come."" 66 vile tool of a party professes to be so very ignorant, as to the reason why Lord Wellington's army was not inmediately shipped off for America, he seems to have forgot all that he so lately said, about the necessity of our keeping up a large army in Belgium, in order to support the claims of our dear try. It was that measure alone that paralized our efforts against the Americans, and until Ministers give up their views as to continental arrangements, or these matters be finally adjusted, it is in vain to ex In this short extract, there "been a matter of astonishment to the are no less than three distinct falsehoods as public in general, what could have preto the causes of the war with America. It" vented the immediate transportation was not provoked by the American Govern-" of our victorious troops at once from ment, but by us. It was not entered into" Bourdeaux to America.---When this ser on their part for unjust purposes, but to vindicate the personal rights of its citizens. It is not from a desire of aggrandisement and conquest that the Americans prosecute the war, but to resist the attempts now made (after the original grounds of war have ceased to exist) to compel the relinquishment of a portion of territory in ourally, the Prince of Orange, to that counfavour, which never before was the subject of contention.-As to our navy keeping the ports of the United States in a state of alarm and confusion, I am not disposed to question this. But I have yet to learn that we have either" taken towns or de-pect a vigorous prosecution of the war on the stroyed magazines" belonging to the ene- American soil.-But then, we have a navy. my. At least, if we have done more in Yes, a formidable navy, consisting of a this way than holding out threats, I should thousand ships of war. A navy, by which like to have some better evidence of the fact we have actually annihilated the fleets of than the statement of the Courier. It is France, Holland, Spain and Denmark, true, I recollect something of an attempt, and rendered all other European States in a on the part of Sir John Warren, to take manner tributary to our victorious flag. Why possession of Craney Island. But here, if does not the Courier boast of the mighty the Americans did not defeat our purpose, things done against the American navy, they were indebted for their good fortune which is but in its infancy, by 30 tremento the stupidity of the planners of the attack, dous a force? Why does the Times inwho found it necessary to relinquish it after dulge itself in declamations about the disour troops were in the boats, in consequence tribution of our army, when the disposal of of the want of water to carry them in shore our navy, and the little it has accomplished —a circumstance as capable of being ascer- against America, presents so wide a field tained before as after the attempt. The for animadversion? Have our brave tars affair which has just happened near the done enough for glory, that they are now Falls of Niagara, has all the appearance to be laid aside? Or rather, has not the of a drawn contest, in which neither of the influence and importance of those who conparties had any great advantage over the duct the affairs of this essential department other. When the American account of of our national defence, been superseded this battle arrives, it will then be seen how by that of the army? Whichever of these far my opinion is correct. Meanwhile, may be the cause of our naval inaction, it though the Courier seems to be fully satis-is galling to think of the numerous losses fied with these great and glorious achievements, I perceive that the Times newspaper does not feel quite so easy upon the subject. In the leading article of this morning there is the following desponding paragraph:-"We must own that we had "hoped, ere this, to have had to record "victories obtained in America at a less "expence of blood. It is not economy in war, it is cruelty, to keep back the force "which would render opposition vain. It "is a wanton waste of valuable lives, to take the field with an inferior army, "when we have it in our power to display "an irresistible superiority. From the "moment of the tresty of peace, it has the country is every day sustaining, through the activity and daring of the Americans. A list of captures, made out from Lloyd's list up to the beginning of this month, makes the number of our vessels taken by the enemy amount to ONE THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED AND FORTY NINE! In the month of August alone, no less than one hundred and five of these were captured. But it is not capturing merely that is the most vexatious and degrading part of the business. The greater part of these vessels have been taken in sight of our own ports, by an enemy over whom the Courier exults, that our navy keeps every port in the United States in a state of