SIR-I am directed by the Barrack Master General to acquaint you, in answer to your letter of the 22d instant, that your application for the papers therein alluded to, should be made to His Majesty's Secretary at War, to whom they were transmitted for his consideration and decision thereupon.(Signed) P CAREY, D. B. M.

Copy of a Letter from Mr. Atkins, to the Secretary of War, dated Mary la bonne, 9th.March, 1806.

SIR-I am directed by the Barrack Master General to apply to you for the papers containing the charges preferred against me, and submitted to you for your consideration and decision.- (Signed) B. W. ATKINS.

Coby of a Letter from the Deputy Secretary at War, to Mr. Atkins, dated, War Offic, 12th March, 1805.

SIR;-in answer to your letter of this day's date, I am directed to acquaint you, that the practice of office precludes the Secretary at War from complying with your request. (Signed) F. MOORE.

Atkins?

But,

These letters speak for themselves. does not the reader think, that Lord Henry Petty should have called for these, as well as for the document of evidence against Mr. Let us, however, first see what this document is, and then take a view of the circumstances under which it was brought forward, examine into the probability of its truth, and inquire what were the objects it was intended to answer.

Declaration, upon oath, of WILLIAM WARD, move on the 18th of January, 1800, be

1. Worsley Holmes, Esq.

"About the time of Michaelmas 1804, M1. B. W. Atkins called at my house at Bigbury.--I not being at home, he said "to my wife that he wished to see me on some very particular business the next "morning carly. Agreeable to his request "I waited on him; he then produced a let

pre

ter and shewed me, which he said he "received from the Brrrack-master Gene"ral, the contents of which he said was, "that he was to give up such barns and mises, let as temporary barracks, as were most ill convenient. The answer I made him was this-Sir, I hope you will con"tinue to keep on my barn, you very well "know I have a large family-I have lately "sustained great losses. His reply was, "Ward, I will; but at the same time you must remember me. I told him I would

66

"do all that was in my power to serve him "if he would keep my barn. He said that "he then stood in need of the loan of 201, "and would give me his note of hand, and ́ "interest, for the same. I told him it was not in my power at present, having no money to spare. He answered that I was not to talk of that, for he would give me an order to draw part of my rent. I "their said I could not think of doing that, “because when the money was due it knew "its way altogether, but if I could get the, “201. I would bring it to him in the course of the day. He says, do Ward-I'll put every thing in your way that lays in my power to continue your barn; but it was not in my power to get the money, "and so, of course, I could not give it him. "Some time in the month of May 1865, "he met me in the road near my house, "and desired me to give him my bill for the "rent of my barn.-I said, Sir, I have a "little bill for carting, I would wish to "know if I am to send that hill at the same "time. His answer was, that I could not "think of having any thing for carting, for says he, you must give me that. I directly asked him if Mr. Smith gave him the money that he got for cartage. He replied, no; but mind that I pay you a great deal of money in a year. I said, you do, Sir; but if you did not do it

66

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some other person would. The answer "be made me was this,-Depend on it that "the great expenses of get ing the stores in "and out will be the consequence of your "barn being thrown up. I told him that if "it was a general thing I should not be

worse off than the others, for considering "the payment of property tax, and your repeated requests for fees, which is as fol"lows, corn, hay, hogs, geese, ducks, "fowis, and many other things too tedious to mention (in this declaration of his conduct) and the ill-conveniency of having soldiers, 1 think I right nearly be as "well without letting the barn as with it.

