|

stitution, upon which, under Providence, depend the welfare and prosperity of the kingdom; this reliance is matter worthy of particular attention. One does not, indeed, very well understand what is meant by a "spirit of attachment," nor is it very easy to discover for what the word established is put before laws, except we suppose it a compliment due from a cabinet of lawyers to the numerous hordes of the profession, to give the nation a specimen of tautology in every speech from the throne; but, this we know, that there has been, in no part of the country, an attempt or the appearance of a disposition, amongst the people, to violate, or to disregard the established laws and happy constitution, upon which, under Providence, depend the "welfare and prosperity of this kingdom." The members when they call us together, as, doubtless, they will, for the purposes of inculcation, need, however, be at no loss for topics. They have seen, and have gone through, a great deal during the last winter; and, they will, of course, tell the people what has passed. Amongst other things they will remind them, than a Mr. WARDLE brought certain charges against the Duke of York; that Mrs. Clarke and Miss Taylor, and others, gave such and such evidence; that General Clavering and the crazy Parson Williams did so and so; that Mr. Perceval and Mr. Adam bad. charged Digby Hamilton to conjure Capt. Sandon not to destroy the Note; that when they had been informed that the Note was destroyed, they brought the matter before the House; that, "under

kindred. We have a right to expect a little less haughtiness and insolence on the part of the priesthood; unless, indeed, which is not impossible, they look upon this grant from the parliament as an acknowledgment due to the part they have acted and figure they have cut in the recent transactions and enquiries. If a group of printers or public writers had been dragged to light, in the way that Dr. O'Meara, Dr. Locke, the Rev. Mr. Lloyd, the Rev. Mr. Beazeley, and that pink of all parsons the Crazy Parson, Williams, who, by-the-bye, had "cure of souls" at the same time, were; if a group of printers had been thus exposed, what would have been said of them? Talk no more about the tricks and the various" base arts of the methodistical or other sectarian priests; for, my answer always will be, that I wait till I see amongst them a group like that above-named. I have heard of no censure of the church pronounced upon these men. Their brethren must, like other people's brethren, take to them, or cast them off; but, my real belief is, that there are so many like them, or that would be like them if they could, that we never shall hear of their conduct being the sub*ject of clerical censure. What is more, we have, in almost every part of the country, seen the clergy openly leagued with our political enemies, with those who have been distinctly accused of corruption. There has been scarcely a clergyman in all.Hampshire, in particular, as far as my knowledge has reached, who has not done his utmost to give countenance to all that the people have been condemning. It was, it appears to me, a most indécent thing to Providence," the Note was preserved, advise the king, just at a time, when the and was examined by hand-writing decysound of the names of the Reverend O'Meara, pherers; that there was Dr. O'Meara, of Beazeley, Williams, &c. &c. was still the celestial unction, and the Rev. Mr. ringing in the ears of the members; to Beazeley, cherished by divine women; advise the king, just at such a time, to re- that there was a man of the name of Kencommend to the House of Commons a grant nett, who had corresponded about a Loan of money to the clergy, part of which money in exchange for a Place; that there were will possibly go to these very persons; two Love-Letters of the Duke of York and, indeed, there is a fair presumption, that produced in the House of Commons; that a part of it will go to Williams, the Crazy the House ACQUITTED the royal Duke; Parson with "cure of souls." If I were that, since that acquittal, Mrs. Clarke has a member of parliament, I would call for threatened to publish a Book, and that she an account of how this money had been has kept this book out of the press in consedisposed of. I would ascertain whose quence of having received very large sums clutches it got into. I would see what sort of money.- -The members will, doubtof men the " poorer clergy" were. less, remind us, and endeavour to keep The reliance which the king expresses, constantly alive in our recollection, that, that the of Harliament will carry at the time when the Charges were brought he respective counties, forward against the Duke of York, there spirit of attach- was an out-cry, a monstrous halloo; a nd happy con-war-whoop, set up about a Jacobin Conspi↑

