with the hostility of the people, and they seldom, if ever, fall upon needy men, or use his power to keep the people in awe. men of questionable character. And, if Let the Princess Charlotte search all his- the House of Commons were filled with tory through, and she will find, that this men of good character and of good fortune, has been the great source of plots, conspi- how is it possible to suppose, that they racies, rebellions, and civil wars. Some- would wish to overthrow the king and his times the misguided sovereigns have fallen, family? How is it possible to suppose, and sometimes thousands of their people; that such a House of Commons, being the but, in every case gain to themselves has actual owners of no inconsiderable portion been the object of those who have fomented of the country, would wish to plunge that the differences between them. -Those country into confusion and anarchy ?persons, who, in this country, seek for a Such a House of Commons, independent reform, have been represented, always re- in point of property, free from all temptapresented as the enemies of the throne, as tion to invade the public purse, and having if the throne depended for its existence, no view upon any thing derivable from a upon the practice of corruption. The re- misuse of its power of voting, would leave. formers have been most insolently termed the king to the full enjoyment of all his a low, degraded crew." These reform prerogatives; it would not want to seize ers it is, who have now come forward with a from him any part of that which he would "loyal and affectionate", address to the have to bestow; and, at the same time, Princess of Wales. Nay, when a motion, that it took care of the nation's purse, it in the late parliament, was made for the would have a plenty to leave at his discre giving proof at the bar of the House of tion.--A king of England, with such a Commons of the sale of seats in that House, House of Commons, would be exposed to the actual sale of seals, there were persons none of the mortifications, which must inof both the parties to cry out, that it was evitably arise from having servants or pentime" to put a stop to POPULAR EN- sioners or any thing forced upon him. He "CROACHMENT!”—I trust, that would be, as far as the law allowed, his the Princess Charlotte of Wales will not own master; and, such he should be." want for right notions upon this all-im- The law prescribes bounds to his authority," portant subject; I trust, that the specimen and that authority ought to have no other which she has now seen of the effect of po- restraint. -The doctrine, preached by pular rights, will be sufficient to guard the Whigs, of the necessity of a combinaher against those, who would persuade her tion of great families as a check upon the that the people encroach too far, when crown, is a most wicked doctrine. It is they complain of the sale, the actual sale, directly in the teeth of the letter, as well as of seats in that House, which is spoken of the spirit of our government. It trans- › as containing the people's representatives. forms the limited kingly government into It appears to me something truly sura detestable aristocracy, or something prising, that any sovereign in England even worse than that. It sets the people · should be made to believe, that a reform at nought. It considers them as little betof Parliament would be hostile to the ter than cattle. Check upon the Crown! 1 throne. The contrary is, so evident, that I What check do we want other than that cannot conceive how it can be doubted. imposed by our own voices, by the mouths -The powers of the king are so great; of real representatives? What au insult they are so effectually guarded against every is this doctrine both to the Crown and the thing but unconstitutional combinations of people! Great families, indeed! And corrupt men, that he can have nothing to who are they? Have they not power fear from a parliament freely chosen by the enough in their own House? Quite enough people. But, from such combinations, in all conscience, without forming any from corrupt trafficking in seats, from the combinations against the king.But, influence which naturally arises out of that, this is another of those devices, which a king of England has every thing to fear; shallow men have resorted to, in order to that is to say, if he fears being made a supply the place of that real, that effectual,¦ mere cipher in the government.- -If the that natural and undegrading check, which people at large, or, at least, all those whoa Commons' House of Parliament, freely pay taxes, were to choose the Members of the House of Commons, it is certain, that they would choose men in the first place whom they know; their choice would very

chosen, forms to all the powers of the Crown, or, rather, to the abuse of those powers.- -The aristocracy would, I must confess, lose power by a reform of parlia

623]

POLITICAL REGISTER.-Westminster Address, &c.

public money?

