VOL. XXVII. No. 18.] LONDON, SATURDAY, MAY 6, 1815. 545] TO THE PEOPLE OF NOTTINGHAM, On the Motives and Prospects of the War. Amongst those towns of England which have shewn the best spirit, for many years past, as to political matters, Nottingham stands at least as forward as any, and, therefore, I address to you the observations, which, at this critical period, I think it my duty to publish, on the Motives and Prospects of that War, which, perhaps, will be begun before this paper reaches the press. The last war, which added 600 millions to the National Debt, and which produced so many and such great calamities, calamities not transient but durable; that war had for its pretexts, 1st, that the French had issued a Decree inviting all nations to rise against their governments, and 2nd, that they had opened the Navigation of the River Scheldt in Flanders. The futility of these pretexts have been a thousand times demonstrated. The real grounds of that war are now well known; but, at any rate, there is no such pretext for the present intended, or, threatened, war. The war-faction are now compelled to acknowledge, that France is confined within her ancient limits; that Napoleon has declared his adherence to the Treaty of Paris, dictated by us and our allies; that he has made overtures to all the Powers to preserve peace; that he has most explicitly pledged himself to the French people that he will enter on no war of aggression; that he has, in complaisance to us, abolished the Slave Trade, which we could not prevail on Louis to do; that he has agreed to the formation of a constitution which will necessarily tend to promote the peace and happiness of France. All this the war-faction acknowledge; none of this can they deny. What, then, is their pretext for going to war? What do they tell you, that they wish to see Europe once more bleeding for? Why, they say, that they cannot trust Napoleon; that he never has kept any treaty; that he will keep no treaty now; that he will sally forth as [Price 18. 546 soon as he is strong, and that, therefore, we ought to fall upon him and destroy him while he is weak. Whether he be weak is a question on which I will speak hereafter. At present let us inquire into the solidity of this opinion, that we cannot trust Napoleon, grounded as this opinion is on the assertion, that he is a notorious breaker of treaties. Suppose this latter assertion to be true, is that a ground of war? When would wars cease, and with whom could we ever have treaties, if we were to act on such a rule? Did not Russia make a treaty with Napoleon at Tilsit, in which the former stipulated to adopt the Continental System, and in which she acknowledged Joseph King of Spain? And was it not the breach of this treaty, which led Napoleon into Russia? Did we not see Bavaria, Austria, and Prussia, all bound to Napoleon by treaty in a war against Russia; and did they not all of them actually desert him in the field and join his enemies? And, you will bear in mind, too, that he had repeatedly had the Sovereigns of these three countries at his feet, and had replaced them upon their thrones. What impu dence, then, is it in the war-faction to call him a treaty-breaker, and to say, that we cannot trust him! How we have kept our treaties I shall not attempt to shew; nor, indeed, is it necessary. It is well known, that all those Powers, whom we now call our high allies, and on whose valour and fidelity we place so much reliance, have been our allies before; that they have quitted our alliance and joined France against us; that they have, in short, within the last 22 years, all been twice fighting with France against us, and more than twice fighting with us against France. These facts being notorious, what assurance must' those persons have, who would persuade us, that we never can have peace with Napoleon; and that we ought to make war with him till he be destroyed, because he is a man, who does not keep treaties! What, then, are the real Motives of the expected war? This is a matter of vast im S : portance. It is of the greatest consequence that the people of such a place as Nottingham, or Coventry, or any other fine town of England, abounding in good sense, should clearly understand this question at the very out-set of the war; because, if they do not carry this knowledge along with them through the war, the effects of the war will not, in all likelihood, lead, at last, to a just and beneficial result. keep on shedding human blood, lest peace should enable the English to go abroad in search of cheap living? But, how comes this migration to have taken place now, more than in former times? You will bear in mind, my friends. of Nottingham, that we did formerly live in peace with France for many years together; that we had treaties of friendship and of commerce with France; and that nobody used to be alarmed at the effects of any migration from England to France, How comes it, then, that France is now become so inviting to English people? What is the cause of so many thousands their own country? You will bear in mind, my friends of Nottingham, that before the peace, we were told of nothing but the miseries which Napoleon had inflicted upon France. We were told, that he had drained the people of their all; that he had ruined the arts, manufactures, commerce, and agriculture; that he had taken away all the able men, and left the land to be ploughed and sowed by old men, women, and children. And yet, the moment the passage to France is free, thousands upon thousands of English peo ple flock thither to live, while not a