writer may as easily make us believe, that it is possible to persuade a man that he is hungry, when his belly is full, that he has been broom-sticked or flogged when his body has been untouched, that he has been imprisoned, gagged, exiled and hanged, when he has, all the while, been living at home, enjoying himself under his own vine and fig-tree with no one to make him afraid. Persuade! Why, how are you to persuade a people to be lieve that they are suffering that which they do not feel?-Base and detestable as this is, however, it has not the merit of "and oppressed; That there was a systema"tic plan to enslave her. Language was "used for the purpose of goading, and "inflaming her; and was accompanied by a manifesto advertising for an invasion "by the enemy, and for an insurrection to "meet it. It was publicly stated that the military force was small; and more than one hint was dropped that now "was the time for prompt and efficacious "measures.”――This refers to a very excellent article in the MORNING CHRONICLE, pointing out the dangers to which Ireland was exposed, and beseeching the ministers to adopt speedily measures for put-novelty. It is a mere slavish repetition of ting an end to those dangers by the means what was said, upon all occasions, by of conciliation. And this is here termed, writers of this description, during the last advertising for an invasion, and also for an war, while "the great statesman now no insurrection to meet it! Impudent and ve- "more" was in power. It succeeded; it nal varlet! So, if any man point out what was one of the means by which the Jacoappears to him to be ground of apprehen- bins and Levellers were kept down. It sion, and calls upon the ministers to adopt succeeded; but, again I ask, what has been what appear to him to be the proper means the fruit of that success? Are we any of prevention, he is to be accused of sedi safer than we were in 1792? What could tious and treasonable designs. This is not, the Jacobins and Levellers have done, if however, the first time that this detestable they had not been kept down, to make our doctrine has been promulgated, even from situation more perilous than it now is? some authority.Observe, too, that the What could they have done, which would OPPOSITION; that is to say, all those who have put more power into the hands of do not approve of the minister's measures; France? What measures could they, with that is to say, all those who do not vote all their Corresponding Societies and Confor him; that is to say, about one half of ventions and Reforms; what could they the members of both Houses of Parliament; have done that would have sooner and more all these persons are, thus, in a lump, ac-effectually have overturned the "regular cused of entertaining wishes to see Ireland invaded, and to see an insurrection of the people ready to meet and to favour it. And yet, this man does not scruple to call upon the people for unanimity.Talk of advertising, indeed! What does he advertise? What does he "hint to the enemy?" He tells the enemy in so many words, that all those who do not approve of the present minister's system and measures, wish to see an invasion and are ready to favour it. What would be said and done to me, or to any one else, if we were to state, that nearly one half of the members of both Houses of Parliament anxiously wished the enemy to come and to conquer the country? I beg the reader to bear this in mind, and to reflect a little upon this mode of "preserving the country.". -But, all this aside, what a foolish, what a beastly, idea is it, that the people of Ireland are to be "persuaded that there is a settled sys"tem for insulting and oppressing and en"slaving them!" Just as if men were to be persuaded to believe themselves in any state in which they are not. This governments" of Europe? What could they have done that would have, brought this country into a state more "unsatis factory" than that of being obliged to make war for bare existence; and of acknowledging, by the mouth of the minister, that we have it not in our power to make peace with security; that the termination of the war depends wholly upon the enemy and not upon us? What could they have done that should have produced as to the Bunk and to Trade worse effects than have been produced without any of their doings? The success against them was pretty complete; but, the worst of it is, it has not been attended with success against the enemy. And, the COURIER may, perhaps, now succeed in its abominable attacks upon the Morning Chronicle; but what will that avail? it will not make the situation of Ireland less dangerous; no, and it will not retard the hour of invasion; but, it may hasten it, and, really, I do not know any thing more nefarious than these attempts to blacken the characters of political adversaries at the manifest risk, and with almost a certainty," respecting an inquiry into EX OFFICIO of adding to the dangers of the country. "prosecutions for libels, will be read with -I see, that this strong measure in Ire- peculiar pleasure by every man in the land has been taken up in parliament by "country not vitiated in his nature Lord MOIRA and Lord HOLLAND, and that by the profits of corruption. We are the ministers have disavowed any partici- glad to have occasion to relate achieve pation in the orders, but have avowed their "ments by our navy, and victories by conviction of the necessity of the measure. "our armies abroad; but their effects are -The turn attempted to be given to "not to be estimated half so high as a the affair is, that it is merely the enforcing victory obtained over the depravity of an existing law, and that it is nothing" and extravagance at home, which wastemore than the execution of any other well-fully and wickedly consume the profits known law.How candid this statement" of