VOL. XV. No. 26.] LONDON, SATURDAY, JULY 1, 1809. [Price 18. "THE Mutiny amongst the LOCAL MILITIA which broke out at Ely, was fortunately suppressed øn "Wednesday, by the arrival of four squadrons of the GERMAN LEGION CAVALRY from Bury, under "the command of General Auckland. Five of the ring-leaders were tried by a Court Martial, and "sentenced to receive 500 lashes each, part of which punishment they received on Wednesday, and a part was remitted. A stoppage for their knapsacks was the ground of complaint that excited this mutinous "spirit, which occasioned the men to surround their officers, and demand what they deemed their "arrears. The first division of the German Legion halted yesterday at Newmarket on their return to Bury."- -COURIER (ministerial) News-paper, Saturday 24th of June, 1809. 993] SUMMARY OF POLITICS. -[994 faces, and to hear their observations to each other, at the time.- -This occur LOCAL MILITIA and GERMAN LEGION.rence at home will, one would hope, teach See the Motto, English reader! See the the loyal a little caution in speaking of the Motto, and then do pray recollect all that means, which Napoleon employs (or, has been said about the way, in which rather, which they say he employs), in Buonaparté raises his soldiers. -Well order to get together and to discipline his done, Lord Castlereagh! This is just what Conscripts. There is scarcely any one of it was thought your plan would produce. these loyal persons, who has not, at various Well said, Mr. Huskisson! It really was times, cited the hand-cuffings, and other not without reason that you dwelt, with means of force, said to be used in drawing out so much earnestness, upon the great utility the young men of France; there is scarcely of the foreign troops, whom Mr. Wardle one of the loyal, who has not cited these appeared to think of no utility at all. means as a proof, a complete proof, that Poor gentleman! he little imagined how the people of France hate Napoleon and his a great genius might find useful employ-government, assist with reluctance in his wars, ment for such troops. He little imagined, and would fain see another revolution. I that they might be made the means of hope, I say, that the loyal will, hereafter, compelling Englishmen to submit to that be more cautious in drawing such conclusort of discipline, which is so conducive to sions, now that they see, that our "gallant the producing in them a disposition to de-" defenders" not only require physical fend the country, at the risk of their lives. restraint, in certain cases, but even a little. Let Mr. Wardle look at my motto, and blood drawn from their backs, and that, then say whether the German soldiers are too, with the aid and assistance of German of no use. -Five hundred lashes each! troops. Yes; I hope the loyal will be a Aye, that is right! Fiog them; flog them; little more upon their guard in drawing flog them! They deserve it, and a great conclusions against Napoleon's popularity. deal more. They deserve a flogging at At any rate, every time they do, in future, every meal-time. "Lash them daily, lash burst out in execrations against the French "them duly." What, shail the rascais for suffering themselves to be "chained dare to mutiny, and that, too, when the " together and forced, at the point of the German Legion is so near at hand! Lash" bayonet, to do military duty," I shall them, lash them, lash them! They deserve it. O, yes; they merit a double-tailed cat. Base dogs! What, mutiny for the sake of the price of a knapsack! Lash them! flog them! Base rascals! Mutiny for the price of a goat's skin; and, then, upon the appearance of the German Soldiers, they take a flogging as quietly as so many KING'S SPEECH. On Wednesday, trunks of trees!I do not know what the 21st of June, the parliament was sort of a place ELY is; but I really prorogued, with a Speech, delivered by should like to know how the inhabitants Commission; on which Speech, after insertlooked one another in the face, while this ing it, I shal, offer a few observations.scene was exhibiting in their town. I MY LORDS, AND GENTLEMEN, We are should like to have been able to see their" commanded by his Majesty to acquaint just re-publish the passage, which I have you, that his Majesty has great satisfac"tion in being enabled, by the state of "the public business, to release you from your laborious attendance in Parliament. 16 His Majesty doubts not that on your "return into your respective Counties, "you will carry with you a disposition "to inculcate, both by instruction and example, a spirit of attachment to those “estab ished laws and that ha py Constitution "which it has ever been his Majesty's anxious wish to spport and to maintain, "and upon which, under Providence, depend the welfare and prosperity of this "king om GENTLEMEN OF THE HOUSE "OF COMMONS, We have it in command "from his Majesty to thank you for the "liberal provision which you have made "for the services of the present year; "and to express the satisfaction which his Majesty derives from your having been "enabled to provide for those services without any great or immediate addition "to the burthens upon his People.-His Majesty particularly commands us to acknowledge your prompt attention to his wishes, respecting an increased provision for the poorer Clergy; an object "in the highest degree interesting to his Majesty's feelings, and deserving the "favourable consideration of Parliament. " "vinced that you will agree with him "in considering that every exertion for "the re-establishment of the independ ence and security of o her nations, is "no less conducive to the true interests than it is becoming the character and "honour of Great Britain."