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munications from Europe had enabled me to inform you, that the belligerent nations, whose disregard of neutral right has been so destructive to our commerce, had become awakened to the duty and the policy of revoking their unrighteous edicts That no means might be omitted to produce this salutary effect, I lost no time in availing myself of the act authorising a suspension in whole, or in part of the several embargo laws. Our ministers at London and Paris were instructed to explain to the respective governments there, our disposition to exercise the authority in such manner as would withdraw the pretext on which the aggressions were originally founded, and open the way for a renewal of that commercial intercourse, which it was alledged, on all sides, had been reluctantly obstructed. As each of these governments had pledged its readiness to concur in renouncing a measure, which reached its adversary through the incontestible rights of neutrals only, and as the measure had been assumed by each as a retaliation for an asserted acquiescence in the aggressions of the other, it was reasonably expected that the occasion would have been seized by both, for evincing the sincerity of their professions, and for restoring to the United States its legitimate freedom. The instructions to our ministers, with respect to the different belligerents, were necessarily modified with a reference to their different circumstances, and to the condition annexed by law to the executive power of suspension, requiring a degree of security to our commerce, which would not resuit from a repeal of the decrees of France. Instead of a pledge, therefore, for a suspension of the embargo as to her, in case of such a repeal, it was presumed that a sufficient inducement might be found in other considerations, and particularly in the change produced by a compliance wish our just demands, by one belligerent, and a refusal by the other, in the relations between this other and the United States. To Great Britain, whose power on the ocean is so ascendant, it was deemed not inconsistent with that condition, to state, explicitly, that on her rescinding her orders in relation to the commerce of the Unied States, their trade would be opened with her, and remain shut to her enemy, in case of his failure to rescind his decress also. From France no answer has been received, nor any indication that the requisite change in her decrees is contemplated. The favourable reception of the proposition to Great Britain was the less to be doubted, as her orders of council had not only been referred for their vindication to an acquiescence on

the part of the United States, no longer to be pretended; but as the arrangement proposed, whilst it resisted the illegal decrees of France, involved, moreover, substantially the precise advantages professedly aimed at by the British orders. The arrange ment has, nevertheless, been rejected.This candid and liberal experiment having thus failed, and no other event having occurred on which a suspension of the embargo by the executive was authorised, it necessarily remains in the extent originally given to it. We have the satisfaction, however, to reflect, that in return for the privations imposed by the measure, and which our fellowcitizens, in general, have borne with patriotism, it has had the important effects of saving our mariners, and our vast mercantile property, as well as of affording time for prosecuting the defensive and provisional measures called for by the occasion. It bas demonstrated to foreign nations the modera tion and firmness which govern our councils, and to our citizens the necessity of uniting in support of the laws and the rights of their country; and has thus long frustrated those usurpations and spoliations which, if resist ed, involved war; if submitted to, sacrificed a vital principle of our national independence. Under a continuance of the belligerent measures, which, in defiance of laws which consecrate the rights of neutrals, overspread the ocean with danger, it will rest with the wisdom of Congress to decide on the course best adapted to such a state of things; and bringing with them, as they do, from every part of the Union, the sentiments of our constituents, my confidence is strengthened that in forming this decision, they will, with an unerring regard to the essential rights and interests of the nation, weigh and compare the painful alternatives out of which a choice is to be made. Nor should I do justice to the virtues which on other occasions have marked the character of our fellow-citizens, if I did not cherish an equal confidence that the alternative chosen, whatever it may be, will be maintained with all the fortitude and patriotism which the crisis ought to inspire.The documents containing the correspondences on the subject of the foreign edicts against our commerce, with the instructions given to our ministers at London and Paris, are now laid before you. The communication made to Congress at their last session explained the posture in which the close of the discussions relating to the attack by a British ship of war on the frigate Chesapeake, left a sub ject on which the nation had manifested so honourable a sensibility. Every view of what

