VOL. VIII. No. 9.] LONDON, SATURDAY, AUGUST 31, 1805. [PRICE JOD. * Yet, were the French well assured, that, in case of their landing, this wild project of military cars would "be put in execution, I should not be at all astonished, if such a temptation to invade us were to prove too great for them to resist." POLITICAL REGISTER, Vol. VI. p. 319. 321] SUMMARY OF POLITICS, CAR-PROJECT.-Time, which is generally the enemy of all silly projects, seems to have been more than commonly hostile to that of our military cars, by which, according to the notion of the ministerial writers, we were to have been, at all tinies,' enabled to set the French at defiance. It is now exactly twelve months since Queen Mab appeared to have driven her chariot across the cranium of the hero of Walmer; for, then it was, that, as his prints informed us, he first conceived the brilliant project of conveying, in case of need, 200,000 men, in cars, to any spot where the enemy might happen to land. The reader will, probably, recollect the circumstances attending this precious instance of folly, and I am now about to call his attention to the proof of what was then stated, by myself and others, upon the subject. But, lest he should have forgotten the scene exhibited in August and September last year, I beg leave to refer him to several passages of this work, where the car-project and the measures and publications connected therewith came under discussion.First, in Vol. VI. p. 252, he will find Sir Brook, the Commissary General, haranguing at meetings of coach-makers and horse-dealers, and stating in strains of great exultation, that with three millions of horses, we could have little to fear even from Buonaparte. In p. 314 and the following, he will find it mathematically demonstrated, that the cars, if attempted to be used, in the way proposed by Mr. Pitt, must produce infinite confusion, and that, supposing a case the most favourable, a battalion of infantry would march to the coast on foot much sooner than they could be conveyed in cars. In p. 351, the reader will find some of Sir Brook's coachmakers, whose patriotism in subscribing carriages had been applauded to the skies, quarrelling with Sir Brook for having left thein out of a contract for straps and other tackle! thereby most kindly verifying what had been suggested, in p. 253, as to the real motives of these patriotic subscribers. In p. 362 and the following will be found some extracts from the ORACLE and the MORNING POST, censuring, and, indeed, abusing, in [322 language the most virulent, all those, and me in particular, who had expressed an opinion against the utility of the military ears. The editor of the Morning Chronicle appearing to agree with me, in most respects, as to the car-project, we were, by those hireling writers, taken together. They ascribed our objections to daring and wanton malignity;" they talked of the shafts of our malice," of our " sneering im pertinence," of our "impudent animadversions;" they accused us of" scoffing at measures necessary to the defence of the country;" of "libelling the government and the king;" of the "foulest calumny;" of the "basest licentiousness;" of "scandalous infamy." We ourselves they called " scribblers and harpies ;" and, as to the Opposi tion in general, they described them as a "faction dangerous to the true interets of the country," and as a desperate junto." And all this, because we had criticised, and, indeed, ridiculed the project of carrying large bodies of men in cars to meet the enemy upon the coast. We had not, however, confined ourselves to merely asserting that the project was a mad one; for, as was before stated, 1 demonstrated mathematically, that, if attempted to be put in practice, it could not possibly do any good, and might produce the most serious mischiefs.- -In p. 439, the reader will find the history of the foolery continued. The advertisement of Sir Brook will there be found; and, in p. 444, will be found the advertisement of Lord Haw kesbury, dated from the Thatched-house Tavern, and conveying, by implication, at least, a charge of disaffection against every man, who, having the means, should fail to produce horses or carriages for the purpose of furthering the objects of the car-project. On the decency, and the tendency, of this advertisement some remarks were then sub'mitted to the public; and, as the season for alarm was growing towards a close, little more was said about the project of cars, which was, besides, soon after, completely eclipsed by the project of catamarans, being an invention of the other "heaven-born minister have troubled the reader with ed the this retrospective sketch, in order that we, who despised the car-project, may now reK 65 ceive justice at his hands, and which justice" The carriages did not move with much I am certain he will do us, upon reading the following account of an experiment made with cars, from Lambeth and its vicinity to Blackheath, a distance of about six miles, where, as he will see, about 1,800 men, who were out at an early hour in the morning, and who actually set off at seven o'clock, made shift to arrive at ten. But, let us take the whole account, as officially inserted, word for word alike, in the MORNING POST and the Sun of Friday, the 23d instant. Yesterday the regiments of volunteer in"fantry, appointed to proceed to Black heath in carriages, mustered at an early " hour in the morning. Scarce a man was "absent belonging to the different corps. The 1st Surrey