his resolution not to suffer a compromise upon an account, notwithstanding his very exalted opinion of the powers of the celebrated John Frost. On the Monday ensuing Mr. Wratislaw called upon the worthy Peter Moore, he (Moore) being confined by indisposition; and, at a conference with Moore and Frost, it was proposed by them, that Mr. Moore should be the nominee of his friend the Right Honourable Richard Brinsley Sheridan; that he should arrange with the nominee of Lord Cochrane in striking the committee; that the petition should be opened; that the counsel for the Right Honourable Sheridan should say, that facts existed to warrant it, but that witnesses were absent; and that the committee would, thereupon, report to the House, that Lord Cochrane was duly elected, and that the petition was NOT frivolous and vexatious. But, Mr. Wratislaw, who felt, doubtless, that the honour of Lord Cochrane (who had reposed implicit confidence in him) was an object of far greater consequence than the seat in parliament, though for the first, and the only independent, city in the kingdom, refused all compromise, and left the cele brated petition framers to pursue their own .course. On the day appointed, he attended the House of Commons with Messrs. Dallas and Warren; and, after waiting the whole hour out; heard the order discharged. The subsequent proceeding against the petitioner and his sureties the reader is informed of; and, I think, he will be of opinion, with me, that if ever forfeiture was justly incurred, this is a case of that description. There never was a fouler calumny than that which these people have propagated against Lord Cochrane. His Lordship was particularly scrupulous with respect to the moneymatters of the election. He said to his agents" you know what is lawful, and "what is not lawful, therefore, to you and you only, I leave the expenditure." He emptied his pockets of all money, and of no repast, paid for by him, or his agents, did he suffer any one elector to partake. A more honourable, and more truly nobleminded man, does not, in my opinion, exist in the world. His life has been hitherto spent in scenes, which tend little to qualify a man for the wars of faction; but, if he return in health, and with a disposition to remain in England, the electors of Westtminster, if they will be content without the base flatteries of the green-room, and will look to character and principles instead of to names and professions, will, I am satisfied, have no need to go a-hunting for re presentatives.——It has been said, and is stifl said by many, that Lord sent off by the ministers;rane was that is to say, that a ship was given him for the purpose of getting him out of the way; and, I perceive, that Mr. Paul, in a letter of his to the Electors of Westminster, upon the subject of the grant to the family of Lord Lake, has been misled so far as to join in the propagat ing of this notion, than which it is impossi ble to conceive any thing more false. The ship, the frigate IMPERIEUSE, in which his lordship now is, and in which he has recently performed a feat that would have rung. through all Europe. had it been performed by any but an English naval officer, was given him about two years ago; previous to, and during the time of the Westminster, election, he was absent by leave, on account of ill-health, which every one who saw must have perceived that he laboured under; and, when his leave of absence was expired, he went again to sea, as a matter of course, and. indeed, as a matter of necessity, unless he had chosen to quit the service, a step, which, upon no occasion, did he ever promise to take; nor did he, upon any occasion, as far as I have observed, say any thing, tending to encourage an expectation that he would take such a step.-The elder Sheridan took almost daily opportunity, during the election, to attribute the promotion, or, rather, the marked preference, which Lord Cochrane bad experienced, to parliamentary interest, that is to say, to corruption. But, surely, the distinguished merit of my Lord Cochrane; not his great bravery, perhaps, for that is common, I think, to all our naval officers; but his consummate and well-known skill in all the parts of his profession; his exemplary sobriety; his indefatigable application; that spirit of enterprize which has constantly animated him, and the effects of which have been so grievously felt by the enemy surely these might account for his having had, though a young man, a cruizing station so often allotted him, a station for which his qualities and endowments so eminently fitted him. He has had admirable luck," they say. Such men as his lordship generally have admirable luck, as have also sober and early-rising and intelligent farmers. Such men have always better crops than the common run of their neighbours; their cattle thrive better; and, strange, to say, they have finer weather for their seedtime and harvest. It is the