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tion on the part of the people. Whitelocke had the misfortune to commit his disgraceful act at a time when the ministry was composed of a new set of men, of men who were the political enemies of those who sent him out on his command; and the citizens of London, slavish as they have been for many many long and disgraceful years, had had opportunities enough of perceiving, that circumstances of this sort are not without their influence. They knew, besides, that the Convention-making generals were not only appointed by the present ministry, who, of course, were their political friends, but that one of them, he who led the way in the transaction that has filled us with indignation, was one of the ministry, one of his brothers another of the ministry, and that his family had, at least, twelve fast friends in the parliament. These were circumstances calculated to have great weight; and when the citizens of London perceived, that the ministers, in the Gazette Extraordinary, in which they gave us an account of the transactions in Portugal, published the Armistice, which was negociated and signed by Wellesley, in the French language only; when they perceived this, must they not have been convinced, that it was the resolution of the ministers to screen this general, at any rate, and that to screen him would be impossible, if either of the others were put upon their trial? Must not this have been evident to every man of common sense? Well, then, in this state of things, what do the citizens of London do? Why, they meet, and determine to appeal to the king; they say, we see that the ministers are dis. posed to withhold satisfaction from us for this great injury and disgrace, and therefore, as to the prime source of justice, we will apply to the king himself. They do this in language the most humble; their prayer is termed an unnecessary interposition; they are accused of acting inconsistently with the principles of British justice; and they are charged with pronouncing judgment previous to investigation, at the very moment when they pray for an investigation.

Now, Gentlemen, can you discover any thing in this transaction which ought to prevent us from petitioning the king for inquiry? We have all the original inducements that the citizens of London had; but, we are told, that, at any rate, the king has now declared that he will institute an inquiry, and that, therefore, to petition for that purpose now, would, besides being useless, seem to imply a doubt of his sincerity.Gentlemen, this doctrine is quite new. The answer given to the citizens of London has

not been given to us. If we approve of what they did, it is our duty to do the same; or else, upon all other occasions, the whole nation is to look upon itself as being repre sented by the city of London; one petition and one answer will do for the whole; London will be the only part of the nation. whom any king or any minister, will have to manage; and the country at large, al the land and all its owners and all its culti vators, are, at once, sunk into complete insignificance. Not so, however, think the government agents, when they call for praises of the ministry. Then, as in the late instance, the more addresses the bette. The city of London began last summer, an they had their answer; but, the addressing did not stop there. The counties and cities and boroughs, down to the boroughs of ten men, followed the example. No body told them that it was unnecessary ta proceed; but, on the contrary, they wen urged on, till there was not a single spat left, from which an address of praise ha not been extracted. Besides, Gentlemen, do you perceive, in the answer of the king to the citizens of London, any assuranti that he will cause an inquiry to be instituted" || The words are these: "I should have hoped "that recent occurrences would have com "vinced you, that I am at all times ready a "institute inquiries on occasions in whis "the character of the country or the hono "of my arms is concerned, and that thei

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terposition of the city of London coat "not be necessary for inducing me to "rect due inquiry to be made into a trans "tion which has disappointed the hopes and "expectations of the nation." Now, Get tlemen, this is, you perceive, by no mea a positive assurance that any inquiry sha take place; and, supposing it to amount that, the word due, carefully qualifying the word inquiry, leaves, I think, little room # doubt, that the inquiry, if any, is not likely to be of that vigorous kind, which it is te wish of the nation to see take place.—T answer implies, that the king has been a all times ready to institute inquiries of the sort in contemplation. There was a co vention at the Helder, by which eight the sand French sailors were released out of prisons to go and fight against us; and, s any inquiry did take place upon that occa sion, an occasion in which the character d the country and its arms was certainly cerned, it was of so secret and quiet a kit that the people never even heard of it; 21 I take it, that this is not the sort of inqui which we now wish for. Besides, does it gr ly encourage us to rely upon the advice that

