imbecility, has, thus, co-operated with corruption; and, amongst all timid men, none are so timid as the clergy. But, it is strange; very strange indeed, that they see nothing to fear, on the other side. It is strange, that their apprehensions never turn towards the consequences of their taking part against the people. It is strange that they appear totally to overlook that maxim of the Gospel : "he who " is not for us, is against us;" and that they seem to forget, that this maxim is grounded in human nature. Thus it is, however; and thus, it would seem, we are to go on, in spite of all admonition; in spite of all warning; in spite of all experience. Concession to the reasonable wishes of the people, timely reformation, conciliation sought by just and honourable means; these have uniformly been rejected by, the old governments of the continent, who have relied upon their power for checking even the progress of the mind. -It is said: "if you go a step, in the way of concession, the people will make you go on, and will never be satisfied, "till they have destroyed all." What is there to warrant this assertion? Is there any man, who preaches such doctrine as this? Are those, who wish for reform, desperate adventurers? Have any of us, who write against abuses, any thing covert in our expressions? Do we meet and plot? Is there a man of us, who can possibly propose to himself any advantage, but that which he would participate with his neighbours? Besides; what do we wish for? We wish to destroy no establishment. We want nothing new-fangled. We want no innovation. All we ask for is, such a reform as would effectually secure us against the effects of corruptions, such as have now been brought to light, and of the existence of which we have long been assured. Is this too much to ask? There is no danger from concession to the people; and where such a fear exists, it is the offspring of knavery begotten upon imbecility; imbecility matchless in quality as well as in degree. The House of Commons lay before the people evidence, proof, of the existence of a system of corruption, under the effects of which it is impossible for any nation long to exist independent. And, the knaves, who fatPupon that corruption, have the imputo assert, that to put an end to the the way to produce the destrucetablishments of the country, manifestly the interest of all hoseestal ishments to concur, and heartily to co-operate, in putting an end to that system.- I trust that another way of thinking will, ere long, be produced; that knavery will soon lose its power over honest credulity; and that we shall see all men of worth join, leaving the knaves like a boat adrift upon the strand. GENERAL CLAVERING'S Case requires very little of statement now.--The chief facts, now, to be borne in mind, relate to the motives and manner of Clavering's coming forward.It will be remembered, that, after Mrs. Clarke had undergone two or three of those examinations, which gained her so much credit, and her crossexaminers so little, Clavering wrote a letter to the Attorney General, stating that he had it in his power to prove, that she had given false testimony, and that he wished to be called to the bar for that purpose; that, after this letter had been read to the House, it was, upon motion. of the friends of the Duke of York, resolved to call Clavering to the bar;-that, being so called, he denied the truth of what she had said, respecting certain communications with her, and, upon being cross-examined, did distinctly and positively assert, that "he did not know of any person, who had " asked Mrs. Clarke to use her influence with "the Duke as to Army promotions;" that Mrs. Clarke, in order to show, that she had not been speaking falshood with respect to Clavering, then produced a letter from the Duke of York to her, in answer to an application of hers in behalf of Clavering, in which letter the Duke desires her to tell Clavering, that his application, in the case in question, is useless;-that, in a few days afterwards, a bundle of Mrs. Clarke's papers, which she had sent down to light fires with at Hampstead, but which had been preserved by Nicholls, the master of the house, and which papers had been hunted out by the Duke of York's own Attorney, were brought to the bar, in the apparent hope of affording matter of discredit to Mrs. Clarke ;-that, as the evil genius of General Clavering would have it, there were in this bundle of papers, five letters from the General to her, all beginning with the words "My dear "Mrs. Clarke;"-that, in one of these letters, dated on the 5th of September, 1804, he explains the meaning of his former application, and says, "you mentioned that the Duke did not comprehend my propo-" "sal;"that this letter bears date just eleven days after that of the Duke's letter to Mrs. Clarke, wherein he says, "Cla"vering is mistaken, my Angel;"that, future advancement, he was digging a pit in the fourth letter, dated the 11th of No-, vember, 1804, Clavering says: "the pur"port of this letter is to thank you for your "attempt to serve me;"--that, some days after these letters had been published in the news-papers, Clavering again desired to be called to the bar ;- that during this second examination, he acknowledged, that he had, upon one occasion, written a letter to her, " stating, that, in case "she obtained him permission to raise a regi"ment, she should receive a thousand pounds." There were much shuffling and twisting, and many self-contradictions; but here is the pith of the thing. Here we see him self-convicted of falshood; of voluntary, wilful, deliberate, premeditated falshood.For, observe, he comes forward a volunteer, for the avowed purpose of blasting Mrs. Clarke's testimony; of making her appear to be a liar; and, of course, of nullifying all that she had said, or should say against the Duke of York, who was at the head of that army, in which he was an officer. It appeared from the evidence, that he had been to Gordon, who sent him to Mr. Lowten; and, it was after this; after consulting with the Duke's Attorney, that he asked to be called to the bar, and, as he says, at the desire of Mr. Lowten, or by his advice. So we see him here, actually holding