VOL. XI. No. 5.] LONDON, SATURDAY, JANUARY 31, 1807. [PRICE 100. "Amongst individuals, wealth gives power, and power gives security; but, this is only because there is "another and greater power which secures the wealth; and, as there is no such power to superintend the wealth of nations, the rich nation is no more secure than the poor nation; nay, it is much les secure, "being placed in a situation similar to that, in which a rich man would be without the protection of the "magistrate, presenting to the plunderer the strongest of temptations with the weakest of obstacl.."POLITICAL REGISTER, Vol. VI, page 612. 161] [162 "richer and weaker, which augments the opulence of his people, and makes them "harmless, which preserves their trade, but "stunts the growth of their navy, is of all "others the contrivance best suited to our "interests. 4. The surrender of the French SUMMARY OF POLITICS. PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT, (continued from p. 82).-I. American States. 11. Buenos Ayres. III. Volunteers. IV. The Army Estimates. V. Lord Wellesley. -I. In the House of Commons, on the 20th instant, some questions were asked of Lord Howick by a Sir Thomas Turton, I think they call him, whom the reader may have before heard of, relative to the American States. It seems, if one can form a guess at their intentions, to be the design of the OUSTED TREASURY CLERKS, whom the Morning Chronicle persists in calling an "Opposition," to set up a very loud cry against whatever terms this treaty may contain; but, the ground they are prepared to take, is, that we ought to have strictly adhered to what they call the rule of 1756, from which rule, be it remarked, they supported Pitt in deviating from in several instances. But, this fact will not, I allow, make any thing in justification of the ministers, if they have given up any of our essential rights. To allow, in the way of grant for a particular purpose, and upon equitable conditions, any neutral nation to trade with France, during war, or even to be the carrier of French or French colonial pro-litating against the argument contained in duce, may, however be politic. There is a passage in a pamphlet lately published, under, it is said, the sanction of a person high in office, laying down principles, upon which a permission, or grant, of this sort may possibly have been made. It is this: "1. The destruc❝tion of an enemy's trade is not to be de"sired in order to annihilate his national wealth 2. By the individual prosperity of "his subjects we ourselves gain; by their progress in riches we improve our own; and though his public revenue may be "augmented by the increase of his public "wealth, we must necessarily augment our 65 own revenue by the encrease which our "wealth receives from his. 3. It is "his progress in arms not in arts that is "formidable; and there cannot be a donbt **that an expedient, which renders him commerce to the neutral nations is this "expedient."-The Courier news-paper, which is the organ of the Ousted Clerks, cites this passage in confirmation of its apprehensions, that the ministers have made a disgraceful treaty with the American States; but, if they actually have made a treaty upon the great and enlightened principles expressed in the 3d sentence (I have numbered them for the sake of reference), though this principle may not be compreheusible to the Ousted Clerks, I shall entertain a hope, that they will never lose sight of that principle in any of their measures. Whether the expedient, described in the 4th sentence, would be efficacious as to the purpose in view, must depend much upon the circumstances of the case; and, without some explanation, to shew us, that we, as well as the enemy, are not rendered weak by the increase of our national wealth, we must, I think, regard the 2d sentence as mi the third; for, it appears strange, first to say, that we shall grow rich by the increase of the enemy's national wealth, and then to say, that it will be good to suffer that wealth to increase, because it will enfeeble the enemy. The principle, however, laid down in the 3d sentence, I heartily agree to; and, it is not without some little pride, that I refer, as in my motto, to the letter to Pitt, a great part of which was occupied in an endeavour to prove and to illustrate the truth of that principle. Happy shall I be to find, that the ministers of England begin, at last, thus to think and to talk. After having, for so many, many years heard the shallow-brained Pitt and his still more shallow-brained followers, declaiming upon our " commercial greatness," our inexhaustible resources," our "capital, credit, and commerce," as the sinews 66 of war, as the sure and certain means of triumph over our enemies; after having so long heard the master-declaimer ranting away upon the beggared state of the enemy, and exulting, in strains of inimitable bombast, at seeing him " on the verge, nay, in "the