yours; and, perhaps every county in England, one after another, would, in consequence of the example of Kent, have been induced to send up similar addresses. From this the country has been preserved by your discernment and resolution; for not only will your example now not do harm; it will do good; it will operate in a different direction, and if a similar trick should be attempted in any other county, it will, I have not the smallest doubt, meet with a similar fate. Let the addressers; let those who live upon the taxes, try their hand all along the coast and towards the west. Let them try their hands in Hampshire, Wiltshire, Somersetshire, or let them go into Berkshire; or, in short, into any other county; let them call a fair and open county meeting, and they will see how disgracefully they may be driven from the field. 66 So far, however, is the mercenary and most corrupt writer in the Courier from being of this opinion, that he asserts" that another "meeting of the County of Kent should, nay, "must be called. The county cannot (he "says) sit down under the stigma of having "refused to congratulate the Princess Char"lotte on her marriage; it cannot sit down | "under so gross an insult, under so gross an "outrage on its character." This writer does, however, observe that, in case of another meeting, more care must be taken respecting "the attendants!" Very true, and perhaps he means there shall be an attendance of gentlemen from the barracks, in red or blue coats, on the backs of horses, and with carabines in their holsters, and swords in their hands. If this be his meaning, or if the yeomanry cavalry are to attend armed and accoutred; if this be his meaning, and if his recommendation be acted upon, which is by no means impossible, you will, I dare say, leave Sir William Geary to deliberate as long as he pleases, and will wish all the parties joy of their address. any does. And with all this I say, that, if I had But, if I had been present at the Kent meeting, I should not have been contented with a simple negative. It would have been impossible for me to have suffered those gentlemen to retire to the Bell Inn, there to enjoy their one-sided deliberations, without an attempt to induce the meeting to adopt some petition, address, or remonstrance, upon the subject of the heavy burthens to which the nation is subjected, in consequence of the recent marriage. It is very well known, that, in the act of Parliament passed for raising the property-tax to ten per cent. a clause was But as I imagine, that you do not think it introduced for exempting from that tax the "stigma" on your county to have reject- money which the King had in the funds. It ed the fulsome and ill-timed addresses which is also well known, that, in 1811, Commissionwere brought forward; as you are very well ers were appointed to take care of the King's content with the light in which the late meet-private property. Iam to presume, therefore, ing places your character; so, I venture to that the King has private property; and predict that your adversaries will not again though I do not name the sum (not having any risk their characters by calling another meet-positive proof of the amount of it) I may fairly ing for a similar purpose. It has been said presume that the amount is very considerable. that there could be no reason for rejecting the If, therefore, the Prince Regent, the father of address; that the address could be disagreea- the Royal Bride, could not spare her any ble to no man, who is capable of understand-portion of the sums allotted to his uses; if the ing it; that it was such as could have been disapproved of only by the lowest and most ignorant of the country boors; and Sir William Geary expressly said, that it was such that no man could oppose it. Now, my fellow countrymen, I think that I understand the, meaning of words as well as Sir William Geary does. I am sure that I clearly understand the meaning of these addresses; I do not think that I am one of the very lowest and most ignorant of the country boors; I am sure I love my country as well as Sir William Geary Queen could spare none of the sums allotted to her uses, at a time when prices had so much fallen, and when such very general misery prevailed throughout the country; still, at such a time, might not the purse of the nation have been saved a little by an application to those private means of the King, of which Ihave just spoken? What harm could it have done, if the King's private property had been made use of upon this occasion? If, however, there had been nothing else, I should object to the greatness of the sums of money granted upon this occasion. For this first year there will be a cost of very little short of 200,000 pounds. The newspapers tell us that the husband has ordered fifty grey horses to be bought for his use. I dare say this is false; but, at any rate, how are 60,000 pounds for an out-fit to be spent, besides 60,000 pounds of salary, or pension? At the very time when these grants were making, thousands upon thousands of families were falling into ruin on account of the pressure of the taxes. And at the very moment that so many thousands of English people were almost actually starving to death