leges of the people, he could not, I should
think, have been above seventeen or eigh-
teen years of age, when the addresses, of
which the COURIER speaks, were voted at
the county meetings; and, very sure I am,
that he was not then in parliament. But,
what is this to the matter before us? What
has this to do with the shamefulness of
omitting to attend to the opinion of the
people thus solemnly, constitutionally,
and respectfully expressed and conveyed
to the King? The people of Berkshire com-
plain, that their address to the King upon a
subject deeply interesting to them, upon a
subject connected with the waste, the cor-
rupt use, of their money, has been treated
with contempt; and, by way of justifica-
tion of the ministry, this hireling tells the
people of Berkshire, that the addresses,
which they formerly presented praying for
peace and for a removal of his Majesty's
Ministers, were treated with similar con-
tempt! Yes, it has been a long duration
of contempt of this sort; but, let us hope,
that it is nearly at an end.- -As to the ob-
jection to inserting the address in the Ga-
zette, because it pronounced a verdict of
guilty against Lord Melville previous to
trial; let it be observed, that the address
was presented, long before it was known
that he would be tried at all; and, at a time
when the ministers had not the least notion
that that measure would be carried against
their strenuous efforts to the contrary. Be-
sides, the same objection would be as good
against all proceedings whatever in the House
of Commons, or in the House of Lords,
censuring the conduct of Lord Melville.
He stood accused; he stood censured, by
the House of Commons, and by the King,
who had dismissed him from his office of
trust, and who had erased his name from
the list of the privy councillors, upon the
decision of the House of Commons, that
he had been guilty of a
66 gross violation of

the law and a high breach of duty." And were not the people to be allowed to speak too? Were not those, whose money had been used, to be allowed, in a constitutional way, to express their satisfaction at what had been done? Were they to be muzzled They, who had been the sufferers? But, not to say that this pretext is quite useless, if the above precedent be held good, how will the advisers of the King reconcile this pretext of justice to Lord Melville with the fact of his Majesty's having actually received a similar address, upon the very same subject, from the corporation of London? There may be, in point of etiquette, a difference in the mere manner

if

of receiving addresses from different de→ scriptions of the king's subjects; but, there can be no difference as to their right of addressing, and, of course, to their right of having their addresses received and put upon record; there can be no reason why the people of London should be heard, and the people of Berkshire not heard, by the King; and, the address of the latter not having been recorded, they are warranted in concluding, that they have not been heard. It is, indeed, evident, that these excuses are a mere subterfuge; and, it is not less evident, that, the addresses of the people are to be thrown aside, unless they are palatable to the minister of the day, the right of addressing is a mere mockery, and that the people are very foolish for doing any thing to keep it in countenance. What the people of Berkshire should have done at their meeting to address the king upon the victory of Trafalgar, was, to have inquired whether their last address had been duly presented, received, and recorded; and, if they had found, that it had been thrown aside, they should have separated with a resolution, that it was useless to vote any other address, until the former had had proper attention paid to it. Middlesex and Westminster acted perfectly right; with perfect consistency, and upon a principle perfectly constitutional. Their former addresses had not been recorded, as they ought to have been; they had a right to conclude that they had been thrown aside, and never presented to, or received by the King; and, therefore, they resolved not to vote another address. To this resolution I trust they will adhere; or, at least, not depart from it, except in the case somewhat similar to that which gave rise to their neg lected address. When they have obtained a hearing upon a subject of that nature, they may address upon other subjects; but, until then, they never ought.

FUNERAL OF LORD NELSON.— -In another part of this Number will be found all the official papers, as published in the London Gazette, relating to the grand and well conducted funeral of this valiant and public-spirited naval commander, whose life was a long and continued series of eminent services to his country and his king, who fell in their cause covered with wounds and with glory, whose noble example ought to be as immortal as his name, and to protect whose tomb from the ravages of an invader ought alone to be a motive more than sufficient to inspire with invincible courage all those who had the honour to claim hin as their countryman. It is to such men that

