upon Mr. Madocks's motion, he was told | having wholly subdued this nation of eightto wait and see what this measure would do; teen millions of people, who have an army but, now, if the measure should not be far more numerous than his own, and of adopted, what will then be said? God whose volunteers and militias and levies in knows! In short, the enemies of reform mass we have heard such wonderful, achave nothing left to say. They must counts.-With respect to the part that we "make a stand.” That is the good phrase: have acted, or are acting, as to this new "make a stand against popular encroach- war between Austria and France, I think, "ment." Mr. Madocks says, "I accuse two there can be little doubt of our ministers "of the ministers of selling a seat in this having encouraged it by all the means in "House, and demand inquiry into the their power. It was such a clever thing, to "matter"; and the ministers answer, set Austria on upon Bonaparte, in order to "it is time to make a stand against popular draw him off from Spain! The temptation "encroachment"; and the Opposition was too strong to be resisted. It was not Benches echo "make a stand!" Mr. worth while to consider the final conseWindham comes with his illustrative quences. That was an object too distant story: a man ought to be hanged who to produce much impression upon the steals a goose from the common, but it minds of such statesmen as ours. But, it may be meritorious to steal the common appears very clear to me, that, when the from the goose; that is to say, that the war against Austria and her Archdukes is elector who sells his vote ought to be pu- finished, the affairs of Spain and Portugal nished, but that the man who buys it, or will not be long in settling.-At a meetwho sells or buys a seat in parliament, ing of the PITT CLUB," which took ought to be subject to no punishment at place on the 27th of last month, and all; nay, ought not to be censured, there three hundred and twenty persons were being nothing immoral in his conduct; present, Mr. Canning, secretary of state that the selling and buying of seats now for foreign affairs, promulgated the sentimakes a part of our glorious constitution, ments of the ministry, relative to our aland that all those, who wish for such a lies, as they are oddly enough called.— change as would effectually prevent such But, before we come to these sentiments, traffic in future, are either knaves or dupes. let us make an observation or two upon This is the ground, upon which the this meeting, the persons present at which famous stand is to be made. Indeed, it is consisted almost entirely of placemen, 'made. We all know one another's minds pensioners, contractors, and loan-jobbers. and resolutions. The stand-makers are Now, what right had these people to have resolved that seats shall continue to be a political meeting, without a license, any bought and sold, and we, I trust, are more than the persons who meet at the equally resolved that they shall not. It is British Forum, or any where else. Much then, as they say, at the point of a game, has been said, in St. Stephen's Chapel, "who shall" and, if we persevere, we disrespectful of the meetings in the seve shall, in spite of all that can be opposed ral parts of the kingdom; but where has there been a meeting, except, perhaps, that at Ipswich, entitled to less respect than this meeting? The Lord Chancellor, it seems, was present, and, from the report of the proceedings published in the newspapers, it appears that he did not think it beneath the dignity of his station to thank the meeting for the honour they had done him in approving of his conduct along with that of his brother ministers. And yet, we hear it continually a subject of complaint, in the House of Commons, that certain members of that House make harangues at taverns, and are gratified at the applause of their hearers. But what a difference is there between the applause of a tax-devouring crew, like that now before us, and the assemblages, which the Crown and Anchor Tavern has lately witnessed within its walls!—Mr. Canning took to us. AUSTRIA, SPAIN, AND PORTUGAL. The former of these countries is now enjoying the fruits of the doctrines of those, who have so long preached up the necessity of "making a stand against po"pular encroachment." A pretty stand they have made at last; but, just such a stand as every man of sense expected to see then make. The Emperor Napoleon, who is Emperor not by "the grace of God," as he pretends, but by the folly, tyranny, and cowardice of princes, is now in possession of the capital of the Austrian dominions, whither he has gone without meetfrom the people, the smallest degree of celand, think, there can be litshall soon hear of his this occasion of stating to the nation the sentiments of the government with respect to Austria, Spain, and Portugal. With respect to the first, he told the prickeared contractors and loan-jobbers, that he hoped the difficulties of Austria would be but of short duration; he gave them the glad intelligence that it was intended to afford the Emperor of Austria aid from our resources; he said that both the sovereign and the people had entered upon the struggle, prepared for great exertions; and he concluded by saying, that if Austria should fall, the struggle would not have been made in vain for Europe. Whereupon, it appears, there were loud and repeated applauses."This secretary of state may, perhaps, have been able to discover some exertions on the part of the people of Austria; but we know that the Emperor Napoleon has reached Vienna; and, it would be quite curious to hear the reason, whereon he founds the opinion, that the fall of Austria will have contributed to the defence of Europe against that saine Napoleon. It must be very consoling to the Emperor of Austria and his family to hear sentiments like these from an English