for want of food, these immense sums are granted to a foreigner on account of his marriage with the daughter of the Prince of Wales! My friends of Kent, they always tell us that every grant and every sum that we complain of is a trifle; but, trifling as these sums are, there will be pretty nearly as much money expended on the Princess Charlotte of Wales and her husband during the first year of their marriage as will be raised to maintain the whole of the poor in Hampshire during that year! Is this a trifle, my friends? Well might you say that you could not afford to keep foreigners, when the fact is notorious, and has been so declared by the Members of Parliament themselves, that the increase of poverty and pauperism is such, that, unless it be speedily put a stop to, this country must be ruined and enslaved. is no trifling country; and, yet, the Chief Magistrate of that country; a country which has lately carried on, single-handed, a long and triumphant war against England; the Chief Magistrate of that country receives only 6.000 pounds a year; that is to say, my friends of Kent, only about a seventh part as much as your Lord Čamden receives annually for his sinecure place of Teller of the Exchequer ! And, observe, that the President of the United States, the Chief Magistrate of that great nation, a man of such talents, such experience, such tried virtue as he must be, receives, in the course of twenty years, no more than as much as the Princess Charlotte and her husband will receive in pension and in out-fit, during this one year! And, I beg you further to observe, that, as the Prince of Saxe-Cobourg is to receive 50,000 pounds a year for life, in case of the death of the Princess, the least possible sum that this nation will have to pay him, for fifty years, if he should live so long, and if the law granting the pension should remain in force, will be a sum more than eight times as great as that which our brethren in America will have to pay to the Chief Magistrate of the Country, the man who performs for them by their authority, and in their name and behalf, all the offices and acts of sovereignty. Ah, my friends of Kent, need we wonder that there are so few paupers in that country? Need we wonder, that in that country the common labouring man, with a large family, may live well, go well clothed, and lay by 30 pounds sterling a year? They would fain persuade us, that these expenses of government are not felt by the poor. What, then, does not the poor man help to pay the taxes? Can he possibly open his mouth to eat until he has paid a tax? Does he not pay a tax upon his salt, sugar, tea, malt, soap, candles, and, indeed, does he not pay a tax on his bread, and meat, and cheese, and butter; for, have not the land, the horses, the leather, the iron, and every thing else been taxed, by the means of which his bread and meat have been produced? Yes, and the man who called out to Lord Camden, and told him that every morsel of bread that went into the mouths of his wife and nine children was taxed to help to pay his Lordship's salary, showed as much sense as he did spirit; and, had I been at Maidstone, I would rather have gone home and have dined with that brave man and his wife and nine children off a morsel of that taxed bread, than I would have gone to dine upon the delicate fruit of the tax at the Bell Inn. We are eternally told, by those whose interest it is to deceive us, that a government, to be good, must be expensive; must be costly; that the persons belonging to it must have monstrous sums of money given to them; must keep innumerable servants and horses; must live bedizened out in all sorts of finery; must be attended with guards dressed up in goldlaced clothes; and that a plain simple government, where the persons belonging to it have low salaries, is fit for nothing but to rule a country that is worth nothing, and that is not much larger than the Isle of Thanet. Now, my friends of the county of Kent, nothing can be more false than this. It is not only not true, but it is the very reverse of the truth, as is amply demonstrated in the case of the American Republic. That Republic has as many people in it as England has. It has finer cities than any in England or any in Europe. None, indeed, that are nearly so populous as London and Westminster, but, two, at least, which surpass in population, and infinitely surpass in all other respects, all the other cities in the British dominions. That republic has about fourteen hundred miles of Sea-coast; many I have only to add my sincere thanks, in rivers navigable more than a hundred miles which I know I speak the voice of thousands up; that republic has, probably, more than a upon thousands, to the men of Kent, for their hundred seaports and harbours. It has very spirited and sensible conduct upon this occanearly as much commercial shipping as Eng-sion, and to say that I think it an honour to land, Ireland, and Scotland, all put together, subscribe myself their countryman. and very nearly as many sailors. This, then, WM. COBBETT. COPY RIGHT SECURED ACCORDING TO LAW. Published by H. Cobbett and G. S. Oldfield, at No. 19 Wall-Street, New-York: VOL. XXX. No. 26.] Written in England JUNE 29.