who wish to know, from authentic sources, what the facts of our history are; how our government really was administered hereto fore; what sort of men our forefathers really were, and how they really acted; and who will not be satisfied with the vague notions which alone can be collected from historical magic lanthorns, like that of Hume for instance, in which no one single object is plainly or distinctly presented to us, but where a multitude of images are made rapidly and confusedly to pass before our eyes, distorted and discoloured according to the taste of the showman. W. COBBETT. Dec. 1, 1908. **The First Part will be published on Monday the 2d of January, 1809; and as the number of copies of the succeeding parts must, of course, be regulated by the degree of success that can reasonably be counted upon, Subscribers are respectfully requested to send in their Names as early as possible. The Work will be published by R. Bagshaw, Brydges Street, Covent Garden; and will be sold by J. Budd, Pall-Mall; J. Faulder, New Bond Street; H. D. Symonds, Paternoster Row; Black, Parry, and Kingsbury, Leadenhall Street; J. Archer, Dublin; and by every Bookseller, LawStationer, and Newsman in the United Kingdom. LORD ANSON To the Freeholders of the County of Stafford. Having taken an active part in the Requisition to the High Sheriff to call a Meeting of the County of Stafford, I am induced to trespass upon your patience, to state, as briefly as possible, my sentiments re-pecting some part of the proceedings which did ctually take place at the Meeting. I entered my Protest against the form adopted by the High Sheriff for introducing the Requisition to public notice. The form was certainly unusual, I believe unprecedented, and a direct deviation on the part of the High Sheriff in his official capacity, from what I humbly conceived to be strictly his duty. I should be almost inclined to say that the calling together a Meeting of any County in a manner so novel, was ill-judged and ill-advised, inasmuch as it might be liable to the imputation of having been so proclaimed, for the express purpose of creating some difference of opinion, as well amongst the Requisitionists, as amongst the other Freeholders of the County, with the hopes, by such a manoeuvre of marring the object of the Meeting, and thus checking, if possible, the ebull tion of public spirit. Such having been my sentiments respecting the manner in which the Requisition was announced, I now feel it my duty to enter my public protest against a Vote of Thanks to the High Sheriff, moved at the Meeting which did take place at Stafford; for, in direct opposition to the statement made in that motion, I do conceive that there was at least, much, and most notorious irregularity in the mode of convening that assembly. Under the same impressions it was judged right by many of my friends, not to give sanction to such a Requisition by their attendance on the day appointed by the Sheriff. In this, I felt myself obliged, though unwillingly, to concur, as my health would not allow of my personal appearance in the county-a circumstance which I cannot sefficiently deplore. For, most assuredly, had I been present at Stafford on the 11th inst. I would, at all events, have had the honour of proposing to you the intended Address or Petition to his Majesty, (a copy of which you have no doubt seen in the Staffordshire Advertiser); and notwithstanding it was a Convention of the County, not at all agree. ing with my own ideas of regularity, should certainly have given my Brother Freeholders an opportunity of deciding upon the merits of the Address, which it would, under such circumstances, have fallen to my lot to pro pose, and the uncalled-for Resolutions, which, though they may probably speak the sentiments of some few of the most powe ful interests in the county, I will venture to assert and maintain, are by no means decla ratory of the real and general sense of the people, with respect to the terms of that most weak and disgraceful, though impor tant Convention, upon which myself and many of my friends felt anxious to express our sentiments to his Majesty, in a manner the most loyal and constitutional. It may, I know, be urged, that his Majesty has been graciously pleased to institute an Inquiry. It is upon this point, that myself and my friends on the other side are at issue. His Majesty (as we are informed by the public prints) has indeed ordered a Military Court of Inquiry, and the adoption of such a mode of Inquiry may, at first view, appear to some persons to be all-sufficient. But I beg leave to ask, in case that Military Grand Jury should throw out the Bill, how, or from what quarter is the nation to look for an explanation either consolatory or satisfac tory? And I very much doubt whether, in any point of view, such a Court will be competent to afford full and comprehensive satisfaction to the Country at large. It is upon these grounds that myself and friends were desirous of petitioning his Majesty to or conveniencies of life, particularly when its independence and glory should be put at stake. These