Page images
PDF
EPUB

stitutional transaction. They read to the petitioners a lecture on the first elements of British justice, as if a modest petition for inquiry were an open violation of its principles; they refer to some recent instances, to prove the general willingness of his majesty to institute inquiries, though it is notorious, that these instances never satisfied the wishes of the country; they acknowledge the disappointment of the hopes of the nation, on the subject of the petition, but they loudly declare that the interposition of the city of London is wholly unnecessary in this critical conjuncture of affairs. The answer in plain English amounts to this: "However culpable our commanders by sea or land may be; however disastrous the situation of our affairs; what degree of guilt may exist in the management of our concerns; the good citizens of London, and consequently the people of England, have nothing to do but to remain quiet, patiently to pay their taxes, and leave these higher concerns to the wisdom of the king's ministers, without troubling his majesty with their com plaints."-This, Sir, is the real substance of their answer; a fair commentary on a most ungracious, harsh, and repulsive text. In the records of ministerial pride, I have never found such an answer to a modest petition. Napoleon would not have ventured to insult his good people of Paris in so pointed a manner. The public will judge, whether such language, dictated by the servants of the crown, be not injudicious in the extreme to the valuable Right of Petition, secured to us by the wisdom and steadiness of our ancestors at the era of the Revolution. A wicked and unprincipled minister, who openly invades our liberties, becomes much less dangerous, than he, who silently and imperceptibly gains ground by thwarting us in the exercise of our rights. We are naturally on our guard against the open machinations of the former; but against the secret designs of the latter, what can secure us? What am I benefited by the frequent panegyrics of Lord Hawkesbury on the glorious Revolution, if, amidst all this ostentatious display of patriotism, I am to be robbed by him and his associates of one of the most useful privileges secured by that event? Or at least if I cannot resort to the exercise of it without experiencing the most poignant insult? Where would be the advantage of the grand palladium of personal liberty, if the judge were to tell the prisoner on his application for a writ of habeas-corpus, to remain quiet in prison and leave his case to the

discretion of the court? And, Sir, to what does this boasted Right of Petition amount, if the subject cannot carry his complaints to the foot of the throne, withont being dismissed with contempt and disdain? It on an occasion, the most important to the honour of the country, that has occurred in the military annals of Britain, an humble petition from the first city of the empire has been thus treated with scorn, what is to be the fate of addresses, on subjects of less consequence, and if suing from quarters less respectable?-Our attention, by the extraordinary conduct of the ministry, is now transferred from the Convention of Cintra to the preservation of the rights and liberties of Britain. The truth is, this country is verging by rapid strides to despotism; and it becomes the duty of every man, who values the birthrights of an Englishman, to use his utmost efforts to prevent farther encroachments. The only method, that can be pursued for this purpose, is loudly and unanimously to call for full, effectual, and parliamentary in quiry, not only into the Convention of Cintra, but into the conduct of those who were the advisers of this singular Answer to the Petition of the city of London. The cry of "NO ENEMIES TO THE RIGHT OF PETITION!" should resound from one corner of the empire to the other. Our ancestors dethroned a sovereign for invading our rights; their de scendants cannot do less than dismiss and degrade an administration, who have evidently attempted to abridge and render nugatory what was then claimed, demanded, and established. In supporting the cause of this great city, we shall contribute to the security of our glorious constitution; and we shall afford a lesson to all future ministers, however fortunate, not to deviate from a constitutional course in the tide of prosperity, but to remember, that there are rocks, on which, whoever splits, must inevitably perish. POLITIAN. - London, 12th Nov. 1808.

