longer keep company with the paper; then comes the open discount, and the amount of such discount marks the degree in which the paper-money has sunk beneath the metalic money in its degraded state, and not the de gree in which it has sunk beneath the metalic money in its original state. This opinion is, I think, fully corroborated by the sudden rise of prices (which is only another phrase whereby to express the depreciation of money) since the immense issues of paper money, took place, and especially since the law was passed to protect the issuers against the demands of the holders. From the year 1750 to 1790, we perceive that the depreciation was no greater, or very little greater, in this country than in Europe in general; but, during the last ten years it has proceeded at a rate far surpassing any thing of the kind that was ever heard of, except in cases where bankruptcy closed the progress. Yet, during all this time, a pound note and a shilling has, for the common purposes of purchase, been as good as a guinea. But, the reason of this has been, that the nominal value of the guinea was fixed before the depreciation began. Dollars, which were a new coin, would not submit to this degradation, and, therefore, a value was assigned them higher than that which they bore, and which they still bear in other countries, not excepting the British colonies, where the army, for instance, are now receiving as four and six, or four and eight pence, the same piece of money which in England they receive as five shillings, except that, in the former case, it has not been honoured with the stamp of the gentlemen of Threadneedle Street. In these discussions, it is next to impossible to avoid connecting the evil you complain of with those who have been the immediately to the parts to be defended, few in numagents in producing it; but, convinced as I am, that the bank-directors have done no more than any other traders so situated would have done, I wish always to be understood as imputing no blame personally to them. The source of the mischief is in the funding system, swelled out has it has been by the splendid project of what is called the Sinking Fund. This has produced a new sort of connexion between the Exchequer and the Bank, and that connexion has produced the present state of things, the exaltation of France and the humiliation of Great-Britain not excepted. the policy of France so evidently is to let us alone, I should be very sorry that this opinion should prevent even one man from making the utmost exertion in his power to be prepared for the defence of his King and country. There can be no harm in preparation; and as to the minister's wearying us with his alarms and his projects, we must not suffer ourselves to be wearied. If we dislike him, it is our duty so to tell our Sovereign through the regular constitutional channel of parliament, and unless we do this, we can have no reason to complain, much less to make the circumstance of his being minister a pretext for lukewarmness in the cause of our country. No; we should resolve steadily to persevere, till, we have defeated both the minister and the enemy; but, at all events, the enemy. It is certainly ridiculous, not to say disgusting, to see the public prints filled with gasconading accounts of the military achievements of Mr. Pitt, who, Heaven knows, has quite enough to do in Downing Street; but, we are not, on account of his puerile parade, to remit our serious exertions for the safety of the country, with the fate of which our own fate is inseparably connected. The bustle that is making about horses and carriages is, in my opinion, calculated to do mischief rather than good, unless its object be to give the enemy a terrific idea of our warlike means, and in that case it will certainly be useless; for, Sir Brook Watson may be assured, that Buonaparté is not to be scared by a display of our strength in horses, too many of which must be an injury to any country, particu larly in time of war. To be able to convey troops with celerity from place to place is certainly a desirable thing, especially when the troops of the country are, proportionate INVASION. The ministers are, it would seem, really apprehensive that the enemy is about to attempt an attack upon some part of England; and, though I differ with them in opinion; though I think that ber, which is the case in this country at this time. But, in speaking of the conveying of troops in carriages of any sort, we should always consider, that the number so conveyed to any one spot must be very small to repder the movement of the whole rapid. The moving of the baggage of an army is at tended with trouble and delay enough; and what must these be when the soldiers themselves are to be conveyed in carriages? A regiment of foot will march thirty miles in a day for three or four days successively; at least the French infantry did it last war, in, several instances; and, if ten thousand mep were to be moved