shall receive notice.-Those who are to form the military force which is intended to be brought against England, continue to arrive at the different places of assemblage. The French troops in Italy have for a long time been gradually increasing, and, at present, amount to a very considerable number. Piedmont contains an army of reserve from which reinforcements are constantly sent, and which is daily replenished by supplies from France. Those in the interior are regularly advancing towards the coasts, particulars towards the coast of the Adriatic; and wo paring to fc Verona have, memt made wi sty divisions which were preCamps between Mantua and consequence of some arrangewa rds the N Austria, been marched General Cápolitan dominions, leaving only abo, ut 12,03 men in the district of Mantua, and left bank of the Adige. The army of observation which occupies the Neapolitan and Roman districts on the Adriatic, under the command of General St. Cyr, is to be greatly reinforced the head quarters, which wer lately at Foggia, near the Guiph of Man redania, are transferred to Tarentum. All the garrisons and posts on the Adriatic, from the Gulph of Genoa, and on the shores of the sca of Tuscany, have been completed. Perignon, who commanded the Army of the Pyrenees, during the war with Spain, is to be placed at the head of an army which is to be assembled on the frontiers of Spain.-General Rochambeau has declared the Island of St. Domingo to be in a state of siege.-Numerous divisions of British troops are be stationed on the southern and eastern coasts during the winter, and preparations for their accommodation are immediately to be made. It is said that huts are to be erected in the New Forest, Hampshire, for a very numerous division, and that others are also to be erected in different parts of the coast. NAVAL. Admiral Linois, who sailed from Europe a short time previous to the King's message of the 8th March, destined, as it was supposed, for Pondicherry, has arrived at the C. of Good Hope. and 4000 troops who were on board, and who were under the command of gen. Decaen, have been landed and have joined the Dutch garrison. -- On the 14th instant, a fleet of twenty five gun boats, escorted by a large sloop, made good their passage from Dunkirk to Calais, and were seen at anchor in the road, waiting for the tide, to go into the harbour. The British cruisers were all to the westward of Calais, and were prevented by the wind, front coming up with them.—Admiral Bruix. who has been appointed to the command of the national flotilla, now arming against England, immediately on his arrival at Buolonge issued an encouraging proclamation to the officers and mei who were to be under his command-Accounthave been received of the capture of the island et St. Pierre, on the 30th June, by Capt. Malbon, in the Aurora, of 28 guns. The island was formerly delivered up by the French Commissary, who acted as Governor. Capt. Malbon found abou one hundred and twenty stand of arms, a French bri and schooner, eleven smail vessels, and near a hundred small batteaux, of which he took pos session. He also made prisoners of 180 men, whom he carried to St. John's, in Newfoundland. -On the 27th of June, Capt. Brisbane, in the Goliath, off ape Nichola Mole, captured a French sloop of 3 guns and some swivels, bound from St. Jago de Cuba to Port au Prince, with a cargo On the 28th of sugar, and 3476 dollars in cash. Captain Brisbane captured the French Corvette La Mignonne of 16 guns and 80 men, two days from Les Cayes, to the Cape, on her way to France. On the same day com. Bayntun in the Cumberland, in company with the Vanguard, ff Cape Nicola Mole, captured the French ingate Creole of 41 guns and 150 men. She was bound from Cape François to Port au Prince, and had on board gen. Morgan, (the second in command at St. Domingo) together with his staff and 530 troops. While com. Bayatun was taking pos session of his prize, a French schooner from Cape François bound to Port au Prince came in sight and was captured. She had on board 100 blood-honds from Cuba -Some other ships of of adm. Duckworth's squadron have sent into Port Royal, the French brigg l'Aiguille of 8 guns, the Vigilant of 18 guns, and too schooners la Supericure and le Poison volant.-On the 11th of July, Capt Bissell in the Racoon sloop, between the islands of Guanaba and St. Domingo, after an action of forty minutes, captured the French brigg le Lodi of 20 guns. To his dispatches capt. Bissell has added the following list of vessels taken and destroyed by him since the 5th:~ On the 6th sunk a schooner at anchor in a bay near Cape Rosa; on the 7th took the schooner, la Veitu of 2 guns, carrying troops and provisions from Port au Prince to Jeremia, and the sloop 'Ami de Colonies of 2 guns, and on the eth ran a schooner on shore in Barr, dies bay, and sunk her.On the 29th of August, capt. Fleming of the Egyptienne, captured the French privateer la Chifl nette of 14 guns and 80 men, 26 days from Bordeaux. SUMMARY OF POLITICS. FRENCH PREPARATIONS.