VOL. VI. No. 9.]. LONDON, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 180-1. 321] PRICE 10D. "Plums and Directors, Shylock and his wife, STATE OF IRISH CURRENCY. SIR, I have to acknowledge the obligation I feel for your insertion of my letter on Irish currency, in your Register of the 28th ult., (p. 137). I beg leave to say a few words in reply to your observations upon it. You have stated it as your opinion, that the government of Ireland is not deserving of the censure which I have attributed to it. As the issuing of coin is the prerogative of the Crown, so of necessity must the preservation of it pure and without depreciation, be one of its indispensable duties. The executive government of Ireland are bound to attend to the state of the coins in the realm over which it presides, and the subjects of it have a just right to look to it for that care, and that wisdom, and such measures as are best calculated to prevent the evils which have been experienced. That these evils have originated in the bank restriction I freely admit; but that the state of the currency in this country reflects great discredit on the government of it, and is proof of deficiency of those talents which an able government should possess, is too true, in my humble opinion, to be denied. If at the period when the debasement of the silver coin first became the subject of universal complaint, which I have stated in my letter to have been about two years ago, the government had acted wisely, they might have. easily checked the subsequent destructive debasement, by ordering the public offices to do, what they afterwards did, when they at once put an end to the circulation of white currency; for it is very evident, that if the public offices were prohibited by government to take bad coin in payments, the circulation of pewter and brass could never have become so general as to produce a complete debasement of the silver currency. -The blame I impute to government is not that of having committed errors, but of doing nothing, and thereby not committing itself in any manner whatsoever. Many evils are complained of, and nothing done to remedy them, though they increase daily; the government is upright, honest and impartial, but evils are complained of in the administration of justice; evils are complained of in consequence of partial superiority, as to political rights, of one portion of the people of this country, over a portion [322 of them treble in number. The government does nothing out of the common course of the routine of business, and therefore apparently does no wrong; but wrongs of great extent exist, are daily growing up, and hourly increasing. The system of government is too passive for the circumstances of the country. There is no country on earth that requires a more active and vigorous government than Ireland, and for this reason, because all its laws and ordinances, the political measures of centuries, and the various systems of rule which have been experimented here, conspire to produce in every hour some new evil that requires the interposition of government. The basis of regulation in this country is so defective, that instead of conducing to promote a facility of governing, it only engenders a result of error and additional defective regulation. The state of Ireland is of such a nature, as to require, not the insignificant aid of one partial measure, which may in itself be good, and reflect credit on the author it, but such a purification from the crimes and follies of six centuries, of a short-sighted and jealous. system of managing the affairs of Ireland, as can only be effected by a comprehensive investigation into the causes of complaint, and such a reformation in every department, as will be calculated to please all parties, and to set at rest for ever that jealousy and those apprehensions which have hitherto actuated the British cabinet.-I have been led into this general discussion of the state of Ireland unawares, in attempting to justify my former position respecting the conduct of government in regard to the silver cur. rency. I should, on reading it over, have erased it, as foreign to the subject, but that it strikes me, that the perusal of it by some of your readers may be productive of advantage. Should this outline of my ideas concerning the political state of Ireland appear to you, Mr. Cobbett, in the same light, I shall on a future occasion submit to your consideration a more detailed communication on this interesting subject. At present, I shall return to that of Irish silver and copper currency. In the first place, it is necessary to remark, that even at this pe riod, Mr. Corry's remedy has not operated; and that, notwithstanding the proclamation of Sir Evan Nepean (whom Mr. Pitt ap pears to have discovered to have been somewhat out of his element), the greatest difficulty prevails throughout the kingdoar for small change. The consequence of the disappearance of white metal currency, bas been an universal issue of paper, tokens by every shopkeeper of every description, in amount from 6d. to 9s. They acquired circulation through the emergency of the moment, and then comes the new act of parliament for abolishing them. The act has not arrived in the country so as to be read, and the people hearing that such an act has passed, take it for granted that all the tokens they hold will be lost to them; and a new scene of confusion, uncertainty and complaint, has been the result., Employers cannot pay those whom they employ, till a large sum is due to them; the latter can ill manage to wait thus long for the earnings of their labour; and even when they obtain their due, they cannot purchase the small quantities of the variety of articles which constitute the food and cloathing of themselves and families.