Virginia Argus. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1796-1816, 1809-10-27
LETTER I.

/ DIX,
When every eye in the nation, at
the end of l6 years OF war, which has ci.
ven rise to the income tax; which has
caused a part Of every mans estate to be
aiienated, under the name of Redemption
| OF Land Tax, which has banished g.i.
meas from the land, and made bank no $
legal tender-which has seen The Ha.
beas Corpus, or Personal Safety Aet for
many years suspended; which has drained
the kingdom of its youth and its vigo-,
leaving the next generation 10 be the off.
spring of decrepitnde, deformity and i'm
beciliy; which has thus entaiIed upon
the nation ugliness ard weakness, and d S.
ease; and which, while il has robbed the
land of III >usands upon thou.apds of the
best Of IFS laborers, in order TO convert
hem into defenders of Sicily, and oher
foreign countries, has introduced thousands
and thousands of fore gners to defend the
same land. AT such a time, when every
| eye in the nation, is anxiously fixed upon
the great, and, in all probability. The last
attempt, about to be made against the
enemy, it appears to Ine, That il may be
useful publicly to state certain facts, re-
| laliDg to the mode cf Carrying on a war
OF such wearisome leng h and such desc,
lifting consequence Sc that this state m eut
may, from its manner, lose none of its in d.
trinsic importance, ] for the second time
IN my lille, presume to add ess myself d..
reetly to your Majesty, taking care that,
in this instance no keSpcr OF Official pa.
pers shall, as in recent one. have it in
| ms power 20 garble, or TO supprcss any
part of that winch write,
Tia. your Majesty is rot well inform.
| ed as to ike great and Interesting matters
apon wh'ch am addressing you /, with.
cut the smallest hesitation, conclude f.a,
because The measures OF your servants tn q
whom your infor nation mast come, are
| IN no wise calculated for The real state OF
Things; and secondly, because surprising
hose servan $40 possess both talents and
zeal sufficien, for all IA, puspo ,es OF t!,ejy
Respective stations, their time ha@, feom
the moment they entered those Offices.
been almost wholly engrussed by cndsa-
vors To defend hem 'e,,e:, ard to annoy
and degrade Their own political enemies
! and your majesty's ls,s servants. As mea
may be blinded by too much light, so a
| people may be kept in error, may be dc /.
ceiyed and ruined, by the means of the
press, which, unperverted. is SO well cal
culated to ensure The constant triumph O!
ruth and have for p3y part, 10 doub.,
TIA. with all our parade Of publ,cI, y, with
III oar os,eutaiion Of unreserve. there is,
lilo the whole world, no peopte who, in
proportion TO their magnitude, under s,and
so little of their public alfIrs as IS under.
STOOD by the people of this kiDgd om.--
Were not this he case, Sir, it would be
Impossible that the enemy should be ia
his present Furnishing state, with respee,
to his iD.ernal and other resou ces, while
England possesses such means OF cutting
off those resources.
The general opinion in this country is,
lthal France is in 2 miserable sia;e--,hat
)fbe people are starv ng -aBd that as 10
Icommerce there is no more Of it going on
in the dominioDs Of Napoleon than upon
any Of the isle,s in the Thames, about
Windsor or Hamptoa Couit. This too,
Iconclude to be the opinion of your ma.
ljes;y; because as before observed. your
inIo NATION as TO such matters, mus, be
derived from your servants, and those ser.
waits prove, by their express declarations
as well as by their conduct, that such is
their view of The situation of the empire
lof France, as 10 whether the subjects oil
Napoleon like or dislike bis government,
tor whether they be better or worse OF
now than they were under their former
soyereigns; these are questions which We
can discuss 10 no profit, because we posses!
Ino faets wbereon to reason blu, with re
gard to the commerce OF France, and tha
sort OF commerce which is the only valu
abe one, ! possess from the best posi-.
ole source, quite a suEiciency Of facts e
shew, that upon THAI subject al least, hi,
has been the most deceived Of nations, anc
lyour majesty the most deceived OF soyer
leigps.
The sort Of commerce to which l al
Iade, is what we in England, call the coas
ling trade; but in the dominions OF Ma
lpoleon, or Countries under his sway, il i
o be considered as something much NOR,
important than il is with us. There i
40 doubt chat the trade between Lpndoi
and the coal Mines is Of a m. llion time
tmore value TO England than all her foreigr
commerce put together; but IT we cas-
! our eyes over the nlaD Of Europe. we sh Al