that was about to be committed. It is said, that at last Reid hesitated to sige the death warrant, and that even M'Kean faultered; but Bryan declared, that, should an executioner be wanting, he would descend from the bench, and perform the office lainnlelf! While the city was in this state of confu; fion and dismay, the death warrant 'was signed--the prisoners were carried to the place of execution, where Claypole, the sheriff, himself

, became hangman, and put the last hand to one of the most atrocious deeds recorded in the annals of Whiggim.

Yet, Sir, did all these severities, all these acts of robbery and murder, and all the apprehenfions and terrors they were calculated to excite, totally fail in making the Quakers forego those principles which they had profefied at the beginning of the contest, and the adhering to which had been the sole cause of a series of such unheard-of persecution. They still remained reso, lute in their refusal to contribute, either directly or indirectly, to the carrying on of war, and not less resolute in their rejection of every test, whereby they were to abjure their allegiance to their King, or to acknowledge the sovereignty or the independence of the States.

That the Whigs could number amongst them some persons, who were Quakers before the rebellion, I acknowledge; but, the inoment any one of their society took up arms, they not only exprelled their disapprobation of his conduct, but actually read him out of their meeting, that is to say, exCommunicated him. In their excominunication of Mifflin, the person whose conduct you have cited as an instance of their inconsistency, they furnished the most satisfactory proof of their consistency and Isyalıy. This man's apostacy had rendered him extremely popular; he was formed by nature for a demagogue, and was far from being deficient in bravery; he was rising high in command, and was, perhaps, the most to be dreaded of any man in the state of Pennsylvania. . Yet did they set their mark of reprobation on him, and expel him from the society in which he had been born and educata ed, and which, for several generations, had counted his ancestors amongst its most respectable members : nor have they ever, cither during or fince the rebellion, restored to their society, without a previous acknowledgment of his fault, any one of those whom they espelled for elpousing the rebel cause. A fingular proof of this fact exists in the city of Philadelphia, where the excommunicated Quakers, at the close of the war, petitioned the Legislature to pats a law, to take part, at lealt, of the meeting houses and other property belonging to the fociety, from the Tory Quakers, and to transfer it to themselves, seeing that they were joint owners thereof. The petition was plausible; and whatever the proposition might want in point of law and of stri&t justice, they, naturally enough, suppoled would be supplied by the inclination of the minds of the legislators, with whom they had been engaged in a common caule, who had shared with them in perfecuting thole against whom they now presented their petition. But, the days of violence and injustice were pailing away. The legislature heard the cause pleaded before them, and, to their great honour, they decided in favour of the defendants. The Quakers who had abjured their allegiance to the King, not thinking it seemly to live without God in the world, formed themselves into a fociety, under the denomination of the Free Quakers, which, by the unanimous concurrence of their neighbours,, has been very. aptly and sarcastically exchanged for that of Fighting Quakers. This excommunicated crew did, with some difficulty, raile funds to build a meet, ing.house; but, as mankind in general are not over anxious to ally them. felves with out-cafls of any description, and, as the expulsion of Quakers

a

does not extend to their children, a regular and rapid decline has been experienced in this new fungled focicty, the members of which have the mortification to see their numbers daily diminish, their sons and daughters walking in the paths from which they themselves have strayed, while their miserable meeting-house feems to have been erected as a monument of their apostacy and rebellion, and of the faithfulness and loyalty of the followers of Penn.

Here, Sir, I conclude this very long letter, which I fubmit to your disposal ; hoping, indeed, that it will appear in your next number ; but assuring you, at the same time, that, whether it appears or not, I shall still remain, what I esteem it an honour to be thought,

Your fincere friend and most humble servant, Pall-Mall, April 2, 1801. .

W. COBBETT. HISTORY.

SUMMARY OF POLITICS, THE HE two prominent events, in the political occurrences of the month,

and they are events of the first importance, are the death of the Rulian Emperor Paul and the defeat of the Danes by the British fleet, before Copen. Hagen. There neyer, perhaps, was a time, since the days of Cromwell, when so much of the happiness or misery of States depended upon the life of an individual, as at the opening of the nineteenth century. One of the indi, viduals, whose death seemed likely to have a material influence on the fate of Europe, was the Emperor Paul. By his way ward and capricious disposition he had been led to depart without reason from a wise system of policy which he had been induced to adopt without consideration; after appreciating the character of republican France, and devoting her to destruction as a monster whose voracious appetite would be not satisfied until all Europe had become her prey, he suddenly flew into the opposite extreme, and, without any change of policy or of practice, in the republican councils of Paris, courted the friendship and alliance of the Usurper whom he had vowed to punish for his crimes ; forfook the great cause which he had folemnly pledged himself to support; and declared himself the inveterate enemy of his most faithful friends. With a mind divided between schemes of revenge, plans of avarice, and projects of ambition, while he bafely violated his plighted faith with Great Britain, insulted her flag, and plundered her subjects ; he was preparing to assist the French in completing the dismemberment of Europe, and to effect the expulsion of the Turks from that quarter of the globe, by their united arms. · These gigantic plans, engendered by the genius of anarchy, would in all probability, have been carried into full execution, in the course of the ensuing campaign; and the destruction of the Ottoman Empire would have led to a new series of revolutions the confequences of which, it would have been scarcely possible for the human mind to estimate.