very gulph of bankruptcy;" after seeing Lords Castlereagh and Hawkesbury drawing out and arraying our customhouse accounts, the lists of our canals, turnpike roads and bills of enclosure, against the armies of France; after all this senseless and disgusting talk, it is really a comfort to read, from under the reputed sanction of mea in power, "that we ought not to desire to diminish the national wealth or revenues "of our enemy; and that, whatever ren"ders him rich does also render him weak." It is really a comfort to one's heart to hear this; and especially if one could but rely, that the ministers would begin and resolutely continue to act upon the principle. I am in hopes, too, that the nation, taught by woeful experience, will now receive and cherish this important truth; and I flatter myself, that, upon this point, as upon most others, the Ousted Clerks will ineet with the contempt which their party cavilling is so eminently calculated to excite.II. Buenos Ayres also was a subject of inquiry, on the part of Sir Thomas Turton; and, indeed, it was quite prudent in the Ousted Clerks to leave questions of this sort to be put by any other body, who was fond enough of hearing himself speak; for they were cunning enough to have perceived, that Buenos Ayres, the capture of which the wise Mr. Canning wished to see a topic of congratulation in the King's speech, began to be a little out of date. They were not such fools as to thrust themselves forward in any more inquiries about it; for re-captured, or not re-captured, they had discovered, that the gold-finders had, somehow or other, fallen into a state of unpopularity. From the beginning I expressed my regret at the capture; because I felt a conviction, that, supposing the undertaking to prove finally successful, as a military expedition, yet, it must prove greatly injurious to England; that it must add to our taxes, and to the patronage and the power of the crown, already, in my opinion, far too great, while there was not, as far as I could see, a possibility of the capture's producing any good at all, much less enough to counterbalance these evils. Of course I, in the preceding sheet, expressed my satisfaction at the report of the re-capture, which report I am now ver, glad to find confirmed, except as far as relates to the capture of our oops and stores, especially the former, who will now, in all probability, have to remain a long while, penned up in a prison, in .a country particularly unfavourable to them under such circumstances, and at the mercy of an enemy wantonly provoked against them, while their native land is, in part, garrisoned by Hanoverians. I trust, that the ministers will shew proper spirit with regard to the commanders of this expedition. The country demands it at their hands. How did Sir Home Popham and his associate know what the views of the government might be, with respect to Spain? He knew England was at war with that power; but, how did he know, that it was not the wish of the government to conciliate Spain as much as possible; or, at least, not to wound her with urgent necessity? From the opinions which the present ministers expressed at the time of the capture of the Spanish frigates, it is probable, that such were their wishes with regard to that power; and, shall the wishes of the government be thus bafled at pleasure, and for the gain of a greedy commander? But, as I observed in my last Number, if the plunder be suffered to remain in the hands of Sir Home Popham, nothing good can be done. The Vase, awarded him by the little government at Lloyd's, he may keep; nay, I would not grudge him a “ heir loom" of their granting. A "heir-loom!" A "heir"loom," granted by a club of stock-jobbers to be attached to an Earldom! What a scandalous mockery of that which has heretofore been held as one of the first acts of royalty! And yet, these same jobbers shall talk to you quite seriously about Buonaparte's degrading royalty. Let them, however; let them and the speculators of Birmingham and Manchester join in giving Sir Home Popham a heir-loom; but, let him not keep the plunder acquired at the expence of English taxes and English blood. This plunder, the public will recollect, was shipped home to the immaculate Alexander Davison, Sir Popham's banker; and the daily news-papers, with that base complaisance which they always shew towards those who are able and willing to pay them, announced to the well-dressed rabble that read them with delight, that "Mr. Davison's patriotic band, the St. "James's corps of Loyal British Vo"lunteers, were marched out to meet and "to guard the treasure." Yes, these Loyal heroes, blythe with Davisons beer, were marched out to guard the treasure gained by the captivity or the blood of their unfortu nate countrymen! As far as services of this sort go, the volunteers will certainly prove a most efficient force. This feat of Sir Home Popham seen.s to, be quite complete in all may purchase praise at the same price and at the same hands. Yet, this is the press we boast of, as the reformer of morals, the mirror of truth, the nurse of science and of virtue, and the check upon tyrants and public-robbers! Never was there so vile a traffic as that carried on by this press. A thousand thousand times better would it be that there should be no press at all existing. The trade of bawds and pimps has been decried; but, whether as to its intrinsic business, or as to its evil effects upon society, it is virgin innocence compared to the trade of the press, when practised as above described.