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capital employed in posting, than from capital employed in any other way, the certain consequence would be, that more capital would flow into the posting trade, and thus would the profits of that trade be speedily reduced to the general level of the profits of other trades. If the rise, which is now contemplated, or which has taken place in the rate of posting, leave the innkeeper a greater profit than can be acquired from the selling of plumbs and sugar and candles, for instance, do the St. Albans iseacres suppose that there will be no g.beers that will turn innkeepers ? Do they suppose, sensible noblemen and

gentamen," that nobody will be tempted to get a share of these immense profits; and, that the present inn-keepers will continue in the enjoyment of a monopoly of gain, when that gain is open to all the world? Do they suppose, cunning" noblemen and gentlemen," that the whole of the people, having capital to employ, will be bind to these enormous profits, or that there is some unknown cause which will arrest capital in its natural current towards this particular calling? Mr. Fuller says, indeed, that the best remedy is "the en"couraging of competition; " but, as he did not point out the best mode of doing that, I will for him, and that is, by giving some one more than the present in-keeper demands. If he tell me, that the remedy would then be worse than the disease, my answer is, that, from the very nature of things, it must be the only way of encou

aging a competition. Let us try this empty talk by the test of practice. Suppose Mr. Fuller, together with all the noblemen and gentlemen in the county of Sussex, were to set about their remedy, as far as applied to the road from Chichester to London. How would they go to work? How would they encourage competition? It is easy to talk about it, but how would they do it? Why, to be sure, in this way: they would ride in the chaises of those who would convey them at a cheaper rate than that at which the present inn-keepers will convey them. So that, incomparable conjurers, they would encourage capital to come into the posting trade by offering it a profit less than that, which now exists, which does not induce it to come of its own accord, and which they, by their very talk of encouragement, acknowledge to be insufficient to induce it to come. Most peopie, when they have a desire to bring additional labour to a particular point, or to draw additional capital to any particular business, offer greater wages and greater

profits than were before given or derived; but, this new set of coalesced conjurers, act upon a principle precisely the contrary, and yet, they talk as gravely about their schemes as if they were founded in nature and in reason, and as if they would, as a thing of course, receive the assent of the public in general. But, great self conceit is a never-failing characteristic of imbecility of mind. What do these "noblemen and

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gentlemen," what does Mr. Fuller, for instance, imagine that post-horse keepers should see in his face, to induce them to employ a losing or a dead capital in drawing his body about the country? It is not, good man, for the honour, but for the profit of your custom, that they bow and scrape and smile and cringe and run and bawl at your approach. About you they care no more than they do about the dirt upon your boots. It is your money that they have a respect and an affection for; and, if you should attempt to carry your encouraging project into practice, the first question that will be asked you will be, what money you will advance for the purpose; what addition you will make to the rate of posting at which the present inn-keepers carry you; how much you will give more than is given by other people? Will you build new inns for the purpose of encouragement? Do, and let them for a fourth part of what they cost you; and even then your purpose would not be effected. You would, probably, be carried three pence a mile cheaper than by the old inn-keepers; but, my good Mr. Faller, there is a difference in the quality of posting, as well as in the quality of beer. The brewer, if you compel him to sell his beer at three pence a pot will get just as much profit as he does when he sells it at six pence a pot. Water costs him nothing; with this be lowers his beer to the price that he gets for it. Time is the great ingredient in the hands of the posting trade, and that, were they stinted in their price, they must, and would, call to their aid. From seven miles an hour they would come down to five; instead of a neat tight chaise, you would have to commit your person to an old rattling, jingling, crazy thing, that might let you drop upon the side of that break-neck hill between Midhurst and Haslemere, which, to say nothing of the hindrance and injury that the affairs of the nation and of the cow pox matter society might experience, would far outweigh the amount of the few additional pounds which you lay out, during the year, in expeditions and safe posting.If any one can doubt that such would be the effect

