worthy and independent Electors of Westminster are earnestly requested to poll for the right hon. R. B. Sheridan, and sir S. Hood, bart. K. B.— That a power be given to this committee to admit such additional members as they may think fit.

MR. SHERIDAN AND MR. PAULL.

[From the Morning Chronicle.]

Sir; the state of the poll for the City of Westminster for these three days past, must excite astonishment or apprehension in the minds of every considerate man in the kingdom, who reviews the different Candidates, and reflects upon the nature of their pretensions. It has sometimes happened that boroughs have been taken by surprise, and that the predominant interests have been overpowered by a sudden and unexpected attack. On the present occasion I have heard it said, that Mr. Paull could not be a member for the City of Westminster; and yet we see the progress he has made towards the head of the poll! I know that many think it impossible that the Electors of this City should be guilty of so monstrous an absurdity, as to select the person and the principles of Mr. Paull, while they have eyes to see, or judgement to reason. They ought now to remember however, that those who have it in their power to rescue the seat of the government of the British empire, from the disgrace that threatens it, have but a few days more. to repair the effects of their indolence by their fu ture activity. On the claims of sir S. Hood it is needless to enlarge, because even those who have

laid down the principle that he is unfit, as a Naval Officer, to be a Member of Parliament, find it in vain to press their argument against the honest feeling of those whom in other points they have deluded. Let us consider what are the pretensions of Mr. Paull, compared with those of Mr. Sheridan.-There is no wonder that the faction of those who are neither friends to their country, nor its king and constitution, should make such efforts to seize by their own force or fraud, or by the indolence and apathy of their opponents, upon the Representation of this City. They know the importance they would acquire by the conquest and subjugation of the capital and seat of government. Sir Francis Burdett, the organ and the minister of the first consul at Wimbledon, long since told us of his doubts, whether there "were any thing in the country worth defending?" he has now told us that Buonaparté, at the head of 500,000 mercenaries in military array against us, is less dangerous than a hundred mercenaries, which he falsely supposes to be in the house of commons.Mark the artifice of the statement, and its conclusion! sir F. Burdett means to assert, what is notoriously a falsehood, that there are a hundred mercenaries in the house of commons ready to betray their country. Buonaparté, we know, has long threatened us with his 500,000 troops. What is the patriotic inference from these premises? Nothing else, but that we have more danger to fear from the house of commons than from Buonaparté. Mr. Paull has, at the Hustings, as well as on other

occasions,

occasions, avowed that the principles of sir Francis are his principles. And is this a recommendation to the vast majority of the enlightened voters of this City? Is it a recommendation to the friends of Mr. Fox, that Mr. Paull is the second-hand retailer of the abuse which has been cast upon that great man the disciple of him who has wantonly endeavoured to tarnish the lustre of Mr. Fox's reputation? At the very moment when those who had been the enemies of Mr. Fox were weeping over his grave, it remained for sir F. Burdett, who had professed himself his friend, to disturb, by his dissonant yells of savage triumph, that grief which every man's breast felt for the public loss. At a moment when rivalship had ceased, when enmity was softened, when former friendship and animosity were mingled in common expressions of regret for the death of Mr. Fox, sir F. Burdett alone came forward to mock at the general grief, and to scoff at the man whom all lamented. Was this generous? Was this manly? Had Mr. Fox been even his political foe, he should have remembered that there are times when, for the sake of decency and of human nature, the angry passion should cease:

"Vile is the vengeance on the ashes cold,

"And envy base to bark at sleeping fame."

But by the morality of the school where sir Francis Burdett has been formed, it seems that friendship is to be sacrificed on the tomb of the dead, and malevolence is kindled where it ought to be extinguished.

Is

Is it to the friends of Mr. Fox then that Mr. Paull addresses himself; or can he expect support from them? Is it to the friends of government that he can look, who deliberately declares himself the disciple of him who has said, that no man trusted by the crown, is fit to be a Representative of the people? If Mr. Paull is returned member for this City, every man must conclude that the constitution, as it now exists, is condemned by the suffrages of the Electors of Westminster-the seat of the king's government.-Mr. Paull is professedly a Candidate upon the interest of those who are avowedly hostile to the principles of this government. Let those who support him, from whatever motives, think of the consequences of enabling him to strike with effect at what he aims to destroy.But if there be any of the sober, rational friends of Liberty who are in danger of being beguiled by the professions of Mr. Paull, let them reflect a little before they listen to the exaggerated professions of one but little known to them, in opposition to one whom they dare not accuse of having, in a single instance, sought place at the expence of his duty and of the public interests.-Of Mr. Paull, though I happen to know something, I will say nothing but what arises from his public conduct, as far as all have witnessed it. He claims the confidence of the public, because he has strenuously persisted in his accusation of lord Wellesley. This is one of his pretensions.-Of the merits and demerits of lord Wellesley's administration in India, I am perfectly certain that the gentlemen assembled before

I

before the Hustings at Covent Garden, are not competent judges. But they are judges of such plain facts, as whether a man's conduct in particular instances has coincided with his professions.Mr. Paull professes that he will serve the people, and none but them, under the auspices of sir F. Burdett. Even if there were merit in the profession, are we to believe him, if we have seen this very man profess sentiments he did not feel, and respect he never entertained?--In a letter to lord Wellesley, dated the 5th Dec., 1802, after all the enormities of which he now accuses lord Wellesley had been committed, Mr. Paull professes confidence in the excessive wise, liberal, and enlightened policy, that marked every act of the administration of his excellency;-" to whom no man ever complained in vain, who complained with justice." -These have been Mr. Paull's professions. I do not quote the above letter (which I defy Mr. Paull to deny) for the purpose of entering into a controversy about lord Wellesley. I appeal, however, to every honourable man, to every gentleman, whether it be possible that any person of spirit and honour could so write to one whose whole conduct he disapproved, and whom he had resolved to impeach for the greatest crimes? But Mr. Paull did so. What is the conclusion? but that when it suits his purpose, when convenient for his interest, Mr. Paull can profess sentiments he does not feel; that he is capable of every kind of simulation and dissimulation for the most sordid ends.-I am confident Mr. Paull can offer no other apology for

the