46 64 tion; describing these ancient conquerors of Gaul, he says, "they were all reciprocally faithful com"panions or leudes to one another;" for," he adds, " this word in latin "is expressed by the term fidelis. "Ils etoient tous reciproquement leudes ou fidelles compagnons, car ce mot "traduit en latin s'exprimoit par le terme fidelis." And in another part of his History de la Monarchie Franof his History de la Monarchie Francoise, he says, "that the King swore to be leudes or fidelis to the nation, "and the people swore to be the same to him." Thus they became reciprocally leudes, and thus the society itself was called a leud or leod. It therefore rests not merely on the authority of Ducange's Glossary, a work of such astonishing literature work of such astonishing literature as to have excited the admiration of all nations; but also on the authority of the old feudal writers and antiquarians, supported by popular names and idioms, that allegiance was originally a promise of fidelity reciprocally undertaken by both prince and people, And hence it is that according to our ancient constitution (though the practice was not maintained in subsequent times) it is directed, I mean by the laws of Saint Edward, that the prince shall first swear to the people before the people shall swear to him." Ista vero debet omnia Rex in propria persona coram Regno et Sacerdotis et Clero jura re, antequam ab Archiepiscopis et Episcopis Regni Coronetur" c. 17. It deserves also to be noted, that the very word Leud itself was formerly an English word, and has been used by our oldest poets to signify one of the people in contradistinction to an ecclesiastic, who was not one of the, people; thus Chaucer, 46 "No wonder is a leude man to rust "If a priest be foule on whom we [trust." Robert of ancient au And the historical poet Glocester, a still more thority, says "Guf bituene twie leudmen were eni [striving "Other bituene a leud and a clerc for [holi chirch-thing." I might also advance the authority of some of our oldest lawyers, who speaking of allegiance use these words, " Liegentia est duplex," but I conceive I have said enough to prove that this social bond was held origipally among our ancestors to be a reciprocal tie as in reason and jusit ought to be; and although in the dark and ignorant ages preceding the restoration of letters, this obligation from the nature of those times and the abuses which had perverted all our primitive institutions, was considered by many princes, and particularly those of the house of Tudor, as binding on the people only, yet its nature became again properly understood under the house of Stuart by means of the revival of letters, and the freedom and energy which the public mind derived from the reformation, so that the expulsion of that house became at last the final seal and confirmation of this twofold duty, Allegiance, therefore, at present may be defined to be, a reciprocal obligation in both prince and people to be true and faithful to each other in the maintainance of the compact between them, as renewed at the Revolution, and formally expressed by the act called the bill of rights, Now, Sir, one of the conditions expressed in the bill of rights is " that the election of mem"bers to serve in parliament ought to be free." I am &c. June 17, TIMOTHY TRUEMAN. * I have never seen Robert of Gloce ster's Historical Poem: these lines are quoted from Mr. Selden's Tracts, who has given us large quotations together with high commendations upon it; he does not say at what time this poet lived, but says, Chaucer must yield to our elder Glocester muse. ON SIR FRANCIS BURDETT'S PLAN OF REFORM. Sir Francis Burdett having at length proposed his long intended measure of reform, and by so doing submitted it to be discussed by the nation, I will take the liberty to give you my opinion of it in a few words, as few at least as the nature of the subject will admit. The first objection to it, seems to me, to be its wide deviation from the long established practice of the constitution, for though it is consistent with the theory, viz.-That every free man should be represented, and that all elections should be free, yet these principles have been so long departed from, that before the minds of many men can be brought to them, they must be led by slow and gentle degrees, and part with their prepossessions one by one; for as there yet remains a very considerable party in the nation who entertain unreasonable and unjust suspicions of reform and reformers, great care should be used by those who are really honest and intend well, not to offend those who are ignorant and unjustly alarmed: let them remember the delicacy of St. Paul towards men of tender consciences, and as he referred every thing to the glory of God, let them refer all to the good of the nation. I here quote and consider the Apostle as an uninspired individual. "Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. Let not your good be evil spoken of. There is nothing in itself unclean, but to him that esteemeth it unclean it is unclean. Let us follow after the things that make for peace, and things whereby we edify one another." (Rom. xiv. 19.) "If meat make my brother to offend I will eat no more meat while the world standeth, least I make my brother to offend, 1 Cor. VIII, 13."And yet with all this regard for tender consciences and weak minds, I should not choose to sacrifice any thing that I thought essential to the public good; but I certainly conceive it more conducive to that end, to reform abuses gradually, than by suddenly starting from one extreme to another, because the minds of men become more easily reconciled to great changes by gradual and gentle transition, than by presumptuous violence; and because in all affairs in which the public are materially interested, it is both prudent and just to conciliate as many, and to offend as few as possible, consistently with the great principles which are the basis of œconomy and reforma tion.