can than I expected it would, when I first took up the pen; but, the subject, an inexhaust ible one it is, must be my excuse with you, and momentous it is equally to its inexhaustion. Mercantile men who pride themselves on their self importance, and the consequence they consider themselves with respect to the nation at large, may fairly conclude from my observations on the treatment we have experienced, from the neglect with which we have been treated, and from the sacrifice which has been made of us by government, what value is set upon our rank in the common scale: to have suspended us by dozens would have been mercy to us, compared with the treatment we have experienced. The value government puts upon the rank and character of mercantile men in the state, and their beneficial exertions towards the increase of commerce may be readily estimated. You, Mr. Cobbett, and Mr. Spence have been insisting that we well do without commerce. One consideration in support of the doctrine you have brought forward into public view, and contended for, you have left to me to furnish you with, that even the government of this country acts as if commerce was unnecessary, from the sacrifice of those who carry it on; and which government assuredly would not do if it was beneficial; certainly, the best method of completely putting an end to coinmerce, is to sacrifice those at the shrine of the " new morality," which contends for the adoption of nothing but what concerns oneself; a like sacrificing the merchant by whom commerce has been brought to an unprecedented heighth, and the manufactures of the country, which through his means have been raised to a pre-eminence unexampled. Thus to extinguish our importance, is to shew in what view the commerce of the country is held, duly appreciating its value. and insignificance. If the remnant of life now remaining to me, and my faculties will permit, I may again trouble you for a space in your Register, for some remarks upon the different decisions by the board under the treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation, and the board under the convention, now sitting in London, shewing the various proceedings which have taken place when the Ame rican debtor was a party, and now that the American debtor is no longer a party, with the objections which have been brought against our claims, which even the American agent for the debtor never contended for, though it was their interest to lessen our demands as much as possible, a difference I cannot account for; for what was declared to be law by the board in America, it does secni to me should be held to be law by the board here; particularly as the present board consists of the identical individuals who composed the majority of the board in America, where they had to contend with men by no means deficient in skill, though possibly not possessing superior ability to the members of the present board, who, I presume, were on that recommendation selected for their office, and appointed to the consideration of the claims of A RUINED OLD AMERICAN MERCHANT.-Feb. 29,1808. IRELAND. SIR-Catholic emancipation, and the abolition of tithes might perhaps prove auxiliary towards removing the return of the disorders, that have long afflicted Ireland, but their operation could only pro duce a temporary effect. It is true, that Catholic emancipation, by gratifying the pride of the Romish aristocracy, would, occasion sincere efforts on their part, to excite among the lower orders of the Catholics a hearty resistance to French invasion, while the abolition of tithes would put their value into the tenant's pocket during his lease, and so far increase his means of subsistence; it is evident, however, to common sense, that the adoption of such measures could produce no solid or permanent good, when we fairly consider the source from which all the evils spring; rack rents and non-resident landed proprietors, are most certainly the primary and sole cause of all the calamities, which have afflicted that unhappy land for the last century; an exuberant population, ill lodged, ill fed, and ill clothed, will be always ready to join the standard of sedition, for the propensity is in human nature. To describe evils without prescribing a remedy, is useless, and to prescribe a remedy when there is little hope of its being adopted is nugatory in spite, however, of such discouraging prospects, I will trespass upon you with my opinion. Political concessions the most liberal and extensive must prove wholly unavailing. Measures that directly come home to the root of the evil, can only prove efficient. Long have the landed proprietors of Ireland, been in the habit of extorting excessive rents from the oppressed occupiers, without any allowances or deductions for building or repairing their miserable habitations, or improving their land. The arrear to patriotism and humanity, on that score, is deep indeed, and I may venture to affirm that it will never be discharged without the vigorous and determined interposition of the legislature between peasantry and property. This I may be told would be