with

a

racy against the House of Brunswick; that
it was asserted, with surprising noise of
voice and emptiness of skull, that the con-
spirators meant to degrade the Army, the
Church, and the Throne; that it finally
appeared, that the said conspirators were
no where to be found; that infamy was,
according to Mr. Canning, to attach either
to Mr. Wardle or to the Duke of York;
that the nation, with voice unanimous,
have thanked Mr. Wardle, and that the
House of Commons acquitted the Duke of
York. The members will, doubtless,
remind us, that, when Mr. Wardle first
brought forward his Charges, an universal
laugh was set up against him, when he
talked of an open shop in the city for the
Sale of Offices under Government, and
that Mr. Perceval treated the story with
derision; that, it afterwards appeared,
that, at this very time, Mr. Perceval had
been informed of the existence of such
shop, but, as he said, his reason for dis-
guising the fact was, he wished to entrap
the office-sellers, that he had set people to
work for that purpose, and that he had
now succeeded and caught the delinquents
in his trap. The members will scarcely
fail to remind us of the utter astonishment
that became visible on the countenances
of the East India Directors, when the fact
slipped out, that there was now-and-then an
office at their disposal, sold, contrary to law;
that they called aloud for a Committee up-
stairs; that this Committee soon proved,
that the traffic had long been as common
as the dealings in Smithfield market; and
that, amongst other transactions, offices
under the East India Company had become
objects of barter for livings in the Church
and for Seats in the House of Commons.-
Our" representatives" will, surely, remind
us; the guardians of our purses; the pro-
tectors of our "6
happy constitution," will
certainly not fail to remind us, that Mr.
Perceval, "under Providence," narrowly
missed catching one of his colleagues in
his trap; for that it appeared from the Re-
port of the up-stairs Committee, that Lord
Castlereagh, while President of the Board
of Controul, while filling an office intend-made under such circumstances, was, at
ed to be a check upon the East India Di-
rectors, had offered an East India writer-
ship to be given in exchange for a Seat in
the House of Commons, of which House
also he was a member.- -Yes, the ho-
nourable members will, surely, remind us
of this, and further, that, when the matter
was brought before the honourable House,
and a motion was made for censuring the

said Lord Castlereagh, the honourable
House did reject the said motion, upon the
ground, that the act was not completed.
Our worthy representatives will, I dare
say, next proceed to remind us, that, in a
few days after this last occurrence, Mr.
Madocks stated, to the honourable House,
that he was ready to prove at their bar,
that a Seat in that House had been sold to
Mr. Quintin Dick, upon condition that he
should vote as the ministers wished; that
the sale was made by Mr. Henry Welles-
ley, a Secretary of the Treasury, and that
Mr. Perceval, Chancellor of the Exche-
quer, was privy to the transaction; that
Mr. Dick, rather than vote as the minis-
ters wished in the case of the Duke of
York, resigned his seat; and that, as this
act was complete, he hoped that the House
would set its face against it, when he had
proved it by evidence at the bar.—Our
faithful representatives will, surely, tell
us, that the honourable House came to a
division upon this subject, and that the
honourable House resolved, by a majority
of 310 against 85, that not even an In-
quiry should take place. When our
worthy representatives have gone thus far,
they will, perhaps, the better to illustrate.
and enforce their doctrines, go back to the
year 1802, and remind us, that, in that
year, this same MR. PERCEVAL, being then
Attorney General, prosecuted a Tinman
of Plymouth, named PHILIP HAMLIN, for
having offered to buy a place in the Cus-
tom-house; that Hamlin most solemnly
declared his ignorance of his crime (hav-
ing for years, seen places under govern-
ment publicly advertised for sale), expressed
the deepest sorrow, and humbly sued for
mercy, seeing that a heavy punishment
must be the ruin of himself and a large
family; that, upon the affidavits being
produced, Mr. Perceval still called for
judgment upon this man, in the name of
Public Justice; and, that the man, for only
offering to purchase a place under govern-
ment, at a time when such places were
daily advertised for sale, in the public
news-papers; that this man, for this offer,

the prosecution of this same Mr. Perceval, sentenced to pay a fine of a hundred pounds to the king, and to be imprisoned for three months. Of all these things, and of Mr. Curwen's Bill, and other such matters, our honourable representatives will, at the suggestion of the king to come and instruct us, doubtless remind us; but, lest, by any accident, they should forget it, I