circumstances have favoured one of the greatest scourges of commerce, smuggling. But it has been strongly repress ed. The government is preparing new means against this foe to the public revenue, and national industry; the great emoluments it procures excites the most ardent cupidity. Those, who ought not to be honoured with the approbation of merchants, lest we should degrade commerce, are still devoting themselves to criminal peculations; they think that they are only braving the shame of an ordinary transgression; but the public indignation and vengeance will overtake them, and teach them that under circum-Two new sheep-farms Lave been introdustances where the nation employs for its defence, in an unexampled war, the interdiction of all commercial relatione with the enemy, the violation of thess dispositions is an hostile declaration, a true alance with this same enemy; that consequently every smuggler renounces the benefit of the municipal laws, to be subjected solely to those of war, and that he ought to dread the terrible and rapid application of those laws, which authorise the invasion of his fortune and personal castigation.-The government, penetrated with the situation of the French commerce, has strove to mitigate the evils, to provide for its wants. -Abroad, a treaty with the kingdom of Italy secures to France all the advantages which are compatible with the reciprocal justice. In the interior, various sums, which have been advanced to manufacturers and proprietors of produce, which public events had accumulated or cramped in their stores.-The Caisse d'Armortissement has interfered in the outfittings of adventurers. --A law has limited the bounds of the interest on money; offices established at Lyons and at Rouen are prelusive to a grand system of facility in the circulation of the numerary and merchandize -The exchange and the commercial tribunal of Paris see rising for their accommodation a stately palace, on the scite of the nunnery of St. Thomas. -Conformably to the new code, an organisation of the tribunals of commerce of the empire is preparing. The prefects, the courts of appeal have been consulted on the most eligible scites for these tribunals, as well as on the subject of their number, the judges and their surrogates. A general pro councils of department, formed in commission, are also called upon to give their advice on a project of the greatest utility, that of a rural code, so important to the prosperity of agriculture, and so closely interwoven with national prosperity.-In the meantime, one of the principal improvements of which agriculture is capable, is daily effected by the re-organization of our repositories for the breed of horses. Eight new repositories of stallions have been formed this year. Premiums held out to the owners of the best horses brought to the fairs, rewards decreed at the departmental races, are so many additional means of favouring the production of the most eligible species of this animal. Ject has been submitted to the discussion of the council of state, and to the sanction of his majesty. Agriculture. The prefects, the courts of appeal, and of the members of the general ced. Six hundred Merinos, of the best breed, have been ordered from Spain, and they are already arrived in France, notwithstanding the variety of obstacles that have occurred on their passage. They will be divided in two new establishments, as yet in embryo. The multiplication of the flocks increases rapidly, and we may consider the happy revolution introduced in this branch as completed.-May it one day be so also with the culture of cotton. In spite of the contrarieties of a hardy spring, and a tolerable cold autumn, the attempts made still give room to hope for ultimate success. We are justified to augur well also of the attempts made on the subject of the syrups of the grape. The rich culture of tobacco is daily extending; that which is gathered in the vicinity of St. Malo, equals in quality that of America. France will one day, to judge by appearances, not only supply its own wants with that production, but also export it to her neighbours. The Public Treasure and Finances.-Regularity, and a judicious administration, prevail in every department of the public treasury.The national accounts are reduced to a system the most scientific and luminous; it differs from the mode adopted by the most intelligent merchants, only in the extent and necessary complication of the transactions of government.-The finances have been gradually brought by the emperor, from a state of dilapidation and confusion, to a state of order and prosperity unknown in the governments the best administered. It is a trophy raised by vigorous exertion, by combinations the most judicious, and by a perseverance which has unravelled the most intricate details, and surmounted incredible difficulties. The nation enjoys the benefits which result from this new sort of conquest. Since France has generously consented to the adoption of indirect taxation, the finan ces have really been consolidated, and the utmost facility of carrying on the functions of every department of the public service.The finances in modern times may be consi dered as the security of states, and the measure of their stability. If they furnish government only with inadequate, precarious, or oppressive resources, its energies become paralyzed, individuals insolvent, and if war, or any other calamity, should visit a nation under these circumstances, it must subscribe to its own dishonour, or be involved in irretrievable ruin.