Halle. He was made prisoner, with 100 | Report to His Highness the Prince of Neufof the men: 200 are returned to Leipsic. -The Duke of Padua is arrived at Leipsic, where he is collecting his cavalry to clear all the left bank of the Elbe.

Published by R. BAGSHAW, Brydges-Street, Covent-Garden.
LONDON: Printed by J. M'Creery, Black Horse-Court, Fleet-street.

TIC

COBBETT'S WEEKLY POLITICAL REGISTER.

VOL. XXIII. No. 26.] LONDON, SATURDAY, JUNE 26, 1813.

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[Price 1s.

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ed in my last number? Not only were we SUMMARY OF POLITICS. at peace with Sweden when those odious TREATY WITH SWEDEN.At the con- calumnies were circulated through this clusion of my article upon this subject, in country; not only, according to our law of the last number of my Register, I express- libel, were those calumnies libellous; not ed my extreme delight at that part of this only were the publications, if true, libellous treaty, which, in so ample a manner ac- in the eyes of our law of libel; but, as we knowledges His Royal Highness, Berna- now find, as we now have it stated from dotte, to be the legitimate heir to the Swe- the lips of Lord Castlereagh himself, those dish Grown and Dominions. If any thing publications were false, describing as being could have added to this delight, it would every thing that was infamous, a Personage have been a passage in the speech of Lord whom we now find to possess almost every Castlereagh, made in the House of Com- princely virtue in the highest degree. mons on the 18th instant, touching the Why, then, were not these atrocious cacharacter of His Royal Highness. The lumniators called to account, and punishsubject of debate was the treaty with ed? It surely must have been owing to Sweden, of which treaty, it being the act some oversight in the Attorney General, or, of the Ministers, the Whigs, of course, it is impossible that libels of such unparaldisapproved. His Lordship, in the passage leled atrocity could have wholly escaped above alluded to, is reported to have said, without notice.Men have been punishthat, certain jealousies appeared to existed for what were deemed libels against the with respect to the Royal Personage, commanding the Swedish army; that, however, his Lordship was perfectly convinced, that the greatest reliance might be placed on the honour of that Royal Personage; that the Crown Prince had acted a most honourable part towards both France and Sweden; that, as far as he could go without injury to the honour and interests of Sweden, he had gone, in showing his attachment to his native country, and to his former patron; but that, the moment the real interests of Sweden were assailed by France, he proved, by his conduct, that, in his breast, fidelity towards the people who had chosen him to govern them, triumphed over every other feeling; that, as to his former conduct, his Lordship had never heard any thing to his disadvantage, but, on the contrary, that, while he commanded in the armies of France, his conduct was perfectly laudable.

-Now, reader, I beseech you to observe, that these are the sentiments of the Prime Minister in the House of Commons, and that they are, in fact, the sentiments of the English Ministry, and the English Government. What, then, ought to be said and done to the vile wretches, those pestiferous scribblers, who calumniated His Royal Highness in the manner exhibit

Emperor of Russia, the late Queen of France, and other Sovereigns; nay, Mr. Peltier was tried and convicted, under the Attorney-Generalship of Mr. Perceval himself, of a libel on Buonaparté, and he escaped a jail only by the breaking out of the present war. Well, then, we were at peace with the King and with the Crown Prince of Sweden, when those atrocious calumnies were published against them, and, therefore, I again must express my surprise, that the calumniators should have wholly escaped the animadversion of the law. The escape, however, of these contemptible wretches, these time-serving slaves, is a very trifling consequence, when compared with the above cited manly and most interesting declaration of Lord Castlereagh, upon which I cannot refrain from making a few short remarks.His Lordship clears His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of all imputation of ingratitude towards France and Buonaparte. This is a point which I shall not much dwell upon, not professing to be so well acquainted with the facts as his Lordship appears to be. But, with respect to His Royal Highness's lively sensibility to the honour and interests of Sweden, this declaration of his Lordship cannot fail to convince all men of sense, that

