with pleasure his amazement at the revolutions which time, trade, and taste, had effected in the metropolis; and having lived to be astonished at nothing myself, I was perfectly contented on the present occasion to wonder at second-hand.His curiosity gratified, he began to think, a little reluctantly, on the business which had brought him to London, and in return for all the raree-shews to which I had introduced him, be begged me to accompany him to the office newly established in Threadneedle Street, where cases such as his are adjusted. Indeed, Mr. Cobbett, I was very amply repaid for my trouble; and he must have been singularly entertained by West-India Docks, Shakespeare Galleries, Invisible Girls, Irish Giants, and Panoramas, if his amusement counterbalanced mine.--I fear, Sir, you are yourself a very obdurate offender. I fear that you very seldom are led to inspect the edifices in the neighbourhood of the Royal Exchange. But were you at all open to conviction, I am sure you would admire the mechanical wonders of the place in question, as much as the Trojan hero, when cast on the shore of the rising Carthage, was struck with the wonders of their BYRSA, the prototype of ours.

Miratur molem Eneas, magalia quondam ;`
Miratur portas, trepitumque, et strata viarum.

-When my friend first entered this magic saloon, as his mind was more fully occupied than mine, he paid very little attention to the scene around him, and abruptly inquired of one of the clerks, if he might speak to his principal. Certainly, Sir," was the reply. "Go to the gentleman in "the wig." To the gentleman in the wig he went, and had no reason to complain of an uncourteous reception. It would be easy to name this good man, but, perhaps, not delicate-shall we say, a breach of good uature, and a breach of good manners? The question which my companion had to submit to the decision of official sagacity being, as I said, perfectly simple, the worthy commissioner, with the assistance of two sub. altern clerks, was able to give him a satisfactory answer in a trice. I scarcely think that an hour and fifty minutes elapsed, while reference was made to the act, and to its sapient explanation, before he obtained complete information as to the object of his inquiry.-I, meanwhile, was a very near observer" of the curiosities around me; and, at first, having in my early days been more

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than a smatterer in mathematical researches, I began to calculate into how many thousand recesses, cells, divisions, and subdivisions the interior of the edifice was parcelled; but its extreme height, its complicated mechanism, the small size of the letters of reference, and the constant interruption of anxious querists, confused my attempt at investigating in detail what I still was able to admire in a general survey.—Imagine, Sir, a rectangular room, somewhat less than twenty feet in height, completely fitted up with pigeon-holes, on the plan of Parkinson's Museum, (or such as were humourously assigned to the Abbé Sièyes for nests of revolutions) adapted to receive returns, appeals, certificates, and questions, from, as I believe, every parish or district in the kingdom. In order to facilitate access to the upper regions, five or six step ladders, enormously high, are arranged in one corner of the office, by means of which the "gentleman in the wig" and his fellowlabourers may be enabled, in a moment, to ascend to the most aerial place of reference.

-I am sure, Sir, had you witnessed the scene as I did, you must, at least, have been struck with the sublimity of the place-at the same time it must be confessed, that it a little smells of the lamp-the original idea having probably arisen from the feats of the gentry, who towards the close of day so nimbly perambulate the metropolis with their portable ladders, which they charitably mount and descend, to bestow illuminations on their fellow-citizens. ---Be this as it may, and let the public opinion be divided as it will with respect to the qualifications necessary to form a prime minister, it can no longer be a questionable point, that a very considerable degree of agility, an unvertiginous head, and a light pair of heels are absolutely requisite to qualify his minor satellites in the fiscal department for a proper discharge of the duties of their elevated station. Allowing them to be possessed of these necessary qualifications, I conceive the office to be not without its agremens. The state figure-dancers cannot but be ainused by the transitions from cool calculation to warm circulation-from sedentary to salutary employment-from running up a sum to running up a flight of steps. It is true, that their delicacy may be hurt, and their esprit du corps a little shocked at being so often put over one another's heads; but to excel in these ingenious and skilful performances may in time become an object

of light and air, entirely surrounded, even to the lining of the door, with little pigeon