the industry and the fruits of the inis all the world will easily see. It is too "tellect of the best portion of the inha plain for remark; and, all we have now "bitants of the Empire. A battle gained, to do is to look quietly on, and see how "however glorious to our arms and hothe thing works.All that I shall add "nourable to our reputation, for indiviis, that it appears, that His ROYAL HIGH- dual courage, does but prolong for a NESS, the REGENT, has not had any thing to "short time the existence of an injured do with the measure in question, as, indeed," and declining constitution; but a conhe could not, seeing that the ministers" quest over that perversion of principle say, that it was adopted without their "which so universally prevails in the knowledge. This is very material; for it "State, would give it immortality.". might be productive of the most serious Most cordially do I subscribe to these senand fatal consequences, if the people of timents, which are, at last, becoming as Ireland thought, that such a measure took general as the air, and which must lead to place as the first act of his Royal High- great good, if any thing can now bring us ness towards them. good. Yes, for what indeed, are the wars and expeditions compared to this? What do we fight for? What is the rational object of military and naval struggles? OUR LIBERTIES; and, shall we, then, think little of those liberties themselves ? Shall we think so much of the means, and yet forget the end? Shall we busy our minds, shall we fill ourselves with care and anxiety about the keeping out of the foc who we fear would destroy our freedom; and, shall we, at the same time, be so stupid and so base, as to think nothing about that freedom itself?The people of England, strange as it may seem, know little more about INFORMĂTIONS EX OFFICIO than they do of what is passing in Russia, Turkey, or Algiers. They know the name of the thing; but of the thing itself they know nothing at all.--Those who have read Magna Charta find nothing there about INFORMATIONS EX OF FICIO. Ex Officio are two Latin words,, and in this respect, amongst many others, the "Learned Languages" as they are called, is found to be of great service. These two words mean By Office, or, perhaps, more fully, by privilege, or in virtue, of THE PRESS. Of the state in which the press now is nothing need be said. That state is very well known to the public. The history of the last three years will be memorable on many accounts; but on no account so much as on account of the press.---LORD HOLLAND, on Friday last, gave notice of a motion upon the subject. "He stated his intention to make "a motion at an early period of the present "Sessions for an account of the number of "informations filed EX OFFICIO by the At"torney General. The Bill brought in "recently by the Attorney General, and "passed into an act, which his Lordship "had unsuccessfully opposed, had given "to such informations consequences which "did not before belong to them by the "law. His Lordship took this early op"portunity of giving his notice."--In the House of Commons, on Monday last, LORD VISCOUNT FOLKESTONE, after stating, that he had, for several days, waited in vain to see the Attorney General in his place, gave a notice to the same effect; and this important subject will now, let us hope, meet with a full and fair discus-office.--So that, an Information Ex Officio sion. The MORNING CHRONICLE, in observing on the notice of Lord HOLLAND, says:- --"Lord Holland's notice, given "in the Honse of Peers on Friday last, is an Information laid by the Attorney General in virtue, or by the privilege, of his Office.--Aye, but what is an information?It requires a little explanation. When any man has committed what is called, by our laws, a crime, and he is prosecuted for it, there must be an accusation preferred against him, and this accusation, when drawn up, is called a bill of INDICTMENT, which indictment, before the party accused can be put upon his trial, is presented to a Grand Jury, who, if they see no cause for prosecution, throw out the bill of indictment, or, if they see cause for prosecution, find the bill, as it is called; that is to say, they carry it into the Judge, and tell him, that it is a true Bill.--But, observe, that, before they can find the bill true, there must be witnesses examined by the Grand Jury upon oath, the Grand Jury being also upon their oaths; and thus, in this case, in this usual course of the law of the land, every accused person has the double security of oaths taken by those who judge of the matter alledged against him and also by the witnesses to the facts of which he is accused. -An INFORMATION is a thing which supplies the place of an indictment; and, in all cases where individuals are the parties, they must be moved for in Court, affidavits, or depositions, must be produced in support of the motion, and the accused party must have time and opportunity to be beard by himself, or counsel, before the Information is received by the Judges, and, of course, before the accused party can be put upon his trial.- Here again, though there is no Grand Jury to stand between the accused and the prosecutor, there are the oaths of credible witnesses, and, which is of full as much importance as the oaths of witnesses, there is a hearing of the party accused, before he can be put upon his trial, and subjected to all the inconvenience und expence of a trial, which must always be heavy, and, sometimes, enor mous.--But, in the case of Informations Ex Officio, there is no Grand Jury, no witnesses, no previous hearing, no oaths, no, nor even any motion to the Court.