VOL. 3. No. 1. ] · London, Saturday, 8th January, 1803. [ Price 10p. CONTENTS. To the Pub. V. Invine. Stand. 2. Paine's Lett. 3. Extr. from Monit. 6. Sardinia 9. Note Swed. Min. 9. Prot, of Bail Ploen, 10. Tunis, 10. Constan. Petersh. Genoa, Berne, 11. Berlin, Ratisbar, 12. Paris, 13. Buon. 20 the Helv. Dep. 14 Gen. Ord. 15. Army, 16. Navy, 17. Sum. Pol. 18. Monit. 18. Malm, 28. Swiss, 28. H. Ad dington, 31. Stadt. 31. Invin. Stand. 31. purchasers of paper and print; but I cannot refrain from pointing out, on this occasion, that every sheet of the Register will now contain as much matter as a pamphlet of 90 pages, printed in the usual way; the former sells (exclusive of the stamp) for about seven pence, while the latter sells for three shillings. London, Jan. 1, 1803. WM. COBBETT. INVINCIBLE STANDARD.. In presenting to the public this first Number of my Third Volume, I think it not improper just to state what has been the success 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 fiftytwo Numbers have been published, is, I believe, an instance of success, unparalleled in the history of periodical publications.-The Since my last, (See Vol. II. p. 865.) the Register is formed into two volumes in a year, two following articles, relative to this subject, one ending on the 30th of June, and the have appeared in the True Briton. They are other on the 31st of December, each volume inserted here, 1st. for the purpose of easy rehaving a Supplement containing rather more ference, when I come to reply to all that has matter, in point of bulk, than the Numbers of which the volume is composed, together LUTZ; and secondly, to show my readers, how been, or shall be, set up against the claim of with a Title and a copious Index. The first little, how very liule, what poor miserable volume has been re-published, and the edition tricks, the opponents of that brave soldier is already nearly sold off. The Supplement condescend to have recourse to. 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 ar ticles, A Complete Collection of all the Debates" on the Preliminary and Definitive Treaties, also of the Parliamentary Papers for the whole of the Last Session, including the very interesting PaNo doubt they have authority "to contradict" pers relative to India Affairs, and A Complete any thing that they do not like. But who is Collection of all the Debates during the present this officer? What is his rank? and what is Session of Parliament, up to the Christmas re- his name? Why does he not put that to the cess.. The other articles are too. numerous to contradictions, as I did my name to the narbe specified in this place; but, I trust, that rative? "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 engagement in which the Standard of the French Invincibles was taken, pers, that it was taken by one Lurz, a French "to contradict the report circulated in the English paenigrant, a private in the Queen's German reg. The Invincibles were all taken, killed, or destroy ed, by the 42d reg. a full quarter of an hour be "fore the Queen's reg, came up-Glasgow Herald and Advertiser.)-True Briton, 4th Jan, 1802. The glorious circumstance of the capture of this "standard has of late become much the subject of dis"cussion in the public papers, from unauthenticated the two volumes will be found to form A Po-1 66 litical Register for the Year 1802, as complete as it is possible to make a work of that kind, and much more so than any thing heretofore statements, ignorant assertions,or wilfully malicious représenoffered to the Public. My eyes have been "tations, It has been positively demed, that Serjeant "Sinclair, of the 42d reg, took the Invincible Standconstantly and steadily fixed on the passing ard. No fact can be more certain. Such has political transactions and events, and, taking" been the statement, not only of the officers of the the contents of the Numbers and the Supple-42d, but of every officer who served in the glorious ment together, I have, I am persuaded, omit"campaign in Egypt. In addition to a mass of verbal testimony, we have now that of a most ted nothing worthy of being preserved or regallant and respectable officer, who himself was membered. present in all the battles in Egypt, and who desascribes them in a work just published, entitled, ་་ A History of the Britishi Expedition to Egypt, "&c." That officer is Sir Robert Thomas Wilson, "Lieut -col. of cavalry, and knight of the imperial military order of Maria Theresa. After describ ing, with the greatest spirit and perspicuity, the battle of the zest of March, he says," In this battle the French standard was taken. Serjeant I have, in this third volume, begun with paper somewhat larger than heretofore, but which will, when bound, make a volume of the same size as the two former ones. By this addition to the size of the paper, Iam en abled to add to the letter-press as much as will, upon the whole sheet, make an augmen tation of not less than three columns. —I dous not like to speak to my tenders be to mere Sinclair, of the 42d reg. and a private of the Minow, whose name unfortunately cannot Dow be acquired, this we presume to be LETZ), claimed equally the trophy, and it appears" cessary for him to procure a repeal of those that each merited the honour; Serjeant Sinclair laws; or his friend may (if disposed to purfirst took it, but being ordered forwards are his useful labours,' as Mr. Jefferson "officer, he gave it to a private who was killed. When The Minorca advanced, the French had reccoered the calls them) in this state be checked in his colours; but the private wrested them from the infamous career. Instead of friendship and man who had possession, and then bayoneted honours, for the first offence he would be "him."After this clear and convincing testi- bored through the tongue, and fined £20. mony, we think no doubt can remain upon the mindsterl.: for the second offence he would be of any candid individual with regard to the truth of Serjeant Sinclair's narrative, or the motives of those" branded in the forehead with the letter B, who would wish to rob him of an honour which is" and fined £ 40 sterl.; and for the third of so justly his due. We are far from desiring to defence suffer death. And yet the very man tract from the merit of LUTZ, in recovering the co-who has done what in this state would sublours after they had been re-taken; but in doing jus tice to one brave man, it is equally unjust and un"ject him to such ignominious punishment, justifiable to calumniate another.