-The finances of a state are not essentially and efficiently good, until they become independent of circumstances -until they can be maintained independently of the ruinous expedient of resorting to loans and excessive contributions-antil, in fine, they are so connected and identified with national prosperity, that they constitute a direct emanation from it; then only can they be deemed solid, efficient, permanent, and essentially national, and, particularly, if they have received an organization sufficiently simple; so that in an extraordinary emergency, all the property, and all the individuals may be called upon, promptly, to furnish their respective quotas in advance. -The endeavours of his majesty have been incessantly directed to the attainment of this desirable object, and they have been crowned by the most complete success, and the finances are calculated in future to meet with equal effect the exigences of war and of peace. In a period of peice, 600 millions will be sufficient to defray the public expences, and will leave a large surplus for national improvements. The receipts, which amount at the present moment to 800 millions, will, according to this arrangement, be reduced one-fourth.-In time of war, it is not in the contemplation of his imperial majesty to resort to the illusory expedients of imposing taxes of a novel description, or to hold out temptation to raise new supplies. The contributions on the recurrence of war will be brought back to the war standardi. e. 800 millions, and even then raised only by 100 or 150 millions at a time, in case of need; and this will be done by a simple scale, or table of proportions, which will enable every citizen to judge of the share he has in the good or bad fortune of the state.Observe, gentlemen, that this simplicity has no affinity or connection with that so considerably extolled as the result of a single direct contribution; it is, on the contrary, founded on a conviction that taxes ought to be laid on various objects, that our laws of finance include all the taxes which it was expedient to establish, and that all that is just and reasonable has been effected.—It remains only to limit to the survey or register, without which the uniformin progress of the scale of increase or diminution would be deficient, in proportion, and would continue to affect the proprietors of the funds actually surcharged; the making up of this register, which ought to efface so much inequality, to repair so much involuntary and inevitable injustice, is pursued with so much constancy, that those who disbelieve the practicability of this immence work, no longer doubt of its speedy execution. I must not here omit, gentlemen, the creation of the court of accounts, to the establishment of which you co-operated in your last session, We wanted a new institution, powerful in its unity, present to all the depositaries of the public property by the rapidity of its action, embracing all the responsibility of inferior accountants connected with the public income and expenditure. This court ought, by the distribution of its duties, and the number of its members, to be adequate to all the occasions, and responsible for all the labours, that may be entrusted to it. The principles on which this establishment rests, the choice of its members, the consi deration in which they are held, every thing guarantees the success the government has promised itself, that of a salutary contral over the several accountants. Administration of the War Departmeṛt, The same principles of order, and the same views for the acceleration of the ser vice, have influenced the general direction of the commissariat, whose first essays justify the expectation that had been formed. This administration renders the supplies of the army independent of contractors, who have so frequently done injury, at the same time that it secures the advantage of our economy, very sensible to the public funds. Marine. Though during the present campaign the government has limited its maritime operations, still a squadron armed at Toulon, as if by enchantment, and conducted with skill, has been able to defeat, by able manœuvres, the combinations of the enemy, by conveying to Corfu two years supplies of men, artillery, provisions, and ammunition. After having thus rendered useless the expedition with which that barrier of the Adriatic was threatened, the fleet of Admiral Gantheaume returned safe through all the difficulties of a boisterous navigation, and all the dangers of continued tempests. The colonies have in like manner been suc cessfully supplied with provisions, by squa drons of frigates and corvettes, which, while they fulfilled that important object, had, like the squadron, that went to Corfu, the advantage of making prizes of a great num. ber of the enemy's ships, richly laden. In India, prizes to the value of 15 millions have been the result of the cruises of our frigates, one of which only surrendered, and that after a glorious contest, against a superior force.