—About ten days ago the newspapers were full of defiance they prayed for Buonaparté to come, "anticipating, in the result, a glo "rious day for Britain." Now, however, when he talks loud again, they begin, as the vulgar call it, to "draw in their horns;" their vapouring has already ceased; and, if a French flotilla should actually get upon our coast, we shall see them as civil and polite to the Consul as they formerly were; nor ought one to be at all surprized, if they were to pull down Mr. Rolla and put up Mr. Sheridan, of June 1800, in his stead. How quickly the patriotic and loyal placards would disappear? Down would come the pictures where the Consul is represented as twitched by the nose, kicked, in the pillory, caned, cudgeled, mutilated, stabbed, beheaded, torn limb from limb; as at the whipping post, on the gallows, and even in hell's flames! All these efforts * All the pictures and placards must not be condemned. Some of them have great merit; of typographical patriotism, loyalty, and THE NORTHERN POWERS appear to be disposed to take no part with us in the war. Denmark has complained of the blockade of the Elbe and the Weser, though Russia has, in some sort, approved of it. Prussia is not disposed to break with France, by whom, as was explicitly predicted in the Register, at the time of the German indeunities, she is held fast by the double tie of interest and of fear —Prussia has, perhaps, some views upon Hanover, for herself; but, as to obtaining the evacuation of that electorate for our sakes, the thing is too ridiculous to obtain credit any where, except at the Mansion-house or the Stock Exchange. SPAIN AND PORTUGAL.-Buonaparté bas, it is said, granted permission to those powers to remain neutral, upon condition of but others are most scandalous, most detestable, and most disgraceful to the metropolis. tribute of four millions from the former, and of one million and a half from the latter. That he will take care to have this paid annually there can be little doubt; and, when the city financiers consider, that, Buonaparté receives no payments in banknotes, that one pound in France is worth four pounds in England; and, when they further consider, that in addition to the sums from Spain, Portugal, and Hanover, he receives, or at least, employs, other vast sums in Holland, Switzerland, the Italian and Ligurian republics, and the kingdom of Naples; when they consider all this, they will not be so uneasy about the pecuniary concerns of France, nor will they be surprised, that the French funds rise, while those of England fall.-- When we see him thus receiving the produce of the Brazils by the way of Lisbon, and drawing the bowels of Peru and Mexico through the channel of Madrid, how feeble, how little, how inadequate to their object, how perfectly contemptible, appear all the efforts of our maritime and colonial war! THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE is, it appears, actually taken possession of by the French-Admiral Linois and general Decaen, who sailed out of Brest, just after the King's message, of the 8th of March, had reached France, were originally destined for the Isle of France; but, in consequence of that message, were ordered to enter the Cape, whence the French will never again be dislodged. The loss of this place, the absolute transfer of it from England to France, will form one of the leading articles of accusation against the ministers; for, if they imagine to escape unaccused of these things, they are the most mistaken of mortals. Wallowing in riches and in power; beset with vile flatterers; and being themselves extremely weak and short sighted, they have not the least idea of the consequences of their conduct, and of the fate, to which they are visibly destined. They have heard responsibility so long talked of, without seeing any practical effect arising from it; they have so long considered it as a mere farce, that the bolt will be ready to fall upon them, before they perceive, that the storm which is coming on is totally dif ferent from any that this island has ever before witnessed.- -The consequence of surrendering the Cape to Holland they were duly apprized of, in a very few days after the preliminaries of peace were signed. They were told, that making it a "free port" was a shameful mockery, a scandalous insult to the understandings of the nation. You will, my Lord, no doubt, urge, that "the Cape is become a free port! Do you 66 mean to say, that it will be open to us, in time of peace? All ports are so. Do "you mean to say, that it will be equally 66 open to us, in the event of a war with "France? For my part, I am disposed to "consider the term free port, as signifying 66 a port that may be seized by the first 66 power, who chooses to occupy it, and power will very soon be proved."