————— Nor does the English pencil yield, in this respect, to the press. A large portrait of Davison has beenexhibited at the print-shops in London, by the side of those of Mr. Fox, and Lord Nelson: but, on Monday last, when the Third Report had begun to be a subject of general conversation, it was taken down!What shocking baseness is this! I do not believe that an equal to it is to be found in the history of any nation upon earth. This man has, I understand, been recently purchasing large estates in Northumberland; ten of our best painters are now employed by him to paint pictures at an enormous price for the furnishing of a gallery which he has a design of erecting, to be called "the Davison Gal its parts. The bare plunder was in character; but, it was sent home immediately; that object was put beyond the power of accident, and then, it is sent to Davison; and then Davison calls out his volunteer corps to guard it. Never was a piece better cast, or better kept up from the beginning to the end.-III. It is going a little out of the way, but I cannot help anticipating, in this place, the remarks that would present themselves upon Lord Castlereagh's eulogium (in the debate upon the army estimates, on the 21st instant) on the disinterestedness of the Volunteers. That many of them have been actuated by motives perfectly disinterested, I never either doubted, or expressed a doubt; and I am of the same opinion with regard to those who have taken a lead in raising such corps; but, as far as my knowledge goes, I speak with very few exceptions when I say, that the men of the volunteer corps have been actuated by motives far from disinterested, and that those who have raised such corps, have been dependents upon, or expectants of, the minister of the day. It was the same with the car-subscription, which I assisted in laughing down, though it had the unqualified approbation and encouragement of Pitt and that great, or chief, commander, the Duke of York. Upon that occasion a nest, nay, a whole rockery, of place-men, pen-lery!!" He appears literally to roll in riches, sioners, and contractors, assembled at a tavern, and passed resolutions (in no very good English), proclaiming every man disloyal, who refused to contribute towards the project. Amongst the flock of loyalists were several harness-makers; and, as the deft Sir -Brook (there is no occasion for his other name) only contracted with some of them for harness to draw the cars with, the rest took dudgeon thereat, and attacked Sir Brook most furiously in the news-papers; while the coach-masters, who subscribed to the project, took the same opportunity of subscribing, at the same place and time, a petition to parliament to lessen the tax upon; coaches, as it pressed so hard upon 66 a meri "torious and loyal part of the community." So much for their loyalty, and their disinterestedness, which, I imagine, will be found to be an humble invitation of the disinterestedness of Alexander Davison. When Davison raised his corps, his name, accompanied with an extolling of his liberality, his public-spirit, and his loyalty, appeared in the news-papers every day. The paragraphs were, I dare say, drawn up by himself, for they were illiterate and gross; and they were paid for at a guinea, or, in some of the papers, at half a guinea, perhaps, a piece. Any than, or any woman, no matter who or what, "to to expend gold by handfulls, to wallow in "" the -IV. The Army Estimates gave rise, on the 21st and 23d instant, to two debates. Upon the laying of documents like these be fore the House of Commons, before guardians of the public purse," what one would naturally look for, is, an examination into the necessity of granting so much money as they propose to the House to grant. One would expect to hear the members ob ject, if they objected to any thing, either to the amount of the force, or the sum. The occasion would naturally offer itself for members to shew, if they had it in their power, that the sum granted for the army, last year, was improperly expended; to point out how savings might be made; and to expose to the House any abuses which had come to their knowledge. Instead of any thing in this way; instead of any serious and earnest inquiries as to whether the Barrack and other abuses were corrected; instead of any objection to the enormous