In the mean-time, though it must on all hands be agreed, that the parties in question are highly exalted, their situation at present appears less to be envied from its elevation, than to be pitied from its danger : and as I know that the Weekly Political Register forms a constant part of many a great man's reading, I wish to suggest, before I conclude my tetter, a few propositions, likely, as I think, to remove many of the difficulties attendant on this "painful preéminence." I was half tempted to inquire, if the Premier, by way of experiment, had ventured to ascend any of these ladders himself, and soar into the higher regions of financial machinery; but I recollected the prudent forbearance of Dr. Chiron at the Court of Thetis, and deemed the inquiry unnecessary. I could not help, however, feeling for the awkwardness with which these be-wigged and be-spectacled gentlemen must in the first instance enter on the duties of their office.

To rise-perchance to fall-aye, there's the rub. Sculls crack'd! crush'd ribs ! there's the respect, which makes

The clerk, all trembling, in some corner lurk;
And shun the dread ascent-

But these, Mr. Cobbett, are only spots in the sun; little moles on a beautiful face, which may rather be considered as ornamenting than defacing it. You, who entertain so profound a respect for "the old "lady in Threadneedle Street," will be the first to admire this plenteous provision for her honied stores, while, like the queen-bee, she may deposit in every geometrically-framed cell (the nectary of her sweets) her mystic egg, as a precious germ of future taxation.

Hine, nescio quâ dulcedine læta Progeniem et nidor foveat-mirà arte recentes Excudat ceras, et mella tenacia fingat.

I once remember hearing the 'squire of my parish say, that while he was resident at one of the courts of Germany, he was highly amused by examining the closet in which the celebrated Leibnitz once carried on his Jucubrations. It was a sort of hexangular Box, with little apertures for the admission

Thus Chiron advised Madam Thetis to take,
And dip her poor child in the Stygian lake-
But the wary old DOCTOR was not such an elf
As ever to venture his carcase himselt!

New Bath Guide, p. 48.

at every moment embodied, preserved, and classified. Near the public library where this curious piece of mechanism is shewn, is a bust of the philosopher, under an elegant cupola supported by pillars, with a simple and classical inscription, comprised in two words, "GENIO LEIBNITZII." When my friend pulled me by the sleeve, and told me his business was adjusted, I was in the act of fixing, in my imagination, on a spot under this mystic roof, where the features of your friend the Doctor, cast in lead, or hewn out of a solid block, might be most happily introduced, with the well-earned tribute of applause, "GENIO ADDINGTONII."- -But to my proposals, for I feel that I have trespassed too long on your pa tience.--First, I would institute a gymnasium for youth, designed to fill the office of clerks under this establishment, where adepts in the ladder-dancing art might, by degrees, teach them the manoeuvres of their perilous profession. In the case of the wellknown probationary odes, M. Delpini filled a distinguished station, as assessor to the nobleman who awarded the prize-a similar office should, in the present case, be awarded to M. Bologna, or some other of Mr. Astley's great men, burnt out from over the water, and now displaying their talents to the amusement and edification of Goodman's, Fields. Five years might, perhaps, be considered as a sufficient time of probationfrom which a rateable deduction might be made in favour of those ingenious youths, who had already exercised their talents in the services of lamplighters, bricklayers, or chimney-sweepers, or whose early life had' been spent in the agility of naval ladderclimbing Secondly, as improvement must in this case be progressive, in order to provide for the immediate emergency, I would recommend, among the many hundred of extra clerks which the existing system will make necessary, that some of the figuranti from the Royalty Theatre, from Sadler's Wells, from the Royal Circus, and other places of a similar description, should be engaged in the service. A good pair of heels, if we may believe the proverb, seem to remedy the defects of a bad head; but in the present instance I believe it would not be difficult to establish the position, that the statute under which they would be called on to act is equally intelligible to the capacity of every one of his Majesty's liege subjects, from the highest to the lowest.--In favour of my third proposition, the voice of philanthropy

