(Signed) THE DUKE OF OTRANTO. Paris, April 23, 1815. LETTER FROM MR. BIRKBECK. after having understood, during a year, in | rant and too barbarous even to understand the Island of Elba, as in a tomb, every their own interests. On the approach of thing which truth as well as hatred, has the Emperor Napoleon, and his armies, told in Europe, respecting his first reign marching with animation to songs of and his first life. In fine, my Prince, liberty, Kings may be abandoned by their France has given herself a new Consti- subjects, as the Bourbons have been by tution, which will not be a vain charter. the soldiers on whom they depended with It is no longer possible to use subtilty and such confidence. Every throne will be deceit. The force of things will neces- subverted before kings will learn how to sarily bring order and justice into social govern; and how many evils will be the life. Our Constitution constitutes two work of Princes, capable by their virtues Chambers. The sittings in both will be of rendering happy the greatest part of public. Thus France and Europe will the world.-How much will those Mounderstand every thing which will be said narchs and humanity be indebted to you, on peace and war; and every war, which my Prince, if, by the wisdom of your shall not be one of justice and evident counsels, you can dissuade them from the necessity, shall paralyse with terror the determination, in which they oppose inteman who would kindle it in Europe, al- rests and passions over which they ought ready bleeding from so many wars. The to have no controul.-I have only to coalesced Powers plume themselves on the renew, with the most lively expresssion, immense number of men which they can to your Highness, the assurances of the collect. But, perhaps they may have highest consideration. calculated erroneously they may be deceived. If it were true, as they give out, that they have 900,000 men, fit for action, France, who has already 500,000, will soon have a million. I seck not to exag gerate the exultation which, in a similar war, will fix all the senses, and the enthusiasm with which their souls will be transported. Every man in France will besome a soldier; every article of iron will be fabricated into a sabre, a bayonet, or a musket, every where, as in 1793, will be established manufactories of salt-petre, of powder, and of cannon.-From the Rhine to the Pyrennees, from the Mediterranean to the Ocean, the diversions of the peasants, o Sundays and holidays, will be military exercises; every commune, every village will be transformed into barracks; and the entire population of the Empire, arrayed as the National Guards, will be prepared to live in tents.-Already does France resound with war-songs, in which I should have lamented as sincerely as the acquirers of national domains, who I now rejoice at his restoration, had he, harbour fears for their property; the like Louis, recovered the throne uninfriends of reason, who have been threat-structed by adversity, or through any ened with the return of superstition; the other means than the consent of the peomilitary, whose glory they have wished to ple, conditionally granted. tarnish; in short, all classes of citizens Infatuated by success, he forgot that he repeat with enthusiasm their ardent ex- owed it to the energies of a nation strugpressions of passions the most dear, and gling for freedom; and, mixing himself the most terrible.In this war, which will with kings, he became a foe to that liberty be, in fact, a crusade against the inde- from which he derived his greatness. He pendence of a nation, the contagion of the now acknowledges his error, and, if it be principles of the French Revolution, may in good faith, it is an instance of magnafind their way amongst people too igno-nimity new to the page of history." Wanborough, May 4, 1815. SIR-The little work which has received your favourable notice is now going through a fourth edition. The appendix to the first, which I take the liberty of sending you, was printed separately for the accommodation of the purchasers of the first. It is due to you as well as to myself to state, that I dont feel myself called upon by the new position which Napoleon has assumed, to qualify the terms in which I have censured the principles of his former government, because I am quite convinced that they were hostile to the best interests of his people, and perfectly inconsistent with political freedom. The acts of his government have hitherto corresponded with these fair professions; and, as a pledge of their sincerity, he has received into his councils men of sound principles, and whose integrity he had himself exposed to the severest proof. This consummation of the late glorious contest, though far more glorious than any which its most sanguine supporters have even imagined, is not entirely to the satisfaction of the old governments. They had rather see Bonaparte at the head of his army than surrounded by wise and just counsellors; and they are right. He is, in