took the lead, the "Southwark regiment was very little in"ferior in numbers. The Lambeth was "about 500 strong; and the St. John's, "St. Saviour's, and Rotherhithe, amounted "together to near 700For the 600 "men which constitute the 1st Surrey, 24 "carriages were appointed with seats slung across. The first three were occupied by "the rifle company, next followed the band of music, and after them the battalion, "attended by fifes and drums. About seven "o'clock they pursued their route from "Montpelier gardens through Camberwell, "Peckham, and Lewisham, to Blackheath. Their passage along the road was exccedingly picturesque; the carriages in open "order extended near a mile in length, and as they proceeded, the inhabitants asto"nished at the martial music and such a military array, concluded the enemy was "at last on our shores. At New-cross turnpike the Southwark regiment ap"proached, and the 1st Surrey halted while "they passed on; the Lambeth and another corps then came up in the rear, and the "whole advanced to their respective stations rapidity; their progress was not more "than two miles and a half an hour; it is, "consequently, evident that more expedition "would be necessary in the moment of urgent service, which the vehicles used on "this occasion would be incapable of af-' "fording." Now, what do these hirelings deserve at our hands, and at the hands of the public? If the reader will take the trouble (a trouble which, in justice to me,: he ought, I think, to take) of referring to Vol. VI. p. 315 and the following, he will see, that my calculation is here exactly verified. I said that 10,000 men, mounted in cars, (of 12 men in a four-horse car) would occupy 20 miles of road; and, we here see, that, though the 600 men of the 1st Surrey were packed in cars of 24 men each, they occupied a mile of road. I said, that the battalion, thus mounted, would not march three miles an hour; and, we are now told, that the 1st Surrey marched only about two miles and a half an hour. I said I would march a battalion from St. James's Park to Rochester on foot, much sooner than they could be conveyed thither in cars; and, who does not perceive, that, by marching off at an early hour, a battalion - of real soldiers would have reached Rochester on foot nearly as soon as the car-mounted gentry reached Blackheath? What a childish, at once childish and dangerous folly is this? Once more I beg the reader to recur to the essay here pointed out, and he will there see a true picture of the mischiefs to be apprehended from the making of any attempts to employ these cars in case of invasion; and, I think, that now, at least, he will concur in the opinion, with the expression of which I then concluded, and which I have selected as the MOTTO to the present sheet.But, to the conduct of the poor hireling writers alone we must not confine our animadversions, What ought now to be the feeling of the public with regard to the advertisement of Lord Hawkesbury and others, at the Thatched-house tavern? And, what must the people and the world think of the inventor, the great inventor, the grand projector of the cars? Faithfully did his prints retail to us an account of all his "examinations of these interesting machines," as the insufferable coxcomb of the Morning 1st called the cars. At one time they exhibited him in close conversation with the coachmakers and their journeymen, whose business, the ORACLE told us, he seemed to understand full as well as they themselves did, insoniuch, that, for my part, I could not help regretting, that politics had robbed the art and mystery of coachmaking of so worthy a member. At another time they surroanded him, in bis examinations of these interesting machines, with Mr Rose, Lord Camden, Colonel Taylor, Messrs. Cox and Greenwood, and the Duke of York, all of whom, we are told, bestowed on the plan, their unqualified approbation. The purpose, for which those interesting" persons Messrs. Cox and Greenwood were called into the council, was not particularly mentioned, but, the MORNING POST was very happy to say," that the plan met with the decided" approbation of them amongst the rest! At another time the heaven-born" minister was shown to us actually mounted in one of the cars, "where" (oh! important circumstance!)" he sat for several minutes!" while the trembling shop-keepers seemed, if one might judge from the language of their favourite newspapers, to be groaning out," oh, the dear good man!" in a tone, and from a motive, not much unlike those of the old female sinners at Rowland Hill's chapel; in addition to which, I think we may assert, by way of conclusion, the grounds of reliance, în both cases, to be much about the same. FAMILY QUARREL The reader will recollect, that, in the present volume, p. 151, in an article under this head, I entered into an examination of the grounds, upon which the partisans of the Addingtons demanded, for their principles, an almost exclusive claim to public spirit, in the parlia mentary measures relative to lord Melville. If he bear in mind the principal points, to which I then requested his attention, he may spare himself the trouble of a reference to the article; if not, such reference will be necessary previous to his perusal of the following extract from THE TIMES (the demiofficial paper of the Addingtons) of the 24th instant, "Our readers may be assured, "that we should not so often have obtruded "on them our remarks respecting some late domestic occurrences, at a time