Speaks so loudly as to supersede all necessity for discussion. Closely adjoining to the scene of danger, I would recommend the establishment of a board of surgery, or a sick and hurt office, where humane and experienced practitioners should be constantly in attendance, with bandages, plaisters, salves, poultices, lancets, truniquets, trapans, &c. &c. in order to afford immediate relief to the unhappy sufferers, who must inevitably from time to time meet with accidents in the discharge of their duty. On the same principle it might be proper to found an hospital, or college, for maimed and invalided calculators.-Lastly, as to prevent is always better than to remedy evils, I would fain have it submitted to the Society for improving the Condition of Chimney-swerpers, to offer a liberal premium for the invention of some mechanical process, by which access might be had to these dangerous heights, without putting in jeopardy the lives of so many of his Majesty's liege and valuable subjects. In the mean time it might not be amiss to make interest at Drury Lane Theatre for the adaptation of the rope an i pulley machinery, which you, Mr. Cobbett, and the public in general, have admired this winter in the spectacle of Cinderella, by which the " gentleman in the wig" and his co-adjutors might be gently and safely raised, so as to form any given angle with the horizon, and with equal safety and gentleness let down to the ground again, like the chubby-faced cupids at the theatre. The effect would be picturesque-the apparatus might be easily introduced, and the PROPERTY-MEN, in one case, retained to serve the public in another, under a similar denomination.--I leave it to wiser heads than mine to expand and improve on these plans, concerning which I have only suggeste the hasty ideas that occurred to me in a visit not exceeding two hours. You, Sir, who do not seem greatly enamoured of the political and financial measures of the present moment, will scarce'y give me credit for having seriously approved his laddersystem; but, sunle as you may, nothing can be more true than the assertion. that what ever may be his opinion of the wisdom which set it up, your present correspondent, who is somewhat corpulent, and a little ad va ced in years, would be the last man in the King's dominions who would wish to run it down. I am, Sir, yours, &c. &c.ANTI-CLIMAX.

PUBLIC PAPERS. CIROULA Vole from Lord Hawkesby, Secr-tary of St.le for cornga Affairs, to the Foreign Ministers re

sident at the Court of London, dated 30th April, 1804.

The experience which all Europe must have had of the conduct of the government of France, would have induced his Majesty to treat any charges which might have been brought by them against his government, with silence and contempt, it the very extraordinar and unauthorised answers which many of the ministers of foreign powers have thought proper to return to a recent communication of the Minister for Foreign Affairs at Paris, had not given to the subject of that communication a greater degree of importance than it would otherwise have possessed His Majesty has therefore commanded me to declare, that he trusts it cannot be necessary for him to repel, with the scorn and in fignation which it deserves, that most untoun led and atrocious calumny, that his government were parties to any project of assassinaadvanced under the same authority against memtion; an accusat on most falsely and calumniously bers of his Majesty's tormer government in the last war; an accusation inconsistent with his Majesty's honour, and with the known character of the British nation; and so completely unsupported by even any shadow of proof, that it may justly be presumed to have been brought forward at the present moment, for the sole purpose of diverting the attention of Europe from the contemplation of that sanguinary deed which, in violation of the Law of Nations, and of the plainest dictates of honour and humanity, has been recently perpetrated by the direct order of the First Consul of France.

-That his Majesty's government should disregard the sentiments of such of the inhabitants of France as are justly dissatisfied with the government of that country; that they should refuse to listen to their designs for liberating their country from the degrading yoke of bondage under which it now groans, or to aid and assist them as far as such designs are fair and justifiable, would be inconsistent with the duties which, under circumstances like the present, every wise and just government owes to itself and to the world in general.It is an acknowledged right of belligerent powers to avail themselves of any discontents existing in the countries with which they may happen to be at war. The expediency of acting upon this right (even if the right were in any degree doubtful) would, in the present case, be most fully sanctioned; not only by the actual state of the French nation, but by the conduct of the government of that country, which, ever since the commencement of the present war, has maintained a communication with the disaffected in his Majesty's dominions, particularly in Ireland, and has actually assembled, on the coast of France, a body of Irish rebels for the purpose of aiding their designs against that part of his United Kingdom.

