bended from the increasing power of vent large quantities of goods from being December 20th, 1906, Vol. X. p. 974. At no time, under no circumstances that the imagination can form to itself, would it be prudent or safe for us to concede any point connected with the maintenance of our power at sea; but, at the present time, and under circumstances that I have endeavoured to describe in the foregoing article, concession would be the be ginning of annihilation to the only force, on which we have now to rely for keeping the enemy from our doors. Give up the right of search, and to give up a part expressly will be giving up the whole by implication, or, ar least by interpretation; give up that, and, in the space of two years, France will beat us in that which has hitherto been called the English Channel.-Refuse, and what is the consequence? The execution of a non-importation act, passed in America, suspended now, perhaps, but ready to be put in rigid execution the moment the final refusal is made known. And what will be the effect of this terrible act, which is to awe England into compliance? Into a surrender of rights, undisputed by the public law of Europe, and exercised by all nations, except those whose interest it has been not to exercise them, or who had not the power to exercise them? What will be the effect of this act, supposing the American government to have passed it with any other view than that of exciting the fears of timid commercial avarice? The effect would be, if it were possible to execute the act, to pre-subject, one would really imagine, that it was purely to oblige us, out of mere compassion and Christian charity to us, that the Americans were our cloth, and cut their meat with our knives. It may be the opinion of some, that they have proved themselves to be affectionate children; but, God preserve, I say, the parent from being reduced to a reliance upon their affection or compassion! God preserve the country I love from a dependance upon American generosity, charity, or even American justice! The fact is, that the Americans purchase our goods because they want them, and cannot do without them. Their whole dress, from the chin to the ancle, goes from England, Ireland, or Scotland. From the swaddling cloths of the baby to the shroud of the grandsire, all is supplied by us; and it is in my power, at any time, to show that, in return for English materials and English labour, England receives out, comparatively, a small portion of food or of raiment, the far greater part being a mere vehicle for enriching the few who profit from the trade Can the Americans do without our goods? This is to ask; can they go naked; for in the whole world, this kingdom excepted, there exist not the means of covering their backs; of keeping them from the inclemency of the weather, either by day or by night. To say nothing, therefore, of the numerous useful and necessary articles of hardware, and goods, indeed, of all descriptions, how are they to supply the place of English goods? "Other countries." What other country is there upon earth? Even before the French revolution commenced its havock upon the manufactories of the continent, all the other countries in the world did not supply them with as much of the articles of indispensable necessity as Gloucestershire dil; and, it will, I hope, not be forgotten by Lords Holland and Auckland, that Napoleon, in his Northern conquests, must have broken up the small source of supply there afforded to America. But," shall we not drive the Americans to manufacture for themselves?" This is a horrid possibility to be sure; but, we must first drive two other things amongst them, namely, sheep, and downs for the sheep to feed upon, and (I had like to have forgotten a third) a sun under which sheep can live and thrive. These are physical obstacles, which are not to be overcome, believe me, by a petulant act of Congress, though preceded by six weeks or two months of dull debate, in which, perhaps, fifty lawyers were exercising their lungs for the bar, to the great annoyance of a hundred honest farmers, who had, at last, not a more correct notion of the consequences of the act, than Mr. Spankie (the Editor of the Morning Chronicle) now seems to have. It may seem incredible to some persons that there should be no sheep in America; and, there are many superficial observers, who will be inclined to dispute my opinions upon the fact of their having frequently eaten lamb and mutton there. But, it will be quite sufficient, in answer to all such, to state, that for every man in the United States, five pounds sterling's worth of woollens is annually imported from England. What, then, do they do with their own wool? The truth is, that they grow scarcely enough to answer the demand for stuffing saddles and such like uses; and they never can; both soil and climate being hostile to the breeding and the keeping of sheep. Supposing, therefore, that the people, almost all of them bred to agricultural pursuits, could, before their present stock of cloths is worn to rags, be collected together from their thinly scattered plantations, and moulded into manufacturers; supposing persons there ready to teach them the art of manufacturing; and supposing that unsupposeable event, the transmutation of some of their lands into workshops, still the materials, whereon to work are wanting; and, if ever they are obtained, from England, dear England, however they may hate her, and affect to despise her, those