rial creature. I disliked him on that account from the first; and the seeing of his wounded arm projected out to the people, while his great coat is studiously turned back to expose his star and tawdry ribbons, has by no means tended to lessen that dislike. Constantly, therefore, have I said, and I still say, that of the two, give me the man of talents, who is able, and may, possibly, become willing, to render the country some service in parliament: Besides, ill as Mr. Sheridan has behaved of late, and now towards myself, I have seen him receive, in the loud and unanimous reproaches of the people, a punishment far beyond the measure of any revenge that heart is capa ble of entertaining. Friday, Nov. 14.

my

The offer, which Mr. Sheridan asserted to have been made by me, previous to the Election, for Mr. Paull to split votes with Mr. Sheridan, has been proved never to have been made. After Mr. Sheridan knew that my Register was gone to the press, he published in the Morning Chronicle, my first letter, (see p. 186.) and which letter he had before said implied a proposition to split votes with him; a proposition which, he further said, he rejected with scorn. The reader was convinced of the falsehood of this by Mr. Sheridan's answer to me, (see p. 194.); and, to give him an idea of Mr. Sheridan's candour, I need only say, that he took special care not to publish this his letter,

in the Morning Chronicle! In addition to my letter, Mr. Sheridan published a note from Mr. Paull to Mr. Finnerty; which letter, together with the substance of a short conversation between Mr. Finnerty, Mr. Paull, and myself, Mr. Sheridan extracted from Mr. Finnerty, in the first instance, without avowing any intention to publish them! And yet, it is the partisans of a man like this, who have the impudence to accuse others of a breach of private confidence! By all these pitiful acts Mr. Sheridan has, however, gained nothing. The town was astonished, not at his falsehood, but at his folly, when, from his own publication, it was clearly proved that no offer of splitting votes had ever been made to him.-I mentioned, (see p. 196.) that Mr. Rodwell on the part of Mr. Sheridan, had made such an offer to Mr. Paull. The answer, which, by me, in behalf of Mr. Paull, was given to Mr. Rodwell, I have now obtained; and it was as follows: "Sir; Mr. Paull being engaged in mat"ters previously before him, he requested me to say, in answer to your letter, signifying a "wish on your part, that he would couple him"self with Mr. Sheridan, that he has, from the

beginning, publicly as well as privately, decla"red that he was not, and would not be connected "with either of the other Candidates; a declaration, "which, for your satisfaction, he begs me now "to repeat." Now, reader, observe, that Mr. Rodwell showed this letter to Mr. Sheridan and Mr. Peter Moore, the chairman of his Committee;

and, they have taken special care not to publish it; nay, to give another instance of the blessings of the liberty of the daily press, Mr. Rodwell sent the letter for publication in the Morning Chronicle; but, upon a shuffling pretext that the editor (Mr. Spankie) was not to be seen, it was kept out of that paper!

Friday, Nov, 22.

W. COBBETT.

TWELFTH

TWELFTH DAY.

Saturday, November 15.

Immediately after the books were taken away, Mr. P. MOORE came forward and addressed the Electors. He said that he was induced, at a very early period of the contest, in common charity to the little satellite who opposed Mr. Sheridan, to exhort him to desist from a pursuit in which he might be assured of ultimate failure, and in the prosecution of which he could not hope to gain any credit. But what was the conduct of Mr. Paull? Why, that instead of feeling any gratitude towards him for his salutary counsels, he had been uniformly desperate in his harangues against him, ever since sir F. Burdett had gone to Middlesex, never ceasing to mock those predictions which this little gentleman and his Gallican partisans now found to be true. He had repeatedly told these gentlemen that he would put an extinguisher upon Mr. Paull, and he had been absent from the Hustings only because he was actively engaged in canvassing, with a view to carry his promise into execution. He had foretold the downfall and disgrace of Mr. Paull, even when he was 600 a-head of his illustrious friend; and what was now the fact? Why, that the friends of real liberty, talent, and public spirit, had placed Mr. Sheridan on the poll no less than 200 above Mr. Paull's good and bad votes put together. Therefore the continuance of

exertion

exertion on the part of Mr. Sheridan's friends was alone necessary completely to ensure his success. The hon. gentleman congratulated the Electors, that the Middlesex flambeau was nearly extinguished, and that the Westminster rush-light was quite gone out. He congratulated Westminster, that there was no danger of its being disgraced by a Representative, who was capable only of speaking Billingsgate, and disposed only to support French principles. He concluded with exhorting the friends of Mr. Sheridan to persevere in their activity until they compelled the little satellite to depart from the Hustings with his allies, the mob, with whom alone he was fit to associate.

The state of the Poll was then declared, viz.

Mr. WHITBREAD stated to the Electors, that Mr. Sheridan was 201 a-head of his opponent upon the whole poll, but exhorted the friends of Mr. Sheridan not, on that account, to relax their exertions in his favour, but to persevere with increased activity to the last moment.

Mr. SHERIDAN now came, and spoke nearly as follows:-".Gentlemen, I congratulate you heartily on the triumph of the day; but my next word must be, to intreat you, for your own honour, and the honour of the great cause you have espoused, not to relax one atom in your exertions, until the same zeal and spirit which have so bravely recovered the ground we lost at first, have placed me securely apon that eminence on which you so anxiously