Inder these circumstances his Majesty's government would not indeed be warranted in foregoing the right to support, as far as is consistent with those principles of the Law of Nations, which all civilized governments have hitherto acknowledged, the efforts of such of the inhabitants of France as may process nosility to its present government. They feel, in common with all Eur pc, an anxious desire to see established in that country an order of things more consistent with its own happiness, and with the security of surrounding nations. But if this cannot be accomplished they are justified on the strictest principles of self-defence, in endeavouring to cripple the exertions, to distract the operations, and to con

found the projects of a government, whose avowed system of warfare is not merely distress the commerce, to reduce the power, or to abridge the dominions of its enemy; but to carry devastation and ruin into the very heart of the British Empire.

in the application of these principles, his Majesty has directed me further to declare, that his government have never authorised any one act which will not stand the test of the strictest principles of justice, and the known and avowed practice of all ages. If any minister accredited by his Majesty to a foreign court, has held correspondence with persons in France, with a view of obtaining information of the projects of the French government, or for any other legitimate purpose, he has done no more than ministers under similar circumstances have been uniformly considered as having a right to do, with respect to the countries with which their Sovereign was at war; and much less than the ministers and commercial agents of France in neutral countries can be proved to have done with regard to the disaffected in parts of his Majesty's dominions. In conducting, therefore, such a correspondence, he would not in any degree have violated his public duty. A minister in a foreign country is bound by the nature of his office, and the duties of his situation, to abstain from all communication with the disaffected in the country to which he is accredited, as well as from any act injurious to the interests of that country; but he is not subject to the same restraints with respect to those countries with which his Sovereign is at war. His acts respecting them may be praise-worthy or blameable, according to the nature of the acts themselves; but they would not constitute any violation of his public character, unless they militated against the peace or security of the country to which he was accredited.- But of all governments pretending to be civilized, that of France has the least right to appeal to the Law of Nations. With what confidence can they appeal to that law, who, from the commencement of hostilities, have been in the course of constantly violating it? They promised their protection to such of the subjects of England as were resident in France, and might be desirous of remaining there after the recall of his Majesty's ambassador. They revoked this promise without any previous notice, and condemned those very persons to be prisoners of war, and still retain them as such, in defiance of their own engagements, and of the universal usage of all civilized nations. They applied this new and barbarous rule even to individuals who had the protection and authority of French ambassadors and ministers at foreign courts, to return in safety through France to their own country. They gave directions that an English packet should be seized in one of the ports of Holland, though their ambassador in that country had antecedently engaged that, until notice to the contrary was given, the packets of the respective countries should pass in safety. They have detained and condemned a vessel in a French port, which was sent there as a matter of indulgence for the purpose of conveying thither the French governor of one of the several islands which had been conquered by his Majesty's arms. Their proceedings with respect to the garrison of St. Lucia have not been less extraordinary. The principal fort of that island was taken by assault, but the garrison was allowed all the privileges of prisoners of war, and suffered to proceed to France upon an understanding that a proportionate number of English prisoners should, in return, be set at liberty; yet notwithstanding

this indulgence on the part of the British commander, to which, from the nature of the case the French garrison could not have the smallest pretension, not a single English prisoner has been restored to this country. -Such has been the conduct of the French government with respect to the power with whom they are at war. What has been their conduct to those with whom they have remained at peace? Is there a treaty they have not broken? Is there a neighbouring territory whose independence they have not violated?-It is for the powers on the continent to determine how long they will tolerate such unparalleled outrages: but is it too much to say that if such a course of proceeding on the part of any government can be suffered to continue without resistance or controul, there must soon cease to exist that salutary system of public law, by which the communities of Europe have for ages maintained and enforced the sacred obligations of humanity and justice? I have the honour to be with the highest consideration.-Sir, your most obedient humble servant, &c. &c. &c.

