the time when he would have gone on with " nine corns more," till the clock had struck two. are those happy days. But paft I would have the Chancellor of the Exchequer look at this matter; let him confider what the revenue will fuffer, if butts remain entire; and tobacco is no longer called for a fecond time. Let us know what we are about, who are in, and who are likely to be in, and we will call for the bottle, or mix the punch accordingly at prefent the law of bumpers is fufpended, and every man fills what he pleases, and will continue to do fo, until he knows what is the toast. I have taken the liberty, therefore, to fuggeft thefe matters to your readers, Mr. Editor, and I hope they will attend to them. Already have fome landlords given hints that the club may as well fit in the tap-room, and fome have gone fo far as to illuminate our difcuffions with tens infead of long-fixes. Sub Rofa. I am, Sir, your humble fervant, THE BALANCE OF POWER, OR THE NEW NATIONAL SCALES. THE [From the Morning Poft.] HE balance of power has never been understood and maintained, except by three defcriptions of people; the ancient ftates of Greece, the favage tribes of America, and the modern nations of Europe. The favage tribes of America may be claffed in this refpect with the ancient ftates of Greece; they are both broken to pieces. The nations of Europe either have undergone, or are now fuffering, fuch changes as give to France a decided preponderance. The balance of power, therefore, no longer exifts in any part of the world. How much England has expended in blood and treafure to preferve it, is written in every page of her hiftory. This would be fufficient to prove its immenfe value, even though we were not affured, from the highest authority, that our fafety, nay, our very exiftence, depends upon its prefervation. Minifters muft, therefore, be very anxious to repair this lofs, and will not furely refufe their approbation to an effay, the fole object of which is to provide a fubftitute, and fo fave the country from the peril awaiting the present state of affairs. It is the duty of every government deliberately to weigh each measure of internal and external policy, to afcertain to a fcruple the true weight of every thing, to fee that the good preponderates in all their plans, and, where there is only a choice of evils, to felect the lighteft.-Let us try the conduct of Minifters by this teft. Upon the annexation of Belgium to France, they faid, that measure would give the republic the preponderance in Europe. When we got poffeffion of St. Domingo, they declared that an equivalent for all the expenfes of the war. When Paul wanted Malta, we were affured, that that island, thrown into the fcale of Ruffia, would deftroy the balance. When the evils of war were complained of, we were told they were light, when weighed against the miferies which a peace would produce.--All this Minifters have repeated a thousand times fince the commencement of the war. What do they tell us now? They affure us, through their journals, that St. Domingo, Malta, the Cape, &c. are all of no weight; that they are all there feathers in the fcale, compared with the bleffings of peace. As to Belgium, we do not find that it is now confidered even worth notice. The inference that neceffarily follows from thefe premises is,' that the balance of power, the only one ufed by Minifters on thefe occafions, must have been a very falfe balance; or that Minifters must have fet down our colonies and conquefts at fuch a weight as fancy or common report chofe to state them. € 5 To To prevent, then, the recurrence of fo fatal an error, and provide a fubftitute for the loft balance of power, it is propofed, that Minifters fhould immediately provide themselves with a plain London-made pair of fcales-yes, a pair of plain London fcales; for it would not be difficult to prove, that, had they weighed the war and all its confequences in the worst pair of fteelyards that were ever broken by a market jury, they could not have erred half fo much as they have done. The recommendation of the fcales neceffarily brings with it fome directions as to the weights. Had Minifters only to weigh a dead vote, or a rotten borough, a few half hundreds might fuffice; but as they will have occafion fometimes to weigh the national debt, and fometimes a little cheefe-parings or candle-ends, they will themfelves fee a neceffity, for a very great variety. This conftitutes the whole plan; in fupport of which, that it may not be cenfured as novel, rafh, or vifionary, the following precedents are appealed to. In the twenty-fecond book of the Iliad we find this defcription: "Jove lifts the golden balances, that fhew The fates of mortal men and things below: Here each contending hero's lot he tries, And weighs with equal hand their deftinies; Low finks the fcale furcharg'd with Hector's fate, Heavy with death it finks, and hell receives the weight." Virgil contains a fimilar allufion.-It was alfo a cuftom in the Mogul empire to weigh his Imperial Majefty annually on his birthday, and if he was found to have increafed in weight, to celebrate this increase. by public rejoicings; a ceremony purely allegorical, and emblematic of his political increafe of weight, power, and dominion; for it is impoffible that an increafe of fat, which, in its literal fenfe, is fynonymous with an increase of stupidity, could be a just cause for the congratulations of a loyal people. Should Should it be objected that these are obfolete cafes, a variety of modern precedents will readily fuggeft themfelves.-Minifters fent Sir James Pulteney on the Ferrol expedition, and what was the refult? When I came before the place," fays Sir James, "I weighed the advantages against the disadvantages, and finding the latter to preponderate, I declined attack."-Thus was preferved, by a good pair of fcales, the very army to which we are now indebted for the conqueft of Egypt, and which would have been probably loft before Ferrol, if the Commander had relied upon the eftimate of Minifters. Mr. Windham difapproves of the prefent peace, becaufe its evils more than counterbalance the evils of war. Now it is clear, that no ftatesman would attempt to decide fuch an important queftion by guefs. It follows, therefore, that the Exfecretary does his bufinefs by a very nice pair of fcales. Not to detain the reader unneceffarily; what is the conftitution itself, but fuch an equipoife of its three parts, the King, the Lords, and Commons, that not any one thall outweigh the reft? a cafe which can never happen, except when the fcales hang even in equili brium. It therefore appears from the Conftitution, and from precedent, as well ancient as modern, that without a good pair of fcales all the enterprises and measures of Minifters are mere chance-medley, and that no nice. statesman should neglect to provide himself with a pair, particularly now, that he has loft the balance of power with which our flatefmen have fo long ftriven to get through their work. The national advantages refulting from fuch an improvement are fo ftriking, that any enumeration of them might be felt as an infult. to the difcernment of the public: we fhall merely obferve, that in fuch case we should not be eight years fighting for islands, under the false idea that they were of any folid weight or importance. We fhould not quarrel with c 6 France France for Belgium, nor with Paul for Malta, any more than we would feek a caufe of quarrel in a straw; for of no greater weight are they now found in the fcale against the millions of pounds which they were faid to counterbalance. Would Lord Hawkesbury take an article from his grocer without weighing? Certainly not. Is then a loaf of fugar a subject of more care and folicitude than a whole plantation? This is to be penny wife and pound foolish with a vengeance. Not only in all the fuperior courts of justice, but in every little pied poudre court, we find a pair of fcales. Of confequence, juftice is there weighed out fairly to the fuitors. A pair of fcales would be found equally useful in the cabinet. Nor would their benefit ftop here. They might be used for weighing men as well as things. To the authorities already advanced, we may add that of Juvenal, in fupport of this application, "Expende Hannibalem." "Weigh Hannibal." Such is the mode recommended by that eminent moralift, to afcertain the real value of a great man. What an immenfe profpect of national advantage does this hint open to the view! Suppose, for example, a new Parliament. Let the pockets of each member be fearched on his first entrance into the House, and then let him be fairly weighed in the new national fcales. After fome important debate, let the individuals compofing the majority be weighed again. If they thall anfwer the original weights, of which a regifter fhould be kept, then it is a fair majority; but if one fhall be found with his pocket full of candleends, another stuffed with a flice of the loan, another with a contract, another with a penfion, and fo on through them all; who will affert, that there has not been fome foul play? If fuch a parliamentary mode of weighing the members on all important queftions fhould be objected to as inconvenient, we might appeal to our glorious |