and, I will not disguise, that I should feel that loss, conscious as I am that I shall have a fair claim to the prize; but, what I should feel much more severely, is, the disappointment of my hopes of seeing the grand question decided; namely, whether the Wellesleys or the Buonapartés are best men. I was delighted when I saw them pitted against each other, and I should regret exceedingly any cause that would prevent them from fighting out the battle. As to the scheme for enabling Lord Talavera to exert the energies of the people of Spain and Portugal, it is neither more nor less a scheme for turning an auxiliary war into an invasion of the countries which we have been professing to assist. What! is it all come to this at last? We have been told of the zeal of the people, of their hatred of the French, of their attachment to us, of their devotion to the cause, of their being as good troops as any in the world: and now, behold, we are told that their energies want to be called forth; that we ought to assume a more commanding and decisive tone with them; that Lord Talavera ought to have greater powers; that factious and treacherous men ought not to be suffered to cramp the operations of the nation; in short, that we ought to take the whole powers of government into our own hands, or, in other words, become invaders and conquerors as far as we are able, of Spain and Portugal; and all this for the sole purpose of giving effect to the assistance which we are yielding these countries! This is, indeed, a most notable scheme; such an one, I wiil venture to say, as was never before engendered in the brain of any one out of a straight waiscoat. But, I must defer any further remarks on it until my next. WM. COBBETT. State Prison, Newgate, Friday, 30th Aug. 1811. The good state of your finances, which have been constantly improving during the whole of the war, as is proved by the account I now present to your Majesty, has constantly favoured the execution of these works. It will be seen by these accounts, that the receipts have been seven hundred and seventy-two million for the year 1808; seven hundred and eighty-six millions for the year 1809; above seven hundred and ninety-five millions for the year 1810; and that they will not fall short of nine hundred and fifty-four millions for the year 1811, by means of the various annexations of territory which have taken place since last year.-The minister then proceeds to state, that this state of things will enable Buonaparté to carry into execution a measure which had been intended ten years ago, but had been always delayed from want of favourable opportunities, that of a general recoinage ordered by a law of 1796; the object of this measure is to do away altogether the fictitious account-money called the livre tournois, and to substitute in its stead a coin of the real and fixed value of a franc, of a certain weight and fineness, which is to form the unit of the whole system of coinage. This operation, the Minister observes, will cost the Treasury above five millions for the current year; but on the other hand, he continues, French coin will be in future the best that can be found in any part of the world!-Let the state of France in this respect be compared with that of England, where the Government is reduced to the necessity of receiving of receiving its revenues, and defraying its expenditure, in a paper-money, which loses already 33 per cent.-But how can we CAMBIST of Dr. KELLY, I find, from page 388, vol. 1, that the Real is not a Portu-establish guese coin, but a Spanish money, and that there are four different kinds, the lowest of which is the Real Vellon, and which is worth something more than 24d. Sterling. Thus the prize must be, at least, 500 Guineas; and, if Reals of Plate are meant, it will double that sum. The proposers should have been more explicit. a comparison between two powers, the one rich in the produce of its own soil, and the other resting solely on commercial profits, increased by the violation of neutral rights, as well as by the ignorance and continued blindness of the Continent?-It is, consequently, easy to foresee the fate which awaits it; and I presume to say to your Majesty, let the system adopted since the union of Holland be still maintained for some time, and we shall soon behold the overthrow of that fabric, the foundations of which, already undermined by the baneful influence of a fictitious circulating medium, which alters the nature of all values, and enhances without bounds the price of all necessary articles, rest only on a credit and a commerce, which are in their nature uncertain and transitory. Account of the Cadastre. The Cadastre is a survey by actual admeasurement of every parish, nay of every field, in France, for the purpose of ascertaining the exact proportion of land-tax which each land-owner, or farmer is to pay. The land is afterwards valued by a kind of jury, taken from among the parishioners; and a plan of the parish, with the valuation of each field, is sent to the Minister of Finances. One copy of it is given to the head the Department, and another remains with the mayor of the parish. This Cadastre is not an invention of the present government of France: the idea originated long before the Revolution, with the ECONOMISTS. A leading tenet of those philosophers was, that agriculture alone was really productive to the State; it followed, of course, that the State was to look exclusively to it for its support; bot in their notions of justice, the burthen they thus laid inadvertently on the agriculture they wished to foster, would not be equally supported by all, unless an actual survey and valuation of all the lands should actually take place. So prevalent were those ideas in France at the beginning of the Revolution, that most of the cahiers, or written instructions given to the Deputies of the National Convention by their constituents, contained a recommendation of the cadastre.