sums charged for the mere mustering of the soldiers; instead of any calculation to shew how small a portion, comparatively, is paid to the oflicer and the soldier; instead of any calculation to shew, that the hospital expenses are beyond all credibility of the necessity of the case; instead of any remarks to shew how dearly we are made to pay for the protection afforded us by the Generous Hanoverians; instead of any thing of this sort, we find that there were about fourteen hours spent in debates upon the relative merits of Mr. Pitt's and Mr. Windham's military plans; that some score or two of jests were cracked, and some three or four score of stories told; and this is called debating the army estimates! As to Mr. Windham's plan, it appears to have done but little in the way of raising men, and that I always expected from it; but, while it has been, even in this way, better than the pian of Mr. Pitt, it has done no harm; it has given the country no trouble and vexation; and, it has, at any rate, put an end to the trouble and vexation which the other plan so abundantly gave. There are, however, certain parts of it which have done great good. It has added to the means of subsist ing in those soldiers, who were already pensioners, and a great part of whom were also street beggars, or were in some parish workLouse; and, it has taken from the colonel, or commanding officer for the time being the power of preventing any man, who has served a certain time, from having a pension. This was a part of the plan which Lord Castingh complained of, but it is a part, I am confident, which every just and considerate man will highly approve of. All men are liable to prejudice and caprice; and now that we have so many colonels (to say nothing of a regiment being often left to the command even of a captain), is it not to be monstrously uncharitable to suppose it possible, that two or three out of the number, may be either tyrants or fools; and, in such a case, would it not be cruel to the last degree, to leave it in their power to send the wm-out spldier starving to his grave ?——— During the time of service his power over the soldier is almost absolute. He can punish almost at his pleasure. He can shut against him, by his sole will, the door of, promotion; he can, in like manner, always imprison him; for an irreverent look or gesture he can cause him to be flogged; and will my Lord of Castlereagh, will this gentle and smooth Lord, in this land of melting humanity, where schools of reform and retreats for prostitutes are daily rising up; will he pretend, that it is a fault in Mr. Windham's plan, that it considers a number of years of military service as a proof that the person serving has a claim to future protection from his country; or, will he say, that discipline cannot be preserved by the terrors and the taste of the lash, without thereunto adding the power of starving the soldier after he is no longer able to serve? But, while Mr. Windham must, I think, be regarded, by all but tyrants, as being completely triumphant in this argument, is he not aware that it applies, with equal force, to the case of the officers of the army, who are now, he must very well know, liable to be cashiered, at any moment, without a trial; and even without cause assigned, by the sole will of the King, and that, too, without any responsibility in the ministers or in any body else? I shall be told, perhaps, that it is a species of blasphemy to admit, even by way of hypothesis, that the King should act tyrannically or capriciously towards any of his subjects, and particularly towards a veteran officer. I am aware, also, that the same will be said with respect to the present Commander in Chief; and, as I am by no means ambitious of adding to the titles of jacobin and leveller (so liberally bestowed on me) that of blasphemer, I shall not suppose such a thing even possible. But, nothing prevents me from supposing, that some king, hereafter to be born, may be a tyrant, an unjust, a vindictive, and capricious tyrant, who will stretch his power to the utmost, and, in such a case (for Mr. Windham's plan is formed for futurity), where would be the security of the officers of the army, especially if such a king were to select for his Commander in Chief a man resembling himself in these respects, thereunto adding cowardice so rank and profligacy so notorious, as to make him regard every brave and virtuous man as a living liblel upon himself, and accordingly, a proper object of his unbridled vengeance? There is, moreover, another point of view, in which I would wish Mr. Windham, as the friend, which I know him to be, "of the re:1 liberties of his country, to view the power of which I am speaking; and that is in its poli- | cal effects, especially while officers of the army are allowed to be members of the House of Commons. I shall have no objection to their being members of that House, after it be proved to me, that they can attend their duty there without neglecting their military duty; but, when this proof has been furnished me, I shall still ask, how they can be regarded as independent men, so long as the king has the absolute power of cashiering, that is to say, ruining them, in fortune or fame, and perhaps both, without a trial, and without cause assigned? 