dangerous and unconstitu houses be built and kept in repair, (as in England) by the proprietor :-5th. Let all landed proprietors, who do not reside, at least, six months in the year on their estates, pay an absentee tax of 10 per cent. the produce of which shall be solely applicable, to improve the condition of the lower orders of the people under the direction of a board instituted for that purpose: this will contribute to secure residence. Should the health or age of the proprietor require a different residence, in such case, one of his family may represent him on his estate. Let an inspector be appointed to ench county, and (if that inspector be a well informed Englishman, so much the better) who shall make an annual circuit of the county to which he is appointed, and upon oath report the condition of the peasantry, which report shall be published, specifying the proprietor on whose estate misery prevails: this would be of incalculable benefit towards meliorating the state of the lower orders of the peasantry Strong as these measures appear to be, certain I am, that if they are not adopted, or others which shall nearly approximate them, Ireland never can long remain in a state of tranquillity. The times are past, when a great agrarian peasantry will endure oppression without those ebullitions which shock humanity and disgrace the erain which we live. When or where we shall find an administration with vigour and virtue sufficient to carry such measures into effect [ knew not. In what quarter of the political horizon shall we look for them? In our past rulers, I could contemplate no bold compre hensive plan aimed to embrace the prosperity or to secure the stability and duration of the empire;--their talents as men are un questionable, their abilities as ministers, con-temptible, and their patriotic virtue very suspicious; during their short reign, never was there a more gross or indecent abuse of power in the distribution of appointments, particularly in that profession where mora-t lity and high character should have been religiously consulted From the present administration, I can flatter myself with no very sanguine hope, I fear that they are trimmers and want energy to encounter ä measure of such prospective magnitude,-it is not fair to prejudge,-may I be mistaken! tional: unconstitutional it might be, but the danger lies the other way. Pray what was the suspension of the habeas corpus and the invasion of property to the tune of 10 per cent.? they were and are gulped down, from imperious necessity and for the salvation of the empire. If Ireland is to be permanently secured to Great Britain, it must be by the courage and energy of the great body of her people, and their efforts can only be obtained by possessing comforts to defend. Political rights are grateful to the mind, they flatter national pride, and aristocratical ambition, but how insignificant are they to the feelings of a large agricultural peasantry, debased and brutalized by filth, and poverty? Can Catholic emancipation give them food, raiment or decent habitations? but what would it do for the Protestants? would it cloth and feed them too? so ignorant, I am persuaded, are numbers of the lower orders of Irish Catholics, and so much have they heard of this said emancipation, that they actually think that it would lodge, clothe and feed them plentifully. At the same time I can see no good reason, why the Irish Roman Catholics should not be completely emancipated; it could not increase their physical powers one particle, nerve a single arm or forge one pike inore against the state than already exists. It would be just and liberal, it would be in harmony with the spirit of the constitution; good it might do, mischief none; the experiment, therefore, would be reasonable and politic at the present awful crisis: true, it might mortify protestant pride, long in the exclusive possession of political power. Veteran monopolists do not like that a participation of their privileges should extend to others; that however ought to have no weight with the rulers of a great empire, when its security is at stake. But to return from this digression and at once to come to the point. The relief I have in contemplation for the great mass of the Irish peasantry consists of the following measures:1st: Let all the landed proprietors of Ireland be obliged, in future, to let their farms to the occupiers who actually reside upon, and cultivate them; by this measure, the middle men, or land pirates, will be annihilated:2d. Let no man occupy for grazing, more than a given quantity of land with modifications with respect to its quality; by this measure bipeds will supplant quadrupeds, and an encreasing populaau tion will find food and raiment : -3d. Let no human habitation have less than ten acres of arable and pasture attached to it; this will secure from starvation the family who occupies it :-4th. Let all cottages and farm I well know that the measures I have suggested would excite the indignation of Irish peers, commoners, squires, and land jobbers; to them I must beg leave to observe, that I really wish to save their throats from being cut, their lands laid waste, their country desolated, and the British empire overthrown.