to submit quietly to our share of the humiliation which the nations of Europe have to endure. But, while I am exulting in the contemplation of what might be done, I have very serious apprehensions as to what will be done; and, my fear is, that, when, by the present measure, we shall have put a bridle in the mouth of Russia, and convinced Napoleon, that the longer he continues the war the less chance he will have of subduing us, a proposition to make peace will come, that this proposition, eagerly caught hold of by the Whigs and not much less eagerly caught hold of by the merchants and fund-holders, will be yielded to, and that a peace will be made, in which the security of England will be sacrificed to the calculations of traders and to the restoration of Hanover. I fear this, but I do not wish to be understood as be lieving that any such intentions are now entertained by the ministers, whose conduct, in the case we have been speaking of, has my unqualified approbation. Not only was the conception excellent, but the thing has been well executed, as far as depended upon the councils at home; and, from the publi cations in the Morning Chronicle, it is very evident to me, that the late ministry would have adopted no such measure; that they would have proceeded in the old course; that, acting upon the principles of Adam Smith and his disciples of the Edinburgh Review (by whom, in fact, they were, in a great degree, governed), they would have given up our maritime rights, as being nothing compared with the profits of trading with France and America. They were full of new projects of sham philanthropy, infused into their minds by the speculators from Edinburgh, who had belonged to a spouting club there with Lord Henry Petty, and who, upon his exaltation, emigrated to the land of promise, and began to quarter themselves upon us with as little ceremony as French soldiers use in a conquered city. This set, one or the other of whom was constantly to be found near the foot of the table of every one of the ministers, had, perhaps, more influence in producing the silly measures of the late administration than all other persons put together. When once a man in whatever situation of life, gives up bis ear to another for any length of time, the councils of that other are sure to prevail. "Suffer," says Burke, " any one

64

to tell you his story every day for a "twelvemonth, and, at the end of the twelve"month, he is your master." This maxim was verified here, and, by dint of flattery, suppleness, and insinuating importunity, a set of shrewd literary politicians and writers

to the Signet had become, in fact, the chief advisers in all the affairs of this great nation, whether foreign or domestic. Their Review, as they call it, was still published at Edinburgh, but written in London, the matter of it sealed up and dispatched from the public offices, and, from these very offices, under the seals of the parliamentary reforming Whigs, was actually transmitted to Edinburgh an elaborate defence of parliamentary corruption, containing an open avowal, that it is better that seats in parliament should be bought and sold, than that the members should be returned by the voice of the people freely given. The breaking up of this set of greedy intruders was one of the circumstances at which I most rejoiced as attending the dismissal of the late ministers, and, ac-: cordingly, I lost no time, as will be seen in the Register of the 21st of March last, to express my satisfaction thereat The underlings of Pitt were bad enough; it was sufficiently disgraceful to be obliged to submit to their sway; but, to be ruled by a set of writers to the Signet was too much even for an Englishman to endure with any degree of patience. Mortifying, however, as it was to see these men squeezed into parliament, into commissionerships, into all manners of places through which they might draw their nourishment from the labour of the people of England, still in their influence as to our affairs with other nations they were most to be dreaded. They had Adam Smith's wealth of nations at their fingers' ends. They could weigh you cur gains, or our loss, to the balance of a bank note. Stored with this sort of knowledge, their more wise but less expert and less industrious patrons soon became their slaves; and, if I am not much misinformed, the treaty with America, in which we shall find some of our most important maritime rights offered upon the shrine of commercial gain, was chiefly the work of these northern instructors. I am not without my fears, that they are not yet quite extinguished as politicians; for I perceive, that they are beginning to pay some particular compliments to Mr. Perceval and Mr. Canning, besides the sweeping indirect flattery contained in their defence of parliamentary corruption. To change patrons they would have no scruple; but I would fain hope, that the present ministers would be of opinion, that those who were the real authors of Mr. Whitbread's poor project, the real inventors of badges for English labourers, the real promoters of the conceding treaty with America, will bring no strength to their party; and, if this should be their opinion, Lord Henry Petty must e'en charter

the Berwick snack again and transport. his beloved friends back to their own country.

