as cheap to those who use it at the extremity, of the Russian empire, as to those who use it at the port were it is first landed from on shipboard, would silence all my objections, did not my observation lead me to conclude, that you must have been greatly misinformed upon this point. For, in America, the price of all articles of foreign growth bears an exact proportion to the distance of the place where they are consumed from the place where they are first landed. Salt, for instance, which costs balf a dollar (half a piastre) a bushel at Philadelphia, will cost about a dollar at Lancaster, two dollars at Carlisle, and so on, till, in the settlements over the Aleghany mountains, it costs a guinea, or, perhaps more, a bushel. Indeed, it must necessarily be thus; and, therefore, you will forgive me, if I take it for granted, that you have been misinformed with respect to the price of the coffee, consumed at the extremities of the Russian Empire.--To come, now, to some more general observations, I cannot help perceiving, that you, at every sentence, betray your want of confidence in the ability of Russia to avoid feeling the blow, which England, were her statesmen of my mind, would give to that aspiring and encroaching empire. I know, that it is not in our power to hurt the people of Russia; they would be as well, and better, without commerce, for very little cloth or sugar falls to their share; but, we have it in our power to annoy their rulers, and keep them confined within their former limits. It has been owing to the folly of England, that Russia has penetrated into Germany and Turkey. She cannot, all at once, drive you back again; but, she can forbid you to show your face upon the occan; to render Petersburgh, if not a swamp, at least, a set of lanes wherein for cattle to graze; and this, were her staresmen made of the right sort of stuff, she would resolve to do, thereby giving an awful example to those, whose, envy or malignity have led them to conspire together for the audaciously avowed pur. pose of undermining her maritime power, and of reducing her to a state of humiliation and dependance. It was well becoming of you, indeed, to assemble with Americans, in that same city of Petersburgh, to celebrate the 4th of July, and to toast" the liberty "of the seas;" and that, too, Sir, while there were on board your ships, at your Emperor's request, English officers, to teach you how to manoeuvre and to fight. This was well becoming in you. There is not that sp that there used to be, een demanded guant insult.

or sa

Your ships have, some of them, found their way, into the Atlantic Ocean, to assist, I suppose, in effecting that famous object, "the liberty of the seas;" but, they will rot in the Tagus, and their crews will be buried upon its banks, or they will come to augment that power, which you are so desirous to destroy. If ever you, by any unlucky accident, cast your eye upon our English news-papers, you will see what a war there is between the selfish factions that are contending for the sway over us, and, in their mutual recriminations, you will be shocked at the abuses, corruptions, aud oppression which that factious war endangers; but, you will deceive yourself, if you suppose, that the people of England, in their great and just hatred of their internal enemies, bave lost those feelings, which they ought to entertain against their enemies from without; and, Sir, I can assure you, that the unanimous feeling with respect to the hostility of Russia is that of contempt, while every man amongst us, who reflects seriously, and who is swayed by no selfinterested motive, hesitates not to declare, that a total breaking off of all connection with Russia, would be an event auspicious to England. It is not, Sir, upon the mart at St. Petersburgh, or at Batson's-coffee house in London, that you hear the sentiments of the people of England, from whom the persons who assemble at these places have an interest wholly distinct, not to. say directly opposite. The great sentiment of the people, is, that, let come what will come, our rights upon the seas ought to be maintained; and you will see, Sir, that, in spite of all the foreign combinations against us, in spite of all the workings of our comestic factions, this sentiment of the nation will always prevail..