-It is not a little irritating to hear an Hibernian member, with firm front, start up in the Imperial Parliament, and harangue with patriotic ardour, on the calamities of his country; he boldly affirms, that if something be not immediately done for Ireland, that it will become a French colony: Agreed, but who is to do that something? as the why such men, very honourable gen. tleman on his legs,-let me ask him, who is to enable the miserable wretches on his estate to clothe, feed and lodge better, but he himself? would he wish to thrust his hand into the public purse to improve the condition of his tenants agreed,-let him do so, provided that he will replenish that purse when it is empty,does he not put the whole rental of his estate into his pocket, undiminished by repairs, property-tax, allowances for improvements, or audit dins ners, while an English landlord hardly receives three-fourths of his rent clear, and pays for every consumeable article an enormous price-In a word, there are no landed pros prietors in Europe who owe so much to their country, as the gentlemen of Ireland; there is no country for which God has done so much, and man so little. Let me exhort those gentlemen, before it be too late, to give up, (at least for seven years) the charms of Harrowgate, Margate, and all the gates and mouths, too, with precious Bath and voluptuous London, and reside in their own country, let them lower the rents of their little tenants, and encourage, not excise, Let them contribute to their industry. render the habitations of the peasantry decent and comfortable. Let them give bounties for order and cleanliness, and by frequent inspection see that the intention of such bounty be carried into effect; a mere fiat, will never do in a country where the people In many parts have never in fact, been comcivilized-the residence of the many pletely would give peace and security to the whole. Between cowardice and dissipation Ireland has been nearly deserted, so that the few gentlemen who have had virtue and fortitude to stand their ground in the country `parts actually maintained posts of danger.-In point, I knew a. gentleman, who, for two years, never went to bed until break of day, he and his family, even including his wife, were on duty every night,--had other gen tlemen acted with similar courage, vigilance, and perseverance as he did, the late rebelso horribly lion never could have been powerful and tremendous as it was,-nay, it mght have been prevented entirely —I kn what it had been long the practice in Ireland, when the oppressed broke out into oppressors, for acts of cutrage against their Discounts, 4 senatorial adventurers, forersian dema gogues, and inflammatory pamphleteers, to direct the storm against the state. Government, which had never provoked the insurrection, was bound, however, to put it down by military force; hence, being considered by the insurgents as allies to the landed tyrants, who were the original aggressors, both became the common object of democratical attack. The fact is, Government and the Irish peasantry are far distant from each other. I know of no point in which they are in direct contact, except in the tax on hearths, and even that small duty escapes the chimney of the solitary cottager, or the cottager with one hearth.-Whether the duty on whisky or tobacco be any real grieveance, I must submit to economists and moralists, under a free constitution it is not easy to conceive how an agricultural peasantry can be oppressed by its government, I mean, where a just usage and a humane order of things, prevail; for, most assuredly, the quantum of rent should be regulated by the quantum of taxation to which the renier is subject, this is so obvious a truth, that it requires no illustration.-It is high time that the saddle were placed on the right horse,to this very hour there are many, even thinking people in England, who are per suaded that all those disorders that have af flicted and disgraced Ireland, have been occasioned by political misrule and persecution from government, whereas white boys, oak boys, and all the boys sprang from causes in which government had no more to do than the Emperor of China. - Since the house of Hanover ascended the British throne, the people of Ireland have feltry impulse from their political rulers, by which their comforts or happiness were diminished or disturbed —In England, all oppression flow from Government, in Ireland they ar inflicted by the rapacious band of the land ed interest. Your most obedient servant, 26th Feb. 1808. BANK OF ENGLAND. J. W. SIR, Having lately conversed with several gentlemen on the subject of the late demand made by government on the Bank of England, for the loan of three millions, to be repaid by exchequer bills (not bearing interest) six months after the signing a den nitive treaty of peace, and amongst the num ber were members of the imperial "partia ment, I found them warmly to espouse the conduct of government on the occasion; and