minister; and, after hearing such sentiments, he must be a fool, indeed, not to be prepared to sacrifice himself and his people in the glorious cause.For years and years past, have the tribe, assembled upon this occasion, been goading Austria on to war. Infinite are the means they have resorted to for this purpose. Often have they succeeded; and success after success has been attended with defeat after defeat on the part of Austria; till, at last, the total extinction of the power of the House of Lorrain promises to be the result of their efforts. And, it is at a moment when Napoleon is in possession of Vienna; when he is issuing his orders from the palaces of the fugitive sovereign; it is at such a moment, that the ministers of the king of England meet, and, amidst the applauses of their servile dependents, unfeelingly proclaim, that if Austria should fall, her struggle will not have been made in vain! With respect to SPAIN, Mr. Canning told the crew, that he hoped that the deliverance of that country would be finally accomplished. The toast, which drew forth his observations with regard to Spain, was in the following words: "Ferdinand VII., "the legitimate king of Spain, and may "the noble efforts of his subjects secure "his rights and their own independence." From which we may clearly perceive the sort of deliverance, contemplated by the ministers for Spain. The people are to fight for the king's rights. We hear of no rights of their own, that they are to fight for. They are to have, it seems, independence; that is to say, they are to be independent of the family of Buonaparte. But what is this to the people of Spain? What care they, or what ought they to care, who is their master, unless they be convinced that they shall be more happy and free under one master than under the other?-As to the prospect of affairs in Spain, who can believe, that it is very fair, while we see, that nothing is done, even in the absence of the French armies? Why, if the spirit, in Spain, was such as we have been told it is, would not the present moment have been seized on to drive the French out of the country? Can any man believe, that, if this be not done now, it ever will be done? There has been time for French armies to march from the capital of Spain to the capital of Austria, and to fight many battles on the way, and yet there has not been time to make the remainder of the French quit Spain. But, stop," some of the wise ones say, " till Lord Wellesley gets there." Napoleon will, in all probability, be there nearly as soon as Lord Wellesley; and, whether he be or not, I should be glad to know what Lord Wellesley is likely to do in Spain. He will not have the Indian Princes to negociate with, and to fight, in Spain. He will meet with no poor souls like the NABOB VIZIER OF OUDE. It is said, in the news-papers, that he is merely going out to arrange matters, and is to leave his brother Henry there instead of Mr. Frere. I shall be sorry for this. I wish him to remain himself by all means; and then we shall have an opportunity of showing Napoleon what our Indian conqueror is made of. I should like to see the whole of the affairs in Spain and Portugal, left to the Wellesleys. I would have nobody interfere with them. I would leave them to do just what they pleased, or rather, what they were able. And, then, we should see what either they, or the cause, consisted of.The great consideration, at present, however, is, that the remains of the French are still in Spain. One of two things must be either they have a large army there, or a small one. If a large one, they will be able to keep their ground, till reinforcements arrive; and, if a small one, there can be no spirit of resistance in the Spanish people; the " universal Spa"nish nation," cannot much dislike the French. We are, the news-papers say, daily shipping off men to Sir Arthur Wellesley; but, when shall we send men equal in number to one of Napoleon's Corps-d'-armée? It is quite in vain to send off men, unless we were first assured of the cordial co-operation of the Spaniards themselves; and, have we any such assurance? Is there any man who really believes, that we shall meet with such cooperation? I do not, and, from what has passed, the evidence of which we have in Sir John Moore's letters, I am fully warranted in my disbelief.. To what purpose, then, put the English people to such immense expence? The taxes, caused by this war in Spain, will be severely felt; and, ought they to be imposed, until it be clearly ascertained, that since the retreat of Sir John Moore, the disposition of the people in Spain has changed?—Ibelieve, that, without first making a complete revolution in Spain; without shaking society to pieces from the top to the bottom, there are not, in Spain, the materials to compose a force to resist the French. We have not power to send an army sufficient for the purpose; and, what must be the consequence, then, of our efforts. -MR. CANNING told the Contractors at the London Tavern, that, whether we succceded or not; whatever the event of the struggle might be, our generosity would never be effaced from the minds of the people of Spain. The people of Spain! What part of our “ gene"rosity" do they taste of? If we were to send them food and clothing, they might be grateful; but, alas! what we expend does not reach even the ears of the people of Spain, much less their backs and bellies. How grateful they felt in Leon and Gallicia the remnant of our poor harrassed troops can tell. Sir John Moore's letters will tell. They have told; and yet, we are still to have dinned in our insulted ears, the gratitude and zeul of the "universal Spanish nation." Braganza is attached to England, unless he could shew us, that that attachment was likely to be of some benefit to us? The attachment of the House of Braganza is of no more consequence than that of the House of