torney-General, in a trial when the issue before the court was the treason of Donnelly and Tyrrell, to introduce a collateral issue, in which the merits and manners of his friend the aforesaid Mr. Marsden were to be tried; and that in pursuance of trying such collateral issue, he, the King's Attorney General, did, for a long space of time, to wit, one hour, examine one CLARKE, a witness, touching the good humour, affability, and sweetness of temper of the aforesaid Mr. Marsden, on and upon the said 23d day of July, which was in the year of our Lord 1803: and though several of the aids-decamp to the Lord Lieutenent and other sober and skilful bye-standers, did declare themselves thoroughly satisfied with the evidence so given of the said Mr. Marsden's good humour, &c. yet that the jury obsti nately refused to give any verdict upon such collateral issue: and that the said Mr. Marsden, finding the jury would not give a verdict on his merits, did in Saunders's newspaper of the 16th of Sept. last, publish a detail of the evidence in his own favour, wherein it appeared, that he M. Marsden, a retired barrister, and one M. Clarke, a cotton manufacturer, did, on the aforesaid 23d of July, deliberate, and debate, and determine on sundry military questions, and of certain military positions, whereby, in the military opinions of the aforesaid persons, the safety of the City of Dublin would be insured by placing a serjeant's guard at l'almerstown, five miles distant from the said City!!!If you should have heard, Mr. Cobbett, Lord Castlereagh assert that the Irish government was prepared with means to defeat the conspiracy, and that a letter should now be laid before you, written by Lad Hardwicke himself to Mr. Foster late speak er of the Irish Commons, in which Lord Hardwicke, in direct terms, admits that his government had been surprised!-If it should be found that "such things are," and that Doctor Addington's assertion of the government of Lord Hardwicke "that not a mur#mur of complaint has been heard against "it" be true, must not you, Mr. Cobbett, conclude that the Irish press has been purchased, and that the Irish * * * * have been dealt with, as I have already stated, or that the people of Ireland are lineally descended from the Capadocians, of notorious memory, and have also considerably degenerated from their contemptible ancestors? But give me leave to quit this scene of military inefficiency, and turn your eyes for one moment to the civil department of this Nation ever hardly used, At random censured, wantonly abused. In the eyes of safe politicians, economy is some consolation for weakness; and your safe politicians and those who support them, act as if they thought that frugality and tin-man purity of government were full compensation for the loss of public dignity, ad the decay of national strength. But, Sir, those men who are contented to repose under the shade of a safe politician's branches, would probably be roused a little from their quiescence, if they were to know that to this deplorable pretension of the desk in this country to military arrangement, and more deplorable incapability of any military exertion, there is joined the most abandoned vigour of civil profusion.--I beseech of you, Mr. Cobbett, to call upon parliament to enquire, whether, in this time, when every shilling should be appropriated to the demands of the army, immense sums of money have not been, in Ireland, wantonly and disgracefully lavished upon ridiculous alterations and fantastical improvements at the country palaces of the Lord Lieutenant and his secretary; and whether more money has not, within a very short space of time been profligately expended upon these puerile whimsies than would pay, clothe, and maintain a regiment of a thousand men, officers and all, for three years. I beseech of you, Sir, to hint at the disclosure which may result from an inquiry, whether offices of great trust (almost, I may say, if not entirely, judicial) have not been, in Ireland, lately bought and sold, with the knowledge and under the negotiation of government. If the Nimrod of the tin-man game should not understand me, let him be told to enquire how Mr. Redmond Barry came in this kingdom by his office of com missioner of accounts?