"troops complain of the unwholesome and tormenting climate in which they are " posted. It is almost impossible to de"scribe the effects of the burning heat of "the day followed by the noxious va"pours of the night. The myriads of in"sects by which they are incessantly as"sailed, are also not merely troublesome "but pernicious, for they inflame and "blister the body to a degree of fever: " and in this situation they are doomed to "remain, we suppose, until Buonaparté "shall enable his Generals to resume the of"fensive!". -Resume the offensive! Why, what are they doing now. Have they not just made the Conde de Vimiera raise the siege of Badajoz after he had made three breaches on its ramparts? Has he not drawn backwards? Is not this acting upon the offensive on the part of the French? Their object clearly was to drive him away from Badajoz, to keep that important place in their hands, and then to let him lie as far from Lisbon as possible, and there continue to support his army and his hospitals at an enormous expence. Aye, to be sure, the heat and the insects and the fevers are what the French wish to leave our army to! This is a situation in which our enemy must wish to see our army. It is a situation that daily creates a necessity for fresh supplies. There is, in the TIMES newspaper (which has become one of the most nauseously slavish) an article, of the 8th instant, affecting to regard the armies of Dalmatia and Ragusa as being dispersed! Thus it is that this nation is cheated. A succession of falshoods is poured out from a venal press, and, when shewn to be false, none of them are ever contradicted. Thus it has been, and thus it will be, as long as this war in the Peninsula shall last; and, when that is over, some other subject will be started, equally fruitful in falshood and fraud. very bold attempt at imposition; but, after what this nation has swallowed, what may it not be expected to swallow? After sucking down George Rose's doctrine about "the blessed comforts of religion;"" after sucking down the belief, that, if they did not give their money freely to be handled and disposed of by Pitt and Rose and the rest of those who were in power, they would not only lose their lands and houses, but that they would be made atheists and have all the "blessed comforts of religion » taken away from them; after swallowing this, and after burning Paine in effigy because he wished to persuade them, that they might, if they chose, keep their money and their religion too; after this, one must confess, that a man will find it difficult to suppose an imposture the practising of which ought to be regarded as a proof of his temerity; for, what may not one expect such a people to believe.- -The IMPOSTOR PAPER was, in my last, clearly proved, from internal evidence, to be a forgery. We shall, hereafter, learn something more about the origin of; but, that it is as gross a forgery as the famous Eclair was, there can be no doubt at all.-Let me now, then, ask what could be the object of this forgery? It is a foolish paper: it verifies the old maxim, than which nothing is truer; namely, that knaves are generally fools.The object is to incense that part of us, who are friends of public liberty, against Napoleon, by representing him as a determined enemy of every reform of abuses, and as having resolved to eradicate the last remaining fibres of freedom in England.-Poor trick! Miserable shift! And, hereupon, we are told, that now, since this paper is come to light, there can be no man in England, especially if he be a lover of liberty, who must not abhor Napoleon; and that any man who would propose a peace with him must be a traitor. IMPOSTOR PAPER.In my last, at Poor trick! Miserable shift! But, page 144, I noticed the vile imposture, why attempt this trick? Did the contrivers which has recently been attempted to be of it suppose, that there was any part of practised upon "the most thinking people the people in this country, who liked Na. "in Europe" by the venal prints of Lon-poleon? Is it possible that they could dou, especially the COURIER and the TIMES, have supposed that? Oh! what a foolish which are the principal channels for the as well as knavish crew? But, what a circulation of "intercepted letters," and other state are they come to, when they are things of the kind, all evidently proceed- driven to attempt to scare the Jacobins and ing from one and the same manufactory. Levellers with a notion that they would -The Impostor Paper, which I am now lose their liberties if Napoleon could have about to notice a little more fully than I bis will? Verily they are a silly and a did before, and which I shall insert in the wicked set of men.The Impostor present sheet, if possible, is certainly a Paper has all the internal marks of a forgery. It breathes sentiments hostile to " 66 pose that he will be able to do that, if we be resolved to defend our country? The man who can calculate upon the possibility of a conquest of the country, will never do much towards defending it; and, if a whole people could so calculate, they might be set down as more than half conquered already.What, then, is the sense of this vile imposture? How, supposing it to be generally believed, could it operate in the way that the venal inventors