exertions in the cause of humanity; but, let him not be praised and elected as a parliamentary reformer, when he does not even profess that he is one. Those, indeed, who are not for a real reform of the parliament; and, by the word reform, only mean to express such a change as would af ford them a chance of getting at a share of the public money; those persons act very consistently in preferring a member who is not for parliamentary reform; but, they will have a great deal more cunning than they have (and that is not a little), before they will persuade me, that they are reformers.- -The main thing, however, for the people to keep in view, as to the Bristol Election, is, that the two factions have clearly agreed not to cross one another. The White Lion Club's member is not to be opposed by either Mr. Prothero or by Sir Samuel Romilly. So, here is the compromise clearly settled!- -I shall resume the subject in my next. shall not be. Now, then, we shall see, whether these are to be openly violated with impunity; we shall now see, whether soldiers are, at last, to be marched into a place where an election is actually going on, without rendering that election void. All the excuses about rioting and about danger to property I shall hereafter shew not to be worth a straw. The troops were marched in, and marched in, too, after the people had beaten the bludgeon-men of the man who professed himself to be in favour of the government. -There is no such thing as doing away these facts; and the question must now be settled.-For having brought this important matter to issue we have to thank Mr. Hunt. If he had not appeared in Bristol, there would have been NO ELECTION at all upon this occasion. The people would not have known, that Bragge Bathurst had vacated. The affair would have been as snug as an election at Old Sarum. Mr. PROTHERO has published a declaration, in which he states, that it was not his intention to oppose the Candi- MR. EATON.-Paine's Age of Reason.— date of the White Lion Club; and, we I perfectly agree with L. L. respecting the know, that Sir Samuel Romilly's friends do use of the Pillory, and especially in the not oppose him; but, I see, that those Edi- case of MR. EATON for publishing argutors of news-papers at Bristol, who are forments and opinions, relative to matters of Sir Samuel Romilly, do publish most abusive, most outrageously abusive, things against Mr. Hunt. Amongst other things that they charge him with, is," his fa"ther's having sold wheat in Marlborough "market at a guinea a bushel."- -Mr. Hunt is no Lambkin, to be sure, but this is very much like the reasoning of the wolf; and, really, his opponents appear to be very much of the wolf cast.- This charge I give as a specimen; the others will have no more weight with any man of sense and candour than this will have; and, whatever the friends of Sir Samuel Romilly may hope; whatever reliance they may place upon the power of the cant which they are making use of, they will not succeed in their views.-- -The Morning Chronicle, consequences DREADFUL in the EXunder the form of a letter from Bristol, has TREME." That many hundreds of the this day opened a direct battery upon Mr. book have been published is certain; that Hunt. Will not this open the eyes of all these copies of the book have been read is those who are deceived by the friends of also certain; how, then, are these extremeSir Samuel Romilly? I again state, that ly dreadful consequences to be prevented, Mr. Hunt has offered to withdraw his pre-except by an answer to the book? And, tensions, if Sir Samuel Romilly will distinctly pledge himself to support Parliamentary Reform: and, if the latter will not do this, upon what ground is it that any reformer can support him: Let Sir Samuel Romilly have all the praise that is due to him; and that is a great deal, for his general public concern; but his Letter it is not necessary to insert, seeing that the public have pretty clearly expressed that their view of the matter accords with that of L. L.-I have received nothing from the Rector of Botley, in answer to my last notification. I hope he does not mean to back out in the way there mentioned. I beg leave to remind him, that MR. EATON has been sentenced to 22 months imprisonment and to stand once in the pillory for publishing the book in question; that the Attorney General (Gibbs), in calling for punishment upon the head of this old man, asserted, that the principles contained in the book, if suffered to take root in the minds of those who read it, must produce have we twenty thousand Clergymen, and will no one of them attempt to give us this answer? Do they not think it worth while to answer a work, the consequences of which, if suffered to go unanswered, must be dreadful in the extreme? Many of them are pretty constantly engaged in writing re that. but, he does not now say, that he will, or that he will not, accept of my last offer, to publish from any shop that he may choose, and to apply the gain, if any, to the purpose of making a poor family happy. views and political pamphlets. This may be very proper. It may also be proper for them to be the foremost in all court-addresses; but, surely, they ought, then, to look to this "dreadful" work of Paine. -To be sure I have no right to call -They have been loud enough in their alarms about "popery." They have cried upon him to put his work into my hands, out that the Church is in danger" from or to apply the profits of it in any particuBut, what do they mean by the lar way; but, he accepted of my offer, and Church? Do they mean the tithes, the authorized me to promise, in his name, an However, a corn-rents, the life-holds, the glebes, the answer to Paine's work. mansions, the woods, the manors, the clois- little matter shall not turn me from my ters, and the palaces? Do they call these point. He resolved, it seems, to publish an answer in some way or other. Very "the Church?" If they mean the congrewell, then, here we have his resolution, gations; if they mean their morals and when or how he means to act upon it he souls, we have the assertion of the Attordoes not say; but, that he shall not want ney General, the charge of the Judge, the verdict of the Special Jury, and the punish-reminding of this resolution the public may ment of Mr. Eaton, to produce in proof of rest assured. the Church being in real danger from the suffering of Mr. Paine's book to go unanswered. Is it, therefore, to be believed, that twenty thousand Clergymen will leave it unanswered?