-* Yet they persevered, notwithstanding they would, by subsequent events, have been fully justified in refusing to fulfil this stipulation, and, indeed, notwithstanding they had, at one time, long since the ratification of the definitive treaty, actually re-occupied this most important post." "that France will be that 86 THE AMERICAN CONGRESS is summoned to meet in October (six weeks sooner than usual), for the purpose of taking info consideration the Convention lately made with France, and which it would not have been convenient to ratify, till after our treaty with America expired, which it does on the first of October. The convention between America and France does, it is suspected, contain stipulations hostile to the commercial interests of Great Britain. It would be improper to assert this, till one sees the convention itself; but, so strong are the suspicions entertained upon this subject, that it appears necessary to say something, in order to prepare the country for confirmation of them. This convention, together with all the evils that will grow out of it, are to be entirely attributed to the Treaty of Amiens. We shall now very soon see a remarkable instance of the sagacity, of the statesman-like knowledge, of Lord Hawkesbury, Mr. Addington, General Maitland, and the Master of the Rolls. GEN. BOWLES, the Indian chief, has at last fallen again into the hands of his cowardly enemies, the Spaniards; and, from those hands, he will most assuredly fall into the grave. With this intelligent, gallant, and faithful partizan of England will perish our influence on the continent of America south of Canada. BowLES has fallen a sacrifice to the vile intrigues and the rapa city of some of the underlings of office in London, and to the wilful deafness and blindness of the present and last administration, either of whom, if they had paid one moment's attention to his representa Cobbett's Letters to Ld. Hawkesbury on the Preliminaries of Peace: new edit. p. 59. tions, might have obtained, at the expense of only a few thousands of pounds, lawful possession of that country, which France has now made the means of striking a mortal blow to our connexion with the United States of America. Louisiana might have been secured with only the fractional shillings and pence upon the sums, which Mr. Dundas and General Maitland squandered away in their wars against Toussaint. ST. DOMINGO is closely blockaded by our ships, General Rochambeau has declared it in a state of siege; he must it is supposed, soon surrender to the blacks, or to our fleet; and, if so, the black empire, Lord Castlereagh's "frightful black em"pire," is again established, and that, too, by our means; by the means of that very ministry, who have, over and over again, declared, in the face of the parliament and the nation, that they would rather see a French hostile army, to any amount, in St. Domingo, than suffer the black empire to remair. FUND AT LLOYD's.- Coaxing adver tisements and bullying paragraphs from this quarter, having lost their effect upon the public, other means have been resorted to, and those of a nature so extraordinary as to merit serious animadversion. A printed circular letter has been addressed to the magistrates, &c. &c. of the several districts in the kingdom, calling upon them to aid and assist in furthering the object of the Committee at Lloyd's; and, in order to give this proceeding the appearance of being sanctioned by the government, the letters have been franked by MR. FREELING, the Secretary to the General Post Office! Either the government has given this sanction, or it has not; if it has not, Mr. Freeling is certainly guilty of great abuse of office, and, if it has, then is it absolutely concerned in an act whereby money is raised upon people, without consent of parlian ent.This subject will be resumed in the next sheet. In the mean time, it is to be hopeo, that the magistrates, church-wardens, &c. &c. will be upon their guard against the trick here described. TO CORRESPONDENTS. the Several very valuable articles have been receiv ed. They will be perused without delay, and the greater part of them will probably appear in the double sheet, which will be published next week, or the week after. The excellent hints respect ing the conduct of Mr. Sheridan have been received. Brinted by Cox and Baylis, No. 75, Great Queen Street, and published by R. Bagshaw, Bow Street, Covet Garden, where former Numbers may be had; sold also by E. Harding, Crown and Mitre, Pall-Mall. VOL. IV. No. 13.] London, Saturday, 1st October, 1803. [ Price 10n * If we are driven from all other sources