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the king will now receive, that we see, at the very same levee, where the Londoners are rebuked, Sir Arthur Wellesley the first upon the list of persons graciously received by the king; that we see that same general who signed the armistice, immediately after his return fro a court, set off for Ireland to resume his place and functions as a minister of the crown, and the chief minister, too, in th-t part of the kingdom; that we see Sir Hairy Burrard, Sir Charles Cotton, Col. Marray, and all those who must necessarily be material witnesses, left to keep the police at Lisbon"; do we, from these well known facts, derive any great encouragement to rely, to rest satisfied, to hold our tongues and remain quiet, in the assurance, that the king will be advised to institute such an inquiry as is likely to obtain us justice? Nay, Gentlemen, is it probable, is there the smallest probability, that those ministers, who made public rejoicings at the intelligence of the Convention, will advise the king to proceed to the prosecution of those, who were the authors, or the cause, of that Conrention? You cannot believe, that this is >robable; you can hardly believe that it is ossible; the answer to the citizens of Lonon alone must convince you of the contrary;. nd, therefore, if you wish to see justice lone upon the authors of the Convention, You are called upon to endeavour, by a resoate exercise of your right of petitioning he king, to induce him to listen to his peole, and to reject the advice which is so ikely to be offered to him by his ministers. Gentlemen; it is our lot to live in times, when we are daily called upon to spend ur last shilling, and to shed our last drop f blood, for the preservation of the constiution ;" and, though this would be going ery far, it being difficult to form an idea of ny thing much worse than beggary followed y extermination, we should, I trust, if jecessary, be ready to encounter the literal erformance; but, then, we ought to be pite certain that we have this constitution When the bigotted and besotted tyrant JAMES vas driven from the throne of England, which he had surrounded with peculators and slaves, the nation, when they declared hat another king should take his place, first declared what were their own rights, and, mongst these rights, was that of petitioning the king. This declaration, which makes part of an act of parliament, contains the letter of what we call the constitution. Every man; every individual person, in whatever rank or situation of life, has, according to the constitution of England, an unquestionable right to lay before the king a repre

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sentation of what he or she deems to be a wrong, whether public or private. It is for the petitioner, or petitioners, alone to judge of the necessity, or propriety, of petitioning. There exists no where a right to punish them for petitioning. The right is absolute, and the people are to be the judges as to the time and the occasion of exercising it. Such, as far as relates to our present purpose, is the constitution of England, that constitution to preserve which we are called upon to spend our last shilling and to shed our last drop of blood.But, what do we now hear, from those, too, who are the most loud in calling upon us for such terrible sacrifices? What do they now tell us; "That the citizens of "London sneaked out of the presence of "their sovereign, whose dignity had reproved their indecency and rebuked their presumption, and became a laughing"stock." Well, we really deserve this language. We have so long submitted to be the tools, the sport, the slaves, of the minister of the day, that there is no insult which we do not merit at their hands, or the hands of their underlings. Then, again, we are asked: "do the people believe that their old king is wanting in justice and integrity so "much, as to require a lecture upon both, "from every Burgh, City, and county in "the kingdom?" You will observe, Gentlemen, that when the object was to obtain addresses of praise, these same people had no objection to a lecture from every Burgh, City, and County in the kingdom. But, what is now become of this boasted right of petition, if it be proper to reprove and rebuke the petitioner, and to treat his petition as a presumptuous lecture? A petition, from the very meaning of the word, must contain a prayer that something may be done; a petition to the king must necessarily contain an expression of the petitioner's desire that the king will do something; and, therefore, if to express such a desire be indecent and presumptuous; if to express such a desire be to insinuate that the king is want ing in justice and integrity, it is evident, that there can be no petition free from the change of sach insinuation; and, of course, that the right of petitioning the king, as laid down and secured in the BILL OF RIGHTS, is, in fact, a right to remind the king of his want of justice and integrity. The truth is, that a right, in one man, implies the power of doing, without risk to person or property or character, certain acts which may be disagreeable to some other man; and a bill, or declaration, of rights would have been downright stupid stuff;

sheer nonsense; mere sham; unless the framers of it had supposed cases, in which the king might differ in opinion and views from the people; for, it is manifest, that unless such differ nce arise, the rights can never be brought into exercise. But, the opposers of petitioning upon the present occasion, whose arguments will, indeed, apply to all other occasions, would fain have us believe, that we have the right only when we do not want to make use of it; and yet, to preserve the constitution, of which the right of petition is a principal feature, these same persons call upon us to spend our last shilling and to shed the last drop of blood; aye, the last drop of our blood for tights, which according to their doctrine, we are never to exercise!

fight, but the conclusion always is, that we have gained nothing solid, while he, who has sworn our destruction, keeps on his firm and steady pace of encroachment and of conquest.

In this way have we been proceeding for fifteen long and disgraceful years. The country is not so destitute of men of discernment as for these things, together with their causes and their recessary consequen ces, not to be clearly perceived; but, so enormous, so overbearing, are become the powers of seduction and corruption, and so completely have even good men een divided by faction, alarmed by craft, and meances of ruin, that at last, pabaic spint, though not quite extinguished, exists nly i latent sparks in the bosoms of individuals, and is as useless as the fire in the fat buried under ground. Many are the ( asions, even within these few years, when a spirit worthy of Englishmen has made its appear ance; but, the moment it began to be per