-The first observation that presents itself here is, that the king should have been advised to speak about the "public business" of the session, and to allude to particular parts of it, but to say not one word about that business, which had occupied above nine tenths of the time of the whole session, and compared to which, in point of impor tance, all the other business is a single sand compared to the sands composing a mountain. Why, the business of the past session consisted solely of the affairs of the Duke of York, Lord Castlereagh, Henry Wellesley, the Tinman's Prosecutor, and the Irish Excisemen. These, and the discussions arising out of them, made the whole of the business of the session. There was no other part of it that the nation paid the smallest attention to; that it either did care, or ought to care any thing about. And yet, as to this business, which has given rise to public meetings in every part of the kingdom, not one word is said in the Speech. I like to see this, however, because it shews so clearly what it is desirable that the people should clearly see. To make up for this omission, there is, however, a whole paragraph of the Speech devoted to the provision, which MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN, The "atrocious and unparalleled act of violence and treachery by which the Ruler of "France attempted to surprize and to "enslave the Spanish nation, while it has "excited in Spain a determined and uncon-has, during this session, been made for the querable resistance against the usurpation "and tyranny of the French government, "has, at the same time, awakened in other nations of Europe a determination to "resist, by a new effort, the continued "and encreasing encroachments on their safety and independence. Although "the uncertainty of all human events, "and the vicissitudes attendant upon "war, forbid too confident an expecta"tion of a satisfactory issue to the present struggle against the common enemy of "Europe, his Majesty commands us to "congratulate you upon the splendid and "important success which has recently "crowned the arms of the emperor of Aus"tria, under the able and distinguished "conduct of his Imperial Highness the "Archduke Charles. To the efforts of Europe for its own deliverance, his Majesty has directed us to assure you, that "he is determined to continue his most strenuous assistance and support, con " poorer Clergy, and which provision did, I verily believe, pass, because it was a matter which hardly any one thought worth his notice. The propriety of such provi sion, at any time, and especially at a time like this, appears to me to be, at best, very questionable. Let the list of non-residents be laid before the public; let the people see how few of those who enjoy the wealth, do the duties, of the Church, and then they will be able to judge of the justice of providing for the "poorer clergy" out of the earnings of the people. Let the benefices be properly distributed, and there wili ba no poor clergy; but, while one man has heaped upon him what ought to go to the providing for four or five of his brethren, is it any wonder, that there are some of the clergy poor? What would you think of a man, who should give the whole of his income to a part of his children and send the rest to the parish? You need not answer the question; but, you know that there is a law for the compelling of such a man to | keep these cast-off children. They are not to be thrown upon the parish while he has the means of supporting them. It would be scandalous if they were; and what are we to think of a system, which gives two or three benefices to one man, while there are hundreds of the profession without any benefice at all?But, besides the injustice of drawing upon the people in this way, let us mark a little the consequences. This provision is made for the professed purpose of assisting to support the poorer-clergy; but, what will it do? Why, by making provision for them in this way, there will be the less necessity for giving them a share in the benefices; and, of course, there will be the more to be bestowed for purposes such as have been too much talked of lately to need a particular description in this place.Well, then, here is a large sum of money granted, not, in fact, to add to the means of providing for the poorer clergy, but to the putronage of the ministry. In short, it appears to me to be a hundred thousand pounds (I believe that is the sum) given to those who have parliamentary influence. Suppose, for instance, there are nine livings in the whole, six rectories and three prebendaries, and that there are just as many clergymen as livings; but that the whole of the livings are given to four of them; and that one of them has three, as in the case of our Winchester Bishop's brother-in-law, MR. POULTER, who is rector of four parishes united into two livings, a prebend of Winchester, and Arch-Deacon, I believe, of the diocese. The consequence must be, that five out of the nine clergymen must go dig, or starve, or, at best, must perform for a starving salary, that duty for which the other three enjoy the income. Now mark, one has three livings, three have two livings each, and five have no living at all, and are either curates or beggars. Well, come, let us provide for these men; let us make provision