of about twenty years, the Na-1 tional Debt would amount to about a thousand millions, and that then the System would experience most terrible shocks; third, that the Borough-mongering Sys tem would last as long as the Funding System, and not one moment longer. Funding System, and not one moment longer, the time is not yet come either for the falsification or for the verification; but, I believe, that there is not a man in England in his sober senses who does not believe that the two Systems will stand and fall together. Thus, then, as far as events have gone, the predictions of Mr. PAINE have been fulfilled with a precision which do the greatest possible honour to his judgment and his fore-sight; and, the fulfilment of these gives us the best pos-sible right to confide in the correctness of the third. These, Sir, as far as related to the Money System of England, were the predictions of that able writer and profound politician, whose memory is calunniated by all the corrupt in England and by all the foolish and the ungrateful in America, and which will always he held in honour by the discern- As to my predictions, what have ing and the just part of mankind. they been? First, that the paper Mr. PAINE wrote his Treatise on money would continue to deprethe English System of Finance in ciate until it was wholly destroythe year 1796, and in the year ed by its own depreciation; or,: 1797 the first prediction was amply that the quantity of paper would be fulfill d: for the people rushed to lessened, and the value of paper the Bank with the notes which thereby raised, and that by this opethey held, the Bank refused pay-ration, a general ruin would spread ment of its notes, and thus it proved itself an insolvent debtor, and it was protected from pursuit as such by acts of the government so manifestly illegal, that those who were guilty of those acts were compelled to resort to what Sir Francis Burdett once called the baleful tree, in order to obtain a Bill of Indemnity. As to the second prediction, it is now just twenty years since Mr. PAINE Wrote his Treatise; and, if any one can say, that the Government Debt does not amount to a thousand Millions; or if any one can say that the System has not experienced great shocks, that person indeed may say that this prediction of Mr. Paine has been falsified. itself amongst all persons in trade, and that the country would be un-. able to pay the taxes at their then nominal amount. This you will find most distinctly stated in the twenty-fifth Letter of Paper against Gold, and in page 336 of the "Two-penny Trash" edition, published in 1816, and sold by Mr. CLEMENT at No. 192 in the Strand. A second prediction was that the interest of the Government Debt would be reduced in a few years; or, that the whole system would go to pieces amidst ageneral uproar and breaking, up of the Government. I have frequently foretold the ruin of land-owners and farmers, and an immense increase of the As to the third prediction, paupers, as symptoms of the apnamely, that the Borough monger-proaching dissolution of the sysing System will last as long as the tem. But, never have I said that A the paper could not be reduced in ver seen the famous REPORT, to quantity and raised in value. I which you refer me. The news-pahave said the contrary, and in ex-per containing that Report has been press words. I well knew that amongst those which have not found the paper could be brought to a their way to me. It is as you obpar with gold. But then I also serve, a most important document; well knew, that the nation must and, I dare say, that it is drawn up be plunged in ruin by the opera-with a great deal of art. But this tion, and that the Government is a case in which no craft will Debt could not be paid its interest ultimately be of any service to the in full However, the above are Despots. I have more than a my two predictions. As to the hundred times, strongly recomfirst of the two, the alternative mended a reduction of the interest has been adopted. The quantity of the Debt. Eleven years ago, I of the paper has been diminished; offered arguments in justification the value of the paper has been of such a measure. I have always raised. And, Sir, has not ruin been answered, not by argument, spread itself amongst all persons but by the foulest of abuse. The in trade? Has not misery deso-measure must be adopted; and lated the land? And is the coun- whenever it is adopted, I will try able to afford taxes to pay the claim it as my own; that is to say, interest of the Debt in full? You if the reduction of the Interest of know well, that ruin has spread the Debt be accompanied with a itself amongst all persons in trade; proportionate reduction in the you know well that misery has de- amount of all salaries, pensions and solated the land, and driven from pay of every sort, issuing from the its shores thousands upon thou-Public Exchequer; for thus stand sands of its