"safer and surer means of going to work; fore us a letter from Holland by the last mail, means, at the same time, sufficiently quick containing the following remark" The au "to satisy any ordinary ambition: she has no- "ditional taxes, occasioned by the loan, are at "thing to do but to trust to the progress of her own "present 8 per centum on the capital and 7 "power in peace, quickened, as often as she shall" per centum on the income, which may be • see occasion, by a smart threat of war. I cannot computed, in all, at 17 per centum upon the "conceive the object, which a judicious ap-" income!" "plication of these two means is not calculat- Malta will, we believe, be given up in a "ed to obtain. A peace, such as France has now short time. The pretended guarantee, which "made, mixed with proper proportions of a season-our ministers will affect to have obtained from "able menace of war, is a specific, for undoing Russia, is, in fact and in truth, a mandate on a rival country, which seems to me impos-the part of that power, conjointly with France, "sible to fail." (Speech on the Preliminaries, Nov. that we should fulfil the treaty of Amiens! This 4, 1801.This is now fulfilled to the very is the valuable guarantee, which they are about letter. France does trust to her power in peace to obtain from Russia.-In their demi-official (and a fearful progress she is making); she journal of the 30th of October last, they asdoes quicken it, now and then, with a smart sured the public, that they would retain threat of war; and she is going on towards the their hands a compensation for the recent agaccomplishment of our ruin even faster than grandizement of France: "If the Chief ConMr. Windham himself could have supposed:" sul," said they," annexes Piedmont to the she is going on to take country after country" republic, let us keep Malta-if he interferes under her protection, she is drawing her bat-" in the affairs of Holland, let us keep the Cape, talions round all our colonies, posting them" Demarara, and Essequibo."-Well; he has at every entrance and out-let, and the mo- annexed Piedmont to the republic; he has inment we dare to look at her (for the ministers terfered, and he does interfere, in the affairs of profess to do no more), she gives us a smart Holland: but Malta is to be given up, as the slap on the cheek through the means of the Cape and Demarara and Essequibo already are. Moniteur; she depreciates our funds, and—It is not, however, that the ministers have, threatens us with further and more serious since that time, changed their opinion of the chastisement.-And, what say the ministers views of Buonaparté, but that he has changed to all this? It is evident, that, though the his opiniou of them, and has, since they pubchief load of the abuse is poured out on Lords lished the above quoted words, publickly deGrenville and Minto, and Mr. Windham, the clared approbation of them, and deprecated the blow and the threat are, in this last instance, views of those who wished to remove them from aimed at the present ministers, the speech of their places. We beg our readers to pay atone of whom [Lord Pelham] furnishes the tention to this circumstance; it is the clue to text. What, therefore, do they say to all all their conduct. 66 this? Hear, reader, and blush at being under The speech (see p. 12) of Buonaparte to the their rule:-"The character of Madame Buo-Swiss deputies, or rather to those creatures "naparte has been much misrepresented. She who are called the Swiss deputies, being a tis" is a lady of plain and unaffected manners, sue of falsehoods, contradictions, and nonsense, extremely civil and attentive, and at all well seasoned with bombast and arrogance, it "times desirous of making every body about is, in every respect worthy of its author. If "her happy and contented."-This, this base, he be really convinced, that one government this crawling paragraph, was inserted in that only is not suitable for Switzerland, why has very number of their demi-official gazette, he forced Switzerland to submit to one governwhich contained the hostile manifesto of the ment only? And, why should not the descendMoniteur, on which manifesto pot one word ants of William Tell wear chains and pay of disapprobation was bestowed! But, mark taxes? Ought their neighbours to supply all well, that it was the sentiment of Lord Pelham, their wants? By what decree of heaven is it, and not of the Addingtons and Hawkesburies, that all those who have not the honour of dethat the Moniteur, had censured; and we scending from William Tell, are to pay tri-. must desire our readers not to be astonished, bute and wear chains?-But, we must postif that nobleman should not long remain a pone any further comments on the nonsense of -mongst "the safe politicians." the Consul, till another, opportunity, only re Having bestowed so much of our room on questing our readers to observe, that, on this, this subject, we shall be compelled to postpone as well as all other occasions, Buonaparté has what we intended to say on some others, and not failed to speak most despightfully and into be very concise as to the rest. The public sultingly of England, all connexion with which papers have stated, that the Dutch have refused he absolutely and peremptorily forbids, under to make the loan required by France. This, pain of the severest chastisement. He dewe believe, is not so: on the contrary, we have every reason to suppose, that the loan has ac tually been concluded on, as we have now be scribes us as a nation "hostile to France," and, as a proof of this hostility, he alludes to the attempt, or rather the alledged attempt, of our poor ministers to renew, or rather to con- persons of that corps, but a long string of abuse tinue, our old connection with the Swiss ! on the writer of LUTZ's narrative, and a poor On domestic matters we have no room to pettifogging criticism on the testimony of insert the observations, which several trans-Corporal Schmid. The statement of the Sinactions appear to call for: we cannot, how- clairs is repeated and insisted on, and so is that ever, refrain from saying a word or two on the of Ker Porter of Panorama notoriety; and the transmigrations and re-transmigrations of that writer, who signs himself" À RETIRED OFFIkeen, that wise statesman, that flower of CER," calls upon the Attorney-General to do the "THE family," Mr. J. Hiley Addington, rest by prosecuting me for a libel on the Highwho, after bobbing up and down, and back-landers!!!