who was attending the drill, then took a file should be made in order to obtain the release of men, seized the offender, and lodged of their comrade. In the evening of the him in a store-house not far off; but, when same day, a body of the volunteers, about the drill was over, the men went in a body 400 in number, suddenly assembled, in their to the store-house, and swore they would regimentals, and with side arms, marched instantly pull it down, unless their comrade immediately to the Northgate, and demandwas released. This had its desired effect; ed the man, who had been lodged there by and thus ended this instance of volunteer do- the press-gang. On receiving a refusal, cility! No wonder that Mr. Pitt, if it be they were proceeding to attack the jail, when really true that be means to rival Buonaparté one of their officers, Major Wilmot, (a genin arms, should wish for a more efficient tleman who had served long in the regulars) "code" for the government of his legions. came up, in his regimentals, and, after urgWhether the measures which he proposed, ing them in vain to desist, declared, that he at the opening of parliament,, would be ade- would put the first of them to death that atquate to the object, the public may, proba- tempted to force the jail; upon which he bly, be able to form some judgment, when was immediately seized by the volunteers, they are told, that the battalion, in which who pinnioned his arms, some of them callthis most impudent and mutinous conducting out, at the same time, "down with took place, has at its head a Field Officer from "him" and others break his sword over the regular service! Who can behold all "his head!" By the assistance of some this without thinking of the effect, which friends, he was rescued from them unhurt. it is calculated to produce on the minds of They then turned their fury against the jail, the army? And here we see the evil of the windows of which they first forced in, dressing the volunteers in regimentals; this and then the door; upon which the jailor, in gives them the appearance of soldiers; and, order to secure the rest of the prisoners, gave when they are perceived to be disobedient, up the man in question, who, by his rescuers to absent themselves, to abuse their officers, was chaired through all the principal streets and to mutiny by whole corps, what ground of the city, amidst shouts of exultation and hve we to hope, that the army will not triumph! follow their example? Yes, we have ground, and, I trust, ground that will never fail us; the excellent character, the high spirit, the true soldier-like pride of the army, that pride which must necessarily make the soldiers look with contempt on the scenes of disorder, disobedience, and confusion, which shey, but too often, witness amongst the volunteers. What a lamentable state! What a melancholy reflection ! That, to the zeal, the patriotism, the loyalty, to all the public virtues of the people, such a direction should have been given, as to make even themselves hope, that the army will not be injured by their example !--But, the most alarming symptom of all is, that, in several instances, particularly in the one I am now about to mention, the effects of the volunteer system has been, an open and daring defiance of the laws and the magistracy. At Chester, on the morning of the 28th of December, a press gang, stationed in that city, took up a seaman, who proved to belong to the Chester Volunteer Infantry; and, in consequence of the threats of some of the corps to rescue him, he was lodged in the Northgate jail. The volunteers, soon after, paraded for exercise, and on their parade repeated their threats of rescue, for which they were reprimanded by the commanding officer; but were, at the same time, assured; that every proper effort The naval rendezvous house was the next object of attack. At their approach the press-gang retired; but, leaving their colours, the volunteers tore them from their staff, and dragged them in the kennel, after having destroyed the windows, doors, &c. of the house! Lieutenant Colonel Cuyler, the Inspecting Field Officer of the volunteers in the district, sent to and called upon, the mayor and magistrates to use their authority; but, what were they to do against such a number of armed men? All they could do, was what they did, to wit, to send a very civil note to Lieutenant Burchell, earnestly requesting him to take his gang out of Chester, as it was not in the power of the magistrates to afford them protection against the volunteers, 'till troops should arrive in the city. The magistrates, at the same time, sent off an express to His Royal Highness Prince William of Gloucester, who commands the district, stating that the safety of the city could not be answered for, unless he sent a strong detachment of troops; in consequence of which application, four. companies of the Shropshire Supplementary Militia were immediately marched in from Liverpool, and, at the end of some days, peace was restored.- And, is it already come to this? Is this the sort of force which is to enable us to hurl back the threats of "the enemy?" Are these the troops, whose gay and lofty plumes, in Hyde Park, sø completely eclipsed the poor regular army and the militia ? Are these the heroes, who received the thanks of the House of Com mons? Are these the Knights whose banners are wrought by the hands of Royal ladies, and presented by Majesty itself? Nothing, that we hear of, has yet been done to the Chester volunteers; and, indeed, so timid, so fearful, are the public, as well as the government, as to all matters, wherein the volunteers are concerned, that no mention of this alarming transaction has even found its way into the London prints, which, had such an act of violence, such a daring outrage on the laws of the land, been committed by a regular regiment, would have stunned the nation with their out-cries, with their demands of justice upon the heads of the offenders *. I shall not attempt here