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encouragement" such as Mr. Fuller proposes, he has only to travel, for a few days, in those parts of the country, where the inn-keepers have few post-chaise customers. Here, the price is the same as upon the great roads; but, from the want of constant employment for the horses, drivers, and chaises, all these the owner is obliged to keep of an inferior quality; the consequence of which is, that travelling is much slower, much less comfortable, and much more dangerous. Ten times for every mile-stone are the landlord, the driver, the chaise, and the poor horses abused; but, if the traveller would but take one moment to reflect, he would clearly perceive, that the fault was the want of a price sufficiently high to enable the former to provide and keep all the latter of a better quality.So that, it appears to me, that, if the office of a justice of the peace could be perverted to the base purpose of extorting from the inn-keepers a part of the money due to them for their posting-work, they would very soon right themselves by lowering the quatity of their commodity. Therefore, the only practicable scheme seems to be this: for the justices of each district to insist upon having their own posting done at a cheap rate, and to leave the inn-keepers to get as much as they can from every body else. This would be very rascally; it would be an infamous abuse of power; and, it is, I am persuaded, what very few justices of the peace would be guilty of, if they could with impunity. But, it is what might be done, it is practicable; there is sense in it; while, in the other scheme, there is nothing but what is senseless; nothing but what must have issued from a head without brains, or whatever else it is that enables the owner to reflect and to reason.- -The power given to the justices to refuse, to grant, or to renew, licences to public houses, was given for the purpose of being a check to disorder and immorality, and, they were to be spared the trouble and vexation of any process for haying exercised this power, because, proof being so difficult to obtain, they would, if exposed to an action for their conduct, be always disinclined to do their duty in this respect. But, would it not be an abominable act, to make use of this power for the purpose of fixing a maximum upon the work of post-horses and drivers? For the purpose of causing themselves and their friends to be carried about the country at the expence of other people? It is sufficient to state the proposition to expose it to universal reprobation.As to the meeting at the St. Albans, too, does it not furnish a very

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decent example? Will these "noblemen "and gentlemen" attempt to shoot deluded people, if, upon any future occasion, they should meet for the purpose of fixing a maximum upon bread or meat? Bread and meat are full as necessary to them as posting is to these "noblemen and gentlemen," and the inn-keeper bas as good a right to fix his price, to ask what he thinks the worth of his commodity, as the baker and butcher have to ask what they think the worth of theirs. It would be curious enough to hear a man, upon his trial for a riot, justify himself upon the example of the noblemen and gentlemen" at the St. Albans Tavern; and, would it not, Mr. Fuller, be very hard to hang o whip the poor unfortunate brother?--It was a mercy, that some wiseacre did not propose to pass an act of parliament for keeping down the rate of posting. We should have heard of a great demand for doghorses; for nothing else would have made its appearance before a post-chaise. There would have been quite a new system of posting regulations introduced; there would have been charges for luggage; there would have been charges for fire; there would have been something to make up for the low price of posting; or else, the chaises must have been drawn by live carrion driven by a wretch that might have been suspected of having dropped from a gibbet.No, no; pray, Mr Fuller, let such matters alone. You may be deeply versed in what relates to the cow-pox matter, of which society, I perceive (from a letter of yours, inserted in the Morning Chronicle of the 9th instant, between an Amphitheatre and a Lottery puff), you are chosen the vice president; but, as far as I am able to judge from your proceedings at the St. Albans Tavern, your mind is unused to entertain questions relating to profits and prices. I have, for my part, always thought the lot of the innkeeper a very hard one. I supposed him, one way or another, to get money; but, then I considered what a slave he was; how he was obliged to receive every forthing of bis due as a favour; what respect he was obliged to assume for thousands of persons, whom he must have despised; how submissive he was obliged to be to the humours and important airs of many, who, he must have been pretty certain, never were in a chaise before in their lives; and with what complaisance he was obliged to answer to the surly, brutish growl of many an old swoln glutton or sot, who, stripped of his wealth, must have been more disgusting than the dead dogs or cats in the kennel. A man so occupied I cannot grudge great profits. The night

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man earns, perhaps, a guinea in six bours; but, who would not rather be a carpenter at half-a-crown a day? When, therefore, Sir, your are again engaged in a calculation of the gains of the inn-keeper, pray do not forget to make a large deduction on account of his slavery.

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AMERICAN STATES. The following toasts and sentiments, selected from va"rious celebrations of the 4th of July, in "differents parts of the United States," I extract from an American newspaper of last year, in order to give the reader a specimen of the means that are made use of, in that country, to keep alive a hatred of England; and to enable him to judge of the probability that there is of gaining the friendship of such a people by concession and by wheedling. "The charter of our independence-the eagle this day proclaims that the blot of the Leopard upon it, shall be expiated by the remorse or blood of the lion.- -Great

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Britain; the voice of our brother's "blood crieth from the ground."-May that “powerful appeal to justice and vengeance "not be disregarded by any true American, "and we shall again teach those robbers (like their countrymen Burgoyne and Cornwallis) to march to the tune of Yan"kee Doodle.The royal assassins of "Britain, Whitby and Humphreys-wor"thy servants of a worthy master; may the I gallows prove their end, and the execration of a free people their epitaph. "The memory of our gallant tars lately as "sassinated on board the frigate Chesapeake, by the treacherous, cowardly, sanguinary ruffians of Britain; when the ex"ecutive gives the signal we shall be found at our post ready to avenge their murder.