It is to an opinion generally prevailing in Englan amongst impartial men, that the late ministers, partly from their own dispositions that way, and partly from the influence of these disciples of Adam Smith, would have made, as soon as an opportunity offered, an insecure peace; it is to this opinion, in a considerable degree, that is to be ascribed the little regret, which has, at any period, been expressed at the dismission of those ministers, who, while they had completely disappointed the people in all their hopes of reform at home, appeared to be upon the watch for opportunities of sacrificing their interests in all concerns with foreign nations. A pamphlet about "the state of the nation," written by one of these newly imported politicians, puffed off, at the public expence, as the production, first of Mr. Fox, and next of Lord Holland, and the editions of which were multiplied by ́the old trick of altering the title page; this pamphlet, published for the purpose of feeling the nation's pulse, contained an epitome of the principles, upon which, as relating to foreign nations, the Whigs meant to act. The public pulse did not beat in harmony with it; for, though the people wished for peace, they did not wish it upon the insecure and disgraceful terms, to which, from the tone of that pamphlet, they must have concluded the Whigs were ready to accede. It was, in fact, this puffed-off pamphlet that gave the first alarm as to the Whig principles of peace and war; and, I may venture to say, that, with the exception of their profligate breach of promise with respect to a reform of abuses, this silly pamphlet did them more harm than any thing else. Good men, whatever they may think of the ministry of the day; however they may abhor their selfishness and despise their capacities, still love the country; still, amidst all their indignation and resentment, wish to preserve that; and, therefore, there were very few persons to be found, perhaps not one perfectly disinterested person in the whole kingdom, who cordially liked the Whig mistry, and particularly after the death of Mr. Fox, whose name albecn its great stay and support. -The Morning Chronicle has a little iusinaating sentence, in the tail of the article above inserted, from which it appears, that the editor perceives, at no great distance, a state of things, resulting from this new policy of ours, which will induce persons concerned in trade to be clamourous for peace, and a peace, too, such as the writer supposes might, without

the Danish war, have been concluded between this country and France. There occurs to me no reason for believing that such a state of things will arise; for, in spite of all the prohibitions that the ingenuity of man can invent and that the power of man can enforce, goods and merchandises, like money, will find their way to the places where there is a want of them, and the only evil arising from prohibitions will be that of enhanced price to the consumer. But, be the consequences to trade and commerce what they may; be the clamours of commercial men what they may, if the ministers perse-vere in the principles they have now acted on, they will have the support of the nation; and the Whigs are the most deceived of mankind, if they expect to be able to force themselves into the cabinet through the aid of a commercial clamour for peace. All impartial men see, or will soon see, that measures, such as that which is now prosecuting, are necessary to prevent the subjugation of this country; and knowing, as all men must, that it is in the power of our great enemy to render the continuation of these measures unnecessary whenever he pleases, we need be in no fear as to what will be, with respect to our conduct, the final opinion of the world. Botley, Sept. 10, 1807.

STATE OF IRELAND.

We

SIR,The late events on the continent, and their inevitable consequence the inva sion of these countries, require from all thinking people a very constant attention to what is passing in, and with respect to, Ireland; because this proposition is incontrovertible, viz. If Ireland is conquered by Buonaparté, England will also be conquered by him. Let then all of us in due time consider the nature of the security that we possess, for the continuance of the connection between this country and Ireland. have the act of union, our artny, and the attachment of the Irish people as the only grounds on which this convection can be said to exist. But, Mr. Pitt declared in the House of Commons, when explaining the cause of his retiring from office in 1801, that be thought the emancipation of the Catholies necessary to complete the measure of Union. (Woodfall, v. 14.161.) We, therefore, have his authority for the imperfect nature of our tenure of Ireland by the Act of Union. If we look to our army in Ireland, we shall find that also a very imperfect title to this valuable country; that part of it which is composed of English troops, con sisting of about 8000 men, is certainly as