-Published at New-York SEPT. 24, 1816. 301] TO THE [802 PEOPLE OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. standing armies, have au interest wholly distimet LETTER XIX. Insurrections in France and in England.-Opening of the Special Commission at the town of Ely-Hypocriticul charge of the Judge.-Scandalous hypocrisy of the whole scene, in which the impious Parson Bute is exhibited preaching a Sermon in the Cathedral Church.-Political Predestination.-Postscript: Plot to kill Wellington at Paris. Botley, 29th June, 1816. It is curious to observe the exact pace which is kept by the two Governments, that of the BourBons and ours, in putting down insurrections in their respective countries. A few days ago, we were told the troops at Ely had seized the arms of the people, and, amongst the rest, a great num ber of fowling pieces. To-day we are told, in the following words, of what is doing, and has been done at Grenoble. in print. The officers of this army, and of the whole army, indeed, like the officers of all regular from that of the people. They know well that the enjoyment of good living, without labour on their part, depends upon the support of the ty ranny which pays them; and, therefore, they will always be zealous in the support of that tyranny. The executions at Grenoble have taken place some time ago. The Bourbons are more rapid in their movements in matters of this sort than our government is. But they are not more bloody. There is no species of tyranny so hateful as that. which exercises its power under the show of laws and justice. What robberies, what murders, what cruelties of all sorts have been committed in Eng land, in the names, and under the forms of liberty and law! The packing of juries has become to notorious, that Mr. Jeremy Bentham has written a book upon the subject, showing how the work is carried on in the several departments under goverument. He did intend sending the book to America to be published. But, he is an old man, and his heart failed him, I suppose. Sir SAMUEL ROMILLY, who is an intimate friend of Mr. Bentham, has seen and approved of the book. I mention this anecdote as a proof of the extent tu which the practice is carried. The packing of the Maidstone Juries, for the trials of Arthur O'Connor, Mr. Binns, &c. and which packing was the work of a parson, was discovered by mere acciac-dent, or, Mr. Binns, who is now labouring in the cause of freedom in America, would have perished on a gallows in the county of Kent. THOMAS RAIKES, who was a Bank Director, was one of the jury summoned. After he came into court, he asked a Mr. Foulkes which was which of the prisoners; and, coming to the end, upon being told, An article from Grenoble of the 8th of June, says, the situation of this department continues to be altogether satisfactory. The disarming is every"where finished without any difficulty. The warlike arms have been taken out of the hands of the inhabitants of Grenoble, and the return "of the fowling pieces commenced yesterday, "cording to the orders of the Mayor." that is Binns," he clenched his fist, ground his teeth, and said, "ak! damned rascals!" Mr. Foulkes gave information of this, and Raikes was challenged and set aside. Mr. BINNS may not know, perhaps, that, during the inquiries about the plunderings of Lord Melville, it appeared, that this very Raikes, who was Governor of the Bank at the time, had, in concert with Pitt, winked at the plundering; and, indeed, participated in the fraud upon the public. The Readers of the Register have seen enough of the employment of Troops as custom-house officers in Ireland; and now we are told, that the Duke of Wellington has agreed to employ the allied troops in the same way in France, upon condition of their receiving a per centage on the amount of goods that they may seize! Thus will profit and glory be made to unite in a manner never before thought of!-This insolence and baseness are, surely, to be punished, first or last. The army of Wellington are a set of unprincipled wretches, officers as well as men. What very base creatures they must be, indeed, to receive the perquisites of spies and informers! I do not believe there are a set of meaner people upon earth, generally speaking, than the officers of the English army and navy. Nothing is so disgusting as their society. Their conversation almost always turns upon prizemoney or plundering of some sort or other. If two of them get together, and any person happens to overhear them, without knowing also what they are, he naturally thinks that he is listening to a couple of highwaymen, house-breakers, or pirates, so constantly does their conversation consist of questions, and explanations, and narratives, relative to their plundering exploits. I have never "This day, at ten o'clock, the Hon. Mr. Justice dared to publish the correspondence between those "ABBOTT, Mr. Justice BORROUGH, and Enmean pillagers, the Cochranes, Cockburns, &c." WARD CHRISTIAN, Esq. Chief Justice of the which was published long ago in the United States." Isle of Ely, arrived in this town, preceded by a The people of England are not so base as to hear cavalcade consisting of the principul inhabitwithout indignation of those low acts of theft