operate as wholesome correction, becomes a curse. Now to the second charge, which these reviewers prefer against me; to wit, that of promulgating doctrines tending to weaken the attachment of the people to the present system of rule, and particularly to the House of Commons. First, I must say, that I have not, any where, observed any symptoms of very strong attachment to the present system of rule, and particularly to the House of Commons. But, granting it to exist, in both cases, and let it be as strong as these gentlemen would wish it, they have wrong stated the charge against me. They should have accused me of promulgating doctrines, such as are found in the constitutional laws of England,, which laws, they might have said, are not very much in coincidence with the present system of rule; that, I have contended, frequently and strenuously, that a great change of system is necessary; that ive ought not to be exposed to utter ruin by the ignorance or cowardice of any ge "neral, or by the wilfulness or caprice of any human being, let his dignity be what "it may;" that baseness and profligacy are detestable in the great as well as in the little, and ought to be boldly censured; that, play-actors and hired singers and notorious sharpers and strumpeis are not fit companions for any of those, who demand from the people respect and reverence; that the taxes are burthensome to the utmost capacity of bearing, and that they ought to be diminished, first, by a reduction of the places and pensions and other grants, and, next, by a curtailing of the interest now paid on account of the national debt; that, as to the House of Commons, I have contended that the terms of the act of settlement ought to be now acted upon, and that no placeman or pensioner of the crown should sit in the House of Commons; that seats in that house ought not to be bought and sold, as I must suppose they are, from the numerous advertisements to that effect, which I see in the newspapers; that the history of the last fifteen months clearly proves, what is the nature of the connection between a ministry and a House of Commons, as at present constituted; that, while placemen end pensioners sit in that house, the House will be a meie instrument in the hands of the minor of the day; and, finally, that amongst the other effects of a minister's being compelled always to have a majority in the House will be this, that in selecting persons to be employed in great national concerns, the minister must be guided by what is called parlia mentory influence, which evil, I say, would be removed, if the House of Commons were constituted according to the constitutional laws, passed at, and soon after the Revolu tion.These are my doctrines, respecting the present system and the House of Commons; and, indeed, I cannot say that the reviewers have much misrepresented the substance of them, though, in one or two instances, they have grossly, and, I must think, wilfully, misrepresented my views. They, however, now find all so weil, that they seem to think me almost a traitor for insisting upon the recessity of a change of system," though they themselves, when in their pas sion against the new ministry, insisted that a change of system was necessary, absolutely necessary, to afford us a chance of escaping from atter ruin; and, with respect to parliamentary representation, they not only find little to object to, but, they have discovered, that what we vulgarly called influence and jobbing and bribery and corruption are so many links of a fine philosophical chain, connecting all the several ranks and degrees of men in the state, and insuring the whole of the people a fair representation in fact, though not clearly discernible to superficial observers. In short, they justify every thing, relating to the composition of the House of Commons; every thing, the existence of which has heretofore been the subject of sorrow and of shame with all honest and cor scientious men of whatever party or description as to politics. But, did these gentlemen always think thus? Did they always think that this philosophical, chain was the safeguard of the nation? We have, I think, heard them talk about England's being ex posed to destruction," because one man will not give up a place of three thousand a year, another a reversion of four thousand a year, and a fourth a pension for his "aunt." But, bere there is, indeed, nothing about the House of Commons; here is ro thing said about the evils arising from a minister's governing by a parliament. We have, however, only to go back to their Number, which was published in April last, just after they had been ousted from their offees and prospects. The remarks I am about to quote are interwoven amongst extracts of a pamphlet about "the Dangers of "the Country," which pamphlet, very insignificant in itself, they evidently chose to review, as they call it, merely for the purpose of conveying their sentiments to the public upon the thes recent change in the ministry. I beseech the reader to remark how desponding their tone is; and how broadly they insinuate, that a revolution, such as that of France, would call forth the talents of the country to its defence; and their talents, of course, amongst the rest, if not at the head of the rest. They gave no hint of this sort, while they were daily dining with some great fool and nightly dancing with some little fool. All was then well; but, the moment they were thrown back upon the pavé, they began to perceive the melancholy effects of the prevailing system, and to point out how great France had become by a revolution, which had called forth the talents of the country. We may," say they, "talk "now of the immense accession of territory "and population, which France has actually "received; of the military discipline which "is established over all that vast empire; "and of the enormous armies, which