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the airs of typographical harlotry, makes a conspicuous figure in the "complete assort"ments" of those wholesale dealers in loyalty and patriotism, who, like yourself, were, a very little while ago, wholesale dealers in the praises of Buonaparté. It is, by all your familiars, the great and little devils of the daily presses, trumpetted to the world as an irrefragable proof of your loyalty. It has been, and yet is, stuck up on every dead wall, rotten post, and dirty corner in the metropolis, where it is become the formidable rival of the patriotic and philanthropic addresses of Messrs. Leake, Spilsbury, and Perkins Of the theology of this speech, I shall only observe, that, as far as it goes, it prefers deism before christianity. The loyalty of it is very little better; for, if "the THRONE we honour be the people's "choice," the choice of that same people who rejoiced at the peace of Amiens, and who drew Lauriston, in triumph, through the gates of the Palace, they may choose to have another throne, or to have no throne at all. In fact, this is the doctrine of cashiering Kings, and choosing others in their stead, doctrine which the vile rabble deJight in, but which every man of sense and of loyalty turns from with horror, as from the source of disobedience and rebellion. That this dangerous sentiment is not to be ascribed to the German original, and that you took some little pains to introduce it, will appear from shortly extracting the several speeches, out of which you have manufactured your loyalty.

ROLLA. For God! and for our King! away and renew the battle.

ALONZO, God and our King!

ATALIBA [the King]. I know the hearts of my people. Shou d my shield be pierced and rendered useless, there is not one of my subjects that would hesitate to present his breast as a buckler for his King.

*** Do the Spaniards still remain inactive? ROLLA. They fight for sordid gold-we for our native land.

ALONZO. They are led to battle by an adventurer-we by a monarch whom we love.

ATALIBA. And by a God, whom we adore.t --The latter Speeches are preserved, by you, almost entire, and are incorporated in Rolla's address. That, and the universal shout, which you attribute to the army, and which is composed of words taken from the hymn in the original, are the only instances of the king or the "monarch" being mentioned in this effusion of loyalty. In

* Of this literary empiricism I shall give a full account, when I come to treat more minutely of your connexion with the press.

+ Dutton's literal translation.

that part which alone is your property, not the king but the "throne" is named, and named but once, though accompanied with the very heavy drawback of depending on the "people's choice." -In the original

-

there are several scenes, in which a blind veteran and his boy are introduced, during the heat of the battle, awaiting the event at a small distance, and expressing their feelings at every turn of fortune. All the language of the veteran is full of the warmest loyalty. But these scenes have been all much shortened and compressed by you, who have thought the space better filled up with bustle and incident, swords and shields, battle-axes, spears, guns, drums, and trumpets. But, the most curious alteration certainly is that where the word king is left out, and that of throne inserted in its stead. Let it be remembered, Sir, that a Peruvian was the speaker; and, that there was no people upon earth, to whom any sentiment of democracy could be attributed with less propriety or regard to truth. The maxims of the country were, that the sovereigns succeeded by divine right, and were a peculiar race, descended, in no very remote degree, from the Sun himself. And, such was the personal devotion, with which the reigning Inca was regarded by his subjects, that the Spaniards could hardly force their way to the litter of Ataliba, from the mere fatigue of slaughtering the numbers, who pressed forward, unarmed, to offer themselves to voluntary destruction in his defence. No one who has read of the Spanish conquests is ignorant of these facts. Yet, into the mouth of your Peruvian orator, you have put no one word expressive of attachment to the person of his sovereign; but, you have, with great care, taken out of his mouth the expressions of this sort, and, instead of their " king," you have made him call upon the soldiers to fight for their "country," of which the copper-coloured general and his "brave. associates," had no other notion than that it had been a desert inhabited by savages, till Mango Capac, two or three hundred years before, was sent by his father, the Sun, to civilize it! This is pretty well, but what shall we say, when your truly English" play-vamping loyalty has enlightened Rolla, so long before the poor fellow's time, with the most brilliant illumination of the republican societies here, affiliated and unaffiliated, of which you yourself were a member? You use the very phrases of their favourite maxim, that the throne, which, by the by, they laughed at as a "metaphor," is the choice of the people." This, every