AMERICAN STATES.The present week is rich in American news.A motion had been made in the Congress, on the 18th of November, respecting money in the American funds, belonging to our late Lord Chancellor, the noble Baron Erskine of Clackmannan. Also, a report respecting the affair of the Chesapeake frigate; and a bill had been introduced relative to the defence of the harbours against our ships of war. But, first of the Baron of Clackmannan's money; and here I shall quote from the Morning Chronicle of the 28th of last month, lest I should fall into error. City of Washington (place where the Congress meet), 18. Nov. 1807. Yes"terday the honourable Mr. Lyon stated, "in the House of Representatives, that "he wished the galleries cleared and the

*** doors closed, bolted, and barred, as he "had some highly important matters to communicate. The House having grati"fied his wishes, he observed that Mr. "Erskine, the British Minister, had re"cently transferred Stock, possessed by “his father to a large amount in the Ame"rican Funds, and in consequence proposed the following Resolution, That provision ought to be made by law, for"bidding all transfers of right of action, " and all monies, and other property, either real or personal, to or by any subject of "the Crown of Great Britain; and also ❝forbidding any Citizen or Resident of the "United States paying any debt or demand “to any such subject."- -What a shame, Mr. yon! Want to stop; to hold in hand; to sequestrate, and, perhaps, finally, to confiscate, the Baron of Clackmannan's monies! Momes, which, as he has often modestly told the world, he had, during so many years, been gaining from the people of England, at the English bar! But, thanks to the foresight and sagacity of Mr. Erskine, the son of the noble lord, who is also our minister plenipotentiary in the American States, your cruel project was rendered of no effect; and, how fortunate it was, that this gentleman happened, by the late ministry, to be thought the very fittest person to be sent in that capacity to America; for, if he had not been upon the spot to watch the motions of the Congress, all these monies might have been lost.- -But, how will Mr Erskine get these monies home now? The transfer must have been made into American hands; hands which, in such cases, are very apt to draw up close. Supposing the monies to come, they must come in bills of exchange upon London. The bills may, or may not, be good Other monies will be in the same situation.

Bills

must be had. They will be greatly above par, that is to say, more monies must be given for them than will be paid for them in London; and people must not be very scrupulous as to the goodness of the bills. Faith, the monies are in a perilous state; for, as will be perceived by Mr. Lyon's motion, there was a thought of forbidding Americans to pay any debt or demand to an English subject; and, if a law of this sort should finally pass, the monies, though transferred, will be just as far from the reach of Baron Erskine of Clackmannan as they were before the transfer took place.

It is said, indeed, that Mr. Lyon's proposition was received with marks of general dissent; and, that it was the opinion of most of the members, that, "such a step,

"at this time, was improper;" but it is not said, that any one objected to the mea sure, as one that, in no case, and at no future time, ought to be adopted; and my opinion is, that, unless we instantly send a maritime force upon the coast of America, sufficient to blockade the mouths of the great rivers, it will be adopted; and, if once they lay hold of the monies, farewell monies; for the duty of re-imbursing forms no part of their decalogue.All this is known to the agents of Englishmen, who have money in the American funds, as well as it is to me; they will, therefore, lose në time in selling out, and sending home the money in bills of exchange; and, most pat to their purpose, they will find an abundance of people ready to draw bills, especially if things should wear a warlike aspect; for, then, the drawers will have nothing to dread from protests and damages." Exclusive of funded property, the American States are now always about twelve millions of pounds sterling in debt to England, Ireland and Scotland included; let any one judge, then, what a chance the monies in question stand of reaching their owners in England. Baron Erskine's monies will, perhaps, come home with trifling deductions; but, it is not every fund-holder, who has a son there to watch over his monies, and a son, too, so gifted, and withal in a situation that necessarily gives him priority of knowledge, as to the wishes and intentions of the persons there in power. What a lucky thing it was, that the Baron's son was so situated!- -There are people, I know, who will inquire into the motives whence the noble Baron might be induced to deposit such large sums in the American funds, and who, with an affectation of profundity, will go about to trace such deposits, in the hands of a foreign nation, to their probable political effects; but, I shall not imitate these frigid philosophers. Having stated the facts which have already transpired, and hazarded a few conjectures as to others that will soon transpire; having considered the thing merely in the way of trade, I shall leave these deep-sighted philosophers to inquire and to trace, as long as they please.I should now proceed to remark upon the reports and the bill before-mentioned, and to shew the partiality, the insincerity, and falshood, contained in the former, and tolly of the latter. There are also some Congress speeches, which would merit exposure; but, I have not now room; for, it would be greatly censurable not to do ample justice to all these. The people in the State of Massa❤