- -I have mentioned, Sir, the means by which the appointment of the present Attorney-General of Ireland was procured. But. there are some circumstances attending that appointment on which it is necessary to trouble you, and, perhaps, for a few lines, to solicit you to wade through the dulness of some detail.Sir John Stewart was the late Attorney-General for Ireland. He is a gentleman by his birth, has received a most liberal education, and manifests the advantages of both these circumstances, by the integrity of his morals and the correctness of his manners. His private fortune is ample, and he represents ed, why did Mr. Marsden resort to such a contrivance? I have already stated, that a great addition of salary could not be placed on the civil list for the Attorney General, but by act of Parliament, and so the job would, of course, be disclosed to the public. But the emoluments of the counsel to the Commissioners are paid out of the gross revenue, while it remains in the hands of the Collectors, before any payment is made by the Collectors into the Exchequer, and con⚫ sequently the charge never appears as an issue from the Exchequer, or among the expenses of Government: only the net revenue, after deducting the charges of management, is paid into the Exchequer. This job, therefore, is placed under the head of management, the gross amount of which, under the title of revenue incidents, alone appears. By this means the particulars of the charges are kept from public observation, as they are multifarious, complicated, and variable. But, to render this transaction more nefarious, it is, Sir, a complete pension without authority of Parliament, no duty whatsoever being performed for it. Will the assertion be denied? Let the proper officer lay before the House a list of the fees paid to the present Attorney-General since the letter was sent, and under its direction, and also an account of what revenue trials the Attorney-General has ever attended, or what revenue cases he has ever returned with opinions upon them. I am sure this last paper will appear a blank,— But I shall weary you, Mr. Cobbett, (I am sure I have already wearied myself) before I shall have gone through one-tenth of the instances I could produce of this petry profligacy. Petty in its integral parts, but monstrous in its aggregate, and scandalous in parliament, one of the richest and most populous counties in Ireland. Such a man was by no means likely to suit Mr. Marsden, nor indeed, any safe politician. It is easy for a mean government to disgust a gentleman with office, and, therefore, it was easy for the present government to determine Sir John Stewart to resign. He did resign. This made room, and the friend of Mr. Marsden was recommended to the office. But, as the friend of Mr. Marsden would probably be called on for the performance of services which no AttorneyGeneral was ever yet called on to perform, so it was reasonable he should be paid in a way in which no Attorney General ever yet was paid. This however, required some invention. It was difficult to put an increase of £2,000 or £3,000 per annum on the -civil list, because the civil list is limited, and the money is appropriated by parliament, But, Mr. Marsden, though dull, is not without invention where profit is concerned. A miser's wit is readily sharpened, when the cutler has a golden wheel. There is, in Ireland, a law office called " Counsel to "the Commissioners of Revenue." Its name speaks its purpose. For several years past two gentlemen of the bar have been generally employed in that department. Many intelligent persons have questioned the necessity of employing even two counsel in the office, and have considered a second as a mere addition of patronage, loading the public with a double and an useless expense. The appointments have, however, been acquiesced in. The office produces in fees, &c. about 2,000 per annum to each of the gentlemen. Now, Sir, let me open to you the honest contrivance of Mr. Marsden, Immediately on the appointment of his pliant friend to the office of Attorney-in its example.Thus you can account, General, an official letter came from the secretary of the Lord Lieutenant, addressed to the commissioners of the revenue, and directing them to place the Attorney-General as a THIRD counsel upon their books, and, upon the same footing as to all fees, as the two former counsel to the Commissioners had before been, whereby for Mr. Marsden's Attorney-General there are now THREE counsel to the Commissioners, and the public is burdened with an expenditure now trebled in amount. Will the fact be questioned? The letter now remains an official document in the Custom-house of Dublin. Let any member of Parliament move that the proper officer do lay it before the house. My credit with you, Sir, and the public, shall stand or fall by the production of that paper. But, it will be ask Mr. Cobbett, why, upon an awful trial for high treason, an Attorney-General could be found, who would debase the dignity of his high office, running off at a tangent from the solemn issue before the court, and hunting out witnesses whose testimony should give him a pretence for pronouncing a pànegyric upon a miserable clerk. Thus it is a considerable kingdom, the right arm of the empire, upon a change of parties, is handed over to Lord Hardwicke in order to enable Mr. Addington, by the delivery, to procure some support in Par liament, and to enable Lord Hardwicke, by the possession, to provide for the poor relations of his family. If these were not the objects, let it be stated what were the circumstances in the character, particular talent, particular knowledge, or general repu tation of Lord Hardwicke, which marked