quent men; but, the real author of it was myself. I wrote it; offered it to Mr. Addington, through Mr. Yorke; he accepted of it, in which he showed his sense of duty to be above party pique; and, it was published and distributed at the expence of several thousands of pounds. Now, though the Reverend Messrs. Poulter and Woodcock may be ready to bite their tongues upon reflecting, that they once read, even from the pulpit, a production of mine, that will not do away the fact.They would fain represent me as a low and insignificant person; but, let them efface, if they can, the fact, that a production of mine, when its author was unknown, was, by the periodical publications of the day; aye, by that Morning Post and that Courier, which now abuse me, ascribed to Dr. Horsley first, and then to Dr. Rennell; and, that this publication was sent to every parish throughout the kingdom, under government authority and at the public expence. When Mr. Poulter or Mr. Woodcock or Mr. Portal, or any of those, who attempt to lower me in the estimation of the people of this county; when any of them shall have produced any thing to be so honoured as this production of mine, and shall have refused, as I did, to take any compensation for it; when they shall have given such irrefragable proofs of ability, public-spirit, and disinterestedness, then let them pretend to place themselves upon an equal footing with me; but not before; 'till then, let them keep their due, that is to say, an inferior place. In every way in which we can be compared, except as to mere money, I am their superior; and that, you may be assured, Gentlemen, I will not, if they persevere in their opposition to our laudable undertaking, and if I have my life and health, fail to make them feel.I have, in spite of all provocation, abstained from stating this anecdote to the public, for six years; nor should I have mentioned it now on my own account; but, seeing that the cause is to be attacked through me, it is necessary for me to take care to guard the channel. The cause of Reform has been, and studiously is, identified with my reputation; therefore, it is necessary for me to shew that those are the vilest of hypocrites and calumniators, who attack that reputation. The King, I was well informed, expressed the highest approbation of the work I have been speaking of. He was not, I dare say, told who was the author, nor was it necessary that he should be; for I wanted nothing of him by way of reward, no not even a "thank you." But, I must confess, that, now I do think, the King owes me something; and thus, I humbly conceive, he ought to pay me : He ought, I think, to order his ministers to cause this Letter to be circulated, in the same way that the little Pamphlet was; or, which I should prefer, to order them to circulate, in that manner, my next Let-' ter upon the subject of Parliamentary Reform. The little Pamphlet did, I verily believe, produce more effect, in this country, than had been produced by all other publications put together for years before. There are about eleven thousand Clergymen in England and Wales, and my real belief is, that all of them together, in the whole of the preceding eleven years, had not, whether by writing or preaching, moved the people so much as I moved them in one single week. I trust, therefore, that His Majesty will be pleased to give his sanction to the circulating of one of my Letters. I should, I think, prefer the next Letter upon Parliamentary Reform. I will certainly make the application, in a proper way; and, if the King follows his own opinion, he will, I am certain, grant my request. I have now, Gentlemen, to apologize for the length of this Letter. I could not curtail it, without leaving out something material; and yet, I am aware, that it may be thought more, than any man, under any circumstances, ought to say of himself. Had it not been for the public cause, not a word should any of these vile attacks have drawn from me. What I have done seemed to be due to my friends, private as well as political; because, those who would be silent to my face, would not scruple to taunt them. I must, however, express my earnest hope, that no friend of mine will, in future, expect of me, that I waste any part of my time or paper in the answering of personal attacks. At any rate, I am resolved not to do it; unless by barely stating, in a short sentence, that such or such a thing is true, or is false. There will be thousands of lies against me; but that is what I have to expect; and, really, the good opinion is worth but little of that man, who can lend an ear to the assertions of wretches, who, in pretending to give a true history of a transaction, could suppress twentytwo documents out of twenty-seven, and insert only such as tended to throw no light at all upon the merits of the case. After this instance of falshood, baseness," meanness, and dirtiness, on the part of my assailants, no one can think it necessary PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. ON Thursday, the 15th instant, SIR FRANCIS BURDETT made, in the House of Commons, a Speech, upon the important subject of PARLIAMENTARY REFORM.-This Speech, which I have taken care to have as full and correct as possible, I shall in my next communicate to the public, and for that purpose shall make it a double sheet, instead of the one that would, in the usual course, appear on the 15th of July.