195] POLITICAL REGISTER.-To the Independent Electors of Bristol. [196 The country, therefore, must be pretty well they would, if accepted of, leave us in pos- Here, then, we have a proof, an experi- The 2d pledge that Mr. Hunt has given The 3d pledge of Mr. Hunt is, that he points to peace as Why, then, have we not peace? Because we have not reform, it being absolutely impossible, in my opinion, for our present internal system to be continued during a peace which should be accompanied with the usual consequences of peace. When the present war began, it was stated by the then Minister, Addington, that we were at war because we could not be at peace; and, I suppose, that the same reason would now be given; for, otherwise, it jection of the late overtures of the Emperor is, I think, impossible to account for the reNapoleon, which, as I have, I am persuaded, clearly shown in a former Register, were both honourable and advantageous to England. Not only, therefore, will this country, in my opinion, never regain its former state of freedom and happiness without a reform of parliament; but, I am convinced, that, without such reform, it will never again have peace with France. This being the case, it must be an inexcusable folly for you to elect any man who is not decidedly for a reform of the parliament; and, amongst all your candidates, clared for that reform. The partisans of Mr. Hunt is the only man who has deSir Samuel Romilly say, that they doubt not that he will declare for reform. I differ from them in opinion. I do not think that he ever will; at least, not till such men as Mr. Hunt shall have made it inconvenient to be against reform. If Sir Samuel Romilly were for reform, why should he be so loath to make the declaration? most perform least; but, it this were to be He has told you, that those who promise taken as a rule without an exception, there would, at once, be an end of all promises and engagements between man and man. In this case, however, the rule did not apply; for he might have expressed his wish to see reform take place without making THR any promise upon the subject. This he did not do: and, during the whole time that he has been a candidate for Bristol, he has not once mentioned, in any way, the subject of parliamentary reform. "for the purpose of uniting in a testimony "of gratitude to their late Representative, "the Right Hon. Charles Bathurst, THOMAS DANIEL, Esq. in the Chair,"the following Resolutions were moved by "Michael Castle, Esq. and seconded by "John Cave, Esq. and carried unanimous"ly:-1st, That the conduct of the Right "Hon. Charles Bathurst has been distinguished, during 18 years that he repre "sented this City in Parliament, by a me "ritorious attention to its local interest, "and an invariable zeal for the individual concerns of its inhabitants, entirely inde"pendent of every consideration of politi "cal party.-2d, That in the retirement of "the Right Hon. Charles Bathurst from "that elevated situation which he so de66 servedly held amongst us, we feel desir 66 ous of testifying, in this public manner, "the gratitude we entertain for services "that have reflected so much honour upon “his abilities and exertions.—3d, That a "Subscription be now entered into, for the purpose of presenting the Right Honour"able Charles Bathurst with a permanent Token of our esteem and approbation of There is, besides, with regard to Sir Samuel Romilly, a most suspicious circumstance; and that is, that his leading partisans all belong to that corrupt faction, which has been designated under the name of Whigs, and which faction is, if possible, more hostile to reform than the followers of Pitt and Perceval themselves. I have frequently asserted, that the two factions cordially unite upon all occasions, where an attack is made upon corruption in general, or where the interests of party are concerned. We saw them join hand-in-hand and heart to heart when the late Perceval and Castlereagh were accused by Mr. Madocks, on the 11th of May, 1809, on the anniversary of which day Perceval was shot, at the door of the very place where he had before triumphed. We saw them join in rallying round that same Perceval when Sir Francis Burdett was sent to the Tower under the escort of thousands of soldiers." We saw them join in reprobating the Ad-services that have been so frequently dress to the Prince Regent proposed by Sir Francis Burdett. In short, upon all occasions when something was to be effected hostile, decidedly hostile, to the people, the two factions have cordially joined; they have, for the time, become one. They hate one another; they would destroy one another; but, they love the public money more than they hate one another; and, therefore, when the system is in danger," they always unite. They cordially unite also against every man who is hostile to the system. They hate him even more than they hate each other; because he would destroy the very meat that they feed on. Hence, Gentlemen, the united rancour of the factions against Mr. Hunt, and their united approbation of Mr. Bragge Bathurst. But, of this latter we must take more particular notice. There has appeared in the Bristol' news-papers a publication respecting a Meeting for the purpose of uniting in a testimony of gratitude to Bragge Bathurst. At this meeting the following resolutions were passed: but, I beg you to obçorva, first, the language and sentiments of the resolutions, and next, who were the principal actors in the scene. The whole of the publication was as follows: "At a "General Meeting of the Merchants, "Traders, and other Inhabitants of this "City, convened by public advertisement, "called upon, and attended to with so "much alacrity on his part, and with so "much advantage to the City at large. 66 4th, That a Committee be appointed of "those Gentlemen who signed the requisition for the call of this meeting, together "with any of those who may be subscri"bers, for the purpose of carrying into ex"ecution the wishes and intentions of this meeting.