แ herd.-The Chatham, of 74. guns (built " Ghent, by an illustrious personage, was a in memory of the Walcheren expedition)" duty MOST RELUCTANTLY PER"is ordered to be manned, and will, it is "FORMED.—We doubt it not. supposed, be sent to America, to strengthen "The truly English feelings which prompt"the preparations for that extended sys- "ed so zealous an adherence to the cause "tem of warfare, which must take place if" of patriotism in Spain, and to that of "the President should delay the ratifica-" loyalty in France, must have been tor"tion of the Treaty. We are well con- "tured beyond the power of words to ex"vinced, that every ship, and every sol-" press, by the fatal necessity (if necessity "dier, employed in maintaining the vital" it was) which compelled the signing " contest for our maritime ascendancy, far away the honour and future safety of "from diminishing, will add a proportional" THIS ONCE NOBLE COUNTRY! "weight to our influence at Vienna; but" May the present year not elapse without "in truth Vienna, and all its fetes, and "producing a confirmation of our sad "all its negociations, are infinitively insig-"forebodings! Our firmest hope lies, in nificant to us NOW, compared with the" the present instance, as it did during the "growth of an American navy, and the pro-" negociations of Chatillon, in the arrogant "bable loss of our transatlantic Provinces."" insanity of our adversary. In mulish 2d January, 1815.-"The year which" obstinacy, Mr. MADISON is not a whit "is just concluded will rank among the" behind his great Ally. In vanity and most remarkable in history. It has seen "self-confidence, the FISKS, and CLAYS, "the downfal of the most formidable des-" and SMILIES, and WRIGHTS of the Con"potism that ever threatened the security gress cannot be overmatched. It is, "of the civilised world. It has witnessed" therefore, the firm persuasion of those "the restoration of a PATERNAL GO-" who best understand American politics, "VERNMENT to the country, which had" that the Treaty will not be ratified. For "for five and twenty years passed through "this event, we repeat, Government ought "the greatest variety of afflicting revolu-" to be fully prepared. The nation, too, "tions. It has beheld all the Sovereigns" ought to be satisfied, that a powerful of Europe assembled personally, or by" army, and a General of the highest repu "their representatives, in peace, to lay the "tation, are ready on the spot, either to "foundations of permanent tranquillity, and compel the enemy to ratify the Treaty, to construct ancw the social edifice, by" or to punish its non-ratification. The "the proportions of equity and moderation." Officers of the class just specified have, "ONE WORTHLESS, FAITHLESS" moreover, a right to have their charac "HORDE ALONE PERSEVERED" ters placed in a fair light before their "in those atrocious plans, which they had" countrymen; for in all companies, for "undertaken, in concert with the fallen some time past,have been heard murmurs, "despot, for their own selfish aggrandize-"not loud but deep,' at their apparent "ment. Punishment hung over the guilty "backwardness to appear in the field, "heads of these men, bankruptcy had swal-" where their services have been, and stilĺ "lowed up their resources, despair stared" are so much needed. If, contrary to our "them in the face. It was hoped that" hopes and expectations, the Treaty should some signal instance of vengeance would" be ratified, the consequences are easy of "have been hurled against them,' and" developement. The Americans, vain of year would have closed with the" what they will consider as their demon"triumph of Justice and of Britain.-"strated superiority over us by land and sea, ALAS! We have been compelled to" will dream only of more audacious prewitness not only the frustration of this tensions, and new plans of conquest.--hope, but the elevation of our calumnia-" Their regular army will be augmented, tors and assassins to the height of inso-" and placed on the Canadian frontier.lent exultation, on the ruins of our ma- "Their heavy metalled ships, and new "ritime greatness. THE NAVY OF" steam batteries, will be multiplied with "BRITAIN IS DISGRACED FOR "the utmost celerity. Their intrigues to stir "EVER: and, oh! shame! the fame of " up rebellion in Canada will be redoubled, "the immortal Nelson is eclipsed by the" and, unhappily, with a far greater chance vaunts of the vulgar braggart Rodgers. "than ever of success, inasmuch as the Ca"A Sunday Paper asserts, that the ratifi-"nadians will be but too apt to conceive their cation of the degrading Treaty of" interests sacrificed by the present treaty. 