VOL. XV. No. 18.] LONDON, SATURDAY, MAY 6, 1809. [Price 1s. ENGLISHMEN, bear in everlasting remembrance, the Cases of HAMLIN, the Tinman, and of LORD CASTLEREAGH, the Privy Counsellor, Secretary of State, and Member of Parliament; and, unless you clearly shew to the world, that you feel as you ought, as to the decision upon those cases, a curse ought to stick to you and to your children, from generation to generation. 673] ΤΟ THE INDEPENDENT PEOPLE OF HAMPSHIRE. LETTER I. Lord Castlereagh and Philip Hamlin. GENTLEMEN, When, at our last County-Meeting, an objection was made to our introducing into our Resolution the affair of Lord Clancarty and Lord Castlereagh, you had the good sense to over-rule that objection, though made by sir Henry Mildmay, whom you were ready to thank for having done his duty, but, by whom you were not to be induced to resign the exercise of your rights and the use of your reason. Nor, can I refrain from observing here, that we, who have no party or selfish purpose to serve, must, if we mean to profit from the victory we have obtained, be very cautious how we give way to any thing like thickand-thin support of any body. Sir Henry Mildmay did well in voting for Mr. Warde amongst the 125; but, that is only one act; it is merely a single act; and is by no means sufficient to induce us to continue our praise of that gentleman, unless we find him steady in his endeavours to serve the country, and especially in his endeaYours to rescue the nation from the degraded state in which it has long been. I do not wish to excite any suspicions with respect to this gentleman; but merely to settle this point: namely, that, for the good he has done we have given him our thanks, in terms the most handsome; but, that, we are not, for this reason, at all bound to praise him in future, and are perfectly free to express our real sentiments, be they what they may, as to his future conduct, and, of course, to act upon those sentiments. No, Gentlemen, let us keep ourselves free from all thick-and-thin engagements and attachments; let each of us exercise his own judgment; let each of us for himself make due inquiry, and act upon the decision of his own mind; let us not be persuaded or coaxed to do that which our own reason tells us is not right; let us form and preserve an attachment to [674 principles and not to men; above all, let us despise the watch-words of party; let us thus act, and you will soon see, that this county, in spite of all the dreadful influence of the Dockyards, the Barracks, and the Custom-House, will not only recover its independence, but will set an example to other counties. The reason why your voice has heretofore not been heard, is this; that you had no inclination to attend at county-meetings. The few who did attend saw that the object was merely a party one; that no good purpose was answered by an attendance; that a set of Resolutions, ready cut and dry, were passed without opposition; that the audience consisted, upon one occasion, of the slaves of men in power, and, upon the next occasion, of the slaves of men who wanted to get into power; that, in fact, you were only to give your voice for what one party or the other party sent down from London to be passed, and to be sent back again as being the decision of the county of Hunts, when it was no more the decision of the real people of the county, than it was the decision of the inhabitants of the moon. wonder that such meetings had fallen into contempt. The tradesmen and ycomen of the county despised the imposture; and it did not occur to them to take the trouble of exposing it. Recent events, quite sufficient for the purpose, indeed, have roused us. They have brought us together from all parts of the county; made us acquainted with one another; produced an interchange of friendship; and do very fairly promise to make us formidable to any man, or set of men, who shall dare attempt again to consider us as men of straw. Far be it from me to inculcate feelings of disrespect towards rank, family, or learned professions; but, one cannot shut one's eyes to glaring truths, and, it was impossible for any one not to perceive, on the 25th of April last, that the "great men" of the county did not appear to be much better able than we were to conduct the business which had called us together; and, to say the plain Y Νο truth, not quite so able. To myself I take | experience has convinced you, that they no merit on account of that day's proceed- have always some selfish object in view; ings; for, though I have been much more that they wish you to give them your supaccustomed to writing than most of you port, in order that they, by the use they have, and though I necessarily possess make of