too whon "more vital considerations demand their at"tention as well as our own, were it not "from a sense of becoming feeling towards "those whose characters and conduct have "been so maliciously and basely calumniat"ed, and from an anxious desire to detect "the falsehoods, and refute the misrepresentations of the most slanderous assailants to whose venom political integrity was " even exposed. For this no just or ge nerous Englishman will condemn es -"in this, whatever insults we may draw on ourselves from venal scribblers, we shall resolutely persevere. We have through 66 66 66 out been taking a defensive line, in support of honour, consistency, and purity; "and when we are in possession of facts, calculated to disprove bold assertions, and to confound malice, we ask the public, if we should act our part as honest men if we were to with-hold them. From Lord "Sidmouth, or any individual connected with him, we solemnly declare, that we never received favour of any soft; and we defy the most rancorous of his enemies, or of our own, to contradict this assertion. "The motives which instigate the writers to whom we have adverted are obvious. On the one side we trace mortification "and resentment, arising from a sense of "weakness occasioned by a late separation; 66 "city of the persons concerned. The im ἐσι pudent assertion of the intermediate refusal, on the part of Mr. Pitt, between "the 8th of April, and the 13th of June, "to execute these engagements, we owe it to Mr. Pitt himself flatly to contradict : it "is mere invention. No application was "urged on the one part, and, consequently, "there could be no rejection on the other. And yet this is stated, by one writer of "eminent sagacity, as the sole cause of the "determination taken by Lord Sidmouth, to oppose government in the case of Lord "Melville, We conclude, that considerations of delicacy deterred him from pres " the accomplishment of this solemn ment, Let us see if this statement, on the correctness of which we desire to "stand committed, shall be contradicted. Other charges have been brought against "Lord Sidmouth and his connexions, on "which we shall shortly animadvert. We "always understood, and are still firmly "convinced, that had the House of Com mons agreed to the whole of the charges against Lord Melville being sent to a com"mittee, it was to have been one consti"tuted of leading persons, equally taken "from both sides of the house. "The "Addingtons were guilty of profound dissimulation on the 29th of April, when "all of them who were present, voted for " a packed committee," We can assert, "that Lord Sidmouth's nearest relations were at that time in the country, and gave no vote on that question, or on the motion for a civil proceeding. As the grant "made to Lady Melville may be a matter of discussion in the House of Commons, "we shall not prejudge it, but are certain (let our words be remembered) that Lord Sidmouth will be completely exculpated for that measure even by his bitterest ene"mies. As to Mr. Bragge's motive for "putting a stop to the lodgment of public money in a private bank, we never before heard it called in question, and cannot presume to appreciate it. We can posi"tively assert, that no suspicion had been "ever entertained of its having been ap"plied to purposes of private emolument; and we have it in evidence, that Mr. "Bragge, as Lord Harrowby had before "him, disapproved of the practice as irre 66 ottruded themselves on public notice, with the ostentatious display of unrivalled purity (as we are told they have), bug and zeal, perhaps, would have been less ace "tive in repelling the attacks which some "of our contemporaries so unjustly and ungenerously hurl against them. If we were not ourselves satisfied, we should take no pains to convince or to undeceite others. Of the repetition of past false "hoods, we may, perhaps, take no notice? on any new ones, should any p ppear, "from whatever quarter, we shall not fail to animadvert, or to refute them, if our "information will afford us the means. It is a duty that we have imposed on ourselves, and we shall not flinch from it. And a task more satisfactory to our feelings we cannot undertake, (and one which "can hardly be thought discreditable) than "to exert our powers, however limited, în "upholding public integrity and private "worth against the unrelenting spirit of "foul detraction." This is, really, very far beneath any thing I ever before saw published, by way of an answer to a publication of any sort whatever. I stated, in page 172, that one of the grounds of the separa tion of the Addingtons from Mr. Pitt, was, the refusal of the latter to appoint Mr. N. Bond to the office of Judge Advocate General. In an article since published in THE TIMES, that statement has, in a general one," been denied; but, now, after time for reflection and inquiry, what is the answer given to it? Not a denial. It is this: They" [the enemies of Lord Sidmouth] have lately er narrowed their proofs of this extraordi mons; namely, Messrs. H. Addington, "Bathurst, Adams, &c. in favour of no "one of whom has this nobleman ever been "charged with urging an application." And this is all! This is the answer! This is your writer armed with facts calculated to disprove bold assertions!!! As to the fact implied in the latter part of this statement, that Lord Sidmouth has never urged an ap hedic gular and unnecessary; and that the for-plication in favour of his brother and his mer, in the course of a few months