The Statesman.
London, England, 1812-07-17 00:00:00

muatcatlon with Wilms having been cut off, as stated
in the Third Bulletin. In dui( case Rip is the next city
to which 1301tarAikre is arose likely to direct his at-
tention. There be will pot be 300 mites from the
capital orßossia ; and when ilia considered that be will
then be in the heart of a country which has always been
Considered the granary of Europe, and which borders;
'Oe the Baltic, whence he may receive regular sup-
plies of provisions by means of coasting vessels, not,
withstanding the presence of our fleet.—Wheat we
•y, these circumstances are candidly considered,
,sce are compelled to admire the extraordinary genius
of a man, who could arrange his plans in such a
manner as to render it almost impossible for an army!
of 300,000 men, to feel any difficulty on account of
the want of provisions, even in an enemy's country.
Adverting to the armies of BoxatiAtivE being endan-
gered by the population of Russia, a late intelligent ;
writer says, that extended Empire in this case 4' is
not expanded geld, but expanded lead. It has nei-
titer solid strength nor feeble splendour.* In Great
Britain every thing that transpires in London, as the
heart of 'the Empire, darts like the pulse of• life tol
the extremity of the dominions; and this too with a
Icelerity unknown in the history of other times or!
other nations ; which serves to give the whole of a
varied and numerous population a , kind of com-
pact nervous system of power and sensibility.—
II Every species of intelligence traverses our island in
about one revolution of the earth on its axis, as I
though the luminary of haven rose to conduct the
sunshine of its pleasure, or the 'flashes of its anger ;
while in Russia, the globe may make the annual
revolution of its orbit round the sun, being a journey
of between five and six hundred millions of miles,
without the same kind ,of national communication
taking place. We here speak only of the rapidity of
communication. In other respects there is no. pa-
rallel ; because it IS perhaps, possible- to find in
Russia, a district as large as England, without half
i a dozen of men in it who can read their own lan-
guage. In • many of the barbarous extremities in
Russia, the people scarcely yet know whether it
be CATIIARINC,Or PAUL,or ALEXANDER who governs;
I while there are many of its subjects, that perhaps ne-
ver heard the name of either. France can march
an army from Paris to Petersburgh, in less time
than ALEXANDER could make known an Ukase to
half his dominions. No reliance, tlerefore, can
be placed on the inhabitants of Russia for deliver-
{ ante from their invaders.

Since writing the above, we hare received the ha-
portant intelligence, by the Anholt Mail,. of

THE RETREAT
OF THE RUSSIANS. •
-They are said to be falling back on Riga, and to
have thrown a large grantity of grain into the sea at
Liebau. We should suppose that this refers entirely
to that part of the Russian army onder the command
of General Bto,sweltr, who, as appears by the last
French Bulletin, was separated from Walla, and not
to the troops under the immediate command of
ALEXANDER, who, if he find; it necessary to fall
back on the Drina, must take a different route than
by Liebau, which is on the Baltic ; otherwise he
would come in contact with the enemy, which it is
hia great object to avoid.
GOTTENSURGH, Jus 11.

Some trifling skirmishes have taken place, and the I '
Russians are retreating towards Riga, after throwing
28,000 barrels of grain into the sea, at Liebau.—
The French army continue to desert; the whole
corps of black hussars have gone over to the Rua-
sians.—lt is expected Peace with England will
be proclaimed here on the return of the Con.
rier who went to England by the last packet.—
Every thing seems also amicably arranged between
Russia and Great Britain. Admiral Maartx is off
Riga, where he has had a very friendly communica-
tion with the Governor; and Captain ACILLAN has
been ashore to assist in erecting a telegraph, and in-
specting their gun-boats. In every part of the Rus-
sian coast the greatest energy prevails, and orders
are given to ahip off every thing, especially grain
and provisions, from Liebau.

