Newspaper Page Text
of her indepsndence,
but anns of a race of menjl
bec-a ife they are harutyf ana
hardy, beeauf fr(*i their infancy,
thi v h vd been bnjfi to labour and
p -rfiojii purfijifs ?
Ii Engl mdevertffcan fries foex
cel all others, dowPmuch ‘tn ri
lin’ above them in the fcaie of life,
but in the particular line oLtife, in
which be i plac and. He ra
titer not do-a tiling at all than not
to do’ it well. To this unconquer
able fpirtt of pcrfev.tr,nice- if is that
we owe that altonifhi ig perfection,
to which we have arrived in molt
of the mechanic arts, and in vyhat- i
ever appertains to agriculture, tho* ;
as to the laid, vve have, in many re- ;
fpeels, to contend againil nature
itieif. -In every thing where hor
j-.s are the inftininjcnjts (and horses ;
Are Second only to infer ) the Eng.
lilh l > far lurpafs all the rest cf the
world, that th re is no room for
comnarifon. The man. who has a
mind to know something of Eng
land, it) this relpuct, should walk
from the lower of London ro'Cha
ring Crofe, a little after day light
in the morning while the Ureets are
celav of people. He would then
fee the teams of imrnende hr rfes,
drawing up from the bank of
the Thames, coat, timber, (tone,
and other heavy materials —One
4
morning Lit lutnmer, I counted in
vat ions p aces, more than a hun
dred of these teams, worth each of
them hatnels, waggon, load and
rdi, little Ids than 10001 The hor
ses upon an average, weigh more
tiun ton. But, next after a fox
hunt, the finefl fight in England is
a ttage coach just ready to it art.
A great (heep or. cattle lair is a
beautiful fight-; but, in the stage
conch you lee more of w'jflt man
is capab’s of performing. The ve
hicle it'felr, th- hariids all so com
plete and-kg ncatiy at ranged; so
if. on of ad clear anil good. The
beautiful horses impatient to be off..
‘J he iufi.le full and trie outiide co
vered in every part with men, wo
men, children, boxes, bags, bun
dles— the coachman, taking his
r> ins in one hand and his whip m
the other, gives a fig cal with ffis
f ‘t, and away go, at the rate of 7
miu. in hour, the population and
t property of a hamlet. One of
these coaches coming in, airer a
\ 1 -urney, ts a light not lels in
lr*.citing, 11 e horses are nmv all
Tv t and foam, die reck from their
b. 1 a'cc. ding like a cloud. The
v’ if equipage ‘is covered, per*
haps with duff or dist. Bur Hill,
on if conu sas Heady as the hand
of .1 clock As a proof of the
per Tenet I—to which ibis mode of *
t v -ldng has been brought, there
is t rie coach which goes between
Exeter and London, the nrobrie
*
tors of which agree to forfeit eight
pence for every minute that the
coa !i is behind its time at any of
its If ages ; and this coach, I believe
8 miles an hour, and that too up
on a verv hilly, arid, ut fome ha
ions, very u ep read.
There may he pevfom to fay,
** t!s Te dd'crip’ions may be very a
rmifmg ro your readers in Aucri
ca, not what us can they be to us
in Km ‘ 'and ” Why, it is for you
th - I principally intend them. 1
w ell voiTto fee. in these i fiances*
‘of your energy and your creative
in uffrv, fp. cirnens.of he real can
fes of that national strength, which
y u foolifhlv attribute to the chv
er efs of a ffraacicr ; to a ft iking
fun ;or to aay of the nu nerous
humbugs, with which you have
been so long amu fed.
ine population of a country is
ro tuaJai'u of its flrcngth or, at
leaff, the population itfelf is no
nfrith It'in 1 trd r ; nit were it would
be difficult to conceive how it hap
pened, that a handful of Englilh
nen have become the mailers or
I iJia, and b *ew able to tax
the people ofrhctt country as com
pletely as we are taxed here, or
very nearly so. A man is a man,
to before ; but, as Sterne Laid to
the monk, “ the;e is fooie differ
ence in men, my friend.” It is ve
ry clear, that it there be one man
who does, in the fame line of huff
nefs, ;t much as two ether men,
and if he travels twice as far p.s et-
I ther of them, he is better than both
jof them to his employer, because
• he ears no tnore than one of them, j
An S therefore, in dtirnating the
fbrength ot England, or any ether |
1 country, we muff look more at the ;
I character and -performances of the
people than at their numbers. In
England every tiling moves in a
\ quick pace. Ihe stirring difpofi
tton of the people shortens diffance.
More is done in the fame space of
j time than in other countries. The
: tradesmen in London ahnoft hold
! a conversation with the tradesmen
at York or Exeter.
But the great thing of all is the
innocent labour, which E continu
; ally creating things, which give
ffrength to a country. Ido m t
know, that we excel font-other na
tions in ingenuity in the ufeful arts.
—Workmen are very adroit in A
meuca. ‘I hey build as well, and
more neatly than we do. They
work as nimbly ; but they do not
work le much. They take feme
leifurc, which we never do. 1
muff, however, always inffft that
we derive infinite advantage front
our (ports. To these ve owe, ai
mofl entirety our ftcond (elves our
hprles of (peed, and even thole we
Humid not have without our dogs.