which" ants, and immediately repaired to the Court were committed by our naval officers in divers house, where they opened a Special Commis. parts of your country. But, there is no mau in" sion for the trial of the persons charged with England, who dares, through the press, make "having riotously assembled, and committed vari known those or any other of their vile thieveries."ous felonies at Littleport and Ely. The Com There are people enough to exclaim, in conversa- "mission having been read, the Judges proceeded tion, against the atrocious conduct; the mean, the" to the Cathedral, where divine service was base, the foul deeds of Wellington and his officers; " performed, and a sermon preached by Tikk but no one dares express his opinion to this effect" REV, SIR H. B. DUDLEY. To return to the march of Justice in England. I will insert the charge, which, it appears, the Judge, ABBOT, gave to the Grand Jury upon opening the Special Commission at Ely. But, before you come to the Judge's Charge, for God's sake read the introduction, and note the words which you there find in italics and CAPITALS. Look at those words! Look at them! But it is impertinent thus to teaze you. I will reserve my comments to follow the charge. "The Court re-assembled at one o'clock, and the "dwelling-house. It is fit, however, that I should "preliminary business being concluded, and the "here make one observation, which is, that there Grand Jury sworn, Mr. Justice ABBOTT ad-" are many offences committed by large assemblies "dressed them to the following effect: "Gentlemen of the Grand Jury, 66 66 66 66 66 "of men, in which the guilt is not confined to the "individual whose band executes the felonious act. "All those who are present at its commission, "You have been called together at this unusu- "who favour it with their approbation and concur❝al period, and with the present solemnities, in "renze, or who aid and encourage by their voice or "consequence of some very daring acts of outrage" action, are involved in the same legal culpability. "committed by various misguided individuals in "This is a principle dictated by reason, and esta"this town and its neighbourhood, which must be "blished in law; for without the presence of others "still fresh in your recollection. In contemplating" the actual perpetrator might not have been able "the nature of these atrocities, it is impossible to "to accomplish the criminal purpose, or might "consider without commendation the conductors" have been deterred from attempting it by the of those prompt and efficacious measures by " exertions of the well-disposed. With regard to which, after it had domineered for several day's "the particular crime of burglary, it may be protogether, the spirit of tumult and devastation" per for me to remark, that it consists in the "was finally subdued. The natural progress of breaking of a house at night with intent to comtriumphant insurrection is to increase in fury," mit some felony. What the nature of this felo"and to grow larger in its demands, until from "ny may be is not material, nor is it necessary, in "robbery it proceeds to the burning of houses and order to constitute burglary, that the felonious in"the murder of their inhabitants. Although no "tention should have been carried into effect. "offences of this last and highest kind will be laid "The circumstances under which the breaking at "before you, yet it appears by the depositions that "night has been effected, must form the evidence "some crimes of a very deep die have been com "of the intent with which it was done. All who "mitted. Of some of these, considering the situ-" then enter are equally guilty; and the same rule "ation of their perpetrators, it may be difficult to applies to those also who keep watch whilst "penetrate the motive; and it may be, as often others enter. Even if the entry should be made "happens in such cases, that it was hardly known"in consequence of the door being opened by "to the offenders themselves. The pretenee for "the owner himself under the influence of arti"these lawless disturbances seems to have been "fice or threats, it is in contemplation of law a "the necessity of an advance in the wages of hus-"burglary; for the law will not suffer its whole"bandry; but the circumstances of some among some restraints to be evaded by the shifts and "the offenders do not correspond with the supposi "contrivances of a felon. Under the subject of "tion of such an object. It had happened, that "robbery from the person, it may be important “the hardships necessarily incident to a state of" for you to inquire, whether the money raised by poverty, were aggravated by the peculiarity of a riotous assembly is to be considered, in the ca"the seasons and the temper of niind which was ses to which your attention will be drawn, as a "thus produced appears to have been inflamed by "voluntary contribution of the individuals from "designing persons into a settled hostility against whom it was taken, or as extorted by violence, or "the higher orders of society. This spirit soon "under reasonable fear. In the consideration, "manifested itself in the destruction of property, "however, of what amounts to this offence, it is "as if labour