σε

66

66 greatest statesman that.
any nation ever
possessed," and the most formidable
enemy to Buonaparté." One could, in-
deed, less have brooked the comparing the
loss of him to the loss of the brave, the ge-
nerous, the open-hearted, the clean-handed
Nelson. In the way of eulogium, however
false, however impudent, however insulting
to the nation, whicmhis measures have plung-,

the honours of the funeral are due. To men who have greatly served their country, whose actions speak in their effects, who die untainted with impurity, and whose public conduct is, in every respect, fit to be holden up on high as a light to the living and to the children yet unborn. To have been born in the same land, and to have lived in the same day with Lord Nelson is no small honour to us; not to have lamented his death woulded into danger and disgrace unparalleled;

have argued a want of every just and generous sentiment; and, not to have honoured his remains and his memory, ingratitude unexampled in the annals of the world.

CHANGE OF MINISTRY.- One might, have hoped, or, at least, it might have been hoped by any one not perfectly acquainted with the motives that actuate the ministerial writers and their employers, that the death of Ma. PITT (which took place on Thursday, the 23d instant) would, for a few days, at least, have suspended the effusions of their party-malevolence. But, no: true to their character and their selfish and ever predominant views, they have converted even their account of the time and manner of this gentleman's death into an occasion of challenging an enquiry into his public conduct, and what is still less to be excused, of aspersing the character of his political opponents. I could choose here amongst several news-paper articles, but I shall content myself with quoting one from the COURIER of the 23d instant. The writer, after giving a minute account of the last agonizing moments of Mr. Pitt; of his last farewell to those who were nearest and dearest to him, and of his religious preparation for a final departure from light and life; from this account, which, though coming through such a channel and given in such a manner, cannot fail to excite sentiments of solemnity and of sadness especially when to the contemplation of parting breath is added that of the extinguishment of great intellectual powers; from this solemn, this affecting and awful scene, so powerfully tending to bereave the breast of even just resentment, to still all the selfish, the angry and hostile feelings; from this scene, so well calculated to call forth an unanimous sigh, he turns, with all the bitterness and malice of a hired partizan, converting all that he has said into a mere prelude to an culogium upon the public character and conduct of the deceased, and that eulogium into a prelude to an attack upon those to whom the nation must look, if it looks to any body for its preservation. One could, for a few days at least, have kept silence under the eulogium; just at this moment one might have borne to hear Mr. Pitt called the

whose debt during his administration has been augmented three fold; whose burdens have been increased to the last faculty of bearing; whose panpers have been more than doubled in number; who, after having yielded their all at his summons, after having poured out their sweat and their blood at his command, now see the banners of France flying upon every fortress in Europe, while from every hill of their own shore a beacon of alarm reminds them of England's disgrace. With all this in our minds, we might, nevertheless, at such a moment, have borne.much in the way of mere eulogium; but, when that eulogium, in addition to its notorious and insulting falsehood, is converted into the means of pointing a most malignant attack upon the political opponents of Mr. Pitt and his system; and, more especially when it is evidently intended, by catching the moment of weakness, the moment when public resentiment is lulled, to obtain a tacit admission of assertions, that would tend to the sanctioning of that pernicious system, and would bespeak confidence in its remaining promoters; when such an use is made of the eulogium, it would be a base and criminal dereliction of

duty to remain silent. It was my wish, and it must have been the wish of every man of any share of generosity, to abstain, at present, from all observations relative to matters, in which Mr. Pitt has been personally concerned; but, if that which I have only this moment heard be true, so to abstain, either in parliament, or out of it, will be inpossible, without a gross abandonment of every principle of public duty; for, it is said, that MR. HENRY LASCELLES, the same person, observe, who moved for a bill of indemnity to Mr. Pitt for lending, without interest, and without communicating the transaction even to his colleagues in the cabinet, forty thousand pounds of the public money to Boyd and Benfield, two members of the House of Commons. This gentleman, it is said, means to make a motion for public ho nours to the memory of Mr. Pitt. I hope this is not true; I do hope, that the poor humbled nation will be spared from this; but, if it be no I trust tha there will be fquad virtue and spiri

PEACE.'