most industrious inhabitants; and you know well that the country does not afford taxes pay the interest of the Debt in full, but that a false appearance of paying is kept up by means which would be a disgrace to the counting-house of a bill-broker, and which could be put in prac-a reduction of the interest of the tice by no government on earth, except that Government which fought its enemy by the means of forged assignats. to my opinions recorded in the Petition of the People of Hampshire, agreed to and signed upon Portsdown Hill, and which Petition I had the great honour to be appointed to draw up. In the tenth and eleventh paragraphs of that Petition, we distinctly prayed for Debt and of all salaries, and we stated the reasons upon which our prayer was founded. Therefore, whenever this reduction shall As to the second prediction, that take place, the whole of my Fia reduction of the Interest of the nancial predictions will have been Debt would take place; or, that accomplished. Corruption tremthe whole system would go to bles at the thought, I know; and pieces in the midst of uproar and well she may, for I shall be very confusion, the time for fulfilment much deceived if the day of that is not yet arrived. But, I per-reduction does not see her in ceive by your letter, that the time is nearer at hand even than I myself had anticipated. I have ne mourning. She will on that day lose her best friend. Whether she will, like the remaining spouse : of a married couple, in some parts of the world, throw herself into the funeral pile, I cannot pretend to say but, if she should not have affection enough to make her pursue this course of conjugal fidelity, we shall see, I am very certain, the example of that emblem of innocence, the turtle dove, imitated by this embodied mass of human wickedness and guilt: we shall see this putrid hag drag along a few months or years of mourning, weeping, and wailing, and at last we shall see her expire amidst the exultations of mankind. A reduction of the interest of the Debt (that is to say, if the present value of the paper continue) is so necessary to the land-owners; it is so obviously their interest, and they have the power of doing it so completely in their hands, that, at the first blush, we are surprised that they should hesitate about it for a single moment, especially as the arguments in justification of the measure are wholly unanswerable, and as it is well known that they would have all the active part of the people with them. But, when we take time to reflect a little, we find two very substantial reasons for their hesitation. The first is, that they well know that all their own enormous sinecures and grants must be given up, and that all their own enormous salaries must be reduced, before they can, without being actually pelted in the streets, propose a reduction of the Interest of the Debt. The second reason is, that they are well aware that, by reducing the interest of the debt, and diminishing the quantity of taxa tion, they would lose all the Fundholders and the greater part of the Tax-gatherers, who, from fast friends of the Boroughmongering System, would become its bitterest enemies. These are the reasons, Sir, which make the Borough-mongers hesitate. Pray send me the Report that you speak of, in which they begin to lisp their intentions. I shall keep my eye upon them; I shall watch them in their tricks as to this important matter; wish to be furnished with this Report. but, in the mean while, I very much Whatever a Committee report, has been previously settled upon by the thing called the Cabinet; and the thing called the Cabinet is nothing more than the mouth-piece of the Boroughmongers; so that our friends of the Funds may prepare themselves for receiving about two per cent. in place of five, unless a whirlwind should blow the whole five into the air; or unless the paper can be again lowered in value, which, in fact, is only another name for the same thing. I have trespassed so long upon your time, and I am in too serious a mood to make any observations upon the projects of Mr. OWEN, or upon the transactions whimsically called Religious persecution; and shall conclude my letter by observing, that I am much pleased to find, that you approve of the manner in which I have exposed the defection of Sir Francis Burdett, and which defection. I lament as sincerely as you do. With my kindest remembrances to our good friends in Lancashire generally, with the most grateful feelings for the attention and the great kindness shewn towards my wife and smaller children by my worthy friends at Liverpool, and with my particular thanks to you and other excellent friends for communications both printed and in writing, I remain, Your faithful friend, Entered at Stationers' Hall. Printed and Published by and for WM. JACKSON, No. 11, Newcastle Street, Strand, and sold wholesale and retail, at 192, Strand, Loudon. 7 65] Vol. 33, No. 3.