to me any particular manner in which I can | United States, and that I shall transmit, facilitate your arrangements, I beg that you without delay, corresponding intelligence will command my services.— -His Royal to the several parts of the world where Highness has commanded me to signify to hostilities may have commenced; the Briyou, for the information of your Govern- tish Commanders in which will be required iment, that there will be no difficulty in al- to discontinue hostilities, from the receipt lowing Mr. R. G. Beasly, as stated in your of such notice. Should the American letter, to reside in this country, as the Government accede to the above proposal United States' agent for prisoners of war. for terminating hostilities, I am authorized I have the honour to subscribe myself, to arrange with you as to the revocation of with great truth and consideration, Sir, your the laws which interdict the commerce and most obedient humble servant, ships of war of Great Britain from the harbours and waters of the United States; in (Signed) default of which revocation within such reasonable period as may be agreed upon, you will observe, by the Order of the 23d of June, the Orders in Council of January, 1807, and April, 1809, are to be revived.- The officer who conveys this letter to the American coast has received my orders to put to sea immediately upon the delivering of this dispatch to the competent Authority; and I earnestly recommend, that no time may be lost in communicating to me the decision of your Go J. Russell, Esq. CASTLEREACH. Correspondence between Sir J. B. Warren, and the Secretary of State, Mr. Monroe. not but be of a nature to lead to a speedy termination of the present differences.The flag of truce which you may charge with your reply, will find one of my cruizers at Sandy Hook, ten days after the landing of this dispatch, which I have directed to call there with a flag of truce for that purpose. I have the honour to be, with the highest consideration, JOHN BORLASE WARREN, Admiral of the Blue, and Commander in Chief, &c. Halifax, Nova Scotia, Sept. 30. Sir, The departure of Mr. Foster from America has devolved upon me the charge of making known to you, for the information of the Government of the United States, the sentiments entertained by His Royal Highness the Prince Regent, upon the ex-vernment, persuaded as I feel, that it canisting relations of the two countries.You will observe from the enclosed copy of an Order in Council, bearing date the 23d of June, 1812, that the Orders in Council of the 7th of Jan. 1807, and the 26th of April, 1809, ceased to exist nearly at the same time that the Government of the United States declared war against His Majesty. Immediately on the receipt of this declaration in London, the Order in Council, of which a copy is herewith enclosed to you, was issued, on the 31st day of July, for the embargo and detention of all American ships. Under these circumstances, I am commanded to propose to your Government the immediate cessation of hostilities between the two countries; and I shall be most happy to be the instrument of bringing about a reconciliation, so interesting and beneficial to America and Great Britain. -I therefore propose to you, that the Government of the United States of America shall instantly recall their letters of marque and reprisal against British ships, together with all orders and instructions for any acts of hostility whatever against the territory of His Majesty, or the persons or property of his subjects with the understanding, that immediately on my receiving from you an official assurance to that effect, I shall instruct all the officers under my command to desist from corresponding measures of war against the ships and property of the Mr. Monroe to Sir J. B. Warren. Department of State, Oct. 27, 1812. Sir, I have had the honour to receive your letter of the 30th ult. and to submit it to the consideration of the President.It appears that you are authorized to propose a cessation of hostilities between the United States and Great Britain, on the ground of the repeal of the Orders in Council; and, in case the proposition is acceded to, to take measures, in concert with this Government, to carry it into complete effect on both sides. state, also, that you have it in charge in the event, to enter into an arrangement with the Government of the United States for the repeal of the laws which interdict the ships of war and the commerce of Great Britain from the harbours and waters of the United States; and you intimate, that You if the proposition is not acceded to, the [quence. It cannot be presumed, while Orders in Council (repealed conditionally the parties are engaged in a negociation to by that of the 23d of June last) will be re-adjust amicably this important difference, vived against the commerce of the United that the United States would admit the States. -I am instructed to inform you, right or acquiesce in the practice of the opthat it will be very satisfactory to the Pre- posite party; or that Great Britain would sident to meet the British Government in be unwilling to restrain her cruizers from a such arrangements as may terminate with- practice which would have the strongest out delay, the hostilities which now exist tendency to defeat the negociation. It is between the United States and Great Bri- presumable that both parties would enter tain, on conditions honourable to both na- into a negociation with a sincere desire to tions.