NOTE from the Baron de Montgelas, Minister of the Elector of Bavaria, to Mr. Drake, dated Munich, March 31, 1804.

The Undersigned, &c. has the express command of his Electoral Highness, to communicate to Mr. Drake the annexed printed papers, and to state to him that the originals in Mr. Drake's own hand writing are now before him.His Electoral Highness is deeply penetrated with grief at the discovery that his capital has been the centre point in a correspondece, which is so inconsistent with the mission which his Excellency Mr. Drake was invested at this Court; and he owes it to the dignity and to the welfare of his subjects, to declare, that from this moment it is impossible for him to have any communication with Mr. Drake, or to receive him at his Court.Already two of his Electoral Highness's subjects, who are compromised in Mr. Drake's correspondence, are arrested at Munich, because they have acted in a manner. inconsistent with the law of nations The Undersigned is likewise charged to declare, that his Electoral Highness knows too well the noble and magnanimous sentiments of his Britannic Majesty and the English nation, to suppose that their conduct on this occasion can be liable to the smallest reproach. They will hasten to declare themselves directly to his Majesty, and to deposit in his bo som the profound grief they feel, while they withdraw their confidence from the minister, who was appointed to represent his Majesty at this Court. The Elector is perfectly convinced that his Britannic Majesty will, on this occasion, necessarily so painful to him, see a new proof of the high esteem he entertains for his Majesty, and of that good will of which he has given so many proofs to the Electoral House.

FOREIGN OFFICIAL PAPERS. Second Report of the Grand Judge, respecting the plots of the person named Drake, Minister from England at Munich, and of the person named Spencer Smith, Minister from England, at Stutgard, against France, and the person of the First Consul, dated Paris, April 11, 1804, and signed, REGNIER.

CITIZEN FIRST CONSUL,My conjectures are verified. Mr. Drake is not the only agent of England whose political mission is merely the plausible mask of a hidden ministry of seduction and insurrection. I have the honour to place before

your eyes, papers, which prove that Mr. Spencer Smith, diplomatic agent of England in the States of Wurtemburgh, after the example of Mr. Drake, has occupied himself, since his arrival at his place of residence, only in prostituting his public character, his influence, and the gold of his government, to that infamous ministry.Mr. Spencer Smith has suffered a discovery of the secret pait which formed the real object of his diplomatic mission. I present to the First Consul an enigmatical letter, which this minister has written to M. Lelievre de Saint Rem', one of his agents in Holland; this agent, spy, emigrant, and who has received his pardon, was already known to the police; but before I had any one of the parts of his correspondence with Mr. Spencer Smith, I knew by other reports, that when he was about to ob tain his amnesty, which he procured in Pluviose, year 11, he quitted Séez, his place of birth, in Nivose, the same year, in order to go to Cambray; and that, on the 2d of last Frimaire, he had gone to Holland, there to serve under the name of Pru neau, and to follow there the double direction of a Frenchman and a spy, pamed Le Clerc, whom the British ministry supported at Abbeville, and that of an accredited spy, named Spencer Smith; whom, for the purpose of covering his designs, that same ministry had invested with a diplomatic character. (See the pieces 8, 9,......, &c.). I further knew, by papers equally numerous, and not less instructive, seized on the spy at Abbeville, that Mr. Spencer Smith, before he quitted London, had entered into such intimate connexions with a general committee of Espionage, established by the above administration, and the direction of which was entrusted to the Abbé Ra tel, that he had demanded and obtained of that committee a confidential secretary named Peris caud, who was to follow the secret correspondence, and to receive and communicate all the ne cessary documents to the agents in Holland, the spies on the coast, and the conspirators in Paris. The letters to Lelievre, the credit for 2000 Louis d'ors given on the house of Osy at Rotterdam, the cypher, the enigmatical lester, No. ", are of the hand-writing of this Pericaud; and thus it will be seen, that Mr. Spencer Smith is gone to his residence with all the exterior of a diplomatic minister from England; that is to say, with sympa thetic inks, watch-words to communicate with all the spies, bills of exchange. to reward their services, and a confidential intermediate agent, to

