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Vol. XI. No. 4.] LONDON, SATURDAY, JANUARY 3, 1807.

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[PRICE 10D. "Upon the state of the continent of Europe, except as far as regards Hanover, we shall not, in the ap"proaching negociations, be allowed, in my opinion, to say a single word; and if we are allowed to have a footing there, it will be, because the French are convinced, that by leaving Hanover in the hands of our "Sovereign, they shall always have a bridle in our mouths." POLITICAL REGISTER, Vol. X. p. 966. *June, 28th, 1800.

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SUMMARY OF POLITICS. AMERICAN STATES. (Continued from Vol. X. p. 983.)-What had been reportel to have been said in parliament, upon our dispute with the American States, was noticed in the preceding Number, Vol. X page 1007. Since that, some remarks, upon the subject, have appeared in the newspapers, particularly in the paper called the COURIER.

-But, before I speak particularly upon the subject of these remarks, it seems necessary to notice an occurrence of considerable importance, which has recently taken place in the country, to which these remarks relate; which occurrence is no less than an accusation of treason, preferred, by one of the Attornies General of the United States, against Mr. Aaron Burr, who, as the public will recollect, was lately Vice President of that country. From the accounts which have reached this country, it would appear that Mr. Burr, who is a man of great anibition and of talents and courage equal thereto, had formed a sebeme, which scheme he was actually preparing to put in practice, før se... parating the Western from the Eastern part of that immense country called the United States, and to erect a kingly government in the Western part, of which he himself intended to be king.In this project, viewing it with a mere philosophical eye, I geè nothing more objectionable, than the novel circumstance of there being a king of the name of Aaron; for, it is impossible for any man to make me believe, that the Western States will remain, or can remain, fer ten years, at the utmost, members of the Confederation. Separated from the inhabited part of the Eastern States (or, speaking more properly, perhaps, the Atlantic States) by an almost impassable wilderness of more than four hundred miles across; 'having their out-let to the sea by a channel no where communicating with the Atlantic States; pursuing the same sort of traffic as the AtJantic States, and driving a trade to the same markets; duder these circumstances, the Western States must necessarily be rivals of the Atlantic. States, and the two sets of

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States must feel, with respect to each other, as rivals for gain generally feel. And, to check the effects of this feeling, there is wanting in America that attachment to country, which sometimes operates so powerfully in other parts of the world, and which has its foundation in circumstances of which a native American has no practical idea.-Mr. Burr may fail; but, I am not the man to say that he will fail; and, if he does, some other man will not at any rate, the separation must take place, and when it does take place, it will astonish me if that which is now called the Federal Government should long remain in existence.The remarks, above alluded to, in the Courier, are as fol dows: that news having been received from Charlestown, that some English goods had been seized, in virtue of the non-importation act, a deputation of American merchants waited, the other day, upon Lord Grenville to know how they should act, who told them, that the restraints, whatever they might be, would not be of lng duration; whence the Courier concludes, that our mihisters have given uff the point: Whereupan, just as if the fact was notorious, the sagacious editor thus gravely proceeds: "We" (for they always speak in the style reva!) "do not desire war with America,

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but we as little desire to see that systema " of concession to America continued, which has been adopted since the now me "nisters came into power. What right bas "America to expect concessions from us?

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Have we received any peculiar favour at " her hands? Concessions must be as inju"rious to our commerce as to our national "character. But, we confess, we are not without our apprehensions; the ministers having shown themselves as inconspetent to conduct a negociation, as to carry on -The war with vigour and decisipa." modesty of this last remark, coming from a partizan of the Pitts, must striko every one! What opportunities have the ministers had to carry on war with vig mr and decision? The Pitts carried it on with vigour and decia sion, indeed, the year before! Who could