his destination for Ireland. The imbecility of Lord Hardwicke is, however, propped up by the official habits of Mr. Wickham. But it became necessary for Mr. Wickham to attend his Irish flock while they were in England and I dare say, when they appeared, some political shepherd may have put the question-Dic mihi Damata cujum pecus? Poor Lord Hardwicke, therefore, in this lonely wild, was left to his own devices, and he accordingly reposed himself in the bosom of Mr. Marsden, the Clerk. Such consequences followed as necessarily must follow such circumstances. In an awful hour of trial the King's revenue is wasted in ridiculous profusion, or appropriated, by mean hands, to pettty, but, therefore, not less infamous jobs. A country" sore from civil broils," has become gangrened by unskilful treatment. Rebellion has broken out even in the capital. Eight months of preparation of arms and machinery of war has been proved by Government themselves on the trials for high treason, to have existed within two hundred yards of their own residence, not unknown, certainly, but as certainly not attended to. The 23d of July discovered to a gallant army that a safe politician government might reduce them to behold their officers slaughtered in their presence, without the possibility either of prevention or revenge. The 23d of July shewed to the respectable bench of judges, the heads of the law, their beloved and venerable chief abandoned in a dream of peace, in the midst of the capital, to the pikes of merciless ruffians :-in that capital, in the centre and fortress of which, with a garrison of four thousand men, and a large body of loyal yeomen, Mr. Marsden, the Clerk, then sat trembling; and from which capital his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant had, at five o'clock in the evening, very prudently taken his departure; had gone to his seat in the park; had doubled his guard there; and returned very gallantly the next morning to the city, escorted by a regiment of dragoons, to receive from the hands of Mr. Marsden, a list of the killed and wounded on the preceding day. But, Sir, it were well if this were all. I presume not to touch the feelings of a gallant officer, by making his character, either by praise or censure, the subject of anonymous observation; but I must suppose General Fox to have been perfectly equal to his command, by his appointment to it. General Fox came over here early in the year, and very properly employed the spring and summer in a minute and military examination of the country, where he was to act, and of the troops, which he was to command. Every one knows, that without a local knowledge of the country where he is to act, and a personal knowledge of the troops under his orders, the talents of an officer can avail but little: and so far, General Fox, by wisely employing his own time and the summer season, became qualified for his station. But now, as there was a fault on the 23d of July, and that fault lay somewhere, some sacrifice must be made. The fault lay between Mr. Clarke, the Cotton-man, Mr. Marsden, the Clerk, and General Fox-for as to poor Lord Hardwicke, he was safe at the Park, entirely removed both from political responsibility and from personal danger. That, then, is to be done, which one must expect would naturally be done by such men. General Fox is, at the moment previous to invasion, to be sacrificed, in order to preserve the military reputations of the Cotton-man and the Clerk; and Lord Cathcart is, we understand, to come in the place of General Fox. Now, without presuming to measure the military talents of Lord Cathcart, but supposing them, as he has been selected by the same Government, to be equal to those of General Fox, he is to come to his command immediately previous to the probable moment of action, without knowledge of the country in which he is to act, or of the troops of which he is to have the command, and the officer is to be removed who has made both the subjects of his peculiar attention. These are the results of a Government of safe politicians. And so God bless you, Mr. Cobbett, and God protect us during the winter.- -I am yours, &c. JUVERNA, EDINBURGH MEETING. Sketch of what took place at a Meeting of the Lieutenancy, the Heritors, and Justices of the Peace of the Courty of Edinburgh, beld in the Parliament-House in the City of Edinburgh, on Tuesday the 4th of Octber, 1803, bis Grace the Duke of Buccleugh, Lord Lieutenant, in the Chair. HIS GRACE stated, that in pursuance of the resolutions of last meeting, he had written to Mr. Yorke, the Secretary of State, communicating the sentiments of the county respecting the further enrolment of those volunteers who had offered their services; and to that letter he had received an answer, acquainting him, that Government had acquiesced in the measure that those volunteers should be raised and trained to the use of arms. MR. SHERIFF CLARK stated, that it was proper it should be made known, that the