Sir Baalam; you mean to say, that the Island of Madeira will be an ample compensation for all those expences; and, if we had completely abandoned the continent, resolving in future to maintain the dominion of the sea, making that the sole theatre of our warlike undertakings, I should have no objection to the Island of Madeira, which lies in a very convenient part of the ocean, which would require but little expence, and which is abundant in excellent produce. But, you forget, Baalam, that Napoleon, who has now conquered Portugal, will make peace for Portugal as well as for France; that he is very likely to remember, that Madeira is a Portuguese colony; and, that he is also very likely to make us give it up too, yca, after we have paid, as we in all probability shall do, the amount of its supposed worth to the Portuguese government. And yet last Saturday was a proud day in the annals of

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England," and Lord Mulgrave tells the Lord Mayor that he has great satisfaction" in giving him information that the Portugusse fleet and government are got safe off; but, I have had the honour to hear his lordship speak, and after that it would ill become me to attempt to criticise his letters.

"PERISH COMMERCE."At the late Smithfield meeting of cattle showers, the following proceedings are said to have taken place The DUKE or BEDFORD, rose, and said, that we had heard much of a

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fully supplying the want of our navy, he "trusted, that as hemp is proved to be an "excellent preparation for a wheat crop, "and to interfere little with the established. system of husbandry upon strong soils, except in the growth of bears, for which "it must be substituted, that the land owners would be found ready in forwarding "the views of government, in raising this most essential article upon our own soils, by relinquishing the restrictions in their "laws, against the growth of a vegetable, "which is now proved by experience not to "exhaust the soil, more than other crops, "when not left to ripen its seed."—After this, there was read, it seems, for the benefit of the company, an essay upon the buying. and selling of Scotch Cattle, though I should have thought, that most of the persons present knew pretty well the nature of that traffic, of which England has now felt the blessed effects for somewhat better than a century.- As to "perish commerce," his Grace, the Duke of Bedford is, I should think, better skilled in Scotch Cattle, old and young, than he is in matters relating to commerce, as connected with politics; he may have experience for his guide in the former ; but, he has not, in all probability, had much experience in the latter. At any rate, if his grace means to controvert our doctrines; if he means to honour us by entering the lists of controversy with us, he should be apprized, that we shall hope to be met by something more and better than a toast. What LORD SOMERVILLE said is worthy of notice, though the meaning in the

1009] DECEMBER 26, 1807.-Necessity of Economy.-Ld. Kingston & Capt. Hay.[1010

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NECESSITY OF ECONOMY.

SIR,The nation is much indebted to you for the pains you have taken to enforce the necessity of economy and reform, and I am fully convinced, that without those of the higher ranks follow your advice, a few years only will be requisite to complete the destruction of our national prosperity. I have sometimes been mistaken in my conjectures on that event, but it is of that nature, which though a man cannot calculate to a certainty, yet he certainly cannot be far mistaken. Perhaps, as you seem to suggest, the era of our strength and glory is already past, and yet so insensibly that we do not perceive our decline, I am not of that opinion, for I think it will be sudden, rapid, and perceptible, if not speedily averted by a system of reform which shall put a stop to the rapid and devouring progress of taxation, and restore to the lower and middle ranks those comforts which were once the proud distinction of Britons. Comforts and liberties of which the people in no other nation could boast, and gave them that noble ardour in defence of their country, which was unknown even in the proud republics of Athens, Rome, and Sparta. Luxury, Mr. Cobbett, blasting, consuming luxury, will be our ruin; and if we do not soon give an example, which has never before, I believe, been given in the world, luxury will make us fall under the overwhelming power of France, and blot us out of the list of nations. The great must set an example of heroic self denial, they must give up their splendid, extravagant, and senseless pomp, or the whole nation must suffer for their obstinate-blindness; if taxes must be raised for the continuance of the war, they must be raised either by the total abolition of all useless places and pensions, or they must be raised from the fortunes of the great exclusively, for the poor and middle ranks are already ground to powder; and if the rich have not prudence, or foresight, or virtue enough to make great sacrifices of luxury to safety, we must all suffer together, but woe

be to them who might have saved us and would not. It will be to no purpose then that they raise the cry of "jacobins and levellers," for it will avail them nothing. It is to that senseless cry that we shall owe much of our misery, for if they had not deceived and imposed upon the middle ranks, with such a miserable bugbear, they would sooner have seen their true interest, and been more unanimous in their demand of reform.Among a certain rank it is now deemed impossible for a dozen people to meet together in friendly social converse; nothing under two, three, four, or five hundred, nay, sometimes a thousand people can be seen in what is called a fashionable party; and what is the consequence of this? Two or three of these parties in a year, with other proportionable expences, consume the most princely incomes in a few weeks; and to support this extravagance, they who aim at it, and many do aim at it, who have very small pretensions, they must eke out a moderate income by selling themselves to a minister, who provides for them and their families out of the public purse, and thus helps forward the work of taxation and corruption, which is consuming the very vitals of the state, and undermining a constitution which was once the envy and admiration of Europe. It is a difficult thing to renovate a worn out constitution. But, thank heaven, the body politic is not altogether like the natural body, and what in one case is impossible, in the other is only improbable; as to the means of accomplishing this great undertaking, perhaps at some future period I will endeavour to give my humble opinion, for the present, I remain, &c -W. BURDON.- -Hartford near Morpeth, June 23, 1807.

LORD KINGSTON AND CAPTAIN HAY.

(Extracted from the Courier Newspaper J On the 17th Nov. 1807, in the Court of King's Bench, the Attorney General moved to make the rule absolute for a criminal information against Capt. Philip Hay, of the 18th light dragoons, for giving challenge to Lord Kingston. Mr. Park, this day, shewed cause against making the rule absolute. The charge made against the defendant was that of giving a challenge to the prosecutor. The affidavits upon which the application was made stated, that in the year 1798, Lord Kings ton was colonel of the North Cork Militia, and was proceeding to Wexford to oppose the rebels, when he was taken. He there saw the defendant, who appeared to him to act as a commander of the insurgents, and in this opinion he was confirmed by their leader, Gen. Keoh, who said he had deserted

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