cellent publications, and Sir Francis Burdett, in his speeches, have uniformly in sisted, that the safe defence, and the only safe defence, of a nation against a formidable enemy, was to be found in the arms f 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 nation, 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 bumbled us? What mighty Potentate has been able to accomplish all this? It is a Republic; a nation whose Chief Magistrate receives only about 6,000 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 pull 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? Ining off his hat even to his employer.--The 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 man paying a tax has a voice. Yet the world NOW SEES, that a Government thus formed, and a people thus governed, are a match for the most formidable power at this day in existence. The world now sces, that a nation thus governing itself, and fully sensible of its freedom, is not only active in its defence, but is capable of deeds of valour, such as were never before recorded by the pen of the historian of any country or any age. Let the advocates for the buying and selling of seats do away, if they can, the effect of this glorious example. that she has made peace "without accom"plishing any one of the objects for which "she went to war." These hired critics are either wholly ignorant of the matter, or, they are endeavouring to mislead their readers. At any rate, i will once more state the case, and then we shall see which party has been baffled in its attempts. America declared war against our King, because he would not cease to impress persons (not being soldiers or sailors in the enemy's service) on board her ships on the high seas. This was the ground of her declaration of war. A treaty of peace has 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 cxample" 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 seeing 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, let 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, it being quite unnecessary, sceing 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 pre-her naval plans, buildings and arsenals? tended. 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. 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 bear this motto, if our King revives his orders of impressment. But the likely thing is, that his Majesty will not revive these 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. but that her own citizens are equal, not only to her 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 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 contest, not only unmutilated, but covered 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 But has the Republic gained nothing by of less than 6,000 pounds a year, with no the war? Has she gained no English heralds, guards, or gilded coaches, conductships? Has she gained no renown? Have ing her affairs, through this trying season, the affairs of the Guerriere, the Macedo- with so much ability, so much firmness, nian, the Java, the Peacock, the Avon, and, at the same time, with such tenderthose of Lakes Erie and Champlain, andness for liberty, as to refiain from a resort Mobille and Pensacola, and Fort Erie and Fort Moreau; have these memorable actions, and many others, yielded her nothing in point of reputation in the world? Is it 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. CORRETT.--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 and has been long, my firm persuasion, that wholly uncontrouled, are incompatible with your WEEKLY REGISTER bas already ef national safety in times of war? Who, fected, and will ultimately accomplish, pon the ground of a probability of inva- more towards enlightening mankind on sion, will call for a suspension of the laws their true political and moral rights, than` made for the security of men's liberty and all the other productions of the press put lives, when the world has now seen the together. The originality of your views Republic of America declared in a state of the extent and importance of your facts; rigorous blockade, mighty fleets and armies the luminous correctness of your speculaat the mouths of her harbours and rivers, tions; and the peculiarly energetic force her soil invaded at several points, her of your style, upite to render you an author towns and villages bombarded or plundered, most eminently and usefully instructive.-and her capital itself in flames, without May your valuable life and health be long producing the suspension, even for an hour, preserved, for the furtherance of all that is of any law, and without arresting or divert-most dear and estimable in human exising the ordinary and gentle course of jus-tence. The observations with which you tice for a single moment? I need say no more. Here is the object on which the friend of freedom will rivet his eyes. Here is a dagger to the heart of tyranny; and, as such, it is worthy of being presented to you. The total overthrow of the Aristocratical Faction in America; an immense emigration to that country; her consequently rapid increase of population and power; the creation of a great maritime force in the Republic; the independence of South America. These are amongst the consequences to be expected; but that consequence which I consider of more importance than all the rest, is, the benefit