OFFICIAL PAPERS. ENGLISH COMMERCE WITH SPAIN.-Let

ter of Admiral Morla to Mr. Duff. The supreme junta of Seville declared to me, under date of the 13th instant, as follows:-" Most excellent Sir,-The supreme junta of Seville is adopting measures for forming a regulation, under which English commodities are for the present to be im ported in the country, on which subject your excellency presented a note to the said junta, under date of the 3d inst. in answer to

which the said junta has resolved to declare to your excellency, that with regard to the vessels which have already arrived, they leave it entirely to your own judgment to determine in your wisdom and prudence what duty they ought to pay, the junta being desirous to testify to the English nation the high sense they entertain of their friendship and generous support.-In pursuance of the order received, I have this day communicated the following instructions to the director general of the customs: -Authorised by an order of the supreme junta of the 13th current, touching the importation of English goods, hitherto prohibited to be imported into this country, and the duty payable on goods of the like description, found on board of such ships of the said nation as are at present in the Bay, I have determined after having heard the opinion of their lordships with regard to the duty payable on the same, that they are to pay 15 per cent. royal customs; 5 per cent. if destined for inland consumption; and all the other duty payable on foreign goods, the importation of which is permitted, the shipment of the said goods for our possessions in America, being of course free and unprohibited, since, in this respect, they ought to be considered as free goods, on payment of 7 per cent. ad valorem, the proper officer adhering strictly to the ordinances issued on this subject. You will attend to the execution of the present order, and make it known to the trade through the competent board, with this proviso, that clothes made up, articles of wood, or any other material perfectly finished, are not to be imported on any consideration whatever. -I inform you of the premises for your own information, and for the direction of the individuals of your nation, that they may form a correct opinion of the high estimation in which the Spanish government holds the worthy subjects of his Britannic majesty, and perceive how anxiously that government desires to give proofs of its gratitude for their faithful alliance. God preserve you many years.-THOMAS DE MORLA.-AS in the order which I communicated to you under date of the 16th instant, the supreme junta of Seville says only, that it is adopting measures for making regulation with regard to the importation of English commodities, which hitherto it was not lawful to import, it is not in my power to form any other determination, but with regard to goods of the above description, which are found on board of ships actually arrived in the Bay, and you must therefore apply to the supreme junta, for instruction, how far the same fa

vour is to be extended to such ships as shall arrive in future, since it is not for me, as you desire in your last report, to decide that point.-God preserve you many years.THOMAS DE MORLA.-Cadiz, Sept. 19. AMERICAN EMBARGO.-Petition of the Subscribers, Officers of Merchant Ships, belonging to the Port of Philadelphia: to the President of the United States. Respectfully sheweth, that, in consequence of the present embargo laws, the situation of yur petitioners is grievous and afflicting; that they have been engaged in the mercantile service since their infancy, with few exceptions, and accustomed only to conduct ships or vessels across the ocean; that, from the operation of the present restrictive laws, they find themselves cut off from their usual employments, and, of course, the means of subsistence are gone.--Your petitioners are well acquainted with the duties of conducting ships from port to port, well versed in naval tactics, but unable to handle the harrow or the plough.-Your petitioners have for a long time borne, with patience, the privations incident to those restrictive laws, without murmur or complaint; but, when imperious necessity compels them to disclose the cause of their grievances, they humbly suppose they have a right so to do in a decent and respectful manner. Your petitioners therefore pray, that your excellency will take their case in, to consideration, and adopt such measures as may relieve the wants of your petitioners; or, if there are vacancies in the navy, to give your petitioners, or some of them, an opportunity of serving therein; as they think themselves capable of performing services of that nature. They, however, submit their whole cause to your consideration, hoping your excellency will adopt such measures as wisdom and justice may point out, and as in duty bound will pray, &c.Philadelphia, August 10, 1808.

[ocr errors]

President's Answer.

Sirs, In answer to the petition which you delivered me from the officers in merchants vessels belonging to Philadelphia, I must premise my sincere regret at the sacrifices which our fellow-citizens in general, and the petitioners in particular, have been obliged to meet by the circumstances of the times. We live in an age of affliction, to which the history of nations presents no parellel-we have for years been looking on Europe, covered with blood and violence, and seen rapine spreading itself over the ocean. On this element it has reached us,

employed in idle conjectures, the fathers of the country, your magistrates, and the chief, who has repeatedly conducted you to glorious triumphs, were incessantly occupied in devising the best means for maintaining your character, interest, and tranquillity.-From an examination of the contents of all the dispatches, it appears, that the emperor of the French has been compelled to recognise the absolute. independence of the Spanish monarchy, and also that of all its transmarine possessions, without retaining or dis