1 am not to be told, that there are no military and naval officers in the present House of Commons, who are not independent men'; and I want not to be reminded, that it is quite absurd to suppose, that the present king or his apparent successor, would ever cashier an officer, or what is called take his regiment from him, merely because he had voted on the wrong side; but, the plan is for futurity, and as Mr. Windham looks deep into time, I am astonished that he should not have thought of some check to this possible, though improbable, abuse of power; and, after much redection upon the subject, I can in no way account for the omission, but, in supposing, that Mr Windham, never having known, or heard of a naval or military officer's giving his vote from the hope of promotion or from the fear of being cashiered or laid upon the shelf, and never having known, or heard of, any officer's having been so treated in consequence of giving his vote against the minister of the day, did not, even by accident, think of any such check as that which the reader will perceive I have in contemplation, and which is no other than similar to that which he has with so much justice and humanity, provided for the soldier, namely, security against utter ruin, except in cases of guilt, proved upon trial. - Upon the additional expense of Mr. Windham's plan, Lord Castlereagh and Mr. Perceval have, at different times, expatiated largely, insomuch, that a hasty observer would almost forget that they had been followers of the squandering Pitt, the patron of the Trotters, the Delanceys, the Davisons, and thousands of their like, and would take them for most rigid "guar"dians of the public purse." But, while we hear them thus swelling out the expense attendant on the addition made to the pensioner's allowance, to the pay of veteran soldiers, and the miserable pittance, hardly worth naming, doled out to the officers of the infantry, while those of the cavalry are left to purchase their new wallets and furrs and whiskers upon their old pay; while we hear them so loudly declaiming against this "enormous" expense, not a word do we hear from them about the expense of those snug sinecures called barrack-masterships, not a word about the ten thousand pounds a year sinecure to the Apothecary General; not a word about the three thousand pounds a year to the younger Sheridan as muste master at home while he is receiving pay s a captain of a foot regiment which is abroad upon hard duty; not a word about Mr. Huskisson's six hundred pounds a year for being a something or other to the army in Ceylon ; not a word about the endless train of commissaries and contractors, who, with the money raised in taxes, are purchasing the estates of those whom those taxes have rained; not a word about the expense of the office of Commander in Chief and its staff. No: there is no coming this way without rubbing, somewhere or other, sgainst a friend or a relation; yet it is here, it is in the branches where little or no duty is performed for the pay, that the saving of money might be made. Into these, had I been a member of parliament, would I have dived. I would have set myself seriously about the inquiry. I would have shewn what was thus expended. I would have proved that it was in no wise conducive to the public good; but, that, on the contrary, while it added to the pecuniary burdens of the people, it added also to the means of depriving them of their political and civil liberties. This would I have done; and I would not have been diverted from my purpose by a few snips of Latin, nor by the old thread-bare stories about a crookbacked poet and priest's maid, which I had heard RIV old comrades, round the guardroom fire, repeat a hundred times from the jests of Joe Miller.-V. LORD WELLESLEY On the 26th instant Lord Viscount Folkestone brought forward, in the House of Commons, his promised motion relative to the Oude papers; that is to say, that the papers, which were before printed, upon the motion of Mr. Patil, respecting Lord Wellesley's conduct towards the Nabob and province of Oude, but which papers had been annulled by the dissolution of parliament, should be again printed. Lord Howick did not repeat the arguments, which he made use of, when Lord Folkestone gave notice of his intended motion; but, as minister, and with all the air of an official detenuer of Lord Wellesley, he rose to question Lor Folkes one as to the time and manner of is future proceedings, and asked him whetht. he intended to bring forward all the charges that Mr. Paul has brought forward? In this |