low up their proceedings and to direct them, without committing himself. -It is necessary to recur once more to M. Drake. The two reports which I lay before you, Citizen First Consul, will give you an account of a mission to that minister, by Citizen Rosey, Captain and Adjutant Major of the 9th regiment of the line in garrison at Strasburgh, whom Mr. Drake was very willing to employ as agent of a pretended general, who was to stir up four departments, to draw around him the French army, to overthrow your government, to instal in its stead a democratic directory, and fi pally to put this phantom of power, and all France, at the discretion of the English government. should hesitate to present to you these monstrous absurdities, if I had not to lay before you an original letter from Mr. Drake, backed by considerable sums of gold, counted by Mr. Drake, and deposited at my office by Citizen Rosty. This letter serves as a proof of the accuracy of the reports of the French agent, and ought to be published, because the odious particulars which it contains,

give additional colouring to the picture of infamy which Mr. Drake has himself delineated of his in cendiary diplomacy, in the first part of his correspondence Mr. Drake replied to the pretended general. He acknowledges the receipt of his Envoy with his credentials. He congratulates himself on the harmony subsisting between him and the Committee of Disorganization, over which the general presides. Your views,' says he, complacently, are quite conformable to mine, and I need not enlarge further on this point'But he requires (and here he follows the first vagaries of hiş predecessor Wickham) that provisionally they should secure two strong places; Huningen by alt / means, and Strasburg, it possible. By this means only could they depend upon a sure communication. Then would Mr. Drake take his residence near the Rhine, and it will suffice to inform him immediately of the moment fixed for commencing the operations, and of the precise periods when farther assistance will be necessary, as well as of the amount of the succours required, that he may have time to take measures to provide for the same, and that the operations may not fail for want of support. (See No. 6).-—However, the most important point is not the taking of places, and securing stages for the safe arrival of subsi, dies. First of all, we must disorganize the army. Mr. Drake complains of beng left uninformed of the progress which the agents of the committee may have made to gain over some among them; but he trusts to their zeal. He supposes, with confidence, that the attempts tried with this view have completely succeeded, and that they are certain of a powerful diversion from that quarter; without this aid, he solemnly declares, your operations will be confined to cause three or four departments to rise, which can never succeed upon the long rur, on the supposition that the First Consul retains a power over his troops suficient to make them march against you. -The disquietude, it will be easily believed, is the prevailing idea of Mr. Drake; it seizes him, it occupies him continually; however, he has found an admirable expedient to recover his courage. You should,' says he, offer the soldiers a small increase of pay beyond what they receive of the present government. Worthy discovery of a corrupt minister, of a government which weighs with gold every action, and every human affection! Nothing, according to them, can resist this gold, which is above every thing; and the French army, making honour its idol, attached to it by the glory of a thousand battles, and of ten years victories; this army, which spurns seduction, because the seducers and seduced are the greatest cowards: this army, I say, yielding to the attraction of a wretched increase of pay, shall sacrifice whatever is most dear to it, all its most honourable recollections; in short, its government, its liberty, to the irreconcileable enemy of their country! What horror! what madness!......I shall not be more prolix on these disgusting details; besides, to insist long on the indignation which the political and military projects of Mr. Drake inspire, is to do them too much honour they are both ridiculous and absurd in an eminent degree; and I think it is a very appropriate punishment for him, to give up to the contempt and ridicale of the public the enterprizes of this minister, still more credulous, more aukward, and more weak than wicked.- An English minister, such as Mr. Drake, cannot be punished by obloquy. This can only mortify men who feel the price of virtue, and know that of ho