the power you put in their hands, more knowledge, upon political subjects, may get something for themselves or their than the greater part of you can have had families. This you know well; whereas, leisure to acquire, still I am of opinion, you are all convinced, that I have no such that, out of the two thousand of you, who views; that I do not want, and will not were present, there were at least one hun- have, any thing from the public; and, dred full as able to state your rights to the therefore, you expect, and meet with, from meeting as I was. You, all of you, pos- me, plain dealing; that which is for the sass sufficient knowledge; and you want good of us all, without respect to persons only the confidence to do it. This was the or party. But, at any rate, our abusers are third county-meeting that I had ever been in a very pinching dilemma with respect at, and it was the sixth time that I ever at- to me and you; for, they must agree to tempted to speak to a public assen bly. one of two things; namely, either that I No one could do it with greater reluc- am a person of very great consequence in the tance; but, it being the duty of some one county; or, that the Resolution which I to assert our rights, and I, seeing no other proposed and you adopted contained the geperson disposed to get the better of that nuine expression of your minds. I know that reluctance which was common to us all, the latter is the truth; but, let those who resolved to do it myself, and, in this re- would fain vilify me and my principles, spect, to set you an example. I knew hitch themselves upon whichever horn of that the county had sense and spirit, and I the dilemma they may feel to be the least was determined to give them a fair chance galling. of displaying themselves; and, to your honour, display themselves they did.Some of the hireling writers, in London, frantic at the result of our meeting, have abused me without measure, and have expressed their utter astonishment, that the "noblemen and gentlemen" of the county should suffer you to be led by a person like me. Now, in the first place, you were not led by me. You assembled without my asking a soul of you to attend. Fortynine out of every fifty of you were perfect strangers to me; and, I am sincerely convinced, that not a man of you would have voted for the Resolution that I proposed, if you had not approved of it in your own mind. And, in the next place, "the noblemen and gentlemen" of the county have no such power over you as these hireling London-writers scem to suppose they have. You stand in no need of their support or assistance, or good-offices, in any way whatever. They come, indeed, at every canvassing season, and give you a hypocritical smile, and a squeeze of the hand; but this they do to the vilest knave in the county, who has a freehold of forty shillings a year, and whose family, perhaps, you have to maintain out of the poor-rates, while he maintains himself in I. That it appears to the House, from the idleness and drink by depredations upon "evidence on the table,, that Lord Viscount your property of various descriptions. Castlereagh, in the year 1805, shortly Besides, there is this wide difference be- "after he had quitted the situation of Pretween me and those "noblemen and gentle- "sident of the Board of Controul, and bemen," of whom these writers speak: tonging a Privy Counsellor and Secretary of I shall now address you, though it need not be at much length, upon the subject of Lord CASTLEREAGH'S conduct, which subject made part of the Resolution, passed at the meeting.Sir Henry Mildmay requested us to stop, 'till that matter had received the decision of the House of Commons. But, as we had before us, a Copr of the whole of the Evidence in the case, printed by order of the House of Cominons itself, we thought it not at all necessary to wait for that decision, suppos ing ourselves to be full as able as that House to decide upon a plain matter of fact; especially as we simply declared what was contained in the evidence itself, and contrasted the conduct of this Lord with the principles of the constitution, as contained in the BILL OF RIGHTS, which is one of our great constitutional laws.