and at length in so serious a degree, that the legislature of the nation has thought it necessary to withdraw our citizens and property from it, either to avoid or to prepare for engaging in the general contest. But for this timely precaution, the petitioners and their property might now have been in the hands of spoilers, who have laid aside all regard to moral right. Withdrawing from the greater evil, a lesser one has been necessarily encountered, and certainly, could the legislature have made provision against this also, I should have had great pleasure,membering the minutest portion of its doas the instrument of its execution, but it was it impracticable, by any general and just rules, to prescribe in every case the best resource against the inconveniences of this new situation. The difficulties of the crisis will certainly fall with greater pressure on some description of citizens than others, and on none perhaps with greater than on our seafaring brethren. Should any means of alleviation occur within the range of my duties, I shall with certainty advert to the situation of the petitioners, and in availing the nation of their services, aid them with a substitute for their former occupation. I salute them and yourself with sentiments of sincere regard.-Thos. JEF

FERSON.

BUENOS AYRES.Proclamation by Don Santiago Liniers y Bremond, Viceroy, Governor, and Provincial Captain-Gene ral of the Provinces of the Rio de la Plata, &c. Dated Buenos Ayres, Aug. 15,1805.

Brave and faithful inhabitants of Buenos Ayres. Since the arrival of the last vessel from Cadiz, bringing advices of the events which have occurred in our mother country, relative to the abdication of the crown, executed by our beloved monarch, Charles IV. and his son Ferdinand VII. and the removal of the whole of the royal family to France, I consider you as anxious to fix your opinion upon a matter in which your loyalty is so deeply interested. This anxiety must have been greatly increased by the arrival of the French agent, who brought over various dispatches for this supreme government. The cla mours of the unthinking have reduced your accredited enthusiasm to a state of irresolution, The not immediately declaring to you the object of his mission may, perhaps, have appeared to you a want of confidence very contrary to that which I place in you, and which your patrictism has merited. But whilst you were

minions; and to maintain the unity of religion, our properties, laws, and usages, which guarantee the future prosperity of the nation; and though the fate of the monarchy was not entirely decided, the cortes were sunmoned to meet at Bayonne on the 15th of June last, whither the deputies of cities, and other persons of all ranks in Spain, were repairing, to the number of one hundred at d fifty. His imperial and royal majesty alter applanding your triumphs aud constancy, exhorts you to maintain with energy the high opinion which you have acquired by your va lour and loyalty, offering you at the same time succours of every description; and I have n ́t hesitated to assure him in reply, that the fidelity of this city to its lawful sovereign is the character which chiefly distinguishes it, and that I shall thankfully admit every description of aid, consisting of arms, ammunition, and Spanish troops. In times so calamitous nothing can so much contribute to your security as union and coincidence of sentiment on a point so inteteresting to the public happiness. Let in imitate the example of our ancestors in this happy land, who wisely escaped the dis asters that afflicted Spain in the war of the Succession, by awaiting the fate of the mother country, to obey the legitimate authority which occupied the sovereignty.—Meanwhile not possessing orders sufficiently authoritative, to countermand the royal cedu las of the supreme council of the Indies for proclaiming and taking the oaths to Don Ferdinand VII. as already announced in my proclamation of the 31st of July, I have re solved that those measures shall be proceeded in with the forms and solemnities already agreed upon, flattering myself that in the midst of the public rejoicings and happiness we shall prepare ourselves for new triumphs.

(To be continued)

Printed by Cox and Baylis, Great Queen Street; published by R. Bagshaw, Brydges Street, Covent-
Gateon, wide former Numbers may had: sold also by J. Budd, Crown and Mitre, Pall-Mall.

VOL. XIV. No. 23.] LONDON, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1808. [PRICE 10D.

