mer increase was produced. 4th. £142,711, increase of bonded sugars, which item might be allowed, if the consumption of sugar had decreased in the year to January last; but, as the consumption has increased, the increase of the bonds is attributable to an over importation alone, and not to a reduced consumption.The fact is, that Lord Auckland, though he may have very good intentions, does not understand finance, on which subject, if he wishes not to injure the credit of the country, we would, with all becoming humility, advise him, in future, to be perfectly silent. We refrain from those observations, which might be made on his comparison of our present with our former resources; but, we do hope and trust, that the House of Commons, instead of giving the Richmond-Park Minister an 66 eighteen years lease of the Treasury-Bench," will institute an enquiry into the matter. The minister bas laid before them an estimate for two years, exceeding the result deducible from the actual produce of the existing taxes by rear five millions; and, immediate steps ought to be taken, either to confirm the solidity of this estimate, or to show its fallacy, and thereby let the people see what they really and truly have to expect.-It has been, as our readers can witness, our constant maxim, that, as to this point as well as every other, the people should be, at all times, fairly and fully informed of their situation: we have uniformly reprobated all attempts to lead them blindfolded, to hide their danger from them, and to "keep up their spirits," as it is called, by bluster or by deception; for, it is our sincere and wellweighed opinion, that such a system, which, by the by, the ministry are at this moment practising upon the Parliament and the Nation, must, if persevered in, end, at no very distant period, in utter dismay, confusion, and destruction. When, on a former occasion, we thought it, upon this our fixed principle, a duty incumbent on us, to con trovert the minister's statements, there were not wanting persons to accuse "the Grenvilles" of inconsistency, in representing the country as being nearly a bankrupt after having asserted that she was able to continue the war. In the first place we know not whether those noblemen and gentlemen, designated by "the Grenvilles," honoured our opinions with their concurrence; 2dly, if they did, they did not thereby agree in representing the nation as nearly a bankrupt, because our opinions led to no such conclusion; 3dly, supposing them to agree in this representation upon the prospects presented by a peace which was, in fact, an everlasting war, it did not follow that the same opinion would have applied to a war which might have been put an end to; and, 4thly, if it had even necessarily followed, from the representation attributed to them, that the war must have produced a national bankruptcy, still they might, as we now do, maintain, that a war which would have produced a national bankruptcy, was preferable to a peace which, if persevered in, will produce a national bankruptcy and subjugation into the bargain. On the occasion, to which we allude, and in which our sentiments were thus grossly and basely misrepresented, we cautioned the patriots of 'Change Alley not to rely on the minister's word; and, are they not already sorry that they did not follow our advice? The minister, too, we cautioned against the effects of his magnified and vapouring statement. We advised him to restrain his propensity to pompous display. We asked, in speaking of the safe politicians, are they quite sure that it cause to repent of their shop-keeper-like "wit, their purse-proud exultation? The "coward," we added, "never should cry "roast meat. The goose with the golden 66 eggs should steal silently from her nest *." -On the subject of the last flaming budget, we said: "Mr. Addington may be well "assured, that the statement which has "charmed the patriots of 'Change Alley, "will make a good deal of mauvais sang at "St. Cloud +." Accordingly, we see, that the French official gazette has resented the boastings of which we complained; and, it is by no means improbable, that the mere indulgence of the vanity and pomposity of this man may, at bottom, be the principal cause of that panic and that expense, which have now come upon us, and which will, as the least possible evil, produce a considerable and lasting depreciation in the national credit. Uncertainty is the bane of credit, and that this feeling now prevails, to a degree never before experienced in this country, will be denied by no one, who has not some sinister motive for lulling the public asleep, or seeks not for temporary fame by dealing out blustering, rabblerousing speeches. No stock-holder has scarcely any thing worthy of the name of * Register, Vol. II. p. 378. + Ibid, p. 795. confidence left in his mind: the dealing in that species of property is fast becoming a mere game at hazard, the pregnant source of disappointment, mortification, ruin, beggary, disaffection, disloyalty, and sedition. "There is a gulph, where thousands fell, "The time it falls, or when 'twill rise. "Now mounted up to heaven again, "They reel and stagger to and fro, "At their wits end, like drunken men." Dreadful as is this picture, it will soon be verified in every part, unless prevented by war, by another war, a successful war against France, which, we repeat it again and again, is the only possible means of recovering that military and political confidence, with which pecuniary confidence is inseparably connected. ARMY AND NAVY.