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the ministers get at to make war upon, except the Threshers in Ireland, upon whom, indeed, the Pitts would have made vigorous war long enough ago? The novelty of this writer's remarks, with regard to concessions, must amuse every one who read the Register of the 20th of December; but, to the truth, which he did me the honour to borrow from me, he has added matter of his own of a directly contrary description. The present ministers have made no concessions to the American States; and none, I hope, they will make. The concessions were all made by the Pitts and the Addingtons, while these latter were under the absolute controul of the former. It was they who gave up, in the meanest manner, the point so solemnly settled by the treaty of 1794, That conces sion not only drew from us about three millions in taxes, as will appear from the accounts laid before parliament, but it encouraged the Americans to demand further and still more dangerous concessions now. Had it not been for those concessions, the concessions now dreaded by the enlightened and public-spirited editor of the Courier never would have been dreamed of on either side of the Atlantic.This wise man talks about injury to our commerce from the concessions, which, in the tone of the ignorant speech attributed to Mr. Perceval, he affects to dread; but, supposing the concessions to take place, they would not at all injure our commerce, which consists of buying and selling goods. It is our fleets that they would injure; our naval power; our means of injuring our enemy; and, of course, our means of defending ourselves; all which might be reduced to nothing, and our commerce be still as flourishing as ever.As to the practicability, however, of injuring even this commerce by the means of a nonimportation act in America, the intelligence which I have received, and which comes down so late as the 2d of December, fully warrants all that I before said upon the subject, and the sum total of which was, that, to carry such an act into execution, and to adhere to it for any length of time, was impossible. It is said, that some English goods have, in virtue of the act, been siezed at Charlestown. But, at Philadelphia and New York, if my intelligence be correct, there was no interruption at all to importation; and, so little did any one expect that the act would be enforced, that very few importers had thought it prudent to order any additional supply in consequence of it. That the act may be partially executed; that a blustering appearance of resolution may be exhibited for some wecks, or for some

months, is possible; but, that it should be continued in force, or that it should be at all, in any port, obeyed, as a law ought to be obeyed, is, I again assert, impossible. It was a lrasty effusion of vanity and ignorance. A sort of trick to try us. And, in the minds of some few persons, amongst whom we may number the President, perhaps, it proceeded from philosophical notions, very good in themselves, but for the acting upon which the Americans are much too far gone in a contempt for every thing not tending to the accumulation of riches.- It was upon the ground of opinions like these, I hope, that Lord Grenville gave the answer ascribed to him; that he told the American merchants, that the restraints could not be of long duration; and not upon the ground of conces sions that he had made, or was about to make; for, if he make such concessions as are affected to be apprehended by the speech ascribed to Mr. Perceval, then, indeed, will he be worthy of every epithet descriptive of baseness and apostacy in their most odious character and degree.--I do not, however, believe, that he will so act. To concede a trifling point as to a particular vessel or two, seized under peculiar circumstances, and where the seizures may even appear to militate against the conceding regulations of the Pitts and Addingtons, I, for my part, should have no objection; but, to give up our right, or, in the least, to relax in the assertion and exercise of our right, to search neutral vessels, and therein to sieze the property of our enemies, however covered, and wherever coming from, would sink my Lord Grenville ten million of fathoms below even Pitt him)self. In the possession of this right; not in the mere formal claim and recognition of it, but in the substantial possession of it; in the unrelaxed exercise of it towards all nations without exception; it is in this that consists our maritime superiority. Without this right that superiority could not exist for two years; and this is a fact well known to our implacable and well-counselled enemy. Concession to the American States must, and would, be followed by similar concessions to other powers; and, I must confess, that, if such concessions were made, I should regard the complete overthrow of the present government of this country as certain.

This being my opinion, I feel as anxious, I trust, and a little more so, upon the aubject, than the author of the speech ascribed to Mr. Perceval, who, if he were well to examine his heart, would, I am afraid, find little else than a love of place and of pelf at the bottom of it; but, I cannot say, that I partake much in his apprehensions,

especially when I find them founded upon what the ministers have done in the way of conceding to America, alluding to what was no concession at all, but a measure of great advantage to both countries, without creating the possibility of producing in time an injury to either, though the contrary was asserted in a speech of the Master of the Rolls which, under the guise of legal gravity, exhibited more ignorance in statement and more sophistry in reasoning than any speech that I remember ever to have read.