good a force as can be desired; but, if Eng- | land is herself invaded or seriously threatened, these would of course be withdrawn ; and then Ireland would remain to be defended by her own militia, and her own vo lunteers. Of the Irish militia it is unnecessary to say more, than that the whole of the men, with some trifling exceptions, are Catholics, and that they, not being under the control of the priests, or commanded by Catholic officers, are of all the Catholics of Ireland the most likely to make mistakes, (as two regiments before did at Cantlebar), if opposed to a French force. The volunteers of Ireland proved themselves before the Union the most loyal subjects of his Majesty. I hope that that measure has not produced any alteration in their sentiments, though I must confess that I have very serious apprehensions that they still abhor and detest it. Under these circumstances it is that our army in Ireland is somehow or other to be equal to cope with a French force, whenever such a force may land; but to me it does appear impossible that such an army could stand a week before 10,000 French soldiers. If we look to security in the loyalty of the people of Ireland to the connection with Great Britain, as a sufficient protection of the continuance of that connection, I fear, with Mr. Grattan, that we shall be greatly disappointed. I do not mean to accuse the Irish nation of a want of loyalty to their king or country, but I cannot help judging of the extent of it that animates it from past and recent circumstances. I begin with those of 1798. The report of the Secret Committee of the Irish House of Commons informs us, that the rebellion of this year commenced in the North, and that nearly the whole body of the Presbyterians were concerned in it; that the Catholics were afterwards invited to join the Presbyterians; that they did so, and, finally, that nearly all the Catholics of Ireland were also concerned in it. From this authority we may infer that 9-10ths of the population of Ireland were in 1798 in open rebellion against the connection with Great Britain, taking the population at 5 millions, the Catholics at 4 millions, and the Presbyterians at 4 a million, an inference that entirely agrees with the statements of Lord Clare, Dr. Duigenan, DeputyBirch, Lord Limerick, and Mr. Giffard, and of all those eminent characters who oppose emancipation and advise martial law. This being the state of things in Ireland in 1798, let those persons answer these two questions who now maintain that we can defend Ireland without conceding to the Catholics. 1st. Has any thing

happened since 1799 to change the sentiments of these 9-10ths of the people from a wish to separate the two countries, into a wish to see them more firmly connected! 2dly. Has any thing happened since 1798 to change the sentiments of the remaining 1-10th, who shed their blood so profusely and loyally in defence of the connection, and to induce them to become less anxious to uphold and support the connection? To the first question every candid man must' an-' swer by an unqualified negative. Nothing has happened that can have conciliated the mind of the disaffected of Ireland. But, on the contrary, when, at length, a parliament and a ministry existed favourable to their views, because they were so, both have been dissolved. To the second question he must answer: yes. Those loyal Protestants who stood firm in the hour of danger, who enabled us to maintain the connection with Ireland, have had great reason to complain of our conduct towards them: we forced the measure of union upon them in spite of their attachment to their parliament, and the rights that we acknowledged in 1782 to belong to them. We undertook to give them peace by the Union; they have already experienced the horrors of one insurrection in their own metropolis, and they are still exposed to all the horrors of religious feuds and divisions. And can we, then, expect to derive from the Irish all the aid of ardent loyalty in protecting our interests, and opposing our enemies? The delusion is too great to exist one moment in the weakest understanding; the truth is, we must conciliate Ireland or Ireland will be lost. God grant that the same blind and obstinate policy which has influenced all public measures during a long period of time may not deprive us of Ireland, as it before tore from us our American possessions. The conduct of the present ministers bears so strict an analogy to the mad policy of those who governed in the American war, that I cannot refrain from referring to it. What was their conduct with regard to America? Whose counsels did they despise? What measures did they adopt? What issue did they produce? They despised the counsels of Mr. Burke, who advised conciliation. They adopted, measures of coercion, and a military system of government. They lost America; and so will these ministers, in the same manner, lose Ireland, if they neglect, in time, to avail themselves of an unqualified concession to the Irish Catholics of their just and natural rights.- -I have the honour to be, &c.

July 31, 1877- ̈***

MENTOR.