same by sea as it is by land. There are, indeed, such things as accidents and misfortunes and illluck; but, the sluggish have their share of these as well as the active, and the former have, besides, to submit to the natural con séquences of their sluggishness. A ship is a sort of animate being, moved by the mind of the commander; and, if he be a sluggard, no matter from what cause, his ship will do but little. In this view of the thing, of how much importance is it, that a proper selection of commanders, and particularly of cruizing commanders, should be made? Where, indeed, it would be difficult, if not impossi ble, as in the case of the younger Sheridan, to point out any public merit, then, the preference given to the party may be fairly attributed to corruption; but, not so in the case of my Lord Cochrane, who has devoted his life to the naval service, and who may be cited as a striking example of success, arising from his merits.- As a member of parlia ment, too, he has nierit far surpassing that of almost any other man that I know. He entered the House of Commons under a pledge, given in the face of the nation, that he never would, as long as he lived, accept of any sinecure or emolument, either for himself or any relation or dependent; and that he never would touch the public money, in any way but that of his profession as a naval officer. His motion respecting places, pensions, and emoluments, held by members of the House of Commons, or by their relations, was of the greatest public importance; it required courage as great as any that he ever displayed at sea, to bring it forward; he was sure to have an unaccountable host against him; he was sure to leave scarcely any man or woman of fashion his friend; yet he did bring it forward, and did most excellently expose the corrupt views of the contending factions. One would have thought, that, if there had been some few of the electors of Westminster who sincerely distrusted his public principles, that the bare making of this motion must have done away their distrust; but, amongst men, who are capable of being cajoled by the fulsome flattery of the green-room, little good is to be expect. ed.After all, however, I should certainly have preferred a member, who could have been constantly in the House of Commons, where, and where only good is to be done, if it be to be done at all; but, I greatly prefer Lord Cochrane's appearance, there once in two years, to the constant attendance of any unprincipled or timid man. sent themselves, of the correctness of those opinions and statements. Nor will I pretend, that I am not actuated, in great part; by this motive, in making the extracts, which I am now about to insert from the late American newspapers. I love to see my opinions confirmed by events, and who does not, especially when they have been treated with contempt and ridicule? In answer to all the alarm, which the-Morning Chronicle and the Barings and the Roscoes have been endeavouring to excite in the minds of the people, relative to a war with America, I have said, and, I think, proved; that, without utter rain to the union of America, she cannot make war against England. She is not yet at war she is at peace, but has adopted one of the measures, the ef fects of which would have been produced by war; and now let us hear, from her ow lips, what a state she has been placed in by this one measure.- -The first extract I shall take comes from the New York Evening Post of the 5th of February. "Look here plaud it! They look for reasons, and 66 they are told of confidence! We ask for "bread and they give us a stone! From:1 "such liberty and such republicanism good "Lord deliver us!"- Yet, observe, reader, that I have been set down for an enemy of liberty, because I expressed my abhorrence of the American government. Will my accusers believe what the Americans person,themselves say of this their famous liberty,?. I know them to be the slaves of mean up. start pettifogging lawyers, with here and there a cute bleeding doctor, but, if you will not believe me, will you believe them... selve, Or do you choose to set them down as liars, because they confirm what I have AMERICAN STATES. In a whose opinions and statements have been contradicted with so much positiveness and acrimony, as mine, with regard to the effects of war upon the American States, it might reasonably be permitted to indulge a good deal in the producing of proofs, as they pre said? The next extract is from a New England paper, the Connecticut Courant. "Merchants stand idle in the streets, in"quiring if there is any news from Wash"ington. They feel the loss of their busi ness; the stagnation of commerce, and ask what does all this mean?——— The "Mechanic is obliged to dismiss his journey"men-his customers desert him, or call to "tell him they cannot pay him on account "of the embargo.The Farmer finds no market for his produce. His notes given for land will be due in the spring. To raise money, his oats, hay, and corn, were to be sold, but nobody will buy.