ment; but, then, it is only that power,
which it has taken from the Crown and
the people. The king ought, in reason, to
be at the head of the reformers, for, I am
sure, he would gain most. As things now
stand, we see several sinecure placemen,
each of whom has greater emoluments than
the whole that one of the sons of the king
has to live upon. I cannot tell what it is
that blinds them; but, it appears to me,
that the Members of the Royal Family ought
to be the very loudest in the kingdom for a
parliamentary reform. The Duke of Sussex,
for instance, has £18,000 a year, while
Lord Arden's places are stated at about
double the sum. Could this be with a
reformed parliament? Is there amongst
the people one single man, who would
give his vote for such a distribution of the
public money? No; not one. Perhaps
the Duke of Sussex, with all his encum-
brances, has not enough to enable him to
keep a carriage and three or four horses.
Not a man in all England would wish to
see a son of the King in this state. Yet,
some how or other it is contrived to per-
suade the members of the Royal Family,
that the reformers are their enemies.-
The notion that the enemies of reform al-
ways endeavour to inculcate, is, that, if
the people were left to choose whom they
please, they would choose men of no pro-
perty and no principle, and that, during
the very first session of parliament, they
would abolish the kingly part of the go-
vernment. This is saying, in effect,
that a decided majority of the people do now
wish the kingly part of the government to
be destroyed. -But, this our enemies
dare not say in plain words. On the con-
trary, they assert, that a vast majority of
the nation are perfectly loyal and well-dis-
posed, and that they prefer this form of
government to any other.Well, then,
if that be the case, why are you afraid to
trust them? Why not let them all vote
for members of parliament? Why object
to a reform upon the principles of the Con-
stitution. But, as I said before, the
people, if left to themselves, would always
choose persons of the greatest weight and
respectability in their own neighbourhoods.
They would be sure to do this. It is not
in the nature of things that they should
prefer strangers and adventurers; and
what danger, I pray, could possibly arise
from the seating of all the most respectable
gentlemen in the kingdom in the House of
Commons? What danger to any one, ex-
cept those who unmeritedty pocket the

[624

Would such an assem

If there be a man so

blage of gentlemen have any motive for
producing" anarchy and confusion," which
is always most impudently held forth as the
object of the reformers? The Members of
such a House would have no motive; they
could have no motive, for degrading the
Royal Authority, upon the due support of
which the possession of their own fortunes
I know, that
and estates must depend.
there are some persons, who are for a re-
form, as the means of bringing forward
what are called men of talents. It is not
We want inde-
talents that we want.
pendence of fortune; we want good prin-
ciples; we want probity more than we do
talents, of which latter we have enough.
We want, in short, honest men, who shall
not be exposed to any of the temptations
attending poverty; and such men a reform
of Parliament would certainly give us.-
I desire the reader to consider, for a mo-
ment, what the effect would be of the
people's seeing the House of Commons
filled with gentlemen, all distinguished in
their several districts for their fortunes and
their probity. I beg him to consider what
weight this would give to all their pro-
ceedings; with what respect it would stamp
all their measures.
blind as not to perceive this, I pity his want
of political insight. Such a change would
certainly mar the game of wrangling ad-
venturers, who live by their wits; for,
most assuredly, not a man of them would
ever see the inside of the House. A fool-
ish, or an unprincipled ministry would,
indeed, find such a parliament very in-
tractable; but, would it be an injury to
the king that the parliament should, in
such a case, be found intractable? The
king would have no care upon his mind.
Such a House of Commons would not be
led much; but it would never be far from
doing what was perfectly right.-Away
we might sweep all the mass of election
laws; for there would be, and there could
be, neither bribery nor corruption. There
would need no law about qualifications ;
for, as I said before, you have in the heart
of man the best guarantee for a district
never choosing a person of questionable
fortune. Men do not go and pick out their
equals to put them to make laws for them.
Leave them only free to choose, and their
choice will always fall upon persons,
whom they know to be a great deal richer
than themselves.The people (and I
cannot repeat it too often), the people, if
left to their free choice, would never choose

