measure, to penetrate into the hidden operations of the Inquisition. The bond of secrecy that united its members enabled them to co-operate against that formidable tribunal, and was a sort of counterpoise to its effect. The clergy therefore decided upon its annihilation, and the proclamation now before you is one measure taken for that purpose. Ferdiuand, a tyrant at heart, found that the priests were his best support, their principles being in unison with his own, and at their request, no doubt, this horrid mandate has been issued. When Ferdinand returned to Spain, he found the liberal policy of Bonaparte ten happens that a gentleman, who is in 'eries,its secret signs, and its correspondvested with the office of Provincial Inquincies, by which it was able in some sitor, receives an order to arrest and place in solitary and close confinement (as is the case with all the inquisition prisoners) his dearest friend, even his wife, and his only child, of whose offence he is haply in perfect ignorance, whose ultimate destination is entirely unknown to him, and the horrors of whose confinement he cannot ameliorate, without the certainty of being himself subject to the same. The provincial prisons of the Inquisition are held in such awe, and wrapt in such mystery, that no human being dare make enquiry as to their contents.-The arrests take place invariably at midnight, and the prisoner is removed by unknown attendants, at that solemn hour, and in pro-had given universal freedom to all manfound silence, from provincial prison to provincial prisen, until all trace of him is lost. If he is seized upon in one town, his examination does not take place for months, and then in another town in the veay opposite part of the kingdom to that of his residence. Should be even return to | his family, he dares not speak, nor daze they enquire, as to any thing that bas occurred to him during bis absence. The ulmost secrecy prevails on every subject. The Inquisiters are unknown, even to each other, and where a provincial tribunal is suirmoned to as-enilde,an unknown messenger arrives at midnight with the order, which is delivered in silence, with some mysterious signs by which its authenticity is Enown, and the place of assembly pointed out. You will thus understand how this tribunal is enabled to carry its espionage into the most remote recesses of every family. The priests who, as I have already shewn, are every where,arethus enabled to communicate the inost private transactions of every individual, and no one is safe. Anonymous The army, on whom the king was information being always received, the obliged to place a considerable reliance, Holy Office, in the first instance, transmits had not yet sufficiently thrown off the the change to the Inquisiter in the neigh-influence of superstition, to oppose the Loubend of the accused, who summons immediately before him, the priest with whom the accused conmanes, and on whose report ulterior proceedings are dopted. Yea will of once see, therefore, the nature of the influence which this body possesses, and the absolute power which it holds over every class of society, The principal cause of batred which the Institution has to freemasonry is, that this latter institutionpossesses also its mys kind. The annihilation of the Inquisition de shoals of monks, and priests, who were again let loose upon them. Ferdinand did not temporise, He acted in the most decisive manner, and by holdly seizing upon and destroying the friends of reason and liberty, he consolidated his power, and proceeded to the universal destruction of every thing that had been done in his absence towards the restoration of personai and mental Leity. In these efforts he was seconded, of course, by the whole body of the priests. Several of the prin- which had, since the residence of the cipal generals of the old school, who trench in the Peninsula, become very had never shaken off the bands of fanati-merons, were actively employed in cism, and looking up to the prospective | sudeavouring to counteract its operation. rewards for the services they might render To the secret means of communication towards enslaving their fellow citizens, which this society possessed, is to be immediately joined the monarch with with attributed the escape of those patricts their whole weight. It is with regret ! 10 Gibraltar, who were afterwards dehave to state that there were British manded by the sanguinary Villa Viciosa, Officers found who would join in so mon the governor of Cadiz, on whose mandate strous an union against that liberty, their James Duff, the British consul there, blessings of which a reference to the claimed, and for whose delivery, to the land of their birth ought to have strong blood hounds of the Inquisition, to the ly inculcated on their minds. To the honor of the British Pariament, (though high honor of others, they refused to not until motion after motion had been continue in so despicable a service. made on the subject by the opposition,) On the return of Ferdinand, he found | General Smith received so severe a reprithe following British Ollicers, in his mat; and which was, it is supposed, the anny-Generals Rocke, Dyer, Whit-ultimate cause of his recal. & bus when the tingham, Doyle, Carrol, and Downie. Inquisitors found that the jodges Of these Dyer, Whittingham, and Carrol, of Free-masons, had