-Our cruisers, in all parts of the world, and above all in the seas of India and Guadaloupe, have proved themselves formidable to the enemy. But it is not so much with a view to what it has done, but to what it may do with time, that our marine ought to be considered. Ten ships of the line, constructed in the docks of Antwerp, and fitted for sea many months since, are awaiting their destination, The flotilla of Boulogne, kept up and equipped, is still in readiness to undertake the operations for which it was originally created.-Twelve ships of the line, and as many frigates, have been launched within the year, and twentyfive more, and as many frigates on the stocks, attest the activity of our dock-yards. Our ports are preserved in perfect order, and the creation of that of Cherbourg is so far advanced, that its basin may be expected to be in a state to contain squadrons before he lapse of two campaigns.-Spezzia is bout to become a second Toulon. The union of almost all the coast of the Mediteranean to France, secures to our arsenals and ar ships, abundant supplies of provisions, stores, and men. Venice, Ancona, Naples, and all the means of Holland and Italy, are in motion. continent constantly under arms; but thus detaching the maritime powers, she had the art to profit from the divisions she fomented among neighbours, in order to forward her distant conquests. In this manner she extended her colonies, and augmented her naval power; and, by the aid of that power, she hopes henceforth to enjoy her usurp tion, and to arrogate to herself the exclusive possession of the seas.-But until these latter times, she paid at least some respect to the laws of nations; she seemed to respect the rights of her allies, and even, by son → returns towards peace, allowed her enemies to breathe. This conduct is, however, no longer suitable to the developement of a system which she can no longer dissemble. All who do not promote her interests are her enemies. The abandonment of her alliance is a cause of war; neutrality is a revolt; and all the nations that resist her yoke are made subject to her cruel ravages. It is impossible to foresee what might have been the consequence of so much audacity, had not fortune, on our part, raised up a man of a superior order, destined to repel the evils with which England threatens the world.— He had also to combat the allies of that power on the continent, and to conquer the rising enemies she succeeded in creating. Always attacked, always threatened, he found it necessary to regulate his policy by that state of things, and felt that to lay the contest it was necessary to augment our forces, and weaken those of our enemies.-The emperor al ways pacific, but always armed by necessity, was not ambitious of aggrandizing the empire. Prudence always directed his views. It became necessary for him to relieve our ancient froutiers from the too near danger of sudden attacks, and to found their security on The Present IVar-At the epoch of your last sitting, gentlemen, every thing com bined to deliver Europe from its long agitaions; but England, the enemy of the world, Hill repeated the cry of perpetual war, and var continues. What then is the object-limits fortified by nature; finally, it became that will be the issue? The object of this var is the slavery of the world, by the exlusive possession of the seas. There is no oubt, that, by subscribing treaties of bonage, disguised under the holy name of ace, nations may obtain repose; but this ameful repose would be death. In this ternative, the choice between submission nd resistance could not be long doubtful.— The war which England has provoked, which e continues with so much pride and obstiacy, is the termination of the ambitious stem which she has cherished during two nturies. Mixing in the politics of the utinent, she has succeeded in holding Eupe in a perpetual agitation, and in exciting ainst France all the envious and jealous ssions. It was her wish to humble or desby France, by keeping the people of the necessary so to separate France, by alliances from her rivals, that even the sight of an enemy's standard never could alarm the territory of the empire.-England, defeated in the disputes she so often renewed, profited however, of them to increase her wealth, by the universal monopoly of commexce.-She had impoverished her allies by wars, in which they fought only for her interests. Abandoned at the moment in which their arms ceased to serve those interests, their fate became the more indifferent to her as she preserved some commercial relations with them, even while she continued at war with France. Even France herself left to the English the hope of a shameful subjugation to the want of certain objects, the privation of which they believe our generous popu lation could not support. They thought that if they could not enter the territory of the empire by their arms, they might penetrate its heart by a commerce now become its most dangerous enemy, and the admission of which would have exhausted its most valuable resources.