those whom they expelled for espousing the rebel cause. A singular proof of this fact exists in the city of Philadelphia, where the excommunicated Quakers, at the close of the war, petitioned the Legislature to pass a law, to take part, at least, of the meeting-houses and other property belonging to the society, from the Tory Quakers, and to transfer it to themselves, seeing that they were joint owners thereof. The petition was plausible; and whatever the proposition might want in point of law and of strict justice, they, naturally enough, supposed would be supplied by the inclination of the minds of the legislators, with whom they had been engaged in a common cause, who had shared with them in persecuting those against whom they now presented their petition. But the days of violence and injustice were passing away. The legisJature heard the cause pleaded before them, and, to their great honour, they decided in favour of the defendants. The Quakers who had abjured their allegiance to the King, not thinking it seemly to live without God in the world, formed themselves into a society, under the denomination of the Free Quakers, which, by the unanimous concurrence of their neighbours, has been very aptly and sarcastically exchanged for that of Fighting Quakers. This excommunicated crew did, with some difficulty, raise funds to build a meeting-house; but, as mankind in general are not over anxious to ally themselves with outcasts of any description, and, as the expulsion of Quakers does not extend to their children, a regular and rapid decline has been experienced in this new fangled society, the members of which have the mortification to see their numbers daily diminish, their sons and daughters walking in the paths from which they themselves have strayed, while their miserable meeting-house seems to have been erected as a monument of their apostacy

apostacy and rebellion, and of the faithfulness and loyalty of the followers of Penn.

Here, Sir, I conclude this very long letter, which I submit to your disposal; hoping, indeed, that it will appear in your next number; but assuring you, at the same time, that, whether it appears or not, I shall still remain, what I esteem it an honour to be thought,

Your sincere friend, and

most humble Servant,

W. COBBETT.

FAREWELL ADVERTISEMENT.

I sailed from New-York, on my return to England, on the 1st of June, 1800, having ordered a farewell advertisement to be inserted in the public papers the day before. Soon after I began to publish the Porcupine in London, an American wrote to me, complaining of my indiscriminating attacks on his countrymen; to this complaint published the following answer;

SIR,

I shall preface my answer to your remonstrance with an extract from my farewell address to your countrymen, which address it is probable you may not have seen.

"You will, doubtless, be astonished, that after having had such a smack of the sweets of liberty, "I should think of rising thus abruptly from the "feast; but this astonishment will cease, when you consider, that, under a general term, things diametrically opposite in their natures are frequently included, and that flavours are not more

" various

<< various than tastes. Thus, for instance, nou"rishment of every species is called food, and we "all like food; but while one is partial to roast "beef and plumb pudding, another is distractedly "fond of flummery and mush; so is it with respect to liberty, of which, out of its infinite variety of sorts, yours unfortunately happens to be precisely "that sort which I do not like.

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"When people care not two straws for each "other, ceremony at parting is mere grimace; "and as I have long felt the most perfect indiffe"rence with regard to a vast majority of those "whom I now address, I shall spare myself the "trouble of a ceremonious farewell. Let me not, "however, depart from you with indiscriminating

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contempt. If no man ever had so many and "such malignant foes, no one ever had more "friends, and those more kind, more sincere, and "more faithful. If I have been unjustly vilified by "some, others have extolled me far beyond my "merits; if the savages of the city have scared

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my children in the cradle, those children have, "for their father's sake, been soothed and caressed "by the affectionate, the gentle, the generous in"habitants of the country, under whose hospitable "roofs I have spent some of the happiest hours of my life.

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"Thus and thus, Americans, will I ever speak of you. In a very little time, I shall be beyond "the reach of your friendship, or your malice; beyond the hearing of your commendations or your curses; but being out of your power will "alter neither my sentiments nor my words. As "I have never spoken any thing but truth to you, "so I will never speak any thing but truth of you: "the heart of a Briton revolts at an emulation in "baseness; and though you have, as a nation,

"treated

"treated me midst ungratefully and unjustly, 1 "scorn to repay you with ingratitude and injustice.

"To my friends, who are also the real friends of "America, I wish that peace and happiness which "virtue ought to ensure, but which, I greatly fear, "they will not find; and as to my enemies, I can wish them no severer scourge than that which "they are preparing for themselves and their "country. With this I depart for my native land, "where neither the moth of Democracy, nor the "rust of Federalism doth corrupt, and where thieves "do not, with impunity, break through and steal "five thousand dollars at a time."

These, Sir, were the last words I published in America. From the determination which I then éxpressed, I am resolved never to depart. Never will I knowingly and seriously utter an assertion, or an insinuation, respecting America, the truth of which I cannot establish. My Prospectus contains no indiscriminate charge against your countrymen; and as to the facts to which you suppose me to allude, you know, if you have really read my American paper, that every one of them can be proved: nay more, you know that they have all been stated over and over again, in the newspapers of your own

country.

I repeat my assertion of Thursday, that I have as many friends in America as you have, however "extensive your connexions, or exalted your rank." Nay, I know I have more and better friends in America than any man in the world has. And as to the vile transactions on account of which you imagine I entertain a "grudge," it has produced a precisely opposite effect. In less than a month after the monstrous sum of five thousand dollars was so unjustly assessed, your countrymen would have paid it every farthing; and I certainly should have accepted of it at their hands, had the payment not been already voluntarily

voluntarily provided for by British Gentlemen in Canada and the United States. Judge, then, if I can harbour any "revenge" against the people of America in general.

But, Sir, while I entertain, as 1 ever shall, the sincerest regard for my friends in America; while I respect very many public men in that country, and while the people, considered in a mass, have my best wishes for their prosperity and happiness, they cannot be so unreasonable as to suppose, that I am bound to smother the multitude of useful truths of which I am in possession. Yet I might do even this, were the "good effects," (as they are called) of republicanism not only made use of, to inveigle Britons across the Atlantic, but for the more nefarious purpose of exciting rebellion and revolution in this kingdom. So long as this continues to be the practice of the enemies of my King and country, so long shall I appeal to the example of America; and all that you or your country have a right to demand of me, is, that I confine myself to the truth.

Yet, Sir, give me leave to observe, that it is from British forbearance alone, that the Whigs of your country have any quarter to expect. Their feelings are very tender, but they have little consideration for the feelings of others. When you were writhing under the sting of my Prospectus, you probably forgot the floods of infamous calumny which are daily poured out on our gracious Sovereign, and all his faithful subjects, from the presses, the pulpits, and legislative halls of Ame rica. But this subject I shall reserve for a future

remonstrance.

P. PORCUPINE.

PRISON