have "been trained to victory in the incessant " and extended wars of fifteen years. These, "no doubt, are formidable items in the ac"count current of her greatness; but, they are rather the fruits of her success, than the causes of it. France, under her old govern"ment was more populoss, and more unanimous, and possessed more disciplined "soldiers than in the first of her revolu"tionary contests; yet, in that distracted “and tumultuous state, she overthrew the "finest armies in Europe, and established "her dominion over provinces which her "monarchs had vainly coveted for several generations before. It is to the REVO"LUTION ITSELF then, and its effects "on the interior structure of society, that "we are inclined to ascribe the greatness "and the successes of France. By that great concussion, the whole TALENTS "of the nation were set at liberty, and rose, by their natural buoyancy, to the higher regions of the state. The fact is now pretty generally admitted; and the theory does not lye very deep. No man "can win a place, who does not deserve to occupy it; but he may succeed to it, with"out any such qualification. A man can"not make a fortune without moneygetting talents; but he may inherit it, without any other disposition than those "of squandering and improvidence. The case is precisely the same as to public "functions and political power. In regu"lar and established governments, they are "often given, and must often be given, to "rank and to wealth, and to personal influence, without any great regard to superior fitness or ability. In the first for"mation of society, or in its second for 66 case is somewhat different; and it is necessary to consider in what the difference "consists. When an office of importance "becomes vacant,-when a commander is to be named for a great expedition, or an "ambassador for a delicate and critical mis"sion, it is probable that more than one "individual will occur to the ministry, as "peculiarly qualified to discharge these mo"mentous duties, and clearly entitled to "the nomination on the score of superior "merit. If they were free to follow the suggestions of their own judgment, there "would be no doubt about the result; but a ministry, in this country, is a set of persons who hold their patronage, and all "their other power, in consequence of being supported in all their measures by about "two thirds of the members of the legisla"ture, and who would forfeit all this pa 66 tronage and power, the moment they lost "that support, or were deserted by any con "siderable proportion of their adherents. "If it should happen, therefore, that any "person of great weight and influence in "that body should chuse himself to be the "commander or ambassador, in the case "now imagined, or should insist that the 66 mation, in the event of a radical Revo"lution, no such thing is practicable. "Places are not given them, but taken; they are not inherited, but won: and "rank and wealth, andadventitious influence general to the free exercise of its dis"cretion, the evil arising from such "occasional interferences would scarcely "require to be noticed; but to those who are at all acquainted with the practice of 66 "the constitution, it must be unnecessary "to say, that this is not the case. Not " only are all the great offices bespoken for "the leading members of the legislature, or their immediate connections, but all the smaller employments, down to secretaries, and clerks to secretaries, are supplied by candidates who rely upon interest, and not upon merit; and produce, as their only qualification, the recom"mendation of this noble lord, or that disposer of boroughs. So far from being "left to the freedom of their own choice, "ministers have in general no other discre❝tion to observe, than to disoblige the "least powerful of their suitors, and to pacify those whose application is rejected to day, with promises of better success to morrow. The consequences of this system are obvious, and sufficiently melancholy."-Aye, melancholy, indeed, that such a system should prevail as prevents your talents" from rising, by their natural buoyancy, to the higher regions of the "state" Melancholy indeed, that, instead of inhabiting the higher regions of the state, you should be obliged to put up with the higher regions of a lodging house! I am not, observe, finding fault with any thing contained in this extract, which is full of wholesome truths most admirably express ed; but, it is "melancholy" to reflect, that the authors of them are a set of men, even more time-serving and venal than any of those which they have described. It is "melancholy" to reflect, that the men, who wrote and promulgated the above observations, should, in a few months, have written and promulgated an article, the object, of which was to persuade the reader that the borough system, so far from being an injury, is a benefit to the kingdom; and that so far from "melancholy" consequen ces proceeding from placemen being in the house of commons, "it is the fittest place " for them. There is no reason given for this surprizing change of opinion; it is not pretended, that the writers had derived any new light upon the subject; the interme-t mediate space of time was, indeed, only three months, and the writers had been, for years, well acquainted with every thing relating to the state of the representation in parliament. So that, it appears to me quite impossible to attribute the change to any other cause, that that of downright profligacy, operating in conjunction with selfishness and revenge. In the article, which I have last quoted, and which was written just after the Whig ministry were ousted, you see, in every me, the heart-burning of dissp pointed ambition; but, time, which is the greatest of all conciliators, soon, whispered in the ear of these "courageous and honest" critics, that this was not the way to succeed