single French family came to live on their means in England. What, then, is the real fact? Why do so many go to live upon their fortunes in France? I will, in as few words as I can, explain this mystery. What, then, are the real Motives of the expected war? I am not in acquaintance with the Ministers; I know nobody who is. But, I hear many of the war-faction talk; and, with them, at least, the follow-flocking thither to live in preference to ing are the real Motives for going to war: -They say, that the country is come to that pass, that it cannot now live in peace with its present system in existence. They say, that the last twelve months were far more distressing than any foregoing twelve months of war; that commerce was less productive; that trades of all sorts were worse; that houses and land became less valuable; that manufactures throve less; that journeymen and labourers were starving, who, before, were doing passably well. They say, that more than 40,000 families, living upon their incomes, had migrated to various parts of the Continent, and especially to France; that these families draw out of England 15 or 20 millions sterling a year; that the rents of lands and the dividends from the Stocks were, in a great degree, spent in France instead of The motive for going to live in France, England, because in the former country is that people can live cheaper there. For one pound would go as far as three pounds instance, Mr. BULL has an income from in the latter country; that thus there was the Stocks, or from his farms, which he less demand for labourers, for corn, for lets, of 500 pounds a year. With this, if cattle, for household goods, for all arti- Mr. Bull lives in the country, he may, il cles of dress, for carriages, than there was Mrs. Bull manages well, keep one maid. in time of war; that thus tradesmen, far- servant, and drink a pint of wine a day, mers, and manufacturers lost their cus- without being able, however, to lay by a tomers, and that labourers and journey-single shilling for his three or four chil men lost their employment. They say, that houses fit for persons of fortune became worth little or nothing; and, that, near London, in particular, thousands of houses became tenantless on account of the peace, to the ruin of builders, and the starvation of journeymen. Now, I believe all this to be true; but, how, then, are we to go to war in order to make England as cheap a country as France? Or, are we always to have war to prevent these migrations to France? Are we never to have peace; are we to dren. If Mr. Bull, or, rather Mrs. Bull, chooses to live in town, he must put up with part of a house; he must black his own shoes, and Mrs. Bull must cook her own mutton chop. Thus situated Mr. Bull reads in the newspaper that a bottle of wine in France costs six-pence, a tur key half a crown, a house and garden ten pounds a year, and so on. "Look here, my dear," says he to Mrs. Bull, "Why, ' 66 we could live much more comfortably in France. We could keep a maid and "footman in France." "Aye," says England. You see clearly why it is that people migrate to France; and, as this migration cannot take place in time of war, this is one of the reasons why the war-fac tion are so eager to push the country on into that state, without any consideration as to the consequence which that war may produce. Mrs. Bull, and a carriage too, my "dear." "Yes," replies he, "and lay "by something too for the little Bulls. "6 And, besides, we shall have no poor"rates or tythes to pay." They soon get rid of their odds and ends; off they go to France, leaving behind them an order to send them their income, and also leaving behind them their share of the poor-rates But, they have other reasons, one of and other taxes to be paid by those who which is of the same sort. They say, that remain, and leaving their maid-servant, France presents an enticing field for Matheir taylor, shoe-maker, bricklayer, car-nufactures. They have seen how manupenter, butcher, baker, &c. to find, where factories have risen up in America. They they can, other customers to supply their have seen, that, in a very few years, the place. cotton and woollen manufactories of AmeI am sure you all clearly understand rica have so rapidly increased as almost to this. You clearly see the reason for peo-shut out those of England.-They know ple migrating to France; you see how this migration throws others out of work, and how it lessens the number of persons who pay the taxes, and you see, that they would not migrate to France, if the means of living were not cheaper in France than in England. But, as I am not so sure, that you clearly perceive the cause of these low prices in France compared with the prices in England, I will explain that cause to you as briefly as I am able. that this great change in the commercial affairs of the world has arisen from the migration of English manufacturers to America. They know, that as much food can be bought in France for a shilling as in England for two or three shillings; and, they say, that France being so near, it will be impossible, in time of peace, to prevent manufacturers and machine-makers from going to France. They say, that thus France, instead of England, will sup All the necessaries of life are dearer in ply the rest of Europe with what are now England than in France, because the Taxes called English manufactures. They say, are heavier in England than they are in that hundreds of manufacturers and artiFrance. For instance, suppose the go-zans went over in the last year, even under vernment to take