nak And is this, Sir, the way, in which you get rid of the question? Is it true, that the public here are always on the side. of the ministry, and so determined in this their partiality, as to render it useless to endeavour to put then right? This certainly is not the case; and, if it were, why not, at once, cease your endeavours upon all political questions? No; it is only, yon will say, where the advantage of a measure is apparently in favour of the country, that the public are not impartial; but, why not endeavour, then, to convince them that it is not really so? They will, surely, hear you 2 The fact is, Sir, you are in a curious dilemma here; for, in this declaration of yours, you have tacitly allowed, either that the measure was manifestly advantageous to the country; or, that, not being so, you are incapable of making the contrary appear. His POOR LAWS Another Scotch correspondent has favoured me with his remarks (which will be found in another page of this sheet) upon the parochial-school subject, or rather upon my observation thereon. He sets out in the true style of Sir Archy Mc Sarcasm, which I should be very willing to forgive, if be offered me any thing to the point, accompanied with his personal reflections. quotation of the opinion of Lord Buchau has no weight with me, being worth much about as much as the estimates of Gregory. King, who was so minute as to include the Dumber of rabbits in the kingdom. Does Sir Archy think, that the official documents that I refer to, and my calculations and arguments founded upon those documents, are to be answered by producing the mere random guess of a person, who, for ought I know, might be half mad? The" colonies", settled by Scotch labourers, of which he talks, are mere clusters of hovels, inhabited by people who seldom taste any thing but fish and potatoes,Sir Archy, too, following the example of Scoto Britannus, takes no notice of the grants annually made to the industrious and virtuous Scotch labourers out of the taxes, raised from the labour of the lazy and vicious English labourers. This is a point which they appear to shun with as much care as a sailor shuns the Locks What! take the fruit of English labouters and give it to make work for Scotch labourers, in order to enable the latter to live in their own, country, and then come to that same wise assembly which is the instrument in the donation, and propose to it to declare (quite unnecessarily), that the former ought to look to the latter as an example efilustry Nothing, surely, was every so outrageously impudent and insolent as this! Sir Archy assumes that I ain the agressor in this dispute; and so I should be, had not Mr. Whitbread framed his famous preamble, and confessedly, too, upon the authority of Scotchmen. This being the case, they are the agressors, and I think myself as much bound to resent their insults levelled against England, as I think myself bound to resent the insults of the Americans or the French. Since they have insulted us, too, they must not be surprized, if I go farther in showing, that Scotland, by one means or another, has been, and is, greatly favoured, in other respects, at the expence of England and Ireland. My wish is to drop the subject where it is; but, if new provocations are offered, they will, assuredly, be met, and in a way that Sir Archy, with all his vindictive sneers, would, I imagine, be but little able to withstand. EXPATRIATION OF BRITISH SUBJECTS. --This topic must be deferred 'till my next. It is important, not because it is likely that any law, or declaration, such as is recommended by my correspondent, in page 433, will ever be made, or seriously thought of; but, because the recommendation tends to show how anxious some amongst us are to be at perfect liberty to pursue their own interest at the expence of those of their country.My other correspondent, in page 506, has given a good answer, upon general principles; but, I do not think, that he has gone enough into detail; and, I am pretty certain that he is not fully aware of all the motives which dictated the recommendation of S. V nor with all the consequences, to which the adoption of it would lead. PORTUGAL.-Great alarm seems to be en tertained respecting thisstate. The factors are, it appears, packing up their alls, ready to decamp at a moment's warning; and so, if we believe the wise men of the daily prints, are the government of Portugal! Was there ever any thing so foolish as this in the world! A whole government emigrating! The Queen and Prince might, indeed, be able to emigrate; and, even they, I am afraid, would lose their reckoning, and get to England instead of the Brazils; but, for a whole government, with all its constituted authorities, and all its powers, to emigrate, is surely, the wildest idea that ever entered into a sick brain.If the Portuguese government be a good one; if the rulers" are wise and considerate towards the people; if the people enjoy the fair fruits of their labour, it will be melancholy to behold, or to hear ofiorertlirow, but, if just the" E contrary be the case, the event will not give me much pain. As I know nothing about the government of Portugal, I cannot, at present, venture to give any opinion, or express any wish upon the subject, other than that I do not think Napoleon can do us, the mass of the people of England, any harm in that quarter. AMERICAN STATES. SIR;-In your paper of the 22d ult. No. 8 Vol XII, in your letter to the Independant Electors of Westminster you have inserted certain resolutions, and a circular letter, from the American chamber of commerce at Liverpool, accompanied with observations which convey an opinion, that, the mercantile body generally would be ready to join. in the cry which that publication was intended to excite; I have not heard of its effects in other parts of the kingdom, but I inclose a resolution of the