from Surrey to any one, spot in the lower part of Kent, it would be utterly impossible to convey them in carriages, so soon as they would march thither, on foot. For the conveyance of forage, am munition, provisions and equipage, horses and carriages would be very useful, and, in particular cases, for the conveyance of small bodies of men; but, armies are not thus to be conveyed; they must move themselves; and, if the enemy should land, it is right that the people should be warned, "not to * put their trust in chariots and in horses." -Three millions of horses! Why this exaggeration? If you include all the catham'd poneys of the Hampshire forests, all the mules, all the asses, and all the horses in the toy shops, the aggregate would not make three millions. God forbid it should! And I differ from Sir Brook too as to the policy of being prepared with subscriptions of horses and forage. When a measure can be made general, it never should be made partial in its operation; and, in the hour of trial I have much more confidence in the power of the law than in the effect of voluntary zeal, which zeal, supposing it to exist in a sufficient degree, is difficult to regulate, and is therefore far inferior to an obedience to a general law. For these and other reasons that could be mentioned, I would have had no subscriptions; I would have had no meetings of coach masters and horse-jockies upon the subject of national defence; I would, by a proclamation of the King, have notified to all persons having horses and waggons, that, upon an order being issued for that purpose, all those horses and waggons, or as many of them as should be wanted, should be delivered up, for the public use, into the hands of persons appointed to receive and employ them. I would, at the same time, have stated the sort and degree of compensation that would be made to the owners. How quietly would the whole matter have been thus settled! Every horse and waggon in the kingdom would have been ready at a moment's warning when the occasion arrived, government would have taken just what it wanted and no more there would have been no confusion, no noise, no ostentatious subscriptions, no invidious distinctions, exertions of patriotism for the sake of getting a place or a contract: all would have been regular and quiet, the King would have lawfully commanded and his people would have chearfully obeyed. But this course would not have at all answered the purposes of Mr. Pitt and his Caledonian colleague. They want bustle and noise. They have ever delighted in subscriptions and volunteering of every sort. The subscribing is first made a test of loyalty. Those who do not subscribe are disloyal; and when great numbers have thus been induced to enrol themselves, the whole matter takes a party turn, and men learn that they have subscribed to the support of the minister. His party purposes are served, too, in another way. His adherents, if not his creatures, are always at the head of such subscriptions; they harangue at the meetings; they inculcate his sentiments; often they broach opinions which he does not think it prudent to avow till the pulse of the people has thus been felt; and, as the least possible effect in his favour, every shilling that is subscribed has the appearance of being given from friendship towards, and confidence in, him. None of these advantages would accrue to him from the operation of a general law or regulation; and therefore the subscribing system, though evidently tending to undermine the legimate authority of government, is constantly preferred; and the people, before they are allowed to make exertions in the cause of their country, are moulded into a ministerial faction. Those who cannot overcome their repugnance to such degradation, remain inert; their example has an injurious influence on those who do not reflect; odious comparisons are made, private envy and hatred come to the aid of party malignity; and thus are we divided and enfeebled; thus, from being "the dread and envy of all na"tions," we are become an object of their contempt and scorn. Such a RUMOUR OF AN ALLIANCE. rumour has prevailed for some time: an alliance between this country, Russia, and Sweden. It would be difficult to point out any one advantage that could result to us from such an alliance, unless the making of a peace upon the principle of an abandonment of the object of the war can be called an advantage. It must not be forgotten, that, as to the point relating to Malta, Russia was decidedly against us. In fact, Russia did not wish that Mr. Pitt's constitution (for he was the real maker of it) should be established in Malta. Russia wanted Malta for itself, and France had little objection to the favouring of her views: so that, the first article of this much-talked of treaty of alliance will probably be the giving up of that which Lord Melville declared that he went to war for. But, how is this alliance to operate against France? Without the