-The "poor Sailor-generous, honest, and unsuspecting, lies on his oars: His last shilling is gone to aid a distressed ship" mate, and there is not a shot in his locker. Poor fellow-he "wants but little, nor "that little long," but he can't understand why the ship's aground --All-all are exclaiming what do all these things mean? Congress have laid an embargo. They "have bound their fellow-citizen's, hand " and foot. They will not condescend to "tell the people their reasons for this mea " sure, so important, so unexpected, so "pregnant with mischief-People of "America-look at your situation-ask President and his government, shall have free trade. Let any one read the following article, and then say, whether my advice was not good In Marblehead, that "wonderfully patriotic town, there has "been something very much like mobbing. "The fishermen collected in a body to the "number of two or three hundred, set all "the bells a ringing, and paraded through "the streets; then repaired to the stores of "those merchants who supply the fisher"men, and take their fish, demanded pay "for the fish, or the value in such articles as they wanted. On being told it was not possible to pay them, and the fish were on hand and could not be sold, and that "they were not able to supply them with "the articles they demanded, the fishermen "entered the stores and took such articles "as they could find, allowing the owners to "take an account of them. It is said some opened desks and took money."They went to the wharfs and seized "wood, which they divided among them "and carried it to their houses. The leading democrats took great pains to "quiet them, and hush up the matter, to "prevent its going abroad. We are told "the fishermen at Cape Ann are about to "take the same course. There they are al "so almost to a man democrats. Before next May these fishermen, as well as a numerous class of mechanics, must be in real distress. The Supplementary Em"Largo Bill, permitting the fishermen to go out, will afford little or no relief, for "the fish will be of no value when taken, "nor will the owners of vessels fit them "out. We are told that good fish which your leaders of both parties why the times are so changed? You love your country "-you seek her true interest-you will "submit patiently to the losses for the good" "of the public; but you wish to know what "great benefit is to be derived from the embargo? You ask in vain. All is si"lence and darkness. You are cómmand"ed by the administration to submit. In"deed passive obedience and non-resist ance is your only duty.My country"men; be not deceived. If the embargo originated in wisdom, it will bear a strict "examination there should be no secrets " " on a subject so deeply interesting to the prosperity of the people-there can be no good reasons for silence and darkness. "Legislatures may applaud this measure, "but the people want something more sub"stantial than the applause of hirelings be"fore they acquiesce." Did I not say, that this would be the case? Did I not give my reasons for saying so? And did not the Morning Chronicle and its herd of American writers abuse me for so saying? Did they not threaten us that America would starve the West Indies, and did I not answer, that she must starve herself first? I said, besides, in case of war, pray shut up the Americans, and proclaim, that any State which will openly throw off the authority of the were selling at 3 and 4 dollars per quin. "tal, can now be bought for 1 dollar and "50 cents per quintal, and few that will "purchase at this price."- Marblehead is a sea port town in the State of Massachu set's Bay. The wharfs are the receptacles for fire-wood, brought down the rivers and along the coast. The fish was generally sent to the West Indies, to Portugal, Spain, and up the Mediterranean. The fishermen are very numerous, and, without a market for their fish, they must nearly starve, forming, as they do, no inconsiderable part of the whole of the community in that district; and, let it be observed, that, if they do not export, they have no market at all. There is no large community to come and take the fish: off their hands. All is stagnant at once. The effect is as sudden as that of a hurricane.Io various parts Four banks of these newspapers, we have descriptions of failures in trade and credit. have stopped payment. The newspaper of Norfolk, in Virginia, that scene of infamous treatment towards our naval officers, says: “However incredible it may appear, we "have it from good authority that Major "Lee, a Notary Public of Charlestown, "made lately 1200 dollars in the course of one day by protesting notes! ! !"