as the arguments generally made use of by them led to the same point, I conclude, that those who have defended the princi HA ples on which the demand has been made, have drawn their conclusions from the same source. The argument is this, that a person keeping money with his banker has a right to use his balances in any way he pleases, and therefore the bank of England, standing in the situation of banker to governRent, that government have an undoubted right to make use of their own balances. On this subject, sir, I most perfectly coincide. But is this a fair statement? I contend it is not; for if the premises are good, that government have a right to make use of their own balances, which I allow, then what occasion was there for any communication to take place between the chancellor of be exchequer and the governor and di. rectors of the bank of England, as to the loan of three millions without interest. I certainly should not communicate with my banker on the subject of the disposition of my balances in his hands, and of course. there was no necessity for government niaking any communication to the bank of England as their banker. I consider therefore, sir, that the question-resolves itself into a very narro v. compass.-Government have either been unnecessarily demanding their right, or they have demanded what ought not to have been in the power of the governor and directors of the bank of England to grant-For if the three millions are not intended to be drawn from the balances of government in the bauk, they must consequently be taken from the surplus or savings of the company; and I cordially agree with the author of a late publication, addressed to the proprietors of bank stock, that such an accumulation ought never to have taken place; for whenever the savings or profits had warranted a division, it ought by every principle of honour and justice to have been made And, sir, I am bold to assert, that men who have supported the minister on this occasion, have condemned the conduct of the governor and directors in placing the company in such a situation as to have induced government to make the demand, from a knowledge which they presumed they possessed of the sums that had (so unjustly) been suffered to accumulate, to the manifest injury of each individual proprietor.-I trust, sir, that at the first general court held at the bank, the question as to whether the three millions are only to be drawn from the balances of government, or whether they are to be considered as a loan arising from the savings of the company, will be brought forward, in order that the transaction may be placed in its true light, and prevent future misrepresen tations; and, should it appear that the three millions are to be taken from the balances of government, I do not consider that any injury will be sustained by the company, but that the flourishing state of their finances will enable them to continue with the addition of a bonus, their usual division of twelve pounds per cent. per anuum. But, should it appear that the three millions are to be taken from the savings of the company, it will be necessary to submit a motion on the subject to the court of proprietors, strongly urging them to adopt such a line of conduct as will prove the means of procuring for themselves a fair distribution of that property they have so unjustly been kept out of. I retain, sir, your obedient humble servant,-JUSTICE.-Fb. 28, 1808. SINKING FUND SIR; Your correspondent, C. S., could not discover any sense in my plausible" doubts, which you placed in your register of 14th November,-but to enlighten my igno rance, he charges me with sinister designs, because i have dragged out his conclusions before your readers, and left behind the "curtain those of Mr. Pitt and Lord H.. "Petty," as if such fine names, might not be innocently omitted for sake of brevity. He reduced their practical calculations to brief,- he adopted their conclusions, not without contempt for the authors, and now he flies to their deified names for shelter from the rule of three. is quotation 9 times, of Lord H. Petty's quotation of Mr. Pitt, was needless, for every one bad by rote, how that angel of a man confessed ('twas a timely and well acted confession) that a nation out of debt, is in the high road to ruin. C. S. goes on to dispel my doubts, thus (p. 9-10): unquestionably they are ignorant of " the effects of competition and capital, "who can doubt the extent of the mischiefs "that must result from the competition of "600 millions, with a capital of 100 mil lions."-Now, Sir, I appeal to you, that I did not doubt such effects, if the causes were possible. What I doubted was, that if the 600 lions be paid by taxes, the circulating capital can be encreased thereby, and of course I doubted that the competition so much dreaded, can have existence. C. S. goes on (p. 941) "now that the extensive How? calamities of a sudden extinction of the "debt is admitted on all hands!!! a certain consequence of an impossible cause? -no, but if it be paid by means of the Sinking Fund, which must take up before it pays down, (as we giddy-pated Irish think) any competition between the 100 and the 600 millions, is impossible. The trustees to the Sinking Fund have already taken up, say (for convenience of round numbers) 100 millions of the 000 of debt, and I ask, if the money which they paid away for the said 100 millions, did encrease the circulating capital of 100 to 200 millions;-if it did, or did not, C. S.'s premises or conclusions are false, q. e. d.