* tism," were heard from ten thousand mouths at once. Find ing that this did not take, he, as a prelude to another meditated stroke, began to pay some compliments to me, which compliments, coming from him, I took the earliest opportunity to say that I rejected with scorn. They, however, answered his purpose in obtaining silence, which he availed himself of to say, that he "detested my recommendation for breaking faith with the * public creditors;" which words were hardly out of his mouth when the air rang with shouts of indignant surprise; and this unusual clamour, in which every voice had been strained to its atmost, being followed by a short interval of comparative silence, a man, from the middle of the crowd, in a very distinct voice, uttered the following words: "Hear! hear! "hear! Sheridan; Richard Brinsley Sheridan, DETESTS “BREAKING FAITH WITH CREDITORS!" Which words were echoed and re-echoed through every part of the immense multitude collected in Covent-Garden and the adjoining streets and houses. The venal prints have recorded his observations levelled at me; but, they have taken special care not to notice the indignation and sarcasm drawn forth from the people by those observations.-Mr. Paull's address to the Electors, after the election, you have seen, sir, (p. 293). Mr. Sheridan's you may also have seen, (p. 298*) and, if you have, I think I may venture to say, that so strong a mark of mental imbecility never before met your eye. Is this the man of great talents? Whither, then, are those talents fled? And what has chased them from their former abode? Is this the man, who has the modesty to rail against Mr. Paull, as a person unfit, from want of talents, to represent the City of Westminster? Could not the Whitbreads and the Moores and the Russells, and the whole of the pompous pretenders to superiority of mind, make up any thing better than this senseless address, especially after having taken three days to write and alter and improve? Are we, indeed, to be told, that we shall all be ruined, unless we have men like these to rule us? In yourself, sir, and in men like you, I for my part, have no objection to acknowledge a real superiority; but, in men, such as we have had to contend with at Westminster, and of whom, at every step, we have proved ourselves to be the superiors in every thing of which men are laudably proud, base and despicable is the meanest man amongst us who acknowledges a superiority, and especially when the acknowledgment

knowledgment is, and with so much insolence too, demanded at our hands. Of the high blood of our opponents, and particu larly of the Sheridans, I have before spoken, and I will not, there fore, offend your ears with their disgusting pretensions upon this score. But, sir, it was impossible to hear the language of our opponents in general; the language of the several branches of but too many of the titled families, of the bankers, of the farmers of taxes, of loan-makers, and others, without looking back to the real causes of the destruction of the French Government, and to the conduct of the titled families when the French Revolution broke out, and when the unhappy King stood in need of the de fence of the titled families. And, what had we done, that we were to be treated as persons too low and insignificant to be heard in public? We had only claimed the exercise of that right, which the King's writ not only called upon us, but commanded us to exercise. We had called upon all the free Electors to choose a Candidate free from the influence of either King or Minister; and, were we, for this, to be treated as low and insignificant men? We have convinced our adversaries, that we are not insignificant even now; and, let fortune but give us another opportunity, and we will produce in their minds, if they are not completely stultified, the further conviction, that ours is not a sinking propensity. Mr. Paull, as you have seen, Sir, obtained not only much more suffrage than either of the other Candidates, but much more than had ever been before obtained by any Candidate for the representation of the city of Westminster. And, Sir, this was done without any unfair means. We made no attempt to deceive or seduce the people. No sentiment was expressed by us, that I myself had not expressed in print, when addressing myself to the dispassionate judgment of my realers, who, from the very nature of my publi cation, are, in general, to be found in what we commonly call the higher ranks of life. I never addressed myself to the ignorance and discontent and prejudice of the people; nor has Mr. Paull done it

now.

No influence, other than that which was visible to all the world, did any of us use; and, as to myself, though there were many persons in Westminster, on whom I might have imposed almost a command to vote for Mr. Paull, I defy any man to say, that 'I even solicited a vote from any person under obligations to me. The law says, that "Elections ought to be perfectly free;" and the dictates of the law I have, both in Hampshire and in Westminster, strictly obeyed. To say the truth, however, no com