would have it, namely, to make us all resolve never to have peace with Napoleon? He may think even as they represent him as thinking; he may be the author of such a paper; but, is that a reason for us to do either more or less against him! Are we never to have peace with him, because he wishes (as they tell us) to see our govern According to all, the accounts which "reach us, there is actually formed in the "Prussian States, a very marked opposi"tion to the system pursued by Government annihilated? Why, do not we wish "ment, and to the numerous ameliorations, to see his government annihilated? Is there "which it is executing in the different scarcely a day which does not bring forth "branches of the Administration. While an expression of this sort from our venal "all those who do not belong to the privileged prints? And, yet, I'll warrant you, he " classes, applaud this system, and a certain never will be fool enough to call upon the "number of the members of the noblesse people of France to fight up to their "also support it, the principles which the knees in blood on that account. This is a "Government has laid down, experience ground of eternal war that he would never "the strongest opposition on the part of many be fool enough to put forward, whatever "of the nobles, who see, in these innova- he think or wish.--The inventors of "tions, the destruction of social order. this stupid forgery seem to have known These factious men are incapable of en- nothing at all of the bias of the parties, to "tering into the new ideas, and do not whom they ascribe the agency in the pub"perceive that the genius of the age im-lication; for, Mr. John Quincy Adams, "periously calls for those changes which the who is the American Minister at Peters"Prussian Government has thought it neces-burgh, has no such leaning towards this sary to introduce. The suppression of feudal country as they state him to have; and, rights, and the equalisation of burthens and though his father, Mr. John Adams, the “taxes, are the circumstances which ex- Successor of General Washington in the "cite the chief animosity; though all en-Presidency, had formerly such leaning, he "lightened politicians have proved to a de“monstration, that they are the only means of I recovering Prussia from the unfortunate “ situation in which she was placed by the consequences of the last war, and by her an"cient organization, which no longer har"monises with the other states of Europe." --Now, I am sure that I shall not be told by any of our writers, that this would have been published at Paris without the approbation of Napoleon; and, if he approved of this, is it to be believed, that he would sanction a dispatch containing the sentiments of the Impostor Paper?But, what signifies it to us what his opi-that Title; but, this I know, that other New nions about government are? What have his opinions to do with us? If he could conquer our country, he would, of course, do what he liked with us as to government; but who is coward enough to sup has long since changed his opinion, and York papers of the 24th, 25th of June, pears to be a sheer fabrication; a poor, WM. COBBETT. 1. AN honest Juryman should die, rather than consent to a verdict which he feels to be unjust; or which in his own private judgment is not warranted by incontrovertible affirmative evidence. 2. The worst of social miseries being oppression, under colour and form of law, the sole hope and dependence of accused persons is on the good sense, integrity,' and firmness of honest men in the Jurybox. 3. The attendance of Jurymen at any trial might have been dispensed with, if any other opinion than their own were to make the decision; and their office would be a mockery on themselves, on the parties, and on their country, if their decisions were not their own, and were not unshackled and independent. 4. In framing the verdict, every Juryman is bound to exercise his own judgment, to give his private opinion freely and boldly, to remember his oath, and not to forget that the sole and entire object of the institution of Juries is to decide on their own consciences in regard to the points at issue. 5. The Jury are bound to decide, fully and finally on the point at issue by a ge neral verdict, unless some mere point of law is expressly reserved and stated by desire of the Judge; but such special verdict should be final and conclusive in regard to the facts. 6. Every man is presumed to be innocent, till he has clearly been proved to be guilty; no man being bound, required, or expected, to prove his own innocency, the onus of the proof of guilt lying entirely on the accuser. 7. It is better that a hundred guilty persons escape punishment, than that one innocent man should be unjustly convicted. 8. The issue of a criminal trial involves every thing dear to the accused, if he be found guilty; but his acquittal, if perchance he were guilty, is comparatively unimportant to the public. 9. Every Juryman should do to the accused, or to plaintiff and defendant, as he would those parties should do to him were their situations changed. 10. As the decision of a Jury must be unanimous, every Juryman is individually responsible to his own conscience, and morally responsible to the parties for the justice or injustice of the verdict. 