to point out the best means of improving the condition of it, the performing of which was likewise given up from the same cause. How the collateral branch has been executed I have already shewn. The board has since been much employed in trying to im prove, and to botch up the surveys. How they have succeeded in this will appear in my next letter. Now, for the present, deaving these worthy advocates for improveament, and for the security of the most sacred ecclesiastical rights of the church, and those friends and benefactors of the human .race, I will conclude with wishing you every blessing that a true friend to political liberty merits.I remain your most obedient ser.vant,- SEYTHEUS,Minchin Hampton, July 3, 1805. DOMESTIC OFFICIAL PAPERS. "PETITIONS AGAINST LORD MELVILLE. Petition presented to the House of Commons from the County of Kent, on the 3d of July, 1805. troling the exercise of every branch of the Royal Prerogative, for the exclusion from his Majesty's councils of every person who has committed, countenanced, or favoured the abuses and evil practices so justly complained of, and to establish in every department that wise, liberal, and comprehensive system of economy which the exigencies of the times, and the circumstances of the arduous contest in which the country is engaged, require, and which is due equally to the interests and to the feelings of a people, who have submitted, with exemplary fortitude, to unparalleled sacrifices and bur thens. NEUTRAL SHIPS.Order of Council relative to Neutral Ships trading with the Enemy. GEORGE, R.. Instruction to our Courts of Admiralty, and to the commanders of our ships of war and privateers, given at our Court at St. Jotaes's the l wenty-ninth day of June, 1805, in the forty-fifth year of our reign.- -In consideration of the preA petition of the noblemen, gentle- sent state of commerce, we are graciously men, clergy, and freeholders, of the County pleased to direct, that neatral vessels, having of Kent, was presented to the House, and on board the articles hereinafter enumerated, read; setting forth, that the proceedings of and trading directly or cireniously, between the House, in consequence of the detection the ports of our United Kingdonu, and the of the flagrant abuses in the expenditure of enemy's ports in Europe (such perts not the public money, which have been brought being blockaded), shall not be interrupted in to light by the Comraissioners for Naval their voyages by our ships of war, or priva Inquiry, have filled the minds of the peti- teers, on account of such articles, or any of tioners with the warmest gratitude; and them, being the property of our subjects, that the petitioners rely, with confidence, on trading with the enemy, without having obthe continued and persevering exertions of tained our special licence for that purpose: the House, for the further detection and pu- and if any neutral vessel, trading as aforenishment of offences of so dangerous a na- said, shall be brought into our ports for abture; but at the same time feel it to be a judication, such vessel shall be forthwith liduty which they owe to themselves, and to berated by our Courts of Admiralty, toge their posterity, to express to their represen- ther with the enumerated articles laden tatives, the natural and constitutional guar- therein, which shall be shown to be British dians of the purse of the people, their just or neutral property. -EXPORTS. List of sentiments of indignation, and their earuest goods permitted to be exported to Holland, supplications for full and ample redress; and France, and Spain.-British manufactures that the petitioners respectfully represent to (not naval or military store)-grocery, althe House the great and increasing necessity lum, annatia, coffee, cocoa, calicoes, copfor its rigid and vigilant attention to the due peras, drugs (not dying drugs), rhubarb, spiapplication of public money to the services ces, ginger, pepper, tobacco, vitriol, eleto which it shall be appropriated by the wis-phant's teeth, pimento, cinnamon, nutmes, dom of parliament, the practices which have of late prevailed tending manifestly not only to the encouragement of fraud and peculation, but to the subversion of the fundamental principles of the constitution; and therefore praying the House, to persevere in the -IMPORTS. From Holland-Grain (if inquiries so happily begun, to bring all de- importable according to the provisions of the linquents to condign and exemplary punish-corn laws,) suited provisions of all corts (net being salted beef or pork), oak, hark, fax, flax seed, clover, and other seed, under ment, to exert the ancient and indubitable privilege of the House, of watching and con cornelian stone, nankeens, East-India bales, tortoise-shell, cloves, red, green, and yellow earth, earthen-ware, indigo (not exceeding five tons in one vessel), woollens, ram, ard prize goods, not prohibited to be exported. 93) JULY 20, 1805-Gibraltar-King's Visits.Trade belivern Holland Gl. Britain. [94 -roots, salted hides and skins, leather, rushes, hoops, saccharum saturni, barilla, smalts, yarn, saffron, butter, cheese, quills, clinkers, terrace, Geneva, vinegar, white lead, oil, turpentine, pitch, hemp, bottles, wainscot boards, raw materials, naval stores, lace, and French cambrics and lawns. From France -Grain (as above), salted provisions of all sorts (not being salted beef or pork), seeds, saffron, rags, oak bark, turpentine, hides, skins, honey, wax, fruit, raw materials, linseed cakes, tallow, weld, wine, lace, French cambrics and lawns, vinegar and brandy.From Spain-Cochineal, barilla, fruit, orchella weed, Spanish wool, indigo, hides, skins, shumac, liquorice juice, seeds, saffron, silk, sweet almonds, Castile soap, raw materials, oak bark, aniseed, wine, cork, black lead, naval stores, vinegar, and brandy.And we are further