--Since writing the above, I have received a letter from the Rector of Botley, in which he tells me that I gave, last week, wrong information to my readers, respecting his intention. I there said, that he had informed me, that he would not "write an answer, lest, by its being pub❝lished at Mr. Eaton's shop (as I had "posed), he, the Rector, should contribute "to the MERCENARY views of the "CONVICTED vender thereof." Whereupon, as the reader will recollect, I offered to have the answer published at my own expense, at any shop that the Rector might choose; to sustain the loss, if any, and, if any gain, to let the Rector himself choose a man amongst his poor parishioners on whom to bestow it. Even this, how. ever, does not, it seems, meet the approbation of the Rector; who now tells me, that he, in his former note, did not say, that he would write no answer, but that, for the reason stated, "he refused accepting such a me"dium, and resolved to adopt that sort of "publication, which he might deem most "likely to answer his views: viz. the exof falsehood and refutation of "blasphemy."It is very true, that, at the time of writing his former note, the Rector might have formed this resolution; but, it is equally true, that he did not let drop a word to me about it. He merely told me, that he would not publish through -Let posure pro now, the medium that I had mentioned.- -What I have further to say upon this subject will astonish the reader.The truth is, that the Rector of Botley, who, one would have thought, would have received with eagerness and delight an invitation to shew his zeal in defence of that religion, to be a supporter of which he had, at his ordination, declared that he felt himself called by the Holy Ghost; one would have thought, that express his grahe would have hastened to titude to me for having given him such an occasion to prove himself worthy of his calling, to show that he was sincere in his solemn declaration, and to prevent those "extremely dreadful consequences" for having attempted to produce which, Mr. Eaton was sentenced to a long imprisonment and to standing in the pillory: but, instead of expressions of kindness and of gratitude, I did, in fact, receive from my pastor expressions of anger and resentment. He has written me two letters since, still rising, I think, in acrimoniousness of style. In every letter, he calls upon me, in a most menacing tone, to publish, not only these letters, but others, which have passed between us a long while before a word was said about Mr. EATON or Paine's Age of Reason.I hereby inform him, that, at present, I do not see sufficient cause for my doing this; but, that, if he does see sufficient cause for his doing it, he has my full liberty to make the publication in any manner that he may think proper, provided he publish my letter as well as his own letters, and also the parts of the Register, to which the correspondence refers.If he does this, I will never even publish a single word in the way of answer to his publication, but will leave the world to form its judgment even upon his own statement.- -After this I shall, I hope, receive no more menacing calls for publication.The Rector manifestly has kept copies of his letters. If, however, it should happen to be otherwise, I shall readily furnish him with copies. WM. COBBETT. State Prison, Newgate, July 8, 1812, where I have just paid a thousand pounds fine TO THE KING: and much good may it do his Majesty! THE LUDDITES, OR party of these desperadoes, and narrowly escaped with his life," &c. Now, Sir, the truth or falsehood of these grave charges will shew what credit is due to the testimony of these calumniators, who seem to ape the conduct of those worthy gentry, that some time ago corresponded with the celebrated and honest John Bowles.-It is true that a man was shot at eight miles hence on the 20th ultimo; but the writers in question. might with as much propriety have charged the Lord Chancellor of England with having been accessary to the assassination of Mr. Perceval, as to implicate the people of Nottingham with an attempt on the life of a man eight miles hence, for his Lordship was very likely much nearer the House of Commons when Bellingham drew the fatal HISTORY OF THE SEALED BAG, trigger.-As to the other charges, brought No. II. In my last, under this ead, I inserted and commented on, an article, published by the hireling press, about a row at the Theatre at Nottingham. The following letter, published in the Nottingham Review of the 3d of July, will shew how false and how base were the charges contained in that article. LIBELS AGAINST THE PEOPLE OF NOT- by these scribbling gentlemen, they are still of a more infamous complexion; but a short statement of facts will set the business to rights.-The Theatre is described as having been the rallying point for a set of ruffians; and, perhaps, this may prove correct; for it can be proved by many respectable witnesses, that few evenings passed over during the late season of performance at that should-be place of social amusement, without a row being kicked up by certain military characters, and a few stripling ruffians who had honourably inlisted under their warlike banners.