Cobbett's Political Register

these dispositions on their part, we have in our hands means which cannot fail for preserving their peace and friendship. Instead of an augmentation of military force, proportioned to an augmentation of frontier, I propose a moderate enlargement of the capital employed in that commerce, as a more effectual, economical, and humane instrument for preserving peace and good neighbourhood with them.--On this side the Mississippi, an important relinquishment of native title has been received from the Delawares, that tribe desiring to extinguish the spirit of hunting, and to convert superfluous lands into the means of improving what they retain, has ceded to us all the country between the Wabash and the Ohio, South of, and including the road from the Rapids towards Vincennes, for which they are to receive annuities in animals and implements of agriculture. The Pinkeshaws having some claim to the country ceded by the Delawares, it has been thought better to quiet that claim by fair purchase also. So soon as the treaties on this subject shall have received their constitutional sanctions, they shall be laid before both houses.-The Act of Congress of Feb. 28, 1803, for building and employing a number of gunboats is now in a course of execution to the extent there provided, for the obstacle to naval enterprise,

[To be continued.]

SUMMARY OF POLITICS. FAMILY RECONCILIATION.--- There is, and long has been, in this country, a sort of political family, consisting of the Pitts and the Addingtons, augmented at different periods, by the admission of the Jenkinsons, the Dundases, and, more recently, by the Roses, the Longs, and others of the same description. There are three main principles, upon which this family appear invariably to have acted: 1. That the members of The Family are the only men worthy of being entrusted with the management of public affairs in this kingdom: 2. That they have an undoubted right to the exclusive possession or disposal of all the honours, power, and emoluments, that can be pos sessed or disposed of in this kingdom: 3.

That the maintenance of this right is their first duty, and that, in competition theres with, no other object ought to be suffered to exist for a single moment. Those, therefore, who consider the natural consequences of these principles, will not be at all sur prised at the reconciliation which has taken place between Mr. Addington and Mr. Pitt; and, my Lord Grenville must excuse me, if I express my surprise, when, in 1803, I hear a person of his sagacity and experience, declaring, that "nothing is "less probable than to see Pitt and me at any near period (I believe I may say "at no period of our lives) reconciled, and disposed to establish with Addington re"lations of confidence and friendship." His Lordship is thought to be endowed with great knowledge and penetration; but, he was not able to discover the real sentiments and intentions of Mr. Pitt, though he ap pears to have been, as he thought, made fully acquainted with them. He does not seem to have viewed the connexion between the Pitts and the Addingtons in the proper light the nature of their bond of union appears to have entirely escaped him, or, he would have perceived, that, like the members of other families, however bitterly, and on whatever account, they might quarrel, they would finally be reconciled, as far at least as should be necessary to promote the interests of The Family, more especially if its very existence should be at stake. By a reference to the motto of the present sheet, it will be perceived that the reconciliation has not come upon me unawares. To say the truth, I expected it to take place sooner, and, when I saw the meeting of Parliament approaching without any reconciliation being talked of, I began to tremble for the fate of my theory.The reconciliation has been termed "the mar

riage of weakness and meanness; but very improperly in my opinion; for, though it is pretty evident that Mr. Pitt found himself weak, it should not be forgotten, that there are some men, none of whose actions ought ever to be distinguished by the epithet mean, aud, I believe, it will hardly be denied that Mr. Addington is a man of that description. The marriage," whatever may be said or thought of it, is perfectly natural. The principal parties concerned were, as one of their own newspapers (the tender and delicate Morning Post) observes "made to respect, to love, and to cherish "each other." Their disputes have been

much more of a private than of a public nature. They could not exactly agree as to the share which each should enjoy of the power and emoluments of the state, and thereupon some little bickering took place; but, as it never was, perhaps, very liberal or very decent to pry into the affairs of The Family, it would be still less so now to revive the circumstances attendant on their quarrel. What if one side dealt forth charges of arrogance and duplicity," which the other repaid by charges of