had passed authorised a belief that immediate steps would be taken by the British government for redressing a wrong, which, the more it was investigated, appeared the more clearly to require what had not been provided for in the special mission. It is found that no steps have been taken for the purpose. On the contrary, it will be seen in the documents laid before you, that the inadmissible preliminary which obstructs the adjustment is still adhered to; and, more. over, that it is now brought into connexion with the distinct and irrelative case of the orders in council. The instructions which had been given to our ministers at London, with a view to facilitate, if necessary, the reparation claimed by the United States, are included in the documents communicated. Our relations with the other powers of Europe have undergone no material changes since your last session. The important negociations with Spain, which had been alternately suspended and resumed, necessarily experience a pause, under the extraordinary and interesting crisis which distinguishes her internal situation.-With the Barbary powers we continue in harmony, with the exception of an unjustifiable proceeding of the Dey of Algiers towards our consul to that regency. Its character and circumstances are now laid before you, and will enable you to decide how far it may, either now or hereafter, call for any measures not within the limits of the executive authority.-With our Indian neighbours the public peace has been steadily maintained. Some instances of individual wrong have, as at other times, taken place, but in no wise implicating the will of the nation. Beyond the Mississippi, the Ioways, the Saca, and the Alibamas, have delivered up, for trial and punishment, individuals from among themselves accused of murdering citizens of the United States, on this side the Mississippi: the Creeks are exerting themselves to arest offenders of the same kind, and the Choctaws have manifested their readiness and desire for amicable and just arrangements, respecting depredations committed by disorderly persons of their tribe. And generally from a conviction that we consider them as a part of ourselves, and cherish with sincerity their rights and interests, the attachment of the Indian tribes is gaining strength daily, is extending from the nearer to the more remote, and will amply requite us for the justice and friendship practised towards them; husbandry and household manufacture are advancing among

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them more rapidly with the southern than the northern tribes, from circumstances of soil and climate: and one of the two great divisions of the Cherokee nation have now

under consideration, to solicit the citizenship of the United States, and to be identified with us in laws and government, in suche progressive manner as we snail think best.-In cou-equence of the appropriations of the last session of Congress for the security of our sea port towns and barbours, such works of defence have been erected as seened to be called for by the situation of the several places, their relative importance. and the scale of experce indicated by the amount of the appropriation. These works will chiefly be finished in the course of the present season, except at New York and New Orleans, where most was to be done; and although a great proportion of the last appropriation has been expended on the former place, yet some further views will be submitted to Congress for rendering its security entirely adequate against naval enterprize. A view of what has been done at several places, and of what is proposed to be done, shall be communicated as soon as the several reports are received. Of the gun boats authorized by the act of December last, it has been thought necessary to build only 103 in the present year; these, with those before possessed, are sufficient for the harbours and waters most exposed, and the residue will require little time for their construction, when it shall be deemed necessary.--Under the act of the last session, for raising an additional military force, so many officers were immediately appointed as were necessary for carrying on the business of recruising; and in proportion as it advance ed, others have been added, We have reaso to believe their success has been satisfactory, although such returns have not been received, as enable me to present you a statement of the numbers engaged.--I have not thought it necessary, in the course of the last sear son, to call for any general detachments of militia, or of volunteers, under the laws passed for that purpose; for the ensuing season, however, they will be required to be in readiness, should their service be wanted. Some small and special detach ments have been necessary to maintain the laws of embargo, on that portion of our northern frontier which offered pecuirat facilities for evasion; but these were replaced as soon as it could be done, by bodies of new recruits. (To be continued.)

Printed by Cox and Baylis, Great Queen Street; published by R. Bagshaw, Brydges Street, Covent Garden, where former Numbers may be bad: sold also by J. Budd, Crown and Mitre, Pall-Mall.

VOL. XIV. No. 27.] LONDON, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1808. [PRICE 10D.