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one must remember, was the corner stone of the creed of Price, Paine, O'Connor, and all their disciples; nor, ought it ever to be forgotten, that it was for endeavouring to eradicate the pernicious effects of this rebellious king-killing creed, that you carried on, against Mr. Reeves, a persecution unparalleled in the annals of British jurisprudence. It is not strange that a member of the "Constitutional Society" and the founder of the "Friends of the People;" that the humble imitator of Marat, and the sworn friend of O'Connor; it is by no means strange, that such a person should, for the sake of inculcating the doctrine of cashiering kings, sacrifice all dramatic propriety of character; but, it is strange, that the ambiguous applause of the galleries, and the corrupt praises of the newspapers, should ever have made pass for loyalty, those principles, which, if acted upon, would compel his Majesty's successors to ascend the throne, if they ascended it at all, from the hustings of Covent Garden, or of some other place, where "the choice of the people" might be made known that this should pass for attachment to the king and his royal progeny is, indeed, a most shocking proof of the national cullibility.--As to the application, too, of the fable of Pizarro, it must not be forgotten, that, in spite of your "murder of the Spaniard and history

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at a blow," as Mr. Dutton very well expresses it, the Peruvians, whom, in this instance, you make the representatives of the English, were notoriously conquered by an "adventurer;" and, Mr. Rolla will have the goodness to excuse me, if, as far as I am concerned, I beg leave to disclaim his cemparison of the "vultures and the lambs." --Before I conclude, it is necessary to advert to the time, when the loyal Rolla first made his appearance before the British publie; for, in estimating your true English feeling, time is always a very important circumstance.- -You came forth with this wonderful burst of loyalty and patriotism, in the month of May, 1799; the real alarm of invasion had long before ceased with Buonaparte's sailing on his Egyptian expedition; Suwarrow was in the midst of his victorious campaign; we had just heard of Buonaparte's repulse before Acre by that truly English and Christian hero Sir Sidney Smith; it was the moment of severest trial to the French Republic, which appeared so fast mouldering to pieces; the spirit of the people ran high, and no other language was so likely to flatter them into a favourable reception of the piece. This was the time, this season of Buonaporié's adversity, that

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you chose for applying to him the hateful character, which Kotzebue drew of Pizarro, and for contrasting the "ADVENTURER, whom his own army feared," with the beloved "MONARCH whom we served from "affection" this was the time, that you chose for representing Buonaparté as fired with inordinate ambition, as a plunderer, a devastator, a hypocrite, a mercenary and bloody villain. Now mark, Sir, the description which you drew of him twelve months afterwards, when the aspect of things had changed; when our expedition to Holland had failed, and our Russian auxiliaries had been left behind, prisoners of war; when Massena had totally routed the combined armies of Austrians and Russians in Swisserland; and when Buonaparté himself, through a series of most fortunate and unexpected adventures, had arrived at the Consular dignity, and had confirmed his power by the signal and decisive victory of Marengo. At this moment, when he presented himself to the world in the new character of an usurper, covered with the blood of his prisoners of war and of his own sick soldiers, and, at the same time, crowned with laurels won from the allies of your country; at this mo ment, when not only every faithful Briton, but every honest and honourable man upon earth, must have viewed him with hatred and with horror; at this very moment it was that your mind experienced a change in bis favour, and that your "true English feeling" burst forth in a manner which, I trust, will never be forgotten, either by our Sovereign or his subjects." What," said you, "has "been the species of abuse, with which "his" [Buonaparte's] character has been "attacked? Not merely that he is a hypo"crite, that he is a man devoid of prin

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under the government of this "atheist; we have seen the faith of trea"ties observed under the government of "this perfidious adventurer; the arts and "sciences find protection under this plun"derer; the sufferings of humanity have "been alleviated under this ferocious usurper; the arms of France have been led "to victory by this Tyro in the art and practice of war! Sir, I confess to you, "that I look back with astonishment to "the period when that great general was so "vilely libelled." [Forgetting the plunderer, the devastator, the hypocrite, the mer

