mission and their title.The second object relates to the formation of the companies of the grenadiers and chasseurs, which is regulated by the laws of the 18th of October and 14th July, year 3d. It shews on one hand, that there are in the national guard, composed of citizens, more or less disengaged or employed, more or less disposed to the service, some detachments easily disposable, whose motions may be always prompt, the employment of which might be always sure, whose spirit may be tried; in a word, some choice detachments, that might be ready on the first emergency. On the other hand, it purports to relieve as much as possible from a painful service, which is even expensive, in consequence of the interruption of labour, the poorest class of society, and not to reckon, for rather an active service, on any subjects but those, who have the time, the means, the inclination, to give themselves up to it, and who consequently are induced to it by a more lively interest. The companies of grenadiers and chasseurs composed of subjects, who shall equip themselves at their own expence, who shall offer themselves from a voluntary devotion, or who shall be the objects of an honourable choice, appear to me to be suited to the accomplishment of this two-fold end.— In fine, Sire, your intention no doubt will be, that the national guards shall be solely employed for the maintenance of internal order, for the security of places, and for the defence of the frontiers and of the coasts. Abroad, the active armies, conducted by yourself, have no need of this support. The certainty of not being removed from their families, will inspire a greater ardour, a more constant attendance on the service of this guard; and the presence of their hearths reminding the citizens, who shall compose it, of the interests for which they are armed, will make their service more efficacious, their devotion more spirited. The public functionaries possessing at present an elevated rank in the state, and having acquired it by former and glorious military services; these functionaries bearing a name dear to Frenchsoldiers, and invested with a character which our laws render venerable; placed by your Majesty at the head of the national guards, would give them a wise direction, and, more than any thing else, would shew, by appearing at their head, in what spirit they had been established, and with what spirit they ought to be animated. CHAMPAGNY.

Speech of the Prefect of the Seine at the head of the Corps Municipal, con presenting the Keys of the City of Paris to the Emperor Napoleon; September 24, 1893.

SIRE,Here are the keys of Paris,

of the capital of your empire, of that city which you have made the first in the world. In offering you that ancient symbol of the submission and devotion of the city, we cannot dissemble, Sire, that joy, that delicious sentiment, which always signalizes the arrival of your Majesty within the capital, is united this day with emotions more grave, and no less deserving of being appreciated by your Majesty. The annunciation of an Imperial sitting of the Senate, the rumours which had preceded that intelligence, those also that have followed it, some circumstances that are known, others that are said to be known; in a word, every thing that is known or supposed, for some days bas thrown the public mind into a kind of agitation which demands only a word to become the most generous and national impulse.This word, Sire, we expect, and the immense crowd that is about to follow you is impatient to learn what impulse will be permitted, or what measure shall be prescribed to their indignation and their zeal.——God forbid, Sire, that we should seek to predict the designs of your high wisdom, or the conceptions of that great genius, which has every where made you master of times, places, and events; but if it be true, as it is reported, that an attempt is meditated against your person, that an attempt is intended against the independence of the nation, against our liberties and our establishments; direct, that the defence should be proportional to the interest of such a cause; or, if it should be necessary to march, believe, that every thing will be soon ready to follow you, serve you, and avenge you.- -Such, Sire, are the sentiments of your good City of Pa-. ris.—In every part through which the procession passed, the crowd was immense, enthusiasm at the height, and the acclamations unanimous.

Decree of the Emperor Napoleon relative to the Conscripts.