"This, it seems to me, is the point, upon which the fate of Spain will turn. Uncommon, unheard of,
"exertions are required; new courage, new talents, new genius, are demanded. To call those forth, powerful
"motives must make their way, at once, to the hearts of even the lowest orders of the people. A choic
"of persons, to whom the people are to be slaves, appears to me to be no motive at all. Hence, I con-
"clude, that, if the leaders in Spain persevere in making war for the restoration of their king, they will
be defeated, and that Joseph Napoleon, though the son of a green-grocer, will stand at the head of their
new family of sovereigns. God forbid that such should be the result; but, if the struggle be made for
"no better purpose, the failure of the Spaniards will be a subject of regret with those only, whose fears of
"the conqueror have deprived them of the power of reflection."-POLITICAL REGISTER, Oet. 8, 1808.
993]

In the present Number, which con-
cludes the volume, I have not, as in the
former volumes, inserted any Index. I did
not myself find the index useful, but the
Table of Contents very useful. I have,
therefore, made this Table much fuller than
usual, and have so arranged the articles,
that any one will be easily found. The
OFFICIAL PAPERS stand first, the date of
each being added to the title; next come the
LETTERS FROM CORRESPONDENTS, the sub-
ject and signature of each being specified;
next the ARTICLES WRITTEN BY
EDITOR, the several topics of each article
being mentioned, in the order in which they
follow each other; and, lastly, come some
MISCELLANOUS ARTICLES, which were
found not to come naturally under any of
the former heads. This Table of itself will,
I am of opinion, be found to be no very
imperfect chronicle of the events of the
half year; and, I am sure it will, as far as
dates go, save a great deal of trouble in the
way of reference.

SUMMARY OF POLITICS.

THE

SPANISH REVOLUTION.Yes, for a re-
volution it will be, in spite of all the efforts
of the Central Junta and of John Hookham
Frere. Upon this subject there has been
published in the Courier newspaper, of a
few days ago, a long letter signed X. Y. con-
taining accusations against Mr. Waithman,
the Edinburgh Reviewers, and myself.
The two former need no defence, seeing that
the writer has inserted a passage from Mr.
Waithman's speech, and also from the Re-
view, which passages will do great good, and
will be remembered to advantage when the
accusation against the authors are forgotten.

As to myself, I notice this writer be-
cause his letter opens the way for an ex-
posure of those, by whom, in all proba-
bility he is paid, and affords me an oppor-
fanity of placing in a new light many things,
which cannot be too strongly imprinted
apon the public mind.The accusation

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against me is this: That though I might
like well enough to see the Spaniards in a
state of revolution, I could not wish them
success, when I considered that they were
opposing Buonaparte, who had so often
humbled the English government, and all
the friends of the English constitution;
that it went against me to applaud those who
were hostile to one, who had so often grati-
fied the feelings of the opponents of the
English ministers, and especially, as the
Spaniards were fighting for their lawful
sovereign, and not for a rights-of-man go-
vernment; that, accordingly, I set to work,
on the 24th of June last past, to alarm
weak persons in this country, lest England,
should associate herself with a new race of
Robespierreans; that, thus, at a moment,
when all ranks and all parties were enthusi
astic in the Spanish cause, when the few,
who, from party feeling, were less warm than
the multitude, dared not even murmur dissent,
"that good patriot Mr. Cobbett, truly in-
"stigated by the devil, stepped forth, with

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a hellish spirit, to throw the apple of dis-
"cord amongst us ;" and, that, if this
writer could suppose it true, as he is firmly
persuaded it is utterly false, that any per
son in this country, from the king to the
cobler, dreaded the success of the Spanish
patriots as tending to excite a spirit of re-
volution in this country, he should set down
the shame of that delusion to the Patriot
William Cobbett, who was the first to en-
gender a factious feeling on a cause, respect-
ing which this whole nation was unani-
mous; a cause, on the success of which de-
pended the dearest interests, not only of
England, but of the world.Now, sup-
posing, for argument's sake, all this to be
true. Supposing, that, with the devil at
my back, I did use, on the 25th of June
last, and have continued ever since to use
my utmost endeavours to persuade the peo-
ple of England, that, to carry on war for
Ferdinand was the way to fail, and that, by
a different way of proceeding something

