who has rather more understanding on naval matters than you have, and whose zeal for the service yields to that of no man in the kingdom, wished to draw the attention of the public towards the negligence of the Admiralty, and particularly towards that part of it, from which he apprehended fatal consequences with respect to the discipline of the fleet. He reprobated the conduct of the Admiralty in keeping ships, during peace, too long without being relieved or paid, while, as it were to tantalize the sailots, papers, boasting of having restored to the nation the blessings of peace, were sent round by the ministers to every ship in commission, where they were ordered to be read to the men, and to be stuck upon the mast. Each of these papers were accompanied with an engraved representation of the tree of liberty, which was also stuck up in a conspicuous part of the ship, and this too, just at the time, when the mutiny raged on board the ships in Bantry Bay. Such inconsistent, such childish, or such wicked measures, my cerrespondent disapproved of, because they tended to delude the sailors, to make them refractory, and finally, to produce mutiny. He sets out with explicitly declaring his object to be to point out, while yet there is time, a precaution against the recurrences of this most dreadful of all evils; and, at the very threshold of his suggestions, he says: "Far be it from me not to abhor and "condemn the conduct of men, who, under any sort of government or rule, take the remedy of abuses into their own hands "." -Now, Sir, without asking whether you have acted upon principles like this, let me put it to that candour, which, in imitation of your new leader, you are so forward to profess, whether you have not, on the sent occasion, been led to patronize, if not to invent a misrepresentation almost unworthy of a news-paper hack?-Such, Sir, was the article, on which you, in imitation of the writer of the Morning Post, thought proper to prefer against me the charge of endeavouring to excite mutiny, though you declared, for reasons too obvious to mention, carrying your imitation so far as to class me with Sir Francis Burdett and Mr. Artbur O Connor, of the latter of whom, as in conjunction with you, I shall hereafter have occasion to speak. But, in imputing to my work the nefarious object of exciting mutiny in the fleet, you spoke generally, and, therefore, from an implied attention to its pre * See Register, Vol. III. p. 63.—I beg leave to request the reader to peruse the whole of the excellent letter here referred to. general tendency. I not only never did, in my whole life, write or say, any thing, with an intention of stirring up mutiny, either in the fleet or in the army, but, if any part of my exertions is marked with peculiar earnestness, it is that part of them which has been directed to the inculcating of due subordination, and to the condemnation of every attempt, either direct or indirect, to produce a resistance of lawful authority, whether military or civil. Have I, Sir, during the loitering progress of the several measures for the land defence of the country, thrown out even a hint calculated to obstruct those measures? And, as to the sea-service, let the following article, published in the Register of the 14th of May last, stand as a record of my sentiments and of the nature of your accusation:-" At, and in the neigh"bourhood of Newcastle, some very serious "disturbances have taken place in conse"quence of the impress service. The mis"chief appears to have arisen, chiefly, from "an advertisement, inserted by some of the "ship-owners, in a paper, the editor of "which has long been famed for his dis spirit, a very troublesome opposition to "the service has been raised amongst the "lower orders of the people, which has "produced consequences far from being pleasant. His Majesty's officers have "been insulted; in some instances, acts of "violence have been committed against "them and their men; and, we are well "informed, that a boat from the Lapwing "has been even fired into from Newcastle "bridge.