—On the same day, that we passed our Resolu tion, the House of Commons discussed. and decided upon, the conduct of Lord Castlereagh; and I beg leave to state to you what was done by the House upon that occasion. The business was brought forward by LORD ARCHIBALD HAMILTON, who concluded his speech with moving the following Resolutions: cellor of the Exchequer, offering him the sum of £.2,000 to give him, HAMLIN, the place of Land-Surveyor of the Customs at Plymouth.In consequence of this, a criminal information was filed, against the said HAMLIN, by Mr. Spencer Perceval, who was then the King's Attorney-General, and who, in pleading against the offender, asserted the distinguished purity of persons in power, in the present day. From the Bench great stress was laid on the gravity of the offence of tendering a bribe; of the baneful tendency of such crimes, in a moral as well as in a political point of view. The Tinman was found guilty; he was sentenced to pay a fine of 100 pounds to the King, and to be imprisoned for three months. His business was ruined; and he himself died, in a few months after his release from prison.Hamlin confessed his guilt; he stated, in his affidavit, "that he sincerely repented of "his crime; that he was 40 years of age; that his business was the sole 66 "State, did place at the disposal of Lord, Clancarty, a Member of the same Board, the nomination to a Writership, in order to facilitate his procuring a Seat in Parliament.II. That it was owing to a disagreement among the subordinate "parties, that this transaction did not take effect; and III. That by this con«duct Lord Castlereagh had been guilty "of a gross violation of his duty as a Ser"vant of the Crown; an abuse of his pa"tronage as President of the Board of "Controul and an attack upon the purity of that House."-In opposition to these Resolutions, a LORD BINNING, one of the friends of the ministers, moved the Order of the Day; that is to say, to drop the matter, without any further inquiry or discussion; or, in other words, to decide, that it was a matter not of importance enough to occupy the attention of the House of Commons! Most of the members, however, did think that it was a little too bad; and that some little notice, some little censure, ought to be pronounced.-The ques- means of supporting himself and famition was taken upon Lord Archibald Ham- "ly; that a severe judgment might be the ilton's Resolutions, and it was negatived, "total ruin of himself and that famithere being 167 for it, and 210 against it."ly; and that therefore, he threw himSo, you see, it was deterinined by the self upon, and implored, the mercy of Honourable House, that this act on the part "his prosecutors and of the Court.". of one of its members, was not "an at- In reference to this, Mr. Perceval, the pretack upon its PURITY;" in the justice sent Chancellor of the Exchequer, observe, of which determination I most heartily said: "The circumstances which the dejoin.- Bravo! Well done Honourable "fendant discloses, respecting his own situHouse! "If this does not satisfy the "ation in life and of his family are all of country," as Mr. Fuller said, "I don't "them topics, very well adapted to affect know what the devil will satisfy it."- "the private feelings of individuals, and, Well, but what did the House agree to? "as far as that, consideration goes, noWhy to this:- "Resolved, That it is "the duty of this House to maintain a jealous guard over the purity of election;" "but considering that the attempt of Lord "Viscount Castlereagh to interfere in the "election of a Member has not been successful, this House does not consider it necessary to enter into any criminal "proceedings against him."Englishmen, this, this, this was what the Honourable House agreed to. They came to a Resolution, that, because Lord Castlereagh's attempt HAD NOT BEEN SUCCESSFUL, it was unnecessary to enter into any criminal proceedings against him.”. Now, then, let us see what was done in the case of PHILIP HAMLIN, the Tinman of Plymouth, who offered a bribe to Mr. Addington, when the latter was minister. -The case was this: In the year 1802, PHILIP HAMLIN, a Tinman of Plymouth, wrote a letter to MR. HENRY ADDINGTON, thing further need be said; but, there "would have been no prosecution at all, in this case, upon the ground of personal feeling; it was set on foot upon grounds of a public nature, and the spirit in "which the prosecution originated, still "remains; it is, therefore, submitted to your lordships, not on a point of indivi"dual feeling, but of PUBLIC JUSTICE, "in which case your lordships will con"sider how far the affidavits ought to operate in mitigation of punishinent." 66 -The Judge, Mr. JUSTICE GROSE, in passing sentence upon this poor, petty, ignorant offender, said: "Such a practice, if permitted, would lead to mischief in"calculable; for it might extend to every "office in the appointment of the great "ministers of the state, civil, military, and " ecclesiastical, and would supersede men of ability and integrity, and place, in their "stead, the ignorant and corrupt.”. 