could be encouraged, and wages ❝not necessary to advert either to the time or the "raised, by the ruin of those who are to employ place of its commission. To steal in a dwelling"the one and to pay the other. In no coun"house has been made a capital felony by many 66 try in the world are there so many institutions" statutes, but it is necessary that the larceny for the humane purpose of administering to the" should be actually committed. Without troub "wants and necessities of the poor-in no coun- "ling you, however, by reciting a series of legisla"try does both public and private bounty flow in❝tive enactments on this subject, 1 should advise so many, streams for the comfort and relief of "you generally to return the bills as they are pre"the distressed classes of the community. It is "sented to you, and leave any difficulty of legal "to be observed, too, that the money which was "construction to that more accurate investigation "taken from individuals on this melancholy occa- which it will afterwards receive in this place. On "sion was not applied to the support of the fami- the nature of ordinary riots and breach of the "lies of the offenders, but was consumed in riot" public peace, you can require no instruction and intoxication, by which the blood was heated, from me: but on every occasion, as well as the "the understanding confused, and the spirit infla-present, the court will be happy to afford you all "med to acts of further and more violent aggres-" the assistance in its power. With regard to the sion against the persons and property of their description of proof which will be laid before neighbours. The number of persons engaged in "you there is little to be remarked, further than "the commission of these offences is so consider-" that there is reason to believe it will, in most able, that it has been deemed necessary thus" cases, be satisfactory-the evidence of eyewitsuddenly to call you together, in order that the "nesses upon acts done in open day and without "innocent may be restored to liberty without de-any disguise, in some instances by neighbour "lay, the guilty brought to punishment, and the " upon neighbour, so bold and daring was the vio"peaceable inhabitant convinced that the laws are "lation of the public peace. If the evidence of effectual for his protection and his vindication." accomplices in these transactions should be of"It is the first time that such a proceeding has "fered to you, you will receive it with caution, "been deemed necessary in this place, and I sin-" and give credit to it only when confirmed or sup"cerely hope it may be the last. I am not aware "ported by more unexceptionable testimony. I "that the task which you are now called upon to" cannot conclude this address without exhorting "execute, however painful, will be attended with "you to proceed with a calm and temperate, but any extraordinary difficulties. Judging from the "with a firm and manly determination—on the "depositions which lie before me, the capital fe-" one hand, not to conclude, from your indignation "lonies which will be presented to you resolve" at guilt, too hastily, against the prisoners; and "themselves into the three different crimes of bur-" on the other, that the serious nature of the "glary, robbery from the person, and stealing in a" charges shall not deter you from presenting them 46 66 66 66 86 "The grand jury then retired, and the Court "adjourned till to-morrow morning at nine "o'clock. "The calendar consists of eighty-two persons, "nine only of whom are out on bail; all the rest are in prison. Their trials are not expected to "last beyond Thursday." "to the justice of your country. It is of the high- London, by Sidmouth and the rest of that cool and "est importance to the peace and safety, not only cunning crew, appears not to have known very well "of this isle, but of the surrounding country, that what course to take; what story to hatch, with re"all who are present on this soleman inquiry, and gard to the cause of those notorious disturbances. "all who read the account of its proceedings (and If he acknowledged that they had arisen from the "there are few parts of the kingdom in which it famishing state of the people, he would then have "will not be read) may be convinced by the awful | had to receive, from every feeling heart, the re"lesson which may here be taught, that whatever proach of not having brought bread instead of "wild or chimerical notions may prevail of the halters. If he asserted or pretended to believe, power of an armed multitude, the law is too that the disturbances had arisen and had thus "strong for its assailants; and that, however spread themselves over several counties, from po"triumphant or destructive their sway for a few litical discontent, then he would have had to exdays, those who defy the law will ultimately be plain to the world how such discontent came to ex"compelled to submit either to its justice or its ist! For he, and all his brethren, are continually "mercy. telling the people at every aseize that they hold, that we live under the best and most free government upon the face of the earth. The crafty man, therefore, was a good deal puzzled; and after having, I dare say, scratched