Charge on account of national

debt

Army, navy, ordnance, and other contingencies

- 29,000,000

Whole annual amount of revenue, the property and all the other war taxes, being made permanent

Deficit

- 25,000,000

54,000,000

-40,000,000

charge on the national debt? No, Sir! you have mentioned the lowest amount at which it can be estimated. But I am reminded, that no such terms are deemed compatible with our safety, or could be listened to. We are to obtain by the vigorous warfare of our vigorous cabinet, composed, of what a great judge of human nature calls "imbecile and incapable," a safe and honourable peace. I presume, according to my small acquaintance with my vernacular language, that Mr. Pitt, in using the terms " imbecile and incapa14,000,000 ble" has characterised a set of men, altoge ther dabblers in politics, and utterly unwor thy of being trusted as statesmen. I frankly own that such epithets appear to my superficial view, quite synonimous.. "But away "with the measures, give us the man; give us Mr. Pitt; and he will conduct us safely through.' I say no experience, and the evidence of facts, forbid the smallest reliance upon him, as a war minister. If Mr. Pitt (an if here means every thing) is to continue the conductor of the war for any length of time, I verily believe, as much as I do in my existence, that France will become more haughty in her demands, and England more abject in her submission. "The great powers of the continent will "be aroused and animated by our example,

I, of course, take the latter statement on the calculation of immediate peace, and presume it is almost superfluous to remark, that upon the present system, every month of protracted war, will increase the deficit that we shall have to contend with, on the arrival of the peace establishment. But, here I can fancy that I am assailed, by the clamour of all the true believers in Mr. Pitt's political arithmetic, (they certainly merit the appellation, because their faith is not shaken by miracles), aided by the innumerable race of hirelings and candidates for hire, who all vociferously demand; whether I have forgotten the wonder-working power of the sinking fund? Whether I have calculated how it operates, at compound interest, when the commissioners are purchasing weekly such immense loads of stock. I have considered all this maturely, and naturally as I must dread to incur the charge of so heinous an offence, as undervaluing the brains and honesty of the "saints" or the finances of the country; I cannot bring my mind to believe, that any alleviation of the burthens we bear, can at any period, near or remote, be derived from the continuance of the sinking fund. I hope it is not asking too much of the modesty of either the real or the nominal premier of this flourishing country, to admit that the pompous declaration made by the former, of his intention to carry on the war, without any addition to the public debt, is one among the too numerous instances of a minister's promising what he cannot perform. I will now revert to the statement I have exhibited, founded on a calculation of our being surrounded, at the present moment, with the blessings of peace, and no longer magnanimously offering our subsidies, with earnest supplications to any power to accept them, and fight for us. dispassionate unprejudiced man assert, that a repetition of the treaty of Amiens, would place us in a condition, by which we could securely reduce our expenditure below 25 millions per annum, in addition to the

Will any

so as finally to reduce the power of "France within proper bounds." Miserable dreamers! Prove first that those powers have a common interest with you, or can have, so long as you are suspected of being influenced solely by the ignoble and base pursuit of commercial monopoly! Convince them that you seek their co-operation for the safety and happiness of Europe! Be assured you will in vain rely upon them for the protection of your sugar Islands or the "Empire of the East!" Such then is our situation, in the least unfavourable view of it, that with even peace restored, we must begin with annual loans of 14 millions. But again steps in Mr. Pitt's miraculous invention of the sinking fund, to prove that to pay off (I beg pardon; I mean to pretend to pay off) 6 millions, and to borrow 14 millions per annum, will, in time, annihilate the national debt! Good heavens! Are Englishmen so besotted as to give their support to such a frightful system?--But, Sir! our true situation is almost beyond comparison, worse than I have, so far, attempted to describe: for, although I have been talking of peace, as an object immediately attainable, and of a deficit of only 14 millions, to provide for by annual loans, if the war taxes should all be made permanent: it requires to be ascertained, by what supernatural