--Here the ATTORNEY GENERAL, without any previous notice whatever, accuses any man whom he thinks proper to accuse, and brings him to trial in consequence of an Information, which himself lays against him. All that he has to do is to make out his Information, put it upon the file, or list, of the Court, and to send the accused party a little slip of paper, called a Subpoena, to come and answer to certain charges preferred against him.-—This is an INFORMATION EX OFFICIO.--Well, the party comes and goes at once upon his trial; and, if he be acquitted, what then? Why, he has good luck; but he has all his harrass of mind, all his loss of time, and all the heavy expences of the law to sustain; for, he gets no costs, no, nor any compensation of any sort.Suppose, that, after laying the information, the Attorney General does not choose to proceed? Why he does not choose it, that's all. Oh! I had like to have forgotten; the party has to sustain all his expences of preparation for trial. The ATTORNEY GENERAL is not compelled, nor compellable, to bring him to trial.-I need say no more for the purpose of convincing the reader of the importance of this subject, and to show, that, while it is under discussion, that man must be a beast indeed, who looks upon any other subject as worthy of his attention.—I have here given merely the out-lines of this famous thing called an Information Ex Officio, and without any attempt or wish to give what I say a particular application to this or any other time. It is the thing itself, the power itself, that I wish to bring under the view of the public. There are many circumstances belonging to it that will be noticed another time, and that must indeed be thought worthy of all the attention that every man is able to command. But, I repeat, that the man must be a beast, whose mind can be occupied with what is going on in Spain and Portugal, while a subject like this is presented to his attention.- -I rejoice, with the Morning Chronicle, that the matter has been taken seriously up in the proper place. We shall now have it fully before us, and we shall then all of us be able to judge of it. I have only one wish to express, and that is, that the two Noble Lords, who have given the notices above-mentioned, will not suffer themselves to be diverted from their purpose. All I wish to see is a full discussion of the matter; a full discussion. Speaking plainly; speaking out. MR. FINNERTY.-There is, I hear, a meeting to be held to-morrow (Wednesday, February 20), at the Crown and Anchor in the Strand, when the case of this gentleman is to be taken into consideration, and where SIR FRANCIS BURDETT is to be in the chair.So full, so ample, has been the report of the Trial in this case, such complete justice has been done to it by the reports, that it would be useless to add any thing to what is therein contained. But, as an erroneous report appears to have gone forth as to the date of the the sanction of the Great Seal.-The Prince feels it incumbent upon him, at this precise juncture, to communicate to Mr. Perceval his intention not to remove from their stations those whom he finds there, as his Majesty's official servants. At the same time the Prince owes it to the truth and sincerity of character, which, he trusts, will appear in every action of his life, in whatever situation placed, explicitly to declare, that the irresistible impulse of filial duty and affection to his beloved and afflicted Father, leads him to dread that any act of the Regent might, in the smallest degree, have the effect of interfering with the progress of his Sovereign's recovery.— This consideration alone dictates the decision now communicated to Mr. Perceval. transactions in Ireland, respecting which Mr. FINNERTY'S affidavits spoke, I will just state, that I understand, that the most important transactions mentioned in those affidavits are therein stated to have taken place in May and June, 1798.It is also bare justice to Mr. FINNERTY to say a word or two about the cause of his being put in the Pillory in Ireland, a circumstance, which was brought forward BY THE ATTORNEY GENERAL after Mr. FINNERTY had no longer an opportunity of speaking.He was put in the Pillory in punishment of A LIBEL, of which, what ever might be its nature, he was not the author, but merely the publisher.-Besides, why was such a circumstance to weigh against him? Did not JOHN LILBURNE stand in the Pillory for a libel; that same JOHN LILBURNE, who stands immortalized as one of the truest friends of freedom that ever breathed, and who, in the words of Sir John Maynard, had "the "noblest spirit that ever warmed an Eng-jesty's restoration to health, and to the perlish breast?" Nay, was there not a man put in the pillory, ridden backward upon a horse, had his ears cut off, fined, and imprisoned; did he not die in prison, did not his family starve; and for what? For a libel in accusing Lord Chancellor Bacon with bribery? And was not that same Bacon, afterwards proved to have taken bribe upon bribe, and to be so vile and corrupt a scoundrel as to merit being stripped of his peerage?--Being put in the Pillory for libel, therefore, is not ground whereon to found a man's condemnation. WM. COBBETT. State Prison, Newgate, Tuesday, February 19, 1811. OFFICIAL PAPERS. PRINCE OF WALES-Genuine Copies of the Letters that passed between his Royal Highness the Prince Regent and Mr. Perceval, on the Annunciation of his Royal Highness's Determination to retain the present Ministers in his Service. THE PRINCE REGENT'S LETter. Carlton-House, February 4, 1811. The Prince of Wales considers the moment to be arrived, which calls for his decision with respect to the persons to be employed by him, in the administration of the Executive Government of the Country, according to the Powers vested in him by the Bill passed by the two Houses of Parliament, and now on the point of receiving Having thus performed an act of indispensible duty, from a just sense of what is due to his own consistency and honour, the Prince has only to add, that, among the many blessings to be derived from his Ma sonal exercise of his Royal Functions, it will not, in the Prince's estimation, be the least, that that most fortunate event will at once rescue him from a situation of unexampled embarrassment, and put an end to a state of affairs, ill calculated, he fears, to sustain the interests of the United Kingdom, in this awful and perilous crisis, and most difficult to be reconciled to the genuine principles of the British Constitution. MR. PERCEVAL'S ANSWER. Downing-Street, February 5, 1811. Mr. Perceval presents his humble duty to your Royal Highness, and has the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Royal Highness's letter of last night, which reached him this morning.