All the conscripts of reserve, of the years 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13, are placed n activity in the annexed departments. The departments shall direct their contingent on the corps, according to the statements 2 and 3, three days after the publication of the present decree, which shall be sent by extraor dinary couriers.--Another decree of the Emperor directs, that all the discharged noncommissioned officers and privates, whether finally discharged, or absent on temporary retirement, or on half-pay, if capable of active service, shall be permitted to join any corps of the army they may desire. The decree provides, that such veterans shall be ad

tnitted in the corps, they shall join respectively, of their former standing, and that their former services shall be allowed them in conjunction with the further services in their claims for military rewards. Serjeants, quarter-masters, corporals, and brigadiers, shall have the same rank, but must serve till vacancies occur on their half-pay. Both non-commissioned officers and privates are to have the power of limiting the time of their services. They are to be new clothed and equipped at their arrival at the corps, and their stock of linen is to be provided at the public expense.

Report made by Marshal Berthier to the Emperor Napoleon, relative to the Conscripts; dated Paris, September 24, 1805.

SIRE,Your Majesty wished for peace; your armies on the coast were about to force England to subscribe to it, when the influence of that nation seems to have roused new armies to France.--Some powers of the North dare to threaten the empire; that array of war has awakened in the hearts of all the French the desire to fly to the standards which victory has often crowned.The old soldiers, who at the peace had returned to their homes, aspire to the honour of taking up arms again, and of directing the young conscripts. Your Majesty will receive their wish with goodness; but there exists a law by which every soldier whose service has experienced interruption is deprived of the advantages of his former service. I propose a decree, therefore, that these soldiers shall be admitted to their former rank.——————Marshal Berthier.Monsieur Regnaud de Saint Jean D'Angely reported also on the subject of the national guard to the Emperor, in the council of state, to nearly the same effect. This report concludes with recommending two regulations respecting the national guards; first, a guarantee that they should not be employed out of the territories of the empire; and secondly, that when called on service out of their district, their services should be considered as military services, and entitle them to all the indemnities, all the rewards, and all the advantages granted to the army.

Prefecture of the Seine.- Military Conscription.

The conscripts of the year 14, who have not yet enrolled their names with their respective municipalities, are informed, that the operations relative to the designation being to commence this year on the 2d of October, all those who shall not be enrolled on the 1st of October shall be compeiled to march first, pursuant to the laws of conscription.-Here

follows an order of the ministers of war, regulating the manner in which the conscription laws shall be carried into effect in the twelve arrondissements of Paris.

DOMESTIC OFFICIAL PAPERS. ADDITIONAL FORCE BILL. Circular Letter to the Lords Lieutenant of Coun ties, dated Whitehall, 20th Sept. 1805.

The Inspector General of the Recruiting Service having represented to me, that the Deputy Lieutenants of the several subdivisions in the country under your charge, have hitherto omitted to certify to him what parishes, within their respective subdivisions have failed in raising the men required of them under the Additional Force Act, within the period thereby assigned, I am under the necessity of calling your particular attention to the 28th section of that act (44 G. III. c. 66), by which you will observe, that, in every case in which the number of men required to be raised in any parish are not provided within the legal time, the Deputy Lieutenants of the subdivision in which such parish is situated, are required forthwith to certify the same to the Inspector General or his deputy. I have therefore to request, that you would make the necessary communication on this head to the Deputy Lieutenants of those subdivisions, in order that the certificate required by law may be immediately transmitted to the Inspector General, which should be addressed to him, under cover to the Secretary at War, War Office, London; and for the purpose of enabling you to make this communication as speedily as possible, I enclose a number of copies of this letter, equal to the number of subdivisions in the county. For the same purpose, I also enclose

copies of my circular letter of the 16th inst. as it is highly desirable that the arrangements therein detailed should be made as public as possible. —As the vacancies arising in the militia, until the number of militia men serving for the coun ty are reduced to the original quota, are to be supplied for the additional force, you will further observe, that the section of the act above recited, applies equally to vacancies in the militia and to the additional force; and that the time assigned by law, within which the parishes may provide their men, without incurring a penalty, is one month from the appointment at the subdivision meeting, with regard to the vacancies in the additional force; and, with respect to the militia, one month from the receipt of the certificate from the clerk of the general meetings to the Deputy Lieutenants of the subdivision for which the militiaman occasioning the va cancy was enrolled.- -I have, &c.