At this critical moment, as if by providential interposition, the death of Paul occurred; and all these ruinous schemes were suspended. He died in the night of the 24th of March. It is well known, that the death of an extraordinary man, at an extraordinary

riod, is always attributed to some extraordinary cause. The human mind has, at all times, a strange propensity to seek for gratification in occurrences out of the common course of human nature ; and, in this vain and unprofitable research, the most obvious causes are frequently overlooked, and events are not so much estimated by the real importance of their effects, as by the fingu.

larity

larity of the causes by which they were produced. And, here, of course, credulity has an ample field to work in. The French politicians have, as nsual, ascribed the death of their ally to the machinations of the English, naturally enough estimating the principles and conduct of a nation of Christians, by their own; and a paper published in London, establisbed and Supported by an English Baronet who is, also, a member of a certain assembly, as well as of the London Corresponding Society, had the daring profligacy to echo the same sentiment, in terms little less qualified, by stating the impudent fallhood, that the Emperor. died hialf an hour after the English physiciar (whose name is mentioned) had left him. The seceslion of Mr. Pitt from the ministry had, most unfortunately, deprived the French government of their usual resource, on great occasions, the gold of Pitt, to which more wonders have been ascribed, by the sages of the great nation, ihan ever were imputed, by Alchymifts, to the stone of the philosopher, or, by children, to the purse of Fortunatus. It is impossible to estimate the loss thus fuftained by the French from the change of our miniftry. In the Petersburgh Gazette the death of Paul was ascribed to apoplexy, which is the common description of the cause of death, when sudden or unexpected. We believe the fact to be, that his conftitution was exhausted by indulgencies of a nature which we for. bear to characterize; and that the loss of his life, like the loss of his character, is imputable, not to English gold but, to French connections.

It would be presumptuous, after seeing, in the course of the last twelve years, all the foundest calculations of reason and experience baffled and overturned by events, to speak with decision of the probable effects of this occur. rence on the political state of Europe. It has, however, been already productive of one good consequence, that of shaking the Northern Confederacy, (founded on falihood for the purpose of fraud) of suspending, at least, the in vafion of Turkey, and of depriving the French Consul of one pretext for de lay, in giving a precise answer to our Government, on the question of peace. The new Emperor is known to possess an amiable disposition, and conciliatory manners; and the steps which he has already taken, in the liberation of the British prisoners ; in the recall of those Ministers whom his father's violence had unjustly expelled from his Councils; and in the communication to Count Woronzow of his determination to restore him to that share in his confidence which he formerly enjoyed in the confidence of his father, afford reasonable grounds for believing that his conduct will be rendered consonant with the principles of justice and of found policy. No Prince, on his accession to the throne, ever had it in his power to do more good, or to prevent more evil. We shall wait, with anxiety, for the means of ascertaining, whether the will be equal to the ability.

The conduct of this Prince will necessarily influence the conduct of the other powers of the Continent; on him will depend the ability of the King of PRÚSSIA to complete those monstrous projects of aggrandizement, those schemes of ambition, founded in avarice and supported by plunder, which were originally settled by his Majesty and his regicidal affociates, at the treaty of Bafil.---Schemes of which no language can afford an adequate de {cription; but which the heart of every honeit man can appreciate, and which pofterity will endeavour to characterize. The manifesto, issued by the King of Prussia, in justification of his seizure of the independent Electorate of Hana over, which he was folemnly pledged, by the treaiy of armed neutrality, to protect from invasion, is at orice fo false and so foolish, the pretext for this unprincipled act is so weak and so ridiculous, that to attempt a serious cona

futation of its affertions—for it does not contain a single argument-would be an insult to the understanding of the public. It is a paper which carries its own confutation on the very face of it; and need only be read to be con. demned. The fate of the other nations of the Continent still remains to be settled by the mandate of the Corsican Usurper, who, unless the Emperor of Russia interfere, will hecome the sovereign arbiter of their future destiny. It was, evidently, the intention of this man not only to weaken the Emperor of Germany, by the dismemberment of his dominions, but to low the seeds of perpetual dissention in the Empire, hy a separation of its component parts, and to aggrandize the King of Prusia, at the expence of other Princes, with a view to give him a preponderance in the Empire, and, ultimately, perhaps, to place the Imperial crown of the Romans on his head, which, of course, he could wear only so long as would suit the pleasure and convenience of the French cabinet. In a short time, we shall be able to ascertain what prospect there is of the accomplishment of these notable projects.