—To this I will add the petition of 269 seamen to the Mayor of Baltimore, in Maryland: * Your petitioners sheweth, that by reason "of the embargo, they are reduced to the "necessity of applying to your Honour for "relief. Many of us are now in arrears to "our landlords, and our prospects are bad, as we are incapable of gaining a support x by any other means than by our profes**sion as seamen. We humbly pray of "your Honour to assist us in this our dis"tressed situation, and your petitioners, as "in duty bound, will for your Honour and "for the prosperity of the Port of Baltimore "always pray."From petitioning they will come to demanding, and then, like the fishermen of Marblehead, they will proceed to robbery and open seizure. In short, anarchy stares the government full in the face, and that, too, at the same time, and from the same cause, that the sole source of public revenue is totally dried up. And, this is the nation that was to bully Eugland! This is the nation who joined the French and the vassals of the Czar of Muscovy in toasting the liberty of the seas !" This is the -nation, at the sound of whose hostile voice the English trident was to be hidden under those waves, which, for so many ages, it had ruled! This is the nation, whose chief had 'the audacity to demand of us the surrender of our right to search for our own seamen, and to whom, it is but too evident, the late ministers would have made that surrender! I think, we shall have peace, and a lasting peace, with America; but, if we have, it will be owing wholly to the resolution which the ministers have demonstrated, not to yield to their demands: for, I know their disposition well, and I most seriously declare my belief, that, if suffered to proceed from demand to demand, they would not cease till they came to demand the crown from the king's head. We have here an example (the like of which is not unfrequently met with amongst individuals) of a nation, brought to the brink of destruction merely by its arrogance and insolence. It stood in need of no concession from us; it was carrying on a third part of the commerce of the whole world, notwithstanding the exercise of our maritime rights. It was fast increasing in wealth and population. It was happy, if it could have known its place. But, it must needs be a great nation; it must needs have its disputes; it must needs talk big; it must needs show the world that it could be insorent; when it thought the old lion was expi ring, it must needs come with its hoof.Mr. A. B. of the Morning Chronicle (that is, I suppose, Mr. Alexander Baring) told us about the danger to be apprehended from the failure of supplies of corn from America. Mr. YOUNG (and I thank him for it) has told us, that the corn we get from thence was not worth mentioning; and, I beg the reader to observe, that, with all the ports of all the corn-countries in the world shut against us, and at the end of five years of war, indeed, fifteen years, with only ten months exception, wheat is sixteen pounds a load, and has not risen in price, in consequence of the stopping up of the channels of importation. But, as I told Mr. A. B. before, America cannot exist without the importation of rum, sugar, and woollens. These things the people will have, or they will destroy the government. The whole of the revenue of the state arose from a tax upon goods imported. This is gone. All gone. It cannot return but with a state of peace; and, I leave the reader to guess, whether it is likely to collect internal taxes from merchants and farmers and fishetmen, whose affairs are in the state described in the above quoted paragraphs.The embargo, which has produced such alarming symptoms in America, seems to have had very little effect in this country, which that embargo was intended to punish. You hear no one crying out for want of credit or of employment. The American embargo is scarcely ever mentioned, any where; and, I'll engage, that, out of the fifteen millions of people, in England, Ireland, and Scotland, there are not more than half a million, who, at this moment, know that there is an embargo in America. Mr. Roscoe, indeed, and his rabble of merchants and car-men at Liverpool, to the number, of three thousand, it seems, have met and petitioned about peace, introducing, at the end of a long string of unmeaning flummery about attachment to his Majesty's person and family," an expression, relating to America, that bespeaks a mind of mere childhood. They say: " trusting that, by a firm and "dignified, but, at the same time, concilia tory conduct towards hostile and neutral "states, your Majesty will be enabled not only to maintain the yet unbroken rela"tions of peace and amity with a power by the ties of "nearly connected with us by common origin, and an advantageous "commercial intercourse, but to restore, at : tence what Mr. Roscoe regarded suitably long. If the former, I would ask Mr. Ros coe, whether he be informed of any one instance, of any one expression or act, whereby the Americans have testified towards England, their respect for those "ties of common origin," which he pretends now connect