Vol. VIII. No. 15.]

[PRICE 10D.

545]

SUMMARY OF POLITICS. LORD MELVILLE AND HIS PARTISANS. (Continued from p. 530.) Anxious as I am to enter upon other subjects, I cannot bring myself to quit this, till I have placed the whole of it before my readers in its true light. My general motives and character are, in themselves considered, of very little importance to the public; but, when a description of them is employed as a means of palliating the conduct of Lord Melville, they become of an importance exactly proportioned to the extent of the circulation and influence, whatever they may be, of my comments upon that conduct; for, however decidedly logic may reject every attempt to justify one man by producing the crimes of which his accusers have been guilty, it is, nevertheless certain, that every such attempt, if not counteracted, does, in some degree or other, succeed. The crimes of which I am accused by these hirelings are not, indced, very similar to those of which Lord Melville stands in reality accused. Mine are of a literary nature; they have in them nothing, partaking of the nature of peculation or corruption; and, the reader might well ask, "how can Mr. Cobbett's pamphlet (if they "will have it so) published in 1791, and complaining that the soldiers were cheated of their due; how, in the name of common sense, can the act of writing and publishing such a pamphlet by Mr. Cobbett, supposing him to have been the au"thor and publisher, and supposing the "work to have been most powerfully mis"chievous; how, in what way, or upon "what principle, can such a fact be brought "to tell in favour of Lord Melville?" But, the reader, who would ask this question, would forget, that there is a very numerous class of readers, who never reason, and who very seldom take time to think, having so long been in the habit of paying the editor of some newspaper eight or nine pounds a year each to think for them. With this class words are enough. Lord Melville has his fanits to be sure, and so has Mr. Cobbeit, "for all he makes such a piece of work about Lord Melville and Mr. Fitt. Let "him who is guiltless "They are all alike. ་་ always will be so."

"

throw the first stone. It always was so, and These are the sort of

[546

remarks you hear from such persons. They stop not a moment to examine, to compare, to judge; and, therefore, it is necessary to deprive, where you can, the partisans of guilt of the means of thus amusing, bewil dering, and misleading the people; of thus blunting the edge of the just resentment of the nation -For this reason it is; that the cause of the country suffer not through me is the ground, upon which I venture thus to obtrude myself upon the patience of my readers. Important and even awful as are the times; great as are the objects that present themselves on every side, I am fully persuaded, that the decision with regard to Lord Melville is that which claims the greatest share of our attention; because, on that decision, and on the proceedings therewith connected, it will be made clearly appear, even to the lowest peasant in the land, what is the degree of anxiety, which he ought to entertain, and, of course, what are the efforts which he ought to make, for the preservation of the laws and the government under which he lives, and under which Lord Melville became, and continued for sixteen years to be, Treasurer of the Navy.—VERSATILITY is one of the charges against me, upon which I must say a few words. Of my '66 changing," as it has been called, from Mr. Pitt to Mr. Fox, I have already spoken, in Vol. VI. p 513, to which I beg leave to refer the reader, requesting him to bear in mind, that no answer has ever been attempted, and trusting that he will conclude, that no answer could succesfully be made. But, the versatility alluded to by the "SOCIETY OF GENTLEMEN," made its appearance in my conduct in America. I “ rica. I changed from a republican to a

high-flying loyalist." Such a change should, one would think, be approved of by these supporters of the "confidential ser"vants of the King.". But, we do not, in politics, apply the term versatility to a mere change of opinion, or of party. We always understand from the use of it, that there has been some inconstancy; some inconsis❤ tency; some deviation from the path of honour; in short, we generally understand, that the change alluded to has been produced by some sinister motive. If this definition of the ten be correct, then, I think, I may G

