This act, though injurious as it must be to one who has commenced business but a short time, and who, consequently, cannot have acquired the established connections of an older tradesman, to whom it would be no injury at all, is not of so serious a nature as similar practices might be to many other persons. This solitary case is placed upon record, and sent into the world, merely to shew the motives of the candidate's friends, and the means which he has himself encouraged, or consented should be generally practiced for his support.*

But I will suppose for a moment, that Mr. Bennett was not the sole instigator or abettor of his friends, to hinder the employment of all mechanics, and to take away the custom from all the tradesmen, and to turn off all tenants that voted against him, or remained neutral in the contest: I will even suppose this. But will not every candid man say, that he was guilty for not dissuading and forbidding his chief and bosom friends from pursuing such practices when he knew them to be prevalent? That he did know such practices were agreed upon, there is not a shadow of doubt; that he was privy to my case, he very unwisely acknowledged in conversation with me, on the 5th instant, at which time I told him, I should make the affair public, which he intreated me, "for Heaven's sake" not to do; but above all, he begged me not to implicate him." I answered that I could not avoid implicating him : and finding me resolute, he begged that he might "see me again on the subject," and that I would "allow him to become a mediator with Mr. Corbet."

But did Mr. Bennett imagine I could yield to such a proposal? Did he think that I could accept of his services as a mediator, who, before the election, had teazed me, almost daily, with importunities, and when he found that I was not to be won by promises, by smiles, by the shaking of the hand, and all the blandishments of a courtier: when he found that I would not truckle even to Mr. Corbet, whom I had reason to think he had excited against me,-What then? Why he endeavours to trick me by an out-side show of kindness and proffered mediation. Did he then imagine I had not an understanding that could fathom, and a spirit that would spurn at such mediation at such "kindness where the heart was not?"

After this narrative of facts, I will put it to the understanding and conscience of those tradesmen that adhere to Mr. Bennett, whether they do well by supporting him? Will it be believed by strangers, that toree hundred and twenty-one electors lent their aid to the cause which has been upheld by such means as these? Will it be crédited, that the card date who came in direct opposition to the trading interest, (as his friends; have testified, and as Mr. Janies Mason's "letter" implies,) will it be believed, that he has received the support of many truly respectable inhabitants of the borough ?,

And while we mourn individual wrongs, how much deeper lamentations ought we to utter, when we think on the wounds we have suffered as a society, and which are still bleeding? Our cheerful social knots have been loosened and divided; our pri vate friendships have been dissolved; and our animosity towards the defeated, but wily candidate, and to each other, is kept alive, even now, by his offensive intrusions and importunities. If, in his present visits among us, he has any object in view, it appears to be in inveighing against every thing that is done by the ministers, and in endeavouring to lessen them in public opinion.

Finally, I submit it to some of the higher ranks in society, and to our country gentlemen, to consider and answer to their country, whether it be prudent in them to foment hatreds and divisions, and to embroil us in disputes at this crisis so awful to Englishmen at this crisis, when the wrath of all nations is directed against us; at this crisis, when all the petty differences and brawlings surely ought to be hushed; at this crisis, when the people should form but ONE body, and be actuated but by ONE Soul? I leave this for the consideration of the patriots. I am, Gentlemen,

High-street, Shrewsbury, Dec. 15, 1807.

Very respectfully your's,
GEORGE SCHOFIELD.

* I know that letters have been written to several surrounding families, recommen ing them to transfer their favours to certain tradesmen, who, afterwards, did personal s. icit on their own account; alleging that they were sent by Mr. Bennett.

STATE PAPERS.

(Concluded from page 479)