which the cause of freedom will receive from the example of America, now become so conspicuous a nation. Away now, with all their trumpery about Poland, and Saxony, and Belgium, and the Congress of Vienna ! Let them do what they like with the Germans and the Cossacks. and the Dutch; let them divide them and subdivide them in any manner that they please; let them whisker them or knight them according to their fancy. We can now look to growing millions of free and enlightened citizens, descended from the same ancestors, and speaking the same language, with ourselves, inhabiting an extensive and fertile country, tendering food and freedom to the miserable and oppressed of 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 to 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. Although 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 were introduced and placed according to their respective ranks, by the Baron Sicard, Master of the Ceremonies. His Majesty, our august Sovereign, soon after entered the Hall. having on his left his Royal Highness the Prince Royal, and preceded by the Great Officers of the Crown; he was saluted on all Yankees shall have been "confoundedly | Hayti, and 4th of his Majesty's reign, the "flogged." They fondly imagine that grand dignitaries, the civil administrative, another year's Property Tax, or the exand military officers of the kingdom, were convoked in a Council Extraordinary, at the penditure of about fifteen millions, will sepalace of San-souci, to take into consideracare British Tories the enviable triumph of tion the documents which it pleased the this flagellation. Could I remove, Sir, King, our Sovereign, to submit to their conwith all those who coincide with me insideration.-The said officers, in full dress, opinion on this subject, from this land of flogging and flogged people, it would be to The most ample revenge to have the abettors of this flogging scheme compelled to pay the Property Tax, the price of the flogging, until that Aldermanic castigation shall have been actually inflicted. Happy Ame-sides by acclamations of Vive le Roy! His rica! and thrice happy Americans, who are too enlightened, too free, and too brave, ever to be liable to the pedagogal vengeance of a degenerated and fallen people. AN ADMIRER OF AMERICAN REPUBLICANISM. Dec. 26, 1814. 64 Majesty, having taken his seat on the throne, Letter of General Dauxion Lavaysse, dated ST. DOMINGO. While our unprincipled press was busily employed in proclaiming a crusade against freedom, and its partisans in America, it now appears, if the annexed documents are authentic, that a scheme, equally diabolical, to destroy every vestige of liberty in the world, was entertained by the fell fiends of corruption. At least, such a scheme, it must be believed, existed some where, if these documents are not proved to be forgeries. The Courier and the Times have published them as genuine, though the latter pretends that the project Was totally dissonant from the senti- General,-You have been informed of "ments impressed on the mind of Louis the important mission with which I have been "XVIII. by education." Who ever heard entrusted to your Excellency; and on arof the sentiments inculcated on the mind riving here it was my intention to address you and General Petion simultaneously: for of any Prince, affording a complete scI am not come, as you well know, as a mescurity that he would never outrage hu-senger of discord, but as the precursor of manity? or who will say that a virtuous education ought to screen him from censure, should the conduct of his Ministers, or agents acting by his authority, be in consistent with the principles of justice? -As to what the Times calls "the base "lie which imputed the suggestion of “such infernal wickedness to British coun"cils," I have only at present to say, that I trust this will be made manifest to all the world, and that some more respectable channel will be employed for that purpose, than the prostituted and polluted columns of that newspaper. The following are the documents : KINGDOM OF HAYTI. peace and reconciliation. A few days after my arrival here, 1, as well as my companion on the voyage, Mr. Draveman, paid the usual tribute to the climate; and I have here found only one man in whom I could place confidence to aid me with his pen as Secretary. However, I have communicated wit some estimable persons, who, I am assured, possess your confidence, and who have confirmed what fame had already taught me of with your Excellency, it becomes my duty to you. But before communicating directly obtain the most accurate information with regard to you, and as to every thing which it is of importance for my mission to learn; and I confess, with pleasure, to your Excellency, that all that I now know, has added greatly to my hopes, and encouraged me to address you with the frankness of a soldier, and with that interest which cannot be refused to those who have followed the military of career. The virtuous King, who is at last re Minutes of the Sittings of the Council General of the Nation. This day, the 21st of October, 1814. the 11th year of the independence mense Europe. Not aware of the prudence and the principles of your Excellency, it was supposed that you might hesitate as to the course which you ought to pursue; and it was agreed, that, in order to replace the population of