The ensuing Chrismas when I went to 'gelmy draft for my rent due at Midsummer, I spoke to him concerning the bill "of cartage. He says, Ward, I will call on you some other day; the 3d of January, 1800, he called at my house, and tok me to a private room.-He told me he called respecting the carting, and said, Ward, Mr. Harvey, and Mr. Kent have "carted as well as you, and they have given "me their cartage money, and hope you "will do the same. I instantly told him that I could not afford it; he answered, you know i have been your friend :—y u "know I have been imprisoned, and very heavy expenses attended it. I said, it was as much as I could do to keep myself from the same place; then, he said, we "must go haives in it-I told him again, "I could not afford it, but, as Mr. Harvey “and Mr. Kent has given you their money I will give you the money for one journey of cartage. He told me I must give him two; I once more told him I could not afford it. He then asked me where my stamp was for the receipt, I immediately gave it him; he told me to write the receipt in full, which was 51. 5s. I said I "would be glad if he would write me a copy on a piece of blank paper; I instantly wrote the receipt; he took it, and gave me 3.1. I told him it was not enough, he said he owed me three shillings more; I answered him in this manner, damn the three shillings, let it go with the rest. I finding not only myself but my family greatly injured by the conduct of this "inan, I am compelled to make this decla"ration."-(Signed) WM. WARD.

Letter from Ward to Davies, enclosing the above Declaration.

bly be altered by it? Why, then, were these papers gratuitously called for by Lord Henry Petty?Leaving these questions. to be answered by any one that is able to answer them, let us now examine a little into the nature of this evidence against Mr. Atkins. First there is but one witness. And what is that witness? He is a barn-owner, and, observe, that it was his interest to discredit and to ruin Mr. Atkins; because, if Mr. Atkins's report to the War-Office produced the desired effect, he, Ward, would be deprived of the 2181. 8s. a year, which he was then receiving for the shells of a barn and an out-house, as will be seen by the foregoing list of rents; and from this it will appear, that this man has actually lost about a hundred pounds a year in rent, in conse quence of Mr. Atkins's report. Circumstances under which a witness would be more likely to be biassed, and less likely to speak the truth, it is quite impossible to conceive. Then, as to the facts stated in this declaration of WARD, we perceive that the greater part of them belong to periods of time long prior to the date of the declaration, so far back as Michaelmas 1804 and May 1805. How came WARD never to have made the declaration before? For, as to the reason given in the letter to DAVIES (which is a sort of Postscript to the declaration), who does not perceive, that this is a mere after-thought? Who, in fact, does not, without any positive information, per ceive, that it must have been suggested to WARD, after the reading of his declaration, by some person who foresaw that it would be difficult to account for the lateness of his complaint? Who, indeed, is there that will not see clearly through the disguise of WARD's simplicity of style, and that will net be perfectly satisfied, that the whole was suggested to WARD, for the sole purpose of discrediting and ruining of Mr.

At

These are the papers which Lord Henry Petsy has brought before the House of Com mons. And, why did he do so? What connection have these papers with the abuse in the expenditure of the public money complained of by Mr. Robson Mr. Robson said nothing about Mr. Atkins's character. The nature of the facts did not at all depend upon that character, and cannot now possi

the abuses from taking place? WARD Pretends, in his letter to DAVIES, that he has made his complaint now, because there is a superior of Mr. Atkins come to the Island. Not only however, had there been superiors of Mr. Atkins frequently visiting the Island during the time that had elapsed, but there had been, as WARD well knew, a superior Barrack-Master, Mr. BYGRAVE, constantly residing in the Island; and yet he never made his complaint before! Mr. Atkins does, I am informed, aver the facts to be false, and is preparing counter affi davits; but, first observing, that, whether true or false, these facts can never be con. strued into a justification of those who made