-Here we have what Sir Francis Burdett wishes for, and what he does not wish for. He has long been taunted with not knowing what he wanted; but that taunt will now, surely, cease to be used. We shall now hear what his opponents have to say against his propositions; though, I imagine, they will be found to have little to say, except in the way of abuse.For my part, I think the thing so completely correspondent with the principles of the Constitution of England; so strictly in adherence with the spirit of Magna Charta, the Bill of Rights, and the Act of Settlement; so simple in its provisions; so easy in its execution; and yet so mighty in its means of real Reformation, that I can scarcely bring myself to believe, that there is one man in the whole kingdom, who, in his heart, can disapprove of it. are now all the predictions about the "wild projects; the enthusiastic schemes." Here is nothing to terrify any body; but - Where enough to quiet every body. Pass a bill to this effect, and you need not fear Buonaparte's gun-boats. SUMMARY OF POLITICS. AUSTRIA. The "good news," as it is called, from the Danube, will, I am of opinion, be of very short duration. We do pretty well in the gazette-making way, but the Austrians beat us. I think, it is very evident, that, owing to the unforeseen destruction of a bridge across the Danube, the French were checked in their career of victory; but, I can perceive not the smallest reason to suppose, that their career will be long checked, especially when I see them still in possession of Vienna, and of every inch of ground they had gained, and see two fresh armies coming up to back and assist them. One thing, however, our allies will have atchieved to a certainty; and that is, the extracting of a good lumping sum of money out of the pockets of the people of this kingdom. The brilliant victory of the Archduke Charles:" this phrase, bandied about as it is, will, like the taylor's compliments to the Bourgeois Gentilhomme, induce John Bull to draw his leathers, and that is precisely what the German wants. The drawing upon us for money, the moment he drew the sword; that was a pretty good proof of what we had to expect from the evident that it was to be a war upon our war. Be it what else it would, it was purses. The insurrection, under SCHILL, in Germany, has, it seems been quelled by an army of Dutch, who, odd as it may appear, are both able and willing to fight under a Buonaparté, though they would under their Stadtholder.There is an not lift a sword, even in their own defence, idea, that, in the North of Germany, there is a spirit of insurrection against the old system as well as against Buonaparté. I was told of this some time ago; and, I see that the fact is much dwelt upon in a letter published in the Morning Chronicle of the 12th instant. The fact may be true; but, I am afraid no such insurrection could succeed at present; and, I beseech the writer of the letter alluded to, not to rely upon any assistance, in favour of such an enterprize, from the English government, as he appears to do. He says, we assist Spain: no, not Spain, but, as Messrs. INGLIS, CANNING, and Co. inform us from their tavern forum, we assist, or would assist, Ferdinand the Seventh. No: 66 this German is very much deceived, if he supposes, that Messrs. Perceval and Co. will give a single musket, or cartridge, for the purpose of making war against that corruption, of which he complains. They will give away our money for no such purpose, he may be assured; and, therefore, unless he finds the system of Buonaparté more oppressive than the old system, he will do well to advise his countrymen to keep quiet.It is curious to observe the lofty encomiums passed upon this insurrection, by those of our public prints, which, in general, seem to view every thing, tending to insurrection, with the deepest horror. This German insurrection appears to hit their taste. They say, that its "career has been short, but full of glory;" and these sentiments they utter, while they are in the constant habit of tearing open the old sores in Ireland, and of representing all those, who were there suspected of a design to cause an insurrection, as the blackest of villains. Nay, it is not a week since the very paper, which laments the fall of SCHILL, and hangs the cypress, interwoven with the laurel, over his grave, took occasion to rake up the ashes of LORD EDWARD FITZGERALD, and to call him conspirator and traitor.—These gentlemen seem to like insurrections in other countries well enough. They would even assist the insurgents with arms and money; but, if they were to hear of France doing such a thing, they would make the firmament ring with the howlings of their horror. They would charge her with perfidy unheard of, and would, if necessary, take their oaths, that it was to these perfidious arts, and not to her valour, that she owed her successes.- -I think, that the best way is for us to say but very little in favour of insurrections in other countries, lest it should induce some persons to make a mistake, and to suppose, that insurrections are just as lawful and as laudable in this country as they are in Germany; which mistake, though founded in very plausible reasoning, might prove fatal to those who should be so misled, and who, to their cost, would find, that what the hireling writers call patriotism in the Germans, they would call treason in the English or the Irish. SWEDEN. -Our ally, the king of Sweden, has, it seems, abdicated his throne. His proclamation to this effect is a performance replete with just sentiments, and leading to a very natural and useful conclusion. He declares, that he can no longer fill the throne to the advantage and honour of the nation, and that, therefore, he quits it, for the purpose of passing the remainder of his days, in the fear and worship of God, wishing that all his subjects may, in future, enjoy more happiness and prosperity than they enjoyed under him. Faith, a very sensible man! And a just man too. Yet, now, if any one had told him this, only a few months before, how quickly he would have been packed off to the gibbet! How many ugly names, such as conspirator, traitor, &c. he would have been called.Here, this king himself confesses that he was unfit to reign: Napoleon had