-That a vile democratic printer, "that is to say, a rebel by principle, and "almost by trade, should endeavour to "create so mischievous a disposition, is not "at all wonderful; but, that his nefarious "efforts should be countenanced by any "portion, however small, of the ship-ownes "of Great-Britain, is a circums.ance that "could not fail to excite both astonishment "and indignation, at any time, and espe"cially at this moment, when their whole "body is petitioning His Majesty's Parliament for a repeal of the tonnage duty,' " 66 upon the express plea, that their ships are "the nursery where seamen are raised for "the Royal Navy! This is the ground, and "the only good ground, of their petition. "It is well known, the experience of ages "has proved, that a numerous fleet cannot "be expeditiously manned without the aid " of press-gangs. If, therefore, the ship66 owners oppose this established, this abso"lutely necessary mode of obtaining seamen "from their ships, those ships are a species "of property entitled to no more favour than "dwelling-houses, barns or stables are en"titled to. The Royal Navy is necessary "to the maintenance of the honour, the se"curity, the independence, of the country: "its object is to protect the persons and the "property of all His Majesty's subjects; "but, it cannot be denied, that it yields a "more immediate protection to mercantile "mariners, and the mercantile marine, than "to any other class of subjects, or any other "sort of property. The farmer or mecha"nic may, without much offence against "reason, be supposed capable of entertain ing doubts of the necessity of a fleet of men of war, the operations of which are "so distant from the scene of his calling, "and the seat of his property; but, the "ship-owner must know, that, without the "protection of the Royal Navy, his trade "must instantly cease. And, as to the le"gality and justice of the impress, considered "in respect to the seamen impressed, the "man must be very ignorant, or incorrigibly perverse, who calls either in question. "The warrants, in virtue of which the im"press is executed, are as legal as any war"rant whatever; and, what ship-owner, "what mariner, does not know, when he "becomes a mariner, that he will be liable "to the impress? This is one of the condi tions, on which he enters the profession, "and on which he demands and enjoys the "numerous advantages thereunto belong ing. If we look round the country we shall find, that no small portion of its "wealth belongs to men who have, in one " way or another, followed the sea. And, "if that property is saved, if they have been "too, protected in its acquirement by the navy of the country, shall they not be "called on to contribute towards the sup"port of that navy? The mercantile ma"rine of the whole empire does not employ "less than 300,000 persons, not more, perhaps, than 30,000 of whom are ever, at any one time, impressed into the service "of their country; and, is this contributing "too largely to the support of that, without "which their whole profession must imme diately perish? The militia is not, indeed. "raised by press-gangs; but, it is not composed of volunteers. The soldiers are com pelled to come into the service, and a service, "which, though it does not take them out "of the kingdom, is much more contrary to "their habits and their inclinations, than "that of the fleet can possibly be to the seamen of the mercantile marine, who "have been inured to the element on which "they are to serve, and whose minds are "accustomed to long absence from rela"tions and friends. As to the compensation, too, what poor man's calling offers a bet"ter or more secure? In the first place, "the impressed seaman has a bounty full as great as if he were a volunteer. His pay is nearly as great as he can obtain in " a merchant ship, his provisions and ac"commodation better. He has his chance "of prize-money, and, if he is in greater "danger from powder and ball, he is in "less danger from the wrecks and other "accidents to which merchantmen are ex posed much more than men of war; and "after all, if he be disabled or worn out "in the service, his king and country pro"vide him with a comfortable and honour. "able maintenance for the rest of his days, "which he may spend under the roof of a "palace far surpassing any one of the dwel lings of his Sovereign, whereas, should "the same circumstances overtake him in "the merchant service, he must pine out "his life under the misery and degradation "of a workhouse. This is the light, in "which the subject must be viewed, by every one who takes time to bestow on "it a careful and impartial examination; " and therefore, we cannot but express our "reprobation of the conduct of any persons whatever, and particularly shipowners, who attempt to throw obstacles "in the way of the impress service, by the means of which only, the Royal Navy can possibly be manned."