- -At the moment of the declaration give it effect. For this purpose, it is neof war, the President gave a signal proof cessary that a clear and distinct understandof the attachment of the United States to ing be first obtained between them, of the peace. Instructions were given, at an accommodation which each is prepared to early period, to the late Chargé d'Affaires make. If the British Government is willof the United States at London, to propose ing to suspend the practice of impressinént to the British Government an armistice, on from American vessels, on consideration conditions which, it was presumed, would that the United States will exclude British have been satisfactory. It has been seen seamen from their service, the regulation with regret, that the proposition made by by which this compromise should be carMr. Monroe, particularly in regard to the ried into effect would be solely the object important interest of impressment, was of this negociation. The armistice would rejected, and that none was offered through be of short duration. If the parties agree, that channel, as a basis on which hostili- peace would be the result. If the negociaties might cease.- -As your Government tion failed, each would be restored to its has authorized you to propose a cessation former state, and to all its pretensions, by of hostilities, and is doubtless aware of the recurring to war. -Lord Castlereagh, in important and salutary effect which a sa- his note to Mr. Russell, seems to have tisfactory adjustment of this difference can- supposed, that, had the British Governnot fail to have on the future relations be- ment accepted the propositions made to it, tween the two countries, I indulge the Great Britain would have suspended immehope that it has, ere this, given you full diately the exercise of a right on the mere powers for the purpose. Experience has assurance of this Government, that a law sufficiently evinced that no peace can be would be afterwards passed to prohibit the durable, unless this object is provided for: employment of British seamen in the service it is presumed, therefore, that it is equally of the United States, and that Great Brithe interest of both countries to adjust it at tain would have no agency in the regulathis time.Without further discussing tion to give effect to that proposition. Such questions of right, the President is de- an idea was not in the contemplation of sirous to provide a remedy for the evils this Government, nor is to be reasonably complained of on both sides. The claim inferred from Mr. Russell's note: least, of the British Government is to take from however, by possibility such an inference the merchant vessels of other countries might be drawn from the instructions to British subjects. In the practice, the Mr. Russell, and anxious that there should Commanders of British ships of war often be no misunderstanding in the case, subsetake from the merchant vessels of the quent instructions were given to Mr. Rus-> United States American citizens. If the sell, with a view to obviate every objecUnited States prohibit the employment of tion of the kind alluded to. As they bear British subjects in their service, and en- date on the 27th of July, and were forforce the prohibition by suitable regula-warded by the British packet Alphea, it is tions and penalties, the motive for the more than probable that they may have practice is taken away. It is in this mode been received and acted on. I am hap that the President is willing to accommo-py to explain to you thus fully the views date this important controversy with the of my Government on this important subBritish Government, and it cannot be con- ject. The President desires that the war ceived on what ground the arrangement which exists between our countries should can be refused. -A suspension of the be terminated on such conditions as may practice of impressment, pending the ar- secure a solid and durable peace. To ac mistice, seems to be a necessary conse-complish this great object, it is necessary that the interest of impressment be satis-mises on his tongue, he never ceased to factorily arranged. He is willing that think on war. At length having collected Great