Major Generals in the army!!! and such Generals, too-Look at the List. Again, in the 7th Letter, Sir Robert Wilson, in duty bound, communicates, as a public document, his official Letter to the Commander in Chief. This Letter, somewhat prolix, did not appear to have required much consideration at the Horse Guards. It was answered on the following day. How can Sir Robert Wilson suppose that the public eye is so obscured by a film, as not to see the sophistry and bold assumptions in that Letter. The object of Sir Robert Wilson is evidently to get, if possible, the Commander in Chief to commit himself to some overt act. Now His Royal Highness knowing that the whole affair was a question of propriety, of honour, and of opinion, and not one which could be made in its existing shape, the subject of a Military investigation, could, of course, only again refer Sir Robert Wilson to the King's will and pleasure. But in proportion as Sir Robert Wilson finds obstacles to a trial and investigation, (which could not be granted,) increase, he boldly charges the Duke of York with being aware, that before his dismissal, he, Sir Ro. bert, was subject to martial law-an assertion utterly untrue. Sir Robert then proposes to wave all objections to the jurisdiction of a military tribunal. To this we answer, that to suit Sir Robert Wilson's purposes, and to accommodate his whims, "Nolumus legcs Angliæ mutari." A correspondence subsequent to the Letters prefixed, has appeared in the public papers, being, in substance, a demand from Sir Robert Wilson to Lord Sidmouth, for the depositions made against him; as well as a personal application to Sir Richard Birnie, for the same purpose. In the one case, Lord Sidmouth, of course, declines to betray a confidential information; and destroy the good faith of Government, by exposing any person to a malicious prosecution, to suit the whim and caprice of the late Major General. To the personal application, made at Bow Street, Sir Richard Birnie informed Sir Robert Wilson, "that no information in writing had been taken: that the information was a verbal one, founded upon a report at the Freemasons' Tavern of a meeting having been held Hammersmith, at which an officer had been present; but that, on the examination of the tavern-keeper at Hammersmith, Mr. Youde, all the Magistrates were satisfied Sir Robert Wilson had never been in the house." at The conclusion to which we come is this," That for a Major General to be one of a mob, is not the purpose for which his Commission was granted." The Commission of course was forfeited. For ourselves, we are strangers to Sir Robert Wilson personally; and we now speak of him only, as connected with public events. If to say, that Sir Robert Wilson was one of the mob on the 14th of August, and not accidentally so, and that such a circumstance justifies the unusual step taken against him, be a libel; of a libel must we be guilty. It is our opinion, and the opinion of every man in the kingdom, possessing common sense. And that the step was not in itself wrong, is evident from the si lence of every military man in the service. If Sir Robert Wilson really wants to know the nature of his offence, and why he was dismissed from the army; the shortest and the best way to go to work would be, to bring an action against somebody, who shall either say or write, "that he was one of the mob of the 14th August." Then, if he can prove himself not to have been there, he will be reinstated depend upon it. And we will venture to tell Sir Robert, that he was dismissed, NOT for attending the funeral, but for being found ONE AMONG A MOB, who had acted by previous concert, against the legal and lawful authority of the King. Most probably (it is threatened) this subject will come before parliament, in a shape for information. The answer may be, a plea of the King's prerogative; and that he is not responsible; but possibly, out of pure good nature to Sir Robert, the why and the wherefore may be made known, if not already known. CUMBERLAND GATE IS ENOUGH. W. THE DEVIL AND DOCTOR VATSON. But a story I tell, much newer from Hell, Faustus he had an infernal fire, And when he put his pots on, He rais'd up imps, but they were shrimps, The Devil he went to the Doctor's house, Thistlewood's grimly ghost was there, And his shirt were bloody clots on, All yelling they danc'd, and hideous to see! Each shew'd his ears, like a pair of long shears; The Doctor was making a radical thong, Then the Devil he stampt his cloven feet, He came on a steed of the Devil's own, Then a paper he took they both had writ, Bare was the fiend, nor a rag had he And ere he flew, a blast he blew That frighten'd ev'n Doctor Vatson. The Devil laugh'd loud, and pointing to The Doctor he relish'd not the joke, While the imps were all casting lots on I trust, quoth the Doctor, I'm not the mark You mean to fire your shots on! Then the Devil look'd sly, and wink'd his eye For the Devil-or Doctor Vatson. MESSAGE TO MR. HUME, From twenty-nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety-nine British Officers. TWENTY-NINE THOUSAND NINE HUNDRED AND NINETY-NINE OF FICERS in the British service, present their most respectful compliments to Mr. Hume, and congratulate him most sincerely upon his being, upon his own statement, almost the only Scotch Member returned to parliament by the free votes of his constituents. If there be no error in the calculation, this certainly must be a most unit-arian state of things. "The twenty-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine officers" beg leave to submit to Mr. Hume, the following sentence, which is reported in the Times paper, as being part and parcel of a certain palaver made by him at a common brawl, held at the City of London Tavern, on Thursday the 25th day of October last past, and beg to know, whether they are out of their reckoning in attributing it to Mr. Hume. "The twenty-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine officers" beg leave to subjoin such paragraph, verbatim et literatim, without any reduction. "Let the people consider the magnitude Robert Wilson involved. The act towards that gallant individual affected the situation of the question which the treatment of Sir of thirty-thousand officers, for that was the number of officers in the service: he had taken the pains to ascertain that number. (Loud laughter and