-T. Brit. 5th Jan, "who has blasphemed his God, and endea The readers of the Register will remember," voured to destroy every vestige of Christithat I noticed this error (Vol. II. p. 821) of" anity, he is the man whom the President of Sir Robert Wilson, which arose, I presume, "the United States has invited to this counfrom nearly the same causes as the error and try, and publicly meets on terms of inticonsequent mistatement of the Highland So-"macy and friendship Such, people of Maciety.I shall, after a reasonable time has been" ryland, is the respect paid by your Presiallowed to that Society, for explanation, re" dent to your laws and your religion !" sume the subject at large; in the mean time, I To the Citizens of the United States. beg the reader to compare Sir Robert Wilson's LETTER THE FIRST.-After an absence of almost account with Serjeant Sinclair's narrative, pub-13 years, I am again returned to the country in whose lished in the proceedings of the Highland So- dangers I bore MY share, and for whose greatness ciety, (Vol. II. p. 806.) Such a comparison contributed MY part.-When I sailed for Europe in will at once prove how far the above article the spring of 1787, it was MY intention to return to will operate to the prejudice of LUTZ's claim, or rather of my claim in behalf of Lurz. Paine's Letter to the People of the United States upon his arrival in that Country. esteem of MY friends, and the repose I was entitled América the next year, and enjoy, in retirement, the 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 to germinate when I arrived in France. The principles of it were good; they were copied 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 scaffold. Of those 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 publish- who began that revolution I am almost the only sur ed a letter, by way of recommencement of vivor, and that through a thousand dangers. I owe his labours in the cause of rebellion and blas-this, not to the prayers of priests, nor to the piety of phemy. We here insert it, not as a curiosity, hypocrites, but to the continued protection of Provibut as a criterion whereby to judge of the no- dence-But while I beheld with pleasure the dawn of tions and principles of the party, of which, of it fading in America. In less than two years from fiberty rising in Europe, I saw, with regret, the lustre debased as he is, we doubt not he will become the time of MY departure, some distant symptoms a principal organ. That there are, however, painfully suggested the idea that the principles of the people in America who think of this miscre-evolution were expiring on the soil that produced ant as he deserves, our readers will perceive literary correspondent, and in MY answer to her l'exby the introduction to his letter; which intro-pressed MY fears on that head in the following penduction we here insert, and which is taken sive soliloquy. You touch me on a very tender from a Maryland village news-paper. “point when you say that my friends on your side "the water cannot be reconciled to the idea of aban them. I received at that time a letter from a female "There is no man known in the U. States, doning America even for my native England. They "who has blasphemed so openly and wicked" are in the right. I had rather see my horse Button 66 as Tom Paine. The Christian would shud-eating the grass of Bordentown or Morissana,than see "der at hearing his expressions repeated." all the pomp and shew of Europe.-A 100 years "This man has been selected by the Presi hence, for Imust indulge a few thoughts, perhaps in "dent, as his most favoured friend. He has cence of her character, that won the hearts of all "less, America may be what Europe now is. The inno"not taken so much pains to procure a meet-nations in her favour, may sound like a romance, "ing with any other person. Is this done for "the purpose of insulting the American people, by publicly shewing how much he de"spises their religious opinions? Or is it done "for the purpose of using him as an instru "ment 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 re AIMBORLIAD 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 exshionable of that day, enveloped in dissipation, tort a sigh from rustic sensibility; whilst the fashall deride the principle, and deny the fact. "When we patemplate 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 monuments, lofty pyramids, and walls and towers "of the most costly workmanship; but when the ment it gives to the improvement and prosperity of the "empire of America shall fall, the subject for con-country, and who acting on their own judgment never "templative sorrow will be infinitely greater than come forward in an election, but on some great occa "crumbling brass or marble can inspire. It will sion. When this body moves, all the little barkings "not then be said, here stood a temple of vast anti-of scribbling and witless curs pass for nothing. To "quity, here rose a Babel of invisible height, or say to this independent description of men you must "there a palace of sumptuous extravagance; but, turn out such or such persons at the next election, for they "here! ah painful thought! the noblest work of have taken off a great many taxes, and lessened the expences "human wisdom, the grandest scene of human glory, of government; they have dismissed my son, or my brother, "the fair cause of freedom ROSE and FELL. Read or myself, from a lucrative office in which there was nothing this, and then ask if I forget America."