ed yesterday tête a tête with Mr. Gordon, and faid fo much about your affair, that I was fhewn a letter from lord Weymouth the secretary of state, in which, he fays how much right is on your fide and requires your fupport of Mr. Gordon, but withal directs him to act with that moderation as may preferve count Cobenzl's friendship (we ought to be fure to preferve the friendship of the moft grateful queen of Hungary, and facrifice our own commercial officers to complaifance to her minifter)-and condemns very ftrongly your warmth and petulance expreffed in your letters to Mr. Gordon, against which he is cautioned to act fo as to give no offence- March 10th. On monday Mr. Gordon had a long letter from Lord Weymouth, and he read it to me, in that letter was every juftification you can wish of your conduct, but orders to do every thing in fupport of it with the greatest politeness to the queen's minifter, however fuch is the tenour of it, I think it is a complete victory in you."-March 17th. The fruits of this victory were the difmiffion of Mr. Mortimer on the 30th of the fame month. For which Lord Weymouth is here called upon to give fuch a fair account as is due to an injured man, whose fortune is blafted, and whofe private circumftances are hurt by this step.

Mr. Mortimer left Oftend on the 5th of April following, with a view of foliciting fome other employment under the government, through the reprefentations of his friends; and on his arrival he immediately waited on lord Weymouth, and repeatedly left his name and addrefs, both at his house and at his office, but his lordship never thought proper to grant him an interview; after fome time, however, Mr. Wood fent for him as Mr. Mortimer had mentioned his cafe to fome perfons of rank, particularly to Charles Jenkinson, Efq; one of the lords of the treasury, who was well acquainted with the nature of his fervices in the time of Mr. Grenville, he did not doubt but their interest and friendship had prevailed and procured him fome new appointment. With the greatest alacrity, therefore, he attended Mr. Wood for the first time he had the happiness of knowing that gentleman. But what was his furprize, when he found Mr. Wood had only fent for him to reprimand him in a furly, ungenteel manner, for his conduct in the affair of Peter Horfeman; and to acquaint him, that lord Weymouth and himself confidered him only as Hatton's deputy, and confequently that he could not have any claim upon that office. On Mr. Mortimer's remonftrating, with all poffible humility, on the hardship of his cafe, Mr. Wood told him, he had fomething to mention to him, but it fhould never go farther than that office; he then proceeded as

follows,

follows, "How came you to write in one of your letters to Gordon, that you had the approbation of the admiralty with refpect to the affair of Horfeman ?-I fuppofe you recollect it, or fhall I fhew you the copy Gordon tranfmitted to the office? Mr. Mortimer replied, that he poffibly might have written to that purport, as he looked upon Mr. Seddon the folicitor's letter to the lords of the admiralty, a copy of which was fent by their order to him, to be in fact an approbation of his conduct, but hoped the dropping fuch an expreffion in a private letter to Mr. Gordon, would not be deemed a crime fufficient to cancel five years faithful fervices, often performed at the peril of his life, for had the fmugglers on the Flemifh coast discovered him to have been the occafion of the frequent feizures made in 1764 and 1765, they might have deftroyed him as he travelled between Oftend and Dunkirk, along a difmal ftrand, for intelligence. Mr. Wood obferved that he was forry for him, but that it was very unhappy for him in his present circumstances to have offended Lord Weymouth, whom, by his application to the admiralty, he had made appear to be negligent, and he could take upon him to say there never was a more diligent man in bufinefs.* In fine, upon every remark made by Mr. Mortimer in his juftification Mr. Wood only repeated this emphatical argument, It will not hold water, indeed, it will not hold water. It must not be forgot however that he further blamed Mr. Mortimer for the warmth of his expreffions to the magistracy of Oftend, which was exaggerated by them in their reprefentations to the court of Bruffels, and added, that the King was very angry at his long memorials to the court of Bruffels, tranfmitted by him to Mr. Gordon, who fent copies of them to the office. Mr. Mortimer is very forry his zeal was intemperate, but he had the lives of brave English feamen to protect, one of whom fince their enlargement (for the magiftracy of Oftend was obliged to discharge them) has been with him in London to thank him for having faved their lives; and further informed

* The affair of the mediterranean pafs, naturally engaged Mr. Mortimer to lay the cafe before the lords of the admiralty, and the pique was, that lord Weymouth was robbed of the merit of having fupported the cause of the failors, by the prior opinion of the admiralty; but he alone is to blame, for no anfwer could Mr. Mortimer obtain to the first letter he wrote defiring inftructions in the affair, which he directed to Mr Frafer, not knowing who was acting under-fecretary to lord Weymouth, as they did not vouchfafe to notify it to him, nor to correspond with him on the king's business,

F 2

him

him, that Mr. Irvine was fo candid, as to order him to wait on Mr. Mortimer to return him thanks. Mr. Wood having declared to fome of Mr. Mortimer's friends,that it was impoffible for him to do bufinefs in Flanders after his unhappy difpute with the court of Bruffels, and Mr. Irvine having fupported this affertion on his arrival at Oftend, by informing the British fubjects, "that the Flemish government would not fuffer Mr. Mortimer to ftay any longer in the country,' he judged it expedient to write to his excellency Comte Cobenzl, who conftantly fhewed him marks of his efteem as a private gentleman, and this great minister, whose abilities are perhaps fuperior as a ftatefman to any one man in Europe, immediately fent him an anfwer-his letter containing other matter, it will be fufficient to give the extract relative to that fubject;

Je fuis faché monfieur, que vous aiez cru pouvoir pretendre comme vice-conful, des droits, que le government ne pourroit pas admettre, mais je n'ai point infifté fur votre rappel, comme vous paroiffez le croire: quoiqu'il en soit, je ne fuis pas moins fincerement, &c.