pleased to direct, that the foregoing enumeration may be added to, or altered by an order of the Lords of our CouncilBy his Majesty's command.HAWKESBURY. GIBRALTAR. Proclamation, issued at Head Quarters, Gibraltar, dated, May 22, 1805. Whereas his Excellency the Hon. Licutenant-Governor has had intimation from his Excellency General Castangs, that it has been thought necessary, for the better security of the health of Spain, to prohibit any person from this garrison to pass by land into the lines, and that a quarantine will be put on all those who may have occasion to go into Spain by water; also that no woollen or cotton goods will be admitted; which regulations are to commence on the first day of June next. - His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor therefore thinks it necessary to make this publicly known, that all those whom it may affect, may govern themselves accordingly.By command, THOMAS DODD, Secretary. KING'S VISITS. Letter from Lord Hawkesbury, Secretary of State for the Home Department to the Mayor of Bristul, dated, July 5, 1805. SIR,I lose no time in acquainting you, that his Majesty is under the necessity of postponing, for the present, his intended journey to the West of England and to the City of Bristol. I have, at the same time, the honour to express to you, by his Majesty's commands, the satisfaction which his Majesty proposes to himself in visiting his loyal and ancient commercial City of Bristol on some future occasion. PUBLIC PAPER. TRADE BETWEEN HOLLAND AND GREAT BRITAIN.- -Proclamation of their High Mightinesses relative to the Trude with Great Britain. Issued May 31, 1805. Their high mightinesses representing the Batavian republic, to all those who shall see these presents, or hear the same read, greeting, make known:That, the proposition of the Raadpensionary, to the following effect, having been received and approved by us, has consequently been resolved, so as enacted by these presents.ART. I. That, from the promulgation hereof, all laws, publications, ordinances and decrees, made and passed until the date of these presents, against the trade with Great Britain, the importation of British merchandizes and manufactures, -and the exportation of sundry articles of ammunition, naval stores, or provisions, are held annulled and without effect, so as it is enacted by these presents, and with the same also all orders and instructions issued to officers in the service of this country on the aforesaid subject. ART. II. That no vessels, coming directly from ports situated in Great Britain, or any place or places in Europe possessed or garrisoned by civil or military authorities subject to the said empire, and having partly or wholly loaded there, shall be admitted into this republic, nor into the ports of the same.ART. III. That any vessel which, notwithstanding, should venture to enter, from any port or ports in Great Britain, or any other ports in Europe dependent there on, without any, or with false or stimulated papers, shall be confiscated, together with all the goods she may have taken at said port or ports, independent of what the same may consist.ART. IV. That the master or commander of a vessel, coming from neutral countries, which by necessity, contrary wind, or any other defect or want, may have put into any port or ports of Great-Britain, whether that the some has discharged there and afterwards re-loaded in whole or in part the discharged goods, or whether the cargo has remained untouched, shall be obliged to declare the same, on his entrance in the river, at the first office of the customs. In which case, if such vessel should have taken in at any such port or ports any additional or other goods or merchandizes which did not belong to her original cargo, such additional goods only will be confiscated; but, if it should afterwards appear that the master or commander of such vessel has concealed and not immediately reported such goods as may not have belonged to the original cargo, the master will be further liable to a penalty of ship, free merchandize, will be admitted by one thousand guilders, and his vessel made answerable and actionable for the same.ART. V. That, in case a neutral vessel coming from Great-Britain, and bound to any neutral port or ports, should put into any port of this republic, by necessity, contrary wind, or other defect or want, the same shall be stopped at the first office of the customs, and a guard put on board the same.And, if the necessity of putting into said port appears doubtful, it shall be proved by sufficient documents to the sa'isfaction of the judge, under a penalty of one thousand guilders, to be levied under the regulation stipulated by Art. IV. That none of the men on board such vessel shall be permitted to go on shore, but under the care of the military commanders appointed for that purpose. That in case the situation in which such vessel may be found renders the immediate departure practicable, and wind and weather permitting, the master shall be ordered and obliged to comply therewith. That the vessel being in want of repairs, and it being necessary to land the whole or part of the cargo, the same shall be housed and kept in the custody of the officers of the customs of this republic, and shall be afterwards re-shipped, without that any part of the same may he kept back and remain in the country. That the vessel not being able to proceed on her intended voyage, after sufficient proofs have been given to this effect, and a licence has been obtained from the commissary for the affairs of the customs, the goods will be permitted to be exported in another vessel, and be re-shipped on board the same under the same precautions as would have been observed in case of re-shipment on board the original vessel, under this proviso, however, that the vessel, on board of which such goods