--Now, Sir, if you read the Register, in such a way as to be able to speak to its character and general tendency, you must have read these observations. Indeed, from the manner in which you spoke, it is very evident, that you had so read it: but whether you had or had not; whether you spoke against conviction, or with a total ignorance of the fact, few persons, I imagine, will be inclined to envy you the honour to be derived from this part of your speech. The above essay is, indeed, a mere trifle ; I claim very little merit on account of it; but, I sincerely believe, that it has produced more good to the country, than all the best parts of all the speeches that you ever uttered in your life, to say nothing of the vast overbalance of the bad parts. -Let the Political Register be examined, from the first number to the last, and, it will be found to contain, not only no dissuasion from the militery and naval service, but efforts of an exactly contrary tendency will appear in almost every page. I have constantly maintained that it is necessary for us to become a itary people; I have exalted the military and naval above all other professions; I have distrusted every species of security but that which depends upon military and naval exentions; I have strongly condemned the disbrading of the army and the dismantling of the feet; arms and men, has been the ever Terring burthen of my exhortations. en the mutiny broke out at Bantry Bay, Idid not approve of Lords of the Admiralty corresponding with privates of marines; when Governor Wall was condemned and executed for punishing a mutineer, I openly condemned the joy of the blood-thirsty mob, while you and the news-paper writers were silent, and while some of these latencouraged and afterwards justified the ferocions proceedings at Newgate. In sort, Sir, the object of this work, has, with Tpect to the subject before us, been, invariy, directly the opposite of that, which ter, first you have attributed to it; and, did not the dangers of the country and the fears of the people render your present sentiments po pular, you would be very likely to accuse the of endeavours to subvert our "glorious "constitution" by reconciling the people to numerous armies and to the rigours of mili What! MR. SHERIDAN from MR. WINDHAM? Peace, without any regard to the terms, was your cry. You wished to preserve the peace of Amiens. You represented the preservation of it as absolutely necessary to the existence of the state. War, all war, was your aversion, and you railed at MR. WINDHAM, you endeavoured to excite a popular prejudice against him, because, according to your representation, he entertained a fondness for war, and for the maintenance of large armies and fleets. How soon, alas! have events given your opponent the victory! You are now become the supporter of war, the enemy of mutiny, and the satyrist of that very Buonaparte whont you formerly eulogized! Not only have you been subdued by MR. WINDHAM, but you are actually tugging at the wheels of his military cha riot: and, as to the fractious bluster, by which you are endeavouring to hide your disgrace, it resembles the dust rising from the feet of a beaten and routed battalion. -I am, Sir, yours, &c. &c. Emboldened by the example of MR. SHE RIDAN, Mr. Heriot and some other proprie. tors of newspapers, have repeated the charge of my endeavouring to excite mutiny in the feet, to which Mr. Heriot has added other charges, and has gone so far as to point out the punishment, which he thinks ought to be inflicted on me. On Saturday, the 6th instant, he published, in his paper, called the TRUE BRITON, the following para tary discipline. reproving MR. COBBETT for endeavouring | graph:- MR. WINDHAM professes himcramp the operations of war! Oh, the all- "self to be the Soldiers' Friend. We canreforming, the irresistible, force of events! "not suppose, however, that his attachThis is the force, Sir, to which y 66 have now pielded, and to which you must always Field. You may you twist and shift backward and forward; you may flatter the caprice of 90 and truth, though adorned with elo- Set Register, Vol. I. p. 63 and 89. ment to a certain American Scribbler arises "from his being the writer of a work at "the beginning of the French Revolution, bearing that title, because that work had "for its object to excite the Soldiery to Mutiny, "to which, it seems, the same Patriotic "Writer now endeavours to instigate the Navy. We speak merely from what has "been said in the House of Commons, for "we think no TRUE BRITON can read "the works of the persons alluded to, with any kind of temper. The pillory or the gibbet we think a more appropriate re"ward than that which MR. WINDHAM "has suggested for a writer of such a stamp."It was very obvious, that the writer of this paragraph alluded to me, because I was the only person for whom Mr Windham had recently, in the House of Common's, suggested a reward of any kind. Conscious that the heinous crimes, which were here imputed to me, were crimes of which I was entirely innocent; knowing myself not to be the author not only of the work referred to, but of any work whatsoever of a similar tendency; knowing that I never had, in the whole course of my life, written, or published, any thing, on political subjects, which had not in view the interest and honour of my Sovereign