"Sir Arthur Wellesley, in fact, privately protested against the Armistice, in the strongest terms; he dis"tinctly declared his objections to the Commander-in-Chief, and tried all in his power to prevent him from granting the terms he did to the enemy. Sir Arthur Wellesley neither approved of, nor had any concern "whatever in writing the Armistice. It was negociated with Kellerman, by Sir Hew Dalrymple himself, " and was afterwards signed by Sir Arthur Wellesley, in obedience to the positive order of Sir Hew Dalrymple."- -MORNING POST (or Nabobs' Gazette), Sept. 22, 1808.

865]

SUMMARY OF POLITICS.

-[866

the same sentence. Rut, observe, there was, in neither of those cases, a “ Court of

. COURT OF INQUIRY.If there can be any such thing as unquestionable pre-emi-"Inquiry." The former, though he had,

nence in absurdity, it is this thing, now going on at Chelsea. Flinging stones against the wind; eating hasty-pudding with an awl; drinking out of a bottomless pot; singing to the deaf; asking questions of the dumb, exhibiting pictures to the blind': all these, and every other thing that ever was seen, or heard of, yields to this matchless absurdity. A court, destitute of all legal form and authority; the members of which are under no obligation to perform or to abstain from performing any thing; destitute of the power to demand evidence or compel attendance; destitute of the power of putting any question upon oath, of enforcing obedience to any one of its commands, of issuing its censure, and even of pronouncing judgment, in any manner whatever, which, if hostile to the feelings of the party adjudged, would not, according to the present practice, subject it to a criminal prosecution for a libel. Is this the sort of Inquiry, of which the Rev. Edmund Poulter was speaking, when he came forward, at the Hampshire meeting, and, upon the express authority of Mr. Sturges Bourne, assured the people present, that an Inquiry, of the most satis factory description was then actually instituted? Is this the sort of Inquiry, to which the king was advised to allude, and which the partizans of the ministry, asserted to have been promised, in the king's famous and never-to-be-forgotten Answer to the city of London? Is this the sort of Inquiry that will, or that can, satisfy the indignant nation? Be it remembered, that the king, in the answer which he was so ill-advised as to make to the city of London, referred them to recent occurrences, as a proof of his being, at all times, ready to institute Inquiries, in cases where the interests of the nation and the honour of his arms were concerned. What were those occurrences? Why, the trials of Sir Robert Calder and of General Whitelocke, though, I hope, the former will excuse me for naming them in

with an inferior force, beat the enemy and taken two of their ships, was sent, like the latter, who, with a superior force, had been shamefully beaten ; the former, like the latter, was sent, at once, to a court martial; a court invested with all the pow-. ers appertaining to criminal jurisdiction, not excepting that of sentencing the accused to suffer death. Well, then, these being the recent occurrences manifestly alluded to in the king's Answer, had we not a right to expect, that the men, now accused, would have been tried in a similar way? And can there be a doubt, in the mind of any man, what was the real object, which the ministers, or part of them at least, had in view, when they advised the king to give such an Answer, and to make, in that Answer, such an allusion ?—The result of this court will be, the collection and publication of a mass of matter equal in bulk to that of the Old and New Testament; a mass that no man will ever have the patience to read; and a mass, which, I will venture to assert, will, in the minds of the nation, leave the question of guilt, or innocence, just where it now is. Of course, it will leave the complained-of grievance unredressed, and the people, in their different districts, will, if they be not bullied or corrupted into silence, renew their applications to the throne, or to the parliament, or to both, for a legal and rigid Inquiry.In the meanwhile, the public should, it appears to me, seize upon, and treasure up, certain prominent facts that are transpiring at Chelsea, casting aside all that mass of detail, all that insignificant babble, all that miserable small-talk, dignified with the name of evidence, which can possibly be of no other earthly use, than that of bewildering and confusing their minds.--- First then, it appears, supposing Sir Arthur Wel lesley now to speak the truth, that all the numerous and positive assertions, made, as will be seen, in part, from my motto, in the Morning Post, and by the friends of Sir Arthur

[ocr errors]

