Germany, my lord, in that old system of balanced power, which it has, for some time past, been the fashion to ridicule, was the weight, which, more than any other, kept the scale steady on the Continent. The empire, on one side, touched the states that formerly composed the balance of the north; and, by means of the Houses of Austria, Brandenburgh, and Saxony, was connected with that balance. On the other side it touches France, and 'till now much more immediately, without any naturally defensible line of separation; and thus, it affected and influenced, most importantly for this country, what was called the middle balance, consisting of Great-Britain, France, and Spain. Again, extending round the Alps, it came into contact with the balance of Italy, and was more closely connected with that country by means of the hereditary possessions of the imperial house.

py and a love of justice, interfered to make | the purpose of defence, and not, as at pre-
a new and equitable distribution of pro- sent, with a view to overawe, to disturb, or
perty, of power, and of honour. Whether to subjugate, the dominions of her neigh-
this supposition be admitted, or not, it has bours. Her efforts were then divided, and
been acted upon, and, therefore, the effect her operations by sea crippled. On our
is the same: the balance of Germany, inter- side, we were, in a similar manner, if not
nal and external, is destroyed.
in the same degree, useful to Austria.
Hence a close connexion arose; and, as the
maritime power of Great-Britain was, in
some measure, the Emperor's, the Emperor
favoured that navigation and that com-
merce, which are at once the foundation of
our external power and the great source of
our internal prosperity and happiness. But,
my lord, these politics now are become
fables and tales of other days: the Bur
leighs and Cecils, the Temples, the Godol-
phins, the Walpoles, the Pelhams, and the
Pitts, the founder of our foreign glory as
well as the assertor of our domestic free-
dom, William III, and Marlborough, not
less illustrious in the cabinet than in the
field, are all become drivellers and idiots
when compared to the "safe politicians" of
the present day, to the Addingtons, the
Hawkesburjes, the Wilberforces, to any of
that innumerable crowd of prudent men, of
parliamentary wise-acres, of calculating
statesmen, who, upon the first exaltation of
the late minister, rushed forth from the col-
lege, the inns of court, the counting-house,
and the counter, and who, at the end of
eighteen years intense application, have dis-
covered, that the commerce between Man-
chester and London is more profitable than
that with foreign parts, that the navigation
on the stormy seas is less lucrative and more
hazardous than that on the grand junction
canal, that military and naval glory is a
mere phantom of a disordered brain, and
that money is the only legitimate and effec
tual means of national defence.

Such was the operation of the external balance of Germany on the other parts of the European system; and of this Mr. Burke says, in the first of his three profound and prophetic memorials, addressed to the ministers: "If Europe does not conceive "the independence and the equilibrium of "the empire to be in the very essence of "the system of balanced power in Europe, "and if the scheme of public law, or mass "of laws, upon which that independence " and equilibrium are founded, be of no "leading consequence as they are preserved or destroyed, all the politics of Europe, for more than two centuries, have been miserably erroneous."-And so, doubtless, your lordship will say they have been. This was, at any rate, the language of those who defended the treaty of Amiens, as may yet, perhaps, be seen in the profound and sprightly productions of Sir Frederick Eden and Mr. Chalmers.

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With regard to our own interests, the great advantage which we derived from the former state of Germany, was, that the principal military power, the imperial house of Austria, hasing possessions bordering upon those of Flance there was a perpetual between those powers, Cess for our most formidavas also our eenstant enemy to maintain a vast army for

As to the internal balance of the Ger manic empire, my lord, it was necessarily connected with religious differences of op nion, and principally consisted in this, tha there was an ascendency in behalf of thos of the known Roman Catholic persuasion which was the ancient religion of the em pire, and always, hitherto, that of the Em peror, while, at the same time, there wa such a counterpoise in favour of the esta blished forms of Protestant worship, effectually secured to the members of th latter communions liberty of conscienc and a just share in the honours and digiti of the empire. The number of ecclesiast cal electorates gave Austria a sure prepor derance in that college, and, together wi the other great Catholic prelacies, also a

17591

forded the means for providing for the younger branches of the imperial family. These electorates were essential to the internal balance of Germany; and, by securing the imperial throne to the House of Austria, they were essential also to that system of English policy, which depended oo our alliance with the House of Austria against the encroaching and overspreading ambition of France.

his Majesty's ministers, on those "safe politicians," those cool and calculating statesmen, who, with the utmost composure, publish the receipts of their custom-house as more than a balance against all the insults and injuries which they have brought upon their country and their sovereign.