told us so before, and prettily we abused him for it. But, now the man declares, under his own hand and seal (unless our government papers have published a forgery), that what Napoleon said of him was true. As to the effect, which this event will have, with respect to this country, it is pretty evident, I think, that Sweden will, in one way or other, become, if not absolutely an appendage of France, yet so much under her controu as no longer to be able to act contrary to her wish. Whatever of maritime means, therefore, Sweden possesses, will, in all human probability, be brought to bear against us. In this, however, I, for my. part, see no danger, if all were well at home; if our system of finance and of military defence were what they ought to be, and what they might so easily be made, we might laugh at Napoleon and all his hundreds of allies. But, if we continue on in our present course; if we are to have new taxes every year besides an addition to the old ones, does any man believe, that we shall be able, in the end, to resist all the means of the continent brought to bear against us? France becomes every day stronger and stronger; she falls, day after day, into the possession of new means; she has no public debt; she has few and light taxes; she has no tax that is inquisitorial; and, what is as much as all the rest, she has no paper money, none of that sham representative of property, which, the moment public danger shews its face, becomes much less valuable than it was while it bore the name of rags, and a whole cart-load of which would not procure the holder the means of breaking his fast. MR. WARDLE'S PLEDGE.- -I shall, hereafter, have to remark upon the last debate upon Mr. Curwen's reform bill, which contained some very curious matter, and which ended in the passing of a bill, not only not the same that was introduced by Mr. Curwen, not only not like it, but, as | to the evident tendency of it, exactly the opposite of what was intended by Mr. Curwen, who did, it seems, nevertheless, vote for it.This bill, this measure of reform, which was zealously supported by Mr. Perceval, II. Wellesley, and Lord Castlereagh, will require a full exposure, hereafter. At present, as far as relates to the debate in question, I shall confine myself to a remark or two upon what was said by MR WINDHAM about "the haranguers, who duped the people by telling them, that "eleven millions could be saved, in the "annual expenditure of the nation.". Does he think, that any thing can be saved? I will not now enter upon the question of saving; but, I cannot help reminding the reader, that, in the year 1801, Admiral Markham told the House of Commons, that, with proper economy, one third of the whole of the expences of the Navy might be saved. Now, here is pretty nearly one half of the eleven millions; and yet I beg the reader to observe, that Mr. Windham never called Admiral Markham an haranguer, never accused him of duping the people. Why, the private bills, passed in the parliament, cost, I should suppose, the better part of half a million of pounds sterling every year. I speak at a rough guess. I may be over the mark. But, surely, be it what it may, the money might be saved to the people; for, though it comes not in the shape of tax, it is the people who pay the money -Mr. Wardle does not merit the contemptuous appellation of karanguer. He has proved to the nation, that he deals in matter of fact. Ile has never yet promised more than he was able to perform, and has performed. The people firmly believe, that he is able to make good his promise, respecting the reduction of the national expenditure; and, there is no extinguishing this belief by calling him names. I have, for years, believed, and have often expressed that belief, that, except what are necessary to pay the interest upon the public debt, one half of the taxes might be taken off, without the smallest jury to the public service, whether civil, naval, or military. Why, the expence of collecting the taxes; the bare expence of keeping the tax gatherers: this alone costs more thar fire millions a year; that is to say, it is pay for 125,000 able | bodied men at 401. a year, or half a crown a day, each. Here is an army. Here are more people than we have in the navy. Here is about as much money as all the poor-rates of England and Wales amount to annually. Why, it is half a guinea a soul, annually, for all the souls in Great Britain. Can this be necessary? Is it possible, Mr. Windham, to save none of this; no part of this most dreadful expence? The number of men, whom this money would support at 401. a year each, is, I believe, twice as great as the whole number of persons, in all the kingdom, who are, at present, entitled to vote for members of parlia ment. Is not this a very curious represen tative system? Did our forefathers mean this, when, in Magna Charta, they declared it to be the ancient and unalterable law of England, that no man should be taxed without his consent? And, are we to be called haranguers, who dupe the people, because we think, that, besides the immediate expence, it is a great national evil, that every sixteenth able man, at least, should be a tax-gatherer, or employed about the taxes in one way or another? These are not the reflections of empty-headed“ haranguers," Mr. Windham; nor of enthusiastic reformists. They arise from an attentive inquiry into the state of the nation, and they are communicated to the public with the serious and settled design of causing, in time, the evils complained of to be removed. Those are" haranguers," who make specches by the hour, not only with the certain knowledge, that such speeches will lead to no practical result, but with a desire that they should lead to no such result. Those are " haranguers," who have regular pitched debates, merely for the sake of debating; who, during their deba ing, affect furious anger against one another, and who, when the combat is over, march away hugging one another by the arm. These are the " haranguers;" these are the men who dupe the people; or, rather, who used to dupe them; for this sort of political fraud can no longer be practised with success, for which change the public are principally indebted to Mr. Wardle. AMERICAN STATES.