and my Country, it was impossible for me patiently to see myself thus destined to the pillory or the gibbet. The moment, therefore, that I saw the True Briton, containing the paragraph above quoted, I went to the place where that paper is published. I was accompanied by Mr. Dickins, an American gentleman. My opinion was, that the paragraph was put in without Mr. Heriot's knowledge; for, though I certainly entertained no very high notion of his candour or his veracity, yet, when I reflected that he himself had been one of my eulogists, that he had written me flattering letters while I was in America, and that he must, in many cases at least, have been intimately acquainted with that disinterested and honourable line of conduct, from which I had never deviated; when I reflected on all this, I could not believe it possible, that he should have written, or knowingly inserted, so infamous a libel upon me: In this opinion I went to his house, and was, together with my friend, shown into a room, where there were three persons sitting at a desk, and where Mr. Heriot himself was standing. Being introduced (for I knew him not) I said: "Mr. Heriot, I have some"thing to say to you, which, perhaps, it "would be better to communicate in pri"vate, but, if you choose that these gen"tlemen should hear me, I have no objec"tion." Upon which he requested them to withdraw. I then, in the presence of Mr. Dickins, pointed out to him the libelJous paragraph, and said: "now, give me leave to hope, Sir, that you know nothing "of this paragraph." To which he replied; " but I do though." My next question was: "And am I, then, to understand, "that you assert that I am worthy of the "pillory or the gibbet?" He answered, yes, I do." To this there was no reply. On Saturday the 13th instant, I informed the Public, that personal chastisement had been inflicted on Mr. Heriot for the libel on me, which he had published in the True Briton of the sixth. This intimation drew forth his account of an affair, which he had suffered to sleep for nine days, and which, if I had remained silent, would certainly have slept for ever; but, I could not permit his libel to circulate without informing my readers, at least, that he had been punished for it.His account, which was published on Monday the 15th instant, surpasses every thing I ever read, or heard of, except, perhaps, the run-away knight's nar rative of his battle with the men in buckram and Kendal Green. Except the facts of my going to bis house and resenting the insult which he had offered me, there is not, in the whole relation, one circumstance, which is not either a misrepresentation, or a direct falsehood. Some few points, however, are worthy of notice. He begins with expressing an affected contempt for any that I can say; and, his reason for this contempt is, that I was obliged to fly from America as a convicted libeller." The affair to which he alludes was tried by civil action; a corrupt judge and base jury awarded to my adversary 5,000 dollars, the whole of which money, together with the expenses of the law suit, was paid by British gentlemen in Canada (the Governor of that Province being one), and in the United States of America. Nay, so flagrant was the injustice of the case, that a number of Americans agreed to raise the sum required, and made me an offer of it, through one of the Aldermen of New York, an offer which I should have accepted, had it come previously to that made by my own country. men. This is what Mr. Heriot has the decency to call being a "convicted libeller." It must be observed, too, that the cause here spoken of was entirely disconnected with my leaving America. But, what will the. reader say, when he is told, that, upon my arrival in England, it was owing to my own refusal, that I did not become a partner with Mr. Heriot in the proprietorship of these very papers, in which he now endeavours to make the world believe, that he has always considered me as beneath his notice! I refused, even as a gift, any sort of partnership with him; and I never would permit him to wait on me on the business, though thereunto solicited by those, who had purchased his types.- -It is totally false, that he was either held or struck by MR. DICKINS, to whom, on the contrary, he roared for interference. But, it is obvious, that, he implicates MR. DICKINS for the purpose of getting rid of the cñly legal witness of the transaction.