Britain should be secured against a large army, and strengthened it with the evils of which she complains. He seeks, Austrian, Prussian, Bavarian, Wurtemon the other hand, that the citizens of the berg, Westphalian, Italian, Spanish, PorUnited States should be protected against a tuguese, and Polish regiments, who were practice, which, while it degrades the na- constrained through disgrace and fear, he tion, deprives them of their right as free- put himself in motion with this immense men, takes them by force from their fa- force, supplied with vast quantities of armilies and their country, into a foreign tillery, and penetrated into the interior of service, to fight the battles of a foreign our country. Murder, fire, and destrucPower, perhaps against their own kindred tion, were his attendants on the march. and country.I abstain from entering, The plundered property, the towns and in this communication, into other grounds villages set on fire, the smoking ruins of of differences. The Orders in Council Moscow, the Kremlin blown up into the having been repealed (with a reservation air, the temples and altars of the Lord not impairing a corresponding right on the destroyed; in one word, all kinds of cruetpart of the United States), and no illegalty and barbarity, hitherto unheard of, at blockades revived or instituted in their length prove by his own actions, that they stead, and an understanding being obtained have long been lying concealed in the depth on the subject of impressment, in the mode of his mind. The mighty and happy Rusherein proposed, the President is willing sian Empire, which possesses every thing to agree to a cessation of hostilities, with a in abundance, awakened in the heart of view to arrange, by treaty, in a more dis- the enemy envy and dread. The possession tinct and ample manner, and to the satis of the whole world could not satisfy him, faction of both parties, every other subject so long as the fertile fields of Russia still of controversy.- -I will only add, that if were happy. Full of this envy and interthere be no objection to an accommodation nal hatred, he revolved, turned, and arof the difference relating to impressinent, ranged in his mind, all manner of evil in the mode proposed, other than the sus- means by which he might give a dreadful pension of the British claims to impress-blow to her power, a total confusion to her ment during the armistice, there can be none to proceeding, without the armistice, to an immediate discussion and arrangement of an article on that subject. This great question being satisfactorily adjusted, the way will be open either for an armistice or any other course leading most conveniently and expeditiously to a general pacification. I have the honour to be, &c. JAMES MONRO. PROCLAMATION, Issued by the Emperor Alexander, dated St. Petersburgh, Nov. 15. We, Alexander the First, by the Grace of God, Emperor and Autocrat of all the Russias, &c. It is well known to the whole world in what manner the enemy has entered the boundaries of our empire. No step or means that have so frequently been resorted to by the punctual fulfilment of the peaceable stipulations, nor our steady endeavours by all possible means to avert the effects of a bloody and destructive war, have been able to check his obstinate design, in which he has shewn himself entirely immoveable. With peaceable pro riches, and bring general destruction on her prosperity. He likewise thought, by cunning and flattery, to shake the fidelity of our subjects; by the defilement of the sanctuaries, and of God's temples, to make religion unsteady, and to strike the national sight with follies and extravagances. On these hopes he built his destructive plans, and with them he forced himself, like a pestilential and murderous tempest, into the heart of Russia.-The whole world has fixed its attention on our suffering country, and inwardly moved, thought they saw in the reflection of the flames of Moscow the last day of the existence of our freedom and independence. But great and mighty is the God of Justice! The triumph of the enemy was of short duration; pressed on all sides by our valiant armies and levies, he soon discovered that by his temerity he had ventured too far, and that he could not, either by his vaunted army, his seducements, or his cruelties, inspire fear into the loyal and valiant Russians, nor save himself from destruction. After many fruitless endeavours, and now that he sees his numerous troops every where beaten and destroyed, (To be continued.) 