chusetts' Bay are, I perceive (in November) beginning to ety out against the non-imporsation act, which was to go into effect in the middle of this month. I said the people of New England (Massachusetts', New Hamp shire, Connecticut, and Rhode Island) would never suffer themselves to be sacrificed to the frenchified partiality and vindictiveness of the Southern States; and, I am morally certain that they will not. They represent the non-importation act as impracticable; they know it cannot be enforced ; and, if it could, they would not submit to its provisions.- -There is one foolish fellow in the Congress, who talks about conquering Canada, Nova Scotia and Jamaica. The New-Englanders laugh him to scorn; and, to be sure, he is a sad madman. This quaEity in him is well known. They used to have an alliteration about him: "Red"headed Randolph rose, ranted, and roar'd." I forget the rest of the couplet; but, I remember, that it was excellently descriptive of his person, character, and manner. Conquer Jamaica The New Englanders bid him remember, that England has some ships of war there, and they significantly hint, at the fate of the Chesapeake. They are a sensible, cool, and honest people, and they know that their government is in the wrong.

The Congress has been passing laws for establishing a cannon-foundery, for making powder magazines, for making fortifications, and for raising soldiers and sailors. I think I see one of the New England members coming from a sitting of this sort, laughing to himself, and saying, "I wish

my head may never ache, till those laws "are carried into effect." It would be impossible, without exciting a commotion, to raise any cosiderable part of the money necessary for such purposes. But, the "New Amphyctionic Council" loves to talk big. With what big, tik did it vote 100,000 dollars, for the purpose of erecting a tomb to the meTory of Washington! After taking time to cool, it reconsidered the matter; it reduced the sum to 50,000; at the next cooling, it reduced it down to 20,000, or £4,500, and, after all, not a farthing was expended, and the General's body, which, in consequence of a vote of Congress, had been asked and obtained from his widow, is, I believe, to this day, lying under an ill-shaped heap of boards in the wooden building, with their usual disgusting vanity, they call their Capitol. All these warlike laws are, like this vote about Washington, intended for foreign

tect; they are amongst the means, which they are employing to bully us out of our wits and our rights; to hymble us; to break

us down to the views of the maritime confederacy in Europe; to glut upon us that vengeance, which has been engendered in their hearts by the circumstance of our being able to exist a great nation separated from them. Let no Englishmen be cajoled by the insinuations, contained in their speeches and reports, that it is our rulers that they hate, and not us. They hate England'; England in particular; they hate Scotland next, and like Ireland tolerably well. Of this, proof upon proof will appear in their speeches and their news-papers. They hate the English most, because they think, that they are best off; and they like the Irish, because they think, that the Irish hate the English. They care not who rules us, or how we are ruled, so that we do but suffer; so that misery alight upon our persons, and disgrace upon our name. And is there, then, one of English birth, a wretch so unnatural as to love them? Is there one so criminal as to wish success to their endeavours?

-At the same time, that they are, in their usual boasting strain, talking of preparations for war with us, they are full of apprehensions of a revolt in their newly acquired territory of Louisiana, where a paper, printed in the French language, openly calls upon the people, to remember, that they are Frenchmen. To suppose, that they can collect taxes from the States upon the Missisippi to carry on a war, which, by the sole means of two of our frigates, must depopulate those States, is madness equal to that of Randolph. In short, they touch the crisis of their fate; for, if they proceed to new acts of insolence, and if our ministers have only common sense, the country is, in the course of two years, divided into three or four separate sovereignties.--I do not wish for this. There are many valuable people in the country. I wish not to see them harrassed and torn to pieces. But, if they will have war with us, or insist upon seeing us degraded, war let them have, and let it be war once for all. The very circumstance of their wishing to retain our seamen is proof of their malignity towards us. They can do without our sea men; but, they know that we want them to defend ourselves against France, and for us to be able to make that defence, they do not wish to see. This is the evident motive, by which they are animated, and what more do we need in proof of their malignant, though cowardly, hostility.In my next, I shall return to the subject, which, of all others, is the most important at this time. The Congress must be followed, step by step; all their threats and their boasts nast

be put upon record; all their actions and motives truly represented; and their fame established, wherever the English language is spoken, or read, from the Ganges to the Thames. This has long been wanted to be done; England has greatly suffered; all Europe has greatly suffered, from the deceptions with respect to the American States, their government, and the character of their people; but, the success of that deception does, I trust, approach towards its end.