-The ability of wa ging this war we have, though in a degree greatly diminished since the peace. Besides the strong places which we have given up, and that to France, too, we have sent adrift a numerous and well-disciplined militia, for the express purpose, it would appear (for there is no other that can be imagined) of taking, in their stead, as many as we can get together, of raw and undisciplined men, to the disturbance, distress, and misery of private families, as well as to the great injury of agriculture and manufactures. This is so evident, that, in any other time, we should think an explanation of our meaning unnecessary; but, the reproach of disheartening the people, which the "safe politicians" pour out on every one, who attempts to show the evil consequence of their ignorance and selfishness, induces us to say, that it is not the calling out of the militia, which we represent as a hardship; it is not what the people ought to bear of which we complain, but we complain, and we have a right to complain, of every thing which they and which the service suffer merely from the blindness or the perverseness of those who hold the reins of government, and who assumed those reins upon the condition of responsibility. Twenty thousand men are instantly wanted for foreign service; not for hostile expeditions, but for the defence of our colonies, the very best of which (Jamaica) will, if war should be the result, be attacked in less than two months from this day. These twenty thousand * Swift. * men could have been spared, if our militia had not been disembodied. Now we cannot spare a man, to say nothing of our want of more than we have for the defence of our home dominions, especially in Ireland, where there does not yet even exist a law for raising a militia-As to the fleet, the improvident and disorganizing measures of the "safe politicians" are still more fatally manifest. The minister assured the Parlia ment, that fifty ships of the line could be got ready for sea in a month! Six, at the utmost, is all that could, in any possible emergency, at this moment, go out of harbour! And, of the 50,000 seamen, voted in November, not one half are yet raised, to say nothing of the 10,000, voted the other day, and who will never, we fear, have an existence, in his Majesty's service, except upon paper. The" safe politicians" have, in no inconsiderable degree, annihilated the materials, of which this glorious navy was composed. We last week stated, that seven thousand of our seamen had gone into the service of France, but, from accounts which we have since received, we are much afraid, that they amount to double that number. The naval artizans are now sought after and caressed by the Admiralty, by that same Admiralty, whose haughty and insolent satellites spurned them from their presence, and who sent them to beg or to starve. Some of the people who received this brutal treatment, have been regained, and they are hurried down to the distant Dock-Yards by the coach; but, great numbers of them have gone to France, where they are now employed, preparing the future means of their country's destruc tion. While men like these have the ma nagement of public affairs, what hope can be entertained by any reasonable man?--In spite, however, of all these disadvantages, a war, in proper hands, if instantly begun, upon a good system, and having a determinate object, might be waged against France with success. There is yet a sufficiency of means, but there wants the soul and the talents to call them forth, to put them in motion, and to direct them to their proper ends. We have heard, indeed, and we have heard it with inexpressible satisfaction, that the first Lord of the Admiralty and "his two Phoca" are about to be removed; * For a contrast to the conduct of the present Board of Admiralty, we beg leave to refer our readers to p. 396, where they will see what exer tions the naval department was capable of at the comniencement of the last war. From the same article they may also perceive the amazing differ ence between the naval establishments of the last and the present peace. but, if they are to be replaced by other "safe politicians," the public will gain but little by the change. Something, however, it must gain; for, it is absolutely impossible, that three other such Naval Lords should be found in any part of the ship, from the poop to the bowsprit. WAR OR PEACE?-This is the question now, as it was in October last, and we will still answer peace, if the present ministry exist. They know the country would not trust them with a war: it would deserve to be burnt up if it did; and, they are resolved to keep their places to the latest moment that they can hang on, with any chance of safety to themselves. They have put up with injury upon injury, insult upon insult, ignominy upon ignominy, till they have made their country a by word and a reproach amongst the nations; and, our readers may be well assured, that they did not make the present shew of resistance, upon any other consideration than that of their own safety. They must long have known the intentions of Buonaparté; they would have made any further sacrifices to pacify him; but, they, at last, were persuaded that he was actually about to make an attack, and then they became alarmed for themselves, fearing, that, if his Majesty should awake some morning and find himself no longer the sovereign of Ireland, ministerial responsibility might become something more than a mere pompous sound. It is possible, therefore, that their fears may have magnified the danger of invasion. When a coward turns his head towards his enemy, he always either shuts his eyes or sees double; two most admirable properties in a statesman, for the former of which we have already paid most dearly, and we are now, perhaps, to suffer for the latter. 66 about nothing but our own domestic, nay, almost, our personal safety. We were formerly sensible to the slightest blow in the limbs, and even in the extremities of the empire; but, having been kicked and bruised, having become "a most vile and "beaten thing," we seem to have no wish remaining but that of preserving our lives. We have seen it stated, and in print too, that Buonaparté yielded in the affair of the indemnities and of Switzerland; and, if that really was yielding, we are fully persuaded he will yield now. Reculer pour mieux sauter is, too, an art which the Corsican perfectly understands. "The tiger," said Mr. Pickering to the Americans, always "crouches before he leaps upon his prey;" and, we beg our readers to be assured, that if Buonaparté draws back at present so far as to furnish the "safe politicians" with a plausible pretext for keeping their places a little longer, he will, at no great distance of time, fall upon this country with a force which she will not be able to resist.