Athol; the Earl of Haddington; Lords Melville and Seaforth; the Lord Baron and the Lord Advocate; with the Commander in Chief in North Britain, and the officers of his staff, form, when all together, a very imposing and brilliant sort of an assemblage. Unfor tunately, however, it is not exactly of that description the most likely to convince the people, in their present temper of mind, that the interference of Peersin the election of the Commons' Representatives is one of "the great landmarks of the constitution"-that the sale of seats in Parliament is one of the established usages of the constitution"-and that a profligate and profuse expenditure of the public money is a blessing which it becomes them to defend, and to transmit unimpaired to their children." "To such testimony, on such subjects, popular suspicion will attach. We mean no imputation on the political integrity of Lord Melville; but we must whisper in his ear that such things were, and are not yet forgotten :-neither would we intimate a doubt as to the personal independ ence of the officers of the North British staff, although it certainly did not escape us, on a late niemorable occasion, that the vote of every military member of a particular Assembly, with one distinguished exception, was given in direct contradiction to the expressed and unanimous voice of the country. - In conclusion, we would beg leave to recommend to the Government measures more likely to appease the ferment of the public mind, and allay the risings of disaffection, than such assemblies as the Pitt Clubs to meet just complaints with prompt redress to hold the Janguage of conciliation instead of defiance and, above all, to confine their attachment to the constitution, and to abandon to their fate those abuses which will ulti mately prove millstones round the necks of those who obstinately cling to them. SONNET. ( 101 ) SONNET. SIR FRANCIS BURDETT, REFORMER radical! I love thy song, That sings so sweet of foul Corruption's form, Down with her, writhing, reeking from thy wounds! Then bid a phoenix from her ashes spring, Bright as Horne Tooke's hot fancy forth could bring. ST CADWALLO. ON THE LATE VICTORY OF THE AUSTRIANS. [From the same.] WHEN the vast deluge of the world was stay, Sure greater praise to Bony must be given fo A DEMOCRAT'S DREAM. MR. EDITOR, ABOUT six months since, in some moment of tion upon the success of the misguided Spaniards, you endeavoured to entertain your readers with an an ticipation of the flight of the Bonaparte family from Europe. This was the effusion of some loyal simpleton-some prejudiced, unenlightened creature, upon Bonaparte's boast that the Austrians were scattered like dust. F3 whom whom I looked down with unaffected contempt, con; trasting with his humble views of peaceful comfort my prospects of the dukedom to which, at least, I shall arrive by dint of the doctrine of equality! You will now, I hope, allow me, who see things in a different light, to give you one of my visions. Having lately gone through a course of French bulletins, it is not wonderful, that the admirable strain of criticism upon governments, armies, officers, wines, toilettes, and principles, which mingles with their military narrative, should continue to run in my head; and you must know, that I lately dreamed no less than a whole French bulletin, upon the landing of their army in England. It is as follows, and, if you have any impartiality, you will not fail to insert it. ARMY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLAND. Marsh de Romney, Nov. 30, 1809. "On the 28th the Emperor ordered, that his army should be in England. To receive this command, to direct the embarkation, to embark, and to be at sea, were the work of a moment. It had been always laid down by our sçavans, that we should sail in a high wind; but perhaps they did not know, that such a wind makes the sea abominably rough, which has a very disagreeable and indelicate effect upon the stomach. The army cannot judge of the passage, as they saw nothing but the bottoms of the vessels. Our seamen say, that a large English squadron was in sight all the while, but they did not dare to approach us! There were on board this some of the favourite admirals and captains of the English-as Sir Richard Strachan, Admiral Keates, Sir Sam. Hood, Capt. Maitland, -Lord Cochrane, Sir M. Seymour, Capt. Yeo, and others. Our seamen think nothing of these. They say they are no officers!! We met with no accident in the passage, except the sinking of about four hun dred A DEMOCRAT'S DREAM. 103 dred of the flotilla by the effect of a very disagreeable vibration of the sail, which the English call gibing. Our seamen found it impossible to prevent this. "We landed the same night between two martello towers, which fired upon us, without any answer on our part, our cannon not being landed for severat hours afterwards, and our best cannoneers being unable to take aim from the continuance of a swimming in the head, after the voyage. We left some men on the beach, whom we have not seen again. We fear they are in the mud. Yesterday we took the martello towers, with garrisons of twenty men cach, with the loss of only 1500 on our part. Oudinot's grenadiers were covered with glory. A battalion of Voltigeurs leaped upon what they thought solid earth, but it was not so, and they were covered with mud, rather above the eyes. We shall send the English garrisons over by the first conveyance, that the Emperor may see some English soldiers with satisfaction. We march upon London to-morrow. "The prejudice and obstinacy of the English are inconceivable. This is one of their most favourite feeding-places for sheep, yet they have not left us one! Instead of thousands of people coming to join us, we have seen none but troops, who are collecting round us, on all sides, and we fear not with the best intentions. This is rather odd. The General says, however, we shall march upon London to-morrow. "The English government is little known on the continent. They have a Parliament, and an Opposition; but Ponsonby, the leader of the Opposition, hates the French. It is ridiculous, therefore, to talk of an Opposition; and some of our friends have endeavoured to make the English understand, that these should not be called an Opposition, but are only cheats, which their hatred of the French has lately shown. But it is inconceivable the stupidity of these people. F 4 people. They place their confidence, some in the Ministry, some in the Opposition, according to their old party prejudices, and those that wish us success, dare not say so; they can only speak of our wisdom and irresistibility, saying that they heartily do desire to resist us, but that no mode, which has been adopted, or shall be adopted, can be the right one. Yet this does not prevent the English from keeping a great army on foot, and raising regiment after regiment. This is very odd. We did not expect this, when we heard, that the Ministry and the old Opposition were all proscribed as cheats, and that the English were advised to resist us only by some change in the mode of their government. To-morrow, however, we march upon London. P. S. Strange to tell, an English squadron, com. manded by the very officers, of whom our seamen spoke, have just taken possession of our flotilla. Tomorrow, however, we march upon London. "2d P. S. A crowd of ships have followed this squadron, and they say fourteen or fifteen English regiments are landing, right in our rear, exactly where we landed. 3d P. S. We are attacked in front in the most abrupt manner, and can hear nothing about the change in government.” Here, Mr. Editor, I confess I could dream no longer. Indignation, grief, fear, sympathy, philosophy, forbade it. As As you, however, have your reveries, know that I have mine, and that there was a moment, in which I seemed to expect-the march upon London. Yours, A CITIZEN. THE |