-And is this all that can be said (ward and forward, like a Will o'the Wisp, and done against the cause of LUTZ? Is this after being shoved to and fro like the bolt all that Edinbro, with the 42d regiment in its of a door, seems, at last, to be settled, for a belly, can bring forth? I do not know, that I little while, at least, at the Pay office, upon should not be justified in imputing this publiabout two thousand pounds a year; and most cation to the 42d regiment, and in treating heartily do we congratulate our readers on the them accordingly; it is published in the same event; for, as we before stated, we really be place where they are; it is immediately regan to apprehend, that "the family" had published in London by HERIOT, the same fixed its rapacious eyes on the bishoprick of Scotchman who published the proceedings of Durham. The church has had a narrow the Highland Society. These circumstances escape! are strong. I will, however, suspend my reIt is now, we are told, decided, that Mr. Ad-ply for a little while longer: a fortnight more dington is to come down, after the recess, and will, I think, be quite sufficient time for the propose a grant of £.200,000 to the Stadtholder! 42d regiment to disclaim the pretensions set up With what face the ministry will do this, with-by Sinclair, and for the Highland Society to out explaining to the country, how this ex- correct the error, which they have been the pense comes to fall upon it, at last, we know means of promulgating. not; but, for braving out such a transaction, there is, perhaps, nothing like your modest, con.scientious, well-meaning man, one of these, with "TYRO'S" Letter on Malta, for which we are his hand upon his heart, in a tone and attitude much obliged to him, shall appear in our next.-" A half theatrical and half methodistical, will, FREEHOLDER'S" third letter shall also appear in our without a blush, utter what any other of God's next, it possible.-F. F's excellent remarks, on the navy bill, and other matters connected therewith, we creatures would be ashamed but to think.. postpone for a week, but not without great reluc Another blow, another cup of humiliation,ftance."DETECTOR's" observations on Mr. Addingis at hand, to convince his Majesty of the fatal ton's vain boasting were prepared for insertion, but effects of submitting to the counsels of a mi-there was not, as he will perceive, sufficient room for so long an article, however excellent the matter. nistry without birth, public character, or taIn truth, long essays must, of necessity, be frequently lents. This blow, of which the ministers thempostponed for several weeks, in waiting for a conve selves are not, perhaps, yet informed, is no nient opportunity.-Jos. F. F.'s and also F. L.'s noless than a seizure (as part of the indemnities) tices respecting Serjeant Sinclair and the standard, of the dominions which come to the elector of Ha- we shall endeavour to profit from. That subject benover at the death of the Margrave of Anspach, shame and disgrace, must fall somewhere.-T. B. on comes daily of more importance. Shame, lasting while those of that prince's dominions, which fall the Post-Office, has our thanks. He and the public to the lot of Prussia, remain untouched. And may rest assured, that we shall, very shortly, bring will not the blood of the Addingtons mutiny that subject forward in a way that shall command atat this? Will they, whose dominions have tention from those, whose duty it is to afford redress. been so greatly augmented by their gracious those, whose "loyalty" and whose "piety" consist We most heartily despise the interested advice of sovereign, they who have, indeed, got part of solely in fattening themselves and their relations his own royal domains, will they tamely suffer upon the plunder of the country. We grudge no him to be robbed of his German territories, of man the recompense, or the bounty, which his mehis hereditary possessions? rits, his services, or his birth, may entitle him to; but one cannot contentedly see the public moWe regret, that want of room prevents usney squandered on creatures of yesterday, possessfrom pursuing this subject. POSTSCRIPT. * * On the subject of the INVINCIBLE STAND AND I must, without further delay, trouble the reader with a few words-A publication has appeared, at Edinburgh (where the 42d regiment now is), containing, not any evidence gathered from the officers or any other TO CORRESPONDENTS. "A LOVER OF ing no one earthly qualification, except such as a man Printed by Cox and Baylis, No. 75, Great Queen Street, and published by R. Bagshaw, Bow Street, Covent London, Saturday, 15th January, 1803. VOL. 3. No. 2.] 