But upon what power, upon what nation, upon what individual even does England flatter herself she can impose by these insidious declarations ?-In a business where her conduct so highly condemns her, of what avail is her language-How are her discourses to palliate her iniquities?-Since the English do not hesitate to furnish history with this new monument of their execrable policy; since they venture to present themselves before the tribunal of public opinion with this miserable apology, let us follow them before that judge, whose competence they only affect to acknowledge, that they mislead or correct him. Every subject, of an independent state, has a right to examine and canvass this declaration, which they do not shrink from offering to indignant Europe. This right more particularly belongs to the inhabitants of a country who, having never employed any offensive means against England, bas, however, been the most cruelly affected by her expeditions, What! does this remark alone point at my poor unhappy country! All the states of Germany taken together have it a single ship of the line, nor even a frigate. They have no weapon by which they could annoy England; and it is Gertany, nevertheless, that the policy of England has torn, in every sense, by her fatal confederacies.It is Germany that the English have, for their own advantage, converted into the theatre of the most bloody, the most obstinate, the most lamentable struggle.-It is Germany, whom the English have always instigated to rise against their own enemies, but never afforded her any assistance. We have only begun to breathe from the days when the influence of England declined on the content. No people has a nearer interest than we have, in frustrating the efforts, which she is still making, to deceive some governments; it is more peculiarly, therefore, our duty, to deted her sophisms, and expose their impostures.

After these general considerations, the author refutes, in a victorious manner, paragraph by paragraph, the tardy, and mal-apropus declaration of the king of Eng land.

66

"To justify your aggression," he says to the English, you allege, in your declaration, a cruel necessity, you even pretend to deplore it you wish that in the eyes of Europe and the world, your conduct should be justified by imperious and indispensable duty of providing for the security of your nation. Thus you feel that your conduct stands in need of justification, and you pretend to excuse yourselves on the ground of a cruel necessity, as a wretch might plead before his judges, that want had urged him to place a sword to the breast of an honest man. You have used the poniard, and you believe that there exists for you a justification and an excuse. Let us see what is this cruel necessity, this indispensable duty of providing for your security.

You wish to persuade Europe, First, That you had authentic information of the projects of the emperor Napoleon. Secondly, That these projects menaced your security. Thirdly, That you had no other means of providing for your security, than to treat the Danes as you have done. But how have you been positively informed of these resolutions, of these projects which you attribute to the emperor of the French? who revealed them to you? What proof, or even what indication of them do you shew?

All Europe knows well that you have on the continent au army of spies, whose business it is to make attacks on the fidelity of every man who approaches sovereigns. or ministers. All Europe knows also, that such soldiers send you, without ceasing, certain positive, and authentic information; but all Europe knows still better, that there are countries, and one particularly, where the character and genius of the sovereign, and the devotion of his ministers, render every attack of this nature equally ridiculous and useless. If there is any thing positive and authentic in Europe, it is the impenetrable secrecy which veils the designs of the emperor Napoleon; it is also that prodigious rapidity of action which is peculiar to him, and which suffers nothing to be known of the greater part of his projects till they are executed. Thus you may confess your means of information. They are pointed out.

Let it be observed, that it has been demonstrated by ficts, that the projects which

you were pleased to place to the emperor Napoleon, had no existence. His power is such that we may defy you to answer the following argument :-He has not invaded the Danish territories, therefore he had no desire to do it. Every one knows that for more than six months there was, in Mecklenbourg and the other states of Lower Saxony, bordering upon Holstein, a greater number of French troops than was necessery to occupy the whole of that province and Sleswick. It is true, indeed, Denmark took care to guard these continental provinces; and, thanks to your fatal insinuations, thanks to the cruel foresight of your malevolent policy, it left unprotected the islands of which you were projecting the attack, in order to carry its forces into the provinces in the neighbourhood of the war which you had kindled. The great misfortune of the Danes has been, not to have sufficiently distrusted your policy, and to have been too little acquainted with that of the emperor Napoleon. They have only taken, precautions against a sovereign from whom they had nothing to fear.

France, you say, would have engaged Denmark to shut the Sound against you, and might have employed the Danish fleet to land troops on your coast. I admit for a moment the reality of your chimerical alarms. I allow the French to pass, without a navy, over the two canals that separate Zealand from the continent. I shall suppose them masters of that island, and of Copenhagen. But was it in their power to shut the Sound against you without the concurrence of Sweden? How can it be imagined that England, sufficiently powerful to extend its despotism over every sea, had no other means of providing for its security against the Danish fleet than to surprise Denmark, without defence, in order to plunder it of all its ships, and all its maritime strength? The English, sufficiently powerful to tyrannize over the vast countries of India; to maintain their dominion in the Antilles; to blockade the ports of Europe; to impose upon America the hardest laws; to destroy the commerce of all nations-the English, with a superabundance of means that enables them to menace Constantinople; to occupy the Tagus; to attack gypt; to send an army to Buenos Ayres-the English, who display their force with such a monstrous prodigality, and lavish it away in senseless expeditions, will they persuade Europe, that, in order to provide for their security against the Danish fleet, they were compelled to "have recourse to a dishonourable expedition?