of hope, and are obliged to look at home, we fly to our manufactures and commerce and constitution, to our capital and credit and confidence, and, if "these should fail us, our last resource is, our salt water girdle, and the wooden walls of Old Eng"land. We never either talk or think about fighting the French upon the coast of Suffolk or Sus"sex; but we must think about this, and we must do it too, and with success, or we must become the "slaves of Buonaparté. The accursed Treaty of Amiens has severed us completely from the Conti"nent, and has left the French Empire, consisting of seventy millions of souls, to fall upon us "with its undivided weight. Great and terrible as it is, we must meet it: it may crush us, but we cannot get out of its way."-POLITICAL REGISTER, November 6, 1802, Vol. II. p. 571. 449] TO THE RIGHT HON. HENRY ADDINGTON, &c. &c. &c. E Calo descendit Γνῶθι σεαυτον. Juv. SIR,-The most distinguished of ancient and modern moralists have at different periods forcibly and wisely inculcated the maxim," that every man should know "himself." They imagine, no doubt, that by the means of self-examination we should, each in our several situations, more distinctly discern the path of life which it became us to pursue, and be deterred by a silent monitor from attempting to execute those things, which our habit, our information, or powers of mind, forbid us to attempt, with credit to ourselves, or with safety to those, who depend on our conduct.--If, therefore, each man, in his individual capacity, is bound in point of reasonable discretion to acquire this knowledge of himself." It becomes a solemn and imperious duty on those, on whose conduct the fate and fortunes of others depend; and with what pe. culiar force is it pressed home to you, Sir, who have taken on yourself the awful responsibility of directing the complicated and extensive concerns of a great empire, at a season of unexampled difficulty and danger? When you stand pledged, hot merely (as in ordinary times) to maintain the relative interests and dignity of that empire, but to provide for the preservation of its existence!--But, Sir, though this duty be most obvious, I am aware, that there are human passions, which render its execution, in many cases, difficult, in others impossible.--If, for instance, it should happen, that the prominent features of the mind of a man, in your situation, should be those of the most despicable vanity, in the place of an honourable and dignified ambition; if, instead of a high spirit of enterprize arising from exalted and comprehensive views, we should see nothing but presumption at one moment, and timidity at another; I will [450 readily admit, that such a man will be as little qualified to endeavour to "know himself," as to govern a kingdom, which his ill-directed and indecisive services can only contribute to ruin.--But, Sir, without pressing this point further, you have in the debates on your treaty of Amiens (a treaty which you will, at least, permit me to call unfortunate) attempted to display the character in the memorable and well recorded words, "that the conduct to the enemy "should be marked by conciliation on the one "band, and firmness on the other." * During the short interval, that has elapsed, since the date of that declaration and the present moment, I have never been able to affix the most remote meaning to these * * pompous words," as interpreted by your conduct.--By what means, Sir, did you or could you propose to "conciliate" Buonaparté? A man, whose insolence, ambition, and depravity are unbounded; a man, who unites in his character the ferocity of an assassin with the baseness and cunning of a Newgate attorney.--Surely, Sir, there is no line of conduct which you deliberately meant to adopt by which such a man could be "conciliated." You, who are, by the favour of your Sovereign, created the prime minister of this great empire, and who, in that capacity, are bound by every honourable feeling, by every sense of duty, to speak the dignified language, and pursue the honest conduct of a nation not more marked by its high spirit and bravery, than its strict and unimpeached integrity. In compassion, therefore, I am obliged to suppose, that in this instance (according to the almost daily custom) you only used pompous and high sounding words" without the most remote meaning; words," which were suggested to you by no one principle of conduct which it was your deliberate intention to pursue.--Next, Sir, as to "firmness."