may be shipped, shall not be allowed to load any other goods, without a special licence previously obtained for that purpose. That, with regard to goods which might be found damaged to such a degree that the same could not be re-exported, without incurring the risk of a total loss, a permission will be granted to sell the same, according to the exigencies of the case, and under such precautions as will be prescribed by the board of customs. That all goods" found on board such vessel, of which no documents are to be found establishing the neutrality of the same, will be considered as the property of inhabitants of Great Britain, and be confiscated as such, without any claims of reclamation being admitted; and this until such time as when the rule frce and "that we have no other vouchers or acts on "board concerning the cargo, but those "which are delivered by us on this day to "the officers at the outer or first office of 66 66 Sa customs, nor any letters received by us in any port or ports of Great Britain, or at "sea from any ship or vessel; but that, for as much as any such have been received on board by us, the same are delivered up faithfully and without exception. "truly help me God Almighty!" (Or the usual form for those, who, on account of their persuasion or religious opinions, make difficulty of taking the oath.) (To be continued.) Printed by Cox and Baylis, No. 75, Great Queen Street, and published by R. Bagshaw, Bow Street, Covent Garden, where former Numbers may be had; sold also by J. Budd, Crown and Mitre, Pall-Mall. VOL. VIII. No. 4.]. LONDON, SATURDAY, JULY, 27, 1805. [PRICE JOD. It" a proposition for reducing the expenses of the civil list) "would have come with more grace; it would "have come with more benefit to the public service, if it had sprong from the Royal breast. His Majesty's' "ministers ought to have come forward, and proposed a reduction in the civil list, to give to the people "the consolation of knowing, that their Sovereign participated in the sufferings of the empire, and "presented an honourable example of retrenchment in an hour of general difficulty. And, surely, it is no "reason, that, because ministers fail to do their duty, the House should fail to do theirs Acting as the "faithful representatives of the people, who have trusted them, they ought to seize upon every object of equitable resource that presents itself; and certainly none are so fair, so probable, or so pleasing as "tetrenchment and economy. The obligations of their character demand from then not to hesitate in pursuing those objects, even to the foot of the throne. Such conduct would become them, as the "councillors of His Majesty, and as the representatives of the people; for, it is their immediate duty, as "the Commons House of Parliament, to guard the liberties, the lives, and the properties of the people. The "last obligation is the strongest, it is more immediately incumbent upon them to guard the properties, "because they are more liable to invasion, by the setref and subtle attacks of influence, than either their lives or their liberties. The tutelage of this House may be a harsh term; but it cannot be disgraceful to a "constitutional King. The abridgement of unnecessary expense can be no abatement of royalty. *Magniâcence and grandeur are not inconsistent with retrenchment and œconomy; but, on the contrary "in a time of necessity and of coming exertion, solid grandeur is dependent on the reduction of expense," -MR. PITT's Speech, 20th Feb. 1781. 97] Ac SUMMARY OF POLITICS. THE HEAVEN-BORN MINISTER, tions ought always to be estimated with due reference to the professions, or the generally ascribed motives or character of the. person from whom they proceed. A lavish expenditure of the public money, and especially when evidently made for purposes of private nbition, or any other purpose disconnected from, if not opposed to, the good of the sation, must, in any minister, call for the censure of all loyal and public-spirited men, in whatever rank of life they may be placed; when, therefore, we see such an expendifure falling from the hands of one, who rose into public favour by professions such as those above quoted in my motto, who acquired his power over the public purse by the most solemn promises to guard it with vigilance and fidelity; when in such a person we meet with a waste of the public treasare surpassing all former example, it is certainly just that our indignation should be greater against him than against a person from whom we had never heard any professions of purity.The facts brought to light by the zeal and integrity of the Earl of St. Vincent and the Commissioners of Na+ val Inquiry have, indeed, produced a general feeling of indignation, accompanied with that astonishment, which was naturally excited by the discovery of a system of pecalation so extensive under the administration of WILMAM PITT, a name which many of‣ us had hitherto credulously regarded as a sort of charm or spell sufficiently potent to profeet us against all the demons of cotrupRoo. The greater part of us, who have the misfortune to hire anived at a state of man hood in these days so disgraceful to our country, must well remember the circumstances under which Mr. Pitt rose to the prime ministry of England. We remember, that, when he, for the first time, opened his lips in parliament, in the year 1781,* it was for the purpose of severely censuring the conduct of all those, who appeared to him to be, or, whom he chose to consider, adverse to a plan for diminishing the influence and the expenses of the crown; and, that he then insisted, that it was the duty of the House of Commons to guard the properties of the people with even more care than their liberties or their lives; because the former were the most exposed to the secret and subtle attacks of ministerial influence. We