STATE PAPERS. 



639 



Has caused the loss of much precious 

 time, and a lamentable stngnation, 

 with an almost irrecoverable loss of 

 confidence, which has extended to 

 several classes. The pressing de- 

 mands of the great contractors for 

 money, arise not so much from a 

 most urgent necessity, (they and 

 their money-lenders fare best at 

 present) as from the consciousness 

 that there is always a want of mo- 

 ney, let ever so many contributions 

 be raised. The petty contractors 

 grow uneasy because they are not 

 paid ; they calculate upon th^ conn- 

 try's paying the highest price for 

 every thing ; they gain 30 per cent. 

 and more; hoard their cash; and 

 under pretence that the country 

 does not pay them, they do not pay 

 each other. On the other hand, the 

 old monied men are dwindling away, 

 and can scarcely support themselves; 

 and do we not see, in our days, 

 that some men who had nothing be- 

 fore the year 1795, have made rapid 

 fortunes, and tliat those new ac- 

 quirers excite by their wealth the en- 

 vy of others ! — One of the strongest 

 marks of the oppression and misery 

 to which the nation is reduced, 

 especially by the contributions, is 

 that we do not, as formerly, hear 

 one complaining voice, but that the 

 public energy is deadened and pal- 

 sied by the fear of foreign force, 

 and the artifice with which we are 

 constantly threatened, is most evi- 

 dent. Kvery body sighs in secret, 

 and many, as privately as pos- 

 sible, begin to provide for their own 

 safety ; whilst some persons who 

 would otherwise have been as bois- 

 terous as ever, have been quieted 

 by contracts, and opportunities have 

 been afforded to others of specu- 

 latjng to advaufage. If I were con- 

 finccd of the reality of the nccesiity, 



and of the extreme urgency of the 

 provision, and if such vcre the case 

 that the dreaded stagnation would 

 come upon us unforeseen and un- 

 merited ; I should from this mo- 

 ment sacrifice my sentiments and 

 my principles to these considera- 

 tions, and agree, that every thing 

 should give way to public necessity/. 

 But as I know nothing of the se- 

 crets of the state, or why this mea- 

 sure is obtruded upon us with such 

 precipitancy, I cannot consent to it 

 as a consequence of the former con- 

 tribution ; and I must leave those 

 to answer for the event, who, find- 

 ing their interest in the different 

 revolutions, have made engagements 

 beyond what they are able to per- 

 form ; who have suficrcd the public 

 affairs to run on to such a hopeless 

 state, and found it their interest that 

 they should so continue. On this oc- 

 casion I find myself also obliged to 

 protest against the continued injus- 

 tice, by which the inhabitants of the 

 departments of Holland and Zea- 

 land, who contribute so considerable 

 a part of every impost, are op- 

 pressed with respect to the collate- 

 ral one ; and against the deferring 

 or withholding of an indemnification 

 to the proprietors of East India 

 Stock, w ho have now been kept so 

 many years out of their property 

 and their income. 



Letter addressed to the executive Co7v- 

 viittee of Hanover, and published l>f 

 Order of his Excellency the Mar- 

 shall of the Empire.^ Bernadotte. 

 Dated Jttlj 3d. 1805. 



Authentic reports announce, that 

 the English government has commis- 

 sioned several officers of the ci-de- 

 vaiU Hanoverian army to recruit un- 



lawfuUy 