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May the heart never beat nor the "soul never feel, who would not remember "the murder of our citizens on board the

Chesapeake.- -The manufactories of the "United States, we have improved beyond "our most sanguine expectation, we will "show the haughty Britons that Americans

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can do better without their cloth than they can without our flour.-Law; written "and plain rules for freemen, common "sense and common honesty to interpret "them, and the knife to the root of that "hideous excrescence called common law of England, servilely adopted by an American bench."This is the " mild and "unoffending people," of whom Mr. Senator Mitchell spoke, as the reader some time ago saw in the extract, which I made from his speech. The utmost endeavours of the ablest describer could not give us the means of judging of the temper of the Americans

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so well as this little extract does. This is the sort of language they have always held towards us, at times when their injustice and insolence have brought down upon them the exercise of our power; and, at other times, they have always spoken of us as a nation of the basest of cowards. So that, in their mouths, we have always been murderers or poltroons.- But, what do the vain and stupid wretches mean by murder committed by Capt. Humphreys? They talk of treachery too. Why, did he not send word to their commander, that, unless the men were given up, the frigate would be attacked? And was it not a frigate of 44 guns against a ship of 50 guns? Where, then, was the treachery, or the murder? We shall, byand-by, I suppose, be told, that Lord Nelson committed horrid murder, in the bay of Trafalgar. This is the way of saucy boys: give them the horse-whip, and they stun the street with cries of murder.- -The vain fools, you see, have the conceit, that we live upon their flour." I have proved, that, when all the ports were open, we did not import, upon an average of years, more than enough to find us in food for one week in each year, supposing the corn ipod to be worth (as Mr. Young states it) two millions sterling annually; and, as to the part, of these imports, that came from Ameri Mr. Young describes it as not being worthy of notice. His words are these:" to expect bread from America, would be to "look for it from a country whence it ne

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ver came, except in quantities perfectly "insignificant, when compared with the "magnitude of our demand." I wish the fools in America had been, in time, possess ed of this truth. It certainly would have made them less insolent. Yet, it would have been very difficult to make them believe the fact. They see great numbers of barrels of flour shipped off from their several ports; and, as it is flattering to their vanity to believe, that they feed all the world; that all the nations upon earth are, in some sort, at their mercy, they would not be easily persuaded to the contrary.

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any case, either of property or of crime? They are mad.-- -What would become of the trial by jury and all the rights and privileges attached to it? They are mad. What pretty work it would be to lay all property at the mercy of a new set of lawgivers, appointed to form a written code to meet all the diversity of circumstances, which must arise in the hundreds of cases, that would, in the course of a few years, be brought forward for decision! They are stark staring mad.It is curious enough to observe, however, that, at the very moment, that they are representing it as a shame for a nation, so free as they are, to admit the use of the common law of England; while they are (as has always been their practice) speaking of themselves as the only free people in the world; it is curious to observe, that, while this is going forward in one column of their newspapers, they are, in another, complaining of the tyranny, under which they themselves live. The same paper, which contained the above extracts, also contained the following paragraph, relative to the conduct of MACKEAN, the Governor of Pennsylvania.

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"wards of six weeks, to roam at large un"der bis nose-What a faithful executor of

our laws! How unstained and unbroken "will not the constitution descend to "M'Kean's successor! How fruitful are not our laws of protection, and how rigour

ously are they not made to embrace "crime! How blessed are not the people of "Pennsylvania with such a governor, such "an attorney general, such a noble family, "and such a virtuous host of officers manufactured in the M'Kean laboratory !”. Well done! Out with it!-But, is this, then, the blessed effects of your written constitutions? And, yet do you want to set more pettifoggers to work to make more codes for you? -This Mackean is, to be sure, all they say of him. There was not such a man figured, even during the worst times of the French revolution. He was born to be a tyrant, of which character he has all the qualities in the highest perfection. My malediction upon the Pennsylvanians was, "may Mackean live to the age of Me"thusalem;" and, the best of it is, that the tyrant, as if wearied of persecuting one party, has now, it appears, fallen upon, and stuck his poisonous eld fangs into, the other party, that party who were guilty of most shocking crimes in order to raise him to the Governor's chair. His principal object has been to fatten his sons and 'relations upon the taxes. With this in view, he turned out of place all the persons of the party at first opposed to him; but, many of the best offices being in the hands of his own party, it was next necessary to quarrel with that party, and, of course, to play cf, as he now appears to be doing, the other party against them. The party last-mentioned are de lighted at this opportunity of glutting their revenge: and, thus Mackean, with perfect safety, persecutes then alternately, or, rather, as the legend rates of the devil, Le sits sniggering to use, while the two gangs of sinners, when he has set by the ears, abuse and rob and murder one another.