---Price Two Pence. COBBETT'S WEEKLY POLITICAL REGISTER. LONDON, SATURDAY, JANUARY 17, 1818. [66 ΤΟ HENRY HUNT, Esq. OF MIDDLETON IN THE COUNTY OF SOUTHAMPTON. LETTER II. On the Scheme for putting forward 1. Mr. Roger O'Connor as a Member for Westminster-On the Questions to be put to Sir Francis Burdett at the next Election... North Hampstead, Long Island, " October 30, 1817. MY DEAR HUNT, ཟ short, though it is possible, that some hair-brained fool has started the thing, my belief is, that its origin has been this: Mr. O'CONNOR, having escaped from the dealers in human blood this time, would naturally suppose, that the ceed by some means or other, or, bloody league would finally suċat least, that there was no security for his personal freedom. This could not fail to be seen also by his friend, Sir FRANCIS BURDETT. Mr. O'CONNOR Would talk of going to America; and, that he did so talk is proved by The scheme of thrusting Mr. his having written to a friend here, Roger O'CONNOR upon the City that it was his intention to take of Westminster may possibly have this step; and I know, that he no real existence. I have, how has done this, because his letter, ever, read of the thing in the to that effect, has been published public papers. I have seen, that here. There was one other way such a project has entered the of securing his body from a dunmind of somebody; and that the geon; and, that was by obtaining, thought has not only found its a seat in parliament. To obtain way into words, but also into print. a seat in parliament, there were Before it could travel thus far, the two ways; one by money, and thought must have been some- this was, of course, not to be thing more than casual. Some thought of by a gentleman, who, thing more than a mere start of though the owner of a good estate, the mind. It must have been was unable to pay Sir Francis the serious. There must have been 500 pounds, which the latter came time for reflection. Some one to the trial to prove that he had must have put the thought into written for, and which five hunwriting. The writing must have dred pounds appeared by Mr. been conveyed to the press. In O'CONNOR's honourable acknow Printed by W. Jackson, No. 11, Newcastle Street, Strand. J. C ardour in the cause of Reform, though it has not publicly ap peared; allowing all this, the People of Westminster and the Re of him than the People of Coventry, or any other public-spirited men, knew of COLONEL MAINE, the gentleman who missed being a maker of laws merely by taking one stage-coach for another and by the falling into too profound sleep. ledgement to be a thousand pounds. There remained only one other way of obtaining a seat, and that was by getting the City of Westminster to elect Mr. O'CoN-formers in general know no more NOR in the room of my LORD COCHRANE, in the event of the latter going to South America and resigning his seat; or, in case he should be compelled to leave his seat by the death of his father, and by his own consequent elevation to the Peerage. Hence, in my opinion, the origin of the thought. At any rate, it is very certain, that, whoever conceived the thought, the foundation of it must have been a reliance on the power of SIR FRANCIS to give success to the project. a If, indeed, Westminster had a seat wherewith to shelter every man, who is in imminent danger of one of Corruption's dungeons, I should then say, that Mr. O'CONNOR might have one of those protecting seats as well as The People of Westminster have Sir FRANCIS BURDETT; but, never had any connection with Mr. having but two seats, those two O'CONNOR. They know nothing ought to be filled by men, not only of the political principles of Mr. of great and known talent and of O'CONNOR. Neither they nor good and known principles, but any part of the nation have ever also, of well-known industry, per heard of any thing done, or said, by severance, and resolution; for, with Mr. O'CONNOR in the cause of out these, great talent and good Reform. Mr. O'CONNOR may principles are, as dear bought ex. be, and, I believe, is, a very perience has taught us, not only worthy man, and I know that he of no benefit to the People, but inhas been dreadfully persecuted by jurious to the People, by exciting Corruption. But, thousands have false hopes, false reliance, and by the same recommendations, with eventually leaving the People to out ever being thought of for the mercy of Corruption, without Members for Westminster. Al- a single effort in their defence. lowing Mr. O'CONNOR, as I do, But, besides this negative obto be not only innocent of thejection to Mr. O'CONNOR, as a crime laid to his charge; allowing him to be a man of great talents, and he may be such for any thing that I know to the contrary; allowing him to possess the greatest Member for Westminster, there is, with me, a positive objection. Mr. O'CONNOR adheres, to this day, to his notions of kingship. He is, it seems, descended from |