materials must come, August 22d, 1807. Vol. XII. p. 262. Leaving this worst of all aristocracies to enjoy its day, and waiting patiently for the arrival of our day, let us examine a little, Gentlemen, into the grounds of the alarm, expressed by the Independent Whig and the Chamber of Commerce, at the probability of seeing the American ports shut against our goods.Gentlemen, part of the wool (one article is enough, for the same reasoning applies to all), which grows upon the backs of sheep, which feed upon the grass, which grows upon the land of England, is made into cloth of various denominations, which cloth is made by English labour, and is afterwards sent to clothe the Americans. Now, does it appear to you, that it would do us any great injury, if the Americans were to refuse to wear this cloth; if they were to refuse to receive the benefit of so much of the produce of the soil and of the labour of our country? They must go naked and absolutely perish without this cloth; but, that I lay aside, for the present, as of no account. What injury would it do us, if they were to be able to prevent our woollens from entering their ports? Why, my assailant of the Independent Whig will say, perhaps, that such prevention would be the ruin of thousands; that it would break up our cloth manufacto.ries, and produce starvation amongst the cloth makers. This sweeping way of describing is always resorted to in such cases; but, Gentlemen, though we actually clothe the Americans, they do not take off one tenth part of our cloth. And, supposing it possible for them effectually to put a stop to this outlet, how would it injure us? The consequence would be, that cloth would be cheaper in England; the consequence of that would be, that wool would be cheaper; [822 merce has declined, till, at last, having lost all her commerce, she is become absolute mistress of the whole of the continent of Europe; notwithstanding this, the commercial ribe, with Pitt at their head, have so long and so impudently assumed, that it is commerce that " the nasupports "tion," that it is not to be wondered at, that a man who is foolish enough to have his all in the funds, should be alarmed lest he should lose his dividends with the loss of commerce. The merchants would fain per suade us (perhaps they may really think so) that their goods and their ships pay the say they, pointing to their imports and exgreater part of the taxes. "Look, here!" ports. That is very fine, for a few hundreds of them; but what is it to the whole of the nation?" But," say they," look "at the Custom House duties." Yes, and who pay those duties? It is we, Gentlemen, who pay those duties. The comes out of our labour, and from no other payment source whatever. The people of America have been cajoled by this sort of doctrine. ing citizens,, " except such as are imposed "We pay no taxes," says one of their boast upon foreign commodities." That is to say, except such as are imposed upon Rum, which is to them what beer is to us; Sugar and Coffee, of which, in part, the breakis composed; Woollens and Linens and Cotfast of every human creature in the country tons, without which the people must go nak the consequence of that would be, that sheep would be less valuable; the consequence of that would be, that less of them would be raised. But, the feed which now goes to the keeping of part of our sheep, would go to the keeping of something else, and the labour now bestowed upon part of our woollen cloths, would be bestowed upon something else; in all probability upon the land, which always calls for labour, and which never fails to yield a grateful return.-There is, Gentlemen, as it were by preconcert, by regular system, a loud cry, upon all occasions, set up about our loss of commerce. Wars have been made, over and over again, for the sake of commerce; and, when the rights and honour of the nation are to be sacrificed by a peace, the regaining or preserving of commerce is invariably the plea. To hear these merchants and their ig-ed by day and be frost-bitten by night. But, norant partizans talk, one would almost suppose, that, if sincere in their expressions of alarm, they must look upon commerce as the sole source of our food and raiment, and even of the elements which are necessary to man's existence. Commerce, they tell us, is" essential to the vital interests" of the country. Who would not suppose, that commerce brought us our bread and our water. Gentlemen, to support commerce, the wars in Egypt were undertaken; the wars in India are carried on without ceasing, the war in South America, and in Africa are now undertaken. Oh! What English blood and English labour and English happiness and English honour has not this commerce cost! But, without commerce how are ་་ we to defray the expences of govern"ment, and the interest of the national "debt?" This is a question that every frightened female puts to one; and, really, notwithstanding it is well known that England has been upon the decline of power ever since she became decidedly commercial, and that France has grown in power in the same proportion as her com ther they pay a tax upon their coats, or what is the difference, Gentlemen, whewhether they pay it upon their candles !