"that the dearest friend he had in the "world was Lord Harcourt, and that he "would be obliged to me, if I would go over to Ireland, let Lord Harcourt know "the offer which he (Lord Rochford) had got, bis hesitation, and his two views, " and receive Lord Harcourt's opinions and reasons on those views, which could be "better done by conversation than by let"ters. When I delivered my letter to the "Lord Lieutenant, he smiled, and said, Nassau may do in this country what I canoot; and Rochford is frank and open, "and will please the Irish. But what you

་་

come about requires much talking over." "I staid a week with him, at his country "house. With regard to the penal laws, "he thought there was not much diffi"culty, that the Roman Catholics were "ali on the side of England, and of the king of England, in the American war; "od that very good use might be made of "the in the course of it; and there are me now serving, high both in church and state, who remember the conversa"tions on that head, and that they thought " on it as he did. But with regard to the "other object, Lord Harcourt thought

there were great difficulties, though per"haps not insurmountable."- -I will not continue the extract-Lord Harcourt proposed that. 100 commoners should represent Ireland, and 40 peers; but supposed it would require time to persuade the Irish nation to consent to an union. With regard to the repeal of the penal laws against the Roman Catholics, there seems to have been a general concurrence, in 1776; and though Mr. Pitt, when he effected the union in 1801, could not promise, what he had not the power of himself to perform, yet no rational man in Ireland could suppose, that he would have authorised Lord Cornwallis and Lord Castlereagh to give the assurances which they did give to the lead ing Roman Catholics, unless he had previensly known his Majesty's sentiments on the subject. Such, however, appeared to be the case. The fact stated by Lord Harcourt that the Roman Catholics were all on the side of England in the American war, we all know to be true; and that they were of essential service is also true. But if it was of importance in that day that they should side with England, of how much more importance is it that they should to a man do so now. What has been left undone by seaseless bigotry, since the late ministers were turned out, to provoke the Catholics to acts of indiscretion at least, if not to

drive them to desperation; for, as you very,

justly remark, no addresses were presented, no clergyman thought the church in danger by Lord Howick's bill, until it was clear the late ministers had no chance of being restored to their offices. Much praise is be- . stowed on the Roman Catholics of Ireland for their moderation under the unmerited abuse which has been levelled at them. But it is a mistake to suppose that this moderation is the result of apathy, or from their not feeling as they ought after such provocation. They have a confidence in the good sense of the people of England, who, though they. may be misled for a time by the arts of de-. siguing men, will soon be ashamed of their own conduct. Indeed, I believe a very great majority of those who joined in the cry of "No Popery," are already ashamed of themselves for having joined in it.

A PROTESTANT, BUT NO BIGOT. 7th June, 1807.

POLICE MAGISTRATES.

SIR, The impartiality and justice, which form so prominent a feature in your excellent Weekly Publication, will, I have not any doubt, secure the insertion of an answer to the attack made by the Kentish Magistrate on that very useful body of men, the Police Magistrates. The first charge advanced by. your correspondent is, that at a contest for a choice of treasurer of the county for Surrey some years ago, the police magistrates interfered, to the extreme disgust of the country gentlemen. Now, Sir, with regard to the interference of police magistrates, I see no objection to that, provided it be not done in an illegal way, or the influence of office be not unduly made use of. What reason or jus- ̧ tice is there in excluding a police magistrate. from exercising a right which he has in common with his fellow citizens? If the office of magistracy had been debased by its. influence being used illegally or unduly, why not bring the offender to justice in the same manner you would any other criminal? "But this has been done to the extreme disgust of country gentlemen, and whatever excites their disgust must be wrong." This appears to be the argument of the Kentish Magistrate; but, I deny that an act which causes disgust in country gentlemen, must necessarily be wrong. You, Mr. Cobbett, have assisted in tearing away the veil which covered the abuses of the state, and have discovered naked to the public view their horrible deformities., This manly and patriotic conduct has, excited disgust, great disgust amongst country gentlemen, I mean such of them as have grown rich by public, plunder, or who thrive by that disease which you seek