applause.) He knew not to what to attribute this expression of their feelings, but to the known habits of his life, for he was one of those who thought, that when there were certain propositions, the proof of which was demonstrable by figures, it was better to resort at once to facts, than rely upon vague and conjectural reasoning. (Hear! hear! hear!") "The twenty-nine thousand nine. hundred and ninety-nine officers" beg leave to hope, that the extract to be calculated upon, is correct; and presuming that it is so," the twenty-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine" officers beg leave to know how many remains after subtracting twenty-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine officers from "thirty thousand." If more than one remains, and if that one be not the most unhappily circumstanced man in the world, the late Major-general Sir Robert Thomas Wilson, knight, &c. &c. &c. &c.? The twenty-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine remaining officers wish to be informed, how his mode of reckoning; because long ago Mr. Hume has changed they presume, that by the reduction of the whole of the 29,999 a great saving might be made in the national expenditure. "The twenty-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine" officers beg to remind Mr. Hume how greatly they are under obligations to him, for repeated attempts so to reduce them; and though the said "twentynine thousand nine hundred and ainety-nine" are at no loss to comprehend his ratting on their behalf, they beg to decline his services, though all their wives and families should become chargeable (as he first intended) to their parishes. "The twenty-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine" officers beg to inform Mr. Hume, that although according to his statement, there may not have been within the last twenty years, any officer on half pay dismissed as the late Majorgeneral has been; yet that officers on full pay have been, within a less period of time; and therefore the twenty-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine beg to inform Mr. Hume, that his proposition is erroneously stated, inasmuch as the sum total might have been rated considerably higher. "The twenty-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine” calculate with the utmost anxiety upon the success of his proving, that the King may not dismiss an officer who shall have annulled his commission, by acting contrary to its spirit. (The twenty-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine officers, by spirit, do not mean Scotch whiskey.) Because, should Mr. Hume succeed in proving his statement, then the said" twenty-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine officers"may form, constitute, and become a mob, and be no longer restrained by those nice principles of honour, which it is hoped has hitherto regulated the said twenty-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine. The said "twenty-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine" British officers, beg to inform Mr. Hume, that they (formed into a mob) might overturn the Constitution, push Mr. Hume out of the House of Commons, break his slate, and put an end to his cyphering. Nor do the said "twenty-nine thousand nine hundred and ninetynine" officers see any reason why they may not be in a mob, form a mob, and head a mob, as the one officer-and they think it very hard in being deprived of kicking up a row. The "twenty-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine" officers would propose to meet Mr. Hume on the following points; but they calculate, that Mr. Hume would begin to reckon upon the chance of his again returning to his young wife; a pleasure of which the said twentynine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine by no means wish to deprive him. The "twenty-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine" British officers beg to inform Mr. Hume, that the army is one vast peculiar society, having civil rights to perform, rendered more difficult to perform, by the extreme caution required in the exercise of their military duties. That according to the practice of the Constitution, the King is dictator and generalissimo of the army: and the dismissals in which this dictatorship has been exercised, have been so confined and limited in number, that the instances in which it has been exercised, have been too notorious, not to convince the army of their propriety. That "the twenty-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine" officers feel so confident in the just, generous, noble, and liberal conduct, in which their affairs, characters, happiness, and comforts have been considered at the Horse Guards and the Admiralty, that they do not mean to subscribe one farthing upon the present occasion. "The twenty-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine" officers beg and intreat, most earnestly, that Mr. Hume will, in his place in H Parliament, take every means in his power to promote an enquiry into the late dismissal, and also pay the expences out of his own pocket. And the twenty-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine" officers cannot, upon the present occasion, take leave of Mr. Hume, without presenting to him, as (an earnest of their kind and anxious wishes on his behalf,)"TRUSSLER'S READY RECKONER, or TEAZING MADE EASY," whereby innumerable errors may be avoided, and the most perplexing accounts be seen through in the twinkling of an eye, though enveloped in the wet paper of The Times, with which the ladies of that establishment once threatened to smother the said "twenty-nine thousand nine hundred and ninetyniue." The " twenty-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine" officers wish Mr. Hume every success in this world, and a good chance in the world to come, and lay him the odds, that he cannot, with all his skill, write 1000 in five figures. HEAD QUARTERS, HORSE GUARDS, HAMLET'S SOLILOQUY. PARODIED BY LIGNUM VITÆ. Go mad, or not go mad? that is the question- Of London, twice Lord Mayor, to bear the stings No more What if he do?-Will he in Bedlam end Go mad-perchance to die-Aye, there's the rub, And no one miss him.Who would support a queen (That undiscovered something whose amount The Traveller t" shall tell) may grace her will, * I have provided for thee, if I die : W-d's official Journal. |