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tunately for us, the French General has "fully proved his title to beroic bonours. "Never, since the days of Hannibal have "such splendid events opened on the world "with such decisive consequences. ⚫ Cu

jus adolescentia ad scientiam rei mili"taris, non alienis præceptis, sed suis "'imperiis; non offensionibus belli, sed "victoriis; non stipendiis, sed triumphis,

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est traducta. Such is the portrait of "the man, with whom his Majesty's minis"ters have refused to treat! Sir, I may be "censured for applying such a term as taste "to a subject of such importance; but it "does appear to me, that the changes pro"duced in the feelings of men, with respect

to their admiration of exalted or distin"guished characters, in a great measure, 46 are to be attributed to the taste and "fashion that prevails. These are not times "when KINGS have any reason to be proud "of their wealth or superior power. The "admiration of mankind is not confined to "the character of Kings: the world has "had a lesson of the effects of their ambi"tion. Buonaparté has shown his country "that his object is to maintain bis power

by the moderation of his government; and "I must hope, that, when he has achieved "the liberty of France, he will impart to it "all the blessings and happiness of civilized E peace. It must be in the recollection of "the House, how much stress was laid on "the conduct of this man, with regard "the success of any negotiations for terminating war; but, has he not sufficiently "developed his character, and given proofs "of the security and permanence, with which

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our government might conclude a treaty "with him?"- -There, Sir; I will quote not further. If I did not despise that rabble of volunteers, to whom you so assiduously pay your court, and who are proud of your flatteries, I should throw away a few guineas in causing this extract to be printed, and pasted up about the town, by the side of Mr. Rolla's address. But, no; let these committee soldiers be still deceived:

* Whose youth was led in military pursuits, not by the precepts of others, but by the dictates of his own mind; not by the accidents of war, bu by victories; not by the prospect of pecuniary reWard, but by the love of glory.

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they are made for you, as the gudgeon is made for the pike. Take them, cram your play-house with them, amuse them with your tragic puppet-shows, frighten them with your baby-scaring pantomimes: put them any where, do any thing with them, so that you keep them from spoiling the arms, eating the provisions, loading the baggage waggons, and lumbering up the road of the army -From the time that the above speech was delivered, till the conclusion of the preliminaries of peace, you continued to extol Buonaparté, and to abue those, who refused to treat with him; particularly Lord Grenville, to whose "lence," as you thought proper to call it, in rejecting the first overtures of the Consul, you constantly ascribed all the misfortunes of the country, not excepting the scarcity of corn, and the consequent high price of bread! After the conclusion of the peace, the manner in which you spoke of your hero, was very equivocal, till just before the last prorogation of Parliament. During, as I before observed, seven of the most momentous weeks ever known to the British Parliament, you said not one word. When every measure of importance had been completed, when the people became loud against Buonaparté, then came you with your Vote of Thanks in the House, and your speech of Rolla out of doors. And, I must not be told, that you came forward in a time of danger; for, according to your own opinion, as delivered in the debate on the Vote of Thanks, the danger was over. You said, on that occasion, that Mr. Windliam, by speaking contemptuously of the courage of the people and the means of the country (which, by the by, he never did), had "led "Buonaparté into a scrape;" that the Consul was now repenting of his rasbness, that he was himself afraid of us; and, like Sir Andrew Aguecheek in the play, was, at that moment, saying, with respect to John Bull : "An I had thought him valiant I would "have seen him damned ere I would have

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challenged him." This was the light in which you viewed the state of things: you thought Buonaparté" in a scrape;" you perceived, that the taste and fashion" of the times were changed again; that they had taken a decided run against the Consul, and that, unless you pressed forward, you would be too late. Thus have you chopped backward and forward just as your popularity and interest dictated. When Buonaparté was in adversity, in 1799, and when the popular cry was against him, then you were against him when Buonaparté rose upon the ruins of the Austrian, the Russian, and