You boast as much of extreme long suffering, as a generous power could have done who had for a long time suffered attacks and outrages, scorning to avenge itself of them. You complain of a violence for ever active, as if you had been oppressed and crushed by it.-Let us substitute facts for words.

What power is it which forming and keeping up four successive coalitions, has, during fifteen years, spread over the continent all the scourges of war?

What power is it who was the last to make peace, the first to violate its conditions, and who first broke it; by whom the treaty of Amiens was annihilated almost as soon as it was concluded?

What power is that, who by hostility and rapine committed in profound peace, forced Spain into war?

What power is it which has enriched itself with the spoils of Spain and of Holland, and which, in India, has usurped the throne of Tippoo Saib?

What power is that which has unceasingly varied and multiplied its vexations with respect to neutrals, which has tyrannized over all commercial and navigating nations, and which still pretends to subject the Americans to the most humiliating law.

What power is it which has constantly trodden under foot the law of nations, in machinating among its enemies, conspiracies, assassinations, and proscriptions? What power is it whom Europe has accused of the horrible executions at Naples, the assassination of Paul I. and the attempts against the life of Napoleon? What power is it whom the whole world accuses of protecting the butchers of St. Domingo ?

To all these questions there is but one answer. It is England. It is you, however, who now boast of long suffering.

After so many and such terrible acts of violence, what right have you to complain of the avowed project of coalescing against you all the states of Europe? Doubless, in contemplation, the epoch when you coalesced all these states against

France, and looking at your present situation, you may be a little astonished at the contrast of these two situations.

Your declaration could serve no purpose, but to irritate the cruel wounds which you have inflicted upon the Danish nation, and to disgust more and more the nations of the continent. You have informed Europe, that your justification rests upon the pretext of your security. A pretext which Europe knows to be the more ridiculous, inasmuch as at the very moment that you attacked Denmark, you would not listen to offers of moderation on the part of Russia, the object of which was the conclusion a peace which would have removed from you every danger. Europe knows, from the language which you have yourselves held, that you had no cause of complaint againt the Danos; that they had done you no injury, and that all that you had to find fault with was, the existence of their fleet, and their perseverance in neutrality. What a lesson to all the nations!

I am very well aware that you will care but little for my answer fo your apology, and my exposure of your imposture. In beholding your spoils, you will laugh at the principles which I have opposed to your act of rapine. Reason alone will be found to be a very ineffectual restraint upon your conduct; but it is sufficient to confound you before the tribunal of public opinion, it is sufficient to demonstrate your guilt in the face of Europe, in expectation that Europe will inflict the punishment which your crimes deserve, and certainly that expedition upon which you are now, perhaps, congratulating yourselves, and of which you are enjoying the fruits, will accelerate the day of vengeance. You are disappointed of the results which you expected from it. Instead of terror and dismay you have inspired only horror and indignation; you have, it is true, got a few more ships than you had before; but you have shut against yourselves all the remaining ports which were open to you upon the continent. You have rallied round Napoleon all the states which were still resigned to your tyranny; whose injuries he is now preparing to avenge, and whose rights he is about to assert. You have completed our union, which his policy would scarcely have been able to effect, and the time is not distant when his genius will teach you how vain were the hopes which you founded upon your expedition. You will then find that your measures of preservation were measures of ruin, and you will recognize the truth that even in politics utility can never be combined with infamy.

In eadem re, utilitas et turpitudo esse nun potest.*

History abounds with facts illustrative of this great truth, but you have either forgot or mistaken it. You have shewn at what a distance in immorality you are from the Athenians, who, when deliberating upon a measure proposed by Themistocles, and considered as extremely useful by Aristides, rejected it without inquiring into the details of it, because the same Aristides pronounced it unjust. It was a question, however, of providing for the security of the Athenians, by destroying the enemy's fleet, and Aristides was of opinion that the measure was of infallible efficacy. But in that state, distracted with factions, the multitude shewed more justice and wisdom than those men who are with you, who from being called to the council of the prince, may be reckoned the most select of the nation. You have, in regard to Denmark, violated the most sacred laws; but that we may hope to find this impious act of treachery bringing its own vengeance along with it, like that Spartan general,† who expected his victory from the perjury by which his enemies had offended men, and irritated the gods.