it was a very wise act in the people of Sweden to call in this brave and skilful Frenchman to assume, in due time, the government of their country.I do not say, that this declaration of his Lordship goes fully to justify the expectation that the people of Spain, Naples, Italy, and Westphalia, will derive advantage from having Frenchmen placed over them in lieu of their old rulers. I do not say, that this declaration of his Lordship fully justifies such an expectation; but, do you not think with me, reader, that a declaration such as this is, and coming from the lips of our own Government, ought to make men hesitate before they pronounce the people of Naples, some of the people of Spain, the people of the states of Italy, and the people of a great part of Germany; do you not think that this declaration ought to make us hesitate before we pronounce all those nations to be base and stupid, merely because they peaceably and contentedly submit to the sway of Frenchmen? My Lord Castlereagh, the official organ of our Government, has distinctly declared, in the House of Commons, that the Crown Prince of Sweden, though a Frenchman, though raised from the ranks in the French revolutionary army, though a commander under Buonaparté, though promoted and ennobled by Buonaparté, has, nevertheless, upon becoming Crown Prince of Sweden, preferred the honour and the interests of Sweden to all other earthly considerations. If this be so, and I do not entertain the least doubt of the truth of it; if this be so, and so it is, as our Government asserts, at any rate; if this be so, why are we to suppose that the Frenchmen who have been made sovereigns in Spain, Naples, and Germany, will not prefer the honour and interests of those several countries to all earthly considerations, in like manner with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Sweden? Joseph, Joachim, Jerome, Eugene, have all been generals in the French service, as well as the Crown Prince of Sweden, and Joachim, the present King of Naples, was a private soldier in the ranks of that army, being, as it is said, the son of what we call in England, an ale-house keeper. Aye, the son of a man in exactly a similar situation to Tom Davies who sells beer by the pot at the sign of the Bugle at Botley. Now, if His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Sweden does so very well for the Swedes, as my Lord Castlereagh says hedoes, why should not Joachim do as well for the people of Naples ?And why

should not Joseph and Jerome and Eugene do equally well for the people committed to their care; unless, indeed, it may be the opinion of some persons, that the circumstance of been raised from the ranks, makes, in some of the three latter, not having degree, against them?You will please to observe, reader, that I am not making assertions here; and that I am not even delivering opinions. I am reasoning, or at least, endeavouring to reason; and, if 1 am not greatly deceived, the declaration of my Lord Castlereagh, with regard to the excellent use which His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Sweden makes of his power, ought to make us hesitate a long while before we stigmatize as being base and foolish, the people who quietly submit to newly created sovereigns, reared up in the same school and under the same master with His Royal Highness. I do not say, nor do I wish to have it taken for granted, that the other Frenchmen who have been made sovereigns, act in the same brave and wise manner as His Royal Highness the Crown Prince acts towards the Swedes. 1 have no information upon the subject. I do not know how they treat their people. And, therefore, in the absence of such information, all I can say is, that the declaration of Lord Castlereagh, relative to the honourable, faithful, and truly princely conduct of the Grown Prince of Sweden, ought to make us refrain from vilifying and anathematizing any people whom we see contentedly submitting to the sway of a person educated in the same school, and elevated by the same patron with that worthy personage, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Sweden.that, all those who are particular in their It is well known, horses, dogs, fowls, sheep, or live-stock of any kind, place much reliance upon the person by whom they are reared. A dog from one breeder is thought, merely on account of that circumstance, to be worth ten times as much as a dog from another breeder, though of the same race, of the same age and size, and of the same outward appearance. same with young men coming into the It is, in some degree, the world, who seldom fail to derive considerable benefit from having been reared up under the care of a person celebrated for the rearing of clever young men. Now, though I do not pretend to say, that the great virtues, possessed by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, are possessed by all the other young men reared up by Buonaparte, and by him recommended =