-The Moniteur, copies of which we have received to the 15th instant, seems also to strengthen the opinion we have formed on this subject. It contains the King's message, without any remark upon it; and this state paper, which operated like a thunder-stroke on the funds of this country, had, when the last advices came away, produced, as will be seen by our stock-table, very little depression in those of France. The cause of this, however, we cannot, without more information, fully ascertain. THE MECHANICAL MINISTRY.-But, besides many other forcible reasons for Buonaparte's patching up the present dispute, there is one, which alone, we think, must decide him so to do; and that is, he must know, that the present ministry would, in case of actual war, be instantly driven out of place, and he must also know, that, if the whole British dominions, in every quarter of the world, were ransacked, another set of men, of whatever country or colour, could not be found so exactly fitted to the purpose of maintain As to the object of the negotiation, or pretended negotiation, it is impossible for us to say precisely what it is; but this we well know, that, if it be any remnant of the treaty of Amiens, it is of far less importance than many of the sacrifices already made and completed by that treaty. Malta is, too, of infinitely less importance than Louisiana, and the ministers are readying with him "the relations of peace and and willing to suffer the French to depart for that colony, even before the point with respect to Malta and Egypt is settled! Nay, it would appear from the message, that they would regard as a proof of a pacific disposition the departure of the French troops to the neighbourhood of Jamaica, which is much more vulnerable than Ireland itself. Such is the state to which this peace has reduced us, that we think "of amity." Negroes would have mutinied fifty times under the treatment, which they have patiently and silently received at his hands. If war, or any other cause, should ever bring their precious diplomatic transactions to the light, the people of this country, if they have any sense or feeling left, will die with shame at having been governed by such men. Lord Carlisle, ta whom the nation is indebted for the first The Dey of Algiers has, it would seem, fallen out with his brother of Paris, whether upon points of faith or of morality we know not, but two French frigates have been sent to protect the ships of that nation against the corsairs of the Dey.It is stated that, by the consent of the Emperor of Russia, the Bavarian langue is suppressed, in the Order of Malta. What, then, becomes of our trea we strongly suspect they will never sufer an English ship to touch again. But, this sailing of expeditions from France can be no cause of um brage to our ministers. Those "safe politicians," warning it received, respecting the dangers to be apprehended from these " new and "untried ministers," has lately most happily described them as being a machine, formed by Mr. Pitt. "I will not," said his lordship, "call them an infernal machine, but I will say, that they have proved infinitely more destructive to their country, than "that machine was to the buildings and the people of Paris." Shamefully, in-ty-Intelligence from Constantinople states, that the suite of General Brune consists of sixty perdeed, was the nation insulted in the consons, who, like the commercial agents here, are struction of this machine, which is hardly destined for different parts of the Turkish emworthy the hand of. even a journeyman pire.--The French expedition to the East Inpolitician. One of the wheels was soon dies sailed from Brest on the 6th instant. Linois is the Vice-Admiral commanding the ships, and taken out and replaced by another. What DECAEN the Captain-General. The quadron further repairs will take place, what furconsisted of I ship of the line and 3 trigates. ther mending and patching, what further Transport-vessels were to join them from Bournails, and pegs, and bolts, and cleets, and deaux and L'Orient. The number of troops is braces will be used to hold together this not stated in the French papers; but, we have feeble and rickety frame, it would be pre- good authority to state, that they are upwards of seven thousand in number, and are to touch at sumption in us to predict; but, the public that "free-port," the Cape of Good Hope, where must, by this time, be well convinced, that, unless it be knocked to pieces, in a very short time, it will work the complete de struction of the British monarchy.-The Corsican is said to have grossly insulted Lord Whitworth. We deeply lament that our Sovereign should be exposed to insult, in the person of his representative; but, what else was to be expected, when the tame and degrading conduct of the ministers was taken into consideration? It is to their pusillanimity, their propensity to erouch at his feet, that we are to attribute the insolence of Buonaparté!" He were no wolf, but that he finds them to be "sheep." As Lord Temple observed, "they attract danger and disgrace, as con"ductors attract lightning; as blunt con"ductors, which attract most strongly, and "spread the mischief most widely."