in their views; that this was not a doctrine with which men" entered the higher regions of the state."But, after all, they are, in reality, so many hirelings, and it is waste of breath to express surprize at their conduct. At their first beginning, I was in hopes, that we should have had one review, the writers of which were neither sold nor put up to sale; but, the baseness, the detestable partiality and falsehoods, evident in their review of Mr. Peltier's Trial, convinced me, that their disposition to sell their talents was, to the full, equal in degree to the talents they had to sell. They have, in one or two places, thrown out a sort of side-wind insinuation, that I, too, am actuated by selfish motives; and, by way of revenge for my recent remarks upon them, as connected with the School project, they have published, in the Courier news-paper, about ten days ago, a letter, addressed to me, in which they unequivocally ascribe my hatred of Pitt and his memory (which katred is perfectly sincere) to my mortification at being neglected by him. The folly here is equal, at least, to the falsehood; for, not only do they know the fact to be false, but they also well know, that, though they (aye and Lord Henry Petry along with them) were to take their solemn oath to the truth of this fact, there is not a single man in all England that would believe them. These men have done excellent service in terrifying blockheads from the press; they have done some good too in politics; but, blasted as their work now is in reputation, as far as relates to politics, whatever they write will, and I must say with justice, be suspectedto proceed from some base motive, or other; and, however good it may be in itself, will produce but very little, if any, good effect. But, it may be asked of me, why I, by the description given of them, in the Register of the 21st of March, provoked them to this recent profligate tergiversation. I may be said to have provoked them to attack me, and, therefore, may be regarded as the cause of that attack; but, surely, I am not chargeable with the manner of the attack. If they chose to attack me with falsehood instead of truth; if they chose, in unjustly charging me with inconsistency, to commit, themselves, an act, at once, of inconsistency and of baseness rarely parralleled, that is no fault of mine. Besides, as to the“ pro vocation," it was, on my part, an act of self-defence, They, if we view the matter in its true light, were the aggressors. I 66 future. I do not mean in their writings, the effect of which must be trifling, especially amongst those whose opinions will, by-andby, be of importance; but, I mean, we must watch them, lest they, by hook or by crook, get their hands into our pocket; for, they who are such able twisters, will, when they perceive that their old patrons are ousted for ever, not hesitate many hours in seeking new ones. I do not aver, that their general and sweeping defence of parliamentary corruption was intended as an indirect compliment to "His Majesty's present con"fidential servants," for these reviewers like a hare, can look behind them as well as before them, at one and the same time; but, I am perfectly satisfied, that it was intended to answer some purpose connected with the coming at a share of the public money; and, therefore, let us watch them. A correspondent has sent me the real names of these courageous and honest gentlemen," which names I will publish, together with some anecdotes of each hero, as they respectively come forward to pinnder us. They may say what they please of me, or of my neighbours; they may abuse us themselves, and they may spur on that SOLON the Second, Mr Whitbread, to stigmatize us as "lazy "and vicious;" but, if I can help it, they shall rob neither me nor my neighbours; and, if they should succeed in robbing us. with impunity to their persons, their names shall be rendered pretty notorious -Here we part, for the present, with my making them this offer; that, if they will but abstain from all attempts to get a share of the taxes into their clutches, or, in other words, to live in idleness upon the labour of the people; if they will but abstain from this, they may say of me and my writings just what they please, and I will bind myself in a bond, if they like, never to say one word by way of answer, and never to mention either them or their book, from henceforth unto the end of my life.. a poor dying horse;" I saw some of them gorging, and others of them about to gorge, upon the fruit of our labour; and, when, all of a sudden, I saw them driven away, Jike the said crows, from their unfortunate prey, was I not to be allowed to express my satisfaction? Hard indeed! If a plunderer enter my house, is just beginning to set about his work, and some good friend, chancing to step in, kicks him into the kennel, am I not to rejoice at my riddance? And, if I do rejoice, shall the plunderer assault me, his friends alledging that I am the aggressor? Is there any justice, is there common sense, in this ?