counteracted some resigned their Spanish commissions on of their projected schemes of blood, it ihe suppression of the Cortes, and have became necessary to put them down. returned to their native service. Sir They were proscribed accordingly; but John Downie had been a commissary the secrecy attendant on their composiin the British army, which employment tion setting ordinary meestues at defibe quited and received a commission ance, recourse has been bad to the profrom the Provincial Junta of Seville.clamation that has been the subject of This was afterwards confimed by the this letter. I have at present intruded Cortes; from whom also he asked, and too much perhaps on your valuable coreceived one of the cresses, as they are lumns. I shail, in a second letter, called, of the order of Charles the id: communieste to you an interesting deand, in compliment to whom our Prince, tail of the very ariful and extraordinary Regent knighted hita. Thus to the methods adopted Iy the clergy to bring Cortes he owed his all!-Cu the arrival over Ferdinand so entirely to their of the Spanish monarch Sir John Low-views, which have produced the prenie was et Madrid, where he had been sent state of misery and diemay in which al the period of the French cam-all Spain is involved. I am, & c. eign, occupying himself with politics at the seat of government, instead of P. S. Having mentioned the case of sharing the dangers of the seat of war; the two unfortunate Spaniards, who were and, strenge to say, was one of those shamefully given up to the vengeance of who were employed in the honourable | their Government by a british officer at office of establishing the Inquisition, Gibraltar, I cannot omit noticing and imprisoning that very same Cortes circumstance that one of these persefrom whom he received his employment. cuted individuels, having escaped the Every other British officer in the Spa- holy Heod-hounds, has reached this Bch service rejected, with scorn, this country, and, in consequence of what vile employment. Sir John Lyer wrote lately passed in parliament re-pecting his a mest impressive letter, in which he disgraceful arrest, has addressed a letresigned his commission in the Spanish ter to the pubic, through the medium of service, preferring honourable retirement the newspapers. This genticman's name to beng the tool of a despot! How- is Antonio Puigblonch, and the followever, the Inquisition was re-established;ing is the account he gives of his reasons all the ordinances issued by Bonaparte | for leaving Cadiz, and of his subsequent and the Cortes, for its eternal suppres sion, were decla.ed void, ami additional goal was given to its authority. In the Jean file, the Lodge. of Free-masons, the apprecision at Gibraltar:-"There being strong reason to believe at Cadiz, about the middle of last May, that Ferdinand the VIIth, instigated by bad " 66 years, been too much given to foreign politics, to look well to his affairs at home. The time, however, is now arrived for his doing so; and, upon finding domestic matters much out of order, John is astonished, puzzled, and perplexed. With his hands in his breeches pocket, feeling his purse, John looks forward, and is alarmed. Then measuring its contents, by the grip of his intelligent fingers, he looks back, and heaves a deep sigh! advice, was about to overturn the constitution, and at the same time having reason to fear the re-establishment of "the Inquisition, against which, exercising the right allowed me by the laws during the existence of the Cortes, I "had written a work, entitled, The Inquisition Unmasked, I endeavoured to place myself in safety. With this "view, having procured a passport from "Senor Valdez, then Governor of Cadiz, "and which, for the greater security, I-But, Sir, it is for those benevolent got countersigned by Sir J. Duff, I went "by sea to Gibraltar, with an intention of coming to London. In the same "assage-boat with me was a Captain "retired from service, by name Don Diego Correa, who was also leaving Spain in consequence of the threatened "revolution in public affairs, and with whom I had no previous communication, although I knew him by repute to "be a brave soldier, and a good patriot. | "We had been three days at an inn at "Gibraltar, when, about eleven at night, "an Adjutant of the fortress made his appearance, with a picquet of infantry," "and took us prisoners to the guard-house. "Next day we were examined, and our "declarations taken; and after two days more had elapsed, we were delivered "up to the Spanish Consul, who sent us "to the Cominandant of the camp of St. "Roque, at Algesiras."-Towards the conclusion of this letter, will be found the following very severe and pointed strictures on the conduct of Sir James Duff:-" The charges brought against me in Sir James Duff's letter, viz. that "I am the author of The Inquisition Unmasked, is as little entitled to atten"tion as the preceding. Such a charge "is the more preposterous, as being brought against me by a citizen of a "free and enlightened nation, which, from principles of religion and a just "resentment, must detest that tribunal. "I could not have believed, without seeing it in print, that this would have "been regarded as an imputation upon "my character: and the Consul of his "Britannic Majesty has proceeded in "this point as the most fanatic cassal 6. "his Catholic Majesty might be suppos 66 ed to have done.” minds, who told him, long ago, how to avoid his present dilemma (notwithstanding his former obstinacy,) still to assist him in averting future evils, and preventing, if possible, a recurrence of the past. This will be but consistent with our Tenets; and, with your permission, thro' your intelligent Register, I'll try my hand. Your publication of the 28th, contains, an ingenious article, under the Head, No. 1, Corn Bill, from the Courier; in which it is stated that The English 66 Farmer, cannot grow Corn, unless, by "an importation duty, the foreign Farmer be made to bear part of the Eng"lish Farmer's taxes; and here I take my stand."