adventurers. They would never choose | put to death by persons placed to intercept any man they did not know. No law him, in the presence of the elector; and would be necessary to compel them to tradition still marks the spot where the aschoose persons resident amongst them; for sassination was committed. Sophia was they would never be prevailed upon to do immediately put under arrest; and though it, any more than you could prevail upon she solemnly protested her innocence; yet them to choose a stranger for an apothecary circumstances spoke strongly against her. or a man-widwife. It is out of nature to' suppose that they would choose any persons, but those esteemed the most amongst their rich and powerful neighbours. What ground, then, is there for the pretended dread of anarchy and confusion, as the fruit of a Parliamentary Reform ?-Petitions are now coming forward for this measure, which, let us hope, will, at last, be adopted. Of one thing I am quite satisfied, and that is, that without a Reform of the Commons' House of Parliament, there is neither permanent peace nor safety for this nation.

WM. COBBETT.

Bolley, 21st April, 1813.

PRINCESS OF HANOVER.
The following article is extracted from the
KENTISH CHRONICLE, and is well worthy
of being circulated.

Extract from Coxe's Memoirs of Walpole,

-George, who never loved his wife, gave implicit credit to the account of her infidelity, as related by his father; consented to her imprisonment, and obtained from the ecclesiastical consistory a divorce, which was passed on the 28th of December, 1694. And even her father, the Duke of Zell, who doated on his only daughter, does not seem to have entertained any doubts of her guilt; for he continued upon the strictest terms of friendship with Ernest Augustus, and his son-in-law. The unfortunate Sophia was confined in the castle of Alden, situated on the small river Aller, in the duchy of Zell. She terminated her miserable existence, after a long captivity of thirty-two years, on the 13th of November, 1726, in the sixty-first year of her age, only seven months before the death of George the First; and she was announced in the Gazette, under the title of the Electress Dowager of Hanover.-During her whole confinement, she behaved with no less mildness than dignity; and on receivwith some remarks thereon. ing the sacrament once every week, never "George the First, when Electoral omitted on that awful occasion, making the Prince of Hanover, was married to Sophia most solemn asseverations, that she was Dorothy, only daughter of William Duke not guilty of the crime laid to her charge. of Zell. Sophia, at the time of their mar- Subsequent circumstances have come to riage, was only sixteen years of age, and light, which appear to justify her memory; was a princess of great personal charms and and reports are current at Hanover, that mental endowments; yet her attractions did her character was basely defamed, and that not retain the affections of her husband. she fell a sacrifice to the jealousy and perAfter she had brought him a son and a fidy of the Countess of Platen, favourite daughter, he neglected his amiable consort, mistress of Ernest Augustus. Being enaand attached himself to a favourite mis- moured of Count Konigsmark, who slighted tress. Such was the situation of Sophia, her overtures, jealousy took possession of when Count Konigsmark, a Swedish noble-her breast: she determined to sacrifice both man, arrived at Hanover. He was a man the lover and the princess to her vengeance, of a good figure, and professed gallantry; and circumstances favoured her design. had been formerly enamoured of Sophia at The prince was absent at the army; Ernest Zell, and was supposed to have made some Augustus was a man of warm passions and impression on her heart. On the sight of violent temper, easily irritated, and when her, his passion, which had been diminish- irritated, incapable of control. Sophia ed by absence, broke out with increasing herself had treated Count Konigsmark with violence; he had the imprudence publicly regard and attention, and the lover was to renew his attentions; and as George was hot-headed, self-sufficient, priding himabsent at the army, made his solicitations self on his personal accomplishments, with redoubled ardour. Information of his and accustomed to succeed in affairs attachment, and of his success, was con- of gallantry. Those who exculpate veyed to Ernest Augustus; and one even-Sophia, assert either that a common ing, as the Count came out of her apart- visit was construed into an act of crimiment, and was crossing a passage, he was nality; or that the Countess of Platen,