-The practice To the Editor of the Nottingham Review. generally was for these worthies to make SIR,It seems that a dark scheme has their sober appearance at half price, and as been laid by several character-assassins, for soon as the curtain fell, to vociferate "God the purpose of exciting the particular re- "save the King;" and those who did not sentment of Government against the inha- immediately obey their second imperious bitants of this town, as several of the Lon-mandate, which was "hats off," were indon papers of this week have teemed with stantly assailed with oaths, sticks, swords, abuse against them, equally false and ma- &c. Party in politics made no distinction lignant. We are told that a man has been here; for many persons of great respectashot at, who had been active in bringing bility, who are known to be staunch friends the "evil-disposed people to justice;" that to what is called "the high party," met 66 parties of these deluded people are in the with much abuse, because they chose to act habit of assembling in different parts of the as men; nay, many of the fair sex felt the town, to carry their revengeful designs into effects of the gentlemanly conduct of some execution; that it is dangerous for the mili- of these defenders of our country, and their tary to walk the streets in the evening; that worthy coadjutors. One of them, a couspion the 24th ult. Brigade-Major Humphries, cuous officer of the 45th, for abusing a man who is on the Staff here, was laid wait for in the pit, was brought before the Magison his return from the Theatre (which trates; and had not the prosecutor have seems to be a favourite resort of these law- taken the hush money, he would have apless ruffians) by a large party, and without peared in his true colours in a court of justhe slightest provocation on his part, was tice; a gentleman of high character both for knocked down by a shower of stones, two property and personal respectability, was a of which took effect, and one, which struck volunteer evidence on the occasion, but who him on the forehead, nearly terminated his has had the tables turned upon him for his existence; and that an Officer of the Somer-services; for this same gallant Officer has set Militia, who was quietly walking along the streets, was assaulted by a considerable since caused him to be bound over to the Sessions, on a charge of having excited an assault upon the latter, though I do not understand that he exhibited any honourable wounds obtained in either his offensive or defensive operations. A jury will, however, set this business to rights.-As to the charge about the Somerset Officer, I will beg leave to inform you, that his valour had often been displayed against the hals of the audience in the Theatre, and that he one evening received a severe chastisement by the aid, as I understand, of a horsewhip, for which he has caused a man to be bound over to the Sessions.-As to the wound received by Brigade-Major Humphries, I have no doubt, but every person in the town laments the unfortunate circumstance; because, since his residence here, he has invariably conducted himself as a gentleman. The truth is, however, that as he was departing from the Theatre, in company with some other officers, he was struck on the forehead by a stone, or some other hard substance; but, happy I am to say, so far from his life being endangered by the blow, that a gentleman of my acquaintance met him the next morning going about his business. The principal sufferer in consequence of these outrages, is Mr. Robertson, one of the Managers of the Theatre; who, as a good husband, a good father, and in other respects, a good member of society, it grieves me to say, was deprived of his benefit, the Mayor ordering the Theatre to be shut; but who, I hope, will be remunerated when he makes his appearance here at the Races.-The writer of the inflammatory article in one of the London papers, whose character and station in life, I believe, I am acquainted with, concludes by saying, "It is a lamentable circumstance, that with the powers granted by the Watch and Ward Bill, such acts of atrocity should not be prevented." To this I will reply, that, with the exception of the disturbances occasioned as above described, so peaceable is the state of the town, that the Magistrates have not seen it necessary to saddle the inhabitants with the expense and trouble of Watching and Warding since the 5th of June. So much for the veracity of these correspondents to the London papers! A FRIEND TO TRUTH. MINISTERIAL NEGOCIATIONS. DOCUMENTS PUBLISHED, RELATING TO THE LATE NEGOCIATIONS FOR MAKING A NEW MINISTRY. (Continued from page 32.) day expressed to you, as to the nature of the proposal which you were authorized by the Prince Regent to make to Lord Grenville and me, has been confirmed by subsequent reflection, as well as by the opinion of Lord Grenville, and, indeed, of every person with whom I have hitherto had an opportunity of consulting.—I have the honour to be, with the highest regard, my Lord, your Lordship's very faithful, humble servant, GREY. No. 19.-Lord Grey's and Lord Grenville's Reply, (June 3d) to Lord Wellesley's Minule of the 1st of June. My Lord, We have considered, with the most serious attention, the minute which we have had the honour to receive from your Lordship; and we have communicated it to such of our friends as we have had the opportunity of consulting.—On the occasion of a proposal made to us under the authority of His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, we wish to renew, in the most solemn manner, the declaration of our unfeigned desire to have facilitated, as far as was in our power, the means of giving effect to the late vote of the House of Commons, and of averting the imminent and unparalleled dangers of the country.