Sovereignties; yet, in the absence of all information with regard to the character and conduct of those other young men, I humbly conceive, that we ought not to pronounce the people who live contentedly under them to be base, corrupt, infamous cowards, as our prostituted press describes them to be; for, who can tell, that the day may not yet come, when our government will give us information relative to those young men, similar to that which it has now, to the great satisfaction of all the true friends of freedom, been pleased to give us, with regard to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Sweden? Another part of Lord Castlereagh's manly avowal relative to the character and conduct of the Crown Prince, reflects equal honour on the object and on the giver of the praise bestowed in that avowal.- -There is a proverb in Latin to this amount: to praise you is to praise myself. That is to say, the act of praising you is so very laudable, that it reflects great praise on the actor.This proverb applies, in its fullest extent, to the conduct of my Lord Castlereagh upon this occasion; especially where he speaks of the former conduct of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. His Lordship said, that while His Royal Highness commanded in the French armies his character and conduct were good. This part of his Lordship's speech is the more worthy of notice and of commendation, as it, in fact, contains a most handsome and delicate compliment to the great enemy against whom we are contending, and shows, that, in the mind of his Lordship, generosity of sentiment is not extinguished by hostility in arms. If the conduct and the character of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince were so excellent as his Lordship says they were, while he commanded in the French armies, it was, we are fairly to presume, for that good conduct and that good character, that Buonaparte promoted and ennobled him, And thus, we find that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, who was a most virtuous man while commanding under Buonaparte, was exalted by the latter to the rank of a prince, though Sir Robert Wilson and others have described that same Buonaparte, as the envier of all talent, as the hater of every virtue, as the enemy of the human race, as a scourge sent by God to inflict sufferings on the world. Now, if these writers and the Times (the vile Times), and the Courier and the Post and the Herald; if all these speak truth when they abuse Buonaparté; when they

call him tyrant and despot and monster and fiend. If they speak truth when they so describe Buonaparté, let me put it to you, reader, whether it be not something very wonderful, that a man who is a tyrant, a monster, a fiend, who envies all talent in others, who hates all virtue wherever he finds it, and whose object it is to be a curse to Europe and mankind; let me ask you, reader; let me put it to your sense and to your sincerity, whether it be not passing wonderful, that such a man should select, as an object of promotion, as an object of exaltation; that he should choose as a favourite; that he should elevate to the rank of a prince, and, finally, to the rank of a sovereign in perpetuity, a person of acknowledged great taleuts, and who, for a series of years, had, by his constant practice, proved himself to be possessed of virtues worthy of a prince? Again, reader, I put it to your sense and your sincerity, whether this be not passing wonderful 2This is a new era, in many respects; but in no way has the novelty of it been more strongly marked than in this open avowal on the part of our government of the transcendent virtues of a person, who had served under Buonaparte. Our base and foolish press fills its columns with abuse of those who distinguish themselves in the army of Napoleon. The Duke of Friuli, for instance, who, the other day was killed in battle, was represented by this prostituted press, as having owed his exaltation to his base subserviency to his master. But, now we learn from the mouth of the minister of England, that one man, at least, has been exalted by Napoleon, who was not only worthy of being made a Marshal, a Duke, and an Italian Prince, but, who was also worthy of being made the heir to the Grown and Dominions of one of the ancient states of Europe. And, what is more, if any thing can go beyond the open and public declaration of the minister made in the House of Commons, we have, before us, a treaty, made under an invocation of the Holy Trinity, by which treaty, we make a cession in perpetuity of part of the old French Dominions to a man, whose heirship to a crown we acknowledge by the same treaty, and which man, after having long served under Buonaparte, was, by that same Buonaparte, first promoted, next ennobled, and, lastly, recommended, at least, to the rank, which, as we are now assured, from the lips of our government, he fills with so much advantage to the nation who