-5th, That the name of Mr. "Robert Bruce be added to the Twenty Gentlemen who have signed the requisition, for the purpose of forming a Com66 mittee, with any other of the Subscribers. --6th, That Mr. Thomas Hellicar be re"quested to take upon himself the office of "Treasurer. THOMAS DANIEL, Chair 66 66 66 man." great part of the time a placeman, and he is row a placeman in possession of a rich sinecure, with immense patronage attached to it. And, it is for conduct like this that these townsmen of yours are about to give a testimony of their gratitude! If, however, this were confined to the friends of Bragge Bathurst, to those who profess his principles, all would be in its place, all would be natural enough. But, you will bear in mind, Gentlemen, that the two factions have united here, and that these resolutions, extolling to the skies a sinecure placeman, a Pittite, and a known and decided enemy of reform of parliament; you will bear in mind that these resolutions were moved by Mr. MICHAEL CASTLE, the very man who introduced Sir Samuel Romilly into your city; the very man in whose carriage Sir Samuel Romilly entered your city; the very man who filled the chair at Sir Samuel Romilly's dinner. This was the man selected to MOVE resolutions expressive of the gratitude of the people of Bristol for the conduct of Bragge Bathurst, the sinecure placeman, the supporter of Pitt and the war, and the decided and distinguished enemy of parliamentary reform. This was the man, this Mr. Michael Castle, to tell the world in the most solemn manner, that the friends of Sir Samuel Romilly approved of the conduct of the very man, whom they, when canvassing you for your votes, represented as unfit to be your member. Gentlemen, can you want any further proof of the political hypocrisy of such men as Mr. Charles Elton, and Mr. Mills, and Mr. Castle? Can you be made to believe that they are sincere when they tell you that they wish for a reform of any sort? The truth is, they wish to put in a member of their own, that they may enjoy the benefit of his patronage; but, in doing this, they must take care not to do any thing hostile to the system, for without the exist ence of that all their prospects are blasted. You see, that they have, in these resolutions, no scruple to declare the vile and abominable principle upon which they act. They here most explicitly avow, that they are grateful to Bragge Bathurst for the zeal he has shown in the individual concerns of his constituents. That is to say, in getting them places under the Government; or, in other words, in enabling them to live upon the taxes; that is to say, upon the fruit of the people's labour. I told you, in my first letter, that they had no other object than this in view; that one part of them only wanted to put in Sir Samuel Romilly that he might give them more of the taxes than they had been able to get from Bragge Bathurst. Mr. Hunt had told you this before; and now you see the fact openly avowed. The jobbers on both sides plainly tell whoever is to be their candidate, that he must take care of their individual concerns. There This, Gentlemen, is the real cause of the hatred, the rancour, the poisonous malice, of both factions towards Mr. Hunt, who makes open war upon the tax-eaters. This is the reason why they hate him. are other reasons, but this is the great reason of all; and you may be well assured, that you will see both the factions always unite against any man, be he who he may, who is opposed to the system of places and pensions. But, what, then, must be the extent of the hypocrisy of the friends of Sir Samuel Romilly! They pretend that they wish for a reform of parliament, when they must well know, that such a reform would totally destroy the very root whence spring those individual benefits for which they express their gratitude to Bragge Bathurst. Sir Samuel Romilly, as I had before the honour to observe to you, has never told you that he is for a reform of the parliament; and, after the publication of these Resolutions, moved by the man who introduced him into your city, there are very few amongst you, I trust, who will not be convinced, that his partisans are well convinced that he will not support such a reform as shall give us a chance of destroying that corruption which is now eating out the very vitals of the country. Clear as it is, then, that both the factions are your enemies, I hope that you will stand firmly by each other in opposition to so detestable an union. Both factions are hateful; but of the two the Whigs are the worst; because they disguise their hostility to the cause of freedom. Take, however, only a little time to reflect, and you will not be deceived by the cant of Mr. Charles Elton and Mr. Mills, both of whom, I would venture my life, have bespoke places for themselves in case of success to their candidate. They well know that the success of Mr. Hunt would defeat their scheme, and therefore they hate him. They do not dislike him for his separation from his wife; they would not give his wife a bit of bread to save her life, if she was a beggar instead of being, as she is, well and liberally provided for; they would see her drop from their door dead in the street, rather than tender her a helping hand; but, to speak of the separation suits the turn of the hypocrites; by having recourse to it, they can cast calumny on their foe without letting their real motive appear. They would, if they dared, tell him that he is a cruel savage for endeavouring to prevent them from pocketing the public money; but this would not suit their purpose; and they therefore resort to his separation from his wife. this country, or render it any essential ser vice. There is no national evil that we feel, be it small or great, which may not be traced to the want of a parliamentary reform, and such a reform, too, as shall cut up corruption by the roots. It is with great pleasure that I perceive, that Mr. Hunt has promised you to be at candidate at Bristol at every future election, as long as he has life and health, unless he Trusting now, Gentlemen, that you see should be a member when a vacancy takes clearly the motives of the two factions, and place for your city. This promise ensures that their main object is to get at a share of you an election; it secures you against bethe public money, I shall not fear, that, ating sold like dumb creatures; it secures another election, you will resolutely endeavour to defeat that vile object. The whole mystery lies here. It is the public money that the factions want to get at. They are not attached to any particular set of men or of means. Whoever or whatever will give them the best chance of getting at the public money is the man or the thing for them; and Sir Samuel Romilly has been brought forward upon the recent occasion, only because there were a set of men, who found