at a late hour summoned Count Konigsmark in the name of the princess, though without her connivance; that on being introduced, Sophia was surprised at his intrusion; that on quitting the apartment, he was discovered by Ernest Augustus, whom the countess had placed in the gallery, and was instantly assassinated by persons whom she had suborned for that purpose. It isnishing conversation for the tea-table? or impossible, at this distance of time, to discover and trace the circumstances of this mysterious transaction, on which no person at the Court of Hanover durst at that time deliver his opinion. But the sudden murder of Count Konigsmark may be urged as a corroboration of this statement: for had his guilt, and that of Sophia been unequivocal, would he not have been arrested and brought to a trial for the purpose of proving their connexion, and confronting him with the unfortunate princess?---Many persons, of credit at Hanover have not scrupled, since the death of Ernest Augustus and George the First, to express their belief that the imputation cast on Sophia was false and unjust. It is also reported, that her husband having made an offer of reconciliation, she gave this noble and disdainful answer of haughty virtue, unconscious of stain: If what I am accused of is true, I am unworthy of his bed; and if my accusation is false, he is unworthy of me; and I will not accept his offers."

an opportunity of nobly rebutting the imputation, of proving it as false as hell! Will the historian of the present times. have to record that the discovery of a foul and diabolical conspiracy agaiust the life and honour of a princess, the mother of their future sovereign-the hope of England, made no other impression than fur

will he have to record the zeal with which all ranks came forward to protect the in-. nocent, and confound the guilty? Let every man do his duty, and may princes learn from the example, they have no better security for life and honour than those liberties which the real enemies, but pretended friends of royalty, would teach them to despise and trample upon.

REMARKS.

OFFICIAL PAPERS.

NORTHERN WAR.

(Continued from page 608.) cluded the conclusion of a treaty of peace and alliance with Prussia, the ratifications of which have since been exchanged; also the capture of Berlin, where General Wittgenstein has established his quarters since about the 10th instant.Since that pe riod His Imperial Majesty has visited the King of Prussia at Breslaw; Hamburgh has been occupied by the Russian forces; Lubeck has opened its gates.The eneUnfortunate as was the fate of this un- my has been entirely driven from Swedish happy princess, it is but doing justice to Pomerania, Mecklenbourg, Lauenbourg, the memory of George the First-the first and all the Prussian territory within the prince of the house of Hanover that reigned Elbe.Detachments of the Russian army. in these Kingdoms, to state, that he was have penetrated to Dresden, which capital. neither suspected at the time, nor by any they now occupy, Marshal Davoust having circumstances that have since come to light, retreated across the Elbe, and having deof being privy to, or in any manner acces- stroyed some of the arches of the maguifisary to the plot, of which his consort be-cent bridge at that place.- -A proportion came the victim. This unfortunate princess of the Prussian ariny has passed the Sihad no public to appeal to-no public to lesian frontier into Lusatia, and is advancoverawe and thwart the malice of her ene-ing towards Dresden.--Three detachimies; in a word Hanover was not Eng- ments of the division under General Wittland. It is impossible to contrast the fate geustein have by this time crossed the Elbe; of this princess, with that of another ami- one in the centre under Major-General able princess of our own times, without a Dornberg, who is moving upon Hanover, just and manly consciousness of the supe- with Major-General Tettenborn upon his rior weight and authority belonging to pub-right in the direction of Bremen, and Malic opinion in our country. No person of jor-General Czchernicheff upon his left in the court of Hanover durst at that time de- the direction of Brunswick. Lord Walliver his opinion. Persons are not want-pole is the bearer of the present dispatches; ing who would wish to see the people of his Lordship proceeds by Berlin, and I have this country equally silent-they are accused no doubt but that he will find it perfectly by what should be as grave, as it is high easy to take his departure from Cuxhaven. authority, of having an appetite for scan-I have already stated that the Prussian dal-this curse of the times! They have army is in the best state of preparation;