→ But, Gentlemen, bearing in mind, however, that we pay the custom-house duties, let us see what proportion those duties bear The whole of the taxes, collected last year, to the whole of the taxes raised upon us. amount to about 50 millions; the customhouse duties, exclusive of coals, and goods another, to about 5 millions! Supposing, carried from one part of the kingdom to therefore, that, if we did not pay these 5 them, to pay in any other way, if called millions in this way, we should not possess upon; supposing this, is there here any falling off to be alarmed at? tlemen, the Barley alone of England, pays, Why, Genin malt and in beer, more clear money into the Exchequer than all the shipping and all the foreign commerce put together; and, as America, it is less than what arises from the to the revenue arising from the trade with porter which you drink in the City of Westminster alone. The fact is, Gentlemen, that the means of supporting fleets and it be proved. I am aware of the power of deep-rooted prejudice. I am aware of the influence of commerce. I am aware that it will be very difficult to induce the SpinningJenny Baronets and Lords to give up the importance of commerce. I am aware, that all those, who either from knavery or folly, still remain attached to the memory of Pitt, will, if they have sense enough to perceive that if our notions relative to commerce were adopted by the nation in general, his speeches would become a subject of endless ridicule; I am aware, that such men will not be convinced, or, at least, that they never will confess their conviction. But, in spite of prejudice and of vanity and of faction, if events proceed as, thank God, they are now proceeding, this so long deluded people will think rightly upon the subject of commerce, and when they do, away go, in a very short space of time, all the locusts that now eat up our substance; that now degrade the country; that now barter its hap armies, the means of meeting all the squanderings that we witness, the means of paying the dividends at the bank, come out of the land of the country and the labour of its people. These are the sources from which all those means proceed; and all that the merchants, and ministers like merchants, tell us about the resources of commerce, means merely this, that while we are sweating at every pore to pay the taxes, we onght to believe, that the taxes are paid by others. I will tell you, Gentlemen, who would be injured by the shutting of the American ports against our goods. A few great merchants and manufacturers; and, observe it well, some hundreds of men, and some of those very great men, who have their money in the American funds. These, and these alone, be you well assured, would suffer any serious inconveniences from the shutting of the American ports; and these men are amongst the very worst enemies that the people of England have to overcome. -Nothing is more convenient for the pur-piness and its honour for their own villainous pose of a squandering, jobbing, corrupting, advantage.-England has long groaned bribing minister, than a perspasion amongst the people, that it is from the commerce, and not from their labour, that the taxes come; and, it has long been a fashionable way of thinking, that, it is no matter how great the expenses are, so that the commerce does but keep pace with them in increase. Nothing can better suit such a minister and his minions than the propagation of opinions like these. But, Gentlemen, you have seen the commerce tripled since the fatal day, when Pitt became minister; and have you found, that your taxes have not been increased? The commerce has been tripled, and so have the parish paupers. Away, then, I beseech you, with this destructive delusion! See the thing in its true light. Look upon all the taxes as arising out of the land and the labour, and distrust either the head or the heart of the man who would cajole you with a notion of their arising from any other source. Here, in this last extract, there is, as a "learned" man would say, multum in parvo. This little extract does, indeed, contain every important idea contained in Mr. Spence's pamphlet, as far as relates to the national inutility of export commerce; and, basty as the writing of it evidently was, I do really believe, that it is even better calculated to produce the desired effect, than the very elaborate work, from which I have taken so many extracts." But," some one will say, you are only claiming a preeminence in jolly." May be so; but let under a commercial system, which is the most oppressive of all possible systems; and it is, too, a quiet, silent, smothering oppression, that it produces, which is more bateful than all others. Napoleon is deceived in supposing, that the measures, which he has adopted against our commerce will ruin us; but, he is right, if he means to break up the commercial system; and he thinks, perhaps, that, rather than suffer that system to be broken up, our government will yield to any terms that he may dictate, in which opinion I will not say that he is wrong There are three objections to these our doctrines relative to commerce; 1st, That, by putting an end to all foreign commerce, thousands of manufacturers would be thrown out of employment; 2nd, that we should not be able to obtain naval stores in sufficient abundance; 3rd, that we should lose the nursery for seamen, with whom to man our ships of war.These objections are worthy of attention, and shall be duly attended to in my next sheet. Micheldever, 19th Nov. 1807. EDINBURGH REVIEWERS. (Being Mr. Worthington's second Letter.) SIR; Although the argumentum ad hominem is not conclusive in general reasoning, yet it may be applied to convict of wilful sophism, the