-I am assured, that we shall most essentially differ as to our inters 66 pretation of this word. According to my idea, it is a disposition of the mind "made up of courage, decision, sagacity, "and persevering vigilance, as essential "ing e lients." I am bound, from your conduct, to believe, that you imagine this firmness consists in that patient resignation of mind which can submit to a continuation of every species of aggression, insult, and violence, without dignified complaint or spirited remonstrance. That you have this species of firmness I am inclined to admit, as I believe every man will, who has read the printed papers relating to the late negotiation.I will not argue whether this species of "firmness" does not approach too near to pusillanimity to make it a proper qualification for a public man; for even you cannot deny, that it may be made a most convenient cloak for the most base and marked want of decision and activity. I can imagine cases, in which a man gifted with this species of "firmness" might persevere in a line of conduct, but I confess, that I should attribute his perseverance to the hesitation of a weak, encumbered, and distracted mind, destitute of those powers and resources which would suggest new modes of conduct according to the alteration of circumstances. A man of this kind might keep his ground, but it would be from the mere fear of the conse quences of quitting it.In short, where this sort of firmness exists we do not discover the calm yet commanding attitude of a determined spirit, but the waverings of indecision, which shrinks from every honourable exertion, and skulks from every appearance of difficulty and danger.-We see not a courage coolly collecting and wisely disposing the resources of an enlarge and vigorous mind in order to meet the worst; but procrastination and compromise. We see a disposition " to deceive and to be deceived," which, while it winks at the evils of the present day, leaves futurity to take its chance.Sir, there is a wide difference between the conduct of the mastiff, who when attacked, stands at bay, and that of the ostrich, of pompous gait, who thrusts his head into the thicket and thinks, that there is no danger because he does not see it.To pursue, however, the line of argument which I have undertaken, I say, that it is most clear that you do not " know yourself," the duty, therefore, of giving you this most necessary information devolves on any man, who will undertake a task, which can a ord him no one ray of satisfaction, except from the hope, that by discharging this duty he may contribute his share to 66 wards relieving the country from the bur then of your services.Sir, in proceeding to exhibit to your view, and that of my countrymen, the leading features of your character, I can assert, without the most remote chance of contradiction, that the most prominent one has been that of "a "continued endeavour to disguise from the public (and that by means of words not always consistent with truth) the actual difficulty of their situation; and to avoid meeting such difficulties by every art of political evasion."-That under such a miserable system our embarrassments must accumulate, with every circumstance of aggravation, till they rouse complaints that must be heard, is unavoidable.-And pray, Sir, when the fears of an exasperated nation (fears exceeding even those which before doomed you to inaction) have goaded you into resistance, what has been your conduct? I will admit, that you have, in some in stances, announced the determination to meet the actual difficulties of our situation, in a tone sufficiently loud, and in language sufficiently ostentatious. But, has not this display of words, this single effort of animation been uniformly and immediately followed by a conduct so wavering, undecided and inefficient, that every man of honour, of spirit and patriotism in the kingdom mus: blush for the disgrace, which you are daily accumulating on our heads, and tremble for the ruin, which such conduct must finally and irretrievably bring on the king and country!Your friends, or rather those who are willing to make their fortunes by your means, have affected to discover in you great "simplicity of character," and a "fairness" and "liberality" in your conduct; and about this they make a great noise, whenever mere shame compels them to be silent about all the great qualities hitherto deemed essential to the situation. -I, however, most decidedly differ from them on this subject, (and permit me to assert, that the mask is daily falling off ) I can see nothing of this candour, this openness, this liberality of character; but I do see a great deal of what you may call "address" and " management" in your transactions; but which those, who read the remaining part of this letter, may chance to distinguish by more appropriate terms.I had almost forgotten to remark, that you have the favourite modes of private" conciliation." You can resort to your nods the gra cious smiles, and the affectation of confidentially consulting those whose services may assist you, but whose opinions even you must despise. These paliry and un |