Chicasaw, on the banks of the Ohio, unless the House of Braganza can assist in resisting Buonaparté. "Trade to the Brazils!" Why, it has ruined thousands already, and will ruin thousands more. The mad or deluded speculators, crammed five or six into a stinking room, and half-devoured with flies, are, at this moment, selling their goods under the prime cost. I speak from a knowledge of the facts; and I venture to say, that the trade to the Brazils has already produced a greater loss to England than the Brazils would sell for, if put up to auction. The fruit of the labour and the soil of England is now wasting in the shops, or stores, as they are called, of RIO JANEIRO, and that too, in quantities and to an amount almost incredible. This loss will be felt, though not seen, in every part of the nation; we shall have to bear our proportion of it; and, the mortification is, that we are told to look upon this loss as a benefit, for which we ought to give our money and risk our lives.When the mighty advan tages of a connection with the Brazils was first trumpeted forth, I did my best to stay the coming plague. One person, in particular, I did all in my power to dissuade from any adventure thither. A letter from him to a mutual friend has conveyed to me the proof of the correctness of all my predictions, down even to the minutest particu lars. The picture he gives is truly distressing; but, it is not more so than it was painted by me before his departure. The public will recollect what pains I took, at the time, to stem the torrent of delusion. Those pains were taken in vain; and, I must say, that I do not feel much sorrow for the losses, or the sufferings, of those, whose thirst for gain closed their minds As to PORTUGAL, it is manifest to every against the voice of reason. The Brazils! one, that any ground gained there, can be The Brazils were to build ships; to send of no avail, unless the French be driven butter and pork and hoops and staves and from Spain, of which Portugal is, by na- timber to the West Indies; and, what was ture, a part. Therefore, it is quite useless. still better, they were to send us sugar and to spend money and to shed blood in Por- coffee, as if the West Indians had not an tugal, unless there be a tolerably fair ounce of either to spare! Was there ever chance of finally succeeding in Spain; any thing so mad as this? And yet, upon and, then, we come round again to the grounds like these; for benefits like these, old point; to the old question, whether is this nation put to the expence of mainthere be, or be not, in Spain itself, the taining an expensive embassy in the Brameans of raising a force sufficient to resist zils, and also a fleet and an army. The Napoleon? Of what use is it for Mr. Can-whole of the immense expence, attending ning to tell his crew, that the House of this connection, is, in my view of things, so much of dead loss to the nation. We, in England, work to raise taxes to pay to the people of the Brazils for the food, which they supply to our sailors and soldiers, who are sent and stationed there for the protection of the government of the Prince Regent. This is the short view of the matter; but, this is a view of it which the herd of contractors and jobbers and placemen and pensioners did not want to take. They gain by the connection with the Brazils; but we lose. They gain by whatever augments the public expenditure; by whatever extends the sphere of office and of borough influence; and, therefore, it was quite natural in them to applaud the sentiments, which have been published as those of the ministry, delivered by the Secretary of State, at a meeting by far the least reputable, in almost any point of view, of any that has taken place in the kingdom, within the last three months, with the sole exception of that at Ipswich, the head quarters of the German Baron. " ANOTHER DECISION OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS. On Tuesday last, the 30th of May, SIR JOHN NEWPORT made a statement as follows: He rose to call the attention of "the House to an appointment which had "been made in defiance of the express "words of the Act of the 46th year of the King, and of every principle upon which promotions and rewards should be con"ferred. By the Act to which he had "alluded, any officer of the customs of "Excise, who should, after the passing of "that Act, take or accept of any fee, gratuity or presents, from the distillers whom they visited in the course of their duty, "should be thereby incapacitated from "holding any office, civil or military. Notwithstanding the express words of "this Act, a MR. BEAUCHAMP HILL, who "had confessed before Commissioners of Enquiry, that he had regularly received "201. per week from two distillers who "were in his district, was not only not dismissed, but was promoted from the situation "of Surveyor to be an Inspector General, which was a promotion in that very de"partment in which the frauds had been "committed. It was in September 1806, "that he had confessed himself guilty "of the fraud, and on the 8th of March "1808 he received his promotion. He thought it would be useless to endea"vour to guess at what sort of defence "could be set up, and concluded by mov " "ing a resolution, stating the words of the "Act of the 40th of his Majesty, the confes"sion of Mr. Hill that he had acted contrary "to it, and his subsequent promotion." Well, what was now done? What did the House do? Why, the motion was opposed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Mr. Perceval) and by Mr. Croker and by the Son of Lord Melville. But, what did the House; what did the House of Commons do? Why they voted (77 against 50) that the motion should not be adopted. Now, reader, remember, that, in the year 1802, one PHILIP HAMLIN, a Tinian of Plymouth, having written a letter to Mr. Addington, offering the said Addington 2,000l. to give