Meanwhile the signal victory which our fleet has obtained over the Danes, a victory which reflects immortal honour on the Hero of the Nile (who, without an hyperbole, may be termed the pride of Britons, and the admiration of the world) and on all his brave companions in arms, has struck a panie into the subordinate members of the Northern Confederacy, and, had we been as skilful in negociation as we were brave in action, might, we conceive, have produced an immediate dissolution of it. On this occasion, without detract. ing; in the smallest degree, from the merit of older officers, we must lament that the chief command was not given to LORD Nelson, in which case, we are persuaded, though the action could not have been more glorious, the issue would have been more decisive. The armistice which has been since cona cluded appears to us to be highly impolitic. Our object, in the expedition, was to make the members of the confederacy renounce the principle upon which it was formed, and to forego that arrogant and false pretension, which aimed at the destruction of our right to search neutral veffels bound to an enemy's port, a right which we have enjoyed for centuries, which originated in the plainest principles of equity, which has been recognized, at different periods, by all the nations of Europe, and which, as his majesty inost truly declared, in his speech from the throne, involved the dearest interests of the country. This object has not been obtained by the armistice, which merely provides for a suspension of the treaty of armed neutrality, on the part of Denmark. Though, surely, in no situation had we ever a greater right, or a fairer opportunity, to prescribe terms to an enemy ;-and such terms as would have accomplished the object of the war should surely have been enforced. Where, however, officers fight so well, the nation, while they admire their bravery, will overlook their want of skill in the difficult art of negociation, in which even our ableft Ştatesmen have generally been duped by the superior kill of the enemy. At all events, the government, who were not, in the first instance, responsible for this convention, displayed their judgment and their wisdom in giving their sanction to it, after it had been concluded. And, we trust, a radical change in the politics of the Court of Petersburgh will have such an effect on the cabinet of Copenhagen, as to render a renewal of hoftilities un. necessary, in which case every man must heartily rejoice that a stop has thus early been put to the effusion of blood. The Danes have exulted in their defeat even more than the British have exulted in their vitiory, and have been echoed by the French Journalists, in calling the day of the battle, a glorious day for Denmark. Not to be depressed under misfortunes is certainly one

a

proof proof of a great mind; and the consciousness of having done its duty is tlie greateft fatisfaction which a nation can enjoy in the hour of calamity. That the Danes fought courageously no man is disposed to deny. But when they boaft of their exertions and represent their defence against a force fo Superior as an unparallelled instance of bravery, it becomes proper to check their arrogance, and to expose their falloo?, by a repetition of well known facts, and by a reference to the records of history. The British force under LORD Nelson, destined to attack the Danes, on the 2d of April, consisted of eleven fail of the line, (the largest of which carried 74 guns) one 50 gun fhip, four frigates and three floops, besides fome bomb-vetlels and fireihips, of which very little use was made. One ship of the line the Agamemnon, was prevented from taking any share in the action; so that Lord Nelson had only ten sail of the line, one fifty-gun thip, and four frigates. The Danes had fix fail of the line, eleven floating batteries, mounting from twenty-fix twentyfour pounders to eighteen eigiiteen-pounders, one bomb thip, and several fchooner gun veffels, in the line; they had, belides, four fail of the line, moored in the harbour's mouth, and formidable batteries on the Crown Islands, mounting eighty-eight cannon. We apprehend that it will clearly appear, from this statement, which is taken from the Gazette account of the refpective forces, that the vast fuperiority of the British, which is mentioned in all the foreign journais, exitts

only in the imagination of their conductors. Admitting that the eleven British fhips had a fuperiority over the ten Danish thips of 74 guns; and allowing foriy guns for each of our frigates, that would make 234 guns; to which the Danes had to oppose their floating and fixed batteries, containing 330 guns, taking, for the floating batteries, the medium between 18 and 26, which leaves 22 guns for each battery. This, it will be perceived is a loose calculation, and's account is taken of the smaller vessels on either side, but it will fuffice to show the falfhood of the French and Danish accounts. The Danes had, morcover, been long employed in making every possible preparation for their defence; and the British had all the disadvantages to encounter which attend an intricate and dangerous navigation, by which they were prevented from placing two of their ships of the line in the position in which they wished them to be placed. The Danes, it is known, were completely beat, and the whole of iheir fleet taken or deo Atroyed. Now let us see, how a British fleet, placed in a less advantageous situation, received the attack of an enemy, really fuperior in force.

On the 15th of December, 1779, Admiral BARRINGTON was attacked at the mouth of the Cul de Sac at St. Lucie by the French Admiral Count D'Eftaing. The Assailant had twelve fail of the line, “and those ships of great force and metal," besides frigates and privateers. The British Admiral had, for his defence, one 74, one 70, two of 64, two of 50 guns, and three frigates; and two batteries on More. Here the superiority was manifest and decisive on the part of the French. The English, too, were in a manner taken by furprize, and had only one night to make their preparations, hav. ing no notice of the approach of the enemy, until late the preceding evening, when they made their appearance off the island; and the French had no one difficulty, in point of navigation, to encounter. D'Etaing made three fuccessive attacks on this small force in the course of the day, and was each time repulsed with loss, and was ultimately obliged to retreat, with his fleet in great confusion ! From these comparative statements of the different conduct of the Danes and British, under circumstances somewhat similar, we may fairly infer that had their fituations been reversed, on the 2d of August, the fate of

the