six-pence tax upon every pair of stockings, the maker must sell them six-pence a pair dearer than he did before. We pay twenty shillings a bushel for salt; but, if there were no tax upon salt, we should not pay above three or four shillings a bushel. The tax is, I believe, 16s. a bushel, and then there is the charge of the maker for the interest of the money advanced in the amount of the tax. For ale you pay at Nottingham, I suppose, 6d. a quart, Winchester measure. Malt, which now sells for 10s. a bushel, pays 4s. 6d. a bushel in tax. To this must be added the tax paid by the brewer on the Ale. To this also must be added the innumerable taxes paid by the farmer out of the price of his Burley. If you put all these together, you will see what it is that makes your Ale cost 6d. a quart. If one country pays upon every article twice as much in taxes as another country, it is very evident that living in the former must cost twice as much as it costs in the latter. Now, then, you see clearly why things are cheaper in France than they are in the Bourbons, and that now, when they are sure to enjoy complete religious liberty, without any predominant church, the migration would be by thousands. Therefore, they wish for war, seeing that, during a war, no migration can take place. They know, that there are laws to prevent artizans and manufacturers from migrating to any country; but, they also know, that it is next to impossible to enforce those laws. They know that such laws only make the desire to migrate the more keen. They know, in short, that such laws are not more efficient than would be a law or proclamation to prevent birds from flying from one grove to another; and that nothing but a complete and forcible obstruction will answer the purpose. Another motive with the war-faction, and, perhaps, the most powerful of all, is, to prevent the people of England from witnessing the effects of a free government in France. In France Napoleon has agreed that the people shall be really represented in the Legislature; that no tax shall be imposed without the people's free $2 consent. In France there are no tythes. In France there is no predominant Church. The war-faction fear the effect of this example. They say, that this state of things has arisen out of a Democratic Revolution. They say, that for the people of England to have this continually before their eyes is very dangerous. They say, as the newspapers said, in the case of America, we ought to go to war; we ought to keep on war; we ought to have no peace; we ought to send Lord Wellington and all our army to fight and burn and destroy in America, until MR. MADISON be deposed; until this "mis"chievous example of the success of democratical rebellion be annihilated." | Until this was done, they said, that the world could have no real peace. Until this was done, they said, that no regular government was safe. Until this was done, they said, that the English government would remain in jeopardy every hour. be reduced, in such a degree as to bring English prices and French prices nearer, at any rate, to a level. And, if they were to enter upon this inquiry, they would soon discover, that so desirable an end is not to be advanced by war. It is, in fact, by war that our prices have been raised to such a height as to induce people to migrate: and, yet, strange infatuation! they would cure the evil by more war! For twenty-two years previous to the late wars against France, the average price of the quartern loaf in England was fivepence. During the twenty-two years from the commencement of that war to this time, the average price of the quartern loaf in England has been a little more than clevenpence. This has been occasioned by the augmentation of the taxes. The whole of the taxes, upon an average of years, for twenty-two years before those wars, amounted to less than twenty millions a year. Since those wars began, they have, upon an average, amounted to more than This faction are dreadfully alarmed at forty millions a year. Thus, you see, that the description which travellers give us of high prices arise from taxation, that taxathe happy state of France. While the war tion arises out of war; and, yet, in order lasted, the people of England were kept to prevent us from migrating to France in wholly in the dark as to this matter. You search of low prices, this faction would will bear in mind, my friends of Notting-have more war, whereby more taxes will ham, what the war-faction told us upon be imposed and still higher prices occa this head. They told us, that all was misery in France; that the people were in the last stage of wretchedness; that they were become very poor in consequence of the taxes imposed by Napoleon; that there was no able men left to till the land; that the people hated Napoleon, and only sought an opportunity to cast off his yoke; that, in short, the country was become a wilderness. Strange transition! They now want war to prevent the people of England from migrating to that wilder-people. In short, such has been the ef ness! They now want war to prevent us from seeking happiness in climes of such misery! They want war to prevent Englishmen from being captivated with the effects of tyranny! sioned. But, not only has war made high prices up to this time: it will continue to make prices high in England for ages to come; because, besides the taxes which have been raised and expended on account of war, there have been loans made to the amount of 600 millions, the bare interest of which does, I believe, exceed the whole amount of all the taxes collected in