alarm and confusion,” Would it not be wiser if that navy, instead of employing itself in alarming the old women and children on the coast of America, and burning their houses, were to return home and protect our own coasts, and commerce, from an evil ten times more fatal to us than all the injury we can ever do in that predatory warfare? This is not that sort of glory to which British tars used to be accustomed. A Nelson and a Cochrane sought out, fought, and vanquished the enemy. We seem to shun the contest; or if we do engage in it, such is the torpidstate to which our gallant tars have been reduced, by long neglect and discouragement, that the Americans have almost uniformly been the victors. It has been attempted to ac Vessels Names. Frigate, Java.. count for these decided advantages, by stating, that the enemy's vessels were larger, and carried more guns than ours:→→→ Formerly, the courage of our seamen used always to consist, in their beating an enemy superior both in number and weight of metal-It is not, however, the fact, that our vessels have always been inferior in point of strength to the Americans. This will appear quite evident from the following statement of the relative strength of the different ships of war, taken by the Americans and by us since the commencement of hostilities, and the number of guns carried at the time by the captors, and the captured :— The Ships of War taken from us stand thus: Macedonian....38 Rate. Mounted ..14 guns. .52 44 .52 .38 .52 ... ..18 .20 Peacock..18 ..18 .20 Reindeer..18 .20 Wasp Ditto.. 16 Dominica....10 17 Decatur (Privateer). 7 ..... Perry (ditto).. 5 Six sail of Vessels on Lake Erie, under the command of Capt. Barclay......68 Taken by a Squadron, under the com- All the vessels taken by us from Ame- | been so often made, that our commerce is rica appear, from the above statement, to sufficiently protected by a judicions disposal have carried fewer guns than the captors. of our navy. If these facts, relative to our Several of those taken from us were su- maritime war with America, have become perior in this respect to the Americans who so clear and demonstrable, it will be nothing took them; and although those captured surprising, considering how much our by the latter were not all of that descrip- Rulers occupy themselves with European tion, yet, if we calculate the number of affairs on the Continent, should our Ameguns actually mounted at the time of en-rican troops be ultimately compelled to gaging by all the vessels put together, it retire from the contest, with equal disgrace will appear that our ships of war carried and humiliation.- -I am, your constant NAUTICUS. in the aggregate 512, while those of the Reader, enemy had only 466-making a difference of 46 guns less on board the Americans. WILLIAM DAVIDSON, in the Chair. tained by his Lords) ip, who, nevertheless, Signed by appointment, CORRUPTION. GENTLEMEN,-In imitation of the very respectable Inhabitants of Paisley, we now presume to step forward to congratulate you on the laudable and praise-worthy step you have lately taken, in re-electing the Right Honourable Lord Cochrane as one of your Members for Westminster, whom the base time-servers of the day had, through wicked and deceitful means, unwarrantably deprived of set in Parliament. Not satisfied with this, his Lord-ardent ship's enemies pushed matters so far as to obtain a sentence of pillory, fine, and imprisonment as if he had been a common felon-nay more, deprive him of those laurels he had so magnanimously won, and SIR.-I do not think that a word, in the so justly merited at the hand of his country. whole circle of our language, could be His Lordship's firmness and praise-worthy found to designate more aptly, and with resignation under these uncommon suf-greater effect, the system presently acted ferings, we cannot too much admire and upon in this country than the word Cor respect; and we fondly hope that, not-ruption. Dr. Johnson says that it sig withstanding all these afflictions, his in-nifies wickedness; perversion of principles; nocence will soon be confirmed by the ex- the means by which any thing is vitiated; posure of those base intriguers and their depravation.I was lately reading the intrigues, to the utter confusion of all Discourses of Algernon Sidney, concern time-serving placemen and their confede-ing Government, in which I found the folrate hirelings. We rejoice that his Lord-lowing passage, that struck me very forciship possesses laurels more noble and last-bly as applicable to the present times, and ing, which it is not in the power of Princes, as greatly tending to illustrate the meaning nor their advisers to bestow, or take away. Dr. Johnson has affixed to this word. We also trust, that when his Lordship Some of your readers may, perhaps, be able shall assume his honourable seat, he will be also to discover the resemblance :more