As for my own part, I shall think a year of my life well-employed in communicating to the world wholesome truths respecting them, and in opening the eyes of those Englishmen, who, for the sake of that freedom of which they erroneously think them the possessors and supporters, still view them with partiality. I know, that the American clan, of whom there are great numbers in England, will abuse me without measure; but, I have more of truth to assert than éven their hearts can engender of falsehood. I shall pass by the abuse of all their underlings and hirelings, and, as I used to do when amongst them, keep steadily on in the exposure of the principals. This little work, which starts into the new year with an extent of circulation greater than that of any former year, finds its way, first or last, into most of the countries and courts of the world; and so far as it goes, so far will the true character of the government, governors, and people of the American States be known. Bolley, Dec. 31, 1807.

COBBETT'S

Parliamentary History

OF

-ENGLAND,

Which, in the compass of Sixteen Volumes, royal octavo, double columns, will con*tain a full and accurate Report of all the recorded Proceedings, and of all the 'Speeches, in both Houses of Parliament, vfrom the earliest times to the year 1803, when the publication of "Cobbett's Par"liamentary Debates" commenced.

The THIRD VOLUME of the above Work is ready for delivery. It embraces the period from the Battle of Edge-hill, in Óctober 1642, to the Meeting of the Parliament begun at Westminster, April the 25th, 1660, commonly called the CoNVENTION PARLIAMENT, which was sitting at the return of Charles the Second in the month of May following, and which voted his RESTORATION. As the Materials from which it has been compiled are drawn from the same sources as those of the preceding Volumes, it is almost unnecessary to say

any thing by way of addition to what is therein stated: but, as the Editors of the Parliamentary or Constitutional History of England, in 24 volumes, 8vo, published in 1751, conclude their labours with the Restoration, it may be proper again to state, that that masterly performance has, thus far, been made the ground-work of the present undertaking. The many Narratives of Battles, Sieges, &c. with which the work just mentioned abounds, and which serve only as an incumbrance to the Reader, and a constantly intervening obstacle to his researches, have been purposely omitted; while, at the same time, every thing connected with the real Proceedings of Parliament, and that could, by possibility, be hereafter useful to the Historian or the Politician, has been most cautiously retained. The Journals of both Houses, those great fountains of authentic information, have, in every instance, been carefully consulted and followed: Many Notes, illustrating, from the Historians of the Times, the Characters of the principal Members of both Houses, and explaining, where necessary, the business before them, have been introduced: Aud, to the whole is subjoined, by way of Appendix, a very scarce and curious Tract, published in the Year 1660, almost immediately after the Dissolution of the Long Parliament, entitled, "The MYSTERY OF THE GOOD OLD "CAUSE briefly unfolded, in a Catalogue "of such Members of the late Long Parlia "ment, that held Places, both Civil and MiFitary, contrary to the Self-Denying Ordi nance: Together with the Sums of Money "and Lands which they divided amongst "themselves during their Sitting"

66

***The magnitude of the Parliamentary History, the great labour and expence at tending it, and the comparatively small number of copies, which, to avoid serious risk, it has been thought adviseable to print, render it necessary, thus early, to adopt precautions calculated to prevent any broken sets remaining on hand at the conclusion of the work. Subscribers are, therefore, particularly requested to send in their Names to their respective Booksellers, as no Copies will, on any account, be sold, but to the purchasers of the former Volumes.-Gentlemen, resident in Ireland, wishing to become subscribers, will please to apply to Mr. Archer, of Dublin.

"PERISH COMMERCE."