-You, in reply, say, "but he "will not bear part then, for he will not bring his corn, and it is meant, that he "should not--Here I take my stand." The article from the Courier (looking at its purpose) is written with adroitness, and great ability; but you have, with equal adroitness, and with much greater aptness of argument, fully and fairly detected, and exposed, its plausible fallacy-after which you say “ Reduce the "Taxes of the English Farmer, and then "he will grow coru enough, without the aid of foreign supply. "aid of foreign supply."-But this Reduction, (as I know you are fully aware, tho' you choose to pause here,) cannot be expected to happen at least in time, and to the extent sought, for the relief of the Farmer; or rather, for the relief, I am disposed to think, of the former blunders of the Ministry. And why can it not? Why because our extravagance and prodigality, in spending, lending, and giving away the Wealth of the Nation, has been so rapid and so vast. We have contracted an immense debt, and must continue to pay the interest of an additional six hundred millions, incurred within these twenty years, to preserve our honour, and our credit from being sullied. We cannot, therefore, reduce pur taxes, I fear, greatly and suddenly. If we rest then, upon the grounds of the Courier, our Manufactures, and general prosperity must decline; and if upon an immediate, and an efficient reduction of our taxes, the Fund-holders must suffer, or the Wheels of the Government Mail be too much clogg'd, to perform their usual circumrotation. This, Mr. Cobbett, is a puzzling dilemma!-a situation of distress and difficulty, naturally suggesting two Questions. Who brought us into it? -What is to be done?-In answer to the first, I say, that those, who have been supporting, and encouraging the War of passion, not of prudence;-those who denominated the voice of reason and of justice, Jacobinism; those who shouted, huzzaed,and bravadoed, echoing toa triumphant Majority of their said-to-be-Representatives in Parliament, at every new tax, and at every annual addition of fifteen or twenty millions of expenditure. Such, I regret to say,were a great portion of this easily-misled Nation, (the Agriculturists almost entirely) blinded, and half mad, by a deceitful prosperity, which they thought must still increase with general wretchedness; and which their self-nourished and destructive favor mistook for sincere and lasting reality. --As to the second question.-What is to be done?What but, from past errors, to learn future Wisdom? This is the lot of humanity; and every thing which our newly-awakened reason, prudence, HORRID BLASPHEMOUS IMFOSTURE!!! and economy can suggest, should, if pos sible, be instantaneously adopted :--Call MR. COBBETT.-The following artithe wisest Councils, not of the present cle, to which the Editor of the Morning weak, and extravagant school, that Post has prefixed the above terrific title, has brought England into unexampled appeared in that journal of yesterday: difficulties. Let every branch of our " Paris, Feb. 1.-The Sixth Chamber administration be rendered economical;" of Correctional Police, this day, concut off all superfluous expences; part "demned to five year's imprisonment, with all irrational costly establishments; a fine of 200 francs, and the expences call upon our public Men, of large "of suit, a man named Negete, who fortunes, to discharge, for a few years, called himself Le Bon Dun, on acofficial duties gratis; establish such" count of his alledged inspiration from preventions, with due care, that the same "heaven! It appeared, this audacious wasteful extravagance, the like mania" hypocrite had swindled many of his for wanton warfare, with all its destructive costliness, never may recur. the Government honourably discharge its duties to the people; the People theirs to the Government. Let us bui do this honestly, wisely, promptly, and Constitutionally, and, like old English Patriots, we may still fearless look our deities in the face-Still may cur Country lift her head amidst surrounding Nations!-and still may we find means, sufficient to meet all purposes. Methinks I hear the manufacturers and agriculturists say, "Why, yes; all this may be true, but how are these matters" "to be carried into effect?"--By not selling yourselves, first to trading members of Parliament, then trading members cannot sell you a second time, in support of profusion, irrational wars, and the increase of taxation.