THE LONDON GAZETTE EXTRAORDINARY,

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 19.
DECLARATION.

The declaration issued at St. Petersburgh, by his majesty the emperor of all the Russias, has excited in his majesty's mind the strongest sensations of astonishment and regret.

*Cic. opp. lib. 3.

+ Multum in eo se consequi dicebat (Agesilaus) quod Tisaphernes perjurio suo, et homines seur rebus ab alunaret et Deos sibi iratos redderat. CORNEL. NEPOS.

-

His majesty was not unaware of the nature of those secret engagements which had been imposed upon Russia in the conferences of Tilsit. But his majesty had entertained the hope, that a review of the transactions of that unfortunate negociation, and a just estimate of its effects upon the glory of the Russian name, and upon the interest of the Russian empire, would have induced his imperial majesty to extricate himself from the embarrassment of those new counsels and connections which he had adopted in a moment of despondency and alarm, and to return to a policy more congenial to the principles which he has so invariably professed, and more conducive to the honour of his crown, and to the prosperity of his dominions.

This hope has dictated to his majesty the utmost forbearance and moderation in all his diplomatic intercourse with the court of St. Petersburgh since the peace of Tilsit. His majesty had much cause for suspicion, and just ground of complaint. But he abstained from the language of reproach. His majesty deemed it necessary to require specific explanation with respect to those arrangements with France, the concealment of which from his majesty could not but confirm the impression already received of their character and tendency. But his majesty, nevertheless, directed the demand of that explanation to be made, not only without asperity or the indication of any hostile disposition, but with that considerate regard to the feelings and situation of the emperor of Russia, which resulted from the recollection of former friendship, and from confidence interrupted but not destroyed.

The declaration of the emperor of Russia proves, that the object of his majesty's forbearance and moderation has not been attained. It proves, unhappily, that the influence of that power, which is equally and essentially the enemy both of Great Britain and of Russia, has acquired a decided ascendency in the counsels of the cabinet of St. Petersburgh; and has been able to excite a causeless enmity between two nations, whose long-established connection, and whose mutual interests prescribed the most intimate union and co-operation.

But called

His majesty deeply laments the extention of the calamities of war. upon as he is to defend himself against an act of unprovoked hostility, his majest is anxious to refute, in the face of the world, the pretexts by which that act is attempted to be justified.

The declaration asserts, that his majesty, the emperor of Russia, has twice taken up arms in a cause in which the interests of Great Britain was more direct than his own, and founds upon this assertion the charge against Great Britain, of having neglected to second and support the military operations of Russia,

His majesty willingly does justice to the motives which originally engaged Russia in the great struggle against France. His majesty "avows, with equal readiness, the interest which Great Britain has uniformly taken in the fates and fortunes of the powers of the continent. But it would surely be difficult to prove, that Great Britain, who was herself in a state of hostility with Prussia, when the war broke out between Prussia and France, had an interest and a duty more direct in espousing the Prussian quarrel than the emperor of Russia, the ally of his Prussian majesty, the protector of the north of Europe, and the guarantee of the Germanic constitution.

It is not in a public declaration, that his majesty can discuss the policy of having at any particular period of the war effected, or omitted to effect, disembarkations of troops on the coasts of Naples. But the instance of the war with the Porte is still more singularly chosen to illustrate the charge against Great Britain, of indifference to the interests of her ally: a war undertaken by Great Britain, at the instigation of Russia, and solely for the purpose of maintaining Russian interests against the influ ence of France.

If, however, the peace of Tilsit is indeed to be considered as the consequence and the punishment of the imputed inactivity of Great Britain, his majesty cannot but regret that the emperor of Russia should have resorted to so precipitate and fatal a measure, at the moment when he had received distinct assurances, that his majesty was making the most strenuous exertions to fulfil the wishes and expectations of his ally; (assurances which his imperial majesty received and acknowledged with apparent confidence and satisfaction) and when his majesty was, in fact, prepared to employ, for the advancement of the common objects of the war, those forces which, after the