subscription which had been raised by the county was to be applied in providing all the necessaries requisite for this corps, in the same manner as those other corps whose services had been accepted by Government. This matter, which belonged principally to the Lieutenancy, being finished, LORD MEADOWBANK rose, and said, he felt his mind so powerfully impressed with the situation of public affairs at the present moment, that he could not refrain from delivering his sentiments; but although, said his Lordship, I am frequently in the habit of speaking in public within these walls, yet the importance of the subject upon which I am now about to address your Grace, and this meeting is such, that I feel some hesitation in doing so, and am not without apprehension that I may not be able to deliver myself in terms suitable to the object I have in view, and so as to be understood by your Grace and the other gentlemen who compose this meeting His Lordship proceeded to observe, that it was with satisfaction he learnt that Government bad acquiesced with the views and sentiments of this county, by agreeing to allow the enrolment of those volunteers who had come forward with the offers of their services. He bad, bowever, observed a circular letter in the newspapers, in which it was stated, that the offers of service made by the people of the country bad far exceeded any expectations which Government had formed upon that subject, and that this was assigned as a reason why there was not a sufficiency of arms for all. But why the Government should not have expected this of the people excited bis surprize, especially when it was considered that the situation of the country was such that we were called upon to fight for the preserva tion of all that was dear to us, our liberties and independence as a free nation. At the present crisis, it was of the utmost consequence, that the people should be completely armed. It was of use that the enemy should know this, and also that they were armed with such instruments as the enemy had never been in the practice of using, such as pikes and spears. This would do much to intimidate the force of the invaders. It would alarm and appall them, and the dread of encountering such a species of defence would make them desist from so hazardous an attempt.But, passing from this, his Lordship said, what he had principally in view was to call the attention of this meeting to the present state of the maritime defence of the eastern coast, concerning which he could not help thinking there. was such a degree of neglect manifested, as was highly blameable. He observed, that to the southern part of the island, the most vigilant attention was very properly paid to guard the coast against every apprehension of invasion; but, with regard to this coast, all the means of defence which we had consisted in a forty-four gun frigate, and he was uncertain whether any thing more was to be added. He could not pretend himself to be a competent judge of the nature of the force best calculated for the defence of the Frith of Forth, and the eastern coast of Scotland; but be bad conversed with gentlemen of high professional knowledge, and who were fully able to speak upon these subjects, and it was their opinion, that large | fleets and beavy vessels were by no means adapted to this service. Smaller vessels, which could be easily conveyed from one point to another, were preferable, because they could not only be useful in defending against any attack, but in case of the enemy attempt ing to land men in boats, they could be brought to act against them with superior advantage. In this opinion be could state the Trinity House entirely acquiesced, and a MEMORIAL TO THAT EFFECT WAS TRANSMITTED TO GOVERNMENT, BACKED BY VERY HIGH AUTHORITY, BY AN AUTHORITY THAN WHOM THERE WAS NONE HIGHER OUT OF OFFICE. But notwithstanding of this, no attention had been paid to it; and this appear ed to bim the more extraordinary, because at the present moment there were vessels in Leith barbour, the Greenlandmen, excellently adapted for that service, lying idle and laid up for the winter.if, said his Lordship, we take into consideration the enemy we have now to contend with, the animosity he bears towards this country, the extent of coast he commands, the means of attack he has in his power, by the ally he has obtained in Holland, or rather I may say by the conquest and subjugation of Holland now under his controul, and by which he is enabled to act with tenfold energy, we shall find that the north-east coast requires more attention than Administration seem to be aware of.Occupied, as I am, said his Lordship, in the duties of my station as a Judge, I have found myself unable to devote so much of my time as I could have wished, to attend to a matter of so high importance as this; but there are times so peculiar in their circumstances as to require that even those important duties should give way to the higher considerations which may call for attention; and