-For these reasons had I been in Sir Francis Burdett's place, I should not have proposed any thing so totally subversive of the present system of representation, as to give the right of voting to near five mil lions of men, which is now not enjoyed by five hundred thousand at the utmost;-nor should I have proposed to change all at once the political division of the nation from towns and counties to that of subdivisions of counties, because our ancestors not choosing to confound the landed and commercial interests of the country, without totally se parating them, gave to each it's due weight, and left them to be each particularly guarded and protected by men specially qualified for each, and to be generally provided for by the whole representation:-and moreover, disliking in all things the dull and cheerless system of equality, as contrary to the order of nature, and incompatible with the happiness of man, I should not have proposed that each member should represent a certain and equal portion of population, but that the ancient division of the nation into towns, cities and counties should be preserved, only transferring the representation from those places which having fallen into decay, have now hardly any poput lation, to all towns containing abov five thousand residents: for each the words " their constitutional duration," which was at first sometimes for a year, and sometimes for less, I should propose that we revert to the law of 6th of William and Mary, which continued in force till repealed by the infamous septennial bill. The reasons why I have not thought it right that mere money should give a title to vote are these, money is but the representative of real property, and were that title admitted it would make voters too numerous to vote in one place, for I dislike the idea of voting by parishes, as the utmost publicity is essential to the choice of a popular representation. The resolutions of Sir F. Burdett have been more fortunate than Mr. Curwen's bill; they have not fallen into the hands of the ministers, for though that bill never promised much good, it will now be productive of much evil, by making the rotten boroughs a traffic for places, if not for money, and thus throwing them all into the rapacious hands of the treasury;- while they were within the reach of the monied interest, there was some probability of their sending independent men of fortune to parliament, but now they can send nothing but the tools of the aristocracy, or the tools of the treasury. It is however, a matter of comparatively small moment to whom they belong, while the people are deprived of their due share in the representation. Mr. Wardle has now shewn the nation what they have to expect from a reform of parliament; he has embodied that which was before vague and indeterminate, and given it a practical tendency; he has put the matter in a tangible shape, which may be seen, felt, and understood.-I remain, &c. W. BURDON. Hartford near Morpeth, July 20, 1 FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE. FROM THE LONDON GAZETTES. Admiralty Office, Aug. 5. Letters transmitted by Vice-Admiral Sir J. Saumarez. Extract of the first Letter from Capt. Martin, dated off Percola Point, July 6, 1809. The Implacable and Melpomene having stood into the Gulph of Narva, captured nine sail of vessels, laden with timber, spars, and cordage, belonging to the Emperor of Russia, and which I doubt not will prove a valuable acquisition to our own dock yards. The boats of the ships, under that active and valuable officer Lieutenant Hawkey (of whose enterprizing spirit I had occasion to speak so highly when off Dantzig), have looked into every creek along the south coast of the Gulph, without finding any vessels whatever, and he is now on the opposite with the same view. P.S. Since writing the above, Lieut. Hawkey has returned with three vessels captured by the boats of the Implacable, Melpomene, and Prometheus, under his command, and he reports eight sail of gun-boats protecting some ships in shore, and is very desirous of attacking them, which shall be done if there is a reasonable hope of success. Implacable, July 8. SIR,-The position taken by the Russian flotilla under Percola Point, seemed so much like a defiance, that I considered something was necessary to be done, in order to impress these strangers with that sense of respect and fear, which his Majesty's other enemies are accustomed to shew to the British flag, I therefore determined to gratify the anxious wish of Lieut. Hawkey to lead the boats of the ships named in the margin,* which were assembled by nine o'clock last night, and proceeded with an irresistible zeal and intrepidity towards the enemy, who had the advantage of local knowledge to take a position of extraordinary strength within two rocks, serving as a cover to their wings, and from whence they could pour a destructive fire of grape upon our boats, which notwithstanding, advanced with perfect coolness, and never fired a gun till ac Implacable, Bellerophon, Melpomene, and Prometheus. tually touching the enemy, when they boarded sword in hand, and carried all before them. I believe a more brilliant atchievement does not grace the records of our naval history: each officer was impatient to be the leader in the attack, and each man zealous to emulate their noble example, and the most complete success has been the consequence of such determined bravery; of eight gun-boats, each mounting a 32, and 24-pounder, and 46 men, six have been brought out, and one sunk; aud the whole of the