33] TO WILLIAM WILBERFORCE, ESQ. SIR,-Having, in my last letter (Vol. II. p. 745), shown, that the mere circumstance of not having been in office (even supposing you fit for office) and of not having received a title, is, in itself, no proof, nor even presumption, in favour of that "bonesty," that "uprightness," those "pure intentions," or that wonderful" disinterestedness," of which you make so ostentatious a display, and of which a stranger to English patriotism would really think you to be the exclusive possessor; having shown, that, even from your own declarations, it is evident, that the principal object of your ambition, is, to preserve your seat for the county of York, to continue to be the representative of "a lit"tle kingdom;" having, as I think, established these points, it remains for me to inquire, whether the means, by which you have hitherto secured this object, have not, through the weakness and credulity of others, largely contributed towards the adop. tion of those measures, which, in their several ways and degrees, have finally produced our present embarrassment and disgrace. In this inquiry, it is not my intention to follow you through all the little windings and turnings of your political life, to hunt out those temporary errors and follies, of which, probably, you have long ago repented; but, to confine myself to the principal of those public subjects, in which I recollect you to have acted a conspicuous part, and with respect to which you have persevered, in opposition to the dictates of reason, of experience, and of public good. These subjects are: 1. Parliamentary Reform; 2. The Persecution of Mr. Reeves; 3. The Slave Trade; 4. The Projects respecting Tithes, &c. 5. The Regicide Peace; 6. Continental Connexions. On all these most momentous questions, either your influence prevailed over Mr. Pitt, or Mr. Pitt, unfortunately for him and for his country, happened to agree with you in opinion; and, I think, it must now evidently appear, that, though you greatly assisted him in breaking down, or rather in undermining the high, the anti-commercial, the anti-financial spi [34 rit of the country, he has, at last, paid most dearly for that assistance. 1. With Parliamentary Reform upon your, lips you came into public life. At an age hardly ripe enough for the management of any considerable private concern; with not a single grain of experience in public affairs; with very little knowledge of men, and none of nations; with talents, which, in spite of twenty years cultivation, still remain far, very far indeed, beneath mediocrity; with an inordinate thirst for sway, and with an abundant stock of that presumption of which a conceit of extraordinary purity is at once the cause and the effect: thus equipped, you, all at once, started forth, a puritan in religion and in law, a reformer of the church and the parliament.-Of the clamours for parliamentary reform, first begun. by you and your associates, how numerous and how great have been the evils! No small portion of all the discontents and dangers, which have existed, and which, in some degree, do still exist, both in England. and Ireland, arose from the doctrines inculcated by the parliamentary reformers, whose wild notions, whose incoherent plans, and whose nonsensical phrases even, were adopted by all those seditious and treasonable combinations, which, at one time, threatened the existence of the monarchy, and which were not suppressed, without measures, the necessity of which every friend of true freedom must have lamented and must still lament. That the success of the rebels in France operated as a powerful encouragement to those of this country there can be no doubt; without the heart-cheering example. of the former, it is probable, indeed, that the latter would never have attempted to form a "British Convention;" but, without the pretext, furnished by the parliamentary reformers, by you and your coadjutors, by the Wyvills, the Beaufoys, and the rest of those, who, under the garb of meekness, aspired to controul, and who actually did... controul and overpower, the mind of Mr. Pitt, without that pretext there would have been no assemblies of delegates, none of those affiliated societies, out of which the justly dreaded British convention arose. To 35] COBBETT'S WEEKLY POLITICAL REGISTER. [36 you and your associates of 1782 and 1785 binet, aided by the advice of the Lord Chanwe trace not only the pretext, generally, of cellor and the other law officers of the the corresponding societies, the societies of crown, would have instituted the prosecuUnited Irishmen, &c. &c. but also the lead-tion against Tooke, had they not been fully ing principles, upon which these societies proceeded, and even the precedent, as to manner and form, by which they were organized and in which their seditious efforts were conducted. That the "well-meaning men" of 1782 and 1785, did not wish to destroy both king and parliament, I am ready to allow; but, that they did, by their "Quintuple alliance," by their "Con"vention of Delegates," by their resolutions to obtain the sense of the people "in their different parishes or smaller districts," by their repeated inflammatory declarations and addresses; that the "safe politicians" did, by these means, chalk out the plan, and even lay the foundation, of that monument of human wisdom," which the British convention were about to raise, is a fact, the truth of which, I am certain, no man of sincerity will attempt to deny. But, indeed, this point has been judicially decided. Horne Tooke, who was prosecuted for high treason, rested his defence, principally, upon the fact, that the Society, of which he was accused of being the leader, had in view, no other object, than that which had been pursued by you and your coadjutors; the judge, in summing up the evidence, after a six days trial, declared, that the contrary bad not been made out. LORD CHIEF JUSTICE EYRE, after stating that the London Corresponding Society was instituted in 1792, professedly for the purpose of obtaining a Parliamentary Reform, on the plan of the reformers of 1782 and 1785, proceeds thus :-"I think the "evidence is so; and, though a great deal "of violence very soon followed, which might have led me to question the truth of "their original principles, yet I think it ought to be taken, that that Society was "instituted upon those principles; unless one could have distinctly seen, in the evi"dence, to the very bottom of the foun"dation of that Society, and seen that it "was formed for the purpose of acting "under a secret influence and direction to some other end, using a Reform of Par"liament as a colour only. I think there was some attempt to make this out; but "it seems to me, that they did not go far enough to maintain that proposition." As soon as the judge had closed, the jury acquitted the prisoner.