accession of Prussia or Austria, it cannot bear upon France any more than upon the moon. Russia, owing to our having abandoned our allies at the peace, joined France in new-modelling the German Empire. Both sought their interests, but the interest which Russia sought was not of a nature to be useful to her in future wars with any power; while as France, on the contrary, appears to have had constantly in view the strengthening of herself in any war to come and against every power, particularly Russia. Accordingly we find her now surrounded with small states that serve her as fortified cities in some cases, and in others as advanced camps; or, to use the apter figure of Mr. Burke, " "feelers or as claws," according to the nature of the service they are required to perform; and thus has that which was termed the dream of Brissot been completely veri. fied. How, then, can the arms of Russia be brought to bear upon France? By way of diversion, indeed, a Russian army might be marched into Italy. Such a movement is possible; but, without the co-operation of Austria, a Russian army in Italy must be defeated. At present, therefore, there is no appearance of the alliance of Russia being attended with any practical consequences; and, it will certainly not be doubted, that, without such consequences, the alliance would be injurious to us, as it would only tend to demonstrate the invulnerable situa tion of our enemy. -In the mean time France appears to feel little inconvenience from the war. We were some time ago told of the insupportable taxes that were inposed upon the people. This source of consolation seems to be dried: Mr. Pitt gives us no hope of exhausting the resources of France; even Lord Auckland and George Rose are si'ent upon the subject; and well they may, for where is the man who would again believe their statements! Napoleon has, exclusive of his internal sources of revenue, four foreign ones, namely, Hanover, Holland, Spain and Portugal, whence he draws much more than can be required for supporting the expenses of a war like the present. From this fact, a fact, I think, which no one will dispute, Mr. Pitt inay learn, that military force is more valuable than money, because the former will always procure the latter, but the latter will not always procure the former. The prevalent notion in this country, and especially since Mr. Pitt has been at the head of affairs, has been, that money would at any time procure military force: we now see the fallacy of that notion, and we feel the fatal effects of having ever adopted it. The country is glutted with wealth, and we stand trembling over it like a miser over his bags. We would fain employ some of it to purchase assistance, but, such is the superior power and influence of our enemy, that no nation, how ever well-disposed to do it, dares to take our money. This is the state to which we have been reduced by the policy of a financier! After the fate of France under a Necker and of England under a Pitt, nations will, one would think, take warning by times! We are now absolutely at the mercy of our ene my by invading us, or by forbearing to invade us, either one way or the other, be is sure to effect our ruin; and, if he be so dis posed, the destruction of our government. The minister knows no more than any individual amongst us what will happen the next hour. His agents write to committers of coach-makers, telling them that an attack on our shores is daily exp: cted; and so said his predecessor a twelvemonth ago. If an invasion be expected from day to day, and if we are thus to stand waiting for it, amidst incessant alarms, our situation is not only disgraceful, but by far the most disgraceful that ever nation was reduced to; and, if an invasion be not expected, what are we to think of those who thus keep our eyes on the stretch across the Channel, as if to prevent us from seeing what is passing at home? But, the truth is, that, from all the measures, from the actions and the language of the ministers, they know nothing of the views of the enemy; they know not what to do; and really, as to vigour, there was as much, or more, vigour shown by Mr. Addington than there has been by Mr. Pitt, who appears to be infatuated on the subject of his Cinque-Port volunteers, and to be palsy-struck with respect to every thing else. All this the Russian Ambassador knows as well as we do, and he will not, therefore, see inuch to induce him to recommend a very close alliance with us. In a word, we are precisely in that state in which a nation is shunned by all the world; and we are shunned accordingly. The letter of D. W. which will be found in p. 220 of this sheet shall be noticed in the next. It discovers some ingenuity, but much more is required to reconcile the 13th resolution to any principle of fair representation.The MIDDLESEX ELECTION has, from the manner of its termination, become a great political object: as such it will command attention in the succeeding sheet.