defy any one to show, that.I discovered versatility in America; for, the motives, from which I acted, could not be any other than those of real patriotism and loyalty, seeing that what I did was contrary to my evident private interests, and seeing that, at the time when I began to write, it was utterly improbable, that I could have had the least notion of ever returning to England. Had I been willing to become what they called a citizen of the United States; had I taken the oath of allegiance, as other British subjects did; had I even forborne only a little to assert the cause of my country; nay, had I consented merely to refrain from declaring my unshaken attachment to monarchy and my dislike of republican government; in how many ways might I have profited from it! There were no reasonable bounds, to which I might not confidently have looked forward to see my fortune extended! My perseverance in a contrary line of conduct appeared so unaccountable, upon any common principle, that the people in America, friends as well as foes, regarded me as being in the pay of the British government. The latter abused me most unmercifully upon the supposition, and the former, though they justified the ministry for giving me a pension, and me for taking one, did not, perhaps, think the better of me for it. I always denied the fact; but, my zeal, my efforts, my sacrifices of every sort, were such that it was impossible to make men believe, that I was not regularlyandaraplysupplied with the gold "of Pitt." So far, however, was this from being true, that I never did, upon any occasion, receive aid of any sort from the British government. MR. LISTON, our minister in America, informed me, in the year 1798, I think it was, that the ministers at home were fully sensible of the obligations due to me from my country, and that, if I would accept of nothing for myself, they wished me to point out any of my relations, in the army or elsewhere, whom they might

serve.

To which I answered, as nearly as I can recollect, in the following words. "As "to my relations in the army, I can ask for "no promotion for them, because I have "not an opportunity of knowing whether "such promotion would be consistent with "the good of the service; and, with respect to my relations out of the army, a sudden elevation might, perhaps, be very far from contributing to their happiness, "besides which, though it would be my duty

to assist them by means of my own earnings, “I should not think it just in me to be in"strumental in throw ng them as a burden upon the nation." I may now have ex

pressed myself with more perspicuity and conciseness than I did then; but, this was the substance of my answer; and, if I may judge from what I have since witnessed amongst public writers, I must suppose, that MR. LISTON was utterly astonished. It should be observed too, that, if there was a man in the world, through whom such an offer could have had a chance of success, that man was MR. LISTON; a gentleman for whom I entertained a very high respect, and. whose conduct constantly evinced, that he was not merely a receiver of the public money, but one who had the interest and honour of his King and country deeply at heart, I had been a witness of his zeal, of his real public spirit, of his unremitted attention to his duty, of the great mischiefs he prevented, and of the great good which he did; and, I respected him accordingly; but, neither that respect, nor any other consideration, could induce me to depart from that line of perfect independence, which I had at first chalked out to myself, and from which, I never have, to the best of my recollection, for one moment, deviated.It is, therefore, quite impossible, I think, to attribute my writings in America to any other than honourable and praise-worthy motives. The truth is, the change in my way of thinking was produced by experience, I had an opportunity of seeing what republican government was; this experience overcame prejudice; I followed the dictates of truth and of reason. Instead of that perfect freedom, and that amiable simplicity, of which PAINE had given me so flattering a description, I found myself placed under a set of petty, mean, despots, ruling by the powers given them by a perversion of the law of England. The judges (for it is to the courts of justice that I look for the marks of freedom) I found, generally speaking, to be a set of low, partial, jobbing fellows; and, as to the juries, I found, that whoever knew the jurors and the parties, knew the result before the trial began! Never was there such a vile mockery of any thing, as the American administration of justice according to the forms of England. There was a judge at Philadel phia, who was actually caught thieving in a shop. This must not be taken as a specimen of the conduct of the judges in general; but, it will easily be supposed how little respectable the judges must have been, where such a fact could have existed, and that, too, without creating any very great_indignation in the minds of the people. I saw judges canvassing in the very courts where they were acting as judges; canvassing for the posts of governor, or of legislator in the ge