for these "poorer cler"gy." A sum is granted: provision is made; and what is the consequence? Why, when the three-flocked pastor dies, the ministry distribute his three livings amongst the three two-flocked pastors, or, if they have not interest enough, they are given to a youth of greater interest, who, as it were for the nonce, has had, agreeably to the declaration which is made at the ordination, a call to take upon him the cure of souls. Now, if this "provision," as it is called, were not made, shame, perhaps, might induce those, who have the distribution of livings, to give to three of the living-less five a living each; but, if they can obtain from the public purse the means of just satisfying the hunger of these five, they will, of course, bestow the vacant livings in twos and threes. Before, therefore, any sum of money should have been granted for this purpose, an inquiry ought to have been made into the actual distribution of the income of the church; for, unless that be taken into view, I see no end of such grants as that which has just been made. The more you grant, the more poorer clergy" there will be of course. You do not get rid of the poorer clergy by the grants. It may render those comfortable, who are now poor, but you will immediately have new claimants, because, in the same degree as you remove the miseries of the poorer clergy by grants, the livings will be heaped upon the others, 'till, in a very short time, you will not see a single beneficed clergyman without a plu rality of livings. Why has the present time been chosen for the making of this grant?«The rise in prices." But, what is that to the clergy? Their income rises with the rise of prices; and so it ought. What, then, is there to justify this application of so large a sum of the public money now? I can see nothing at all in the na ture of the times to afford such justification. I can discover no argument that might not have been made use of a hundred years ago as well as at this time. In short, it appears to me to be a new scheme for augmenting the amount of the ministry's pa tronage; a scheme for augmenting the means of satisfying those political cormorants, commonly called borough-mongers, and by no means what the king appears to regard it, a source of relief to the poorer clergy."--There is, however, one good which will arise from this new mode of supporting clergymen; and that is, it will give those who pay taxes full authority to call upon the fat, the stall-fed priest, the double-pursed pluralist, for some shew of humility in political matters, at least, if none is to be expected from him in any of the other relationships of life. Let him remember, or, if he does not, we, I hope, shall, that the " poorer clergy" are his " brethren ;" and, these his brethren, the lusty, the over-fed, the swoln, the rosy-gilled, the broad-faced and bigwigged gentleman leaves for us to keep. Let him be modest, then, when he appears before us, who have to maintain ha kindred. We have a right to expect a stitution, upon which, under Providence, delittle less haughtiness and insolence on the pend the welfare and prosperity of the part of the priesthood; unless, indeed, kingdom; this reliance is matter worthy which is not impossible, they look upon of particular attention. One does not, inthis grant from the parliament as an ac- deed, very well understand what is meant knowledgment due to the part they have by a "spirit of attachment," nor is it acted and figure they have cut in the re- very easy to discover for what the word cent transactions and enquiries. If a group established is put before laws, except we of printers or public writers had been drag- suppose it a compliment due from a caged to light, in the way that Dr. O'Meara, binet of lawyers to the numerous hordes of Dr. Locke, the Rev. Mr. Lloyd, the Rev. Mr. the profession, to give the nation a speciBeazeley, and that pink of all parsons the men of tautology in every speech from the Crazy Parson, Williams, who, by-the-bye, throne; but, this we know, that there has had "cure of souls" at the same time, were; been, in no part of the country, an attempt if a group of printers had been thus exposed, or the appearance of a disposition, amongst what would have been said of them? Talk the people, to violate, or to disregard the no more about the tricks and the various" established laws and happy constitution, base arts of the methodistical or other secta-" upon which, under Providence, depend the rian priests; for, my answer always will be, that I wait till I see amongst them a group like that above-named. I have heard of no censure of the church pronounced upon these men. Their brethren must, like other people's brethren, take to them, or cast them off; but, my real belief is, that there are so many like them, or that would be like them if they could, that we never shall hear of their conduct being the subject of clerical censure. What is more, we have, in almost every part of the country, seen the clergy openly leagued with our political enemies, with those who have been distinctly accused of corruption. There has been scarcely a clergyman in all Hampshire, in particular, as far as my knowledge has reached, who has not done his utmost to give countenance to all that the people have been condemning. It was, it appears to me, a most indecent thing to advise the king, just at a time, when the sound of the names of the Reverend O'Meara, Beazeley, Williams, &c. &c. was still ringing in the ears of the members; to advise