mands

mands were, on our part, necessary. We found all the free voice of the people for us; and, amongst those who were not free, we invariably met with hearty wishes for our success. The united influence of the Government, the aristocracy, and the dependent clergy, operating upon avarice, upon self-interest, and upon selfpreservation, was, with the aid of splitting votes, too numerically powerful for us; but, we had with us all the truly independent and virtuous men in the middle class of society. If the list of our voters were examined, it would be found, that we had not for us one play-actor, not one vagabond, not one of those immense numbers who live by means, which are notoriously illegal, or immoral. Yes, Sir, it will always be our boast, that, out of the 4481, persons, who voted for Mr. Paull, only 335 voted for Mr. Sheridan ; and, it will be amusing enough for you to hear, that Mr. Sheridan has the honour to number amongst his voters every one who voted at all of those godly persons, the members of the Society for the Suppression of Vice!!! Mr. BALDWIN, to whose name, though he verges upon threescore, is generally prefixed, for what reason you may probably guess, the infantine appellation of BILLY; this gentleman, who is a Commissioner of Taxes, Paymaster of the Police-men's salaries, and a member of the House of Commons, in which latter capacity he, of course, votes the money that he himself receives on his own account; this gentleman, who was as busy and as clamorous in the cause of Mr. Sheridan as if he had never been a dependent of the duke of Portland; this gentleman had the modesty to say, upon the Hustings, that he would have the names of Mr. Paull's voters published, "that none of them might "ever be admitted into gentlemen's company." Now, what will Billy Baldwin say, when I publish the names of all the placemen, pensioners, and the relations of placemen and pensioners; of all the tax-gatherers, magistrates, police-men, and dependent clergy; of all the play-actors, scene-shifters, candle-snuffers, and persons following illegal, or immoral callings? What will Billy Baldwin say, when I publish the names of all the persons of these classes, who have voted for Mr. Sheridan, and when I take care to show the people of England the sums which the voters of the former classes reecive from them in taxes? He surely will not complain of illiberal dealing? Billy Baldwin, as the organ of our high-blooded adversaries, has thrown down the gauntlet; and shame upon our cause if there be a single man amongst us so base as to be afraid to take it up!-You have, doubtless, read, sir, a description of the

chairing

chairing of the two "favourite" Candidates, as they are called by the venal writers of the daily press; and, until you read Mr. Paull's last address, it will certainly have appeared odd to you, that, favou➡ rites as they were, they should not have followed the invariable custom of being chaired round Covent Garden. They no more dared to attempt it, than general Reignier dared to attempt being chaired through our army in Egypt. They slipped away from the Hustings, carefully keeping from the people all knowledge of their intentions; and, while the people were waiting in Covent Garden, they got to their CAR, through a narrow passage, which leads from St. Paull's church into Henrietta-street. The car, which had been constructed by the people of Drury Lane Theatre, was surrounded by beadles, constables, police-officers and police-magistrates, to whom, even their own venal prints inform: us, had been added the numerous officers of the Thames police. "The people," of whom they talk, as huzzaers, consisted of the playactors, scene-shifters, candle-snuffers, and mutes of the theatre, aided by a pretty numerous bevy of those unfortunate females, who are, in some sort, inmates of that mansion. So that, the procession did, altogether, bear a very strong resemblance to that of BLUE-BEARD. The "favourite" Candidates were almost entirely hidden by large branches of laurel, which the property-man, as they call him, of Drury Lane Theatre, had placed round the car; but, notwithstanding this, and notwithstanding the Constables and police officers (some of them on horseback and armed with cutlasses) were placed six deep on each side of the car, the mud found its way to the inside of it; and, as the venal prints inform us, one man was actually seized and committed to prison, for this act of throwing mud at the "favourite" Candidates! About the time that they had got in safety to their place of dining, Mr. Paull set off from Covent Garden to his house, conducted by thousands upon thousands of men. Soon afterwards Mr. Paull, together with sir Francis Burdett, set out from Charlesstreet to the Crown and Anchor; and, though it was now dark, the zeal of the people overcame even that inconvenience; for, the street quickly became as light as if it had been day. There needed no money to be given to buy torches. The people felt that they were asserting their own rights; that they were engaged in their

20***

Own

own cause; and, sir, if I am told that they were foolish, let me never again be told, that they discover their good sense and their patriotism when they draw the carriages and light the way of such men as lord Nelson.-Let us now look back upon the "favourite" Candidates. As to the Commodore, few people, I believe, grudged him the honour of being the colleague, of being encircled in the embraces, of that man, from whose political touch lord Percy had recoiled; and, as to Mr. Sheridan himself, though he talked of a victory, he well knew, he severely felt, that the 19th of November, the day when he was returned for Westminster, was the day of his everlasting political disgrace. Before Mr. Paull offered himself as a Candidate, no notion existed in the mind of Mr. Sheridan that he should have any even the slightest opposition to encounter. He expected that the Election would pass off as lord Percy's had done; and, I dare say, his speech for the occasion, was already prepared. He would have considered himself as the successor f Mr. For; so he would have been considered by the greater part of the country; and, he would have taken care to make the minister consider him as having the people of PalaceYard always ready to petition or remonstrate, at his nod. In short, the cup of his ambition was just touching his lip when we came and dashed it to the ground. The charm we dissolved; all his arts of delusion we baffled; we exhibited him in his true colours; and, in those colours he will be seen unto the end of his days. Previous to the publication of Mr. Paull's first address, Mr. Sheridan's friends gave it out, that he had refused any assistance from the ministry, being resolved to be the Candidate of the people. What, then, sir, must have been his feelings, when he was, at last, compelled to go, surrounded with his friends, and humbly implore the protection of the minister; aye, of that very man, whose public character and conduct, and whose talents as a statesman, had, for years, been subjects of his almost incessant censure and his affected contempt!-Sir, I cannot see him, thus stripped of his independence by an overweening confidence in his powers of delusion; I cannot see him upon a level with the holder of a treasury borough, while I see you a representative of your native county, having had recourse to no mean arts, but relying upon your own virtue and upon the friendship of a truly independent and honourable man; I cannot view this contrast without reverting to the time, when

Mr.