committee of American merchants in London, passed on the 21st of the same month probably at the very time you were writing your letter, which I hope you will, with your usual candour, take an early opportunity of presenting to your readers. This resolution does not imply, that that body were ready upon the impulse of the moment to join their brethren at Liverpool in a cry in favour of the particular interests of the mercantile body in preference to objects of greater political importance. These important objects are in other hands, and I hope will be attended to with the respect due to an independaut, although a young state. I also hope there is no intelligent merchant trading to America so ignorant of the national character, and of circumstances there, as not to know, that his true interest is to strengthen the hands of his own government by any means in his power, and that promptitude, and vigour in our councils, are essentially necessary, most especially in the present moment.-A MERCHANT. "chamber of commerce, at Liverpool, "which may have a tendency to promote "the commercial intercourse between the "British Empire and the United States "of America, but with the knowledge that "negociations of great political impor "tance are pending between the GovernDent "of this country and the American states, they are of opinion, that any interference on their part, at the present moment,} "would be improper; and this committee having no reason to believe his Majesty's "Government to be indisposed to an ami "cable accommodation of the present dif"ferences, see no necessity for " associa➡ "tions being formed in the different ma" nufacturing towns and seaports, for the purpose of collecting information as to the "prospects of a good understanding, or other"wise, between the two countries." But if it "should at any time appear that the efforts of "this committee can be useful in promot"ing cordiality and harmony between the "two Governments, they will be ready to "do every thing in their power for the "attainment of so desirable an object.→ "John Gray, Secretary." DANISH WAR. SIR, At a moment when the event of the Danish expedition was yet uncertain, and that portion of our venal diurnal press devolved to administration, justified the mea sure by speculations, which (whimsically enough) one day charged upon the Danes an intended junction with the French, and on the morrow contained grave intimation that our fleet and army had been invited by the Danish court to garrison their capital, and place their navy beyond the reach of the iron grasp of Buonaparté; you, with that manly decision which forms a feature equal ly prominent and honourable in your cha racter, bestowed on the project a warm and n hearty approbation, upon the plain and in telligible ground, that the measure was ne cessary for the national safety, and as such fit to be adopted. I profess to follow the opinions of no man to the extent of an un- 3 qualified surrender of my own, and on this! occasion in totally differing from you; expe rience all that a person may be supposed to feel, differing from another for whose under standing and integrity he entertains the highest respect. I with you am ready to up hold" the antient rights and practices of England upon the seas, and most cordially consign to execration that minister who shall waive one iota of them; but I am unable to found a justification of the Danish expeditions upon any "right," nor, happily, does the British history afford an instance" in practice," of a similar conduct to any neutral nation under the canopy of Heaven. There are a class of persons who judge of all things by the event! With these gentlemen reasoning is thrown away! And there is another order of men whom I have as little inclination to trouble, I mean those profound politicians who hold for nothing all principles of good faith and integrity, when opposed to national advantage. An ingenious writer of the present day, in the following passage, has admirably described these sages, and from his pen I give you the well coloured picture. When a measure is shewa to "them to be wicked, it is more than half *proved to be wise. Nay, their artificial taste, like other unnatural propensities, "often acquires greater strength and more in my apprehension the justification or con- powerful domination over reason and pru"dence, than the natural one it has sup"planted could ever have attained. If phily for mankind, at once knows and foliows lanthropy has its enthusiasts, political im"morality has its devotees, not so ardent "indeed, bat more than equally blind and "irrational. There are fanatics in the "school of Machiavel, as well as in that of "Rousseau." I, for my part, profess to write neither to fools or knaves. My address is to men, who like you have no party but their country. If this (I trust no inconsiderable) portion of the nation, hold by their integrity, the country may yet be saved; but if they, the best hope and stay of Britain, become converts to the doctrine of expediency, the period is not far distant when their characters will be most deservedly brought on a level with those they most condeman. Once broadly admit the principle, that national injustice may be the source of national benefit," and the doctrine of expediency will overwhelm you as a flood. At home, no matter what the form of the constitution might be in substance, the government of Great Britain would become as despotic as that of Turkey, and our power from (heretofore as in happier times) protecting the freedom, would degenerate into the Scourge of Europe: and form, not a northern, but a universal contederacy," grafted on the only principle that ever yet held a confederacy together; that of self-defence, and a common interest. Nations like individuals are assailed by their necessities, temptations arise, check are requisite, and haws assented to