the king, just at such a time, to recommend to the House of Commons a grant of money to the clergy, part of which money will possibly go to these very persons; and, indeed, there is a fair presumption, that a part of it will go to Williams, the Crazy Parson with "cure of souls." If I were a member of parliament, I would call for an account of how this money had been disposed of. I would ascertain whose clutches it got into. I would see what sort of men the " poorer clergy" were. The reliance which the king expresses, that the members of parliament will carry with them, into their respective counties, a disposition to inculcate a spirit of attachment to the established laws and happy con "welfare and prosperity of this kingdom." The members when they call us together, as, doubtless, they will, for the purposes of inculcation, need, however, be at no loss for topics. They have seen, and have gone through, a great deal during the last winter; and, they will, of course, tell the people what has passed. Amongst other things they will remind them, than a Mr. WARDLE brought certain charges against the Duke of York; that Mrs. Clarke and Miss Taylor, and others, gave such and such evidence; that General Clavering and the crazy Parson Williams did so and so; that Mr. Perceval and Mr. Adam had charged Digby Hamilton to conjure Capt. Sandon not to destroy the Note; that when they had been informed that the Note was destroyed, they brought the matter before the House; that, under Providence," the Note was preserved, and was examined by hand-writing decypherers; that there was Dr. O'Meara, of the celestial unction, and the Rev. Mr. Beazeley, cherished by divine women; that there was a man of the name of Kennett, who had corresponded about a Loan in exchange for a Place; that there were two Love-Letters of the Duke of York produced in the House of Commons; that the House ACQUITTED the royal Duke; that, since that acquittal, Mrs. Clarke has threatened to publish a Book, and that she has kept this book out of the press in consequence of having received very large sums of money.- -The members will, doubtless, remind us, and endeavour to keep constantly alive in our recollection, that, at the time when the Charges were brought forward against the Duke of York, there was an out-cry, a monstrous halloo; a war-wl.oop, set up about a Jacobin Conspi said Lord Castlereagh, the honourable racy against the House of Brunswick; that it was asserted, with surprising noise of voice and emptiness of skull, that the conspirators meant to degrade the Army, the Church, and the Throne; that it finally appeared, that the said conspirators were no where to be found; that infamy was, according to Mr. Canning, to attach either to Mr. Wardle or to the Duke of York; that the nation, with voice unanimous, have thanked Mr. Wardle, and that the House of Commons acquitted the Duke of York.- -The members will, doubtless, remind us, that, when Mr. Wardle first brought forward his Charges, an universal laugh was set up against him, when he talked of an open shop in the city for the Sale of Offices under Government, and that Mr. Perceval treated the story with derision; that, it afterwards appeared, that, at this very time, Mr. Perceval had been informed of the existence of such shop, but, as he said, his reason for disguising the fact was, he wished to entrap the office-sellers, that he had set people to work for that purpose, and that he had now succeeded and caught the delinquents in his trap.The members will scarcely fail to remind us of the utter astonishment that became visible on the countenances of the East India Directors, when the fact slipped out, that there was now-and-then an office at their disposal, sold, contrary to law; that they called aloud for a Committee upstairs; that this Committee soon proved, that the traffic had long been as coinmon as the dealings in Smithfield market; and that, amongst other transactions, offices under the East India Company had become objects of barter for livings in the Church and for Seats in the House of Commons.Our "representatives" will, surely, remind us; the guardians of our purses; the protectors of our " happy constitution," will certainly not fail to remind us, that Mr.judgment upon this man, in the name of Perceval, "under Providence," narrowly missed catching one of his colleagues in his trap; for that it appeared from the Report of the up-stairs Committee, that Lord Castlereagh, while President of the Board of Controul, while filling an office intended to be a check upon the East India Directors, had offered an East India writership to be given in exchange for a Seat in the House of Commons, of which House also he was a member.- -Yes, the honourable members will, surely, remind us of this, and further, that, when the matter was brought before the honourable House, and a motion was made for censuring the Public Justice; and, that the man, for only offering to purchase a place under government, at a time when such places were daily advertised for sale, in the public news-papers; that this man, for this offer, made under such circumstances, was, at the prosecution of this same Mr. Perce val, sentenced to pay a fine of a hundred pounds to the king, and to be imprisoned for three months.- Of all these things, and of Mr. Curwen's Bill, and other such matters, our honourable representatives will, at the suggestion of the king to come and instruct us, doubtless remind us; but, lest, by any accident, they should forget it, I |