means, those taxes, are not only to be made permanent, but permanently productive. No man of observation can be a stranger to the retrenchment, that our present excessive taxation, has begun to operate, not only upon every prudent family of the middle ofder, but of many of the higher class of society. In short, we might as well expressly revive sumptuary laws in the country, to restrain excess of diet and apparel; as persevere in defiance of every rule or proportion, upon which taxation can be securely established. If further illustration of this point be wanted, I only desire a little attention to the disgraceful accounts, we so often read, of the hordes of smugglers, or banditti, who, in formidable armed bodies, dispute, inch by inch, their share of the plunder of the present enormous taxes.- -Surely, Sir! it cannot be denied that taxation has some limit, and that, according to all the criteria of judging, we have broken down the natural boundary, cutting down the tree to gather the fruit." Quand les sauvages de la Loui"siane veulent avoir du fruit, ils coupent "l'arbre au pied, et cueillent le fruit." "The two greatest financiers in the world" ought surely to search for a better example.

otic fund being divided, and an equal divi-
sion thereof given to Greenwich Hospital,.
and Chelsea College. This mode of distri-
bution would not be subject to any objection
whatever. It would not only be a proud.
monument of the patriotism of a grateful
country: the gift itself, perhaps, amount-
ing to 200,000 and upwards, worthy of a
great nation; but the objects of its relier
would receive it back at the hands of the
Crown, the genuine fountain of honour,
mercy, and remuneration. It would enable
those noble asylums to extend in a very con-
siderable degree a systematic protection and
reward to its disabled defenders, their wi-
dows, and orphans, without trenching on
the funds of the present establishment, and
to afford those benefits in a greater degree
than heretofore to out-pensioners; which
is, perhaps, the truest and most perfect pro-
tection and alleviation which can be suggest-
ed or devised, for the brave unfortunate ob-
jects of a grateful nation's regard and com-
passion. I am, Sir, yours, &c. &c, T. F.-
Bath, Jan. S, 1806.

PUBLIC PAPERS.
Letter written by the Archduke John to the
States of the Tyrol, previous to his De-
parture.

I cannot express to the states, how painful it is to me, to be obliged to leave the brave and faithful people of the Tyrol, for a single moment. I request them to testify these feelings, in my name, to the good Tyrolese.The reverses which the army in Germany has experienced have had fatal

-I shall only now add, that, as Mr. Pitt's scheme of the sinking fund, is become, to all intents and purposes, utterly impracticable, as to its professed object; it is to the last degree impolitic, that, in addition to our other grievous burthens, we should pay six millions per annum, in taxes, for the maintenance of it. It never can, in any way whatever, afford even temporary relief to the country, but by its annihilation, or, at least, suspen-consequences for Tyrol as well as Italy. The sion; and there never was, or, perhaps, ever will be a time, when that relief can be more wisely administered, than under the circumstances in which we are now placed. To withhold it, is to resemble a physician, who should begin to prescribe after either the death or perfect recovery of his patient.I. T. London, March 18, 1805.

LLOYD'S FUND.

SIR,I beg leave to address you on a subject, which iras been already touched on in your Register, viz. the Fatriotic Fund at Lloyd's Coffee-house. In addition to the objections you have started against the propriety of such a fund, in such hands, many more very cogent reasons and argements might be adduced against it. But, laying all these aside, and after paying that just tribute of applause and congratulation,. which the promptitude, generosity, and honourable feeling the public has manifested, so eminently deserve; permit me to, suggest the propriety of the whole amount of the patti

Russian armies not yet being in a state to give an effectual check to the enemy, and to drive them back beyond the Austrian frontiers, the army of Italy feels itself compelled, for the protection of the whole, to repair to the capital of the monarchy, at the moment even when he defeated the enemy at Caldiero, and repulsed him with considerable loss. In consequence of this, I have received orders from the Archduke Chades, Minister of War and Marine, to remove slowly to the other side of the Brenn, in order to form a junction with him. The stated will please to return my most grateful thanks to the people, for the fidelity and attachment they have manifested to their Sovereign, and to admonish them to conduct themselves with forbearance and resignation, as circumstances may require. The period, I hope, is not far distant, when, in a manner proportionate to my exertions, crowned with fortune and success, I shall again find my self in the midst of my faithful Tyrolese.

(Signed) ARCHDUKE JOHN.