-I now to do, is to shew the cloven foot of faction, and preach KNOW, from the information I obtain upon the the language of ill-disguised mortification. In every spot, that the impressions that distressed MR, for I part of the Union this faction is in the agonies of was proud of America, were but too well founded. death, and in proportion as its fate approaches, it She was turning her back on her own glory, and gnashes its teeth, and struggles. MY arrival has making hasty strides in the retrogade path of obli-struck it with a hydrophobia; it is like the sight of vion. But a spark from the altar of SEVENTY-SIX, water to canine madness. unextinguished and unextinguishable throughout that As this letter is intended to announce MY arrival long night of error, is again lighting up in every part to MY friends, and to MY enemies, if I have any, of the Union, the genuine flame of rational liberty.for I ought to have none in America, and as introAs the French revolution advanced, it fixed the ductory to others that will occasionally follow," I attention of the world, and drew from the pensioned shall close it by declaring the line of conduct 1 shall pen of Edmund Burke a furious attack. This brought pursue.-I have no occasion to ask, and do not inME once more on the public theatre of politics, tend to accept, any place or office in the governand occasioned the pamphlet, RIGHTS OF MAN, ment. There is none it could give ME that would It had the greatest run of any work ever published be any ways equal to the profits I could make as an in the English language. The number of copies cir-author, for I have an established fame in the liteculated in England, Scotland, and Ireland, besides rary world, could I reconcile it to MY principles' to translations into foreign languages, were between make money by politics or RELIGION. I must be four and five hundred thousand. The principles of in every thing what I ever have been, a disinterested. that work were the same as those of Common Sense, volunteer. MY proper sphere of action is on the and the effect would have been the same in England, common floor of citizenship, and to honest men I as it has been in America, could the vote of the na- give MY hand and MY_heart freely.—I have some tion have been quietly taken,or had equal opportunities manuscript works to publish, of which I shall give consulting or acting existed. The only difference be- proper notice: and some mechanical affairs to bring tween the two works, was, that the one was adapted forward that will employ all MY leisure time. I to the local circumstances of England, and the other shall continue these letters as I see occasion, and as to those of America. As to MYSELF, I acted in to the low party prints that choose to abuse ME, both cases alike; I relinquished to the people of En- they are welcome. I shall not descend to answer gland, as Thad done to those of America, all profits them. I have been too much accustomed to such from the work. MY reward existed in the ambition common stuff to take any notice of it. The govern to do good, and in the independent happiness of my ment of England honoured ME with a thousand own mind. But a faction, acting in disguise, was martyrdoms by burning ME in effigy in every town rising in America, that had lost sight of first princi-ia that country, and their hirelings in America may ples. They were beginning to contemplate govern- do the same. ment as a profitable monopoly, and the people as hereditary property. It is therefore no wonder that THOMAS PAINE. City of Washington, Nov. 12, 1802. the Rights of Man was attacked by that faction, and Extract from the French Official Gazette, the its author continually abused. But let them go on; Moniteur, dated January 1, 1893. give them rope enough, and they will put an end to their own insignificance. There is too much com ness of the papers called federal (and I know not why 66 Lord Pelham, a Minister of the King of mon sense and independence in America to be long, England, made use of these words in the the dupe of any faction, foreign or domestic.-But, House of Peers: Lord Grenville was in the midst of the freedom we enjoy, the licentiouswrong in saying, that we wish to isolate they are called so, for they are in their principles an "ourselves. Our intention is to profit, by ti-federal and despotic) are a dishonour to the cha" every opportunity that may occur on the racter of the country, and an injury to its reputa-"Continent, to contribute to the safety of tion and importance abroad. They represent the« our country."-This reveals to us the secret whole people of America as destitute of public prin- of what we have already seen, and it will be ciple and private manners. As to any injury they can do at home to those whom they abuse, or ser- proper to recollect it in the events which may vice they can render to those who employ them, it is succeed.-When we learn that a swarm of to be set down to the account of noisy nothingness. Secret Agents, under the orders of Drake, It is on themselves the disgrace recoils; for the re- Wickham, &c. inundate Germany and Italy, flection easily represents itself to every thinking mind, that those who abuse liberty when they possess it, we may presage that the prophecy of Lord would abuse power could they obtain it; and therefore Pelham is realized, and that the Continent is they may as well take as a general motto for all such menaced with a crisis. Birds of evil augury, papers, WE AND OUR PATRONS ARE NOT they will bear every where the signal of carFIT TO BE TRUSTED WITH POWER.-There is in America, more than in any other country, a nage and devastation. If war is a scourge large body of people who attend quietly to their more terrible for mankind than famine, pestifarms, or follow their several occupations, who pay lence, or drought, what profound perversity no regard to the clamours of anonymous scribblers, must have rendered insensible to all the sentiwho think for themselves, and judge of government, ments of nature, Grenville, Windham, and not by the fury of newspaper writers, but by the prudent frugality of its measures, and the encourage. Minto-They have endeavoured for several 66 months to disturb Holland, Switzerland, and of demanding a just satisfaction ?-At the same it their retirement, in the Parliament of England.— Another law not less wise, would be, that every member who insulted a people and a friendly power, should be condemned to two years silence. When the tongue offends, the. tongue should be punished. To conclude, it |