would be brought about that I wished to see brought about. Supposing this, and all the rest of it. What harm have I done? My advice was not followed. The ministry, and all those whom, upon such occasions, they call forth to address the king, and praise them, have set their faces against my wicked council. They have made war for Ferdinand; they are still at it; and, as they will have all the benefits of such a line of policy; as the cause will not have been injured by me and the devil, why set up a whining complaint against us? Had We indeed, succeeded in persuading the ministry, or any part of this besotted nation, to follow our hellish advice, and had the cause then failed, there would have been some ground of complaint against us; but, the wise and godly were upon their guard against us; they have made, and are making, war for Ferdinand. "Great luck" to them, again I say; but, if they fail, let them not throw the blame upon the devil and me. 'I feel little disposition to justify myself against the false charges of this assailant; for, any one, who can believe me to have a friendly feeling towards Buonaparte, and that I mourned at the thought of seeing him defeated; any such person is beneath my notice, and must be too foolish and insignificant a creature to have any weight in society, more than a mouse.there is one passage of this charge that I cannot refrain from noticing in a manner somewhat more particular; and that is, the passage, wherein this writer speaks of the

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-But,

English constitution," which he, according to the invariable custom of the hirelings, identifies with the English ministry, and which constitution it is my wish, and my constant endeavour, to assist in restoring and preserving. But, I must be excused, if I differ from this writer as to who are the great enemies of that constitution; he will, I hope, have the goodness to excuse me, if I do not clearly perceive any harm that Buonaparte has done to it, while I can see, that much harm has been done to it, and is now doing to it, by the corruptors, the corrupted, the peculators and plunderers, in England, Ireland, and Scotland. These appear to me to be the best friends that. Buonaparte has in this kingdom; and, of these I am a bitter, and would fain be, a mortal enemy. It is to persons of this description that Buonaparte owes all his conquests; and it is from them, that we everywhere hear charges of disloyalty preferred against those, who complain of their infamous robberies and oppression. Year after year the work of conquest goes on.

Every Christmas sees a kingdom or two fill beneath the conqueror. Still the bircling crew change not their tone. Sull they can discover no fault in the old system of opposition to him. Still they cling to the rouen stump that is crumbling away before him. Still they continue to excuse all those, who recommend that, out of which alone could spring the means of effectual resistance of his terrible power, and still more terrible policy. And, still the cowed-down, the confounded, the besotted nation, lends but too favourable an ear to their crafty misrepresentations.Nothing can better discover the character of this writer, than a complaint, which he makes against the Edinburgh Reviewers, on account of what he calls their infamous attack upon Ce"vallos." I am obliged to the Courier for the extracts from this Review, my copy of the number which contains it, not having yet reached me. I do not, therefore, know what these celebrated Reviewers have said of Cevallos; but, I am not a little pleased to find, that men, of such talents as they are, should have taken up an exposition of him, and his barefacedly lying publi. cation. No matter with the peculators, however. Cevallos is now for the scheme of things that suits them; and, therefore, though he served the three kings successively; though he deserted each of them, the moment they were deserted by power; though he was, by Buonaparte, thought worthy of the highest confidence; and though he actually took a post under, and went to Madrid with king Joseph: notwithstanding all this, he is, amongst the peculators, a most respectable person; every word he says is to be believed; we are to look upon him, and speak of him, as a pattern of loyal and fidelity; and, if we dare to think or act otherwise, we are to be set down as men" truly instigated by the devil," and, which is worse, as men "who do sot

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sincerely hate. Buonaparte."-Verily, this loyalty of Cevallos is a pretty good specimen. Under similar circumstances, in other kingdoms, there would be a great plenty of Cevalloses. It has always been so; and, I dare say, that the writer of the letter, upon which I am now commenting, would, as far as his station and capacity would allow, be a faithful imitator of that loyal gentleman, though he would now assist to imprison or to hang any man, who should call for a reform of abuses, and whom, for that reason alone, he would accuse of disloyal intentions.