46 "that the 66 แ their blows with astonishing rapidity; and even at the moment when the conclusion of the peace was announced, intelligence came to hand that they had just driven our army and fleet from Pensacola, a main hold, whence our next attack was intended to have been made. "IF," says this trumpet of corruption, "IF we had done" this, and done that, and done the other, then we might have made peace. But If we could do none of these 5 IF we had failed in all our attempts; IF we had lost still more frigates and fleets, what would THEN have been our situation? The malignant wretches are senseless with rage. They are savage at the loss of their prey. You, who are an old hunter of wild beasts, may have seen something in the conduct of disappointed bears or wolves resembling that of these foes of freedom, who are now looking towards America, foaming with rage and roaring for revenge. "All this while WE SHALL BE “BOUND OVER TO OUR GOOD "BEHAVIOUR IN EUROPE; for the "moment we embark in war here, the "redoubtable Captain PORTER will again "hoist the flag of FREE TRADE AND “SAILORS RIGHTS, and this will fur"nish at once a pretence and a signal for "driving the hated English from Canada." our navy had struck some great blow; "How long the West indies will remain "to us, after the loss of our North American Provinces, we leave to the sagacious "calculations of those, who can contrive a cheap and easy method of supplying our "islands with flour, staves, and lumber, from other quarters; or who will secure "to us the Newfoundland fishery, when we are expelled from the whole American "Continent. Little has been added to "what the public already know of the "Treaty. Indeed, we have been assured, "that what was circulated as the first "slight sketch of its contents, gave rather too favourable an idea of it in two very "material points-the Newfoundland fish"eries, and the East Indian trade. It was generally understood, we believe, that "the Americans were specifically excluded both from the one and the other of these advantages; but the truth is (says our informant) that neither of these points " is mentioned in this impolitic Treaty."duce conviction throughout the whole world. 7th Jan. 1815.-Our correspondent (at "Paris) states, that since the unexpected news from Ghent, the Americans at "Paris have been every where TREATED WITH THE MOST MARKED "RESPECT. They have, in general, 86 assumed, at all public places, their na❝tional cockade, both as a means of at"tracting to themselves those attentions, "and also to prevent their being mistaken for English, and exposed as such to the affronts which of late have been openly "shewn to our countrymen." It is impossible not to feel great satisfaction at seeing the murderous wishes of these men disappointed. But our satisfaction ought by no means to rest here. The great question with regard to the excellence of really free Government has now been decided in a way tha' must inevitably pro The fate of the Republic of France had excited great doubts in the minds of men, disposed to cherish liberty, as to the capability of that sort of Government to be carried on in practice for any length of time, especially if it had to contend with the difficulties and dangers of war. The enemies of liberty delighted in representing real freedom as incompatible with national defence and independence. When reminded of the Government of America, they smiled, and observed, that it might do very well as long as America remained Thus have we before us the wailings of at peace; but that her first year of war the sons and daughters of corruption. would crumble it into dust, and expose to There is, you perceive, one reigning fal- the mockery of the world the vain theorists lacy in all these attacks on the peace; that who had extolled it. In short, this was is, it is all along presumed, and taken for the point always laboured at :-) That for a granted, that our situation, with regard nation to be able to defend itself in time of › America, would have become every day war against a formidable enemy, it must better and better, if the war had been con-have an almost despotic Government and a tinued. Now, so far from this being any thing like certain, it was not even probable, and was barely possible. The chances were all on the other side; the Republicans bad not only resisted, but had repulsed, the onset; they had followed up standing army, with all their retinue. How sincerely will you, who have so long, so zealously, and so ably maintained the contrary, rejoice to see that this position, so degrading to mankind, has now been fully disproved! You, in your ex cellent publications, and Sir Francis Burdett, in his speeches, have uniformly insisted, that the safe defence, and the only safe defence, of a nation against a formidable enemy, was to be found in the arms of free men; that, in order to induce a people to fight in defence of their country, they must feel that they have something to fight for; that the strength of a Government, in the hour of real danger, consists solely of the attachment of the people; that a pation, enjoying real freedom, informed by a press really free, and all having a voice in the choice of their representatives, never yet was, and never would be, subdued by an invading enemy. graced for ever; that we have retired from the contest with the stripes on our backs; that we have had the trident snatched from us; that we are scoffed at upon the Continent of Europe. Now, then, if this be true, who is it that has thus humbled us? What mighty Potentate has been able to accomplish all this? It is a Republic; a nation whose Chief Magistrate receives only about 5,000 a year, and the whole of whose ordinary revenue does not amount to so much as we, in England alone, pay for collecting our taxes; a nation without a standing army; a nation with a press through which any man may publish any thing respecting any public person or measure, or any opinion on the subject of religion; a nation without Dukes, or Lords, or Knights, or Esquires, and without any distinction of rank of any sort being known to the law; a nation without an established church, without tythes, or any compulsory payment to the priests of any worship; a nation where bribery and corruption are unknown; where no man calls another man "master;" and where a handful of gold would not purchase from the labouring man the pulling off his hat even to his employer.