council upon the mode, in which he shall proceed to blast the credit of his patroness and benefactress. She says, and, I think, there can be Ho doubt of the fact, that she got him the command of a district; that she got him his Brigadiership; that, in short, she was his only friend in this way, and the real cause of his promotion. But, at any rate, we find him,under his own hand,thanking her for her endeavours to serve him; we find him making use of the most kind and complimentary expressions towards her; we find him asking her permission to wait on her in boots; and, this same man, when he thinks she was in a fair way of being crushed, voluntarily comes forward, under, as he thinks, the protection of irresistible power, and plots with her enemies for aiding in treading her into the dirt. Oh! how little did he think, that the same Mr. Lowten, with whom he was holding con- Mentioning this Club puts me in mind. sultation, was, though unwittingly, hard at of another, introduced, the other day, to work; drawing forth all the resources of the notice of the public, in a news-paper his ingenuity, for the purpose of bringing paragraph, thus: "At the Highland Club, before the House of Commons, proof the "in Cockspur-street, held at the British most satisfactory, of her truth, of his fals-Coffee-house, on Tuesday evening, a hood! How little did he think, that, instead of securing bimself in what he had obtained by her means, and of paving the way for "very numerous company assembled. The Marquis of Huntley was called to the "chair, and the health of the Duke of York 66 was drank with three times thres."- thing that gives me particular satisfaction; and that is, to see that the cry of jacobinism, set up before the meeting of parliament by Richard Wharton,* who is, I believe, the Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee with a salary of £.1,200 a year, and so loudly echoed since; it does give me particular, and inexpressible pleasure, to see that this cry is universally held in its merited contempt; and that, instead of having answered its intended purpose, it has had no small share in producing that conviction of the necessity of a reform, now held to be inseparable from national safety. As an instance of the effect, which has thus been produced, and as a specimen of the good spirit which has gone forth, I shall here insert one extract from the OXFORD Paper of the 25th of March :———- "The Duke of York has at "last tendered his resignation of the office "of Commander in Chief, to the King; "and his Majesty has been graciously "pleased to accept it. This resignation "had at length become a matter of abso"lute necessity: to the last stage the "Duke was defended with all the power "though the servants of the crown could "command a majority in the House of 66 Commons, the voice of the people could "not be suppressed by their authority; "and if their representatives would not "address the Sovereign for the removal of this great Officer of State, they would themselves, in their public assemblies throughout the kingdom, have petition"ed the Throne for his dismission. To "avert this general expression of pub"lic opinion, the Duke of York has re signed, but not before an important ar"ticle of instruction has been given to those "into whose hands the elective franchise is The excellent disposition, which has been excited and called forth by the disclosures, for which the public are indebted to Mr. Wardle, is manifesting itself, in every part of the country; and this is the" and influence of administration; but alreally valuable part of the thing. It is not the dismission of the Duke of York, or his resignation, call it what you will, that any sensible man cares much about. Of itself, that is of littic public importance. It is the light, the blessed light that has been let in upon a long benighted nation, by the inquiry that has taken place. Many" men, indeed, saw clearly before; but that light which before got in upon us through here and there a crevice, has now made a general burst, while all the plaistering and patching and rags and clouts and lumps of clay have tumbled down about the ears of those who wished to keep us in darkness eternal. Even the provincial papers, so long the vehicles of dull repetition, of borrowed and insipid reflection; so long "the weed that rots in Lethe's pool;" have now assumed anmation and mind; have now begun to have the breath of life in their nostrils, and to indicate the possession of intelligent souls. Many of these papers have, within this month, been sent to me. Many that I never saw Lefore in my life. The parts wished to be read have been pointed out with a mark of the pen: as, if they came to me and said: "See, we have, at last, "opened our eyes, and no longer merit "your reproaches." Vanity may have suggested this idea to me; but, this is the light in which I view it.There is one confided. We regret that Ministers have "not come forward in an open and manly "manner, and declared that they have no "intention of reinstating his Royal High"ness in his former situation. Till this is "done, the people,-nine-tenths of the people of England,-who suspect that this "will ere long take place, will continue "to be highly dissatisfied with their con 66 duct.-The Inquiry is now terminated by a decision, at which, when we com"pared it with certain parts of the printed "evidence, and particularly with the let"ters written by his Royal Highness to Mrs. Clarke, we could not help expres *This is not the Air. Wharton, whe voted with MR. WARDLE. 