for mutual preservation, and perilous is the situation of that people, who without an extreme necessity" shall presume to remove these landmarks of the nations of the earth. And upon this case of extreme necessity fairly made out," rests his interest; his politics at present court Russia; he has much to do with her" bes fore he begins to "act against her;" add to which, if Napoleon appreciates the Danish fleet at the price we appear to set upon it, I think he will be found to reason loss acutely than past experience has shewn him in the habit of doing. The situation of Denmark in common with her neighbours Sweden and Russia, is by no means favourable for great and successful maritime exertion; for a large portion of the year their fleets are confined by the ice to their own ports; their seamen though brave and hardy, unused to naval tactics have never ranked high. Moor them fast in line, and they will fire and be fired at till they are knocked to pieces; but afloat. they are little formidable. Let me appeal on this point to every man who saw the Russian navy, when under the infatuated policy of Mr. Pitt they were brought on our coasts, to receive the beneất (at our expence) of the instruction and example of our own incomparable marine, or to the more recent instance which occurred in the action between a Danish frigate, and his Majesty's skip Conus. A further disadvantage occurs from their local position rendering the Baltic peculiarly liable to the inconveniencies of a blockade. If acquiring the hulls of the Danish pavy was an object worth putting the character of the British nation to the hazard, I am satisfied it was not an object Napoleon would have risked much to obtain. With. the permission of Russia, he would have thought them dearly bought at the expence of throwing into our lap the commerce.and colonies of the Danes. If mere ships could wrest from us the trident of the main, our naval superiority would be short indeed; but our navel greatness rests on no such basis. The forests of Napoleon may yield timber, and the extent of his population afford abundant supplies of ship builders; but this is a first and very short step to a powerful marine. Deficient in seamen, and deficient in officers, he may send out fleets to be dispersed by tempests, or defeated by our squadrons, a fate I am justified in predicting from the uniform result of every expedition that has left his ports during the present war. Our safety, thank God, does not depend on the possession of the bulls of a dozen Danish seventy fours, and as many frigates; nor does the importance of that pos session in my mind, justify the dieasure by which it has been attained. The policy of Pitt, his constitutiona! buttresses, his commercial nobility, his bloated system of paper credit (so repeatedly and powerfully denounced by your energetic pen), have been a fruitful source of much suffering and disgrace'; but, I deny that we are so broken down as to be reduced to the humiliation of avowing in the face of all Europe that our existence depends on a breach of those laws which hold together the frame of the civilized' world. This were, indeed, to yield a base homage to the power of Napoleon, and drink of the cup of shame to the very dregs! Objecting as I do to the principle of the measure, the mode of its execution is with me a very secondary consideration. I am disposed to leave that question to the Post and the Chronicle; but, I own I am unfortunate enough here again once more to differ with you; near à fortnight was wasted before the attack was made, and when the enemy were reduced to an utter incapacity to further resist, a capitulation was granted, by which Denmark retains her seamen, and we stipulate 6 weeks to abandon his territory; and, already (if the public prints deserve credit) it has been found expedient" to dispatch Capt. Cathcart with instructions to extend our possession.Aye, Sir, extend our, possession in the very teeth of the terms we have so recently granted.Sir, these are means little calculated to save the country; the vile press are entertaining us with a negotiation for peace. I do not believe the report, nor do I believe (making all due allowances for difference of opinion among sensible and well informed men,) that one man in 100 of that description in the United, Kingdom, imagine a safe peace to be a practicable measure. We are embarked in a se vere contest, the continuation of which, do not hesitate to declare, must in all human probability, be at least commensurate with the life of Napoleon, Vast exertions and! great sacrifices must be made. The country must find its safety in high principles, and that magnanimous spirit which never yet existed where they were wanting. A reform founded on the antient rights of Britons," and carried into effect agreeable to the practice" of the British constitution, will our generation" enable us to abide the pity less peiting" of the utmost rage of the store that howls around us, and hand:: down to posterity a monarchy powerful and . permanent. A nobility antient and honourable. A nation loyal and free. Or if destined to perish in the mighty conflict, let us t tall as becomes our honour, without one-inseemly wound, as fits the descendants of that " ancestry from whence we are sprung as; 6) As to Sebastian, let them search the field; And where they find a mountain of the slaine Send one to climb, and looking down beneata, There they will find him at his manly length, With his face up to heaven, in that red monument.. Which his good sword had digged. Sept. 26, 1807. - AN OLD ENGLISHMAN. SIR; You are the only man, who has publicly expressed sentiments hostile to an arrangement in our dispute with the Ameri can States, unless it should be on terms: which, I am afraid. our government in aŝ little inclined to demand, as the Americans to grant. Your opinions on this, as on most