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Gentlemen, before the answer was given to the city of London, there was but one object in petitioning the king; namely, to obtain a full and impartial developement of all the causes that led to the Convention in Portugal, and to produce the punishment dueceived, forth has issued the demons of faction, to its real authors. Now, there is this object, and, in addition, the more important object of asserting one of our principal rights; of convincing the ministry and the world, that we have not entirely given up all pretensions to the enjoyment of those political liberties, for the recovery and preservation of which our fathers wrote and fought with such admirable ability, perseverance, and courage. We are told" not to forget the feelings of "our old and venerable king." We do not; but, neither do we forget our own feelings, our own sacrifices, losses, and sufferings, and the hardships, which, by the deeds of which we complain, will be entailed upon our children's children. If we have had

forty-eight years of experience" of the king, the king has had forty-eight years experience of us; and never did king meet with subjects more generous, ditol and patient. In what instance have we been refractory or niggardly? Has not our submis. siveness been unbounded? Have we not poured out our all at his feet? And, shall we now be reproved and rebuked because we pray, that he will be pleased to order an inquiry into the conduct of those, who, in our opinion, have with the treasure and the blood of the country, purchased its lasting injury and disgrace? Expedition after expedition is fitted out; expence after expence is incurred; the treasury of the nation is thrown open, and her sons are shipped off in thousands; battles are won, rejoicings are heard; and, at every close, comes a dismal account of failure. All is in vain. We pay and honge and labour and arm and

with all their train of insiruations, calum-
nies, lies, and hypocrisy, 'till, in a short
time, followed confusion, strife, and, finally,
that, in which alone the guilty could hope
for impunity, the division of good men. I
would fain hope, Gentlemen, though I am
aware that it is too sanguine a hope to en
tertain, that, upon the present occasion, no
attempt will be made to render your feeling
of indignation at this national injury subser
vient to the views of faction; for, much
I desire you to add your voice to that
others who have called for an inquiry, I
would infinitely rather see you mute, than
behold you the tools of selfish and ambitions
men. It is not against the ministry that we
have to petition; it is not for the purpose of
putting one ministry out and another in, that
we are about to meet; it is for the purpose
of obtaining justice for a great national
wrong and of securing ourselves and our
children against that ruin, which, from the
prevalent incapacity, or perfidy, of persons
entrusted with our affairs, now so awfully
threatens us.

What is it to me, or to any my neighbours, who enjoy the honours of the emoluments of office, so that we are ably and faithfully served? What a fool, what a contemptible thing, must that man be, who, having no selfish views, make himself the tool of a party; gives up understanding to others; sees with their eyes and hears with their ears; voluntary abandons truth, impartiality, and integrity or, at best, exchanges them for the hone of being designated by an appellation pro ceeding from the name of some detesta

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impudent knave, who is, or has been, the leader of a party! The verv existence of knave implies the co-existence of a fool; but, it is the lot of this nation to see men of sense as well as worth become the instruments of knavery. The silly ambition of being thought to belong to a party has corrupted the hearts of thousands, and has made millions instrumental in their country's disgrace. From this supremely contemptible passion, I hope, Gentlemen, that you will prove yourselves to be free, and in that hope I remain

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Parliamentary Debates.

The Eleventh Volume of the above Work, comprising the Period from the 11th of April to the close of the Session on the 4th of July, 1808, will be ready for delivery on Saturday next.

MAJOR CARTWRIGHT, ON THE AFFAIRS OF SPAIN.

Sir,-Praying a truce to personal compliment, let us as honest men continue our efforts in the cause of human freedom, persuaded that such efforts will in some way and at some time prove serviceable to mankind, although they should not immediately succeed. It has been well said, that he who causes two blades of grass to grow where only one grew before, is a benefactor to the public; and the same may doubtless be said of him who either produces or disseminates political truth. Although our observations shall at this time refer to the case of Spain, yet, as before observed, they may not be unserviceable to our own country, since the cause of liberty is now common to both; and the very same reforms, which are necessary to the salvation of the one, are no less necessary, although

the necessity may not to the vulgar eye be quite so obvious, to the other.

That the present contest in Spain is not, as some had imagined, a mere war of priests and court nobles, who desire only to expel the French, as their rivals in despotism, that their own power and that of the crown may be restored in their full extent, as exercised prior to the late events, without any thought of recovering the national liberties, we have now, in the oath of the deputies, on opening the supreme national junta, no slight evidence That oath, if we may take it to mean what it says,-and I cannot have the slightest suspicion of the contraryindeed, contains in it every thing which patriotism can wish. Knowing how passionately the people are devoted to the religion of their ancestors, as well as the opinion which, in that particular, they entertain of the French, the preservation of their religion is very properly made the first object of the oath. Conscious likewise of the strong attachment of the people to their native princes, of their universal detestation of the attempt to force on them a new dynasty, and the excess of indignation felt by all Spain at the perfidy of Buonaparte, and at his wickedness in making war upon them in a cause the most infamous, they would have been bad politicians had they not, independent of any sense of duty, concurred in the choice which the nation with one voice had made of Ferdinand VII. and in their predilection for a "succession in the reigning family;" that, whatever might befal Ferdinand and the rest who are in the power of the tyrant, there might be no want of an object around which the nation might rally.