the contract for the barns, we will for argument's sake, and merely for argument's sake, adinit the facts as stated by WARD, to be true; and then the amount of them is this: 1st, that Atkins promised Ward, that, if he would lend him 201. he would do every thing in his power to cause the barn of Ward still to be rented by government: 2dly, that Atkins made frequent requests to Ward for presents of corn, hay, hogs, geese, ducks and fowls, but it is not stated that he ever actually obtained any thing but one pig and 3dly, that, in the payment of Ward for cartage done for government, Mr. Atkins did actually pocket 21. 5s. These facts, if true, as for argument's sake, we admit them to be, manifest a low, if not corrupt, mind, and cannot be justified upon the ground of any necessities growing out of Mr. Atkins's poverty: but still, they were not of a magnitude to defy the powers of forgiveness, especially when we recollect, that the knowledge of them was communicated to the Barrack-Master (HEWETT) and to the Secretary at War (FITZPATRICK) after both of them were in possession of that report of Mr. Atkins, by the means of which report he had produced a saving to the public of 8331. 163. a year, and had, by the same act, fnrnished them with the information whereby a great and general saving of the public money might be made. This meritorious act; this great public service; this rare instance of an endeavour to save the public moncy; this, one would have thought, might have weighed something in favour of Mr. Atkins, who, though we should, for argument's sake, allow him to have been touched with the contamination, might, without any very glaring violation of moral principles, have been admitted to pardon for the sake of the discovery he had made with respect to the enormous waste before described. Statute upon statute have we, not only for pardoning, but for REWARDING participators in defrauding the revenue. Man is invited by law to inform against man; friend against friend; brother against brother, in whatever relates to the prevention of money being raised upon the people; for every informer of this description an ample indemnification is provided : what is the fate of those who endeavour to prevent frauds in the expenditure of that money we have a striking instance in Mr. Atkins's present situation. But, supposing, that, in the pure and unadulterated raind of GENERAL FITZPATRICK, no public merit could at all operate as a set off against moral guilt, however trifling, in its magnitude; supposing the virtue of the Right

Honourable General to be of that rigid, that Spartan-like, character, that rejects all compromises, that admits of no STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS, but that stands straight onward towards the end of abstract justice, and at last inflicts it with an unshaken hand, and without any even the smallest allowance for the frailties of human nature, however small the offence and however great the temptation; supposing all this, still, where are we to look for the motive of refusing Mr. Atkins a sight of the documents upon which he had been dismissed and ruined, and which dismission had plunged his wife and children into misery; into an absolute want of the necessaries of life?It will have been observed, that the report of Mr. Atkins was made in Decemler last; that the inquiry into his conduct as a Barrack-Master (made by the man who had contracted for the barns) took place in January; and that, upon the documents which were the result of this inquiry, Mr. Atkins was dimissed by the Spartan General in the month of February. Now, the reader will doubtless ask, not only how it came to pass, that this inquiry into Mr. Atkins's conduct was never made before, but, how it came to appear necessary to make it after, and, that, too, immediately after, Mr, Atkins made an endeavour to save the public money? DAVIES is sent into the Isle of Wight in consequence of Mr. Atkins's proposal to save the public money; and he reports; what? Not that he has found out any means of saving the public money; but that Mr. Atkins has received presents from one of the barnowners! He does not appear to have paid the least attention to the means of saving the public money; he does nothing towards the reducing the rent of the barns; the old enormous rent is continued on for ten weeks afterwards, and until Mr. Atkins is found to have come up to the neighbourhood of the parliament and the press; and, in short, DAVIES seems to have paid very little attention to any thing but the obtaining of WARD'S affidavit, and he says, in his letter to the Barrack-Master General (Hewett) that "the enclosed papers" [which are not furnished] "I could not attend to whilst I was so extremely employed in the business of the affidavit, and my absence at the out-posts." Whence such great anxiety upon this sole point? Whence the eagerness to find grounds of accusation against Mr. Atkins, whom, before his endeavour to save the public money, it was never thought necessary to accuse ? Can this anxiety, can it, in the mind of any man of common, sense, be attributed to any but one motive?