MESSRS. PAULL AND ELLIOT.-It appears, from the public papers, that the challenge, which has taken place between these gentlemen, has had a curious enough termination. Some friend, having received the hint, no doubt, gave information to the po lice magistrates, who bound the parties over to keep the peace, in a bond of 1,500 pounds from each party and his sureties. Whereupon, it seems, Mr. Paull proposed a trip to the nearest port upon the Continent, with a view of avoiding the effects of a forfeiture of the recognizance. "No," says the Colonel and Brewer," that does not suit me; but, I am ready to set the bonds at defiance." To which Mr. Paul is said to have replied, that he had no objection to do the same, provided the Brewer would pay the forfeiture on both sides, which, apparently, the latter refused to do; and thus have they both established their reputations, as men of valour, and gentlemen, and men of honour! But, to us, who are spectators of all this, it may be al lowed to make a remark or two, especially as this case seems to elucidate a little the nature of the principles of duelling.Why should the parties feel any restraint in consequence of the bonds to keep the peace? To have fought a duel before would have been to commit a breach of the peace; and to have killed his antagonist would, in either of the parties, have been a capital offence. Whence, then, proceeds their respect, their great veneration for the law, after the entering into recognizances? Has it been excited in their bosoms by the presence and the admonitions of Messrs. Graham, Gifford, and Bond? I think not; for though it is, doubtless, next to impossible to listen to the reproof of these grave and venerable personages without being thereby deeply affected, yet, so hardened do we find Messrs. Paull and Elliott, or, more properly speaking, so powerfully urged on by their valourous spirits and their delicate sense of honour, that one of them still proposes to flee to distant lauds to decide the point, and the other proposes to forfeit his recognizances.- -At this point, however, valour, which had pricked them

on so far, seems to have slackened his hand; to have halted a little, and to have listened to his "better half," discretion; for the Brewer's affairs will not permit him to take a trip to the Continent, and Mr. Paull does not choose to forfeit his recognizances.Fielding says, that when people are, on both sides, heartily disposed either to fight or to marry, they will find some way or other of getting at it in spite of all the world; and, it may be added, with equal truth, that, when they, at the bottom of their hearts, wish to avoid either fighting or marrying, in spite of all the world, avoid it they will.--It is something truly curious, that each of these gentlemen should have fallen upon an expedient; and, upon an expedient; too, which he was pretty certain that the other would reject! But, to talk of affairs not permitting them to fulfil their purposes; to talk about interest after you have gone so far as to set your life at hazard for the sake of your honour; to talk about obstacles in bonds to keep the peace; to talk this way will, be you' assured, gentlemen, deceive nobody. Supposing, for instance, that one, or both of you, are without the means of paying the forfeited recognizances. Such a supposition serves to show, in another light, the absurdity of the principles of duelling; but, suppose it to be the case; and then, I ask, why that should prevent you from fighting? Do you answer, that the debt would throw you into jail? What! Your honour and valour can calculate, then! Your honour has its price; its pecuniary considerations; it can make compromises with your interest! In short, it is, used in this way, a word that means any thing, or nothing. You never wished to fight, unless you could have done it without bodily risk. This is evident enough; but, you were desirous of acquiring the reputation of being eager to fight, and for this I blame you To suppose, that this challenging and accepting of a challenge; that the talk about the continent on one side, and about a readiness to forfeit the recognizances, on the other side; to suppose that all this will produce any effect in favour of the parties, in the estimation of the public, is to discover f lly most egregions. If I accuse a man of being a liar or a thief, is the accusttion disproved by his challenging to fight me? If the Sheridans, in the fulness of their insolence fed from the public purse, represent Mr. Paull as a tailor, and exhibit him wielding his sheers, his yard, and his goose, will his fighting a duel remove any part of the impression they may, by such devices, have produced? Will it not rather tead to confirm it? For, look at the duellists, and you will