Having very wisely laid these foundations of union and enthusiasm in defence of their country, they then shew their adherence to the family of their choice is to be no bar to whatever reformations of their government, and whatever future limitations of the regal power, experience may have shewn them to be necessary; for they bind themselves under 'the most solemn of all sanctions to the duties of patriotism. They swear that they "will promote the preservation of the rights and privileges, the laws and usages of their country; and finally, that they will promote every thing conducive to the general welfare and happiness of the kingdom, and the amelioration of its customs." After thus swearing, they farther pronounce on themselves a solemn imprecation, in case they shall not act up to what they have sworn; for, as a response to the officiating

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prelate, who says: "If you do so, God be your helper; and if not, may he punish you, as one who has taken his holy name in vain," they, on their part, say "Amen."

of their designs from the men of detail on their staff, as well as even from commissaries, and such like.

When, indeed, we reflect on the disadvantages under which, ever since the reign of Philip the 20, the science of government must have been studied in Spain, and the peculiar advantages which since the same era our own more fortunate country has com paratively enjoyed, it may reasonably be

of Spain have already studied politics in the English school, and will cast a not unwilling eye on what may now issue from the Eng lish press, that shall be applicable to the work they have in hand Should they not

find themselves instructed, a sympathy of sentiment, and a desire to serve them must, at least, be causes of complacency, and cements of the alliance now subsisting between the two nations.

In this most rational oath of allegiance, we are reminded of, the ancient oath of the Arragonese, who in return for protection promised allegiance, "but if not, not." The present oath, however, is a happy improvement on that model; for the junta now expressly swear allegiance to the liber-imagined, that the most enlightened patriots ties of their country, as well as to their prince. While they promise to "defend their king, his rights and sovereignty," they also unequivocally swear to perform the duties of patriot reformers. Can the friends of human liberty and good government wish for more? And this oath, so different from the fabrications of statesmen under court influence, must, as I conceive, have been privately drawn up and agreed on by the members of the junta themselves; for it is not to be believed that any oath, of which they were previously ignorant, could have been proposed to them; nor was there in existence any power capable of dictating what they were not disposed to adopt. In this view of the matter, the excellence and value of this oath rise in our estimation; it is not an ordinary official oath, taken as a thing of course; it is not the invention of A, to be sworn to by B; but is an oath first drawn up, and then voluntarily taken by the same men; who, had they not been determined to have acquitted themselves as real reformers, would Lave put together a very different form of

words. I shall conclude these observations on the oath of the Spanish junta, with an ardent wish that the English privy council, and members of both houses of parliament, would, by a like solemnity, bind themselves to the duties of state reformation.

This Spanish oath is in its ovn nature an invitation to discussions and communications on the science of government, for men who swear they will promote every thing conducive to the general welfare and happiness of the kingdom, and the amelioration of its customs," do in fact, by the publication of their oath, seek the aid of such as are like-minded. Such statesmen are the last to arrogate to themselves omniscience, and ever the most ready to receive information. They are aware that he must have little knowledge of statesmen, who does not discover that the most accomplished among them frequently needs the aid of men of very inferior capacities and attainments; as the greatest warriors derive services essential to the prosecution

Having, Sir, in my late letters, touched on the fundamentals of a free and sound government, namely, the militia and a legislative representation, it is time we advert to the executive. In treating on this branch of a government, we shall have considerable prejudice to encounter. From causes too obvious to need specifying, we know that on this topic more than any other, not evea excepting religion, paius have been taken to establish erroneous and even absurd creeds, and to fortify those creeds by mystery, bigotry, corruption, and terror. Hence the almost universal despotism of governments, and the infinity of human calamities of which that curse to our species is the immediate cause! But he who, in the extraordinary convulsions of our day, convulsions by which both hemispheres have been shaken, and by which Europe from one extremity to the other is at this moment violently agitated,he, I say, who in these convulsions does not perceive political light breaking in the upon human mind, for correcting past error on the subject of executive government, must have little profited from experience or reflection.

That something radically unnatural, and in the highest degree adverse to the whole some regimen which is necessary to the political health and happiness of nations, to be found in their executive governricats, is a broad fact to which all history bears testi mony. But it is a fact of a more peculiar na ture, that, on taking a survey of the reigning families in Europe within the last halfcentury, it affords a scrt of presumption, especially when coupled with the above-mentione convulsions, that Providence has for som timne past been preparing the human mird

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