-Concerning MR. ERSKINE'S conduct, which has produced such confusion and uncertainty in the commercial relationships between this country and America, much will remain to be said hereafter. It is even now, however, quite clear, that if what has been published as such, be a correct copy of his instructions, he has acted in direct contradiction to them; and that he ought to be called upon to pay for all the loss which merchants and others shall experience in consequence of his having so done, and which loss is apparently to fall upon us. The progress of this affair should be watched. We should observe what this disobedience of instructions will cost us; I mean in money; money paid down. Then, we are told, that we have another plenipotentiary appointed thither, whose salary and allowances, are, of course, in the old way, going on, though, perhaps, he may not set off for nine or ten months yet to come. So that, we have, at this time, for the United States, two Embassadors upon full pay and one upon half pay. And, yet, Mr. Windham seems to think, that nothing can be saved; and that those are merely haranguers, who talk about savings.- But, what I at this time, particularly wish to point out to the reader, as connected with the United States is, the view which the Morning Chronicle now takes of the effect, upon us, of a suspension of commercial intercourse with that country.This is a matter of very great national importance, and one as to which I feel more than common interest, having been so positively contradicted, and not a little abused, when about two years ago I combatted the alarms of the Morning Chronicle and its half-yankee correspondents." Above se "venty vessels, laden with American pro"duce, have arrived in our ports in consequence of the arrangement made by Mr. "Erskine. We do not know as yet the full effect of this influx, but it cannot fail most materially to reduce the price of every "American article. One thing, however, "has been made obvious by the cessation of "intercourse, and which it is most impor"tant for the Legislature to consider; and "that is the improved state of our own produce "of corn. We have been for two years "thrown entirely upon the British farmer "for subsistence. We have had no import "of wheat or flour, either from the Conti"nents of Europe or America; and yet "there has been a suflicient supply in our "markets, and the prices have not become ex"orbitant. It has been demonstrated, not only that we grow enough for our own consumption, but that from the rapid ad"vances made in agriculture, if not now "checked by impolitic discouragements, "the soil would produce food for double "its population, in seven years from this "date. We hope that early in the next "Session of Parliament, this most import"ant subject will receive a deliberate dis"cussion, and that the system of the Corn "Laws will be revised. Fears were entertained that our West India Islands would 66 66 "have been destitute of provisions, on "account of the severe regulations of com"mercial policy by the American Republic, persevered in to the close of the Presidency of Mr. Jeff rson. The result has "not justified these apprehensions. A letter "received at New York, from Kingston, in "Jamaica, states, that the market is glutted with flour, that Irish provisions have been supplied in abundance, and that it was likely, as soon as the House of Assembly should meet, that a duty would be impo"sed upon American produce."--Now, MR. PERRY, this is not candid. "Fears "were entertained!" Ayer, faith, were they, and pretty strongly expressed, too, by you and your much-praised correspondent A. B.-You should now have said fairly: We did entertain and express our fears upon this subject, to do which we were "misled by certain sly, lank-haired, plausi. ble Americans; and so piqued were we by "the sarcasms of Mr. Cobbett, that though "he clearly convinced us of our error, we› "could not, at that time, bring ourselves. "to acknowledge it; but, when we have "the "demonstration" before us, it would "be too bad to persist any longer."I have this minute so far got the better of a fit of laziness as to refer to the 12th Volume of the Register, page 257; and,· if the reader will do the same, and will go through an article which he will there find, and a few others, of a later date, he will be amused to see how I combatted all those, in parliament or out, who were on the American side, and how exactly I foretold not only the events themselves, but the causes, time, and manner of them. I even took great pains, nine months before that, to point out to the public ne objections to the appointment of Mr. Erskine, ́ as will be seen by a reference to vol. X. page 980.- -As to the consequ ences of a stoppage of intercourse with America, few ple, very few indeed, were, at first, of my opinion. The current of public persuasion set strongly the other way. Most of the periodical publications were against me; and, which were of most fearful weight, the Morning Chronicle and the Edinburgh Review. I fairly beat the whole of them, and had the satisfaction to see, at last, the public on my side. And yet, the public-robbers would fain persuade people that I am a low and insignificant person! Why, George Rose and Lord Palmerston and Mr. Sturges and Mr. Poulter and parson Woodcock and Mr. Portal and all the race of the Heathcotes and Chutes whether clerical or military, will never, the whole of them put together, peo |