his wig, and appealed to the whigs of the Addingtons, the following curious story was invented. "It had happened," he said, "that the hardships necessarily incident to a state Now, in this scene of all that is hypocritical and "of poverty, were aggravated by the peculiarity base, first look at the Rev. Sir Bate Dudley, "of the seasons; and that the temper of mind, Baronet. You saw him in Number 22, at the head "thus produced, had been influenced by designing of the Troops, firing upon the people. A base, persons into a settled hostility against the higher profligate Priest; a swearing, drinking, debauch-orders of society." This story is believed by ed companion of the Royal l'imps. I have given a nobody in England, and can only tend to deceive full account of this hoary ruffian in No. 4 of this foreign nations. In the first place, it is a downright Volume. And now look at him, then, seated in the falsehood to say that the seasons had been uniapulpit of a Cathedral, preaching a sermon before vourable to the poor. Never was a winter so mild the legal murderers, bearing the behests of the as the last; never, for a long while, had provisions merciless Liverpools, Addingtons, and Castlereaghs. been so cheap; and never had there been a time, Abbot and Borrough, the two judges, and Gurney for a great many years past, when things were in and Bolland, the two prosecutors, are, perhaps, four so favourable a state for the poor; except only as men as unfeeling as any four left alive since Per- to employment and wages. But the judge contraceval; or, if any exception be to be made, it must diets himself; for, he first observes that the necesbe in favour of Castlereagh, Liverpool, Eilenbo- sity for an advance of wages was merely a prerough, Gibbs, and the Hopes of Scotland. Like tence, as some of the offenders are in good circumJeffries, these men would strew Norfolk and Cam-stances; and then, immediately afterwards, he atbridgeshire with the limbs and carcasses of the rioters. But, they dare not. They know very well, that going a little too fur might set the pile of combustibles in a blaze. They would freely kill every man, woman, and child in the district, who was present at the riots; but they want the courage. They hate the people, by whom they know against the higher orders of society." Appears? they are hated. They know, in short, that nothing It appears, does it? And pray, good Mr. Catebut the sword has enabled them to appear in their Paw, where, when, how, whence, in whom, or in death-dealing robes at Ely. They, therefore, are what, have you discovered this appearance? Ah! bloodily bent; but still, they are restrained by the you know well that no man dares, in England, anfear of producing a general rising, if the people are swer this charge of yours; or, you have perhaps, driven to despair, and hardened by a course red-shame enough left yet, to have prevented you from dened with blood. tributes the disturbances to the hardships incident making this false, this base, this inhuman assertion. ABBOT talks of the power of the law. This is You knew well, that it was misery; that it was the fashion with lawyers; and, certainly, nothing sheer misery; that it was hunger, which will break is so fine as to view this power, which was former-down stone walls; you knew well that this was the ly every thing in England. It is now nothing. The sword is all; it is everywhere. It does every thing. It has put down the insurrection at Ely; and the Special Commission is, in fact, neither more nor less than a Court Martial. The Judges are sitting in a Court House, which is surrounded with Troops; they are escorted to and fro by regular soldiers; they are guarded during the night by the same soldiers; the prisoners are brought up and carried back under military guards; and, who, then, but one of these corrupt and impudent tools of the tyranny, would have had the base ness to pretend, that the power of the law had prevailed? The Judge says that the necessity for the advance of wages, was only a pretence for the disturbances, and that the circumstances of some amongst the offenders did not correspond with the supposition of such an object. The man, crafty as he is, well schooled as he had been before he left sole cause of the risings among the people; but, in order to urge the juries to give you the means of shedding blood, you affected, without however heing too explicit, to have discovered something of a deep-laid plot to overturn all law and all property. Thus, by working upon the fears of people of property; by exciting in the breasts of timid men an alarm for their safety, you procured from them verdicts which enabled you to stick your fangs into the hearts of their neighbours. Among other points of knowledge, which you have picked up in your practice at the lowest criminal bar in the kingdom, you have found out that riches are always cowardly, and that nothing is so cruel as cowardice, This piece of knowledge you have made use of upon this occasion, and have thereby proved yourself worthy of the patronage of Addington. The judge goes on to observe that it is foolish to suppose that labour can be encouraged, and wages raised, by the ruin of those who are to employ the |