-This is not all: since the Bank of Ireland have issued Bolton's dollars at 6s. the whole of the Spanish dollars, which have been issued into circulation in prodigious quanties, at 5s. 11d. per dollar, are at once sunk in value to 4s. 10d. Our currency, therefore, presents a very strange feature in the history of commercial policy. A loss has been and is sustained of 101. per cent. by all landlords, and other persons, whose income is paid in bank-paper, and is secured to them by old contracts. A loss has been sustained of 751. per cent. upon the whole of the white metal currency; in some instances it operated as a loss to individuals of several hundred pounds; as whatever sums were on hand when this coin was cried down, seldom produced more than 251 per cent. A loss of near 201. per cent. has been sustained by all persons holding Spanish dollars, on the issuing of the new Bank dollars; and a considerable loss must accrue to the holders of the paper tokens, now that the issuers of them are suddenly called upon to pay off the immense amount, that has been sent into circulation since last April.Let us now examine the state of the copper currency. This term in Ireland is, in the first instance, inapplicable to any description of our currency, since the days of King James; notwithstandjug the reign of William, and the famous toast, the glo rious memory," not only wooden shoes, but brass money have still continued to exist. Though Mr. Edgeworth has ably related the fatal catastrophie that once attended the theskying of a copper," no description of coin, that has been current in this in this coun try for many years, has been, even in any solitary instance, fabricated of that metal. To ascertain what alterations have been ef fected, and are likely to take place, in th portion of the currency vulgarly called "brass," we must understand, that previous to any alteration being apparent, the pieces which composed it were all of them tolerably well stamped with the King's head on one side, and the harp on the other, and that no pieces of brass, or copper and brass, were current, unless they possessed this qua Jification; but as it is now usual to see thin fat pieces of a mixture of metals, of the colour of halfpence, circulating without any appearance of a stamp, and, in fact, little better than buttons beaten quite flat, and the shanks taken from them, it becomes interesting to examine into the causes of their admission into circulation, and to consider the probable consequences that will attend it. The cause I conceive to be as follows: the scarcity of silver produced so great an inconvenience from the difficulty of obtaining change, that a great demand suddenly took place for halfpence; the tropble of carrying them and counting them was of no consideration, in comparison with the assistance they afforded. The number of them were unequal to supply the demand; the wants of the public induced it to admit any thing in receiving payment, which would again be taken in making it; and thus, as in the case of the paper and silver curren cies, there came to pass a general acquies cence to admit a most debased brazen currency. The coiners, who had lost the shilling trade, did not fail to take advantage of the wants of the public, and their mints are now as productive as ever in supplying the kingdon with a circulating medium. The consequence of this acquiescence of the public to take, and of government to per mit the progress of this debased coin, must be the same as that which attended the same acquiescence in regard to the debased white metal coin; namely, the sudden stop, page of its circulation, and at some period not very distant, new, and even greater difficluties than have hitherto been experienced. -I have now given you, Mr. Cobbett, as faithful a description of the different metal currencies in Ireland, as my means have enabled me. I do think the government was remiss in not obliging the public offices to refuse bad silver in the first appearance, two years ago, of an excessive debasement; and that it is now wanting in its duty, and has been so since last April, in not pro viding an abundant supply of copper coin. No nation was ever more insulted than this was, when its finance minister gravely informed the House of Commons, that the and evils of our currency were remedied; certainly no instance has ever before occur red in any nation, of the chief minister of a government proclaiming the necessity of taking bad coin, as a means of removing the inquiry which had resulted from its debasement. -I. T.-Dublin, Aug. Sth. PLOT AT WARSAW. 1326 wife also (the latter, understanding but little French, took no part in the conversa tion). "Take no apprehension about your wife" (said they next); "we will carry her to France along with you; and we repeat it, your fortune is made." The glasses of punch went round briskly. Coulon, fearing to intoxicate himself, would drink no more. They separated; and on seeing them to the door, Coulon heard the two strangers say to each other, in bad Italian, "Time presses; we have not a moment to lose.". Next day, Sunday the 22d, à man called He twice during the forenoon at Coman hé was gone out. In the evening had been his guide, if he still persisted in Translated from the Courier de Londres. For some time past a variety of reports, did not know came and asked him to walk but to which the degree of attention which they deserved had not been paid, had given along with him a few yards; and spoke of the conversation that had taken place the intimation that some design was in agitation against the person of Louis XVIII. At day before. Coulon agreed. The unknown last, the 22d July brought to light the in-carried him into the Old Town, then to the New Town, and then into a house, the si fernal plots carried on at St. Cloud, by a fotuation of which he could not point out, on reigner, who has dared to seat himself on account of the darkness of the night, and the Throne of St. Louis.On Friday the 20th July, two men came into a billiard the winding lanes by which he had been room, kept by one Coulon, a Frenchman by conducted to it. There they found one of birth, and put several indirect questions to the two persons he had seen the night behim concerning the King. They were ac-fore, who asked him, as did the man who quainted with Coulon's intimacy with the King's domestics, particularly with his cook. Next day these same men came back, and asked Coulon, in a more direct "whether the King went abroad manner, frequently?