the root of the evil still will remain, and a governor of evil propensities, may in"flict the same wounds upon society. Is it just, is it equitable, can it be justified by any rational principle, that one man, one family, or a sect of quids, should be above the law, and that another portion of the community should not only be subject to its penalties, but be made the victims of its obscurity and its tyranny? And yet "sach is the present state of society."Mean the governor of poor unfortunate Pennsylvania, has declared, that he would transmit the constitution unimpaired to "his successor. That constitution requires "of hiar, that he shall see the laws faith-pettifogger is sure to put lis poisonous paw fully executed, and he is sworn to the performance of his duty. How are the "lows executed? His son, the attorney, ge"neral, pressed the Court to send for one ci

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-The Americans are truly a miserable people. It is quite impossible for people to have a common chance of happiness amidst such continual strife; strife which is found to exist in every village, though it contain but half a dozen houses, or huts.

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into every man's mess. The most despicable scoundrels contrive to set good neighbours at war with each other. There is no such thing as justice in the legal decisions, except by mere change Halt the country is annually periured. It is an abuse of words to talk of the fiveftes of the people, in at

Where contracts and oaths are made but to be broken, neither property nor person can be safe.

Botley, June 16, 1803.

COBBETT'S

Parliamentary History

OF

ENGLAND.

The Fourth Volume of the above Work, comprising the Period from the Restoration in the year 1660, to the Revolution in the year 1688; will be ready for delivery on Saturday, the 25th instant.-On the same day will be published, the Tenth Volume of "Cobbett's Parliamentary Debates."

** All communications for the " liamentary Debates," if sent in due time, shall be carefully attended to.

ROMAN CATHOLIC PETITION.

The following is an authentic Report of the Speech of the BISHOP OF NORWICH in the House of Lords on the 27th of May last, as it will be given in "Cobbett's Parlia'mentary Debates."

known regard for the real interest of the Established Church, for its peace, its security, its honour, and its prosperity, which forms, and has always formed so distinguished a part in the character of that noble lord. -These objections, my lords, numerous as they are said to be, may all of them I think, be reduced under four heads. In the first place, it is asserted, or rather strongly insinuated, that the religious tenets of the Ca-. tholics, are of such a nature as, per se, to exclude those who hold them from the civil, and military situations, to which they aspire. It is next said, that if this were not the case, these situations are matters of favour, not of right, and therefore, the Catholics have no just cause to complain that they are excluded from them. In the third place, we are told, that if it were admitted, that the measure were, abstractedly considered, just and Par-right; it would be highly inexpedient, to repeal statutes, which were passed with much deliberation; and are considered by many, as the bulwarks of the constitution, in church and state. And, lastly, there are some, who contend, that if there were no other objection, the words of the Coronation Oath present an insuperable, bar to the claims of the Catholics. I shall not detain your lordships long in the examination of these objections, because they have been repeatedly discussed, and, as it appears to me, very satisfactorily refuted, by far abler men, both in this house and out of it.-With respect to the religious tenets of the Catholics of the present day, it is not a little singular, my lords, that we will not allow them to know what their own religious tenets really are. We call upon them for their Creed, upon some very important points: and they give it to us without reserve; but, instead of believing what they say, we refer them, with an air of controversial triumph, to the Councils of Constance, or Thoulouse, to the Fourth Lateran Council, or to the Council of Trent. In vain they most explicitly, and most solemnly aver, that they hold no tenet whatsoever, incompatible with their duties, either as men, or as subjects, or in any way hartful to the government under which they live. In vain they publish Declaration upon Declaration, in all of which they most unequivocally disavow those highly exceptionable tenets which are imputed to theme and not only do they disavow, but they express their abhorrence of them. In vain they confirm these Declarations by an Oath-an Oath, my lords, framed by ourselves, drawn up with all possible care, and caution, and couched in terms, as strong as language affords. In addition to these ample securities,,

My Lords ;--I rise, for the first time in my life, to address your lordships, and I rise with unaffected reluctance; not because I entertain the smallest doubt, respecting either the expediency, the policy, or the justice of the measure now under consideration; but, because, to a person in my situation, it must be exceedingly painful, (however firmly persuaded he may be in his own mind) to find himself impelled by a sense of duty, to maintain an opinion, directly the reverse of which is supported by so many wise and good men who belong to the same profesSion, and who sit upon the same bench with him. Important occasions however, some. times arise, on which an individual may be called upon to avow his own sentiments explicitly and unequivocally, without any due deference to the judgment of others.

Such an

occasion I conceive the present to be, and shall without further apology trouble your lordships with a few remarks.-I have considered, with all the care and attention, of which I am capable, the various arguments which are urged against the Petition, in fayour of the Catholics of Ireland, which has, this day, for the second time, been presented and supported by the noble baron on the other side of the house, with his usual abiNities, and at the same time, with that well

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