-Buonaparté thus found the idea thoroughly esiablished; and soon discerned the advantages he might derive from it. The cadastre will put every acre of land in France as completely at his disposal, as the laws of the conscription mark every man for his soldier. When in want of supplies he will have only to calculate how much an additional franc on each acre will produce, and a decree will settle the business. The increase of revenue he will thus acquire will be as sudden as it will be great; for it is well known, that in the parishes already assessed according to the cadastre, land has been estimated at the value it had in 1790, and the tax laid accordingly; whereas the fact is, that in those districts the least injured by the Continental System, the value of land has since that period fallen one-half, and much more in those parts where the produce of the land was chiefly intended for foreign markets.It appears, that this new system, which will afford such resources to the enemy, is to be put in activity in the year 1813. At that epoch the French system of taxation is, as stated by M. Regnaud, to extend to Holland; it may be concluded, therefore, that the whole empire will be under the same regulations.-The following is M. REGNAUD's account of the progress which has been made in forming the cadastre: Since the beginning of the admeasurement by parcels, which was first adopted in the year 1808, the cadastre operation has proceeded in a regular way.—On the 1st of April, 1811, the admeasurement was completed in 5,243 parishes; in the course of the current year it will be likewise completed in 2,000 more parishes; and thus upwards of 7,000 parishes will be admeasured by the 1st of January, 1812. This forms a little more than the seventh part of the territory of France.The valuation of the land is, of course, more behind hand than the admeasurement, by which it must necessarily be preceded. The number of parishes in which the lands had been valued on the 1st of April, 1811, was 3,145: that measure will take place in 1,700 or 1,800 more, in the course of the present year; and thus, by the 1st of January, 1812, the lands of about 5,000 parishes will have been valued.-One hundred and twenty assemblies at Canton had been held in the beginning of 1811. They had proceeded to examine and to discuss the valuation of lands in the several parishes of their respective districs. The minutes (proces verbaux) of those assemblies contain, generally, expressions of satisfaction, and or the most respectful gratitude towards your Majesty, to whose parental care they are thus indebted for the signal advantages which are to result from that measure.-Those 120 cantons include nearly 1,400 parishes, in which the landtax for 1811 shall be assessed according to their cadastre-rolls. This will do away the disproportion in the assessment which formerlyexisted between different parishes, and between the inhabitants of the sanie parish. Formerly the proportion of as gives it as many enemies as there are true citizens in the different States of Europe; -we may be permitted to contemplate, with some interest, the crisis in which that Bank, upon which rest the power and security of the nation, is placed.-When speaking of the affairs of a Bank, we are not involved in those political reveries, amidst which a people already blinded by its passions may be amused and deceived with impunity here every thing is certain. If the facts alleged be true,-if it be a fact that four pounds sterling in Bank notes are worth only three guineas, (and, unfortunately for the Bank, this is disputed by no one), it must soon submit to acknowledge that its bankruptcy is almost declared. Doubtless, the Ministers and their partisans have good reasons for not all at once avowing their situation; doubtless, they have still some precautions to take, some essential operations to concert, before they give to the situation to which they have conducted affairs, the only name which befits it. This course is natural, and not at all surprising: but that there should be found men of sense and acuteness, who can shut their eyes to the light of evidence, and seek in miserable palliatives for a cure to the evil, is what will hardly be believed six months after the fall of the Bank,-that is, very soon.-Why was not this foreseen, will then say the stupid politicians of Wood-street? It was so clear!-One is almost tempted to laugh at the grave tone with which a Noble Lord, in the House of Commons, endeavoured to shew how much the notes of the English Bank differed from assignats, to which a Member had the indiscretion to compare them. "How can you assimi"late things so unlike ?" said he gravely. Upon the creation of assignats, their "issue was enormous; and it frightfully "increased in a year or two. With us, "on the contrary, even in a period of 15 'years, there has scarcely been an in"crease of 15 millions sterling (360 mil sessment varied between them, from one half of the income to one tenth, one twentieth, and one fiftieth. Uniformity shall thus be introduced in all the assessments. For these three years the landtax has been already assessed in 2,400 parishes, according to the cadastre-rolls, formed on valuations made on general surveys, and which have remedied in part those imperfections which the admeasurement by parcels removes more completely; and thus nearly 4,000 cadastrerolls will be put in activity for the year 1812. The number would have been more considerable, if experience had not proved that it was fit to await the result of the assemblies of Canton to settle the rolls