The pretext for the Consul's interference is by no means less novel than the manner of it, nor less material to be weighed and considered in this discussion. It was this: a preponderating mediation of two powers, perfectly disinterested (that is, in other words, having no right to interfere) was necessary to effect, in the internal affairs of Germany, what would in vain bave been expected from the internal deliberations of the Germanic body! What extent would such a principle of interference, as this, go to; or rather, how perfectly illimitable is it? It puts the internal constitution of every country, governed by balanced powers and deliberative assemblies, totally at the mercy of the strongest. On such a pretext, France, if at peace with us, might have presented a plan for the Union of Ireland, when the measure was voted here and rejected there: she may now interfere between his Majesty's cabinet in England and the house of assembly of Jamaica; and, if her present conduct be winked at and passed over in silence, who shall say that she has not a right to interfere in any of the hundreds of disputes, which are continually arising between the federal and state governments of the American union? In short, to set up, and act upon, a pretext like this, required nothing less than the

All these component parts are (as I shall endeavour more fully to show, by and bye) now completely torn to pieces. The Germanic body is dissolved. It is now to as sume some other form. However, it is not to regenerate itself. France has kindly undertaken to restore it to life. The surgeons of the Humane Society at the Thuilleries have happily succeeded in this charitable experiment for the benefit of all Europe. A Russian practitioner has been called in, but this was evidently done more to wonder at the skill and dexterity of the French operator than to assist in the operation. There is, in the report of the honest Talleyrand, a studied ostentation of the superiority of France in the negotiation; and, the result was first communicated, not to the Diet of the Empire, but to the Conservative Senate of France, a body, which certainly had nothing to do in the execution of the project, and which, neither by the first nor second of Buonaparte's constitutions, appears to have any concern with the foreign affairs of the republic, but to which, perhaps, it was, in this instance at least, intended to give some shadowy likeness to that senate, which antiently bestowed king-perfection of impudence and insolence, todoms at its discretion. Observe, too, my gether with the consciousness of controullord, that the communication was made to able power. And here, my lord, I cannot the Diet of Ratisbon in the French lan help reminding your lordship, that, if ever guage only, and not accompanied, as had this subject should be discussed in Parliahitherto been the invariable custom, with a ment, you and your colleagues must certranslation into Latin, the constitutional tainly lay your account with the loss of the language of the empire. This has been support, on this particular point, of all those stly remarked in a late Jacobin paper to patriots, who approved of the treaty of be an indication of a disposition to universal Amiens, and who were formerly so loud in empire; but, my lord, that which startles their cries against all interference in the intereven those who so recently saw no danger nal affairs of France, even though that counin the aggrandizement of France, who wept try was at the time in a state of commoover our victories, because they tended to a tion; though the rebellious people had improlongation of our struggle against that prisoned, and afterwards murdered, their aggrandizement, who, day after day, were lawful sovereign, and though they openly Lamouring and hallooing to drive their avowed their intention to extend, by fraud country into the toils of her pursuer, who or by force, their principles and their examrejoiced when she was caught by the peace of ple to every nation in the world, and partiAmiens, and who liked that peace the bet-cularly to Great-Britain. Yet, my lord, be ter for having severed us from the Continent not alarmed: the men, who maintained of Europe; that which startles and astounds that principle; the men who, even in the even these men, makes no impression on days of Robespierre and Buonaparté, conti

nued to declaim against the war as a crusade against liberty; the men who could, with such wonderful facility, transfer their affections from one set of despots to another; the men who could follow, with unimpaired zeal and admiration (I might almost say allegiance) the French Republic through all the follies and all the horrors of her revolution; those men, be you assured, my lord, will not be ashamed to justify the present interference of the domineering Consul; and, therefore, your lordship may confidently anticipate, the entire, the undisturbed, and unenvied enjoyment of all the honour to be derived from their support.