nothing can exceed the condition of that part which was assembled at Breslaw on the Emperor's arrival, and it is impossible to exaggerate the enthusiasm which has been exhibited by all ranks of persons throughout the Prussian dominions; or the demonstrations of joy with which the Emperor was received.The King of Prussia has made an excursion to Berlin, where he was to see General De York. The inhabitants in Saxony have every where received the Russian forces with expressions of cordiality not inferior to those of the Prussians: the same has occurred in Mecklenbourg. Your Lordship will see by the printed reports, the manner in which General Tetternborn and his detachment were received at Hamburgh: the same zeal was manifested at Lauenbourg, where, in a moment, the French arms were destroyed.- -The Baltic ports, and that of Hamburgh, have been opened by proclamations. The blockade of Dantzic by land continues, as stated in my last dispatch, but the navigation of the Baltic having opened, Captain Acklon lost no time in detaching some of His Majesty's ships under his command, by which that place is now closely blockaded by sea; these vessels having already captured two ships which attempted to come in with supplies. The sickness with which the French have infected every place they have entered during their retreat, rages in Dantzic, and numbers of the garrison, as well as of the inhabitants, are stated to have perished by it.Spandau is besieged. The Russian reinforcements continue to arrive upon the frontier, and numbers of convalescents daily join the ranks of their respective regiments.- -I have the honour to be, &c...

CATHCART.

Lord Viscount Castlereagh, &c. &c. &c.

FRANCE.

Siluation of the French Armies in the North,
March 30, 1813.

The garrison of Dantzic dislodged the enemy from all the heights of Oliva, in the beginning of March.The garrison of Thorn and Modelen were in the best state. The corps which blockaded Zamose had removed to a distance. Upon the Oder, the fortresses of Stettin, Custrin, and Glogaw, were not besieged. The enemy still kept without cannon shot of them. The garrison of Stettin had burnt all the suburbs, and prepared all the ground round

the fortress.The garrison of Spandaw had also burned every thing which could operate against the defence of the place.

-Upon the Elbe, on the 17th, an arch of the bridge of Dresden was blown up, and General Durutte had taken a position upon the left bank. The Saxons had marched round Torgaw.The Viceroy had left Leipzic, and had, on the 21st, his head-quarters at Magdeburg. General Lapoype commanded the bridge and fortress at Wittenberg, which was armed and provisioned for several months, and was given up to him in good condition.- -Arrived at Magdeburg, the Viceroy on the 22d instant, sent Gen. Lauriston upon the right bank of the Elbe. Gen. Maison had marched to Mockern, and pushed forward his posts upon Bug and Zuzar: he found only some pulks of light troops, which he overthrew, and of which he took or killed about sixty men.

-On the 12th, General Saint Cyr, commanding the 32d military division, judged it advisable to repass to the left bank of the Elbe, and leave Hamburgh to the National Guards. From the 15th to the 20th, different insurrections broke out in the department of the mouths of the Elbe and the Ems.General Morand, who occupied Swedish Pomerania, having been informed of the evacuation of Berlin, retreated upon Hamburgh. He passed the Elbe at Zolunpesche, and on the 17th effected his junction with General Carra St. Cyr. Two hundred of the enemy's light troops having overtaken his rear-guard, he caused them to be charged, and killed some men. General Morand took post upon the left bank, and General St. Cyr marched upon Bremen. -On the 24th, General St. Cyr dispatched two moveable columns, to march against the batteries of Carlsbourg and Blexen, of which some smugglers, as sisted by the peasantry, and some English disembarkations, had taken possession. These columns routed the enemy, and retook the batteries. The Chiefs were taken and shot. The English who disembarked were but about an hundred. We were only able to take forty prisoners from them.

-The Viceroy had collected all his army, 100,000 strong and 300 pieces of cannon, round Magdeburg, manoeuvring upon the two banks. The General of Brigade, Montbrun, who with a brigade of cavalry occupied Stundal,-having learned that the enemy had passed the Lower Elbe in boats, near Verden, marched thither on the 28th, dispersed the enemy's light troops, and entered Verden at full gallop. The