66 66 sing our astonishment. But the deci- of them. The consequences are before "sion, however extraordinary and unac-us; and, those who are proof against this "countable it may appear to ourselves 20 years' lesson, will not be convinced, "and others, is of little importance in though one were to rise from the dead." "comparison with the good effects which There was, in Mr. Whitbread's speech of "are likely to result from the previous the 10th of March, a very beautiful and "most important investigation. A spirit impressive passage upon the lesson, given "of inquiry is gone forth, which we hope will to the Duke of York, in the circum"scrutinize into excry department of the state, stance of his mistress having purchased "and expose to view every hidden abuse. The the service of family plate of the Duc "people, at length recovered from their de Berri. But, have you, Sir, seen any lethargy, will begin to inquire whether prince discover any sensibility of this "those men who have been so long accus- sort? Have they, any where, shown "tomed to charge others, whose opinions much feeling for one another? But, I do "were different from their own, with dis- hope, that not, at any rate, the gentlemen loyalty, and to brand them with opprobrious of this country; that the nobility; that epithets, did this from a consciousness of all men of rank and property will see, superior purity in themselves, or whether that the time is come for them to show, that they acted thus to prevent any inquiry they have a sense of the danger, to which taking place, which they were sensible corruption inevitably leads; and that, af"would be detrimental to their own indi- ter a long season of apparent insensibility "vidual and personal interests; whether to their own consequence, as well as to the "these were not the very men who lived interests of others, they will heartily coby abuses, and who battened on that operate in producing that reform, which corruption which, they very well knew, alone can save them and us and all from ruin "was sapping the basis of the English and disgrace.There are few things "constitution. But, above all, this spirit that have given me greater pleasure, than of inquiry will be directed to the enor- the seeing of the name of Sir Henry Mild"mous profusion of the public money: actu- may in the list of those 125 members, who "ated by this spirit, the people will ask voted with Mr. Wardle; and, I trust, that "their representatives, whether the pro- the people of this county will neither forget "duct of the taxes be solely applied to ob- that, nor that neither of the county memjects which tend to contribute to the bers, Chute and Heathcote, is to be found in "safety, happiness, and honour of the Bri- that list Sir Henry Mildmay does not, "tish Empire, or whether a great part be apparently, admire the situation of a tool. "not applied to the payment of pensions, He does not appear to be enamoured with "bestowed without previous and equivalent the idea of being the under-strapper of " services, or of sinecure places; whether a an upstart. He does not seem to think it "great part be not expended on pension- much of an honour to crawl under the ca"ers who have done nothing, and on place- nopy of a mushroom. To be sure, it is some"men who have nothing to do? If such thing so preposterous; it is something so " abuses do really exist, who but the in- unnatural; it is something so much against "terested will deny that they call loudly for every good feeling of the heart, to see a man "a temperate, but a speedy and radical re- of fixed fortune and estate, of ancient fa"form?”—Yes, these are the sentiments mily and of sound mind, become the de to inculcate; and to be inculcated parti- pendant, the miserable echo, of an echo, cularly by those, whose interest it is to and to seek for consequence in being prevent that which is called revolution. thought to be intimate with those who are By timely reform the several governments themselves miserable dependants; there of the continent of Europe might have is something so shockingly unnatural in this, saved themselves, and along with them- that the very existence of a single instance selves their nobles and all their establish- of the sort is enough to blast the character ments. They universally resisted reform. of a nation. Yet, there are many instances Instead of disarming the philosophers and of the sort; and, what it can be owing to, the demagogues by removing those well- unless to the foolish, the cowardly fear known and undeniable abuses, which gave of revolution, I cannot imagine; that fear, currency to their statements and their which, as I said before, the knaves, who doctrines, what have we seen those go- fatten upon the public misery, are so invernments do? Invariably add to those dustrious in cherishing, by all the means abuses, and calumniate and punish all in their power. But, the timid fools do not those, within their reach, who complained perceive, that the knaves have an interest separate from theirs, and even opposed to it. | been in some high office in India, under Lord Wellesley, of causing paragraphs to be published against him in the Morning Post; that he charged this gentleman and other East India people of being proprietors of that paper; and that I saw and read a letter from this Mr. Robinson to Mr. Paull, in which letter the writer disclaimed all knowledge of the paragraph complained of, and in which he expressed his disapprobation of all such paragraphs, but in which letter he stated, that he was a part proprietor of the paper, and that it was owned by him and others, chiefly East Indians, and was possessed and carried on in the same way as the concern of any other commercial company. -This is a fact always to be kept in view, when we are examining the politics of this paper. And now let us hear what this vehicle says upon the subject of jacobinism and of a conspiracy against the house of Brunswick, bearing in mind, that, for several years past, this paper has been, without a single exception, the defender and the eulogist of every person, who has been accused of corruption, bribery, peculation, public profligacy, or any other offence against the interests or the morals of the country. A reform that would be salutary to the The press has, in general, done its duty in scouting the idea of "a conspiracy ex"isting against the House of Brunswick ;" but, there is one paper, the Morning Post, which has acted, and is acting, a very base as well as profligate part, and which I am very glad to hear, has, in its regular decline, given a pretty good proof of the public sentiment. From this paper shall here insert an extract, first begging the reader to bear in mind, that (as I stated upon a former occasion) during Mr. Paull's contest for Westminster, he accused a Gentleman, of the name of ROBINSON, who lived then in Devonshire Place, and who had |