31] As illustrated in the Prosecution and Punishment of WILLIAM COBBETT. [32 two sureties in the sum of 1,000 pounds each; that the whole of this sentence has been executed upon me, that I have been imprisoned the two years, have paid the thousand pounds TO THE KING, and have given the bail, Timothy Brown and Peter Walker, Esqrs. being my sureties; that the Attorney General was Sir Vicary Gibbs, the Judge who sat at the trial Lord Ellenborough, the four Judges who sat at passing sentence Ellenborough, Grose, Le Blanc, and Bailey; and that the jurors were, Thomas Rhodes of Hampstead Road, John Davis of Southampton Place, James Ellis of Tottenham Court Road, John Richards of Bayswater, Thomas Marsham of Baker Street, Robert Heathcote of High Street Marylebone, John Maud of York Place Marylebone, George Bagster of Church Terrace Pancras, Thomas Taylor of Red Lion Square, David Deane of St. John Street, William Palmer of Upper Street Islington, Henry Favre of Pall Mall; that the Prime Ministers during the time were Spencer Perceval, until he was shot by John Bellingham, and after that Robert B. Jenkinson, Earl of Li verpool; that the prosecution and sentence took place in the reign of King George the Third, and that, he having become insane during my imprisonment, the 1,000 pounds was paid to his son, the Prince Regent, in his behalf; that, during my imprisonment, I wrote and published 364 Essays and Letters upon political subjects; that, during the same time, I was visited by persons from 197 cities and towns, many of them as a sort of deputies from Societies or Clubs; that, at the expiration of my imprisonment, on the 9th of July, 1812, a great dinner was given in London for the purpose of receiving me, at which dinner upwards of 600 persons were present, and at which Sir Francis Burdett presided; that dinners and other parties were held on the same occasion in many other places in England; that, on my way home, I was received at Alton, the first town in Hamp In order that my countrymen and that the world may not be deceived, duped, and cheated upon this subject, I, WILLIAM COBBETT, of Botley, in Hampshire, put upon record the following facts; to wit: That, on the 24th June, 1809, the following article was published in a London news-paper, called the COURIER:- "The Mutiny amongst the LO"CAL MILITIA, which broke out at Ely, was fortunately suppressed on Wednesday by the "arrival of four squadrons of the GERMAN "LEGION CAVALRY from Bury, under the "command of General Auckland. Five of the ringleaders were tried by a Court-Martial, and "sentenced to receive 500 lashes each, part of which "punishment they received on Wednesday, and "a part was remitted. A stoppage for their knap"sacks was the ground of the complaint that ex"cited this mutinous spirit, which occasioned "the men to surround their officers, and demand " what they deemed their arrears. The first "division of the German Legion halted yesterday "at Newmarket on their return to Bury."That, on the 1st July, 1809, I published, in the Political Register, an article censuring, in the strongest terms, these proceedings; that, for so doing, the Attorney General prosecuted, as seditious libellers, and by Ex-Officio Information, me, and also my printer, my publisher, and one of the principal retailers of the Political Register; that I was brought to trial on the 15th June, 1810, and was, by a Special Jury, that is to say, by 12 men out of 48 appointed by the Master of the Crown Office, found guilty; that, on the 20th of the same month, I was compelled to give bail for my appearance to receive judgment; and that, as I came up from Botley (to which place I had returned to my family and my farm on the evening of the 15th), a Tipstaff went down from London in order to seize me, personally; that, on the 9th of July, 1810, I, together with my printer, publisher, and the news-shire, with the ringing of the Church bells; that man, were brought into the Court of King's Bench to receive judgment; that the three former were sentenced to be imprisoned for some months in the King's Bench prison; that I was sentenced to be imprisoned for two years in Newgate, the great receptacle for malefactors, and the front of which is the scene of numerous hangings in the course of every year; that the part of the prison in which I was sentenced to be confined is sometimes inhabited by felons, that felons were actually in it at the time I entered it; that one man was taken out of it to be transported in about 48 hours after I was put into the same yard with him; and that it is the place of confinement for men guilty of unnatural crimes, of whom there are four in it at this time; that, besides this imprisonment, I was sentenced to pay a thousand pounds TO THE KING, and to give security for my good behaviour for seven years, myself in the sum of 3,000 pounds, and a respectable company met me and gave me a dinner at Winchester; that I was drawn from more than the distance of a mile into Botley by the people; that, upon my arrival in the village, I found all the people assembled to receive me; that I concluded the day by explaining to them the cause of my