the British army, then you were in his favour, and joined your voice to the public clamour for peace with him: but, when events had again roused the people against him, and when you thought him" in a "scrape," then you returned to your hostility, and actually drew forth, and played off, in open day-light, the very same bombastical abuse which you had before poured down upon his devoted head. When he was "in a scrape," in 1799, he was Pizarro; when he was crowned with laurels, in 1800, he was Hannibal; when he was, as you thought, at least, in another "scrape" in 1803, then he became Pizarro again. I wish, Sir, he may continue Pizarro; but, if the present ministers remain in power, and if you and yours remain unprovided for, he will, I greatly fear, become Hannibal again, and you his fulsome panegyrist. In what form of words you may dress up your next eulogium on him, it is difficult to foretel; but, that you should pronounce such an eulogium, and that in a very short space of time too, would certainly be most surprising to those who are the least acquainted with the operation of your true English feel❝ing."―Yet, Sir, amidst the notoriety of facts like these it is, that you have the temerity to challenge a public examination of your conduct, while the hireling news-writers, whose praises are paid for by an admission to your theatre, have the audacity to assert, that," amongst all the aberrations of "parties and the vicissitudes of events, Mr. "Sheridan has been pro patria semper!" I have taken up the gauntlet; I have accepted the challenge; I have entered on the examination; and, Sir, in spite of all the falsehoods of your typographical adherents, you and I part not, till your public character be safely placed beyond the reach of all those numerous accidents, to which the loose sheets of the diurnal prints are exposed.—— I am, Sir, &c. &c. WM. COBBETT.

Duke Street, 10th Sep. 1803.

TO THE EDITOR.

SIR,I have read with much surprise the following paragraph in the TREASURY PAMPHLET (which has been circulated with so much industry, and by such extraordinary means), entitled CURSORY REMARKS upon the State of Parties. "A great part

of the summer of 1802, was taken up " with the general election; in which the "ministers had taken the SINGULAR re"solution of using no influence or interference "subatsoever." As I presume the writer

meant to assert, although he certainly has not done so in direct terms, that they ADHERED TO this resolution, I shall state to the Public a few plain facts from which a judgment may be formed, how far they deserve that character of practical reformers, with which he has endeavoured to invest them.--I shall contine myself to transac tions which took place in the county of Kent, where I was "a near observer," where government, as such, possess a more extensive influence than in any other county; where the present minister posses-es no influence but what he derives from his situation, and where that influence was openly and systematically exerted at every contested election, where it could be exerted with effect.--At the election for the county of Kent, the influence of government was at first exerted in favour of Sir Edward Knatchbull and Sir William Geary, the old members; when it became evident from the state of the poll that Mr. Honeywood's election was secure, it was then exerted against Sir William Geary, although that gentleman. had given to ministers a liberal and honourable support from their first entrance into of fice. This interference was afterwards most unequivocally confessed and avowed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer himselfThe city of Rochester was canvassed, some months before the election, by Admiral Sir Richard King, who in the plainest terms described himself as the candidate sent down by government --It appears from the address of Mr. Fector, a gentleman of undoubted honour and veracity, to the electors of Dover, that Mr. Huskisson stood for that town on the interest of government, and I am credibly informed, and believe it will not be denied, that MR. HILEY AD.. DINGTON Wrote a letter to SIR SIDNEY SMITH, expressive of the astonishment of government, that his brother, Mr. Spencer Smith, should offer himself in opposition to the candidate supported by ministers.-At Queenborough, where the influence of government is greater than in any other borough in the kingdom, the powers of office were exerted to an unprecedented extent: not only were places and employments of all kinds offered to the electors by inferior partizans, but Mr. Sargent himself, who was one of the government candidates, and at that time a member of the Board of Ordnance, promised, while he was on his canvass, Mr. Pellatt, one of the electors, to

* He is now one of the Secretaries to the Trea sury.

procure his vessel to be taken into the service of the ordnance.--That I may not be suspected of stating the transaction unfairly, I will state it in his own words by subjoining, in a note below, authentic copies of two of his own letters to Mr. Pellatt and his son subsequent to his promise †.—After the election, all the labourers on the ordnance gun wharf at Sheerness, who had voted against the government candidates, together with a labourer in the store-house in the dock yard, were dismissed; the latter was informed by ommissioner Coffyn in direct terms, that he was dismissed because he had voted for Mr. Prinsep and Mr. Moore. William Poulter, a superannuated labourer in the dock-yard, and Thomas Morley who had been formerly an ordnance labourer, and on account of BLINDNESS 'had been placed on the charity list at five shillings per week, by a board order in December 1799. were deprived of their respective allowances very soon after the election. --These circumstances of unexampled violence and severity, have since been represented without effect to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, by a gentleman who is an elector of the borough --I shall make no comments on the facts which I have stated, and which I shall be ready, whenever called on, fully to substantiate.