--The consequences of truths so striking and now so notorious, are much more pleasing to anticipate than they would, I imagine, be safe to describe. The rise, progress, and result of the American wars (I mean both of them) have now put the truth of these your favourite doctrines beyond all doubt. Where are now the knaves, who have so long scoffed at you as a visionary, and who have had the profligacy to assert, that bribery and corruption were essential to efficient Government? Where are now those who apprehended anarchy from universal suffrage? Where are now the sticklers for influence, and virtual representation? In America every man who pays a tax, of any sort, however small, has a vote. He assists in electing, not only the members of the State Legislators, and those of the Congress, but also the Governors of the States There are some who pretend, that the and the President himself. No man has Republic has gained nothing by the war; any authority, no man has any voice in and those hireling gentlemen, who write in making laws, who has not himself been" the Quarterly Review,” tell their readers, elected, and in the election of whom every that she has made peace "without accomman paving a tax has a voice. Yet the " plishing any one of the objects for which world NOW SEES, that a Government" she went to war. These hired critics thus formed, and a people thus governed, are are either wholly ignorant of the matter, a match for the most formidable power at or, they are endeavouring to mislead their this day in existence. The world now readers. At any rate, I will once more sees, that a nation thus governing itself, and state the case, and then we shall see which fully sensible of its freedom, is not only party has been baffled in its attempts. active in its defence, but is capable of America declared war against our King, deeds of valour, such as were never before because he would not cease to impress perrecorded by the pen of the historian of any sons (not being soldiers or sailors in the country or any age. Let the advocates for enemy's service) on board her ships on the the buying and selling of seats do away, if high seas. This was the ground of her dethey can, the effect of this glorious ex-claration of war. A treaty of peace has ample. been made, and that treaty says not a word about the impressing of persons on board of American ships. Therefore, say these wise Reviewers, she has not gained her ob The writer, whom I have above quoted, and who was so anxious to see " the world "delivered of the mischievous example” of the existence of the American Government,ject. says, that our navy has been defeated; that it has been beaten upon the Ocean and on the Lakes; that we have been beaten by land and by sea; that we have been dis Poor slaves! they dare not look at the truth; which is this: America went to war with us, while we were at war with France, and while America was neutral. Our King having made peace with the nothing to have been able, with her infant navy, to have resisted with success the maritime power of England single-handed? Is it nothing to have called forth the admiration of the world by acts of bravery like that of the General Armstrong privateer at Fayal? Is it nothing to have made her implacable enemies in England express their mortification at secing her citizens in Europe complimented wherever they go, in consequence of her success against such a mighty Power? Is it nothing to have proved to the world, that, iet who will attack her, she stands in need of no foreign French, there ceased to be any pretext for impressment; and that being the case, America was willing to make peace immediately, without any stipulation about impressment, because the war in Europe, having ceased, her character of neutral would have ceased, and our impressments would also have ceased. She wanted no stipulation to protect her against what she always asserted to be a wrong, and which wrong she had resisted by arms, until it ceased. Accordingly, we find Mr. Monroe instructing the Republican negociators not to bring forward the subject, being quite unnecessary, seeing that America had re-aid; no hired fighters of other countries; sisted our pretended right of impressment by war, and would, of course, resort to the same mode of resistance, if the execution of the pretended right should be revived. You will observe, too, that it was our King's negociators, who brought forward the subject at Ghent. Therefore, if there was any defeat of object here, the defeat was on his side. We went to war to assert our right of impressment. We have made peace without obtaining any stipulation with regard to that right, real or pretended. If we revive the exercise of this right, at any future time, Mr. Monroe, in his published dispatches, says, that America is ready again to resist it by force of arms. but that her own citizens are equal, not only to ber defence, but to the carrying of her" bits of striped bunting" in triumph into every sea against even a superior force? Is it nothing to have shewn, that, in the midst of such a war, which most people thought put her very existence