ships and vessels (12 in number), under their protection, laden with powder and provisions for the Russian army, brought out, and a large armed ship taken and burnt; I have deeply to lament the loss of many men killed and wounded, and especially that most valuable officer Lieut. Hawkey, who after taking one gun-boat, was killed by a grape-shot, in the act of boarding the second. No praise from my pen can do adequate justice to this lamented young man; as an officer, he was active, correct, and zealous, to the highest degree; the leader in every kind of enterprize, and regardless of danger; he delighted in whatever could tend to promote the glory of his country; his last words were, “ Huzza! push on! England for ever!" Mr. Hawkey had been away in the boats on different services since last Monday, accompanied by Lieut.Vernon, whose conduct in this affair has been highly examplary, and shewn him worthy to be the companion of so heroic a man; but while I am induced to mention the name of Mr. Vernon, from his constant services with Mr. Hawkey, I feel that every officer, seaman, and ma rine, has a claim to my warmest praises, and will, I trust, obtain your favourable recommendation to the lords commissioners of the admiralty. Lieut. Charles Allen of the Bellerophon was the senior officer after Mr. Hawkey's death. I have just been informed, that Lieut, Stirling of the Prometheus, who was severely wounded, is since dead; his conduct in this affair was very conspicuous, and Capt. Forrest speaks highly in praise of the zeal and activity of his services on every occasion. I am sure you will readily believe that Captain Forrest did not witness the preparation for this attack, without feeling an ardent desire to command it, but I was obliged to resist his pressing importunity, as a matter of justice to Mr. Hawkey. The Russians have suffered severely in this conflict, the most moderate statement makes it appear that two-thirds of them have been killed and wounded, or jumped overboard. Inclosed is a list of killed and wounded, the names of the officers employed, an account of vessels captured,and number of prisoners.-I have the honour to be, &c. T. B. MARTIN. Killed and Wounded.-Total, 17 killed, and 37 wounded. Report of Russian Prisoners of WarTotal, 127 prisoners, of whom 51 are wounded. The Russian officer reports 63 killed; and the number drowned is very great. Copy of a Letter from Captain Lord G. own immediate directions headed byCaptain Watts, of the Ephira, advanced to attack it in front.--The road we had to pass subjected us all to a galling fire of round and grape from the battery, the guns of which were all pointed inwards, aud which in return we could only answer by discharges of musketry. Gessendorf, though certainly tenable with the numbers the enemy had opposed to ours, was on the approach of Captain Goate, precipitately evacuated. The enemy being previously inform of our approach, had put into requisition a number of light waggons for the transportation of the foot, in the rear of which sixty well mounted cavalry drew up. The enemy in the battery, seeing us determined, notwithstanding their fire, to carry our point, and that we were making preparations for fording a deep and wide creek in their front, abandoned it, and embarked in boats on the Weser ready for their reception, under a severe fire of musketry from our detachment, with the loss on their part of several killed and wounded. From a fore-knowL'Aimable, off Cuxhaven, July 29. ledge of our intentions on the part of the SIR, The French troops in Hanover, enemy, we made but four prisoners, the not content with frequent predatory and commandant of the battery, Monsieur piratical incursions in the neighbourhood Le Murche, a lieutenant, and two infeof Cuxhaven, had the audacity to enter rior officers. The battery guns were the village of Ritzbuttle with a body of burst in pieces, the embrazures demohorse at mid-day, on Wednesday the lished, the gun-carriages burnt, together 26th. instant, and very narrowly missed with the magazine, guard-houses, &c. making several officers of the squadron The powder we brought off, together prisoners. In consequence I was in-with six waggon loads of confiscated duced to land a detachment of seamen merchandize. and marines from the vessels composing the squadron under my orders, for the purpose, if possible, of intercepting them. In the ardour of pursuit we advanced until we got sight of the town of Bremerlehe, into which we learnt they had retreated. The information was incorrect. On entering the town we were assured that the enemy, to the number of about two hundred and fifty, occupied the town of Gessendorf, 2 miles distant, and further, that it contained a depot of confiscated merchandize. It was resolved instantly to attack it. For this purpose Captain Goate of ths Mosquito, advanced with a detachment, while I directed Capt. Pettet of the Briseis to take a circuitous route, and take a well constructed battery of four twelvepounders, commanding the river Weser in flank, while the remainder; under my [Here follow the commendations of different officers.] The distance from Gessendorf to Cuxhaven is 28 miles; I leave it then to their lordships to estimate the spirit, alacrity, and expedition with which this service must have been performed, when I state, that in 24 hours from our depar ture, the whole detachment returned, and were safely embarked on board their respective ships, without the loss of an individual. I have the honour to be, &c. G. STUART. GAZETTE EXTRAORDINARY. Downing-street, August 7, 1809. Dispatches of which the following are copies, were last night received at the office of Lord Viscount Castlereagh, one of his Majesty's principal secreta iries of state, from Lieut.-Gen. the |