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censure consists of a wearisome series of slack-twisted, and pointless sarcasm, discovering at once both impotence and malice.-From this general description of the publication (for it is as a publication in the newspapers that I comment upon it), and which

find, that nine out of ten fall upon that way of giving themselves consequence in the eyes of the world. It is one way of rising into genteel life. There is many a low Scoundrel who has become a heavy feeder upon the public in virtue of his having been an agent in some paper-pellet duelling affair.description, I am sa isfied, the reader will, The most notorious cowards we have seen fighting duels, seen them the patrons of duelling. This is the way (taking care to provide against serious consequences) that they recover their reputation! Amongst all the effects of duelling this is the worst, that it gives the reputation of bravery to the most flagrant of cowards. Find me a man, if he be a soldier by profession, who seems to have been a coward from his mother's womb; who, in cases where fighting was out of the question, has given constant proof of his cowardice in practising the sister vice of cruelty; who, in all the transactions of his life has been the supple slave of those who had power to cope with him, and the merciless oppressor of those who had the misfortune to fall under his clutches, and yet who were not mean enough to lick his feet; who, a coward so rank in the field as to communicate his timidity and baseness to others; who never faced any man in his life; who has fled from the enemy with an uniformity, an alacrity, a velocity and a degree of address, that bespeak instinctive cowardice: find me such a mau, though, for the honour of human nature, (and for the sake of the liberty of the press) let us hope there is not such a man uponthe face of the earth; but, if you can find me such a man, I will engage, that he shall not only have fought duels himself, but that he shall be a big talker about the necessity of duelling amongst others; and that, in short, he shall not be more distinguished for the rankness of his cowardice than for having recourse to these means of endeavouring to disguise it from the world.

upon a reference to the paper itselt, find to be just, I will proceed to offer a few remar! s upon a particular clause or two of it, the clauses having been numbered by me for the purpose of saving room in quotation.In the 19th clause, the author expresses the readiness of himself and his friends to share, not in making sacrifices themselves, but in imposing fresh burthens upon the people! This is a mark of generosity and public-spirit well worthy of the author of such a paper; but, he is greatly mistaken, when he states, that all ranks of the community are convin ced of the necessity of such sacrifices. On the contrary, all ranks of the community, that of placemen, pensioners, and taxers excepted, are thoroughly convinced, that any new burdens upon the people would be rendered unnecessary, if such persons, for instance, as Mr. Rose, Mr. Huskisson, the Sheridans, Mr. Perceval (who has a place of profit yet), Mr. Long, Mrs. Long, the relations of Mr. Canning, and, I believe, Mr. Canning himself, were to receive nothing from the public purse. Of no proposition for economy of this sort do we hear in the amendment before us; and, the author of it may be assured, that all his general expressions of compassion for the people; all his affected regret and pain at being compelled to add to their distress, will pass for just what they are worth, and no more.---In the 22d clause this verbose amender complains of the time and the manner, in which the late parliament was put an end to, and talks of the surprise and deception attending the exercise of the king's prerogative in that inPROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT.- -The stance. Who were the parties surprised and Amendment, as it is called, which is stated, in the public prints, to have been read, in the House of Commons by Mr. Caming; which has since been published under his name; and which, in a subsequent page of this sheet the reader will find copied from the Courier newspaper of the 224 ultimo, has certainly the merit of novelty as to form and style; but, that that is its sole merit will, I think, be readily allowed by every man, who is at all a judge of the matter. There is in it, nothing dignaied, nothing solid, nothing impressive, nothing either eloquent or elegant. It breathes neither earnestness nor sincerity, neither loyalty nor patriotism. Its panegyrics inay well be mistaken for irony; and its.

deceived one may guess; but, as to the prople; as to the electors, how could they be surprised or deceived? The sham-patriots, the sham-loyalists, the bribers, the corruptors might be taken by surprise, indeed; but, the electors are always ready. Their functions are very simple; and the advantage of a dissolution to them is not at all lessened by the circumstance of its taking place from the desire of one party to crush another party; because, even supposing both parties to be bad, there are degrees in badness, and the people have an opportunity of choosing the best, or more properly speaking, the least lal. It is the manner of such men as this author to rępresent the nation as being on his side. Not