to point out all the consequences, which are likely to result from the example of successful opposition to the law, set by the Chester volunteers, but I cannot refrain from expressing my fears, that, as the news of it shall reach the several seaports, particularly the collier towns, the vo lunteer corps will become very convenient asylums for all those seamen, who happen to be in port, and who wish to have an infallible protection against press-warrants; so that, the volunteer system, the intention of which was to increase the force of the country in a degree far beyond what it could have been made to amount to by any other means, this ill-contrived, worse-digested, and still worse-conducted system, will, after having starved the mi'itia, the army of reserve and the regulars, extend its impoverishing and enervating influence to the fleet, and that, too, at a moment, when every possible exertion is wanted to provide for the demands of that most important branch of our defence. But, the great danger, the danger, which, in my opinion, swallows up every other, is, the triumph, which I think, and which I tremble to think, It is truly astonishing how carefully facts relative to volunteer quarrels are kept from the pubhc. There has been, for weeks past, a most violent dispute going on in the St. Pancras regiment. Yet the very first we see of it in print, appears this very day, in the following words: "We feel "pleasure in being able to state, that the existing differences between the Colonel and Committee of the St. Pancras regiment of Loyal Volunteers are like to be amicably adjusted.”—Mark this. Here is the Committee at work again. Yet Mr. Hiley Addington asserted, that the corps mentioned by Mr. Windham, was a "solitary inftance!"-See Mr. Windham's admirable Speech, at full length, on the subject of Volunteer Committees, in the 6th Number of Cobbett's Parliamentary Debates, which is just published. the volunteer-corps, will, if not speedily reduced in numbers, and if the system be not radically revised, obtain over all the legal authority in the state. If I am told, that the King's ministers are, by the Act of Par liament, empowered to disband any volunteer-corps thus misbehaving, I ask, dare they, and will they, exercise this power? If not, it is worse than no power at all, because their forbearing to use it, under such circumstances, discovers the extent of their fears. Am I reminded, that men, by becoming volunteers, obtain no exemption from the effects of the law? My answer is, show me what has been done to the volunteers who broke open the jail at Chester; who demolished a house, dragged the King's colours in the kennel, and who rescued a man from the King's officers and the King's prison; show me what has been done to those volunteers; show me, that they have been dealt with as men not being volunteers would have been dealt with, in a similar case, or blame me not for regarding the Northgate of Chester as another Bastile, and blame me not, if my anxiety for my King and country makes me fear, that, if the ministry yield to the volunteers in this instance, the historian, after describing the riot and rescue at Chester, will have to add, here the revolution of England began.' Short follies are best," was the title of an appeal to the French government and people, in an early stage of those mad proceedings, which, contrary to the expectations and in opposition to the wishes of even those who were concerned in them, finally demolished the monarchy and deluged the country with blood. Here, too, short "follies are best." The volunteer system is not made for this country: it is fraught with mischief: it must be done away, or radically changed: the preservation of our Sovereign's throne and of our own liberties depends upon measures being speedily adopted for this purpose. There is yet time; but, how long that time will last, no man can tell. inquisition self-created and totally unknown perse themselves every where, scour all the streets, inspect the ale-houses, detect all dancers (hops among the low, routs among the high), carry on eternal hostility with all kinds of amusement in which the inferior ranks of society are so insolent as to indulge. Far be it from nie to justify vice, either in high or low, but I am inclined to think that the law itself goes out of its province if it attempts to regulate the private lives of the subject, and to punish men for what is commonly called vice. I am sure, at least, that if an inquisition of law were to be instituted to make every man chaste, sober, and godly, I kn w not in what horrible tyranny it would end. If this Society for the Suppression of Vice go on, they will give the laws that co exist in these points an extension, and a force which it never was intendpossi-ed they should have, and which must give to the laws and usages of the realm. I see SIR,-In reading the papers I frequently observe. among the proceedings of the Police Offices, accounts of prosecutions instituted by per ons styling themselves a Society for the Suppression of Vice. A Society for the Suppression of Vice has a captivating sound, and I have no doubt that the members of it (of whom I do not know one individual) are decent, virtuous characters, who, with the honest matron in Prior's tale, Think the nation ne'er will thrive rise to intolerable vexation. A man dare not take a pint of perter on a Sunday, but Street, by some miscreant in the pay of this straight the publican is carried to Bow society. I say nothing of the private life of individuals being at the mercy of such conservators of public morals. Not long ago, in consequence of the officious and pertinacions meddling of this society, the character (the vice it may be said) of a gentleman, was nearly exposed to the whole town, in a foolish investigation about the stealing of a child. I protest that, had I been in that gentleman's situation, I should have cudgelled my tormentor, could I have singled Readily admitting, therefore, that the him out, in a most exemplary manner, for members of the Society for the Suppression his impertinence.