emboldened than heretofore, in con- "Cæsar set up his tyranny by spreading junction with your other Honourable corruption farther than others had been Member Sir Francis Burdett, in opposing able to do; and though he, Caligula, and Corruption and its abettors, till the nation, some others, were slain, yet the best men roused from its lethargy, shall unite, in be- found it as impossible to restore liberty to half of all those who have been unjustly the city when it was corrupted, as the wronged; and thus will our little happy worst had done to set up a tyranny whilst island outvie, and triumph over all her the integrity of their manners did continue. enemies, both at home and abroad. Gen-Men have a propensity to run into all mantlemen, we hope and flatter ourselves that you will have no cause to lament the re-election of your Right Honourable Member; we have no doubt his Lordship will be proud of the honour you have done him, as it cannot but attach him more closely to you, and to the interests of the nation. We know that many thousands in Great Britain rejoice at the step you have taken, and the victory ob ner of excesses, when plenty of means manner hermetically sealed, for the purpese of preventing intelligence of its real situation transpiring. But this does not always prevent the truth from coming out. From Cadiz a proclamation, and general order, has been received, issued by the Captain General of that province on the 28th ult. which sufficiently develope the agitated state of the public mind. He complains of "the seditious conduct of sonic individuals;" he talks of "traitors and disturbs of the public repose who con Fulse witnesses and accusers had a better trade under Tiberius than under Trajan, who abhorred them; and whores, fidlers, with other such vermin, abounded certainly more when encouraged by Nero, than when despised by Antoninus and Marcus Aurelius. All tyrannies have had their beginnings from corruption: the histories of Greece, Sicily, and Italy, shew that all those who made themselves tyrants did it by the help of the worst, and laughter of the best: men could not be made subservient to their lusts whilst they continued in tinue mislead the people"; he says their integrity; so their business was to that these offences can no longer remain destroy those who could not be corrupted; unpunished that "just shall in future they must therefore endeavour to maintain be executed with the eclerit demands;" the corruption by which they attain to their that a milrribunal will be established greatness. "Tis not easy to name a Mo- to decideree days; and that every narch that had so many good qualities as ene as to be rongot before it, who may be Julius Cæsar, till they were extinguished accused of having directly or indirectly by his ambition; he knew that his strength" spoken against the Sovereignty of Ferdilay in the corruption of the people, and that "nand VII." When a Gorament finds he could not accomplish his designs without it necessary to resort to messures of this increasing it he did not seek good men, description, in order to compel a people to but such as would be for him; and thought be loyal, it is very plain that its power is none sufficiently addicted to his interests, fast verging to a close. But the most exbut such as stuck at the performance of no traordinary part of this Spanish Captain's wickedness that he commanded: having proclamation is that which respects the spread his poison among the soldiers, his other Sovereigns of Europe. After stating next work was by corrupting the Tribunes that every Spaniard "ought implicitly to to turn their power to the destruction of obey the orders of the Monarch," he asthe people, which had been erected for their signs as a reason for this, that these preservation."-Yours, &c. DION. orders have been "recognised by the Powers of Europe."-He also asserts, that Ferdinand owes his restoration to the thrones of Spain and the Indies to "the valour and fidelity of his subjects and armies." I question much whether any of the Powers of Europe (unless indeed we except the Pope) have given a direct sanction to the measures of which the people complain. But although they had; although all the world had recommended the re-establishment of the Inquisition, and the uncontrolable domination of the priesthood, it was the duty of the King to reject this; and to shew, by the establishment of good laws, that he consulted the happiness of a people, to whom, he admits, he is indebted for his crown.