other subjects, is, as far as my observation goes, completely popular. A war with America, is not only wished for, hat is looked upon by many, as a measure that would be ultimately beneficial to this country. A comparison of the relative situations. of the two countries, seems to offer every argument in support of this doctrine. Every, body knows, that the rapid, progress the Americans have made, is solely owing to the undisturbed repose with which theyac have been permitted to carry on their jatered nal improvements; and to the safety with. which from our forbearance, they have prosce secuted their commerce with the alifierent European Stares at war. They enriched: themselves at a time when the means of subduing their enemies alone occupied the attention, of other nations. Their success. has made them insolery, and -nothing, wilkos now satisfy them butant we must yield pos rights which we ought never do zabandon. These rights, the prond legacies, „handentiar down to us after having been obtained a c many a well tought battle, we are mis à asked to surrender, although we never were But, in a better situation to maintain them. But had these means but been resorted to. consideration, it seems, for the interest of a few individuals who are engaged in the American trade, prevented their recourse to strong measures. No man who feels the love of his country yet unextinguished, can repress indignation when he sees its honour bartered for such pitiful ends. Would it have been believed in former times, that the government of Great Britain was to have been influenced by the meeting of some traders at the London Tavern? I believe all reasonable men will agree, that political considerations are of vastly greater importance than any commercial ones whatever; because the last have a reference to individuals only, the first to the community at large. The period is in all probability approaching, when necessity will inforce the conviction of this truth. We must give up part of our commerce for our political existence. As long as France domineers on the continent, our obvious policy is to deprive her and the countries under her controul of every external communication. This would bear hard against the Americans, Danes, &c. but the situation in which we are placed, completely justifies a measure that would be otherwise harsh and unjust,R. M.- -Sept. 15, 1807. POOR LAWS, determination to support our rights, they would be very willing to accommodate the business in any way we might choose. I should be glad to know what resistance a raw and selfish government, with instruments despicable in the eyes of all nations, could oppose to British exertion under active and energetic management? What would be the issue of a war commenced against the greatest maritime power on the globe, by a people whose political existence depends upon foreign commerce, and particularly that part of it which is derived from being the carriers betwixt belligerent nations? Is it for a country relatively circumstanced as we are, to surrender rights which are the sources of our naval superiority, and which have been for merly inforced and maintained against the united efforts of the principal maritime states in Europe? These are questions which, I believe will be answered in one way only. We should not concede a single point in dispute that is not incompatible with our safety and honour. I never could see any good reason for permitting the Americans to be of so much consequence in the political scale. They enjoy a pre-eminence which they shew themselves wholly unworthy of possessing, and had their insolence been treated in the manner which it deserved, we - should not at this day have to carry on a negotiation in which, I am afraid, not only the interests, but also the honour of the country sruns the hazard of being disregarded. I neIver experienced any other feeling than that of contempt for the late measures of the American government. The House of Representatives are worthy the people represented. Every thing is conducted with so ~ much candour, moderation, and dignity. The - non-importation act, and the manner in which it was passed, were truly characteristical of these qualities. Never were legisla tors so disgraced as were the Americans on that occasion. That measure both on account of the temper and spirit with which it paper was conducted, will long remain a striking may well be, in my opinion, called a missilemonument of madness and fanaticism. Mi- ancous one; for, truly, Mr. Cobbert, you nisters in allowing this famous act to pass throw about you in all directions. You make - unnoticed, were guilty of a great sacrifice of a violent thrust at Mr. Whitbread, give the the dignity of this country, holding as they reviewers a chopper, and have knocked down did the means of inforcing instant redressa million and a half of my poor countrymen. SIR,In reading your Political Register, I frequently meet with much good information, and, at all times, a vast deal of entertainment. It astonishes me to observe that, whether you happen to be on the right or wrong side of a subject, you are never at a loss for stout argument, and an abundant display of oratorical parrying. You certainly have good bottom, as they call it, Mr. Cobbet; for, give you never such a mauling to day, by Saturday again you are at it tooth and nail, and with as much courage and sans-froid as if you felt nothing at all of your bruises. Upon this redoubtable bottom of yours, you seem to place your chief confidence; and well you may do so, provided you be in that quarter equally unsusceptible of blushing, as you are in the non-sanguiferous lineaments of your frontispiece.-It was only yesterday it came to my turn to peruse your Register of Saturday se'night, in which, I find a miscellaneous paper containing remarks upon Mr. Whitbread's proposed alteration on the poor laws. This |