have had the wisdom to adopt him, to the minister of England, and that we shall alexclusion of the ancient family. This, ways recollect, that this most excellent and then, I say, is a striking feature in the illustrious personage was promoted and exnew era, for we have here, a man who alted by the man whom our corrupt press long served under, and who was promoted represents as the most odious and most deand exalted by Buonaparté himself. Mo- testable of beings.-Hence, too, it might reau, Pichegru, Dumourier, and others, not unreasonably be hoped, that the furious we have, indeed, found to be very virtuous royalists would take a lesson. They here men, and worthy of great confidence, have the proof, that a revolutionist may be though, for a long while, there were peo- a mighty good sort of a man. They had, ple to call them rebels, robbers, cut- indeed, this proof before, in the instances throats, and atheists. When we came to of Dumourier, Pichegru, and others; but be better acquainted with these gentlemen, they now have it in a still stronger instance, we found them all to be very worthy per- namely, that of a person raised up by sons, and as good christians as were going. Buonaparté himself. They ought, thereWe did not make the discovery, indeed, fore, one would think, to be a little cautill they had shewn their hostility to Buo- tious how they revile persons engaged in naparte, which, to some people, appeared revolutionary pursuits.-The war, in to be rather unfortunate; and, indeed, the which we are now engaged, and which, in open avowal of the great virtues of the reality, began more than twenty years ago, Crown Prince of Sweden has been reserved had, for its object, the preservation of the for the moment of his appearing in arms established order of things. Whether it against that same Buonaparte; but there is be the established order of things in Sweden this difference between the case of His to make a Frenchman heir to the Crown, Royal Highness the Crown Prince and the to the exclusion of the banished king and case of Moreau, Pichegru, and others, that his family, is a question which I shall the latter were not the creatures of Buona- leave John Bowles to answer. John, I dare parté; they did not owe their exaltation to say, might, with the assistance of his com him; they derived from him neither rank rade and brother reviewer, Mr. Green, nor emolument; whereas the Crown Prince find out, somehow or other, that this is the was promoted by him, ennobled by him, established order of things; and, in that and, finally, was, by him recommended, case, we shall only have to congratulate at least, to that sovereign power of which these worthies upon so grand a discovery. we have now, by solemn treaty, acknow- For once, at any rate, we shall agree as to ledged him to be the rightful and indis- the substance. These dregs, these offal, putable heir.What, then, reader, are of anti-jacobinism, will now say, that His we to gather from all this? To say what Royal Highness the Crown Prince is a the sentiments now promulgated, the prin- worthy gentleman, and that our Governciples now set afloat; to say how they will ment did very right in forming an alliance work in the minds of men, and to what with him; in acknowledging him as the they will finally lead, is beyond the reach lawful heir to the Swedish Throne; and, of human capacity. But, I think, it re-in ceding to him in perpetuity part of the quires no great capacity of mind to disco- old French dominions. They will say this; ver, and indeed, that it requires but a and I say the same. -They will not now very moderate portion of common sense to dare to say, that His Royal Highness the teach us that we ought to be very cautious Crown Prince is an usurper. They will how we give in to that strain of abuse, now take care, I hope, to whom they give that strain of boundless calumny, which that title; or, before the word be well out the vile press of this country indulges itself of their lips, they may be compelled to eat in, with regard to all those, who have ob-it with all convenient dispatch. As I tained rank and power through the influence said before, this treaty with Sweden has of Napoleon. I think that we must be stu-opened the way to events, which the mapid indeed, if the excellent speech of my Lord Castlereagh fails to teach us this much of caution. When we hear the unmannerly - slaves of the press calling Buonaparté a monster, a fiend, an usurper, a scourge, and the like, I hope we shall bear in mind the treaty with Sweden, and the eulogium pronounced upon the Crown Prince by the

lignant anti-jacobin never before dreamed of, and of which, perhaps, he does not yet dream. He has nothing in his eye but the immediate annoyance of Buonaparte; bu the man who is under the guidance of hi reason, and not of his passions; the ma who has no selfish motive at bottom, and who can view the matter with an impart