-In giving them up to the savage controul of a barbarous and brutish clergy, he puts the seal upon his own ingratitude, and relieves his subjects from all obedience to his orders and decrecs. SPANISH AFFAIRS-In Europe and in South America the affairs of Spain are every day assuming an aspect more consoling than they have of late, because they are more favourable to liberty. The last accounts from Buenos Ayres convey the agreeable intelligence of the surrender of Monte Video, the last strong hold, in that quarter, of Spanish despotism. "The fall "of Monte Video," says the writer of these accounts," is considered as a death blow "to the monarchial system in this part of "the world."In the mother country, oppression still rears its head, but measures are pursuing of a nature so obnoxious, that the disaffected must, ere long, become sufficiently formidable to overawe their pressors. Almost every where the people are ready to proceed to extremities, and to repay, with usury, the wrongs they are suffering by the re-establishment of political and spiritual tyranny. The country is in a op Printed and Published by J. MORTON, No. 94, Strand. 1 Vol. XXVI. No. 14.] LONDON, SATURDAY, OCT. 1, 1814. [Price 1s. 417) [418 great, that the Americans, in one instance, put their horses into the limbers (or shafts) of our cannon, instead of the shafts of their own; and that the Americans cut down our artillerymen from the very sides of our -The Morning Chronicle ex SUMMARY OF POLITICS, AMERICAN WAR.-We have e now the Gazette account of the battle of Chipawa, and also the American account of that memorable and important contest.Iguns. guessed our force at about three or four presses its great satisfaction, that the exthousand men; and it appears now, that pedition has, at last, sailed from Portsit did not amount to three thousand, out of mouth to America. A few more battles, which we lost in killed, wounded, missing, like that of Chipawa, would cause this and prisoners, 878! The Americans say, organ of the Whigs to change its tone.that their force was inferior to ours. They As I said before, it does appear, that the state that they have eighteen of our officers prisoners; and their account agrees with ours as to the numbers that they took in the battle. Our Gazette says, that we took several hundreds of prisoners." But, why have we no detail? why no detailed list of what we have captured? Surely, several hundreds are soon counted. A thousand sheep, spread over a field, are counted in ten minutes. These omissions look suspicious.It is certain, however, that the Americans did retreat with the prisoners they had made, and that they had to contend with a most gallant enemy.Numerous as were the battles of Napoleon, and brave as were his soldiers, I do not Now, the Americans, though they rebelieve that even he, the greatest warrior tired, they retired with our second in comthat ever lived, can produce, from his mand, and a great many other prisoners. wars, an instance of a contest so well main-Why, therefore, may they not, in fact, tained, or, in proportion to the numbers have been the victors, if we were the engaged, so bloody as this of Chipawa.-victors at Corunna and Talavera? Our own account tells us, that our first in But, it is of little consequence who really command was severely wounded, our second gained the victory. The important fact is, in command severely wounded and taken that we have now got an enemy, who fights prisoner; and, when we come to see the as bravely as ourselves,-For some time, American account, we find, that their first the Americans cut no figure on land. and second in command were both so se-They now have proved to us, that they verely wounded, that neither was able to only wanted time to acquire a little discip write, or to dictate, a dispatch to the Go-line. They have now proved to us what vernment several days after the battle. they are made of; that they are the same Yet we find, that this little band of raw sort of men as those who captured wholetroops (as the Americans must be), though armies under Burgoyne and Cornwallis;, really left without heads to direct them, that they are neither to be frightened nor took off the cannon and the prisoners that seduced; and that, if we should heat them they had captured during the engagement. at last, we cannot expect to do it without -It appears from General Drummond's expending three or four hundred millions, account, that the cannon of the two armies of money, keeping up all our present taxes, were run up to each others muzzles; that and adding to their amount, or imposing the fight was so close, and the confusion so'new taxes. These are the facts, that Americans, after the battle, retired some miles; and so does an army very often, when it has been successful. How many victories, good God! did we win in Portugal and Spain, without stopping an hour on the field of battle, but retreating from.. it with all possible speed? Did we not win a most glorious victory at Corunna; and did we not instantly embark, in the utmost confusion, leaving the town to the beaten enemy? Did we not win a still more glorious victory at Talavera, which earned the winner a title; and yet, did we not leave even our own wounded to the humanity of Napoleon's gallant army? |