It is very well in the way et joke,
to ridicule fox hunting Squires and
Paifons, but, it the matter be
well conffdered vve lhall find that
these gentlemen are as uletully em
ployed in this way as they would
beifi any other. By following this
(port, tin y set an example of ad
venturous tiding to those beneath
them ; and, if there had beta no
fox hunting in England, l much
queffton if we Ihould have seen
5000 yeomanry cavalry instead of
the hundred thousand, who,.at one
time, were actually mounted on
1 then own horses, in their own uni
’ forms. No, matter for the caule
lin which they came forth* The
i cause might have been different.
A regiment of 10Idlers all of w hom
can ride and box and (hoof., muff
be n ucti more formidable than a
regiment o( men who only know 1
how to dance, ling and act plays. 1
(r muff be the fame with a nation.
Ehe *‘ w , Iking mania,” as it has
been called is in m.y opinion, a
thing highly to be prized ; and ef
peciully that wonderfal exploit of
Capt. Barclay, which, however,
has now, been surpassed by the
man, who has walked eleven hun
dred miles in eleven hundred hours
i and whose name iam sorry I have
• j
1 egotten. \\ hat is this but a great ;
inffance of the -bodily powers of
1 mart ? What man will now not
j he a (Earned to fay that he wants a
. icrfe or a couch to carry hiui 2c
; <>r go miles in a day ? The (land
| ’rd ot rlie capacity of man has been
I r fifed by the performances ; and
f hire can be no queltion that the
j nation has really been made ffron
! ger by them.
i he phvlcfophers of the humani- I
I tv Fchool condemn all these things j
as vulgar and barbarous. They I
; look upon them as the contrary !
of refinement. Tfmy represent it *
to be an act of cruelty for a crowd )
jf horsemen to hollow after a pack
ff dogs, in purfuitof a poor ani*
nal, who they fay has done them
no harm, and in whole torments
they feel delight. I notice this
more particularly, as I perceive
the sickly sentimental taffetohave
made great w,y in America. But
what is there more cruel in a fox
chafe than in those sports with the
gun in which the Americans are lo
famous, and to their eariy pursuits
of which they probably owe their
liberties ?
i
I have thus, though in a deful- j
j -tory way, deferibed what appears ; ;
1 to me to be the real found ition of ;
: the ftrersgth of England ; and it is |
, of great importance that we and
you ihould form a cot reel judg
merit on the fubjedf. It is always
thecbjedt of the government to j
make us believe, that whatever we
have, we owe to it. It was, during
the Duke of York’s famous affair, i
aiierteu by fvir Charles Yorkce,
that tt was his Royal Highndk
who had ma e the Engnlh army
vvhtu tt was, and if any man hap
pens to know o i any assertion mote
impudent ever uttered from a pair
of bps, \ (hall be obliged to hi u to
point :• out to me. Wliile Pitt .
was in high reputation, his para- I
(ites al ribed the prosperity of tne j
nation to him. It was his financial j
fyifem that had made England !
w hat ir was; and his fuccdffors, I
though they acknowledge him as i
their founder, have, until now, j
continued to take to themselves the j
merit o- having done a great deal i
for us. Iso\n they lay the miseries \
oi the country upon chance, upon j
a cotnbinatio of unfavourable cau
ses. Ihe truth is, that the rtai,
ihcfoliJ means of the country, they I
have not been able to take away;
by Pm and by them such a fyi*
tern of management has been adop
ted and purlued, that the whole
affairs ot the coutitry have been
thrown into confufion ; the hand
of industry has been arrested ; t o;
ffdence between man and man
(which is our real birthright) threa
tened to ne destroyed, or at least !
fiffpen ed ; and as a necdlary con
quence, comparative teeblemfs
muff ensue. 1 his is the way in
which their fine pla sand projects
have made the country proiper
ous.
WM COBBETT
COMMUNICJiIUN.
Mr. CHARLTON,
; few rent a > hs t m rep/y tijotne objervaliQhs
, contained it! your iajl paper , under tin fig-
I nature of Z
Mp. Z.
biR, it is truly aftonlfliing
that so imicil dilplay of luerary taw and
political qualification, lhauid be so e
gregiously blended with that foul in
vettive and contumelious vulgarity,
which is to he found in your itribtures
upon the Editor lor his remarks on the
grand jury prefenunents, in relation to
the late ccmpenfation law You have
reproached him for his condutSf, advi
| led a reformation, and invited a reply ;
hut unfortunately for your character,
as a man of delicate feelings, and woun
ding to the feelings of ethers, in yout
very invir&tion you had mingled such
i favageoefs or iemmjtnt, as uimolt to
preclude any reply even from an “ nn
bluftuug toni of political proilitution.”