that they could not get so much of the public money as they wanted under any of the other candidates. They found the old ground too thickly settled for them; they therefore resolved to get new ground of their own; and they chose Sir Samuel Romilly, because he was at once likely to be a placeman, and was at the same time a man of a good deal of deserved popularity. They, if he were elected, would say as Falstaff did of the moon: "the chaste Diana, under whose influence we steal." They mean to make a passage of him through which to get at the people's earnings; and, all this, too, under the guise of virtue and patriotism. With me there wanted nothing to produce conviction of this fact before; and now, I trust, that there is no man who will affect to doubt it; now when we see them moving and signing resolutions, applauding the conduct of a member of parliament who has become a sinecure placeman, and who is notoriously a most decided enemy of reform of parliament. With these facts before him, it is not to be believed, that any one man amongst you will give his vote for this hypocritical fac-. tion. If Sir Samuel Romilly will declare openly for reform of parliament, you will do well to vote for him and for Mr. Hunt; but, if he will not, it is your duty not only not to vote for him, but to do all that lies in your power to prevent his being elected; for, be you well assured, that, without a reform of parliament, no man living can save you the exercise of your right of voting, I am, Gentlemen, your friend, Bolley, Tuesday, force. This opinion is now confirmed; because, if he had been so minded; if he had wished to send a larger force to Spain and Portugal, he could have sent at least a hundred and fifty thousand of those men, whom he is now marching against the Czar. His war against the Czar did not press. It could have waited. Its object was merely to enforce commercial regulations. The North offered no danger, no insult, to the Empire of France. The object to be accomplished by the war could have been accomplished after the war had been ended in the South. It is, therefore, clear, that, though he had the means of sending 150,000 additional troops into the Peninsula, he chose rather to let the war drawl on there as the means of drawing off the blood and treasure of England.- If he now succeed in the North (which is, at least, possible), what terms of peace does the reader suppose will be offered to us next time? Does any man imagine, that we shall ever again hear of such terms as those which we have rejected? I, for my part, imagine no such thing; and, I shall, I am pretty confident, hear those lamenting that rejection who are now applauding it to the skies.--The terms were not only good, but the time was singularly favourable. Russia ready for war and a great dearth of bread in France; two circumstances that we can never hope to see unite war in the country which he was going to attack.- -As to the grounds of this war, my readers, who have now all the correspondence before them, must have seen, that it was no other than the refusal of the Czar to exclude the manufactures aud trade of England from his dominions. Whether the demand made by Napoleon was reasonable or not must depend upon circumstance; and whether it was wise to refuse it, will very soon, I dare say, be proved. At present I can see, for my part, no sign of any impediment to the French armies, who are, it appears, marching over countries, where the people are glad to receive them. This may seem strange to some persons; but, the cause once known, it will no longer seem strange.--The question with every people, in sucli a case, is, "shall we be better or worse off by be"coming subjects of Napoleon?" And, if the answer is, that they shall be worse off, they assist in opposing him; if the contrary, they do not assist in opposing him.It is as much in vain for us to abuse the people of Poland or of Russia, as it was for us to abuse the Dutch or the Italians. They do not hear our abuse; and, if they were to hear it, they would only hate us a little more for it. Every nation must feel for itself. It is very amusing to hear people in England execrating the PoTanders because they do not fight, because they do not shed their blood, for the Rus-again. But, such appears to be the aversians who conquered their country, who sion to peace, that even these circumstances, have held it by force, and who have al- so singularly favourable, were wholly overways considered the people as a conquered looked or set at nought.--The people of people. It is amusing to hear us abuse the England have been told very often, that Polanders for this, while, in the same those of France sighed for peace; that the breath, we abuse the Emperor Napoleon war was unpopular in France; that the as an Usurper, and while we call upon all people there hated Napoleon because he his people to shake off his yoke. -To would not give them peace with England. predict any thing as to the result of this I have never seen any proof of the truth of war would be absurd; but, it may not be this; but, supposing it to be the real state amiss to endeavour to prepare the public of the fact, would it not have been wise in mind for the consequences of the success of us to show a disposition for peace when the Napoleon. That success would, it seems offer was made to us? If any thing were to me, be decisive of the fate of the conti-wanted to reconcile the people of France to nent of Europe. The whole force of France, the continuation of the war, what is so a great part of which has been always held likely to do it as a rejection, on our part, in readiness for a Northern War, would of reasonable terms of peace?-When then be directed against Spain and Portu- the circumstances of the war are in our val, which latter even would. in that case. favour, we refuse to treat upon the ground probably not be long in our possession. of its being unwise to stop our army in its career of victory; and when the circumstances of the war are unfavourable to, we refuse to treat upon the ground that it would be unwise to appear to be frightened into a treaty. In the former case we treat a proposition for peace as proceeding from -It has all along been my opinion, that Napoleon meant to end the continental war in the Southern Peninsula, whither we were and still are sending such immense sums of money, and where employment is found for so large a part of our military |