And is it necessary that motive to describe

-M.. Atkins is an example, a dreadful wurning, to those public officers who may, in future, de animated with the desire of saving the public money! And yet, oh, cruel disarp intment and mortification! Mr. Fox, Mr. WINDHAM, Mr. GREY, and LORD HENRY PETTY are in power! The men I wished to see in power, are in power, and yet has this thing taken place; and yet is there no appearance of approaching redress either for the public or for the unfortunate man, who has ventured to endeavour to save its money!Do the gentlemen, whom I have just named, think that this is the way to inspire the people with a devotion to their country and its government? Do they think, that we are blind and deaf to all facts such as are here brought to light and as are bringing to light every day and every hour, whic, at the same time, we are told that, cost what sacrifice and what suffering it will, "taxes must be raised ?" Do they think we are dead to all sense of right-and of wrong; that we can no longer distinguish between justice, and injustice; between ease and oppression; between freedom and slavery? No: such is not their opinion yct; and, in the confident hope that it never will, I beseech them to betake themselves, while time is at their command, to a line of conduct that shall convince us, that they yet imed to save us from the last stage of mise.y and degradation; and, I do earnestly hope, that, as a proof of this their intention, they will enter upon a general, a full, and an open inquiry into the abuses in the Barrack Department; that they will, 'ere they suffer the House of Commons to separate, take measures for an immediate reform; that they will proclaim great encouragement to all those who shall therein be willing to assist them; and that, as a beginning in the good work, they will re-instate the oppressed man, whose discoveries have led to the public discussion of the subject. They are not yet deeply implicated in the injuries inflicted upon this man." There is yet time for them to save him and his distressed family. In stretching out their powerful hand to preserve him, they will do an act worthy of great minds; and I conjure them not to be therefrom-deterred by that false pride, which would suggest the idea of their acting under the impression of fear; for, to fear to do wrong, to fear not to do right, is a mark of a great and not of a little mind. By some hand or other this man and his sinking family ought to be raised and protected; if the government do it not, the public, in whose behalf he has

suffered, ought to do it; but, my hope is, that this distinction of feeling in the govern ment and in the public will never exist, and that the appearance of it will, upon this occasion, be rendered impossible by the, conduct of the government itself. As to the fact of his distress, they will not, I am sure, affect ignorance. They will read what I have here written, and when I tell them that I speak from my own knowledge, I know they will believe me. That he may have cominitted faults, I am by no means. disposed to deny; but, to say nothing of the liability of us all to commit faults, what, let me ask, would be the fate of public officers in general, were they, for offences such as have been alledged against Mr. Atkins, to be punished as Mr. Atkins has been? What would be, nay, what must be, the consequence, if we take, as we are justified in taking, the decision against Mr. Atkins as a precedent for deciding with respect to the conduct of all other persons in places of public trust?

The length of the foregoing article, toge ther with my desire to draw towards it the undivided attention of the public, prevent me from entering at present, upon any other subject. I therefore postpone some remarks that were prepared, upon the situation of the Continent; upon the American Intercourse Bill; upon the progress of Mr. Windham's Military Plans; upon the Brewing Tax; upen the Somer-etshire Election; upon the Honiton Election, and, the excellent example given in the declaration of Lord Cochrane; ard finally, upon the proceedings relative to Lord Wellesley, an impartial account of which proceedings it is my intention to place upon record, continuing on from the Oude Charge (which is concluded in the subsequent sheet), and embracing every thing material which shall occur for his Lordship as well as against him, this being the only way to promote a just and useful decision in the mind of the public.- -To all these topics, though every one of them is highly important, I have preferred that of the Barrack Abuses; and my reason is this, that I am fully persuaded, that the fate of the government of England, and of England herself, as an independent nation, turns solely upon what shall be done with regard to taxation, and that this turns upon what shall be done with regard to the saving of public money; for, as to further great impositions, without the use of a force that would not leave us even the semblance of freedom, they appear to me utterly impracticable.