Hayti, which, in such event, would be totally annihilated by the masses of force brought against it, it was necessary that France should continue for several years the African Slave Trade, with the double view of replacing the hands employed in cultivation, and forming soldiers, in imis tation of the English. It would, doubtless, be useless to enter into details with a man of so superior an understanding as your Excellency; but it is proper, perhaps, that those great considerations should be presented to the persons whom your Excellency honours with your confidence. If the al stored to France,--that King, equally admi- you doubt this truth, General, your Exrable for the firmness and the inildness of cellency has only to consult, by means his character, for the extent of his intel- of your agents, the dispositions of Engligence, and his contempt of every illiberal land, late the enemy of France, now her prejudice,--Louis XVIII, lamented more most faithful Ally, and they will attest than any one the atrocious measures the truth of what I have now said.adopted against General Toussaint at the General, if Bonaparte, with a great part of the peace of 1802. That Chief, loyal and en- forces of France, sunk under the mass of the lightened, had, with almost the whole of the forces of the Allies, who now can resist inhabitants of Hayti, taken up arms in fa- France united to all Europe,-France bevour of the royal cause. He supported it come the ally of England? And who doubts several years with energy, and had re-es- that Bonaparte must have rapidly consumtablished order and cultivation in Hayti, mated the infernal work of destruction to the most astonishing extent. But when which he began in 1802, if in 1803 England all Europe was bent under the yoke of had not declared war against France, and Bonaparte, he felt that submission to that thus broken, by its immense fleets, the comrecognized tyrant became a matter of neces- munication between France and St. Dominsity. None of the acts of Gen. Toussaint go? Every thing has been foreseen in the were declaratory of independence; but Bona-treaty of peace between the Sovereigns of parte, either to sacrifice a portion of the im* armies which embarrassed him on the peace, or to lay hold of imaginary treasures, sent an army to St. Domingo, when he ought only to have sent rewards. The effect of this barbarous expedition was a second destruction of the colony, and the loss of General Toussaint. The king would have considered this loss as irreparable, had not your Excellency succeeded to the power of that celebrated man; and convinced that you are perfectly well-informed as to your true interests, and as to every thing that has taken place in Europe; certain that the welfare of your country, your own, and that of your family and friends, will serve as the rule of your conduct, he has not doubted that you will act towards him as Toussaint would have acted if now alive. I bring you, therefore, General, by the orders of that august Sove-liance of the Powers of Europe has had for reign, words of satisfaction and peace; and its object the restoration of order, and the though, from the height of his throne, the fall of the Usurper who incessantly disturbed most brilliant in Europe, he commands an it, the august Monarchs, who are parties to army of 500,000 men, he has sent me singly that alliance, did not on that ground display to treat with you about your interests. We less esteem for the meritorious supporters of are no longer in the time of Bonaparte; all the glory and independence of France; for the Sovereigns of Europe had leagued to those illustrious warriors who, during 25 pull down that usurper, all remain united years of calamities, never deserted the post in order to secure the tranquillity of ail parts of danger, and who saved their country both of the world. At this moment you may be from the horrors of civil war, and the dishold England punishing, at 1,500 leagues disgrace of dismemberment. The most wise. tance, the United States of America, who had and generous of Kings, the virtuous Louis ared to lend their support to the enemy of XVIII. has felt more sensibly than any of order and of the repose of the world; already his great Allies the clains which these brave the capital of that new empire has been com- men had to the royal munificence, as well as mitted to the flames; already its chief is the public gratitude: they are now loaded flying; for not until these United States shall with honours; they enjoy immense fortunes, profess the principles of the Sovereigns of and they bless the events which have given Europe, will England cease to overwhelm to their superb establishments that stability them with the weight of her terrible ven- which an usurper could never have confergeance: thus, as long as there shall remain a red. Follow their example, General; propoint on the globe where order is not re-esta-claim Louis XVIII. in Hayti, as they have blished, the Allied Sovereigns will not lay down their arms; they will remain united, in order to finish their great work.If proclaimed him in France, and not only hos nour and rewards await you, but those whom you designate shall receive marks of the satisfaction of our Sovereign, and of the gratitude of our country; and the empire of prejudices, which is destroyed with the late regime, shall prove no obstacle to these re-, |