66 the first Lord of the Treasury and Chan-Now, people of Hampshire; now, English men, who have been taught so highly to prize impartial justice, compare the decisions in these two cases; bear them in remembrance; and let them have a proper weight upon your conduct on all future occasions. Hamlin's attempt, observe, was not successful, any m re than that of Lord Castlereagh ! -There needs no more than to state these facts to you. Your own minds will furnish an appropriate commentary.-Justice as well as future utility require that we should have upon record the names of those who spoke for, and against Lord Archibald Hamilton's motion. For it, the speakers were, Lord Archibald Hamilton, Mr. C. W. Wynn, Lord Milton, Mr. W. Smith, Mr. Grattan, Mr. Ponsonby, Sir Francis Burdett, Mr. Whitbread, and Mr. Tierney. Against it, Lord Castlereagh himself, Lord Binning, Mr. Croker, MR. PERCEVAL (who prosecuted Hamlin), Mr. Bankes, Mr. George Johnstone, Mr. H. Lascelles, Mr. Windham, and Mr. Canning. You will perceive, Gentlemen, that I mean to address a series of Letters to you; and the mode I intend to pursue is this. On every Friday, when I have a letter to you ready for publication in my paper of the next day, I shall send by post, copies of such letter, time enough for its insertion in the Salisbury Journal, the Portsmouth Telegraph, the Hampshire Chronicle, and the Reading Mercury, of that same week. If you set a value upon these letters, you will, of course, continue to have that paper which shall insert them regularly. I hope, and believe, that all the papers, which circulate in the county, will insert them, the editors appearing to me to be men of sound principles; but, if some of them should insert them, and some not, then those persons who set a value upon the Letters will, of course, take a paper that does insert them. If, contrary to my hopes and expectations, none of these provincial papers should insert them, then, I trust, that those amongst you, who take my Register, will lend it as widely as possible through their respective neighbourhoods. But, Gentlemen, if this could possibly be the case; if the influence of those, who are sucking away our very blood, could be so great as to obstruct the circulation of political truth in the county, through the accustomed channels; then we would show them, that we were not to be so baffled, and that we would soon have a provincial paper that should circulate such truths. All that I want to see circulated is truth. No falshood; no calumny; nothing of personal spite. «Truth, the "whole truth, and nothing but the truth," without respect to persons, or to selfish interests; but this truth we will have circulated amongst us, in defiance of all that can be done by force or by fraud.The editors of the provincial papers must acknowledge, that my proceeding is very fair; I shall write these letters for their papers as well as for my own; they will appear, if those editors choose, in their papers on the Sunday, and, in mine, they cannot reach any part of the county before that day. Copies of this Letter, for instance, will reach them all on Friday next, leaving them plenty of time to prepare it for the press. So that, if they all should,, by the enemies of the county and the kingdom, be prevailed upon to endeavour to keep these Letters from your sight, they will have no reason to complain in case we resort to the establishment of a paper, which must be injurious to them. I am, Your faithful friend, WM. COBBETT. Botley, 2 May, 1809. P. S. Once more I beg leave in this particular manner, to request those gentlemen, who take the Register, and who approve of its contents, to lend it for the perusal of those of their neighbours who do not find it convenient to take it themselves. Every man, who reads useful truths, is a man made the better for that reading. The pulpit, which, some years ago, made the churches resound with politics, is now as silent as the grave upon political subjects. Smother! smother! smother! is the order of the day. To the Press we must now look; and to make the press really useful, those must now read, who did not read before. Upon looking again over the Resolutions proposed by Mr. PowLETT, I perceive, that, owing to an error in copying them, the three which stand first, should have stood last. This is very material; because, by the transposition, thanks to Mr. Wardle is made but a secondary and inferior object, and a deeper dye of party is given to the whole. In justice, therefore, to Mr. Powlett, who, on so many accounts, is entitled to the respect of the county, I lose no time in correcting this error. I had nearly forgotten one very ma terial fact. You remember, Gentlemen, when you called out: " Why is not Mr. CHUTE here to-day?" The answer was, that he was attending his duty in parliament. "tors might succeed in fixing this impu"tation on all public men, and driving "them from power; in rendering them a degraded class, that he and those who support him might succeed to that ruin "and degradation. He could not agree "to this WIDE-WASTING motion, with 66 --Well, then, gentlemen, if he was in the House of Commons on that day, he voted for Lord Castlereagh; for his name is not in the list of the minority upon that question; neither is the name of his worthy colleague, MR. HEATHCOTE, in that list; so that, either they were not attending their duty in parliament, or they" out admitting the truth of assertions, for were both voting in direct opposition to "which he was persuaded there was no the opinions of the county, that day ex"foundation."