definitively; and this consideration delays the execution of the measure, in a great many parishes which form part of cantons in which there are still some parishes where the admeasurement is not yet completed. The present state of this undertaking, and the labours which will be completed in the course of 1811, will enable me to propose, next year, to your Majesty, the first application of the ultimate results expected from the cadastreoperation, as affecting the general assessment of the land-tax, to a zone composed of a fraction of each department of the empire. The only thing to be done will be to compare the amount of incomes, as ascertained by the cadastre, in the parishes forming part of the zone, with the total amount of the present assessments of these same parishes; and to establish a proportion between those incomes and the assessments; which proportion must naturally fix the part of his income which each land-owner shall have to set apart for the payment of the land-tax in the year 1813; and that proportion shall be the same for all.-Uniformity in the assessments will be thus partially established, between departments, between parishes, and between land-owners, and as completely for that fraction of the Empire as it will be for the whole when the measure shall have reached" lions of France) in paper circulation.” its last stage. BANK OF ENGLAND. French Remarks, extracted from the Moniteur of the 5th of August, 1811. Since none of the reasons derived from the principles of justice, prudence, or humanity, have been able to induce the English Government to depart from its anti-social system,-that system which It might be answered, that it is by no means the quantity issued, but the power of incessantly issuing, which decides the fall of a paper-money; but it is more proper to observe, that the Noble Lord has blinked the question.-The point for consideration is not what has happened to the Bank of London, but what is now happening to it, and what must naturally ensue. How is it that a paper, issued in so small quantity, has already depreciated? The Noble Lord should have thought of this objection, which he himself indiscreetly furnishes, and which it is natural to make to those who attribute the fall of assignats only to their enormous issue. They do not see that they take the effect for the cause; and instead of saying that the great issue was the cause of depreciation, they ought to perceive, from the then existing state of things in France, and from what is now going forward in England, that, in both countries, it was depreciation that led to issue, whether in assignats or bank-paper. The comparison, therefore, was not so misplaced as he wished to persuade the House.-As long as England shared with all Europe the weight of the struggle against a nation divided and torn by parties,-while, enjoying an immense and exclusive commerce, she developed all the sources of prosperity, is it surprising that she kept at par the paper of her bank, and that she enjoyed a credit which the most insignificant banker obtains as long as his affairs appear in a prosperous state? Certainly not; and it must have lasted till the favouring causes ceased to operate-till the period when France, united as a whole, resumed her superiority upon the Continent. But the point is now for England to cause the effect to continue while the cause has ceased -to re-establish her credit, sinking under the weight of the very force which supported it. Such is the problem which the English Ministers have to solve.-Is there any prospect that they will succeed?-It is a truth become trite, that paper-money exists from the confidence reposed in those who issue it. This confidence is built upon their known resources and their conduct. If it is ascertained that a banking firm gains more than it expends, its paper enjoys a credit, which is in itself an addition to the property of the bankers. If unforeseen accidents or misconduct augment expences and diminish receipts, their credit declines, and can only be restored by a different system of conduct. Such is the state of the Bank of England. Its credit has declined to that degree, that the nominal value of its paper is to its real value as 96 to 75. What has produced this fall? An expenditure always increasing, which must still increase in a frightful progression; and a diminution of its receipts, which soon, from the effects of the Continental system, will be more and more reduced. What cure is proposed for the evil? This is the most curious part of the subject. Some say that it does not exist; others, that it is of no consequence; a third party, in the hope, doubtless, of resorting to the true remedy, proclaims aloud the danger. What will be the event? One of two things: either the latter will be listened to; or the noise which they have made, and their very zeal, will hasten the evil.--But we do not anticipate events; we wish to present facts, not conjectures: the event belongs to futurity, which we do not presume to penetrate. from the Armies.—Paris, 14th Aug. 1811. SPAIN. MONT-SERRAT.-Official Accounts ARMY OF THE SOUTH.-We read in an intercepted letter, that as soon as Lord Wellington was informed at Albuera of the march of the French army of Portugal, he assembled a Council of War to deliberate upon the part to be taken. The Spanish Generals were present: they warmly opposed the proposition of the English Generals to abandon Spain and repass the Guadiana. For two months, say they, we have been besieging Badajoz: we have already raised the siege once the breach is practicable, and in a few days we shall be masters of the place. The possession of Badajoz is important, because it is one of the strongest places in Spain, the key of the Guadiana, and contains all the bridges and besieging equipage of the French army.