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It will produce inquiry and discussion? We shall, when this petition comes, see who has interfered most, Lord Temple or Mr. Ros; and, be the preponderance which way it will, we shall, I trust, profit from the infor? mation, which ought to be, and which. I hope, will be, clearly and aniply communicated to every fiecholder in the county. What I am most afraid of is, that the peti tion will never reach St. Stephen's; that,

one honest man is there, I will venture to say, on his side upon this occasion; and, talk as long as he will about the se itiment" of the people; string together, if he will, millions of such unmeaning phrases, not one mau of sense will he persuade to regret the death, timely or untimely, of the Pitt-debt and, Pitt-monument parlament. In the 23d and 24th clauses he inveighs against ministerial interference in elections, and expresses his fears, that they are calcu-having taken time to cool, the parties will

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lated to favour the erroneous belief, that the House of Commons, as at present returned, is an inadequate representative of the people. Now, is it possible, for any one to look upon this as having been uttered otherwise than in jest? And, as the Morning Chronicle has well observed, it does require no common powers of face for Mr. Rose and his friends to stand up in St. Stephen's Chapel, and there, in a voice loud enough to be heard, complain of ministerial influence in elections! It is true, that, in Hamp-bire, there was an interference, which, as relating to a county, was of a new sort. A member was proscribed for having voted against the ministers; but, in supporting this member upon the ground of his having been so proscribed, and also upon the ground of his having served in parliament sixteen years without ever having touched the public money, or asked a favour of any minister either for himself or his relations; in thus acting, does Mr. Canning think, that the independent part of the freeholders regarded themselves as supporting Mr. Rose, and expressing their approbation of the undue influence, which he and the Pitt ministry bad exerted for so many, many years? Does he really think that we were such dupes? We stood forward for independence; for an unbiassed exercise of the elective franchise and of the duties of members of parliament; for unplaced and unpensioned representatives. These were our principles, not only understood, but clearly and fully expressed. It was to persons voting upon these principles that Sir Henry Mildmay and Mr. Chute owed more than one half of their support; and, though Mr. Rose was found upon the same side, will Mr. Canning pretend to believe, that that support was given to Mr. Rose, and was expressive of an approbation of his conduct during the days of Pitt, when he exercised in Hampshire a sway as complete, as to offices and rewards, as ever petty despot in Germany exercised over his dominions? There is a petition to be presented to parliament, from the county of Hants, complaining of the interference of government in the recent election. This is a very proper step.

exclaim, "brother, brother! we are both "in the wrong:" and that, thus, the county will be deprived of the advantages of so interesting a development. Yet, there are some men amongst the petitioners, and particularly Sir Henry Midmay, whose conduct upon this occasion, has been highly praise-worthy, who will not, one would think, be induced to eat their words, merely because it would be convenient for a few party intriguers, who have long made use of them, and who are, I fear, even now making use of them to farther their own ambitious and greedy pur poses. Nothing so offends my senses; rothing is so shocking, as to see a man like Sir Henry Mildinay; a man of large fortune, of ancient family, of great county connections, an instrument in the hands of such persons as a Canning or a Sheridan or a Rose or a Huskisson. To see an upstart, a mere tainion of an overbearing and insolent minister; a mere thing of his creation; as it were the spittle from his lips; to s e such a thing sent to take the command of a county, to dictate to magistrates, sheriffs, and Lords Lieutenant; and to see property and birth and rauk all bowing down before him; what can be so disgusting and so loathsome But, if they are prope to bend thus, let them bend; let them go downwards, let them receive the reward of their baseness; and let there, for God's sake, be, at last, nó hand to save them.--Let the petition of Hampshire end as it may, however, the election has done good; a great deal of good; and Mr. Canning will do good to every time he shall agitate the subject; for, though his constituents, the free and inde pendent electors of the borough of Newtown in the Isle of Wight, may, and, I dare say, do, consider the House of Commons, as at present returned, a perfectly adequate representation of the people, the freeholders of Hampshire may turn the development of ministerial influence to good account. us have the facts. It is the facts; a good exposure of facts, which, at this moment, is of much more importance to the country, than is the choice of a member or two to serve in parliament, where the greatest

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