11. A Juryman should discharge his mind from preconceived prejudices, be on his guard against prejudices of the Court, and decide on facts only, and on the valid evidence sworn in Court. 12. He should carefully consider how far the evidence sanctions the charge of a criminal design, no act being criminal, or involving guilt and responsibility, which was not committed with a criminal mind or intention. 13. No man is punishable for the crime or act of another; so that no prejudice should lie against a prisoner, or person accused, because a crime has been committed, if it is not brought home to him by distinct and indubitable testimony. 14. Warning to others, and not revenge on the culprit, is the design of legal punishment; the decisions of Juries should, therefore, be made dispassionately, and not be influenced by sinister appeals to their feelings. 15. The subsequent punishment is ge-. nerally founded on the abstract fact of the conviction, and not always influenced by the merits or demerits of the case; therefore, as the laws are made for extreme cases, the Jury ought to recommend the convicted to mercy, as often as they per ceive a justifiable reason. 16. In assessing damages between party and party, Jurymen should respect that equitable principle of Magna Charta, cap. 14, which in amercements even to the Crown reserves to every man the means of future subsistence; to a husbandman his implements; to a workman his tools; and to a merchant his merchandise. 17. In trying charges of libel, sedition, or treason, the Jury should be vigilantly on their guard against prejudices raised by the influence of the Administration for the time being; and they should bear in mind that it is in such causes chiefly that Juries are so eminently the barriers of public liberty, and the guardians of weak individuals against concentrated power. vertiser. The whole is a falshood, but the device is curious, and worthy of being recorded. By the command of his Majesty the Emperor and King, my most gracious Sovereign, I transmit to your Excellency the following confidential communication. It displays an impartial view of the great question of peace and war; it shews clearly the source from which the past and present misery of mankind originate and flow. Had, some centuries ago, the British islands been swallowed up in the seas that encompass them, the European Continent would have contained only a grand and united family. Witnessing its superior civilization and prosperity, the inha 18. In libel causes, Juries ought to know that Mr. Fox's Libel Bill has legallybitants of the other parts of the world. constituted them the sole independent judges of the intention of the parties; and consequently it lies entirely in their own judgment and discretion, to decide on the merit, the innocency, or the criminality, of an alledged libel. 19. He should commit the material points to writing, weigh maturely the evidence on both sides, and decide on his own intuitive perceptions of right and wrong. 20. The Foreman should ascertain and equally respect every opinion in the Jury The verdict when unanimously settled, should be solemnly delivered; and in debating upon it every Juryman should recollect that he is acting for his country; and that for the time being he is the arbiter of justice, and the living guardian for his posterity of those rights of Jurymen, which have been transmitted to him by his forefathers. would then have strived to obtain with it social compact, or a political adoption. The slaughter of generations, and the devastation of nations would then have been unknown. A slight chastisement would then have been sufficient to intimidate the refractory, and to correct the disobedient. The true God would then have been worshipped by all nations. Dutiful subjects would then have hailed their prince as another providence. But when men begin to canvass the adoration of their heavenly Creator, they will not long hesitate to assail the prerogatives of their earthly Sovereigns. Rebellion is the twin brother of impiety: anarchy and atheism are their common offspring. The English Wickliff had the sacrilegious audacity to propose innovations in religion, long before the Bohemian Huss and the Saxon Luther proclaimed themselves heretics. The latter would not have dared to stir, had not England already distributed its poison among the Germans; they merely took advantage of a contagion, The following Paper was first published, in suffered to become popular by the ignoEngland, in the COURIER news-paper of rance and vices of the clergy, and by the the 30th of July, 1811.