neral government; and, in one notorious instance, this sort of canvass was prosecuted, amongst the plaintiffs and defendants even from the bench. In short, I found, that there was no such thing as impartial justice in the country; and, of course, no such thing as real freedom. There were a hundred ways in which the powerful oppressed the weak; ways quite unknown in England, I four, that the government was a despotism of the many over the few; for, every act of oppression was committed in the name of the people: hence the sufferer experienced no compassion, and the oppressor no punishment, and very little hatred. The merchants were, in general, without probity; the lawyers mere pettifoggers; and the people full of cheating and profligacy. The general character of the nation I found to be a mixture of insolence and meanness. Many, very many, exceptions, were, however, to be found. A part of the people of the United States always appeared to me to be amongst the best of mankind. Scrupulously upright, hospitable, kind and generous to excess, and most nobly steady in their friendships. I observed, too, that it was amongst the descendants of the ancient settters, amongst the real Americans, that this description of persons was found; and that, in general, the more recent the emigration, the worse the character. This observation tended most powerfully to confirm me in my growing hatred of republicanism, almost all the good people having been, and yet, in heart, being, royalists.And, shall the change, produced in my mind by experience like this, be denominated versatility! But, the change which these "CYCLEMEN" affect to have perceived in my principles, since my return to England, is, perhaps, the ground upon which this charge is to rest; and here there is a very odious motive that they scruple not to impute to me; namely; that of revenge arising from " disappointment" a charge which I am the more inclined to take this opportunity of noticing, because it was once mentioned to me by DR. VALPY, as having been urged against me, at READING, during the opposition to Mr. Addington. This is an important point, as far as any thing relating to a person like me can be of importance; and, therefore, I shall be obliged again to trespass upon the patience of the reader with a detail somewhat minute.--From my very first outset in politics, I formed the resolution of keeping myself perfectly independent, whatever difficulty or calamity might be the consequence of it. In adherence to this resolution, I rejected, in America, many offers of

great pecuniary advantage; and, so scrupulous was I upon this head, that an offer of my landlord in Philadelphia (a person of ample fortune) to settle upon my daughter, then about two years old, an estate worth 4001, sterling a year, was rejected by me, though the will was made; and, this rejec tion arose solely from my persuasion that it was necessary to the preservation of my political independence, a persuasion that the reader would percieve to have been well founded, if he could possess a full knowledge of the circumstances, in which I was then placed. When urged by MR. Oldden, whose memory I shall always respect, to consider the comfort of my child, I replied, that either she would die in her infancy or she would not; it the former, she would need no estate; if the latter, she would be able to choose between a father's reputation and a fortune for her elf: if she chose the former, the want of the fortune would, of course, give her no pain; and if she preferred the latter, she would deserve neither fortune nor any thing else that was valuable. I am here relating well-known facts. When Mr. OLDDEN died, his relations expected to see me come forward with the will, and with my claim. My disinterestedness was admired, but, neither that nor any other good quality that I happened to possess, could prevent the abominable injustice of a Philadelphia judge and jury.With the same resolution in my mind I returned to England. The first opportunity of putting it in practice was in a little matter, with which OLD GEORGE ROSE had something to do. I had brought home with me books, printed in America, enough to fill a couple of large trunks; and, having been informed by MR. PELLEW, the collector at Fal mouth, that, as to books not for sale, it was usual, upon an application made to the Secretary of the Treasury, to obtain a remission of the duties, I wrote to OLD ROSE, informing him of the circumstance, and stating to him the ground, upon which my

claim was founded. GEORGE did not admit the claim; he made some difficulty about It; but, finding that I had, at once, paid the duty, amounting to about ten pounds, perhaps, he caused it to be notified to me, that the money should be returned to me. This offer I would not accept of, not perceiving how, except by way of a Treasury gift, such a return could be made.After this, an offer was made me of the TRUE BRITON newspaper; and, it was male me, too, in the most fair and honourable way. There would have been nothing improper in my accepting of it upon the terms proposed; there