him a place in the Custom House, he was, by this very Mr. Perceval, who was then Attorney General, prosecuted criminally for the said offence; that; upon the man's making affidavit of the innocence of his intention, and of the ruin that punishment would bring upon his family, the said Mr. Perceval demanded judgment upon him in the name of PUBLIC JUSTICE; that the Judge, in passing sentence, dwelt much upon the moral as well as political evils, to which such practices must tend; and finally, that the said Philip Hamlin was sentenced to pay a fine of a hundred pounds to the king, and to be imprisoned for three Kalendar months. Mr. Barham (in the debate upon the above motion) said " there was one argu"ment which ought to make the House "cautious in what way they dealt with "this motion. It had been publicly and generally asserted, that many persons "sat in that House by improper means. "The public had taken the alarm; and "it had been found in support of that ❝ alarm, and those assertions, that a Ca"binet Minister had actually been con"cerned in bartering for a seat in that "House, and was defended for such an "act. It was by the motion that moment "under consideration, and the arguments I urged in support of it, further asserted "that corruptions prevailed in a most exten"sive degree over the whole revenue of Ire"land. If something were not done to rectify these corruptions and abuses--if "no step were taken towards removing "them, he dreaded to think, what the public opinion of that House must very soon "be." AMERICAN STATES. Did I not, the moment there arose a dispute with America; nay, long before, suggest the propriety of committing our affairs, in that country, to other hands? I was regarded as spiteful and malicious; but, I think, that it will now be allowed, that it would have been prudent to follow my advice; for the Secretary of State has openly and explicitly declared, in the House of Commons, that " the proceedings "of our minister in America have been "in direct contradiction to his instructions." ———The interesting point for the people of this country now is, whether that minister, when he comes home, will have a great pension settled upon him for life? This is the question. The connection with America, it has now been proved, we do not want. It is of no consequence to us, while (as an article in another part of this sheet will show) they are beggars without it; but, it is of great consequence to us to know, whether this same minister is to be fastened upon us and our children to the tune of two or three thousand pounds a year. THE COURT MARTIAL. The Government (for, it is hard to conceive that any body can have done it without its consent) appears to have sanctioned the publication of certain documents, relative to a Court-Martial, at which in 1792, I endeavoured to bring certain persons to punishment Had the whole of the Papers been published, without any misrepresentation, I never should have noticed the thing at all; but, have left the documents to speak for themselves.In my next double number, however, I shall, as the thing now stands, give a full account of the matter; and I venture to whom the patrons of corruption suborn to calumniate me, I not only despise, but I despise all those, who affect to lend an ear to them; and, in this feeling, I have, in the increasing circulation of my writings, the best possible proof, that I have the public with me.This attempt, on the part of the friends of corruption, is a desperate one. They must feel themselves hard driven, when they have recourse to such means. They are stung to madness at my success, which, they plainly see, must contribute largely towards their overthrow. They will, in the end, lose by their efforts; but, theirs is a life of expedients; the evil hour is what they wish to get rid of; and of that hour they will not get rid. Botley, 1st June, 1809. COBBETT'S COMPLETE COLLECTION OF State Trials: To be completed in Thirty-Six Monthly The SIXTH PART of the above Work was published on Thursday the 1st instant. One Part will appear, with the greatest regularity, on the first of each succeeding Month. Those Subscribers who have expressed their intention of taking the Work in Quarterly Volumes, are respectfully informed that the Second Volume is now ready for delivery. COBBETT'S say, that, when I have so done, there is not Parliamentary Debates: a single man, who shall read that account, who will think, that (the circumstances of my situation considered) what I then at tempted to do was more meritorious than any of the many important things, which a change of circumstances has enabled me to accomplish.The friends of corruption are aware of my weight in the great question of Parliamentary Reform; and, next to the destroying of my credit with the public, there is nothing they so much desire as to engage me in a personal warfare, which I am resolved they shall not do. I will waste upon them not one moment of that time, which is due to the public. I deny most positively every one of their insinuations, and I defy them to make good against me any charge of having acted, at any time of my life, dishonestly or dishonourably. The vile insinuations of the anonymous wretches, The TWELFTH VOLUME of the above Work will be ready for delivery on the first of July. All communications, if sent to the Publisher's in due time, shall be carefully attended to. AMERICAN STtates. I cannot help recording the following articles, relative to the Restoration of Intercourse with England. New York, April 21. Notice. The Federal Republican Committee, of the city of New York, recommend to all ship owners and masters of vessels to display their colours on Monday next, in honour of the triumph of Federal Policy, in the restoration of intercourse between the United States and Great Britain. The persons having charge of the bells in the different churches, are re |