--It is also false, abso lutely false, that I desired him to send away his people. I was very particular in stating, that, if he had no objection to their staying in the room, I had none. The fact is, I had not the least notion that he would own the paragraph; and, even if I had expected battle, all the persons present, headed by the heroic TRUE BRITON himself, did not appear to me to form a corps too strong for Mr. Dickins and myself. -The story that he tells about poker and tongs is the most whimsical and romantic falsehood that ever was conceived. He flew to the poker, but I never attempted to touch its associate utensil, till after his roaring had brought in his troop, which consisted, altogether, of not less than fifteen or sixteen persons, one of whom was dispatched to fasten the doors next the street. We passed through the troop, went down, and seated ourselves in the office; but no Mr. Heriot ventured to descend till we had quitted the premises. -He declares that I did not hurt him. I am glad of it. Chastisement may be inflicted without breaking bones. If he is satisfied with this part of the affair, I am, and I beartily congratulate him upon the circumstance, begging leave, however, to express my astonishment, that, if he really did regard himself as the victor, he should wait nine whole days, without saying a word of the matter, while I, who according to his account, was the discomfited party, mentioned the affair the first moment I came before the public! I ask, whether it be likely, that we should have acted thus, if the facts had been such as he has stated them--When his narrative appeared, on Monday last, MR. DICKINS, conceiving himself very much aggrieved by it, and observing that the writer advanced certain claims to the character of " a gentleman," deputed a friend to wait on him, in order to obtain that sort of satisfaction, which, in like cases, is generally given by one gentleman to another. Mr. Chapman, who conveyed the message found as much difficulty in getting admittance to MR. HERIOT as he would in coming at a favourite mistress of the Grand Seiguior. Finally, on Wednes day about noon, after having been surveyed, from head to foot by two or three persons, who were sent to reconnoitre, he obtained the interview, of which, with the suppression of some few circumstances, Mr. Heriot himself has published an account, in that address to the public, where he has had the justice to post himself for a coward.--His objection to afford satisfaction to MR. DICKINS was grounded on the pretext that the latter was not a gentleman; on which subject Mr. Chapman observed, that he was sure Mr. Heriot had too much delicacy to say or to insinuate, that be, Mr. Chapman, was the bearer of a message from a person whom he did not know to be a gentleman. The wary True Briton, who saw the rocks rising before him, suddenly tacked about, and replied, that MR. DICKINS might be a gentleman, on other occasions, but that he could not regard him as one, as far as related to the present affair! The truth is, that, if to be born in the first rank of persons in his country; if to have had, through life, none but the most respectable connexions; if to have received a liberal education; if to possess sound principles and extraordinary talents; if to be at once accomplished, gentle, and brave; if these constitute a gentleman, then is MR. DICKINS fully entitled to the character. Nor, can any exception be, on this account, taken to the bearer of the message, who is a son of Colonel Chapman of Virginia, and who is now on his return to America, after having completed his studies in Europe.-On reading this statement, the public will be at no loss to judge of the motives, from which MR. HERIOT refused the satisfaction demanded. ---MR. HERIOT has apologized for intruding himself on the notice of the public, an apology very proper for him to make, but which would not become me, because, on the maintenance of my reputation depends, in a great degree, the effect and the public utility of my work. Exceedingly, however, am I mortified to have been compelled to make this statement. Little did I once imagine, that I, who used to reproach the Americans with degeneracy; that I, who used to bid them look to the country of their ancestors for examples of frankness and of courage; little did imagine, that it would ever fall to my lot to announce to the world, that one of my own countrymen, and he too a person who is, or who has been, an officer in his Majesty's service, had, at the frown of an American, shrunk from a True Briton into a despicable poltroon. August 18th, 1803. WM. COBBETT. TO THE EDITOR. SIR,-Without entering into the question whether Prince Czartorisky or Count Alcaander Woronzow are friendly or inimical to this country, I beg those who wish to know what may be the general disposition of the cabinet of St. Petersburgh, and who are inclined to form a judgment by something more than professions and declarations, to consider the following circumstances.- -Do not the Russians, in general, feel how much they are in the power of this country, by our being, on account of our |