--But there is another of Vice are neither whoremongers, adulter- view in which this society may do much ers, nor even such as the publican whom mischief, while I am satisfied that they nethey lately brought to Bow Street, I beg ver can do any good. They, in fact, keep leave to say, that I entertain great doubts of a seminary for rearing up a set of the most the utility of such a society. I am very aband Led scout drels that can infest society, much afraid that it either has begun, or will namely, informers by trade. It is impossiend, in that sort of spiritual pride which so ble that any but the most idle, dissolute, and often has compelled men charitably to per- shameles, can engage in the occupation of secute their neighbours for not being so commen informers, and of discovering the pious and so godly as themselves. It is game which the scciety are determined to wonderful, Sir, how the love of power dis hunt down. These vagabonds, protected guises itself. Those who by hook or crook by the authority of this puritanical institucan contrive to make others do what they tion, have it in their power to give trouble otherwise would not do, or forbear to do to many persons to whom they have ill-will, what they otherwise would do, immediately and who sometimes would rather pay a good feel themselves elevated into an important sum of mon y, than have their vices exposed. character. The beadle of a parish is a most Pesides, these informers will either make or arbitrary sovereign among beggars and other find business for themselves and for their paltry delinquents within his jurisdiction. employers. They will swear any 4h ng When I first heard of the Society for the against any body. Why, it is their vocation, Suppression of Vice, I thought that it had and who can blame them. But those who been a new sort of magistracy erected in the establish and support such a trade in the state, a sort of commission for executing the state have not a little to answer for. While office of grand beadle all over England such villains are thus regimented and paid, The runners and agents of this society dis-whose life may be safe? whose will may be valid? whose honour may be sacred? whose domestic peace may be secure? This is doing a great deal of evil, and pray where is the good that is to follow?--All wise legislators have abstained from attempting forcibly to prosecute mauners, when they do not shew themselves in overt acts destructive to the peace and order of the community. There are many things bad in themselves, and criminal in foro conscientia, ot which a human tribunal can take no cognizance. These things are of the resort not of civil laws but of religion, and to call in the civil arm to correct them, would multiply the business of police so much, and call for the interference of government so often, that society would be intolerable, and all distinction between vices and crimes would be lost I have little doubt that this society originates in the principles of Hudibras and Ralpho. Whether it be a bear and fiddle, or any vulgar merry-making, some people see in it ten thousand imaginary dangers to religion and virtue, and would use the old ponderous argument of force to suppress it. I do not say that this society is one of the engines of the puritanical, methodistical party, now so much on the increase, to get power among us, though I am not without suspicion. They, in the opinion of many grave men, have made considerable advances to an imperium in imperio, and if they go on prospering as they have done, it will be a good thing to enjoy their protection against their own agent, the Society for the Suppression of Vice, or indeed for any person whatever. This indirect way of governing is well calculated to gain converts and subjects; and it may lead to public usurpation, or at least to a confederation inconsistent with all good government. The exercise of such a function, cloaked over with the pretence of zeal for religion and godliness, is highly gratifying to the mind. Sure 'tis an orthodox opinion, I am perfectly satisfied, therefore, that ant institution like that of the Society for the Prosecution of Vice is a standing conspiracy against the quiet and tranquillity of society; that it may be a very dangerous engine in the hands of the Puritans, to subdue and pervert the lower orders, and ought to be discouraged by all wise and liberal men. Magistrates have it in their power to do much, by setting themselves against all informations produced by the perjured agents of the society. In doing so they will do their duty to the state.--I am yours, &c. TO THE EDITOR. SIR,The state of the commerce of the country is a subject, to which the public and the parliament ought to be directed, particularly as the Minister has, by his actions, shewn so little regard for the preservation of that "capital, credit and confi "dence," which, at the date of the peace of Amiens, he thought proper to represent as the triple pillar of our safety.--He has, Sir, refused the loan of Exchequer Bills, requested by the merchants of Liverpool. He has turned a deaf ear to all their representations, as well as to those that have been made to him by the Mer-' chants of London, Bristol, Glasgow, and Newcastle, though the persons who joined in these representations were numerous, and of the most wealthy and respectable class, and who, for the most part, not being themselves in want of assistance, could only be influenced by a conviction of the necessity and urgency of the case, and by the desire cf assisting the commercial interest at large at this most critical period. ——In the year 1793, events had occurred which threatened to produce effects as disastrous as are now anticipated; when on a representation being made to Mr. Pitt, he, with that manliness which characterized all his proceedings, brought forward the measure of a Loan to the Merchants (though it was opposed by some persons of eminence in the city), regardless of the censure of the envious and the dissuasion of the ignorant The result was, as was generally the refult when that great Minister acted from himself, that he had the satisfaction of finding, he had conferred a most essential service on the kingdom at large, by supporting the credit of the merchants, and promoting our manufactures, and this too with a gain to the Treasury; for although he saved many worthy families from ruin, and although the Exchequer was not in the actual advance of a single shilling, yet there was a profit derived by government, from the issue of Exchequer bills, of several thousand pounds.