- Here, then, Sir, we have a complete commentary on your wisdóm as a reformer of the state. It can hardly be supposed, that his Majesty's Ca satisfied as to the nature of the crime laid to with a navy diminished by more than an half, and with a proportionate decrease of business in the naval departments, that we were to hear that the boards of Admiralty and navy were inadequate from their great press of business, to enter into the examina tion of frauds committed in their particular departments, of which they only are the proper and immediate judges, and to cor rect which, is one of the peculiar and im portant ends of their appointment. In a legal point of view the bill is equally objectionable. Our best and most constitu tional lawyers have ever deprecated the extension and increase of oaths in all legal proceedings,, as being very injurious in a moral point of view, and tending to familiarize men to an appeal, which only ought to be resorted to in the most solemn and important occasions. Hence one great ob for them, have possibly been led to ascertain the probable extent of the expense occasioned by those internal troubles, which arose from the combinations grounded on your project of reform, and which expense will not, I imagine, be found to amount to less than fifty of those millions, which, since the year 1792, have been added to the burdens of the nation. Indeed, if we include the expenses of the numerous armed associations, called forth by these domestic dangers, the loss of labour occasioned thereby, and the emigration of artisans from his Majesty's dominions, owing to the same cause, not five times fifty millions would repair the national injury, which has arisen from an attempt to carry your principles of reform to their full and natural result. And, shall we, Sir, after this, silently admit your almost exclusive claim to public economy and political prudence? Shall we tamely hear you repeatjection to the excise laws, customs, &c. But your insinuations of indiscretion and madness against those, who wish to rouze the nation to a sense of that danger, into which you and your prudent associates have 'plunged it, but who never, like you, were so indiscreet or so mad as, by their conduct, to furnish a justification for persons accused of high treason? Shall we, after this, submit to the unbearable insult of being told, that you and your associates are the only prudent men, the only “safe politicians?" * * * * Want of room compels me to postpone the other points 'till another opportunity.-I am, in the mean time, your's, &c. &e. * * London, 12th Jan. 1802. W. COEBETT. ON THE NAVY BILL. SIR,-At a time when the greatest caution ought to be observed in the conducting of public affairs, both with respect to conomy and legality, this bill sets both at nought. The Lords of the Admiralty, and the Commissioners of the Navy have full and exclusive powers to enquire into and remedy any and every abuse that does exist in the dock-yards. During a war, in which the - unexampled exertions of the country equipped a navy unheard of in former times, consisting of upwards of 600 ships in commission, the admiralty departments under the late administration, clogged as they were by the two mutinies, and other circumstances of great and peculiar difficulty, were conducted in a manner that reflects the highest honour on them. There were no complaints on the parts of the coinmissioners of their inability to do their duty, on account of their multifarious occupations. It was reserved for the present period of peace, this bill proceeds farther, it gives power to certain commissioners to tender oaths to the party accused, in order to convict themselves, in direct opposition to the well known adage of common law, nemo tenetur seipsum accusare. Some years ago three commissioners were appointed to audit the public accounts, to enquire into all abuses, to represent them, and point out such remedies as should appear to them best adapted for the purpose; they accordingly visited the several dock-yards, and amongst the rest Portsmouth, where they staid nearly two months, made the strictest and most minute enquiries into every thing concerning them, examined every person in and out of them that could furnish them with any informa tion, inspected every document, paper, book, and account that could throw any light on a subject so interesting to the public as the administration of the dock-yards Every abuse existed then that exists now, no alteration or check whatever having been interposed to restrain them, and the commissioners having made their report, the matter has laid dormant from that time; (which was previously to the year 1790 to the present,) except indeed, that two more commissioners have been added to the three, making the number of such commissioners for auditing and examining the public accounts, five. The Admiralty Board consists of 7 commissioners, the Navy Board of a comptroller, deputy comptroller, two surveyors, and six commissioners in London, and four resident commissioners at the four principal dock-yards, making 21 comumissioners for conducting this branch of the public service, certainly of the greatest con |