in jeopardy, she has doubled, nay quadrupled, her naval force, including her numerous important captures from us; and that she has steadily proceeded in the extension of her naval plans, buildings and arsenals?Is it nothing to have proved, that her Government, though free as air, is perfectly adequate to the most perilous of wars? Is it nothing to have thus entitled herself to the confidence of other nations, and made her friendship an object to be sedulously sought after by every Power of Europe; and to have done this, too, in a war in which it was published, that all these Powers had, by a secret article in the treaty of Paris, bound themselves not to interfere? Is it nothing to have shewn, that she wanted the interference of none of them; that she was able, single-handed, to fight her own battles, and to come out of the The disappointed, malignant man, whom I have so largely quoted above, exclaims, that we are now bound to our good behaviour in Europe ;" for, that the moment we dare to go to war, we shall have Capt. Porter sally out upon us with "freedom of commerce and sailors' rights" inscribed on his flag. Nothing is more probable. Indeed, it is quite certain, that the "bits "of striped bunting" will hear this motto, if our King revives his orders of impress-contest, not only unmutilated, but covered ment. But the likely thing is, that his Majesty will not revive those orders; and then we shall have the happiness to see ourselves living in peace and friendship with the people of America, and shall be grateful to his Majesty for the blessing. with glory? Is it nothing for her Chief Magistrate; for that very Mr. Madison, whom our malignant and insolent writers and others marked out to be DEPOSED; is it nothing for Americans to have seen this their plain fellow citizen, with a salary of less than 6,000 pounds a year, with no heralds, guards, or gilded coaches, conduct But has the Republic gained nothing by the war? Has he gained no English ships? Has she gained no renown? Haveing her affairs, through this trying season, the affairs of the Guerriere, the Macedonian, the Java, the Peacock, the Avon, those of Lakes Erie and Champlain, and Mobille and Pensacola, and Fort Erie and Fort Moreau; have these memorable actions, and many others, vielded her nothing in point of reputation in the world? Is it with so much ability, so much firmness, and, at the same time, with such tender. ness for liberty, as to refrain from a resort even to the mild law of his country against those who have made use of that liberty for purposes of the blackest and basest treason? Is this nothing, you venal English writers? Is this nothing? Is it nothing to hear the Chief Magistrate of a country say: "let ( my calumniators alone; let the traitors "to freedom and America proceed; I rely on the good sense and the virtue of the people; the cause is the people's, and "they will be my defenders?" Is this, too, nothing gained? 66 every other climes, and a PRESS for the promulgation of those truths, which these unfortunate beings have so long been compelled to suppress. I am, with the greatest regard and respect, your faithful and most obedient servant, WM. COBBETT. AMERICA. MR. COBBETT.-According to my esti Yes, it is a gain, not only to America but to mankind; for who will now be impudent enough to assert, that political free-mate of the value of public writings it is, dem, that religious freedom, that a press I need say no more. Here is the ob- and has been long, my firm persuasion, that your WEEKLY REGISTER has already effected, and will ultimately accomplish, more towards enlightening mankind on their true political and moral rights, than all the other productions of the press put together. The originality of your views; the extent and importance of your facts; the luminous correctness of your speculations; and the peculiarly energetic force of your style, unite to render you an author most eminently and usefully instructive.— May your valuable life and health be long preserved, for the furtherance of all that is most dear and estimable in human exisThe observations with which you are at present elucidating the political state of America, and the British contest with that nation, must be read by all who are not determined be deceived, or who are not destitute of the commonest characteristics of human reason, with the utmost gratification. It is impossible to view facts placed in the clear light in which you are weekly exhibiting them, without rejoicing that such a writer as yourself exists, and that so fair an opportunity is afforded to all who can read, to know correctly the real condition and circumstances of the American contest. That a large majority of the British nation is, as it were, identified with the Government, and would be identified with any Government that had equal patronage in its disposal, there can be no doubt.--Persons so situated, are not to be reasoned with; they will listen to no argument, but will bluster, blunder, and calumniate, until they conceive they have effectually borne down all opposition to their preconceived and predetermined vices. American bravery is their horror, and American triumph the real torment of these infatuated and all but enfuriated people. Al though they grumble at the Property Tax, they begin to speak in the language of Alderman Curtis, that the grievances of that impost must be endured until the |