-if he went out by himself?what were the number and persons of his suite and if they were armed?" Coulon, thinking these questions proceeded from mere curiosity, gave on cach point the answer required. In the course of the conversation, the two persons inquired, to whom the billiard table belonged? "It is mine" (said Coulon), but I have not paid for it." "How, then, do you expect your establishment?" "I got a pay pay for loan of the money, and I intend to it out of the profits." "There is a way" (replied the strangers)" by which you might immediately gain a great deal of said, in an angry tone," what do you mean gone, and "And how so?" "We will tell by that? Boyer is not here; he is money." will not return for two days." Coulon inyou; but the thing is to be a profound secret." "O, if that were all," said Coulon.sisted on the money; again mentioned his "But take care; your life might be in danger." "Never mind; say on." The men then explained to him their plan; and said, that being acquainted with all the servants of the King's family, and particularly the cook, he could go into the kitchen at any time without exciting any suspicion. "If you should succeed" (added they)" your fortune is made." Coulon hesitated;spoke of his wife. The two strangers sent for punch and made Coulon drink, and his to for wife, the expenses of the journey, &c. They told him not to be uneasy on that score, that he had nothing more to do than to come next day at eleven o'clock in the evening, and be within 20 yards of the Village Neuf; From the time that Louis XVIII. had resided at Warsaw, the French government had one Ga lon Boyer, with the title of Commercial Agent. There never had been a person in that capacity at Warsaw before.-Note of the Editor of the Courier de Londres. that there some one would give him the packet; that he was to put it into the pot on Tuesday the 24th July, that then he should go to the Five Gallowses, where he should find a person who would conduct him to a place of safety, and carry him into France. And my wife?" said Coulon. "Give yourself no trouble on that head; and there is a ducat to drink with the cook."At At one in the morning they left this house; forced away Coulon, who wished to stop till day, saying, that his house was shut, and then they carried him back to his house by bye-ways Coulon immediately went, and waited on M. the Baron de Milleville, Usher to the Queen, and informed him of the plot. M. de Milleville communicated it to. M. de Pienne, First Gentleman of the Chamber to the King's Chambers; and M. Count de Avaray, Captain of the King's Guards, ordered that the report should be put in writing, signed and cyphered. M. the Count d'Avaray thought it proper to conceal from his Majesty the danger till he had obtained more positive information. The life of all the Royal Family was threatened, and he was afraid that the sensibility of the King, alarmed for the safety of the Queen, and of Madame the Duchess d'Angouleme, would betray a secret which his courage would easily have kept if his own life merely had been in danger. Without losing a moment, M. the Count d'Avaray sent to ask an audience of M. the President de Hoym, in which he laid before him an account of the intended crime, pointing out to him the necessity either of preventing the consequences of such an attempt, or of unmasking the imposture of a man who had denounced a conspiracy only in the hope of obtaining a reward. M. the President de Hoym' on this occasion displayed a zeal with which M. d'Avaray was much affected. He au well founded, to cause the authors of the plot to be arrested by the King's domestics, either at the rendezvous near the Five Gibbets, or in the walks of Lazienky (a country house near Warsaw inhabited by the King), and to send them to the Garde de Corps, whither M. de Hoym promised to repair in person.On the morning of the 23d M. de Avaray sent for the King's cook, and after having bound him by an oath to preserve inviolable secresy as to the subject about to be entrusted to him, he ordered him to let Coulon come into the kitchen, and to allow him to come near the pot. On the other hand the Baron de Milleville had been ordered to send Coulon orders to in repair to the rendezvous appointed at eleven in the evening, the same day of the 23d July. Coulon obeyed with fear. After passing the Barriere leading to the village Neuf; he was followed by a a man, who a few minutes cried" Are you Coulon?" "Yes," replied he. Then another man came out from a field of corn. Both of them told Coulon not to go any farther, lest the dogs should raise an the dogs should raise an alarm. They asked him if he continued in the same intentions? Coulon answering in the affirmative, they gave him a packet and six crowns, expressly recommending to him not to turn the packet upside down, because it contained carrots, hollow in the inside, and what was in them might fall out.