→→ My correspondent, whose letter upon the SLAVE TRADE was inserted in p. 178, shall hear from me soon. In the mean time I trust to the goodness of the cause against which his arguments are opposed. Printed by Cox and Baylis, No. 75, Great Queen Street, and published by R. Bagshaw, Bow Street, Covent Garden, where former Numbers may be had; sold also by J, Budd, Crown and Mitre, Pall-Mall. VOL. VI. No. 8.] LONDON, SATURDAY, AUGUST 25, 1804. PRICE 100. "There appear to be circumstances, in which paper-money cannot affect much the price of cer "tain articles of abundance. But wherever there is necessity and scarcity combined, paper-s· money will always be an instrument to add to the distress."-Howison's Investigation. 257] ་ A NARRATIVE OF THE PRINCIPAL OCCURRENCES DURING THE LATE ELECTION FOR THE COUNTY OF MIDDLESEX. The select committee of the House of Commons appointed to try and determine the merits of the several petitions, complaining of an undue election and return for the county of Middlesex, having, on the 9th of July, come to a determination that the said election was void, the Speaker was ordered to issue his warrant to the clerk of the crown to make out a new writ for the electing of a knight of the shire to serve in this present parliament for the county of Middlesex, and the day of election was fixed for Monday, the 23d of the same month. On the following day, the 10th instant, Sir Francis Burdett announced his intention of offering himself as a candidate by the following address, "To the Independent Freeholders of the County "of Middlesex. GENTLEMEN; the com"mittee of the House of Commons having decided the last election for the county of Middlesex to be void, I take the liberty *to request the favour of your vote and in "terest at the ensuing election, I have the "honour to be, gentlemen, your's, &c. "Francis Burdett."-On the 13th of July, the following freeholders of the county of Middlesex met at the Crown and Anchor Tavern," to consider of a proper person to represent the said county in parliament. "PRESENT, Henry Thornton, Esq. in the "chair, Sir W. Gibbons, bart., W. Mellish, "T. Mellish, John Bowles, Col. Wood, J. "Wells, T. Smith, T. Harrington, R. Wyatt, "P. Honderson, S. P. Cockrell, H. Colling"wood Silby, S. Coffer, Christopher Idle, "rev. J. Jefferson, Rev. J. Thirlwall S. Ed"wards, J. Hunter, J. Reid, D Hinley, "H Stevens, J. Andrews, J. Thompson, "Major Wright, G. Burchett, T. Taylor, "Ch. Lush, R. Simpson, J. Coggan, Joseph Rogers, J. Irving, Rev. W. J. French, "J. Newton, T. Longbottom; Esqrs." It was resolved, "That George Boulton Mainwaring, Esq., son of W. Mainwaring, Esq. the late worthy representative of this "county, be requested to offer himself a "candidate at the ensuing election to repre"sent the county of Middlesex, and that a general meeting of the freeholders in the [258 "interest of Mr. Mainwaring be held at the "Crown and Anchor Tavern in the Strand, on Monday next, at 12 o'clock, to consi"der the best means of exempting him from "all expenses, and of securing his election. "Henry Thornton, chairman."-On Monday, the 16th of July, a meeting of the friends of Mr. Mainwaring was held at the Crown and Anchor, pursuant to the above advertisement, Sir William Gibbons, bart. in the chair. The resolutions of the former day being read, and the chairman having stated that a difficulty had arisen on the former meeting, as to the propriety of members of parliament subscribing towards defraying the expences of the election; Mr. Mellish said, that a case had been laid before the attorney general upon that subject. His most decided opinion upon which, he held in his hand. He then read a letter from the attorney general, inclosing a draft on his banker for 1001. to be appropriated towards the purposes of the election. Sir W. Curtis observed, that the learned gent.'s opinion. met with his approbation in so high a degree, that he begged leave to subscribe for himself 1007. towards defraying the expences of Mr. Mainwaring's election, and 1007. more in case of a petition; he also subscribed 50 1. for his son, and 1001. for a gent. in the country, who had authorised him to appropriate any sum he might think necessary for that purpose.