after brothers-in-law, I know nothing in contra"his appointment, put a stop to it, as the diction to its nor am I at all anxious to comlatter had intended to do, during the latter bat the conclusion which it infers, and the "part of his treasurer hip. If those whose fallacy of which every reader will, am indicating, but whose certain, easily detect. The next unserer, dobe, had really if so we must call it, relates to the conduct sy assert, that Lord Sidmouth's nearest relations were, at that time, in the country, and gave no vote on the question."And this, this is an answer! They did not oppose it; they did not raise a single voice against it; and, observe, that it was only the relations, and the nearest relations too, that were in the country! Cany any one have supposed, that, by the Addingtons" I meant only those of the name of Addington? Or, only those nearly reidted to Mr. Hiley Addington's "noble relative," to use that gentleman's own words? No: it is evident, that I meant all those who were known to be closely attached to the Addingtons; and, of these, I repeat, that all, who were present on the 29th of April, voted for the ballotted committee. The of the Addingtons as to the voting for a se lect committee. It will be recollected (see p. 173), that the partisans of these gentlemen had stated, that, if, on the sth of April, Mr. Pitt's motion for a select committee had been carried, it would not have been a packed and ballotted committee;" whereon it was observed by me, that, when, afterwards, on the 29th of April, 2 grestion arose whether the committee for further examination should be a ballotted one, or not and when, the affirmative, in spite of the glaring facts respecting the ministerial lists, was carried, the Addingtons were not found in the opposition to the ballot; "that they did not raise a single voice "against it; and that all of them who were present vated for it." Whence I was led to conclude thus: "" Whether, therefore, the assertion, that, previous to, and on, the 8th of April, the Addingtons intend"ed to obtain another sort of select committee; not, to use their own words, ""a packed and ballotted committee;" whether this assertion were dictated by the sincerity of the asserter, or by the most profound dissimulation, the public will, I imagine, be at no loss to judge." Now, I allow, that the judgment, which 1 expected to be formed from this statement was what the writer has above described it, and of which I avoid a repetition from tenderness to the feelings of his principals. But, in the first place, he has, and, apparently, with malice propense, misquoted me in taking, as my words," a packed committee;" while the words were “ 66 a parked "and ballotted committee," and these words were his, quoted from THE TIMES newspaper, and so given by me, and with a comment thereon, too; a comment upon the liberty thus taken by a king's friend, a staunch adherent of His Majesty's confi." "dential servants," composing" the king's government.". Such a person, one of the chosen vessels, one of the political elect, may, doubtless, safely use such expressions, even while he is reproaching the courts of justice that his opponents are suffered to wear their ears, and while he is openly exulting in the prospect of seeing those ears cropped off; but, I must beg of him not to palm upon me, a vessel of common mould, the offspring of his prurient zeal.- -But, to the answer. What answer does he give to my statement? I stated, that the Addingtons did not oppose the "packed" and ballotted committee, on the 29th of April, that they did not raise a single voice against it; that all of them, who where then present, voted for it. What is the answer to this? "We can nearest relations" might, for. aught I know to the contrary, be" in the country," at that time, but, then, I am sure the reader will not think it impertinent in me to ask, how they came to be in the country, at such a time! At a moment so very important! What could induce them to keep aloof? Were Mr. Hiley and the rest unmindful of what was passing? Had they forgotten all about Lord Melville? Or, did they foresee, that there would come a time, that their absence would furnish an argument in their favour? Be what will the decision of the reader, upon this point, he will, I think, agree with me, that, though their absence may be pleaded in excuse, it ought not to be very strenuously urged by a writer, who talks of them as the men, who "send corruption to the tribunals" as men, whose conduct affords "the sweet consola tion to the public heart, that the laws and interests of a generous people, bending "under the weight of their contributions, have, at last" [observe well the phrase], at last, found a friend [in Lord Sidmouth]" and a powerful defender." Language like this becomes not the man, who is compelled to have recourse to excuses of absence.- -The remaining point, as to which one might have expected an answer, from so industrious and zealous a partizan, relates to the motive from which Mr. Bragge put a stop to the practices of Mr. Trotter. I stated something by no means uninteresting to the public, namely, that it was during the contested election for the county of Middlesex, in which Mr. Coutts's son-inlaw opposed the court candidate, that Mr. Bragge put a stop to the lodgment of the naval money at Mr. Coutts's; and, I state?? besides, that this step was taken at ulic fame time that Lord Hawkesbury, then Suchetary of State for Foreign Affairs, removeĉ the |