-Mr. Perceval feels it his duty to express his humble thanks to your Royal Highness for the frankness with which your Royal Highness has condescended, explicitly, to communicate the motives which have induced your Royal Highness to honour his colleagues and him with your commands for the continuance of their services, in the stations entrusted to them by the King. And Mr. Perceval begs leave to assure your Royal Highness, that, in the expression of your Royal Highness's sentiments of filial and loyal attachment to the King, and of anxiety for the speedy restoration of his Majesty's health, Mr. Perceval can see nothing but additional motives for their most anxious exertions to give satisfaction to your Royal Highness, in the only manner in which it can be given, by endeavouring to promote your Royal Highness's views, for the security and happiness of the country. Mr. Perceval has never failed to regret the impression of your Royal Highness, with regard to the provisions of the Regency Bill, which his Majesty's servants felt it to be their duty to recommend to Parliament. But, he ventures to submit to your Royal Highness, that, whatever difficulties the present awful crisis of the country and the world may create in the administration of the Executive Government, your Royal Highness will not find them in any degree increased by the temporary suspension of the exercise of those branches of the Royal Prerogatives, which has been introduced by Parliament, in conformity to what was intended on a former similar occasion; and that whatever Ministers your Royal Highness might think proper to employ, would find in that full support and countenance which, as long as they were honoured with your Royal Highness's commands, they would feel confident they would continue to enjoy, ample and sufficient means to enable your Royal Highness effectually to maintain the great and important interest of the United Kingdom.-And Mr. Perceval humbly trusts, that, whatever doubts your Royal Highness may entertain with respect to the constitutional propriety of the measures which have been adopted, your Royal Highness will feel assured, that they could not have been recommended by his Majesty's servants, nor sanctioned by Parliament, but upon the sincere, though possibly erroneous, conviction, that they in no degree trenched upon the true principles and spirit of the Constitution. Mr. Per ceval feels it his duty to add, that he holds himself in readiness, at any moment, to wait upon your Royal Highness, and to receive any commands, with which your Royal Highness may be graciously pleased to honour him. my departure from the Cape, I hoisted my flag on board the Nisus, and sailed on the 4th ult. in that ship for the Isle of France. Having made the land on the 2d inst. I proceeded to reconnoitre Port South East, and from thence to Port Louis; where, having cruised 48 hours, and not falling in with any ship of the blockading squadron, I proceeded to this anchorage for information of them, where I found lying his Majesty's ships Boadicea, Otter, and Staunch, gun brig, together with his Majesty's ships. Africaine and Ceylon, which had been taken and recaptured from the enemy, and the imperial French frigate La Venus, also captured from the enemy.-The details, copies of which, I have the honour to transmit herewith, will fully explain to their Lordships the circumstances of the occupation of the Isle de la Passe, as well as the subsequent unfortunate result of a very gallant attack made on the enemy's ships in Port S. E. with the Sirius, Capt. Pym, the Magicienne, Capt. Curtis, the Iphigenia, Capt. Lambert, and the Nereide, Capt. Willoughby, which ended in the unavoidable destruction of the two former of his Majesty's ships, and the surrender to the enemy of the Iphigenia and Nereide, the latter after a glorious resistance almost unparalleled even in the brilliant annals of the British navy.-A momentary superiority thus obtained by the enemy has been promptly and decisively crushed by the united zeal, judgment, perseverance, skill, and intrepidity of Capt. Rowley, in his Majesty's ship Boadicea, the value and importance of whose services, long conspicuous and distinguished as they have been, have fully justified the selection and detention of him as the senior officer conducting the blockade of this station; and who in the present instance, almost alone and unsupported but by the never-failing energies and resources of his active and intelligent mind, under circumstances, as may be easily imagined, of extremest anxiety, mortification, and disappointment, in a few hours not only retook his Majesty's ships Africaine and Ceylon, but captured also the largest frigate possessed by the enemy in these seas, and has thus restored the British naval pre-eminence in this quarter, which his talents have long so successfully contributed to maintain.Nor can I omit to offer the tribute so justly due to the memory of the gallant Corbett, of his Majesty's ship Africaine, whose meritorious eagerness to check the triumph of an exulting enemy impelled him to an |