* They are always in a state of uncertainty: not one of them can even guess, now at this moment, whether we shall have war, or not their councils are full of doubt and of indecision they are continually balancing between the fear of losing their places and that of incurring the responsibility attached to those places : 66 on the contrary, must, according to the words of the message, regard such expeditions as a ground for putting a stop to our warlike preparations. So that, if the enraged Buonaparte, will best leave us in the quiet possession of this "nice little tight little Island," he may ravage all the world besides; for, as to colonies, Dr. Beeke has clearly proved, that the trade between Manchester and London is of much more quick rotuon as well as more safe and more profitable, than the trade between London and Jamaica!!!!!! And this, this is one of the men, whose opinions are the guide of the British minister!-From Petersburg it is intimated, that Buonaparté has consented to cer tain propositions, which the Emperor had made relative to Malta and to a provision for the king of Sardinia. Should this be so, here is an additional reason for believing that our dispute with France will be patched up; because we well know, that the concessions, which the Emperor required from the Consul, formed ope of the grounds, on which the "safe politicians built their hopes of success from the present shew of vigour. As to Malta, too, the fate of that island seems to have been taken entirely out of our hands. The Emperor of Russia is the arbiter. What he consents te we cannot, without war, refuse to sanction. We particularly call the attention of our readers to the article in our present Number " On Lord St. Vincent and the Navy." From its extreme length, we were under the necessity of printing it in a smaller character than usual, which, we trust, its author will kindly excuse. Our Correspondent X. will see that, it was not in our power to insert his valuable observations occasioned by his Majesty's late Message to Parliameni this week, but he may rest assured that they shall speedily be attended to. LONDON LONDON, March 19 to March 26, 1803. 417] POLITICS OF FRANCE. SIR,-If you think the fragments herewith inclosed worth the notice of the Public, you will much oblige one of your readers to insert them, or any part of them, in your Register. They are transcribed from the journal of a gentleman now travelling in France. The work itself is under the press, but not yet ready. Yours, &c. SwENSKA.* France has the forests of Germany for the use of her dock-yards; with Holland, she acquires an extent of coast and a chain of sea-ports, which may enable her to raise a numerous navy in a few years. It has been said, that the Consulate intends to raise an enormous navy, and to distribute it as follows: in the Mediterranean, France shall maintain 30 Spain - The Italian states, in 2065 sail of the line 15 of battle ships. From Cadiz to the Texel, France shall maintain 100 40 20 160 sail of the line of battle ships. Should the French compose a navy in this manner, and oblige their allies to keep up 95 sail of the line for the service of the republic, the Dutch and Spanish officers and men will be under the immediate orders of their masters, the French. The inconvenience of separate commanders, which has so often frustrated the best combined plans of confederate forces, will thereby be avoided. The heavy navies of France will not, however, soon be in a state to give much uneasiness to her rival neighbour. Should Buonaparté seriously set about building line of battle ships, Great-Britain may congratulate herself and let him go on. Lucky gamesters play boldly; but, when they meet with a few successive checks, they lose their clue, and become more disconcerted than others. The Consul has hitherto staked high, and with remarkable success; should he attempt to pursue his fortune For the interesting communications of our correspondent Swenska, we refer our readers to Vol. II. p. 129, 355, 548, 609. They will all be found highly important at the present juncture. VOL. III. 1418 upon the ocean, his preparations will be analogous to his usual measures; skirmishing is not in his tactics; if he send a fleet to sea, it will be such a fleet, as France never could boast of before; but if the spirit of the British nation do not entirely subside in the interval, that fleet will be beaten; every effort, which revenge can devise, will be made to augment its force, and it will be beaten again; its creator may then lose his temper, and France will lose her stakę in the game. The light flotillas, which the republic is preparing, may, perhaps, merit the atten tion of the British government, more than all the heavy navies of Europe and America together. It is certain, that at this moment, arrangements are making to form and repair such debts and convenient harbours, between Brest and the Ems, where 1500 to 2000 light vessels may be kept in safety and constant readiness; to act either offensively, or to defend their own coast, as occasion may point out, or require: it is equally certain, that immense quantities of materials and stores, for the construction and equipment of these vessels, are already collecting from all quarters: and, there is no doubt, that the Consulate intends to extend this naval system of light squadrons to America and the West-Indies. This statement of the natural and moral sources of France, are by no means exaggerated; the estimates we have given, are far under what an intelligent government might derive from the inexhaustible treasures of that overgrown empire. Fortunate, perhaps, it may be for the yet independent nations of Europe, that those sources of irresistible force are in the hands of Frenchmen! Except when the personal characters of leading men, may, now and then influence the measures of a government, the politics of every state is, to secure its independence, augment its power, and elevate its rank. These objects cannot be pursued singly, they are interwoven with one another. The independence of a state can only be secured by an unremitted progression in power, of which rank is a consequence. Р Almost all " |