-No sense of the public distress and difficulty, no personal feelings of whatever description, would have prevented us, under such circumstances, from accepting, with dutiful submission, any situations in which we could have hoped to serve His Royal Highness usefully and honourably.—But it appears to us, on the most dispassionate reflection, that the proposal stated to us by your Lordship cannot justify any such expectation.-We are invited not to discuss with your Lordship, or with any other public men, according to the usual practice in such cases, the various and important considerations, both of measures and of arrangements, which belong to the formation of a new government in all its branches; but to recommend to His Royal Highness a number, limited by previous stipulation, of persons willing to be included in a Cabinet, of which the outlines are already definitely arranged. To this proposal we could not accede without the sacrifice of the very object which the House of Commons has recommended, the formation of a strong and efficient Administration. We enter not into the examination of the relative proportions, or of the particular arrangements which it has been judged necessary thus previously to establish. It is to the principle of disunion and jealousy that we object. To the supposed balance of contending interests in a | to apprize you of it: and Lord Erskine's and mine were stated with a view of showing, that Lord Wellesley, so far from having any jealousy to maintain a preponderance in the Cabinet, actually left a majority to those who had been accustomed to concur upon most public questions; and he specified Lord Erskine and myself, that you might see the number submitted for your exclusive nomination was not narrow cabinet, so measured out by preliminary | spirit of fairness to you and your friends. stipulations. The times imperiously re- Mr. Canning's name was mentioned, bequire an Administration united in prin- cause Lord Wellesley would have declined ciple, and strong in mutual reliance, pos-office without him; and it was a frankness sessing also the confidence of the crown, and assured of its support in those healing measures, which the public safety requires, and which are necessary to secure to the government the opinion and affections of the people. No such hope is presented to us by this project, which appears to us equally new in practice, and objectionable in principle. It tends, as we think, to establish within the Cabinet itself a system of counteraction, inconsistent with the pro-ed by the necessity of advertence to us. secution of any uniform and beneficial course of policy. We must therefore request permission to decline all participation in a government constituted upon such principles. Satisfied, as we are, that the certain loss of character, which must arise from it to ourselves, could be productive only of disunion, and weakness in the Administration of the public interests.-We have the honour to be, my Lord, your Lordship's most faithful, and most obedient humble servants, GREY. No. 20.-Explanatory Letter from Lord Moira to Lord Grey, June 3d, on the subject of Lord Wellesley's Minute, No. 17. My dear Lord,-The answer which you and Lord Grenville have returned to the proposal made by Lord Wellesley, seems to throw an oblique imputation upon me: therefore I intreat your re-consideration of your statement, as far as it may convey that impeachment of a procedure in which I was involved. You represent the proposition for an arrangement submitted to you as one calculated to found a Cabinet upon a principle of counteraction. When the most material of the public objects, which were to be the immediate ground of that Cabinet's exertion, had been previously understood between the parties, I own it is difficult for me to comprehend what principle of counteraction could be introduced. If there be any ambiguity which does not strike me, in Lord Wellesley's last paper, surely the construction ought to be sought in the antecedent communication; and I think the basis on which that communication had announced the intended Cabinet to stand, was perfectly clear. With regard to the indication of certain individuals, I can assert that it was a measure adopted through the highest The choice of an additional member of the Cabinet left to you, must prove how undistinguishable we considered our interests and your's, when this was referred to your consideration as a mere matter of convenience, the embarrassment of a numerous Cabinet being well known. The reference to members of the late Cabinet, or other persons, was always to be coupled with the established point, that they were such as could concur in the principles laid down as the foundation for the projected ministry. And the statement was principally dictated by the wish to shew, that no system of exclusion could interfere with the arrangements which the public service might demand. On the selection of those persons, I aver the opinions of you, Lord Grenville, and the others whom you might bring forward as members of the Cabinet, were to operate as fully as our own, and this was to be the case also with regard to subordinate offices. The expression, that this was left to be proposed by Lord Wellesley, was intended to prove that His Royal Highness did not, even in the most indirect manner, suggest any one of those individuals. It is really impossible that the spirit of fairness can have been carried farther than has been the intention in this negotiation. I therefore lament most deeply, that an arrangement so important for the interests of the country should go off upon points which I cannot but think wide of the substance of the case. MOIRA. No. 21.-Lord Wellesley to Lord Moira, |