Wellesley, respecting his PROTEST, were downright lies. All the stories, which came before the public (as relating to this Protest) in the shape of letters from officers of high "rank and reputation in the army;" all the numerous extracts of this sort; all the assertions about Sir Arthur Wellesley being forty miles distant from the scene of negociation; all, all and every one of these assertions, are now, from Sir Arthur's, from the reported protestor's, own lips, proved to be lies.Observe, as connected with this point, an assertion of Sir Hew Dalrymple: that a paper, from England, was actually circulated in the army, to the same, or nearly the same, purport with these now-acknowledged lies. Sir Arthur Wellesley denies having had any hand in the promulgation of either; but, as my correspondent, R. L. in a late number, very pertinently asks, why did not Sir Arthur, who" came home on leave of absence" so long before Sir Hew was "recalled;" why did not Sir Arthur, give a contradiction to these atrocious calumnies against his absent Commander-in-Chief, especially as the evident and necessary tendency of them was, to exculpate himself at the expence of that absent commander? No: it may be, that he had, himself, no hand in hatching, or in promulgating, those malignant lies; but, I may venture to leave any man of sound moral principles to judge, how far, under such circumstances, to wink at such lies makes him an accomplice with those, by whom they were hatched and promulgated. Had I been in the place of Sir Arthur Wellesley, I should, I hope, upon landing at Plymouth, and upon finding how things stood at home, instantly, before I got into my chaise; before I saw the face of the ministers; have taken care to send to the most rapid and most extensive channels of circulation, a declaration of my opinion," that "the Convention was a wise measure; but,

that, at any rate, whatever degree of "blame it merited, a full share of it was "mine, I having assisted at the negociation,

the Commander-in-Chief having done no"thing of importance without my advice "and concurrence, and I, so far from pro

testing against the Armistice, having most "heartily approved of it." It appears to me, that this is what I should have done. I think, I could not have slept an hour, 'till I had done this. It is certainly what honour, truth, and justice demanded; and it certainly is what was not done -The next point worth particularly attending to is this: that, it now appears, from a document, produced by Sir Hew Dalrymple, that he, by the instruction of Lord Castlereagh, was to do no

thing without consulting Sir Arthur Wellesley. More was meant than met the ear, in this case, and that Sir Hew would clearly perceive. What a man must be made of, to accept of a command on such conditions, I will leave the reader to say; but, the fact clearly enough is, that it was meant, that Sir Arthur Wellesley, who was the seventh in command; who had six senior officers over him, should, in reality be the Commander-in-Chief; that his should be all the praise that might become due; his all the renown; and, as far as saving appearances would permit, his all the reward, of every sort. Accordingly, it is said, and I have i from no bad authority, that the head of the high family is offended, that Sir Arthur is not created Viscount Vimeira! To this conduct, on the part of the ministers, and of Lord Castlereagh in particular; this creating of an unnatural sway, a confusion and con flict of authorities, where nominal rank was set in opposition to confidential trust; to this unwarrantable partiality; this poisonous in fluence at home, no small part of the indeli ble disgrace, and of all its consequent mis chiefs, may, probably, be attributed; and all other points apart, the having instructed a Commander-in-Chief to be, in fact, ruled by an inferior officer, being the seventh i* command, is not only a fair, but necessary subject of parliamentary inquiry; for, one of two things must be: either the nomi nal Commander-in-Chief was, by the mi nisters, thought incapable of that post. or he was, without any necessity, insulted and disgraced from motives of favouritism towards another.The next point, me riting the notice of the public, is, that it now appears, from the statement of Sir Hew Dalrymple, that the whole of the documents, relating to the disgraceful Convention, were transmitted to Lord Castlereagh in the French lan: uage. Men of spirit; men who had felt, as they ought to have felt, upon such an oc« casion; men, who had had a proper notion of what honour required, and who had had the wisdom to perceive the great effect, which, in certain cases, is produced by ap parently trifling causes; such men would not, in the face, and under the very noses, of the Portuguese nation, have put their hands to any document in the French lan guage, though, after acknowledging the legitimacy of the title of the D "d'Abrantes," and of the "Emperor Na

[ocr errors][merged small]
« PreviousContinue »