capacity and imbecility," who but the parties themselves have any thing to do with the matter? There are very few families, in which (especially where there are great possessions to be shared, and complicated claims and pretensions to be adjusted) disputes, even serious disputes, do not frequently occur; yet, we do not find that any body has ever been much applauded for endeavouring to revive such disputes, espe cially at a moment when the parties are about to be reconciled; and, I should be glad to know, why this particular Family should be excluded from the beneficent effects of those liberal and humane principles which operate in favour of all other families in the world? As to the terms of the reconci

liation we may, however, I think, be allowed to indulge in an observation or two. At present we are, upon this point, lett to conjecture. It has been said, indeed, by some, that Mr. Addington is to be Secretary of State; by others he is destined" to orna"ment the peerage of the realm," Mr. Yorke too, the Right Honourable Mr. Bragge, the Right Honourable Mr. Hiley Addington, and some other “ men

great abilities" are said, by the ministerial papers, to be about to be introduced into the min try, if not into the cabinet, and, the Times Newspaper, well known to be the mouth piece of the junior main branch of the famly, has stated, (25th inst.) that, from 'hese changes, the public will derive security for ** a con"stitutional use of authority at home, and "for wisdom in the conducting of our fo"reign affairs." The sene paper, of the 28th instant, congratulates the public upon the natural consequences of the expected introduction of Mr. Addington and his friends into the cabinet; and that, not on account of its bringing more votes to the aid of the minister, but on account of the good which the country may expect to derive from the statesman-like tents, the cab et wisdom and energy, of Mr Aidigton and his friends. Though," says this print, "we pretend not to be in Segret," (they

country from all its pecuniary embarrass "ments; who found the Treasury empty, and "left it full; who, by bis excellent arrange.

66.

ments, in one year, funded the incredible "sum of ninety-seven millions, while the peop'e scarcely felt an additional burtben; "who provided permanent resources for the war, of which his successors and his country now find the benefit.-We do not wish to renew a debate which was, "and is, likely to be injurious to the country; but we must say, that no epithets were ever more falsely, or more iniquitously employed, by any faction, than those of "weak and inefficient, when applied to a Mr.

Addington's) ministry."-The reader will recollect who employed those epithets so liberally; and, if he be one of those shallow persons who rejoiced at Mr Pitt's triumph over Mr. Addington, he must, one would think, be stung even to madness. How Mr. Canning, and such persons, must feel, it is easier to conceive than to describe. Language like that above quoted from The Times is, however, exactly such as was to be expected from the Addingtons, in this day of their victory; and, hard as it may be for the haughty and arrogant Pittites to swallow it, swallow it they must, and quietly too

There have, however, in the SUN (a paper devoted to the senior main branch of The Family) been some attempts made to disguise the humiliation of the Pittites, who, in this their print, have endeavoured to give to the reconciliation such a turn as to cause it to be regarded as proceeding from-forgiveness and generosity, on the part of Mr. Pitt, who is represented as having now consented to reward Mr. Addington for his long and useful bours as Speaker. "The political obstacles," says the SUN,

which were placed in the way of his laboriously acquired honours, have been removed by the condescension of bis Sovereign and the MAGNANIMITY of Mr. "Pitt." Magnanimity means greatness of mind generally, but, in the more cor fined and usual application of the word, it means greatness of mind which is shown in forbearance or indulgence towards a vanquished

Frinted by Cox and Istyl, No. 75. 61 at Queen Street, and publiska d by R. Bagshaw, Bow Street, Covent Garden where former Numbers may be hat; sold also by J. Lu d, Crown and Mitre, Pall-Mall.