I declare that I lh< uld have desisted,
hut at tiroes you have spoken so pretti
iy, used such apparent logic, difpiayed
so much farcied eloquence, and rhet
orical exatlntfsin your ilile and lan
| guage, as to rtiake the impreiuon upon*
I my mind, that what yw. have uttered
lisby no me;.ns the fettled tefull ot ma
; iure and feiicus thought j
hat on the other hanr!, the t'-nlcWfu..
fio.-is of ,lively, bn* utforueieff
ition. I’hero aie f-;me grounds of hope
then for a reformation on your f rt,
it rrfpects the character of ft ,d
-----menrs which you espref ; a> A
hava so boidiy ,iricier! tlit- fiicc <-<f
guardian, ruior, and acboo lfh< rti lie
edror of a neu-fnaoer and ,he hnpe'of
your future uiefuinef.i tinr* h- evenu
ed. it behoves every r. a r- i tow in
his mite to eh* k any* h bs* ot extrava
gancy or inadvena: <:y whxh might
teoti to def at the t j >-1 that h< pe.
Your affurn ’tion ofth !li ofinft ue
tor, l>e accoume t i>r either bv
fuppofi-g a rOl (■(■ of habit, (>r up • the
priticiple of a i trifunerable [>, v f (s
of temper. Ihe latt rof which I fear
is too predominant. ; asvou nay u.ide
an application of opprobcus epithet
even by an icipahon, evincing y .ur
fl tv;ry to the w; iff of pafli ms, the 010-
ther of all iii nature, that ot prejudice.
1. Your verv firii lenience i con
ceive to involve two palpable arfurdt
tie., Or else yourworcU are moie or
lefr rfiaa v mr meaning, even in whiv.h
case, it woul-i be wr<* chedlv defective.
*• Whether the grand ju r y have wan
dered from their .original piovince or
not is a quell it ti !ik : the tiea. v-making
powf'r in congr-f , but remotely if at
ail .iff cung the grea- interefL of the
nation ** Now, tfiat the conduc of
the jury wa.-: meant to aff.ee the great
inteu its of the nation, is evidi nt, tor
its obi ct v.*a *-bi’ di ni* urion v{ ta\a
t.on, a.id die fuppreffi**n of ariftocracy*
If a qn flifounded upon conduct,
haviwg such an object m view, is not
: of irnn'eiife national concern! dn n art,
i wrong and you mod probably n -he
I right, and vice versa If *h - queffton
\ ot the jury prefenrnve: ‘• did ooi af
fect the great lnteveita of the na'ion,
then was its conduct that iff error and
pufdaninii v, a >tl the editor’s remarks
were juft. io that in either case the ie
fult ot the r;?urnent is the fame, ihat
your remark -was an idle on*',
ii. Ihe treaty making pow 1 in con
gem, I conceive 10 be that bv which
our a.terc<>cjfe with fmeign 1 atioiv. ia
regulated and at j fled, and rnav in
i voive in ks exocu icn the cx.no.ife of
priiiCiplt: derived from nstior.al iaw*
qarsPai hw, n unicip and tnw, •... ft ,
rangeroent oi jullste, lecuprccity. lib
erality to other powers, and taxation
f-t home, war and fua. e. If Ihi f** po~
(i t tons are denied, an xp'anatios ft tall
be given, so ‘hat I agam infer the idle
! weakneft, of your remark As to the
| conduct ot the Jury in the iibftr?.ct, my
j opinion is. that ihey liave wanr'efed
i fr* m their <i original p' ■• vi"ee > '” and
rhe realoti runs ihus: -\l! civ 1 inttuu
tions have lor heir t‘ ? evecu
f ion of certain lawo, ha is tu fa t (hey
are to reward tome actions and ttyuim
tfh others; b, rr bv able 10 dd this,
ouid neceff cy tuvulvc a pnaff r in
filled, m. ally and phvfi: ai!y a-Lquate
to tbit end, or their cxfftence would
be merely nornniit, an<l heir lacul ies
No v wi licur -going i no a
mir.ute detail of a gumeiT’ to prove
that in the case of the prefentniem <il
ludcd, the power to execute th> a fla
med function did not exiff, I fli uke
I it as granted, b cause no man in his
j senses cinild assert the contiary A
I grand jury is without doubt, a part ot
I the superior court, appointed by order
iof the court, under an express T ’ w of
| the state, for thedifeharge of functions
detciving on it by the fnecefiaiy pre
cecdings of that court. One
right which is veiled in the jury,is th*t
c-f ptefierument ; but the very idea of a
prefentniert from a jury in an official
capacity, implies a power in the body,
‘ to which the presentment is made, to
| order and enforce the f° r o-vi
) riding or punishing the thing er
I son complained of Now the, com
plaint in queltion is grourdt-i on a ca fa
between the people of the U. St?.t s
and their representatives in
a character of case, which in the n*.
ture of things, no local jurisdiction car,
pcffiSlv embrace in its ope-rations; iuch
is a superior court and more particu
larly a grand jury., for each coufity iu
every state has its own jury : piainlv e
vincing that it never was intended by
Hits formation, that they should take
cognizance ot any act committed be*
fond the limits.of their own county.
If then the jurisdiction of courts does
net extend to cases to which they can