In consequence of the rescinding of the Orders in
Council, the town of Hinckley has experienced such
a revival of trade, that the warehouses; which, bat I
a few week, ago, were burtbeued with goods, are t
now cleared Of their immense stocks.
It gives us great_ pleasure to state, that the town
and the county of Nottingham were never more tran-
quil than they are at present. The frame-workers
are now busy at work there, and throughout Leices-
tershire ; and the combs and shuttles of Yorkshire,
the smithy engines of Warwickshire, and the spindles
and looms of Lancashire, are likewise all in :no.
tion.—(Boston Paper.)
GRAND Mssousaaue.--Among the whimsical va-
garies of fashionable amusement', none has appeared
to attract more atteripon, or has been anticipated
with more lively curiosity, than the approaching
Masquerade to be given on Monday next at Vaux-
hall. A more appropriate and delightful situation
could not possibly hare been selected, for the enjoy-
ment of this eccentric species of pleasurable pastime,
It mist certainly be highly gratifying to witness the
grotesque appearance of such a variety of characters
enjoying in disguise the pleasing sallies of fanciful vi-
vacity and Innocent burlesque. The superb and ele-
gant entertainment, prepared by the Managers on
this occasion, report says, will surpass '
splendour any of the kind ever offered
try; and we have Re doubt, sheep
prove fine, that° the Goat/as wet be
the t frolic, as metglea• f
t
in kingdom.

ME STATESMAN.

