" for money, of one shilling and sixpence

per gross; and these prices we understand "to have been the current prices of the "trade for the last four years. The market "price for oatmeal iu 1804, as is to be seen "in the returns, fluctuated between 17 and "23 shillings, and averaged during the 12 "months nineteen shillings; and for Scotch barley, between fourteen and twenty-two "shillings, and averaged during the same "period eighteen shillings; yet the first ar"ticle is charged by the apothecary general, "throughout the year, at twenty-six shil lings per cwt, and the second at twentyseven shillings per cwt. The total of the charges for this description of articles nakes comparatively but a small part, ce. tainly, of the certified amount of the apothecary general's bills; yet it con"firms our opinion of the inefficiency of "the check on his charges, and of the great "loss which the public has sustained from a "loose observance, of the order of the "treasury directing the physician general "and surgeon general, in considering the

a

year's credit to government, to charge "about 20 per cent. on the money price of "the articles furnished by them; yet their

charge for hospital sheets is seven shillings "and four pence, at the time that the apothecary general's charge is ten shillings;

and, when the apothecary general charges "eleven pence per pound for Muscovado su

gar, Messrs. Trotters' charge only eight pence per pound: their charge for corks "is two shillings and four pence per gross i "the apothecary general's six shillings: he charges for bottles at the rate of 60 shillings pergross for quarts, and 56shillings pergross for pints, at the time when, we learn from "Messrs. Harrisons, the first were sold by "them at 40 shillings per gross, and the "second for 36 shillings per gross on a credit of six months, and with a discount,

justness of his prices, to pay attention "to the delay of payment to him."

Now, Sir, unless this Report of the Commissioners is false; unless they, or the persons they examined, have lied, what you assert, respecting the amount of Mr. Garnier's gains, is not true, but, on the contrary, is greatly and manifestly wide of the truth.I stated Mr. Garnier to pocket of the public money 12,000 and some odd pounds a year. This I took from his own amount of profits for the last three years. You deny that this is a fair way of calculating; and, you assert, that the average of his gains is not nearly so great. If, by an average, you mean the average upon all the 74 years that the patent and monopoly have been in the family, your assertion is, doubtless, true; because when the patent was first granted, the army did not, in all probability, amount, upon a run of years, to thirty thousand men, instead of three hundred thousand men, as it now does. But, you well know, that I could have no such average in contemplation; you must know, that what I meant to state, and what I did state, was the sum he now re ceives and clears annually; and, in making this statement, how could I act fairer, than to take the average of the three last year, all the years of which I, or the parliament, possessed an authentic and acknowledged amount of profits?

You tell me, Sir, that Mr. Garnier is to be looked upon merely as a merchant; as a wholesale dealer. You make him cast

lic treasure be, in any case, wasted as it is, and the taxes increased to the present insupportable weight?

In a letter, from yon, Sir, I should not have expected the assertion, that any thing granted by patent was as sacred as a man's freehold estate, much less should I have expected to see you apply this similitude to the grant in question, the very nature of which has been changed by the lapse of time and the change of circumstances. The grant to Mr. Garnier was made in the year 1747. It is notorious, that, at that time, it could not be in the contemplation of any one, that the army would, even in time of ordinary war, exceed forty thousand men. Time and circumstances have quite changed the effect of the grant, and, would not any man, who had imbibed high and generous feelings from a "liberal education," have been contented with the grant as it was at first intended ? Insea of chich, Mr. Garnier has not only gras, at the whole of the profits arising from this change, but has also procured him self to be placed as an officer upon the staff of the army, at the pay of ten shillings a day. Freehold estate, in feed! Oh what a proof of the humbled the debased state, of this once-high-spirited notion! From no other idea tha from that of the people being lost to all sense. njury and of insult could suchen aert.on have been made Suppose

the king

mere advised to grant, by way of patent, pen ons to the amount of all the taxe naised, and of that of all the inCooks of all the people in the country, those of the patentees excepted. Would you still assert that these at nts were as sacred as the deeds of 1 eehold estates? Would you still say, that the nation would be bound by such parents, and that to object to the continuance of such abominable extortion, would be to discover a spirit hostile to the constitution of England ? Sir, this nation has so long tamely submitted to insult from those who wallow in luxury upon the fruit of its labour, that I shall not say, that any thing will rouze it to a proper expression of its indignation; but, if any thug can so rouze it; if it be not doomed to the vilest slavery that ever disgraced mankind, language and sentiments such as you, upon this occasion, have made use of, must have that desirable effect.

you inform me) Mr. Garnier to go on in his old way; hence you infer, and appear to suppose that I shall agree, that the army could not be supplied upon better terms. Why, Sir, the same arguntent would apply to the ten shillings a day to Mr. Garnier, as an officer upon the staff of the army; it would apply to the question of surgical instruments, in which the Commisioners have proved, that the then ministry (the Pitts and the Roses and the Longs) were grossly negligent of their duty; it would apply to all possible cases; it would apply to the question of inquiry into the conduct of the Convention-making generals; it is, in short, saying to the people : "the ministers think "the thing right, and, therefore, right it

must be." But, Sir, I can suggest motives, other than that of the public good, which might lead to this deci-ion of the ministry in favour of Mr. Garnier. No small part of the ministry are themselves patent placemen; and those who are not so themselves have children, or other relations, who

are.