- -Bless us! What a takpressed. ing the gentleman appears to have been in! But, Reader; honest Reader, do you not remember, that this gentleman and all SUMMARY OF POLITICS. the rest of them hailed inquiry; rejoiced at LORD FOLKESTONE'S MOTION (concluded inquiry; were glad to their very souls that from page 020).This, as will be seen inquiry, public inquiry, inquiry the most by a reference to the page here pointed extensive, had, by Mr. Wardle, been at out, was a Motion for the appointing of a last (as if they had been longing for it), Committee to make further inquiry into brought forward in a "tangible shape!" the corrupt disposal of offices, &c. And, it They seemed, then, as if they had had a will be remembered, that it was opposed month's mind for inquiry. Of course, upon the ground of its being too general; | Lord Folkestone expected, that they must too sweeping; too widely wasting. I be glad again at seeing another, and still shall now insert what Mr. Canning is re- more extensive, inquiry moved for; but, ported to have said upon that occasion, no, thank you." They seem to think having, at the place referred to, taken they have had enough for this time; and, sufficient notice of all the other parts of therefore, if it is all the same to his lordthe debate. After repeating what others ship, they beg leave to decline any more, had said about the difference between at present, of the joyous entertainment. specific inquiries and general inquiries,So, Mr. Canning, there is a ferment in Mr. Canning concluded thus: "He could the public mind, is there? Now, if it be not conceive for what rational or practi- so, how came it there? Has it grown out "cable purpose, this motion was brought of empty words; out of the declamation forward. Was there no mischief in keep- of speakers and writers; or out of the "ing a persuasion alive in the public mind, damning facts, revealed at the bar of the "that it was the opinion of impartial men House of Commons, and out of the well"in that House, that so much rottenness and known decisions upon those facts? corruption existed in every part of the There is a general persuasion, is there, 46 state, as rendered such an inquiry necessary? "that rottenness prevails in every part of "The motion held out no hope of imme- "the state?" Well, whose fault is that? "diate advantage to the people; but it But, this persuasion, which you allow to held out the whole cast and class of exist, is either true or false. Now, mind, "public men to suspicion. They were the persuasion you do allow to exist, and "all represented as eagerly struggling for you must allow it to be founded either places and power, and as having nothing in truth or falshood. If the former, surely "in view but the emoluments of office. The an inquiry, detection, and appropriate " emoluments of office! If there be any punishment are necessary; and, if the "man who considered the labours of an latter, is not inquiry necessary, in order "official situation, the duties that were to to shew the nation that it has been de"be performed, the anxieties that were ceived? There is no getting out of this, undergone, the warfare which a public Sir.-You say, that there is no ground for "man had to support, not only in that the persuasion, that you allow to exist; House, but from the malignity which as- well, then, my good Sir, why be in such a "sailed him out of it, and could think that passion about it, and why not let this head"these things were to be compensated by strong young Lord have his committee of money, he did not envy such a man his inquiry, which, possibly, might keep him feelings or frame of mind. If there was from other "mischief?"——Sir, Sir, the case "any man who could think so, it was to is too plain; the case is so very plain, that "him a subject not of regret, but of pride, there needs nothing to be done, either "to be the object of the suspicion of such "out of doors" or in-doors, but merely to The Noble Lord and his abet-state the facts belonging to it.Why, แ " « "a man. |