Sept. 8, 1803.

+ (COPY.)

DETECTOR.

"Board of Ordnance, May 18, 1802 "SIR, -We find, upon inquiry, that, if the "vessel, which you wish to have at Chatham, "was established immediately, that it would, per"haps, give offence to many of our other friends "at Queenborough; we think, therefore, it would "be better to defer it for three or four weeks, till "after the election. I think you can have no objec"tion to this, as the time is so short, and cannot "make much difference. You may depend upon "it being done at that time; and put on the foot"ing which you desire,- -I am, Sir, your obliged humble servant. J. SARGENT." Mr. F. Pellatt.

(COPY.)

Lavington, May 21, 1802. SIR,"I am just favoured with your letter, "and am sorry to find that the proposal which I "made to you of deferring the establishing "the vessel at Chatham till AFTER THE ELEC"TION, does not meet your concurrence. It really "appears to me that it would he attended with C advantage to OUR CAUSE; but as you insist upon the performance of THE ENGAGEMENT directly, "I shall certainly make good MY PROMISE, and "will immediately write to Mr. Crow that the "thing may be carried into execution, agreeable "to your wishes."--I am, Sir, your obedient humble servant, JOHN SARGENT.

Mr. F. Pellatt.

PUBLIC PAPER.

Extract from the Register of the PROCEEDINGS of the COUNCIL OF STATE OF THE ITALIAN REPUBLIC, on the 26th of August 1803.

THE COUNCIL OF STATE, on the decree of the President of the Republic, for aiming and defending the sea-coast; on the report of the Minister of War relative to the hostilities and insults committed against the territories, ships, and property of the Republic; on the official notes relative to the disposition of the British Government towards the Republic; and on the report of the minister of exterior relations, concerning the recent proofs of friendship and consideration given by the French Government to the Republic, as well as the measures taken in its favour, with the Regency of Tunis, and in including it in the treaty with the Batavian Republic; considering that the sincerity, dignity, and interest of the Republic require the most prompt and energetic measures, that policy, national faith, and the gratitude due to the First Consul, oblige the Republic to contribute by all the means in its power to the success of the just war now waged by France against Great Britain; acknowledging the necessity of the immediate execution of the said decree of the President, and of a vigorous co operation in the support of the common cause,-DECREES,—1st. That the government will take the most effective measures to defend the territory, property, and inhabitants of the Republic from the hostility of the English 2d. The government is authorised to concert measures with the French government, for building and arming in the ports of France, at the expense of the Italian Republic, 2 frigates and 12 gun-boats, to be at the disposal of the First Consul, during the war.

MELZI, Vice President. Paradizi, Fenaroli, Luzzi, Moscati, Guiaccialdi. CANZOLI, Sec.

FOREIGN OFFICIAL PAPERS. Decree of the FRENCH GOVERNMENT prohibiting the entry of all VESSELS which have TOUCHED at ENGLISH PORTS. Dated Antwerp, I Thermidor,

An. II.

The Government of the Republic decrees:-That from the date of the publication of the present decree, there shall not be received, in the ports of France, any vessel which has cleared out from an English port, nor any vessel which has touched at an English port.-1 he Minister of the Interior, the Minister of Finance, and the Minister of Marine, are charged with the execution of this decree. (Signed) BUONAPARTE.

H. B. MARET, Sec.

Decree of the FRENCH GOVERNMENT, confining the reception of BRITISH FLAGS OF TRUCE to the BAY OF AUDIERNE. Dated Antwerp, 1 Thermidor, An. 11. The Government of the Republic decrees :— That from the date of the publication of the present decree, no English flag of truce, whether it be a packet, or any other, shall be received in any French port between Beat and the mouth of the Scheldt, inclusive. The flags of truce shall be received only in the Bay of Audierne, near Brest.— The Minister of the Interior, and the Minister of Marine, are charged with the execution of this decree. (Signed) PUONAPARTE. H. B. MARET, SEC.

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