remember, that, in his second parliamentary speech, in the same year, t be complained, that there only remained to the parliament the odious power of taxing the people, and of making them pay for the minister's wild schemes and lavish corruption. We remember, that, in the year 1782, he proposed a new mode of electing members of parliament for the purpose of destroying that corruption, which he asserted to exist, and which he represented as the principal cause of the misfortunes of the country and of the hardships of the people. Upon this memorable occasion he said: "It is perfectly understood, that there are some boroughs absolute;y goveruse by the Treasury, and others totally possessed by "them. It requires no experience to say, 66 * Debrett's Debates, 26 Feb, 1791 Ibid. Sist Alatchy 1781, Ibid May, 1782. ་་ that such boroughs have no one quality of representation in them; they have no share nor substance in the general in"terests of the country; and they have in "fact no stake for which to appoint their 86 guardians in the popular assembly. The "influence of the Treasury in some boroughs is contested, not by the electors of "those boroughs, but by some one or other "powerful man, who assumes or pretends to an hereditary property of what ought "only to be the rights and privileges of the "electors. There are hardly any men in "the borough who have a right to vote, and they are the subjects and slaves of the person who claims the property of the borough, and who, in fact, makes the "return. Another set of boroughs and "towns, in the lofty possession of English "freedom, claim to themselves the right of "bringing their votes to market. They "have no other market, no other property, and no other stake in the country, than "the price which they procure for their "votes." This, we remember, was the description, with which he prefaced his proposition for the making of such a reform in the Commons House of Parliament as should, in future, give to the people the means of checking the influence of the crown by preventing the public money from being lavished upon the creatures, the dependents, the tools, of the minister of the day. We remember, that it was by conduct like this; by professions like these, that he obtained the good will and applause of great numbers of the honest and disinterested part of the people; and that, to this cause, more than to any other, he owed that support, which afterwards placed him, and, for so many years secured him, at the head of His Majesty's councils. We remember, that, when, in 1784, a contest arose between him and the party of which Mr. Fox was at the head, he owed his success to the opinion which the people were induced to entertain of his superior purity, of his abhorrence of all jobbing and clandestine influence of every sort, and of his resolution to adhere, in defiance of all obstacles, to a system of œconomy the most rigid that could be devised by the mind of man. Looking back to that epoch, we remember, and some of us with no little shame, the loud huzzas, with which we greeted the triumph of the "SON OF CHATHAM ;" and, were our memory to fail us, we need only turn back to the periodical prints of the day, wherein to find indubitable proofs of his cunning and our culaility. We remember, that," when, in 1795, he became minister himself, he pub licly declared his resolution, never to neglect any means that might tend even in the most minute particular, to prevent abuses, or to promote economy, in the expenditure of the public money. And, above all things, we remember, that, in making these professions, in promulgating these solemn assurances as to what he himself would do, he never spared any one, be he who he might, to whom he thought proper to impute conduct or principles hostile to the pecuniary interests of the people. All this we now remember. Indeed, the recollection of it has frequently intruded itself upon our minds, at several epochs, during the twenty years administration of Mr. Pitt; but, till now, it has never produced much effect; till now we have always found, or made, some apology for every instance which his conduct exhibited of an abandonment of principle. We did, 'tis true, perceive, that his several promises, if not apparently totally forgotten, were but very few of them attempted to be fulfilled: his boards of Commissioners we found to produce no more real reform in the conduct of the public offices, than he himself produced in the representation of the people in the Commons House of Parlia ment: his measures for reducing the national expenditure were numerous, and more numerous were his promises, but, amidst them all, we still found our taxes annually increase in number and in amount: his harangues against the influence of the crown did, indeed, soon cease after he became the mover of that influence, and herein we must applaud his prudence, seeing that his administration soon began to be distinguished by nothing so much as by a waste of the public money in pensjons, in useless offices, and in contracts of every description; while of the still more precious possession of the nation, its honours, a dispensation was made, which to speak of in detail would be perfectly useless, if, from the laws that he has procured to be passed, such a detail was not rendered unsafe. Still, however, did many of us, did multitudes of us, adhere to him, and that, too, from feelings which ought not to be hastily condemned. We found, that, at the end of his long administration; at the end of eighteen years, during which he had had the absolute command of our purses, and, politically speaking, of our persons, we found our condition much worse, in every respect much worse, than when we so blindly yielded ourselves up to his sway. The confidence which his professions of zeal and purity had gained him, Debrett's Debates, 8th March, 1785. |