PORTUGAL. From a proclamation, which will be found in another part of this

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Number, it appears, that our troops, in Portugal, have become an object of dislike, at least, if not of hostility, with the people of that country. The proclamation fairly warrants this inference; for, otherwise, why call upon the people to restrain their fury, and assure them, that the English are not become French ?-The INTENDANT, whose name is to the proclamation, assures the people, that the English are not come in the character of conquerors; but to free the Portuguese from slavery; and, then, he enters into some general reasoning, in order fo show, that what he states must be true.

Now, though I am not at all disposed to controvert the statements, and still less the reasonings, of the Intendant, I must be allowed to ask, how it came to pass, that any such assurances were thought necessary? How the Portuguese, or any considerable part of them, came to suppose, or to appear to suppose, or act as if they supposed, that the English were come as conquerors? Or, how they came to need any assurances, that the English came to free them from slavery? I should, I must confess, like to have, an answer to these questions; because, to me, it appears to be of vast moment to ascertain the causes, which led the people to be in a state of uncertainty as to these very material points. There were persons in England, who, the moment they saw them, apprehended serious michiefs from our " ardentminded" proclamations in Portugal, and amongst these persons were the editors of the two principal English daily prints, the Morning Chronicle and the Times; but, there must, I think, be some cause more remote than this; for, those proclamations, would hardly, one would suppose, have been issued, unless something like discontent had already made its appearance. any rate, we appear to be in a difficulty; for, if the proclamations, just referred to, were not necessary, then, there is room to suppose, that they have led to the present state of discontent; and, if necessary, that necessity, considering the tenor of them, is a proof, that we were not at any time, or, at least, after the Convention, very welcome guests in Portugal.. -It is, I fear, in Portúgal, as we have seen it everywhere else, the fact, that the great mass of the people feel little concern about the ejecting of the French, to whose wild and heroic sway they submit with more patience than to the sway of their old governments, which sway I need not describe.Need we ask what is the cause of this? Need we ask, why Napoleon meets with little or no resistance; and that, when once he has got possession

of a country, the people, notwithstanding all the pillaging that we hear of, make no efforts to get rid of him, and, if delivered by a third power, appear to feel very little pleasure at the event? Courtiers affect to be surprised and indignant at this. "Curse

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on the base rabble, not draw a single trig66 ger against the Corsican!" Not so passionate, gentlemen. Base rabble will do nothing that is high-minded, so long as they are base rabble. Buonaparte, believe me, has no secret allurements. He does not, like POINS, carry love-powder about him; or, if he does, why do not you order your famous Apothecary-General to send out a large packet with each of your generals? You scorn, I suppose, the use of such means? You prefer making love after the manner of the Muscovites? No: there is no witchcraft in the matter. Napoleon has no trouble but to enter the several countries

he means to conquer. The rest is done ready to his hands.- Here I shall insert a short paragraph from the Morning Chronicle, and another from the Courier, the latter being an answer to the former, and this latter requiring some observations from me, containing, as it does, some of those wicked opinions, which have already produced so much mischief, and which, I fear, will finally lead to something bordering npon total ruin." This state of things sug

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gests the most serious reflection. If we "have not only to deliver the subjugated "nations from the yoke of France, but af"terwards to employ our army in forcing "them to submit to a government of our "establishment, which they detest equally "with French domination, no wonder that "the work of deliverance advances but

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slowly. So the secret comes out at last, why, to the astonishment of every one, our army loitered so long in Portugal, "after having apparently atchieved the purpose for which it was sent; and "the Morning Post seems for once "to have let out the truth. It was "because an army of 35,000 men were

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necessary, to borrow the words of the "Ministerial Journal, to constrain the re

fractory classes of the Portuguese, that "that lamentable delay took place, which "has brought every thing to jeopardy, per

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haps to ruin. And it is not, it seems, in "the cause of the people of Portugal-it is "not in the cause of liberty and indepen"dence, nor for our own security, nor even for the diminution of Buonaparte's power, that the people of England have expended their blood and treasure. We "have been spending our money and shed

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