-The result of the battle we shall fight will be, if we are conquerors, the immediate fall.of this important place. Cadiz has been besieged for a year. The French have constructed there a considerable flotilla: they have more than 400 pieces of large calibre in battery: the besieging works they have erected are immense: the result of the battle will be to deliver Cadiz.-The army of Murcia is in motion, and under the walls of Grenada. The result of the battle will permit our junction with that brave army.-The French army of Arragon besieges Tarragona; upon the fate of that place depends that of Catalonia, and the kingdom of Valencia. The result of the battle will be felt undoubtedly even in those provinces.-In fact, victors, we become masters of Estremadura, Andalusia, the kingdom of Cordova, Jaen, Grenada; we take Badajoz, we deliver Cadiz. The French, obliged to repass the Sierra Morena, will be harrassed on all sides, will fear for Madrid, will march the nearest July he took from them three companies at Calauas. On the 5th, the enemy embarked, and the division of Seville picked up a great number of stragglers. Upwards of 2,000 of Blake's band deserted to return home.-On the 6th, Blake and the Spanish Corps sailed for Cadiz. ARMY OF ARRAGON.-All the predic tions of the Spanish people are realized." After the capture of Tarragona, Marshal Suchet marched upon Berga, and destroyed that fort: from thence he proceeded upon Mont-Serrat. The insurrectional Junta, intimidated by the capture of Tarragona, bad embarked for Majorca, leaving the Marquis D'Ayròlas to defend Mont-Ser-' rat, the general depot and central magazine of the insurgents. Marshal Suchet made dispositions to reconnoitre this place entrenched by art and nature. He arrived at Reuss on the 20th, with the brigrade Abbe. On the 22nd, the brigadier Montmarie marched against Ignalada, in front of Frere Harispe. On the 24th the troops were united. The enemy, who had for a moment been alarmed, resumed their security, not thinking we should dare to attack them; but in the night the Marshal marched rapidly upon Bruch, with the brigades Abbe and Montmarie, he found there General Maurice Mathieu with a detachment of the garrison of Barcelona. The attack began upon three redoubts placed at the foot of the mountain, and which covered the entrance of the defile; they were in an instant carried by the bayonet, and occupied by our troops. General Abbe received orders to proceed immediately in front of the defile with the first regiment of infantry, the 144th of the line, and a company of sappers. troops, which are those those of Arragon, and thus Tarragona, Catalonia, and Valencia, will be delivered. Never were more important consequences attached to the fate of a battle.-If, on the contrary, we lose it, shall we not be always in time to repass the Guadiana, place ourselves under the protection of Elvas, or the heights of Portalegre? The cavalry of the Army of Portugal not having been yet entirely refitted, the means of conveyance not being yet reorganized, they can undertake nothing before September, and till that time shall we not be always able to defend the Lines of Lisbon, or to maintain ourselves under the cannon of Elvas ?-Victors, we shall obtain immense advantages; vanquished, scarcely any inconvenience is attached to our defeat. Our army is as numerous as the French army; they have rather more cavalry than we have, but we have more field artillery. The bad state of the carriages of the Army of Portugal has not permitted them to bring with them more than a small part of their park. The epoch is decisive. Victors! the Peninsula may be delivered; but if, on the contrary, we repass the Guadiana, and evacuate Spain, whether it be in consequence of a battle lost, or a simple deliberation of the present Council of War, the result will be the same; Spain, abandoned for the third time, will be discouraged; Badajoz will be revictualled, the Army of Murch will be destroyed and dispersed; Tarragona will be taken, Catalonia reduced to submission, Valencia will follow the fate of Tarragona, and the English armies, after having been useless spectators of the defeat of all our armies, will be useless spectators of the capture of all our fortresses, and consequently, of the The road, long and painful, winds on the submission of all our Provinces?-These flank of a steep mountain: fresh obstacles reasons not having been effectual, the Eng-would have stopped at each step any but lish Generals having resolved to re-pass the Guadiana, the Spaniards separated discontented. On the 30th June they ap peared before the fort of Niebla. Colonel Fritzherz, who commanded there, had 300 men. Blake established his batteries on the 31st. On the 1st July he tried an assault. Three successive attacks directed against the two gates were repulsed. The ladders of the Spaniards were thrown down, and 300 remained in the ditches of the place. Among the wounded, the Spaniards include General Zaya.-Upon the first advice which the French Governor of Seville had of the march of Blake, he took the field. On the 5th of French soldiers: intrenchments, redoubts placed on inaccessible rocks, covered the entrance of the convent. Peasants stationed on all tops of the mountains, kept up a terrible fire; the Marquis D'Ayrolas, trusting in the strength of his position, contented himself with ordering that a week's provisions should be carried into the batteries, which he deemed to be impregnable: but General Abbe had already dashed on with two picked companies. These brave men arrived under the rock of the first battery. In spite of the stones and rocks hurled down upon them, they climbed the heights; they are already in the embrasures; the enemy |