his present attitude, more formidable to the "social system,' as exemplified in the late Congress at Vienna, than when he was thundering at the gates of that capital. But why the people should be disturbed at the view of Napoleon in his present attitude, I dont understand, unless, indeed, their comforts depend on the security of two or three thrones, and the insecurity of the rest, according to the principles established at the said Congress. Yours, &c. MORRIS BIRKBECK. THE ENDYMION AND PRESIDENT the Endymion, which, po one ever doubted, would be published in the Gazette. The Gazette appeared; but it contained no particulars from Captain Hope as to the actual engagement, or any detail by which it could be ascertained whether he fought the President single handed or not, or whether that ship surrendered to the Endymion or to another vessel belonging to our squadron. But from other accounts in the same Gazette, and particularly from the American official account, it turned out, as I had supposed, that more than one of our frigates was engaged; that the Pomone also had fought with the enemy; that it was to this ship the President actually struck; and that at the very moment this happened, a ship of the line, another frigate, and a sloop of war, belonging to us, were fast bearing down to attack her. It was plain, therefore, that the President had not surrendered to the Endymion, but that she surrendered to a British squadron, consisting of one sail of the line, three frigates and a sloop of war! It was also clear, that had the President and the Endymion fought single handed, the latter must have fallen into the hands of the former. Where then was the ground for exultation? Where the proof, that the capture of the President "redeemed all the naval glory "which this country had lost during the 66 When the news of the capture of the ∙latter of these vessels reached this country, it was given out by our corrupt press, that she had surrendered to the former, previous contest at sea with the Ameriwith whom she had fought single-handed, "cans?" I see, by files of papers which and that no other of our ships of war had I have received from Philadelphia, that fired a shot at the President. This was the conductors of newspapers at Bermuda, trumpeted abroad by the Times and the had imitated the example of our vile press, Courier, and never to this hour has any and had, like them, endeavoured to deof these venal prints retracted the assertract from the character of Commodore 'tion. On the contrary, they repeated it, Decatur, by representing that he had suragain and again, and gravely assured their rendered the President to a single British readers, that the result of the conflict frigate. To expose the fallacy of this betwixt the President and the Endymion, statement, the American Commodore adhad redeemed all the naval glory which dressed a letter to the Secretary of the this country had lost during the previous Navy, an extract of which I have given contest at sea with the Americans! I was below. This letter puts it beyond all satisfied, on the first blush of the trans- question, that the President was consideraction, that the President had been en- ed, even by the commander of our own #gaged with more of our frigates than one, fleet, as a capture by the squadron, and and, instead of the enemy losing any of not by a single ship. It proves that the the renown he had acquired, that this Endymion had on board, in addition to her battle, when the particulars came fully to usual complement, 50 men, one lieutenant, be known, would increase the splendour and one masters' mate, which shews that of his achievements. I said to those with the crew of the Endymion, the chief rewhom I conversed on the subject, that Iliance of every vessel of war, was more was willing to abide by the account of numerous than that of her rival. It also the battle, as given by Captain Hope of proves that the Endymion was completely disabled in the action, and would, it is, more than probable, have become a prize to the President, had not the rest of our squadron come to her relief. WASHINGTON, March 14. Extract of a letter from Com. Stephen Decatur to the Secretary of the Navy, dated New York, March 6th, 1815. 66 In my official letter of the 18th January, I omitted to state, that a considerable number of my killed and wounded was from the fire of the Pomone; and that the Endymion had on board, in addition | to her own crew, one Lieutenant, one Master's mate, and 50 men belonging to the Saturn, and when the action ceased, was left motionless and unmanagable until she bent new sails, rove new rigging and fished her spars, nor did she rejoin the squadron for six hours after the action, and three hours after the surrender of the President. My sword was delivered to Capt. Hays, of the Majestic, the senior officer of the squadron, on his quarterdeck, which he with great politeness immediately returned. I have the honor to enclose you my parole, by which you will perceive that the British admit that the President was captured by the squadron. I should have deemed it necessary to have rawn your attention to this document, had not the fact been stated differently by the Bermuda Gazette on our arrival there, which statement, however, the editor was compelled to retract through the interference of the governor and some of the British officers of the squadron." and fatigues. Natives of different states After the disastrous retreat of the British army at New Orleans, General Jack-my brave companions in arms.