From this digression I should now return to the subject of the electorates, but want of time compels me to defer it to my next. In the mean time, I am, my lord, your lordship's most humble and most obedient servant, WM. COBBETT.

London, Sept. 24, 1802.

FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE.

Paris, Sept. 7.-The Moniteur of this date contains a letter from BERTIN, the colonial Prefect of Martinico, giving an account of his taking possession of that colony, and of the great joy of the inhabitants, on the occasion.-N.B. This letter will be inserted at length in the Supplement to the present vo Jume-It has in it nothing immediately interesting.

The Moniteur also contains the following arrêté.

66

Sept. 1, 1802 The Consuls of the republic, on the report of the minister of finance, and with the advice of the Council of State, decree :-Art. I. New cordage of French manufacture, tarred or untarred, may be exported, on paying a simple countervailing duty. II. Pitch raw or prepared, tars and rosins of French production, may be exported on paying the following duties: 1. When exported on board French vessels, 25 cents. per myriagram. 2. When exported in foreign vessels, 50 cents. III. Undressed hides, imported from foreign parts, shall be subject, at their entry, to a duty of 25 cents. only, in the same manner as those imported from the French colonies. IV. Comfits, entered inwards from foreign parts, shall be subject to a duty on importation of 35 fr. 5 myriagrams. V. The importation of molas-cs, being the production of foreign colonies, is prohibited." Signed, &c. in the usual

the following Citizens:-Abrial, Minister of Justice. Fouché, Minister of Police. Dubelloy, Archbishop of Paris. Roederer, 'President of the Section of the Interior of the Council of State. And Aboville, First Inspector General of the Artillery. On the same day Citizen Regnier, President of the Section of Legislation, and Counsellor of State, was appointed High Judge and Minister of Justice. Citizen Boulay, Counsellor of State, and President of the Section of Legislation, is appointed to adjudge the claims respecting the National Domains, in the room of Citizen Regnier. Citizen Fourcroy, Counsellor of State, replaces Citizen Roederer, aud in the direction and superintendance of public instruction. Citizon Bigot de Preameneu, Counsellor of State, is appointed President of the Section of Legislation, in the room of Citizen Bou lay. Citizen Regnaud (de Saint Jean d'Angely), is appointed President of the Section of the Interior, in the room of Citizen Roederer. Citizen Lacuée, Counsellor of State, is named President of the Section of the War Office, in the room of General Brune, appointed Ambassador to the Sublime Porte. The following Citizens have been appointed Counsellors of State, viz-Treilard, President of the Tribunal of Appeal for Paris. Collen, Director-General of the Customs, L. Haumont, Prefect of the Lower Rhine. Petit, Prefect of the department of Vauclose. Dauchy, Prefect of the department

of L'Aisne.

Basle, Sept. 12.- All the Eastern part of the Helvetic republic, with the exception of Turgovia, and a part of the Grisons, is in a state of open rebellion against the constitutional authorities.-Besides the three small cantons, those of Glarus, Appenzel, Rheinthal, Zug, and Baden, have declared themselves to be in a state of insurrection.-In Zug, the presence even of a battalion of infantry could not prevent the insurrection from breaking out. The other cantons abound with emissaries from the small cantons, who hold out promises of the abolition of all taxes, of the re-establishment of the Lansgemeinde, and sometimes of the plander of all persons of property.-These perfidious suggestions have had this singular effect, that the partizans both of oligarchy and of democracy unite together to destroy that constitution which was a few months ago adopted by a large majority. If they succeed in their designs (which may for Sept. 14.-The First Consul, in virtue of tunately be prevented by the interposition of 63d Article of the organic Senatus Consul-France), there will be a civil war between tum, has appointed to the rank of Senators those parties who have now formed a tem

manner.