--I am of opinion, that, if the king had not ousted the silly patrons of these determined placehunters, the latter would, in the course of a very few months, have been fixed upon the public (and some of them for life, perhaps) in places and pensions to the amount of not less than twenty thousand pounds a year; and, for what? For what were we to be thus loaded? For no better reason, perhaps, than that Lord Henry Petty, no great while ago, belonged to a spouting-club with these men at Edinburgh! Pretty nearly as good, I think, as making us pay for a pension to an aunt, an instance of waste pointed out in strong terms by these "ho"nest" reviewers. If they have real claims to any portion of the public money, let them distinctly prefer them; and not deal in insinuations, that talents are not employed, that all the offices, even down to secretaries and clerks to secretaries (they had tried them all!) are filled by the influence of the great, while merit is every where met with a frown of refusal. This is the old cant; the invariable whine of all those, who bave a desire to live upon the public rather than upon their own labour. True these reviewers could not live by the law. That they had tried in Scotland; and, therefore, they would hardly earn bread at it in Eng-have, in the following article, from the Haliland. But, they could write their review, as they call it. They could get an honest livelihood that way; and, worst come to worst, if they had been too lazy to work and too proud to beg, I must confess, that, if driven to rob the public, I, in their place, should have chosen a line, somewhat more adventurous indeed, but, certainly, less base, and, if we admit of degrees in honesty, infinitely less dishonest, than that of pillaging under the protection of law.--I have but one observation to add, and that is, that it will be necessary to watch these men for the AMERICAN STATES. At length we fax (Nova Scotia paper) a pretty full and au thentic account of the circumstances, which led to the searching of the Chesapeake by the Leopard. I beg the reader to bear in mind what was said by me, when the intelligence first arrived in answer to the Morning Chronicle, who had attributed the blame to the English Commander solely, and who Irad insisted boldly, that there were more Americans on board of the Leopard, than British seamen on board of the Chesapeake, I knew, I was morally certain, that the outrage on the part of the Americans must States; they were founded on the following facts.In the month of February or March, a lieutenant of the American Navy, opened a rendezvous in the town "of Norfolk, in Virginia, for the Chesapeake frigate, then fitting out at Washington. Many deserters from his majesty's ships, then lying in the Chesapeake, "entered with this officer, in particular "from the Chichester, who in consequence of running on shore was alongside the "wharf at Norfolk, and part of the Zeno"bia's crew, who was stranded near the Capes. These deserters, and many more belonging to the Halifax, Melampas, &c. were openly paraded in the streets by the "lieutenant under the American flag, and frequently met by their former officers, and reclaimed by them, but were told by "the lieutenant, that although he knew they were deserters, he could not give then up without orders from his govern-A remonstrance was then made "by the British Counsel to the chief magis ment. trate of Norfolk, who refused acting in it, or authorising any thing which might be done by their own officers to take them. This was officially communicated to his "Britannic Majesty's minister at Washing ton, who represented it to the Scretary * of State and President, whose answers "were, that having entered the American service, and claimed its protection, they "were to be considered as citizens, and is therefore could not be given up; besides "that some, he understood, were impressed men. These applications were frequently renewed, and always the sanze answers returned. At this time it was " ascertained, that above one hundred deserters from the British artillery actually composed a part of the crew of the Chesapeake. The account was sent to Eng"land with a description of such men, as could be positively fixed upon, with the "admira,'s orders issued upon the occasion, and similar accounts were transmitted to every other quarter where the British flag was flying. In the month of July the Chesapeake sailed, and the occurrence of "searching her took place. The crimping of English seamen both from the mercbant service as well as from the men of war of Great Britain had arisen to that 66 46 "height, and so far from being able to "avail themselves of that friendly intercourse, which, in a neutral country, the English had a right to expect, not a boat "could be trusted on shore from the ships "in Hampton Roads, and all communica"tion was carried on by two pilot boats, "hired for the purpose, and manner by "petty officers of his Majesty's navy. The "officers of the Chichester were not ex"empt. One, a murderer, being sheltered from justice, although at last surrendered " of his own accord; the other the gunner "of the Chichester, seduced by the licute"nant's promises of promotion in the Ame"rican navy, deserted; and actually officiat"ing in the Chesapeake frigate, met with "his death; a circumstance totally dropt "in the account given of this affair by "Commodore Barron or his officers, as "well as the three other seamen who were killed, and who were all Englishmen and "deserters. The men taken by the Leopard are all of that description, and one in "particular, belonging to the Halifax, had not only received the king's bounty, but seventeen pounds additional, given by this "province-There is no doubt but that if "the Leopard could have identified them by some of their own officers, many of the Chichester's as well as the Zenobia's men "would have been found, as the prisoners "have since confessed they were on board; "bat as the captain of the Leopard could only identify those whose officers were on board, and actually recognized them, they were suffered to remain."--In the "former Number we mentioned, that Ad"miral Berkeley had promised a pardon to "all deserters from his Majesty's ships in "the American seas, on their immediately returning to their duty. The following "is a copy of this paper, which, we are happy to hear has, to a great degree, been "productive of the desired effect :"· BRITISH SEAMEN. As the hearts of all "true British seamen are, like their na"❝tive oak, honest, tough, and unchange""able, and never can be induced to ""countenance hostilities against Old Eng""land, the Admiral and Commander in ""Chief of his Majesty's squadron on this coast, proclaims a free and un |