-Hear him again," a no"minal encrease has the same effect on real money, as a real encrease could have, "and all he contends for is, that it must "nominally encrease to the amount of the debt, and therefore that the real depreci"ation must be in the proportion which the "debt bears to the circulation." This is mere kettle-drumming, unless it means payment of the debt without taxes, or that the debentures in circulation are no part of the circulating capital, nominal or real, which would be to say, that they are nothing at all. It has no relation to the doubts which I have put in one sentence, "that payment of the national debt by means of taxes, ta"ken out of the circulating capital, can encrease it." His third sub-division of my doubts, says, that my "notion" is old, -in his first part, he says, "if it be not just, it is new."-but be it old or new I entreat you Mr. Cobbett, to inform a society of Jrishmen, who almost adore your love of your own country, whether the Sinking Fund can take a debenture out of the market until its value be first taken out of circulation, and whether, 100 millions already discharged, were gathered out of a pocket where that sum was not, a miracle which our Irish faith cannot admit unless you make it clear As for C. 3.'s notable advice, 86 take peace any how-to surrender the na اله . 10 val dominion, to go back where our fore"fathers left us, to teach our population "the use of arms, and our soldiers, agri"culture, &c." (p. 947), I shall only say, that it is a pity he omitted the whole plan of the law-giver called Gonzalo, in Shakespeare's Tempest; I would by contraries "execate all things,-no traffic would I admit, letters should not be known,— poverty, riches, none. No occupation, men idle, and women too, but innocent and pure, treason would I not have, and nature should bring forth all abundance to feed my innocent people, " &c. &c."-C_S, concludes, shew us that no real or nominal endrease will take place "if the national debt be paid by means of taxes, and then we shall confess our error, but till then we maintain, &c. &c."-Sir, this is cruel, that a professor,-a writer of eight long essays, occupying 60 columns of 46 your excellent work, should thus throw the burden of proof on his ignorant audience,— but I have only suggested doubts, and I leave them to the digestion of C. S.'s pupils: OSGUR.-20th February, 1808. COURT OF ADMIRALTY. SIR, Having perused in your Register of the 14th ult. a letter signed R., wherein your correspondent complains of abuses existing in the administration of the prizelaws, and committed (as he says) under the authority of the court of admiralty; I am induced, partly by reflections arising out of the facts stated' in that letter and partly by some observations suggested by the late orders of council, to submit for your consideration a few brief iemarks, not on any individual abuses in practice committed by, or under the authority of this judicial court, but on some radical defects (as such they appear to me) in its theory and constitution.I have, indeed, Sir, long thought, and the public have thought with me, that there is much, very much, which calls for enquiry and reform in a court deciding, as this does, according to the laws of nations, on the rights and interests of the subjects, not only of this, but of foreign kingdoms also; and which ought, therefore, in its tone and temperament, its character, and its habits, to be regulated by the most scrupulous delicacy of judicial accuracy.The first and most objectionable trait I am led to notice in the complexion and character of this court is the following:-The right Honourable Judge, who presides therein, and decides upon the cases brought for trial and for adjudication, in pursuance of orders issued by the privy council, is himself a member of that deliberative and executive body, wherein the justice and expediency of those orders is decided upon, and by whose authority they are consequently issued. But, Sir, having thus discharged his duty as a privy counsellor, this same individual acting in his judicial capacity has to carry into execution those orders he has himself assisted in framing, and the discharge of which latter duty proves lucrative to himself in proportion tothe extent of these previous orders. For instance, should it be debated in the privy council, of which this judge is, as I have stated, a/member, whether an order for detaining and subjecting to trial the ships of neutral nations should be made to extend to Swedes and Prussians or to Prussians only, the profits afterwards accruing to him in his capacity of judge are in their amount materially affected by the determination of such |