SIR,It is nearly impossible for those who read your friendly invitations, and who have a thought or two to spare, to withhold from communicating them to you, especially when prompted by the bold doctrines you

advance, and the extraordinary temper you discover, at a crisis that to almost every other person is a subject of alarm and regret. You will excuse me, Sir, for thinking that whatever force there may be in your arguments, your triumph at the prospect of a change which you imagine must necessarily arise out of the present embarrassed state of commerce, is seasoned with an unbecoming degree of levity. When the clouds which are charged with sulphurous matter, burst forth in lightning and thunder; or, when the ground, labouring with confined combustibles, opens its bowels, and vents itself by an earthquake; although we are aware that beneficial consequences will follow these explosions of nature, neither the prospect, nor the event would inspire any one with laughter. And he who can "laugh heartily" at annihilated commerce, when he confesses it would produce a very great derangement of affairs in the community, and throw great numbers on the parishes, "wars more against nature" than he who in such a case attempts to find employ for the "ousted manufacturers, &c." by making roads, and canals, and works of public utility. You affect to believe that no mischief of any consequence would ensue, because if one or two hundred thousand do suffer, that is but a small proportion of 10 or 12 millions. And, as by your plan, that what one loses another saves or gains, you intimate that the sufferings will be only transferred; and no doubt you think it perfectly right that those who hitherto have had their enjoyments, should exchange circumstances with those in the community who have had their sufferings. If this could be effected as easily as one centinel can be substituted to replace the duties of another, I should be exactly of your opinion; but, as I am fully convinced that no great and sudden change can take place in a country, without an awful civil convulsion, I cannot look forward to such an event as inevitable, without a great degree of concern, That the country has great cause to complain of shameful prodigality in its government. I am not in the least disposed to question. But viewing war and not commerce (any other than it has been very improperly made the cause of war) as the cause of all the corruptions in government, and of all the burdens on the nation, as I shall soon attempt to show, I think you, Sir, stand chargeable with the fault of promoting a continuance of those evils, by recommending a system of domination and defiance, that must for ever operate as a cause of universal hostility to us. But what is most extraordinary in your system is, that while you reprobate the value of foreign

commerce to the nation, you suppose it. greatly advantageous, and indispensably ne cessary to maintain an immense naval force. Those who penetrate much below the surface of things, may be able to discover such necessity; but it certainly is a very general opinion, that the principal use of our maritime force is to maintain our foreign commerce, and that all our danger of invasion arises from our persisting in a monopoly of it. If then, we are better without this commerce than with it, we might discharge a large portion of our seamen, which added to the ousted manufacturers might all be turned on the land, till by dint of labour we might almost convert stones into bread. The doctrine advanced by you and Mr. Spence, if it went no farther than to shew that England can do in cases of necessity without foreign commerce, would be very: laudable; but, when you state an innocentand useful traffic to be the prime and neces sary cause of our misfortunes, and recommend a system of defiance calculated to se i parate this country from the rest of the world, this is proceeding to an extreme of barbarity. You assert that the hemp and flax this country imports, it might grow. This for aught I know to the contrary, may be true. Yet, when it is confessed that the country does not grow corn enough for its. inhabitants, (although I should suppose that seven-eights of the tillable land is cultivated as well as it will admit, without an expencethat the produce will not repay) I think it is very doubtful, whether we have land enough for all our present products, and hemp and flax besides. You assert, indeed, to my astonishment, that there are millions of acres in the West of England, that were formerly cultivated, now suffered to remain waste. I am at a loss to discover how you can perceive the traces of the plough which passed a century or two since over those mountains, now only traversed by hunters and hares. But, supposing it to be true, it can only be neglected because it does not pay the expence of cultivation; and as this is brought about on your own plan, by “letting things work their own way," it is no doubt as it ought to be. But you will tell me, that the reason why it will not pay for cultivation is, because we import corny hemp, and flax, which if prohibited, would be so much wanted as to bring it to a price that would pay for producing it at home. All this may be true; but if in the naturalway of letting things alone to work their way, a nation finds that it can make cloth, v and hardware, &c. and exchange them for a small proportion of its corn, and all its hempat and flax, with greater cheapness, and more