--Ask one and all constitutionally, but firmly ask, for a radical reform in your representation. Be Englishmen, and English property, but fully, fairly, and honourably repre sented; and corruption, tho' encouraged by the unthinking, and the prodigal, in the most wasteful profusion, will not. cannot, again bring this country into the distressing dilemma, which the lavish expenditure of the last twenty-three years has effected.-With this remedy, we should need no importation duties upon corn, nor be burthened with more paupers, or with higher prices for the recessaries of life than other countries. Let Without this remedy, the evils we complain of must continue, seeing we have acquired the Heaven-born taste for millions over thousands. England will then become a Cipher amongst the Nations of Europe ! TERTIO. Jan. 31, 1815. neighbours out of various sums of money-particularly the female sex-in consequence of his blasphemous pre"tensions."-From this article it appears, that in France things have considerably altered since Bonaparte was put down. During his reign, any man might have believed, professed, or pretended what he liked as to religion. Under the pre sent regime, inspiration is not permitted. the power of Napoleon. This unfortu Had Joanna Southcott, Parson Towzer, tunate expression was immediately laid &c. gone over to that country, instead hold on by a faction: Gustavus was of making converts, they would have been declared insane by his subjects, dethrosent to the gallies! Who, therefore, will ned, exiled, and, ever since, has lived atteript to deny, that ours is the mildest in retirement, on the scanty pittance of all possible governments, and Lord which the humane and charitable were Ellenborough the most moderate of all willing to bestow on fallen royalty. Now, possible judges? Mr. George Houston, however, he seems disposed to assert to be sure, who composed that most dia- his rights, and if an article from bolical book entitled "Ecce Homo," is Basle is to be credited, he has emon the opposite side of the question. Heployed Sir Sydney Smith as his agent, wants to prove--what I shudder to think to present a declaration to the Conof-of course dare not repeat--and the gress at Vienna, of which the substance poor man in France who set himself up is said to be a revocation, on his own as being "Le Bon Dieu," the good God | part, and in behalf of his son, of the act himself, is seat (in order to convince the of abdication by which he resigned the world of his mistake) to prison for five crown and government of Sweden.years! But his followers, I understand, Without attributing any improper moswear, that this is a certain evidence tives to the interference of a British Miof his divinity, and impiously appeal to nister in a business of this nature, I historical proofs, whether an instance is cannot help thinking that the appearance not to be found, some where or other, of of this declaration at the present moment, a man being even put to death for a is more for the purpose of alarming Bersimilar offence, and yet becoming after-nadotte, the Crown Prince of Sweden, wards the founder of a religion so pow- than from any regard to the rights of erful, that to express a doubt of its divinity the exiled monarch. How, indeed, can subjected every unfortunate disbeliever to fine, imprisonment, and its whole train of concomitant evils. I give you the text. I leave the commentary to your readers; and am, &c. Feb. 9, 1815. PHILO-CIVIS. it be otherwise, when the case of the unfortunate sovereign of Saxony is considered?-As to him neither rights, justice nor policy are respected. It must, therefore, have been to promote some other object than that of asserting the personal claims of Gustavus, that he has been brought upon the carpet; and when the attempts which have lately been made by an infamous press, to bring the King of Naples into discredit are recollected, it will excite no surprise if it should turn out that the present is a scheme to favor some project, perhaps not yet fully matured, of dethroning Bernadotte. "Whether this conjecture is well founded or not, a very short period will determine. Meanwhile I am your admirer. JULIAN, Feb. 9th. 1815. THE LATE KING OF SWEDEN. Mr. COBBETT. Of all the claimants among the legitimate sovereigns of Europe, to restitation of the territory and kingdoms, which they lost in consequence of the mighty events attending the French revolution, it was scarcely to be expected that the ci-devant king of Sweden would have come forward and placed himself in the list. At one period, no doubt, he was hailed in this enlightened country as a magnanimous prince, and extolled to the skies for his virtues, because he ventured to quarrel with Bonaparte; but our sagacious politicians were not long in discovering, SIR,-In your valuable Register of that the empty coffers of his treasury the week before last, your Correspondent were ill calculated to maintain a struggle Civis, has made a most unwarrantable atwith France. At first, our generosity tack upon the New Legion of Honour, enabled him to oppose something like & by adding to the ranks of that "most show of resistance to the "Corsican honourable Institution," the person whom "Usurper," but lavish as we were of our ne calls "Sir Digby Hamilton," and money at that period, we soon got tired lasses with Sir Henry Torrens and of our magnanimous ally, and asserted | Si Harry Calvert, &c. I beg the favour that he was mad to think of resisting of your being so good as to correct this LEGION OF HONOUR. |