--Whether Mr. Addington refuses to adopt a simi'ar plan, in a case of similar, not to say greater emergency, that he may as much as possible deviate from the steps of his great predecessor-whether he is apprehensive of provoking a discussion of the causes which have conduced to the present and increasing embarrassment of the merchants-or, whether, by way of experiment, he prefers to meet the storm rather than prevent it-whether he is deterred by the insinu ations of the ill-informed or ill-intentioned advisers or by what other motive he is iufluenced-certain it is, that he has peremptorily rejected every solicitation, and turned a deaf ear to the strong, repeated, and united remonstrances that have been made. It therefore now only remains to wait the event, which I venture to predict will be as speedy as it will be calamitous to this nation, and will afford to the enemy far greater cause of exultation than (if the spirit of the country be not depressed by the apathy or inefficiency of his Majesty's Ministers) they will ever derive from the success of their arms. I say so in a commercial, therefore in a financial view, of this most serious and impending blow to our real interests as a military and a trading nation. As a sincere friend to my country, I warn the Minister of the calamitous result. If our commerce fail, our manufactures must of course fail, and it requires no powers of divination to affirm, that the failure of our revenue must be the fatal consequence. The Minister, therefore, is to judge, whether, at such an awful crisis, he ought to allow personal pique or pompous pride to supercede measures evidently calculated for the particular benefit, if not the salvation, of the state.I am, Sir, your's, &c. R. N. TO THE EDITOR. SIR, Having observed that the Lords of the Admiralty, have thought proper to advise his Majesty to put several officers of the royal Marines on the retired list, which without doubt their age and length of service fully entitled them to, I so far intirely approve of what they have done, as younger officers will be brought forward, who will be more capable of discharging the duties of their profession, with satisfaction to their own minds, and advantage to their country. But, I sincerely hope, their lordships do not intend to stop here. There is no corps under the crown, whose services have been more conspicuous, and whose utility is more generally acknowledged by the whole country, and truth calls on me to declare, that in my opinion, no one has been more neglected.--The necessity of putting the heads of the corps at present on the retirement, sufficiently shews the want of proper encouragement being held out to the officers. Many of the captains who only obtained that rank in ninety-seven, have served twenty-four years, and were no less than seventeen * Want of room prevents me from giving any opinion on this subject.-EDITOR. years subalterns. It is easy to foresee, that, before they can possibly be field-officers, it will be time for them to retire from the service. If the number of field-officers were increased, in proportion to that of other corps, there might be some chance of young men looking forward, to obtain the rank of a field-officer, while they possessed strength of body, and a sufficient energy of mind, to enable them to discharge their duty.--As the disadvantages the marine corps labours under are not generally known, I shall beg leave to point out a few of them in the first place, the present es tablishment is about twenty-two thousand. The number of field-officers attached to this are three colonels commandant, three colonels en second, twelve lieutenant-colonels, and twelve majors. In all thirty. The royal artillery, a corps that is the nearest the establishment of the marines, I believe is about nine thousand strong. They are divided into nine battalions, and have five field-officers to each. In all forty-five. Such a disproportion is at once astonishing; and the effect produced by it is, that in the one corps, the officers are pretty generally disgusted, and lament the day they entered into it; the others feel themselves happy in having succeeded in promotion, beyond their most sanguine expectations.--Such is one of the consequences, arising from a want of a proper establishment of field-officers in the marine. It is true a saving to government arises from it; but if the spirit of a corps is to be broke, and all emulation crushed, from the paltry consideration of a few hundred pounds, it is high time to reduce it altogether. I am astonished, that it hitherto has supported the character it has disadvantages; a few more of which, Mr. so well deserved, under such numerous Cobbett, I shall take the liberty to point out in a future letter.I am, &c. Jan. 8, 1804. INTELLIGENCE. R. T. FOREIGN. New disturbances have, Dgezzar Pacha was appointed Pacha of Dabroken out in Syria. When the celebrated mascus, Abdallah, who was displaced to make room for him, put himself at the head of 15,000 men, and laid waste the whole country with fire and sword, in order to revenge himself for the loss of his station as Governor of Damascus.- -The town of Alexandria, in Egypt, is reduced to the greatest straits by the Beys, by whom it is besieged. According to some accounts Ali Pacha, the Turkish Commander, bas con |