France, upon almost three times the number of fect of the late wars with us, that our peace taxes were to have been sixty mil lions a year, whereas our peace taxes, before the war against France, were sixteen millions a year. And yet this faction would make us believe, that, to render us happy and safe at home, it is necessary to have more war! From what has been said, it is clear, I think, that the alarms of the war-faction arise, in a great degree, from the known cheapness of living in France compared If, unhappily, we are now to begin war with the price of living in England. It is again, the taxes must be not only as great, also, I think, clear, that the comparative but much greater, than they have been be high prices in England arise from our fore; because, though the expenditure. heavy taxes. The way, then, for rational should not be greater on account of the war, men to go to work to prevent further mi-loans must still be made, and taxes must be gration, is, to inquire how our taxes may raised to pay the interest of them. The 1 loans will go on augmenting the debt, and the interest of the debt must continue to be paid after the war is over, let who will live to see that day. Of course, prices will still keep, on an average, rising; the difference between prices in England and in France will be greater than it is now; people will be still more disposed to migrate than at present; and, thus will war have augmented the evil instead of removing it. The war-faction make quite sure of success against Napoleon. They do not allow him above three months to exist. They say he was brought back by the army; that the army were so attached to him that they never could endure the good king Louis; that the army bore down twenty-five, or thirty, millions of good Frenchmen; that the whole nation was nothing, and the army every thing. Yet, in the next breath, they say that he has no army; that the army, what there is of it, is good for little, and that the troops, so far from liking him, are daily deserting to the good king at Ghent. Strange fellows this army, or no army, must he composed of! Not a soul of them would lift a band for the good king while be was in France; but, he having run away out of France, they desert from Napoleon to join the king! On the other hand, the war-faction represent the High Allies as being wondrous strong. They have 800,000 men marching towards the Rhine. They have an abundance of cannon, horses, provisions, &c. They are, too, so beloved by all their people. All the people in Belgium, in Holland, in the new kingdom of Hanover, in Prussia, Saxony, Germany, Austria, Italy, Sicily, and Spain are so fond, so exceedingly fond, of their good Sovereigns, and detest Napoleon so much, that the contest cannot be either doubtful, or long. Now, if this be so, why are they fraid of Napoleon or his French people? Why need they be alarmed? If all their people are so free and so happy and so fond of their Sovereigns, and such haters of Napoleon and of the French, why not leave Napoleon and the French to this. hatred? Why not leave them to their misery? And, why are we to be involved in a new war for the purpose of putting down a second time a man whom no people in the world care a straw about? However, the fact is, I believe, not what the war-faction tells us, in this respect. Their own contradictions and alarms prove very clearly, that they think the French nation and their chief formidable. The same faction vowed eternal war against MR. MADISON, whose name they now never mention. There is no doubt that they were, in this latter case, reduced to reason by the battles on the Lakes, on the Ocean, and on the land of America. It was the sword, which brought them to their senses; and, is there not reason to believe, that such will be the case again? Let us first hear of one or two great battles, and then we shall be able to judge of the relative means of the opposing parties. And, if the war-faction should be disappointed; if war should carry the French arms again into Holland and to Vienna; if this coalition, too, should be dissolved, and England again left to make war or peace single-handed; if this should be the case, what will then be our situation? If migration be an evil now, what would it be at the end of such a war, which would have added another hundred million or two to the national debt, and, in proportion, to our permanent taxes? If we cannot live in peace with France now; if her abundance and her political example are now objects of terror to the war-faction, what will they be then? It is a curious thing to observe, that, while, at this time, all the ports of France are open to England, and while the mail comes more frequently than ever from that country, there is no mail permitted to go from England to France. Napoleon seems not to wish to disguise any thing. He has no law, no regulation, to prevent us from seeing what he is about. Any one may write to us a full account of his proceedings. He aims at no secrecy. He suffers any one to go, or come. This ar gues any thing but fear. Ten thousand assassins may enter France, if they can be found. This does not seem as if he were in any terror. And yet, there are persons constantly endeavouring to per suade us, that he lives amidst the most dreadful alarms. It is with a view of guarding you, my friends of Nottingham, against the falsehoods and misrepresentations of the warfaction that I have offered to you these remarks. Neither you nor I can prevent war, if it be to take place; but it is in our power to reject falsehood, to think rightly |