In the subsequent pages of this Number will be found the XIth letter from my cor

respondent upon the Reform of Financial Abuses; also a letter upon the proposed Commission of Accounts another upon the principle of the Assessed Taxes; one upou the National Defence; one upon the Income Tax; on upon the Brewing Tax; and one upon the Non-Residence of the Clergy, my reasons for not agreeing, as to all points, with the writer of which, I shall state upon a future occasion, for, indeed, this is one of the most important subjects that ever engaged public attention

The next Number (owing to an omission of a sheet last week) will also contain two sheets; and, being the last of the Volume, will carry to the readers the Tables of Contents, Indexes, &c. but, it will be observed, that the voluing will, as usual, contain only 33 sheets.

Imitated from the Greek Epigram, Ανδρο φονῳ σαθρών παρά τείχιον οπνωτι Νύκλος επίσησα φασι Σαμανικανώς, κ.τ.λ. A cut-throat sleeping near a wall

CV.

Behield Serapis in his dream, Who cried, Get hence! 'tis going to fallHe rose, he fled, and down it came., Proud of th'escape, Why sure, quot!. he, I'm after all an honest fellow: The gods take wond'rous care of me; Ay, they forgive a peecadillo. Next night the God return'd and said,

You did not take my warning right; Rogue, shall I see you knock d'o'the head? No, no, you won't come off so light. So 'scapes, and we allow,

That Heav'n this weak assault has baffled, Who saves him from the Pillery now, To go hereafter on the Scaffold.

ARTHUR YOUNG ON NATIONAL DEFENCE.

SIR ;- -When political erremies, holding opposite principles of government, coalesce and possess themselves of the power and emoluments of the state, the propriety of such conduct, to say the least, must be matter of doubt; but when opponent writers, whose warfare has been vehement, arrive in the discussion of any fundamental part of the constitution at precisely the same result, our grounds of belief and conviction must be uncommonly strong. In politics, Major Cartwright and Mr. Arthur Young, were, as political writers, particularly hostile, and we cannot suppose, if we now find them agree, that such agreement can have any other cause than a full conviction on the point in question common to both. As you, Mr. Cobbett, have very much contributed to

wards diffusing the opinions of the Major on the subjec of our national defence, I have thought you would be pleased to find the same opinions now maintained, and forcibly expressed, by the warmest of his former adversaries I, therefore, send you the Monthly Magazine of this present June, in which you will find a well written letter of Mr. Young, on the subject alluded to, by the republication of which, in your excellent paper, I think you will render an essential service to the public.-SAXE.-June 21,

1806.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE MONTHLY MAGAZINE.

SIR;- -The present state of Europe offers a spectacle that cannot be considered without horror. The unparalleled successes of the French have conquered, stunned,, or disarmed, the whole Continent, and established thereby so predominant an influence, that no power, or coalition of powers, by land, has much chance, according to the obvious tendency of the late events, of opposing an effectual shield against the most enormous encroachments and tyranny of the conqueror. These effects have not been the consequence of the efforts of a regular and established government, that promises peace or security to its conqueret or terrified neighbours, but the events have been effected by the poxers of anarchy and confusion, concentrated by the talent of one man, who, were he to fall, might be sicceeded by universal ruin and devastation, fhwing from similar changes and horrors to lose which led him to the supremity of power, and which has laid in the dust every nemy but one that has opposed him. Not the smallest security, and not much probabiliv, exists, that the Continent may not see the soil of every territory bathed in the best alood of its inhabitants, the guillotine permanent, and the reign of assassination, terror, and blood, restored, from Gibraltar to Petersburgh, from Copenhagen to Constantinople. Suppose the government of Buonaparté should be a regular one, (and its regularity has hitherto depended, in conquered countries, on the tyranny of his lieutenants) yet who can foretel what will succeed him? Jacobinism, in all its horrors, may spring up, and deluge all the Continent with devastation; while the powers that might have opposed it are in universal debility and ruin. Without looking, however, so fir, what a spectacle is it to see so many countries conquered, or creaching with Spanish imbecility, under the foot of a tyrant; and the people of the West, except one, the beasts of burthen to the French-Such are the consequences of