if ever there was a period which demanded this sacrifice, it is the present. I did, however, defer the ma ture consideration of this subject until the close of the session; but having since that time given to it all the deliberate attention of which I was capable, I feel myself called upon to state what occurs to my mind concerning it. When I look around me at present, I see this meeting composed of Judges, Professors in the University, and of other Gentlemen whose duties require that they should enjoy the most perfect tranquillity in discharging them. But I ask any man what tranquillity can they possess whilst this metropolis, and the whole eastern coast of Scotland, is suffered to remain in so defenceless a state? Can they go to bed with tranquil minds, who know not but the alarm of an enemy may arouse them in the morning? Is that the situation in which this country is to be allowed to remain? If so, how different is it from the opinion entertained by that great and eminent statesman, Mr. Pitt, whose name I can never mention but with the highest respect; he said, that the country ought to be kept in that state of preparation and defence that every man might, when he retires to rest, recline his head upon his pillow with tran quillity. This city is the residence of the High Courts of Justice, the seat of the University, of the public banks, and the resort of gentlemen of rank and property; an attack made upon it could not fail of being attended with the most baneful consequences. The city of Glasgow also, where there is so much commercial capital, would feel the sad effects of the landing of an enemy here. The neighbouring counties, and the whole coast, would likewise experience the dreadful consequences of such an event; and shall all this be left, as IT CERTAINLY IS AT PRESENT, OPEN TO THE ATTACKS OF OUR DECLARED ENEMY.--Shall the whole attention of Government be paid to the south coast, and this left entirely defenceless? He could state, from the same authority to which he formerly alluded, one to whom upon a former occasion this country was indebted for its salvation, that in order effectually to guard the castern coast, there should be a sufficient force of vessels to cruize between Waitby, northward to Fifeness, as far as Peterbead, the rendezvous to be in the Frith of Forth. Thus, if a storm should compel them to leave their cruizing station, and the enemy, taking advantage of that, should come out of their harbours, these vessels would be ready to attack them when they came upon our coast. BUT THOUGH ALL THIS HAS BEEN REPRESENTED TO GOVERNMENT, NO STEP HAS YET BEEN TAKEN FOR OUR DEFENCE; A 44 GUN FRIGATE IS OUR ONLY MEANS OF SECURITY, AND SHE LIES AT ANCHOR IN LEITH ROADS. Such being the case, it is, said his Lordship, my opinion, that this county ought to present an address to our most gracious Sovereign, humbly and respectfully stating the defenceless state of the coast, and expressing our hopes that his Majesty would take it into his most gracious consideration. With this view I have drawn a few resolutions, which I beg leave to read to the meeting. His Lordship here read the resolutions, which went at great length into a detail of the situation and defenceless state of the eastera coast of Scotland, and pointed out the different stations where it might be necessary to have an increased maritime force; as also the species of force best calculated for the purpose.- After his Lordship had finished reading the resolutions, he observed, that in adopting the line of conduct he had now done, he was actuated only with a desire of procuring for the country that attention of ministers to its security which he thought they had shamefully neglected; he at the same time disclaimed all idea of faction, it was what he never approved of, and least of all would he wish to exhibit even the appearance of it upon the present occa. sion. It also, he said, became him to state, that whatever odium might attach to the observations he had now made, or to the resolutions he had submitted to their consideration, that odium must fall all upon himself; for he was bound to declare, that he had not consulted with any person in or out of this meeting upon the subject, not even with those whose opinion upon matters of this kind he might sometimes be inclined to have. It was therefore to him, self alone that the odium, whatever it shall be, must wholly attach. His Lordship having given in a copy of the resolutions to the Clerk, sat down. The resolutions having been read over by the Clerk, his Grace the DUKE OF BUCCLEUGH rose, and said, that he thought it proper for him to state, in the present stage of the business, that SOME TIME AGO, be, along with the Lord Provost of Edinburgh bad transmitted a memorial to Government, upon the situation of the defence of the Prith of Forth; that although NO ANSWER HAD YET BEEN RETURNED TO THEIR APPLICATION, it was probable that an answer might be received in a few days. This he thought it |