supporter of a political ar gument, when he is found obstinately stick ling for a corrupt abuse, which by a prior proposition of his own argument, it would cost him nothing to relinquish. For exam ques ple: if, agreeable to the position of the Edinburgh Reviewers, (p. 408) a House of Commons should consist (and our's actually, as they assert, so consisting) of those persons, who, from "rank, wealth, office, &c." (brains and honesty being out of the tion) do "individually and necessarily" (according to them)" direct the conduct, and "influence the opinions of a very large ma"jority of the people;" how comes it to pass, that " corrupt influence, aristocratic menace, and rotten boroughs," should be so requisite, as aids, in duly selecting these natural representatives of the PEOPLE, when the people, according to the premises, would, without any corruption, or undue influence at all, have naturally made such selection of their own accord? Now, this being the case, as no doubt itwould be, and our present worthy representatives, the very identical persons, whom, under the freest circumstances of selection, the people would necessarily choose, why will not the Edinburgh Reviewers give up these rotten boroughs, why not give up the Sources of this corrupt influence, concerning which, the stupid people make such (how ever unreasonable) complaints? (for, who can strike reason into the multitude!) Why not give up these things, I repeat, which their own proposition asserts would in fact be no sacrifice at all? Why not, I reiterate, give them up to the prejudices, however childish, of the people? If a child cried for a bank note, one might think twice before one gave it to him; but, if he bawled for a bit of brown paper, surely one would give it him to make him quiet! And, believe me, Mr. Cobbett, if your inflammatory writings are subjects of such terror, a mere effectual quietus to their operation would be found in such a measure, than will ever be extracted from the hypotheses, or from all the lucubrations put together of the Edinburgh Reviewers. It is comical enough to trace the sophistries of these Reviewers through their very der.ominations.-Thus, in justifying the composition of the House of Commons, such as it exists; which they admit is not, and argue, OUGHT not to be a representation of the people, they carefully avoid the quiz of calling it such; they speak of "the parlia ན་ ment," of a representative legislature, "lower house," &c. &c. but the mention of the representatives of the people, (which is their true constitutional denomination) never once occurs in their treatise, expressly written upon the British Constitution!!!To proceed with our subject (pages 408 and 409), I agree, then, with the Edinburgh Reviewers, that liberty will be best preserved" by keeping alive the spirit and intelligence of the people;" but, I deny the next term of their argument; viz. that the making speeches, with whatever freedom in a House of Commons conrposed, as they describe our's to be, and the publishing them, however diffusively, will be adequate, as the Reviewers think, to this effect, or even be the best mode of endeavouring to attain it. On the contrary, I think nothing more likely to extinguish all "spirit and in"telligence," pay, all interest whatsoever in political concerns in the minds of a people, than an exhibition of factious debate, wherein the agitation of a public question is known to arise from a selfish interest; wherein reason stands on one side, and t majority on the other; and where a decision is uniformly given, not in respect of the argument, but of the proposer! I do not at all say, God forbid! that this is the case with our House of Commons; I am merely pursuing and arguing on the assumption of the Edinburgh Reviewers; who, in conceding "the contempt of the people for public "characters, &c." must also necessarily concede some such cause for it as the foregoing. Merely supposing then, that the people should witness such an exhibition for an uninterrupted series of years, equivalent to the duration of human life; that they should know and feel, that by no legal ef fort of their own, they could acquire their just predominance in the assembly of their nominal (on the supposition) representatives, what business in such a state (for the mind is free, and one may imagine such a state, however fanciful!) what business, I ask, in such a state would the people have with "spirit and intelligence?" The latter of which could only instruct them to despise their condition, and the former animate them to rebellion!! But, I pause. I have not sought this occasion; and these remarks have been struck out of me by the provoca tion, blurted in our faces by these Reviewers, who would have acted more prudently in keeping it out of sight. It was certainly going a step beyond discretion, and a little too far to be yet endured in sOUTH BRITAIN to tell the people; that persons, who, as they admit, are not bona fide elected by them, are the fittest to be entrusted with their interests; and that popular "spirit "and intelligence," are to be "best and "adequately kept alive by the lickerings of "such an assembly, much better than by "the proceedings of an assembly of their "real representatives!!" This is not declamation-I will not oppose sophistry with declamation, I will oppose it with fact; and I argue, not only, that "popular spirit and intelligence would not be best kept alive” by such bickerings, and their diffusive publi |