--Reason, the American commander, published an animated and spirited Address to his army. The following passages will shew with what ardour and unanimity the soldiers of Liberty will always combat, when their rights and independence are in danger : Citizens and Fellow Soldiers,-The enemy has retreated and your General has now time to proclaim to the world what he has noticed with admiration and pride-your undaunted courage, your patriotism, and patience under hardships soning always from false principles the enemy expected little opposition from men whose officers even were not in uniform; who were ignorant of the rules of dress, and who had never been caned into discipline-Fatal mistake! a fire incessantly kept up, directed with calmness and with unerring aim, strewed the field with the brave officers and men of the column which slowly advanced, according to the most approved rules of European tactics, and was cut down by the untutored age of American militia. Printed and Published by G. HOUSTON, No. 192, Strand; where all Communicatious addressed to the Editor, are requested to be forwarded. VOL. XXVII. No. 20.] LONDON, SATURDAY, MAY 20, 1815. [Price 1s. 609] TO THE FUND-HOLDERS, France. [610 You will start and swell here, and ask whether commerce and manufactures, and trades and professions, pay nothing? Yes, they do; but, they pay precisely in proportion to the prosperity of agriculture. That is to say, in proportion to the height of prices. If the land, out of which all the great receive their increase, and all the farmers and all the labourers receive their profits and their wages, yield little, little can all these pay to tradesmen and Of all the classes of people in this country you appear to me to have been, and still to be, the most misguided, as to all questions of politics, and especially as to the important question of peace or war. I will now do my best to enable you to judge correctly upon this subject, as far, at least, as your interests are more imme-manufacturers, little will be the profits of diately connected with it. commerce and of professions. When wheat was 20s. a bushel, the landlord and the farmer had three times as much money to lay out as they have now. Hence the present universal out-cry about the dulness of trade; hence the numerous bankruptcies; hence the stagnation of commerce and manufactures. Your great characteristic is anxiety for the safety of your property; but, though self-preservation is the first of nature's laws, and though, in general, men who are alive to little else, are extremely alive, and even very skilful, in cases where their own interests are at stake, you do not appear to me to perceive how your interests have been, or how they will be, effected by war. You entertain a sort of vague apprehension, that, unless Napoleon be destroyed, you shall have your property taken away. You look up to the government, that is, in your sense of the word, to the Minister for the time being, as the guardian of your property. Hence you are always found on their side on the question of war, or peace. If they say war, you are for war: if they say peace, you are for peace. On the subject of the Corn Bill, you were against the Ministers; because that was a question, as you thought, involving no danger to your property. But, in fact, you were more interested in the passing of the Corn Bill than any other class of the community; and, in explaining this seeming paradox to you, I shall, in the easiest way, introduce the remarks which I propose to make with regard to the effect, which war has upon the quality of your property, and upon your chances of security, or insecurity. What you most desire is, to have the interest of your stock regularly paid in full, and to prevent any insecurity to your capital. Your interest is paid almost wholly, and, indeed, entirely, by the land. 1 Though, therefore, I agreed most cordially with you in your opposition to the Corn Bill, the grounds of our opposition were very different indeed. I knew, that a Corn Bill was necessary to enable the land to pay the sum of taxes, demanded by the government; but I wished the sum of taxes to be diminished. You wished to have Corn Cheap, aud the sum of taxes not to be diminished. These two together were impossible. They could not, and they cannot, co-exist. If you are asked, at any time, what security you have for your property, do you not always answer, that your security is on the land of the nation 2 Do you not say, that the