. lb the EDITOR of the STATESMAN.
lea,—Same of fey Meads have expressed Their smells, that
I intl. have lain Ithy pdblle actin of thentsek whin, Lord
'Whore snit drown in the Home of Leen; and, Widow=
nth* sylvan, I will sulfas that, had the knowlidgs °twin
his Lordelhir'llem mid been nand to Unmans of Parliameat,..,
I slag Sant bight any defence of myself untionsary t bat
lIIMOR theta Genlemen understate his Lordablies power, on, his
'endlege grand; The introducer of a liberal proration Dates'
eallb and justly meets with a Areoweable reeeptisa from the pub-
lie: nor is • Peer elate realm supposed to prefer gnoteeharfiee
on lassileient foundation. Thus I reissued hat Saturday g
and the sense reasons induce Me agars to trespass on you, and to
request the public attention to this answer to hi Lordship's
Letter and Questions of Thursday hat. My Note,lde pordship
calls " strange," Why? That I should net be disposed to
pass wholly unnoticed so direct and gene an stuck, and
from such *quarter, he himself, at least, ought not to think
strange. Was it them " the manger," or " the substance"
of my letter which excited his Lordship's astesishment ? By",
not taking fisr granted the accuracy of the Reporter, I af-
forded the Speaker an opportunity of correcting, or disavowing
any error or min-statement. Did this forbearance create am-
prise ? Or, did it seen strange to him that his.tharge, so an
usually made, should strike me as Indecorous, when I do not
And that even his own ingenuity can Biggest any other defence
of it than the gratuitous Imagination of my being the advocate
I foi " sticking up" females of alleges in open Court to " tatsl
loads before they say their prayers ?"—lf this, Sir, were se
I true of mess it is otherwise, even then, as an argument, hog
1 relevant would it be, and bow conclusive! But I ins alto in
I diced to doubt the Noble Lord's accuracy and candour—wheo
Cher in this I shall be entirely siniular let those whosmay bevffi
the fortitude to read this letter through, determine. His Lord-
ship, in his speech, asserted, that one Mr. W.,Smith (whom be
knew pretty intimately full five-and-t*enty years ago) " bad
lately been dabbling in the matter on which he was speaking-,
I but (tasemuteatly) not Kith much success." How fortunate
'i and kowslisintevested is Lord Stanhope in his selection of the
criterion of merit for any proposed Legislative essacereast I-.
; Seems I Its the names, Sir, of that crowd of his own abortive
oisprine(ttenthers of which, in my opinion, deserved a better
fate), 1 protest against it. Could they but rise and speak, bow
;• would they deprecate the standard to which he se mercilessly
, subjects them? 'fo. proceed :—." This Mr. W. S. proposed by
his Sill a completely new 'system, by which no man was to
preach, no old woman to say Bier prayers in a dissenting place
of worship, is iihout a licence, and from him!" Bat for the
kind information of the Noble Lord himself, I should have been
as much at a loss as any other human being to have formed the
slightest conjecture as to the meaning of this. Let the public
learn the fact and admire.
1 After several communications with Mr.. Perceval in the course,
of the last spring, on some inconveniences and hardships to which
the Dissenters were sukjectcd, the main object of which was to
'.obtain the repeal of the primary evil, the Conventicle Act, Mr.
P. said, he was ready to accede to our wishes, so far as " to
place the Toleration Act, unquestionably, in law, on the footing
of the gcnendly accustomed practice; with one or two other minor
concessions ; and desired that we would state the matter in which
, we should think these objects might best be accomplished, laying
aside for the present all matters on which we might differ, and
going on together till we should be obliged to separate." To
this proposal, protesting against it as incomplete, we agreed,
and heads for a Bill were accordingly sketched oat by a profes-
sionta man, on this principle, avowedly short of our wishes and
daises, but not creating any new system, only establishing and
confirming the most liberal construction of the old one; cot re-
quiring any licence, but for the express purpose of preventing
Magistrates from changing qualifications into licences, terms, of
' which the Noble Lord must know the difereace, boweverhe has
eunfisanded them. This sketch, with, perhaps, some few altera-
tions, was submitted to another Body to be compared with one
'they lad prepared, to decide which was preferable, or whether
I they might be amalgamated with advantage; bat it was never
I entirely settled, was never shewo to the Minister (to my know-
ledge at least), nor was ever determines! on ..as a measure
to be brought forward. If the Noble Lord can impugn
this atonement in any one poltab, material to his ergo-
: ment, let him: if he has any after ground. for his charge,
against me,* let him produce it ; if neither, let the .charge of
" proposing," " by a Bill," " a new system," " of establish,-
i ing a new universal necessity for licences," (I oat the " from
. him," as a figure of speech, though it was not inserted for uo-
I thing) let this, I say, be compared with " an anfinisitedsketai"
-- introducing an new system, but endeavouring to comet the
. irronvetliencies of the old one, " and particularly destroying,
as fur as possible, the very idea of a licence."—and, sorely, " he
who runs may read." 1 ansashamed, Mr. Editor, of having so
lung trespassed on your Paper, and the patience of your Itead-
I en; but I hope that this explanation, if tedious in itself, will
, enable me the sooner to dispatch the Noble Lord's very pointed
I interrogations. Ills first question, as lucidly explained by him-
self, is, " What would have been those laws, if carried into
. execution, which his (i. e. my) project would have left unrc-
pealed T"—My answer is, those laws, if carried into execution,
would have been the same laws as if not carried into execution.
I answer also, that my project was to lone as few as possible
lof the obnoxious laws unrepealed. His second and third Queries
apply to she first Clause Of the Toleration Act, not to any system
I or wish of mine—the obligations to take the oaths which it
I contains had better be repealed, and probably might have beta,
if it had net been !sing disregarded and almost forgotten.—
His Lordship's fourth Interrogatory states a bare possibi-.
lily, and practically affects nobody.—To the fifth I
shall only reply, by askiqg, what must be thought of a dis-
puma who Imputes to his antagonist " a proposal for the
I continuance of unbounded absurdities, contemptible peta-
-1 eiples' and infinite oppressions." because he endeavours, in
Ike way which approves itself to his judgment is most effectual,'
to destroy and abolish as many of those absurdities, follies, aid
oppressions, 'as his power and opportunities enable him to cope
with. The truth Is, that Lord S. has been saying a great deal,
1 and I have been endeavouring to doss larch as I could-7I quar-
rel net-with him for his saying; on the contrary, I very von
rally agree with the principles and proposed enactments of 1W
/MU ; but I knew it could not paw, and said so to many Who
were faseinated with its theoretic beauty, which numb anted'
siimehf these, and may possibly have caused the present ebal-
Win of the Noble Lord's spleen, wbicb I can saga to no
ether immediate cause. I olden to the wood Toleration,
sad the doctrine Implied la it, as man as be am do—
t* the same reason too—and have long slime declared
that opinion la Padhuneot as explicitly as himself: bat / will
mot refuse to accept a real and attainable good, became there is,
something yet better which I cannot yet ohmic; and for mai*
ing, should it at ibis heated moment appear criminal to his I
Lordship, I can quoteautholity to which beady perhaps defer
his own. Os the 19th et May, 1789, his Lordship intim& that
neediest speech ithich be repeated last week ; and, an the day
When hi mean was rejected, ad the douse, "dot if the
" Bishopteroald ant let him ranee the mthistek by coot. e/4
46 he wield do It by wheel-barrows; nay, eon by ePiilsitel I".
a most Isadable determination I meaning. of none, by dab
clinic and beautiful metaphor, that be would attempt to
form by &grin the task which he could not at once
And what else, or what km, do I say ? I know bat of use "-
fame Is this point, between m; that I begla at thenesparn
dear 'eavy end, he prefers the Impracticableoats Only on
word amere—if It be necessary, fur the sake 4 maintiaing
priseiples, n 0111 1
Lowleldp
is attempt all at , if moth* sky he pose-,
_ _
- - this,