ment, we must reserve the melancholy details of this Event for our next Number.

Upon the best authority, we can assure our Readers, that the Loan upon England does not fill; and that, at the date of our last Intelligence, the great Nation, with all its credit, all its tricks, and all its terror, had not been able to borrow as many Livres as the public spirit of ENGLISHMEN has cheerfully subscribed, in Voluntary Donation, Pounds Sterling, to what Mr. JEKYL has so patriotically called-the National Begging Box.

N°

N° XVI-MONDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 1798.

The spirit of our ancestors is up;

The spirit of the brave! and with a voice

That breathes success, they all demand the foe!

THOMSON'S ALFRED.

WEEKLY EXAMINER.

VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS.

T might have been supposed that differences of opinion would prevail, as to the policy of raising part of the Supplies by means of VOLUNTARY CONTRIBUTIONS. Some persons might disapprove of having recourse to them at all; others might agree with Mr. SHERIDAN, that they ought to be resorted to in the first instance, postponing the Loan and increase of the existing Taxes;

and others might think it expedient to receive such Contributions in aid of the other measures of Finance.

"Might not the whole plan be postponed, except that which "provides for Voluntary Contributions? and I am sure, for one, I "have no objection to read the Bill, in that case, three times in "one day, that we may try this experiment." Mr. SHERIDAN'S Speech on the 3d Reading of the Assessed Tax Bill, - DEBRETT's Parliamenta, ry Register, p. 577.

But it might have been expected, that all Men of all Parties would have agreed in this at least, that if Contributions were once opened, they should be supported by all ranks and descriptions of persons with liberality and zeal: more especially by those who had magnified and extolled French Loans and French Contributions; who had daily and loudly clamoured for sacrifices of Property from persons possessed of office, affluence, or rank. No sooner, however, were the Jacobins gratified by sacrifices from such persons, large and liberal beyond all example, than they found in these very acts, which they so long professed to have desired, new means of calumniating individuals, and of bestowing on their Country at large new terms of degradation and reproach. They had foretold, that these persons from whom the Country had a right to expect much, would be found wanting in their zeal for its support. They had asserted, again and again, that even the more opulent Classes of the Community would be unable to answer the increased demands of the State; and now, that the extent and generality of the Contributions have shewn their prophecies and assertions to be equally false, they labour unremittingly to prove that the Nation is in a state of beggary and ruin, because the people are disposed to give more to the Public Service than the Law requires them to contribute!

But this is not enough. To deter others, and excuse themselves, from giving the smallest assistance to their Country, (AND TO A MAN THEY FAITHFULLY WITHHOLD ANY) they carefully inculcate, that "the real object of the Subscription is to keep Mr. PITT in place *.”

* Morning Chronicle, Morning Post, and Courier, daily.

We

[N° 16. We thank the Jacobins for declaring themselves. Though it is not to be disputed, that the Contributions of the Rich must necessarily diminish the burdens which must otherwise be borne by all; - though they will shorten, in proportion to their amount, the continuance of the Assessed Tax Bill, by reducing the Capital, which is to be paid off by its Provisions; though a Million, so collected, will save the annual sum of 60,000l. which must otherwise be raised by Taxes; though it may contribute to the defence of the Kingdom, either by deterring the Enemy from his attempt, or putting us in a situation to repel it with vigour and effect; yet if the existence of an Administration hostile to French Principles, is linked (as it undoubtedly is) with the safety and prosperity of England, better is it, in the opinion of the Jacobins, that the Country itself should perish.

We will not dwell longer on the endless variety of means which the Jacobins have adopted, to counteract the Public Contributions; and will only add a few Specimens of the many calumnies they have directed against different persons, individually and collectively. The Bank Directors and Principal Merchants they attack en masse.

"A private meeting of Bank Directors and principal Merchants "was either held yesterday, or is to be held to-day, to arrange "the best plan of entrapping the Public, and of then publishing a "respectable list of the sums contributed," Morning Post,

Jan. 31.

It is to be observed, that as they have selected the most unexceptionable acts for their censure, so they have chosen the most irreproachable Characters for their calumny; hoping, that if interested and unworthy motives could be successfully assigned to such actions of such men, the imputation would easily attach generally upon Characters less known to the Public.

"Lord

"Lord ROMNEY has subscribed 2000l. per annum during the War, "to keep Mr. PITT in place. He could do no less has not "Mr. Pirr made him a Peer, and given him the Lieutenancy of "Kent?" Morning Post, Jan. 29.

That a Subscription of 2000l. per annum during the War, from a Person who receives no Emolument from the State, should afford matter of censure; that the person selected for their slander, should be peculiarly known by the extent of his Benevolence, by his munificent patronage of many of the Charitable Institutions with which this Country abounds, may surprize those who are ignorant that Charity and Benevolence are not found among Jacobin Virtues, and that such Institutions have never been indebted to Jacobins for their support.

As to the Lie concerning Lord ROMNEY's Peerage, which was conferred on his Ancestor above thirty years before Mr. PITT was born, it is too stupid to be worth an observation; particularly as we have a falsehood to add, on which the inventor has bestowed more pains, in order to make it circumstantial and dramatic.

"The discretion of the ARCHBISHOP of YORK, in the matter of "Subscription, has been rather outrun by the zeal of his "Agent: Go,' quoth his Grace, to the Bank, and put "down my name for zoool.' The deed was no sooner said than done, and the Agent returned with a receipt for that "sum: But where is the other Receipt for the Assessed "Taxes?'- My Lord, I totally forgot to ask for it!' "Return then instantly back, Sir, and get it.' The Agent "did as bidden; but the Clerks soon convinced him that it "was impossible to make the smallest erasure in diminution "Their orders from above, were, to add as much as possible to "the Account Current; but at their peril to diminish from it "nought."- Morning Herald, Feb. 14.

Without a dialogue, the truth is, that the ARCHBISHOP of YORK subscribed 1000l. as a Voluntary Contribution, which was entered by mistake in the Book of Subscriptions for the payment of Assessed Taxes. Upon this mistake being made known to him, it was at his desire in

stantly,