-The Publisher apathy and impolicy of governments. pretends, that he took it from an American Since this time, in particular, England has Paper, the New York Advertiser of the never been quiet within herself, and has 24th of June. It is manifestly a fabrica- never ceased to disturb the tranquillity of tion from the beginning to the end; and all other states. As might have been there can be no doubt that its object was to foreseen, the success of the religious innocheat the people of England. It was vators encouraged the attempt of political stated, in the COURIER, that this paper was incendiaries. The Continent was inundelivered to the Russian Ambassador at dated with the blasphemous and perverse Paris, that he sent it to his court, that his reveries of English antichristians and Engcourt gave a copy of it to Mr. John lish antimonarchists. They sapped the Quinsey Adams, American Minister at very foundation of social order. To prove Petersburgh, that he sent a copy to his their thorough contempt for all institutions, father in America, and that his father divine as well as sacred, they opened their published it through the New York Ad-temples to the most ignorant and vicious IMPOSTOR PAPER. of fanatics, delivered the most virtuous of their Kings into the hands of the most ferocious of regicides. How many millions of Continental Europeans have not bled, because these islanders had with impunity braved their God and butchered their Monarch (Alas! said feelingly, his Imperial and Royal Majesty, without their enormous perpetrations, Louis XVI might still have reigned, and a happy obscurity been my lot. Supreme authority is but an inadequate indemnity for my anxiety and labour to be the worthy sovereign of the greatest of nations.) In fact, if the in pose her whole strength. Another Constitution must be offered her. If she prudently adopts it, her independence and dominions will be guaranteed: but if she is blind and obstinate enough to refuse, a solemn decree of all civilized governments will repudiate her for ever from the great family of the European commonwealth; and she shall be ranked for the future among the piratical States of Africa. No more neutrals shall be endured. Capital punishments shall be inflicted on the master and crew of the ships of any foreign country trading with her; and the law of high-treason shall be executed on smugglers, purchasers and sellers of her productions and commodities. These plans and regulations may at an imperfect view appear rather severe; but without them, a truce alone can be signed; but a peace can never be concluded between her and the Continent. This severity towards her is, therefore a real humanity with regard to all nations upon the globe, not excluding Great Britain herself. This fact may be proved without any difficulty, or the possibility of a contradiction. If Englishmen were made of those materials that compose all other people, it would require litile knowledge of the human mind to foretel the most flattering issue, without resorting to extremities; but they differ totally from the rest of the human species. fernal assassins of Louis XVI were debased Frenchmen, they had been tutored by English sophistry; they had been misled by the examples, or seduced by the gold, of the English factions. Is it not England alone which at this moment distracts Europe, and causes the blood of its children to be lavished in Turkey, Germany, Spain, Sicily, and Portugal? Has not his Imperial and Royal Majesty almost yearly, and in the midst of his most splendid achievements, presented the olive branch, always interwoven with laurels, to ungrateful England? How often has he not, from the bottom of his patriotic soul, in vain exclaimed " Englishmen, I love you as men, and I esteem you as warriors! Let all human carnage be at an end! Let outraged humanity recover its too long lost rights! Let us be friends upon terms reciprocally honourable! Let our future-Who can deny, that a British King, acrivalry be to enlighten, instead of destroying our fellow-beings!" But his Imperial and Royal Majesty has addressed himself to a Government too weak to dare to be just, and too powerful not to be able to do mischief; and to a nation too selfish to feel for the sufferings of others, and too licentious to attend to its real interests. It cannot longer be doubted, that mankind must continue to be disturbed, until the Constitution of the British Empire is reformed in a manner more congenial with the spirit of the constitutional charters, which at present secure the dignity and the power of sovereigns, and the obedience and safety of the subjects of the Continent. To effect such a salutary reform in the British Islands, the principal European Cabinets must be unanimous in their resolves, and firm and vigorous in their proceedings. England must fall prostrate if the Continent remain upright. The division and weakness of other States com * Buonaparte, cording to the organized constitutional anarchy of his kingdom, is now the most humble of slaves? When the monarch is not free, how dare his subjects talk of liberty? The truth is, that the bondage of Englishmen becomes heavier as it ascends; it emanates from the lowest of the rabble, a sett of petty tyrants, ignorant and brutal, corrupt and oppressive.-Is that Monarch not a slave who is deprived of selecting his own counsellors and servants? Who, during a reign of half a century, has, among scores of ministers, not been surrounded by ten he could like or trust; by six, he could love or esteem? Are the fetters of that royal parent light, who during months is forced to see and hear a beloved son the butt of the most malignant passions, of the most malignant and debased of men? Do these ministers deserve the name of freemen, who are obliged to be undutiful and ungrateful to the Prince who has elevated them; to flatter a licentious mob, that despise and insult them? What must we |