“Soldiers are taught to believe everything they receive _a gift from the Crown_. Cast this notion from you immediately, and know that there is not a farthing you receive but comes out of the _public purse_. What you call your _King’s Bounty_, or _Queen’s Bounty_, is no bounty from either of them: it is 12_s._ 2_d._ a year of the public money, which no one can withhold from you; it is allowed you by an Act of Parliament, while you are taught to look upon it as a present from the King or Queen!--I feel an indignation at this I cannot describe--I would have you consider the nature of your situation, I would have you know that you are not the servant of _one man_ only; a British soldier never can be that. You are a servant of the whole nation, of your countrymen, who pay you, and from whom you can have no separate interests. I would have you look upon nothing that you receive as _Favour_ or a _Bounty_ from Kings, Queens, or Princes; you receive the wages of your servitude; it is your property, confirmed to you by Acts of the Legislature of your country, which property your rapacious officers ought never to seize on, without meeting with a punishment due to their infamy.” “FINIS.” FOOTNOTES [1] This was The Society of Free Debate, one of several which had just been set on foot. For some interesting particulars of these societies _vide_ “Memoirs of John Thelwall” (London, 1837). [2] _Public Advertiser_, April 10, 1792. [3] _Scots Magazine_, Jan., 1792. [4] “I have placed myself in London, sir, and have continued here ever since the 26th December last, for no other purpose than the prosecution of this affair” (Letter of 23rd February). “I must beg leave, sir, _once more_ to request that you will be pleased to lay my representation of this matter [_locale_ of the court-martial] before the King, and that as soon as possible” (4th March). “If my accusation is without foundation, the authors of cruelty have not yet devised the tortures I ought to endure” (11th March). The letter of the 16th March expresses the astonishment of the writer that _the greatest part of the charges were to be left out_!--which throws much light on the subject. [5] This accounts for the paragraph in the _London Chronicle_; a thing which is inexplicable till one comes to this sentence. [6] Not to interrupt the thread of the narrative, we will append to this Chapter one or two extracts from the “Soldiers’ Friend”--a course which will at one and the same time tell the whole story of the grievance, and introduce us to the first essay of Cobbett’s pen. [7] “Memoirs of John Thelwall,” i. 89. CHAPTER IV. “I LIVED IN PHILADELPHIA.”