—Mr. Maddox next addressed. the meeting; he observed upon the amazing length of time, which the investigation of the late petition had occupied, and the immense expence in which it had involved Mr. Mainwaring, the unequivocal proof of that decided majority which Mr. Mainwaring had over Sir F Bardett, and which would have been considerably more, had Mr. Mainwariag objected to the assessed voters of Sir F. Burdett. The charges brought against Mr. Mainwaring were practised, he said, to a much greater degree by Sir F. Burdet; he had pitted his principles, and the weight and length of his purse, against the free and independent voice of the electors, of the conmy of Middlesex; who, he was now confident, would assert that freedom and independence, by their warm and zealous support of Mr. Mainwaring. He had known Mr. Mainwaring many years. He was a man who would ever act up to those principles which he had always avowed; he was a man, who would be alive to their interests, and indefatigable in his duty to his constituents, and the country at large. Their support of him now was only an act of gratitude due to his father; and he trusted he would meet with that zealous and spirited support which his own merit entitled him to, and which, above all, the cause they embarked in called upon them to give --Mr. John Bowles, proposed several resolutions, tending to the furtherance of the subscription, all of which, after some amendments, were unanimously agreed to. The subscription was then opened, and near 6,000 7. was subscribed; about 4,000l. towards defraying the expences of the election, and the remainder in case of a petition.- Mr. Mainwaring was now sent for, and apprised of the sequel of the meeting. He expressed his obligations to the electors, and assured them, that from that sense of duty which he owed to bimself, he could not undertake the contest, without a certainty, or, at least, a guarantee for such a sum as would defray the whole of the expences of the election. A conversation of some length then took place, in which the majority of the meeting expressed their decided determination to support Mr. Mainwaring to the utmost of their influence and fortunes. The meeting was then adjourned to the following day. At one o'clock on the 17th of July, the friends of Mr. Mainwaring met pursuant to adjournment. The chair was taken at two o'clock by Mr. Samuel Fyler; the resolutions of the previous meeting were read, and the additions to the former subscriptions made known to Mr. Mainwaring, jun. whoreque sted that hemight withdraw a short time, promising at his return that he would give the meeting a decisive answer. Mr. Mainwaring then retired from the room, ac companied by Sir W. Curtis, Mr. Melish, 66 " support the constitution of my country. "It is at the same time necessary to declare "to you, and I shall so declare to the world, "that it is not my intention to spend one farthing in the contest; and that a perfect indemnity from all, expenses must be clearly understood. I know, gentlemen, "you are taking upon yourselves a great "responsibility, and that you are willing to "bear it; yet I must press upon your far"ther consideration, that your good wishes, "however grateful, and satisfactory they "may be, are not sufficient to secure my " election. Some of the means resorted to 7 by Sir F. Burdett should be used. I say "some; for, God forbid, that all his means "should be resorted to: I only mean that an "immediate, active, and a vigorous canvass "should be set on foot; and that my friends, "if they wish me to succeed, should be "waking night and day, if possible, in my "interest. A bare majority will not suffice "the spirit of the county. The issue must "afford a complete triumph. I shall con"clude, gentlemen, with repeating the deep "sense of the honour conferred upon me; "and with enforcing the necessity of a large "attendance of freeholders at Brentford on 66 Monday next, the day appointed for the "election. I hope and trust in God-that your "efforts to save the county will be crowned "with triumph and success."-Mr. Joha Bowles also impressed upon the meeting the necessity of promoting the subscription as well as the canvass in their respective districts, observing, that money was the sinews of an election as well as it was of war." He concluded with moving certain resolutions, which were unanimously adopted, and publised in the shape of the following advertisement." Crown and Anchor Tavern, July 66 66 c. In about half an hour they returned to the meeting. Mr. Mainwaring then addressed himself to the freeholders, in nearly 17, 1804. At a numerous and respectable the following words, "I hope the electors meeting of the freebolders of the county "will liberally construe my reluctance and of Middlesex, held this day by adjourn "delay, by considering that the present is "ment, pursuant to advertisement for that an occasion in which my nearest and most purpose, Samuel Fyler, Esq. in the chair: essential interests, as well as my best feel-George Boulton Mainwaring, Esq. havings for the honour and welfare of the "ing attended this meeting, and acceded to "county are involved. My prudential ob- "the proposal which had been made him, "jections, however, have been fully satis- "to offer himself as a candidate to represent "fied; and I come forward under a speci- "this county in parliament: Resolved, that "fic guarantee-the devoted instrument in "the cordial thanks of this meeting be given "the hands of the electors-of rescuing the "to G. B. Mainwaring, Esq. for his acquies rights and franchises of the county of Mid- cence in the wishes of the freeholders: "dlesex, and of preventing, if possible,Resolved, that the friends of G. B. Main |