4

these facts before us; with these facts as well known as that the sun shines and that night brings darkness, I can never agree to apply the epithet "unparalleled" to Na

All

All

trust, that we shall not fail to remind one another of them: I trust, that every man, who has it in his power to communicate these valuable facts to those, who are not acquainted with them, will not think it-la-poleon's conduct towards Spain.——Bebour lost to make such communication; sides, in all these philippics against Napobut bear in mind constantly, that every leon, with regard to Spain, those of the man informed as to these matters is a man Spanish Nobles, who have joined, and enrolled in the war against Corruption sworn allegiance to, his brother, seem to be and its accompanying Oppression.. left out of sight. There is treachery indeed! Having expressed great satisfaction at the Napoleon has the plea of a conqueror; small addition which has this year been but, these nobles have no plea at all, unmade to the burthens of the people, the less it be their conviction, that it will be Speech next looks abroad, and talks of for the good of their country to place Jothe atrocious and unparalleled act of vio-seph Buonaparté upon the throne, and lence and treachery by which the ruler of that is a plea of which we will not admit. France attempted to surprize and enslave We seem always to forget, that Joseph the Spanish nation. As to the atrocious- Napoleon is at Madrid, surrounded by ness of the act I heartily agree; but, I Spanish Grandees, who have sworn alleginever can allow it to be unparalleled; for ance to him. Our spite against the Buonawithout going very far back into history, partés is so great, that we seem to forget I could cite much stronger instances of the misconduct of every body else. both violence and treachery; but, especially the mischiefs are ascribed to them. of the latter; of the basest treachery; the kings and princes, who fight on their the blackest perfidy; the most cruel and side, are perfectly innocent; they are obsanguinary deeds; and all with a view of jects of our compassion; it is Buonaparté finally committing robbery; I mean rob- who seduces them; they being of the bery of the lowest stamp, such as the Lord's anointed cannot commit sin, and stealing of precious metals and stones. all the sins, which, to the carnal eye, they Why, neither of the kings of Spain has appear to commit, are to be laid upon been thrown into a dungeon, kept awake 'till him, and to be answered for by him.—— he has gone mad, or been smothered, or As to all that the Speech says about the depoisoned, or stabbed, and that, too, under liverance of Europe, as it has been said in the base and perfidious pretence of taking about fifteen king's speeches before this, care of his person. No: the kings of Spain it will not be expected, that I should offer are both alive and well, though Napoleon any remark it. upon The splendid and has them as much in his power as I have" important success, which has recently the pigs in my stye. There has not been," crowned the arms of the Emperor of that we have heard of, any miscreant (the "Austria," cannot, however, pass without other day a commis in some bureau, perhaps) some little notice, but, why need we be to teaze the kings of Spain with sham ne- surprized at this description, when we regociations, and to offer them his insolent collect the recent rejoicings for successes advice. Buonaparté, supposing both the in Portugal? Those, who could fire the kings of Spain to have been betrayed into Park and Tower Guns and make illuminahis clutches, and to have been compelled tions upon hearing, that an English army to sign their respective acts of abdication, had defeated a French rear-guard, would did, at any rate, take their kingdom from naturally advise the king to talk of the them at once, and openly; whereas the base splendid and important success of Austria, wretches, to whose conduct I allude, pro- which still leaves Buonaparte in possesceeded in the most cowardly and under- sion of the Austrian Capital.――This is hand manner; and, after having commit- certainly a time, and things are now in a ted robbery and murder upon the proper- posture, for producing great events; but, ty and persons of sovereigns full as lawful the worst of it is, there is only one great as those of Spain, not only set up for per- actor. There may be some truth in the sons of singular humanity, but made the accounts of insurrections in Germany and nation, who were base enough to submit to in the Tyrol; but, it is by no means astheir command, pay for the promulgation certained, that they are in favour of Austria. of an endless series of falsehoods, intended Between the two; between France and to stifle the cries of the oppressed, and to those whom France aims at supplanting, humbug and defraud the world. With the people appear to have got loose. The