ment, the Old and New Oppositions became
one At the change, the Old and New
Oppositions remained united, but there
sprung up the party of the Addingtons: a
very small one to be sure; but one that,
"under existing circumstances," was not to
be despised by Mr. Pitt. We have seen the
parliament prorogued to a distance of time
that was hardly to be expected, considering
the urgent state of things; we have heard
the "fond hopes" that the ministerial wri-
ters expressed relative to the "parliamentary
aid," which the minister was to receive
from the friends of His Royal Highness the
Prince of Wales; we know that these
hopes have been blasted; we have heard of
the several persons, to whom a certain high
office has been offered without success
short, every expedient seems to have failed,
and the minister appears to have been some-
what in the situation of Jove, in the noc-
turnal ramble, which, in poetic history, he
is said to have taken :

foe. The Addingtons appear to understand | Opposition. At the last meeting of parliait in this way, and they take fire at it accordingly. "In justice to one of the most "meritorious, but most ill-treated charac"ters which this country ever produced, "but who is too high-minded himself to notice the little calumnies with which he "is daily attacked by a brood of reptiles, we "beg leave to state a notorious fact, well "known to every person who at the time "attended to political transactions, and we "pledge our character with the public for "the truth of what we assert, That there "never was any obstacle whatever to Mr. "Addington's receiving those honours and "rewards which are alluded to by the SUN, 66 on the moment of his quitting office, but "his own high sense of dignity, and his re"fined sentiments of honour and of patriot"ism."Perhaps the moralists and politicians of the age, will, ere long, be favoured with an explanation of those “refineď "sentiments of honour and of patriotism," under the influence of which Mr. Addington acted, and is now acting; but, whether he would not, or could not, get a peerage without the consent of Mr. Pat; whether he now intends to take the coronet himself, or (according to the "refined" and manly sentiments, and in laudable imitation, of the great founder of The Family) to place it, a little at first, upon the head of his lady; whether he intends to defer the assumption of his laboriously - acquired honours," and, in the mean-time, to take upon him, according to the notion thrown out through. The Times, the restoring of things to the flourishing state in which he left them; whatever may be bis motives and intentions, we cannot, I think, be much at a loss to guess at the motives of Mr. Pitt. The state of parties, in parliament, has, for some time past, been somewhat new. Ever since the resignation of Mr. Pitt. and his colleagues, in 1801, the old order of things, that is, an Opposition and a Ministerial Party, has been suspended. There were, till the last meeting of parliament four parties: the party of the Minister. that of the Old Opposition, that of Mr. Pitt, and that of the New

"For shelter at a thousand doors he knock'd; "Not one of all the thousand but was lock'd." Till, at last, he found a welcome at the hut of BAUCIS, to commemorate his gratitude for which, the good old woman was liberally rewarded, and, finally, her fame was preserved by a most distinguished and flattering metamorphosis.To the Opposition nothing more agreeable than this reconciliation could possibly have happened. It has removed out of their way the last obstacle to the free discussion of every public measure that has been adopted from the time that Mr. Pitt first became minister to the present hour. There is no longer any temptation, from an over-strained delicacy, to compromise principles, even in the very smallest degree. Not only are there now two, and only two, parties; bnt, these parties, contain, each of them, all the men of one of the two sorts. There is no longer any confusion of principles, any heterogeneous mixture of characters. There are two distinct systems of policy, two distinct descriptions of politicians, and two distinct parties, to which politicians will

now

DIRECTIONS TO THE BOOK-BINDER.

It is to be observed, that this sheet, which is the last of Volume VI, should not be cur ohen by the reader, but should be left to the Bookbinder, who will perceive, that the first half sheet, of which this page makes a part, comes at the end, and that the other half sheet, containing the Title Page, Advertisemont, and Table of Contents, is to be cut off, and placed at the beginning of the Volume.

Supplement to No. 26, Vol. VI.-Price 10d.

now be known to belong. [I regret that I am compelled, for want of room, to stop here. The subject shall be continued in the Dext sheet.]