imprisonment, and by giving them clear notions respecting the flogging of the Local Militia-men at Ely, and respecting the employment of German Troops; and, finally, which is more than a compensation for my losses and all my sufferings, I am in perfect health and strength, and, though I must, for the sake of six children, feel the diminution that has been made in my property (thinking it right in me to decline the offer of a subscription), I have the consolation to see growing up three sons, upon whose hearts, I trust, all these facts will be engraven. Botley, July 23, 1812. WM. COBBETT. Published by R. BAGSHAW, Brydges-Street, Covent-Garden. VOL. XXIII. No. 2.] LONDON, SATURDAY, JANUARY 9, 1813. [Price 1s 33] SUMMARY OF POLITICS. AMERICAN WAR. This war, which was spoken of by the hireling of the TIMES news-paper and others, with such ineffable contempt, has now assumed a very formidable mien; and those who were so eager for the war, begin to revile each other with regard to the conducting of it.There are, at this time, three political factions in the country; the one that is in possession of the distribution of the public money; the Whig faction; and the faction of the Wellesleys and Cannings. The two latter would join if they could; but, each aims at the possession of the power of giving places and pensions, and, in short, at being the ministry. These two, therefore, cannot agree wholly; but, they both attack, though upon different occasions and different grounds, those who are in possession of the paradise of Whitehall.- Amongst other objects of attack is that of negligence as to the American war. The Chronicle and the Times are equally bitter against the ministers upon this subject; they revile them for having plunged the country into a war with America without providing a sufficient maritime force to cope with that new enemy. A sufficient force! Why, the Times newspaper spoke of the navy of the United States as a thing not worthy of the name; it laughed at Mr. Madison and his navy," it predicted that a few months would add that navy to our own; it, in short, spoke of it in a tone of contempt which I should in vain attempt to describe.on -And yet, it now blames the ministers for not having provided a sufficient force to cope with that contemptible navy; that navy which was an object of the most cruel ridicule.- -The defeat and capture of the Guerriere, the Frolic, and the Macedonian must, of course, be matter of astonishment to those, who listened to the language of these presumptuous and foolish men; but, in what respect are the ministers to blame for it any more than they were for the evacuation of Madrid, and for all the consequences of the unexpected retreat of our army in the Peninsula? The ministers had a 'great abundance of ships, of all sizes, on the American station and what were they to do more? I recollect, and so must the reader, that, at the time of the rencounter between Commodore Rodgers and Captain Bingham, the words in the mouths of all these writers were: "Let one of our FRIGATES meet with "Rodgers, and we ask no more. This wish; this challenge, was repeated a thousand times over; the public cannot have forgotten the fact; nay, the sentiment was universal. Upon what ground, then, are the ministers now to be blamed? Are they to be blamed, because, upon trial, it has been found, that our Frigates are not a match for those of America? Are they to be blamed, because they did not entertain a meaner opinion of our frigates, compared with those of America, than any other man in England entertained, or, at least, dared to say that he entertained?We are told, by the writers in the interest of the two OUT factions, that the Republican Frigates are bigger, longer, have heavier guns, and the like, than our Frigates have. "The varlet's a tall man," said Bobadil when he had been cudgelled. But, are these new discoveries? Were the facts not all well known before to all these writers, when they so boldly challenged out the American Frigates to combat with ours? When Rodgers attacked Bingham, the size of his ship was well known and particularly described; and, yet, no one then called for heavier ships to be sent out to the American coast.- -Why, then, are the ministers to be blamed for not sending out heavier ships?Besides, they have heavier ships upon the station, and it cannot be their fault if those ships do not fall in with the American Frigates. What are they to do with our frigates? If ours are unable to face the American frigates, what are, I ask, the ministers to do with them? Are they not to suffer them to go on a cruise, lest they should fall in with a tall Yankee? In short, it is another of the tricks of faction to blame the ministers for these misadventures of the navy; and, the attempts made by the ministerial prints to account for our defeat upon the ground of B |