estates of all the land-owners are mortgaged to you? This is a great mistake; for, it is only the revenues which are mortgaged to you; but, to obviate all difficulty upon this score, take it for granted that you have a bona fide mortgage upon all the land in England. Can it, then, be your interest, that the land should be unable to pay you your annual demands? The land, upon your own principle is partly yours. Can you, then, be gainers by its produce being depreciated? A certain farm, for instance, pays a hundred pounds a year towards your annual demands. If produce fall so low as to disable this farm from W.. paying you more than fifty pounds a year, how are you to be paid your dividends in full? Hence, it is clear, that the Corn Bill was more for your protection than for the protection of the farmers, who really eats and drinks of his own produce. Your expences of living would keep pace with the price of the produce of the land. In the end, the thing might be the same; but, if one half of your dividends was deducted, on account of the fall in the price of produce, you would soon discover, that a Corn Bill, or any other such measure, was more for your security than for that of the farmer. But, what is it, which has rendered high prices necessary to your security? WAR. War, which has augmented the taxes on the land, and which land, to be able to pay those taxes, must now have a high price for its produce. War, therefore, has been your great enemy, and not the landlords and farmers, as you have been taught to suppose. To go no further, therefore, you, above all people, ought to regret the renewal of war. You cry out against those who are opposed to war; you accuse them of seditious, and almost, of treasonable motives. You call them enemies of law and of social order. And for what? Because you look upon war against Napoleon as necessary to the security of your property; when the fact is, as I will now proceed to show, that war has been, and must be, ruinous to that property, which, though no part has been violently seized on; which, though you have still continued to receive your dividends to the full nominal amount, has imperceptibly passed away from you to the amount of more than one half of what you really possessed in the year 1792. Your property has passed from your possession in two ways first in point of credit, or the value of the capital; and next, as to the currency in which the interest is paid. This will clearly appear from the following statement of the price, the settled peace price, of three per cent. stock during the peace, previous to the first war against the Republicans of France, and of the subsequent peace prices. In 1792, before the war against France, the steady peace price of the Three per Cents. was ..... During the Peace of Amiens in 1802, it was Difcemts. This statement exhibits the fall in the value of the capital; the fall in the value of any estate in the funds. That which was worth 95 pounds, in 1792, was worth only 77 pounds in 1802, and only 66 pounds in 1814. But, far is this view of the matter short of the real mark; for the currency, in which funds are bouglit and sold has also fallen in as great a proportion. A guinea is risen to 28 shillings; and, therefore, in real money, a hundred three per cents, at 66, as they were during the peace of Paris, last year, were worth only 49 pounds; and, at this moment, they are worth only about 44 pounds. lu the year 1792, the currency in which the dividends were paid, and in which funds were bought and sold, was equal in` value to real money. So that, In 1792, you could have sold a In May, 1815, you cannot sell Guineas, Shillings. 90 ...... 40 19 19 your Is there any one of you, who can deny these facts? And, if you cannot, do you still look upon those as the enemies of property, who wish for peace? Can you deny, that it is war, which has had this alarming effect upon your property? And, yet, do you blame those, who are against more war? That vile and prostituted news-paper, the TIMES, which you all read, sometimes, in drawing a comparison between the situation of France and England, talks about the comparative price of the funds in the two countries; and takes this as a criterion of national prosperity, and of the solidity of the government. Nothing can be more false than this principle; but, suppose it to be true. There is no such great difference in the price of the funds in the two countries at this moment. The French funds are five per cents. Our five per cents are at 88 in paper; in real money, they are worth 67 pounds. And, we see, that the French five per cents are worth, even_now, 62 pounds in real money; for, in France, it is gold, with which funds are purchased. So that, if you are to weigh public opinion, popular confidence, and the solidity of governments in this scale, we have, on our side of the water, but little to boast of in the comparison, though France is, at this moment, surrounded by hostile 66 armies, "though she is menaced with an 95 77 EPE |