TEST-LAWS.-Upon this subject my correspondent P. wishes me to be cautious in expressing my sentiments; because, says he,

your sentiments have great weight, and I "am sorry to see them incline towards the "admission of sectaries especially, who are

already labouring incessantly to the de"struction of the established Church "— It is not a little surprizing, that this gentleman, a professed partisan of Mr. Pitt, should express so much alarm at the probable effect of my poor powerless sentiments, in favour, as he appears to think, of the sectaries, when he cannot but know, that Mr. Pitt's power was founded upon sectarian principles, and has been, io a great degree, upheld by sectarian support. Mr. Pitt has always been the favourer of dissenters, in preference to the Church. No small part of his colleagues and of his close friends and adherents have been, and are, of that description; and, the project for abolishing the tithes sufficiently prove his desire to proniote the interests and to provide for the permanence of the Church. I once before observed, that to be a partisan of Mr. Pitt and a real friend of the Church of England was, in my opinion, impossible; and, I must confess, that, if any thing could make me abandon the Church, in which I was baptized, and in the faith of which I have been bred up, it would be the seeing of so many clergymen rank themselves amongst the partisans of a minister, who, under the name of redemption of the land tax, caused much of the best sort of Church property to be alienated, and who thereby made a precedent for a series of alienations, which must end in the total destruction of the establishment. Such clergymen may be good friends to themselves; they may desire to preserve their own incomes and authority; but, they are no friends of the Church. As to the question of the Test-Laws, I have taken great pains to obtain information upon the subject, and I am convinced, that their entire repeal would be preferable to their present operation, which, in fact, is to the di-ability and disadvantage of Roman Catholies only This gentleman seems to think, that my sentiments lean towards the granting of indulgence to the "sectaries"; and he is ready to allow, that the Roman Catholics are harmiels; whom, it is not unreasonable to infer, that he would have little objection to repealing the Test-Laws as far as relates to the Roman Catholics, if he could preserve them in full force with respect to the " sec

"taries." Here I perfectly agree with him in sentiment and in wishes; but, as the laws now stand and operate, they are no bar at all against the sectaries", and are an effectual bar against the Roman Catholics, whose disqualifications are more numerous and whose exclusion is much more comprehensive, than those of the sectaries, and who experience, in the workings of their conscience, an obstacle which it is to be feared, is of little force against the interest or ambition of sectaries in general, and which cannot be overcome by the absolving virtue of an annual bill of indemnity. As the TestLaws now stand, a sectary can be a member of either house of Parliament and fill any office of the state; a Roman Catholic cannot, without abjuring his religion. As to offices in the magistracy and in corporations, the sectaries and Roman Catholics are, in England, upon the same footing in law, but not in fact; for, who is there that will be bold enough to say, that be can produce an instance of a sectary having hesitated, for one moment, at occasional conformity; or, of a Roman Catholic having ever, in any one instance, yielded to it? Indeed, are not one-half of the corporations in the kingdom divided between the sectaries and the members of the Church? In many corporations have not the sectaries an ascendency? Of several, and those important ones too, have they not the exclusive possession? I have conversed with a sectarian magistrate, who laughed at my simplicity in wondering how he could take the Sacrament, according to the rites and ceremonies of the Church of England, and still openly avow himself a dissenter: he really laughed in my face. The Test-Laws, therefore, are, as I have said above, Tests for the Roman Catholics only; they, are, in the letter, against both Roman Catholics and sectaries; but, in the spirit, or, at least, in their effect against the former exclusively; and, as my correspondent himself confesses, that the Roman Catholics are harmless, he will, I think, find it very difficult to shew, that the sentiments to which I have given circulation, tend to the injury of the Church of England, or to that throne, of which I always have considered, and do still consider, the established Church as one of the principal pillars. There is much more to say upon this subject; but another and better opportunity will offer. In the mean time, I cannot but hope, that sufficient has now been said to convince my correspondent, that it has not been without due consideration, that I have given publicity to sentiments such as those which he has thought worthy of his attention,

Table of the Number of Christenings and Burials within the Bills of Mortality, from June to November 1804, inclusive.