To have trenched upon Mr. Garnier's patent; to have bound him down to fair profits, might have led to an inquiry into the origin of theirs, and into the amount of the fees, or other emoluments, attached to them. Mr. Garnier can plead no previous services, rendered either by himself or his father, as the foundation of his grant; nor can any of the ministry, for any of the patents, which they and their relations hold. This, Sir, appears to me to be a much better reason for the indulgence they have shown towards their brother patentee, than the one which you have given, and which you really appear to have expected to prove satisfactory to my

readers.

I think I have now, Sir, made good niy statement, and have even shown, that that statement was far within bounds, instead of being, as you describe it, a gross exaggera tion. A similar fate attends the indiscreet friends of the DUKE OF YORK, whom I shall prove to be in the receipt of a greater income, arising from the taxes, than was stated by me at the Winchester meeting. Those indiscreet friends have affected to impute i norance to me; but, I shall prove upon them, ignorance or falsehood as gross as ever yet made its way into print.

Of much greater importance to us is this subject of a waste of the means of the nation, than are all the politics and wars of the continent of Europe, or of the whole

neither the one nor the other can he be dispossessed; he is at full liberty to take any political part he pleases, his judgment, not his interest, directing him in his choice.In fairness to the present government, it should be mentioned, that they have not been indifferent to the interests of the public, and have maturely weighed the propriety of giving Mr. Garnier a compensation for the purchase of his patent, (which he was, and is, ready to relinquish on any fair terms); but after due investigation, it ap peared, that the army could not be better, or more reasonably supplied, than under the present arrangement; as the charges made by the apothecary general to the army are less than those of the Apothecaries Company to the Navy.-Mr. Garnier's emoluments depend wholly upon the success attending wholesale purchases, and retail prices: he has ofien a great profit on some articles; so has every merchant in every branch of trade; and the merchants may with as much propriety, be said to be drains on the public purse, as that Mr. G. is in the receipt of a large income from public toxes -You will now see, Mr. G. derives no advantage from any support he may give the present government; that he has repeatedly opposed administration; that he does not receive from the taxes £12,000 a year, during the war; that by agreement with his deputies, he divides the profits with them ; that though not professionally employed, he is responsible citen, to an immense amount, advancing money from his priva.e fortune to scharge the debts of the public; and that he never was an enemy to peace.-On the whole, I am entitled to conclude, that in this case no blame attaches to the administation, no corrupt motives to Mr. Garnier, and no injury in effect to the public. – The above bang the first part of my proposed communication, which I have first sent, non, being of a personal nature, I postpone the second part, being of general relation oly, to the proceedings and report in ques tion, and rein.in, Sir, your very faithful servent, EDMUND POULTER.

ESSEX MEETING.

SIR,-I thank you for the handsome manner in which you have introduced my name in your Register of the 22d. inst. I certainly have been active in advising the freeholders to attend the county meeting at Chelmsford on Friday last: but I do not plead guilty to a charge brought against me, at the said meeting, of having canvassed the county for that

pose. My solicitations were confined to the attending the meeting and hearing the

arguments for and against the Address. But it so turned out, that neither arguments nor numbers were of any avail. The sheriff thought proper to decide against us, and to give us reason to complain; 1st. That he put the question of adjournment, before several gentlemen who signed the requisition had spoken, though they were very desirous to deliver their opinion; 2d. That he refused to order a shew of hands, but directed these who were for the adjournment to go to the left and those against it to the right; 3d. That he did not put himself in a situation where he could see the numbers, bat decided precipitately, before the freeholders conid place themselves as he directed; 4th. That he declared the majority to be in favour of the adjournment when it was clearly apparent to impartial observers who were in a situation to see, that the majority was against the adjournment; 5th. That being applied to by several gentlemen to correct his mistake by taking the numbers with more exactness, he hastily ordered his carriage, which bad been waiting for him, to drive on. A considerable number of freeholders met and requested the gentlemen who signed the re quisition to protest against these proceedings of the sheriff. They have protested, and demanded another meeting, but have met with a refusal in consequence of which y meet on Tuesday next to consider wh further steps they should take on this extre ordinary occasion.-I agree with you, Sir, concerning the county of Essex. It has certainly been a nullity in its representation for the last thirty years and if majorities are to be construed into minorities, it is likely to be also a nullity in exercising its con stitutional right of addressing his majesty on the subject of the most ignominious treaty that ever disgraced the page of historyI am, Sir, your obedient servant,-MONTAGue BurgoynE.-Mark Hall, 31st Oct.