the two countries? Those who are connected by ties of common origin, generally discover a love for each other by mutual acts of kindness, which they do not, in the same way and degree, shew towards the rest of the world. None of these acts has America ever been able to bring herself to adopt with regard to England. She has, on the contrary, constantly shown a partiality for the enemies of England. The misfortunes of England have always been a subject of openly expressed joy from one end of her States to the other; and the good fortune of England has been with her a subject of sorrow, not less openly and generally expressed. Nay, such is the idea which the Americans have of those tender ties of common origin, of which the sage Mr. Roscoe speaks, that they, in order to obliterate even the memory of that origin, have devised for themselves a tutelary saint of the savage race, named, from God knows what cause, SAINT TAMMANY! And, they keep the anniversary of this saint, in the same manner that the Irish and Scotch keep the anniversaries of St. Patrick and St. Andrew, and that the English, when abroad, keep that of St. George. At this festival they repeat Odes in praise of themselves (all of their own making); they sing songs, through their nose; they smoke large twists of tobacco, after the fashion of the savages; and they get as drunk as ever St. Tammany or any of his forefathers did. In a day or two after, you see all their three or four hundred newspapers filled with a detail of the proceedings of the folly-stricken wretches, and you are sure to find, that, at each meeting, there has been one or more curses unanimously bestowed upon England.. And yet Mr. Roscoe would fain persuade the King, that, in his conduet towards America, he ought to bear in mind, the ties of "common origin which connect the two an early period, to your faithful subjects, "and to the world at large, the blessings of "a secure and lasting peace." A tolerably well-rounded sentence; but what is the sense of it? If they are not hypocrites; if they do, as they say they do, rely upon "his Majesty's wisdom and justice and paternal regard for his people," why this petition? Had they, indeed, said that they thought the king illadvised, and that they hoped he would listen to them, and alter the course he is at present going on in; then there would have been some sense in what they said. What signifies their coming with all manner of praises in their mouths, and with ten-times-repeated assurances of their attachment to the king, not forgetting their readiness to sacrifice their lives and fortunes in defence of his person and family? He must have laughed heartily at this petition, if he ever read it, or heard it read. Silly stuff! I wonder how any man, having the smallest pretension to understanding above that of the mere welldressed rabble, should have been induced to put his name to it. Why this eternal profession of attachment to the king's person and family? Why this upon all occasions? There may be occasions when such professions are proper, and even necessary in an address, for instance, at a time when a plot against the king's person, or family, may have been discovered; at a time when treason, or insurrection, is on foot; at a time when invasion is hourly expected; but, what in all the world have such professions to do with the concerns of a shipper of goods, or those of a callico-printer? Yet none of these people can send up a representation of their sufferings, real or pretended, unaccompanied with expressions of the most tender personal regard for the king, which, to say nothing of the flagrant hypocrisy of such expressions, discover a vanity truly disgusting. The silly fellows seem to conceit, that they become exalted by the act of writing to the king. Like Justice Shallow, they appear to think, that they are, all at once, made relations of the royal family. Their vanity gets the better of their anger, and, instead of a bitter complaint, up comes a mawkish paneyick upon the king and constitution." countries." Verily this is a silly politi What Ichiefly intended to notice, however, was Mr. Roscoe's (for he is said to have dawn up the petition) fine notion about "the ties of common origin," which so nearly connect us with America. Now, ei ther this was intended as an argument to induce the king to adopt a more conciliatory conduct, foulards America, or it must be regarded as a mere expletive, as words thrown in for the mere purpose of making the seh very sil cian, though he has written a most elegant. and most excellent poem. The truth is, that the revolution of America was injurious, to its people in various ways; but, in fo.. way so much as in that of depriving them of.. an ancestry. Man not only looks forward,,. not only desires to live in his children or in his fame, and both if possible; but, he looks, back, and desires to have lived in his forefathers; he desires to have a father, or |