-The genius and the prudence of the emperor, have not overlooked this danger. Involved in the difficulties of the continental war, he ceased not, however, to repel from his states the monopoly of English commerce. He has since completed the measures of an effectual resistance. -No one can now be deceived on this subject, since the English have declared this new kind of war, all the ports of the continent are blockaded, the ocean is interdicted to every neutral ship which will not pay to the British treasury a tribute which is meant to be imposed on the whole population of the globe. To this law of slavery other nations have replied by means of a reprisal and by wishes for the annihilation of such a tyranny.The English nation has sepa rated itself from every other nation. England is fixed in this situation. All her social relations with the continent are suspended. She is smitten by the excommunication which she has herself provoked.-The war will henceforth consist in repelling from all points the English commerce, and in employing all the means calculated to promote that end. France has energetically concurred in the exclusion of the monopoly of commerce; she has resigned herself to privations which long habits must have rendered more painful. Some branches of her agriculture and her industry have suffered, and still suffer, but the prosperity of the great body of the nation is not affected: she is familiarised with that transitory state, the hardship of which she beholds without fear. The allies of France, and the United States, sacrifice like her, and with a resolution equally generous, their private conveniencies. England was on the eve of the moment when her exclusion from the continent was about to be consummated: but she availed herself of the last circumstance to spread the genius of evil over Spain, and to excite in that unhappy country all the rage of furious passions. She has sought for alliances even in support of the inquisition, and even in the most barbarous prejudices. Unhappy people, to whom do you confide your destiny? To the contemners of all moral obligations-to the enemies of your religion-to those who, violating their promises, have elevated on your territory a monument of their impudence, an affront, the impunity of which, for above a century, would bear testimony against your courage, if the weakness of your govern ment had not been alone to blame. You ally yourself with the English, who have so often wounded your pride and your indepen dence, who have so long ravished from you, by open violence, and even in time of peace, the commerce of your colonies; who, in order to intimate to you their prohibition of your neutrality, caused their decrees to be preceded by the plunder of your treasures, and the massacre of your navigators; who, in fine, have covered Europe with proofs of their contempt for their allies, and for the deceitful promises they had made to them. You will without doubt recover from your error. You will then groan for the new perfidies that are reserved for you. But how much blood will flor before this tardy return to your senses? The English, hitherto absent from all great conflicts, try a new fortune on the continent. They ungarrison their island, and leave it almost without defence, in the presence of an enterprising and valiant king, who com mands a French army, and who has already snatched from them the strong position f the island of Caprea. What then will k the fruit of their efforts? Can they hope to be able to exclude the French from Spa and Portugal? Can the success be dofa? The emperor himself will command sivincible legions. What a presage does the heroic army of Portugal offer to us, which, struggling against double its force, has been able to raise trophies of victory on the very land where it fought to such disadvantage, and to dictate the conditions of a glorious re treat? In preparing for a new struge against our only enemy, the emperor done all that was necessary for the mainte nance of peace on the continent. He must reckon upon it without doubt, inasmuch a Austria, the only power which could disturb it, has given the strongest assurances her disposition, in recalling her ambassad from London, and desisting from all pos cal communication with England.-S Austria had recently made armaments, b they took place certainly without any ho tile intention. Prudence, nevertheless, dic tated energetic measures of precaution. The armies of Germany and Italy are strengthened by levies of the new conscription. The troops of the confederation of the Rhine are complete, well organized, and disci plined. (To be continued.) Printed by Cox and Baylis, Great Queen Street; published by R. Bagshaw, Brydges Street, Covent Gaiden, where former Numbers may be had: sold also by J. Budd, Crown and Mitre, Pall-Mall has |