porary union for the purpose of destroying "ladelphia, we learn, that the alarm rethe government.-The canton of Baden is "specting the fever was still very great, and at this moment occupied in forming its" that the inhabitants were very generally landsgemein The municipalities have been" removing from the city, as the most efinvited to send deputies to the chief town to concert measures upon this subject. Reding's brother, who has resided for some time at Baden, is at the head of the insurgents. The Argovian district of Bruck has also been invited to join with the male contents of Badea. The central government has sent select persons belonging to Zurich and Friborg into these districts to put an end to the disturbances Illegal assemblies having been held at Zurich, a detachment of Helvetic troops was sent thither from those stationed in the middle district of the Pays de Vaud. The burgesses of Zurich shut the gates against them, and proposed terms which mihary honour obliged them to reject. Hostilities were commenced, and we this momest learn, that the city of Zurich has been bombarded by the Helvetic troops. The commissary of government, Muy, has received orders to expedite his departure. Paris 22d. Sep-We learn by the way of Nantes, that at the departure of La Brune from the cape at St. Domingo, on the 1st of August, the two frigates sent to the isle of Tortue had arrived there. The Negroes had been reduced, the most mutinous pumed, and tranquillity re-established. Some habitations have been burnt, and about a dozen of whites, women and children, have fallen victims to the insurrection.-The trigate La Valeureuse, returned to Brest from & Domingo, announces the approaching return of the three ships Le Pesarole, Tourville, and Le Zelé.-Citizen Perignon, senator, is appointed extraordinary cominissioner to reguiate, conformably to the basis of the 7th article of the treaty of peace between France and Spain, every thing relative to the rectification of the limits of the two states on the side of the Pyrennees.

"fectual means of preventing the ravages of "this dreadful distemper.-A French fri"gate of 54 guns and 400 men, Capt Tail"leur, three months from Brest, on a cruize, "has put in at this port for water and pro"visions. She had anchored at the qua"rantine ground. Three other frigates, it " is said, may be expected."

Stuttgard, Sept. 12-The assembly of the deputies of the imperial cities of Suabia, which met about a month since, has sepaparated without coming to any resolution. Six of the cities, amongst whom Augsburg is one, took no part in the deliberations.The latest courier from Munich, brings the intelligence of the Austrians having occupied the county of Neuburg, which extends from the Inn to the banks of the Danube. It appears that they also proposed to interrupt the communication between the Bavarian troops posted at Vilshoffen, and at Saint Nicholas. General Deroi .mmediately placed troops along the Danube, to maintain those communications, and proceeded on the 5th to Passau, to confer upon the subject with the Austrian general Shanch. The result of the conference is not known.-- A report has prevailed for some days at Munich, that the Austrians were disposed to evacuate Passau, but it has been contradicted by late events. We learn, on the contrary, that there is an intention of forming a second camp at Wels, on the frontier of High Austria. M. de Buol, the Austrian envoy at Munich proposed that the elector should evacuate all the countries which he had occupied, on which condition, it was added, the emperor would withdraw his troops from Salzburg, Passau, Berchtolsgaden, &c. but this proposition was not agreed to at Manich.-The Bavarian troops have delayed until now, the American States.-New York papers have taking possession of the different impe been received of the 11th of August, from rial cities of Suabia allotted to the elecwhich it would appear that some degree of tor. The occupation of those cities has at alarm respecting the contagious fever still length taken place within these few days. prevailed both in New York and Philadel- On the 8th, a detachment entered Noerda. The following articles are copied from lingen, and another Bopfingen-On the the New York Daily Advertiser:-" The next day Demhulspul was occupied, and also "favourable state of the health of this city Kauffbenem, Buchhorn, Wangen, and Ra" is apparent from the list of deaths for last vinspurg. In many of these cities, the arweek, which falls short of the week pre- rival of foreign troops caused some discon"ceding.-The greatest mortality prevails, tent, but the magistrates themselves address "as is usual through the summer months, ed proclamations to their fellow-citizens, in" among children the proportion between viting them to submit to necessity, and pro"them and adults being as three to one.mising that they would do every thing in By private accounts yesterday from Phi- their power to preserve to the cities a part