from the continent. They have got formidable insurrections against Napoleon, in every quarter and corner of Europe; where he has troops too numerous to leave room for insurrections, they have got mutinis amongst those troops; they have brought out a fresh Duke of Brunswick; they have pushed forward the king of Prussia; and, though they have not, as yet, absolutely got over the Emperor of Russia, the Morning Chronicle is very sanguine in the hope, "that the amiable queen has not wholly "lost her influence over his heart, and "that she may succeed in recalling him "to the paths of virtue and honour." That is to say, to induce him to employ his soap-eaters to cut the throats of our enemies. That is the plain English of the " paths of "virtue and honour." What abominable hypocrisy men fall into, even without thinking of it, in this age of cant and affectation! How the Queen herself would laugh at this, if it were translated to her! "Vir"tue and honour," indeed! She would laugh to the splitting of her sides.—————Lest, however, the virtue-and-honour expedition should fail, the Courier, by way of last resort, has an insurrection for the Emperor Alexander, our late "magnanimous ally." This extends even to a threat of deposition, unless he immediately recall his soapeaters from their march against our friends. All these insurrections are for us and our interests. "A rumour," says the Courier of Wednesday last, "was in circulation "last night, that a messenger had arrived "with intelligence of an insurrection in "St. Petersburgh. A number of the no

kings and emperors have been fighting for, the mastership over them, and the people seem to have become, during the battle, their own masters. If this were to go on, it would be a most glorious thing: this would be the real "deliverance of Europe;" but, this, I am afraid, is not what is meant in the Speech. I am afraid, that by the "deliverance of Europe," and by the "re-establishment of the security and inde"pendence of other nations;" by these, I am afraid, is meant, the re-establishment of the old system all over Europe; and, if that be the meaning, the object will assuredly never be accomplished.The Expedition, which we are now sending out, and which is said to amount to 40,000 men, ought to do something in the way of Europe's deliverance; but, if it go either to Germany or Spain, I do not see how it can do any thing at all in that way. Some say it is going to Hanover, and, if none but the German Legion were going, I should hail their departure; because I should like, of all things, to see those heroes engaged in the noble enterprize of rescuing their country from the hands of the French.--Forty thousand men is no trifling army for England to send forth; and, really, if it come back, without having performed any service, and even without having performed an adequate service, it will be high time for us to inquire whether the expence of this army cannot be saved.If this Expedition should fail, and, if Napoleon should succeed in extinguishing Austria and in subduing Spain, it will then become us to consider, of what avail can be any further endeavours on our part, to stir up the continent against him. What good can we do ourselves; and what harm can we do him, by a perseverance in this restless system of purchasing insurrections; for, in truth, we excite nothing worthy of a much higher title? The philosophers, who are hired to write paragraphs, in the senger, but rumours to the above effect Courier and such prints, against Buona- "have been received from various quarters. parté, never appear to advert, even for a "We shall be happy to find them well foundmoment, to the circumstance, that, as far «ed.". -Now, if the French government as the conquests of France have extended, were, in their half-official papers, to make there is a new set of proprietors, and that publications of this sort, how our hirelings these are the most clever and active peo- would abuse them! How base it is, too, to ple in each state respectively. It is not a express a hope of obtaining peace with little matter that will overset these men; a sovereign by the means of an insurrecit is not a war, carried on by little law- tion against him amongst his people! Here yers, that will do it, notwithstanding all is an explicit avowal, on the part of a the sanguine expectations of the hirelings news-paper, which is considered as speakin London, and even of the Morning Chro-ing the sentiments of the government; an nicle, which seems to be, all at once, quite explicit avowal of an anxious wish, that inoverpowered with the tide of joyful news surrection may have taken place in Russia,

66

bility and men of influence were said to "have menaced the Emperor with deposition "unless he consented to order the return of the

troops which were marching against Austria, "and also immediately negociate a peace with "Great Britain. We know not whether "such intelligence was brought by a mes