--Coulon demanded the money promised. The others an. swered that they could not give more, having already been several times deceived, and not considering themselves perfectly sure of him. On this, Coulon said to them, "if you distrust me, let one of you go along with me, I will get him introduced." They refused, saying it was impossible; be sides too, he might already have prated of the affair, though they did not believe he had. "For the rest," added they," if you do not succeed, it will be your own fault, if you do, you have only to repair on Saturday to Sochaczer. The Postmaster of the place, who knows you, will make you welcome, and will give you whatever you want. When you arrive there, we will give you the 400 louis d'ors, and we will set off for France together. If you do not do this on Saturday, on Sunday you shall not be in life. We have promised you 400 louis d'ors, but you shall have roo more for every person who dies within a month." They then pointed out to him the forty-fifth tree from the barrier on the road to Village Neuf. At the foot of this tree they buried a handkerchief, one of the corners of which be unable to execute the project in the course of Tuesday the 24th, he was to take away the handkerchief, and in case of suc cess he was to leave it. On leaving him they gave him a small bottle, and said to him, you will drink two glasses of this before entering, which will give you cou rage, and when you have put in the packet you need not be afraid, because it will not operate suddenly." They then told' him, that if he should remove the handkerchief, they would see him again in the evening. Coulon asked where? They told him to give himself no trouble, for they knew very well where to find him. Coulon declared that he could not be certain, if the two men who met him on the night between the 23d and 24th were the same, who first made the proposition to him; but that he was very certain, that the tallest of the two, who was present at all the interviews, was the person who gave him, the pacquet, and placed the handkerchief, &c. The two men followed him to the end of the road. On their leaving him he fainted away, and was assisted by a Prussian Officer, who happened to be passing. All these facts are extracted from a declaration which Coulon made on the 24th. On the evening of the same day he added to his former declaration, that the street to which he had been conducted by the two strangers was Siegengasse (Siegen-street). He thinks he entered a sort of court surrounded with houses. as As far Las he could judge he went out by a different door from that he entered by, and before which there were trees and a palissade of planks, He was in a chamber, on the second floor, which had two windows, and where there was a chest of drawers, painted of a pale mahogany colour, and placed close by one of the windows.-On the morning of the 24th, Coulon carried the packet and the bottle to M. de Milleville, who went instantly to Lazienky, and comanunicated the whole to the Count d'Avaray. This nobleman having had a conversation, in the evening with the President de Hoyme, wrote to him requesting an interview. M. de Hoym repaired at ten in the morning to the house of the Count d'Avaray, who communicated to him the declaration of Coulon, and shewed him the packet and the bottle. The Count d'Avaray requested the President de Hoym to sign an attestation of the communication made to him. M. d'Avaray, who had put his seal on the articles committed to him by M. de Milleville, asked M. de Hoym to do the same. [To be continued.]. DOMESTIC OFFICIAL PAPERS, Circular Letter from Lord Hawkesbury to the Lords Lieutenants of Counties in Great-Britain, dated Whitehall, Aug. 20, 1804. MY LORD, I have received his Majesty's commands to communicate to your lordship the inclosed particulars of an arrangement to be adopted in the several counties of G. Britain, in the event of the invasion of the country in force by the enemy. His Majesty relies on your zeal and exertions in giving effect, within the county committed to your charge, to those regulations, which in the supposed crisis may become indispens sable, for the purpose of preventing the confusion which, in the first moment of alarm, might otherwise arise, and of the utmost importance with a view to the ope rations of his Majesty's army, to the protec tion of individuals, and to the internal peace and tranquillity of the country. I request that your lordship would inform me, with as little delay as possible, of the names of the magistrates to whom you would propose to entrust the different divisions of the county of, and that you would communicate to them the heads of the proposed arrangements, and concert with them as to the most effectual means of carrying them into complete execution.It is essential, that the magistrates who are thus employed, should, if possible, be persons not holding commissions as volunteer officers, nor liable on any other account to be removed from the county in which they reside.-His Ma jesty has the fullest reliance that, in the event of the enemy succeeding in making good a landing on the coast of this kingdom, the loyalty and public spirit of all classes of his subjects will induce them to submit to every sacrifice, and to concur in exertion which the safety of the country may render necessary; and that they will be impressed with the conviction that the peace and good order of those districts which shall not be attacked by the enemy, will contribute most effectually to assist the exertions of his forces in those parts of the country which may become the theatre of the war, and of enabling him thereby to bring the contest in which we may be en gaged to a speedy and glorious termination -I have only to add, that directions will be given to the general, or other officer commanding the district in which the county of -- is included, to communicate with your lordship on the subject of these regulations, and to afford you every assistance in carrying them, if necessary, into execution. I have the honour to be, &c... HAWKESBURY. REGULATIONS for the preservation of good Order, to be adopted in case of actual Invasion, in each County in Great-BritainDated Aug. 12, 1804. The magistrates of each division of the county remaining at home, to sit daily at a place to be appointed in each division for that purpose. To procure the trust-worthy housekeepers and others to enrol themselves to serve as special constables under their orders, where the same has not been already done pursuant to the secretary of state's. circular letter of the 8th of Nov. last.-To be attended at the place appointed for each divisiou by an officer of the volunteer force, if any should remain in that division, and |