Bruffelles le 1 Maii, 1768.

A Monfieur,

leCCobenzl.

Monfieur Mortimer ci devant vice-conful pour fa Majefté Britannique à Oftende, &c. à Londres.

Thus terminated the connection between Mr. Mortimer and the under-fecretaries of ftate, and though repeated applications have been fince made by his friends, in the courfe of fifteen months, to procure fome redress for the injury he has fuftained, hitherto every attempt of that fort has proved ineffectual; but thanks to the generous encouragement given by the public to literary productions, he has been enabled to furmount every inconvenience to which "the infolence of office" had expofed him, and being now an independent Englifhman, he hopes to preferve that character, and his zeal for the true intereft of his country inviolate, to the last hour of his existence.

To the EDITOR of the POLITICAL REGISTER. A Short Sermon on the divine Foundations of Liberty, civil and religious.

SIR,

A

S you have given a place, in your valuable Regifter, to a former sermon, I beg the fame indulgence for another difcourfe

difcourfe upon an apoftolical canon.-Honour all men, Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.-My bufinefs shall be to attempt the genuine fenfe and meaning of this ca

non.

And firft, by honouring all men, cannot intend all men collectively; because a great part of mankind, are, by their vices, the objects of contempt; the Greek alas fhould therefore rather intend, the great publick, and will be the fame with that public fpiritedness or love of our country, the weal and profperity of which is the first object of our esteem, confidered as focial creatures. We are to do our utmost, expreffing a first care to secure our conftitutional rights, privileges, and immunities, from the hands of violence and arbitrary will; and in the defence of thefe facred things, our lives and fortunes fhould not be accounted too coftly a facrifice.

Secondly, Love the brotherhood. Now I would obferve, that with brethren, among whom love is reciprocal one towards another, there is no fuperiority and inferiority found; no pre-eminence fuppofable. But the afpirants after power, the affuming fpirits that would give law to confcience, have been the scandal and reproach of the Chriftian profeffion in all ages of the church; and have occafioned all the animofities, contentions, and divifions which have difgraced that profeffion. The very words, church, faith, orthodoxy, have been made to ferve the base purpofes of the haughty, enflaving priest; and to affift the civil magiftrate in fupporting a civil tyranny. Secular, exclufive advantages annexed to a civil church establishment, have, by the pomp and parade of a dignified canonical priesthood, blinded the eyes of the people; and from its dazzling fplendor and magnificence they have concluded upon its being the only true religion: and hence the diffidents who have avowed the rights of confcience, and ftood faft in that liberty wherewith Chrift has made his difciples free, having neither moft reverend, nor right reverend fathers of God among them, nor any mafters, but being all brethren, are branded with the name of fchifmatics and fanatics.-Whereas the right of private judgement held facred, is the only poffible way of holding the unity of the fpirit in the bond of peace. Love of the brotherhood is not attainable on any other principle, than that of an equal claim to the rights of private judgment, in all matters of faith and worfhip-one is your mafler, even Chrift, and all ye are brethren.

Thirdly, Fear God. Reverence the God. (TO) There being but one object of religious worship, to which we give all the heart and foul. We may call no man father, father in God, right reverend, or most reverend father in God.

Call

Call no man your father on earth; for one is your father, who is

in heaven.

A fourth branch of the apoftolical canon is, honour the King, or the Emperor, i. e. the fupreme civil power. But here we must carefully diftinguish between the rights of God, and those of Cæfar. We are not to allow Cæfar to exercise dominion over us as religious creatures; he has no authority to give law either to our faith, or to our worships for whilft we render to Cæfar the things which are Cafar's, we must render to God the things which are God's. Now God alone is the object of religious worship, therefore whatever concerns the expreffion of our homage to him, can no more be prefcribed by any decree of Cæfar, than Cæfar can be a competent judge of the real nature and complexion of the homage which we do feverally pay to our maker; fo that if Cæfar does but take care that his own homage be acceptable, this is all he is able to do in the province of religion.-However, when the fupreme civil magiftrate approves himself a minifter of God, by being a terror to evil doers, and a praise to them who do well, fo far he is entitled to honour; and every dutiful measure should be taken in fupport of his government. But, on the reverfe, when Cæfar violates the compact between him and the people, and departs from the defign and end of government, which is to protect and defend thofe whom he governs, in all their juft and equal rights and privileges, and to fecure them from the hand of oppreffion; I fay, when Cæfar departs from this end of government, and is determined to exercife defpotic fway of the fceptre, he forfeits the allegiance of all his fubjects, except thofe only who have agreed with him to support this tyranny.

Thus I have, in a brief manner, given what very obvioully appears to be the fenfe of an apoftolic canon.-If these ideas did but take poffeffion of the minds of the bulk of profeffing chriftians, the rights of humanity would be far better understood, and the artful schemes of political priests and princes to enslave the people, would lose their influence and efficacy, to the vaft emolument of both civil and religious fociety; and then we should hear no more of epifcopifing America. THE PREACHER.

To the Editor of the POLITICAL REGISTER. SIR,

IT T is evident that though the terms whig and tory have almost loft their existence, yet the virulent rancour and spirit of

those