1808.

SPANISH REVOLUTION.

of

SIR-I have read with no inconsiderable degree of surprise, your observations upon the Spanish revolution, in the Political Register, of the 13th of August current. From some of your former writings on that remarkable event, I had concluded, that you were zealously interested in the cause the Spanish patriots; it is therefore with as tonishment that I find you deprecating such strong terms, the favourite object the Spanish people, to place Ferdinand upon the throne, and declaring your opinion, that should that object succeed, it will do harm to every nation in Europe, and parcelatif

of

to this nation. In expressing this opinion, you have not even the merit of consistency; a quality essentially requisite in every journalist, who would preserve his credit with the public, and particularly so, in the author of the Political Register, which has obtained so extensive a circulation, and is known to possess so much influence over the public mind. When intelligence of the insurrections in Spain first reached this country, you listened to it with an incredulous ear; the news you thought was too good to be true, and that the people of Spain were too deeply sunk in apathy, to rouse at the call of liberty; but when further accounts arrived, which left no room to doubt that the indignation, which the treachery and tyranny of Buonaparte had excited, was general throughout Spain, that in almost every province of the kingdont, the people were flying to arms; vowing to defend their free dom, or perish in the attempt; when we found them talking of their liberties, of reforming abuses, and restoring the Cortes or real representatives of the people, you then formed a more favourable opinion of the success of their cause, and congratulated your countrymen on an event so glorious to the Spanish people, and so auspicious to the liberties of Europe. You concurred in thinking, that the consequences of this event would not be confined to Spain; you hoped that it would be properly improved by the government of this country, and you were of opinion, that it presented the most feasible opportunity of checking the exhorbitaut power of France, that had occurred during the last fifteen years; but, at the same time, that you earnestly recommended that every assistance should be given by this conntry to the Spanish patriots, you gave his majesty's ministers a piece of wholesome advice, the propriety of which was felt and acknowledged by every prudent man in the

country.

Do not interfere with the internal affairs of Spain. Send them arms and ammunition, men and money, every succour to enable them to preserve the freedom and independence of their country, but leave the people to choose what form of government may be most agreeable to them. This seemed to be the line of conduct which ministers had resolved to adopt; and every consideration of prudence, pointed it out as the most proper to be followed. We at that time knew little of the wishes of the Spanish nation, on the subject of their government, or of the opinion which was generally entertained in Spain, of the conduct of their royal family. We seemed to be conscious of the errors which we had formerly fallen

into, in waging war only for kings, and we resolved, on the present occasion, not to split on the same rock. Though Britain thus disclaimed all interested views in the assistance which she resolved to give to Spain; yet she was, in fact, wisely follow. ing that line of conduct, which was most conducive to her own interest, and the general welfare of Europe Whatever form of government might be established by the Spanish people, was a matter of no importance to this country, in comparison of preventing Spain from being subjugated by France; and if in that she succeeded, she knew she would procure inestimable advantages, both to herself and to Europe. She knew that she would, thereby, give an effectual check to the inordinate ambition of Buonaparte, the effect of which must be the emancipating of the powers of the Continent from that debasing state of servility and dependence, under which they have so long groaned. These circumstances I mention to shew the wisdom of the advice which yon gave, not to intermeddle with the internal affairs of Spain, or to attempt to frus trate, directly or indirectly, any plan of government, that Spain might choose to adopt. Since that time, however, the mass of official intelligence, which we have received from all parts of Spain, leaves us no room to doubt, as to the wishes of the people of that kingdom with regard to their form of government. From Gallicia to Andalusia, from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, the voice of the people is unanimous for Ferdinand VII. That the people, or their leaders, have, in thus choosing Ferdinand, discovered any intention of re-establishing the old government, with all its defects, there is not the least reason to believe; though from the hatred you bear to that unfortunate prince, and to all the family of Bourbon, you cannot help identifying Ferdinand VII. with the ancient government of Spain; excluding the possibility of any modification of the power of the crown, as well as of all reform of abuses, or amelioration in the condition of the people. It is, however, sufficiently apparent, that the wishes of the Spanish nation are in favour of a monarchical government, and that all ranks of people are enthusiastically bent on having Ferdinand for their king. All their edicts and proclamations run in his name, they call him their beloved sovereign, and, in their addresses, the Juntas of the different provinces, who must be well acquainted with the sentiments of the people, call upon them, in the name of their amiable Ferdinaid, to die in defence of their country