66 and the forebodings with which his mind was oppressed, he described the treaty of peace as the death-warrant of the country; when he refused to put on his wedding garment, 'till he knew whether he was invited to a marriage or a funeral; in a short space after that inemorable day, the ministerial news-papers recorded a witticism of Lord Hawkesbury, who, they informed the public, had facetiously said: "Come, Wind which I have now presumed to make. The crisis is come: the siege of our island is begun; and, it now behoves us, to think, not only of the means of preventing a breach, but of the manner in which we shall act, if a breach should be made, whether we shall hazard all in a single battle between the sea-coast and London, or whether, leaving the gold and silver to the invaders, we shall still make a struggle for our liberties, and for the Crown of our Sove-" ham, do put on your wedding garment, reign. Mr. Windham, for only alluding to this alternative, and that too, by way of comment on an opinion, relative to it, already stated elsewhere, has been charged with "disheartening the country," with "creating "despondency," with spreading alarm "amongst the people ;" and, which is not a little curious, this accusation is brought against him, at the very same moment that he is accused of quixotism! And is it, then, something so very dreadful to contemplate this alternative? Must we necessarily despond, because we regard the sacking of London as a possible event? Can we not look at this object, even in imagination, without expiring in a fit of despair? Lord Castlereagh tells the people, that "nothing but baseness and cowardice in them will "suffer the enemy to advance far from "the shore." This is not correct, Sir. The enemy may advance far, very far from the shore without any baseness or cowardice on the part of the people. I wish, and I bope, that the enemy may not so advance, and the same wishes and hopes were expressly and clearly stated by Mr. Windham; but, if the enemy should advance into the country; if this dangerous case should arise, who do you think, Sir, would be the statesman most likely to save the country; he who would have no resource but bitter, unjust, and unavailing reproaches on the people; or he, who, even at the expense of the capital, would call on them and encourage them to defend the king and the kingdom?But, Sir, whatever may be your opinion on this subject, how long soever the system of misrepresentation, with respect to Mr. Windham's opinions, may be persevered in, and however complete the success of that system, events will not thereby be controuled in their operation: they speak in a language that must be heard. I beg you to remark, Sir, how you and your colleagues have gone on in adopting successively, all those sentiments of Mr. Windham, which, at the time of his first uttering them, you have uniformly rejected with disdain. When, with that solemnity which became the occasion, " and go along with us to carry up the any All Correspondents next week. LONDON LONDON, June 25 to June 30, 1803. 961] EXTRACT FROM THE MONITEUR, of 19th of June, 1803. [It is of importance, at all times, and particularly at the present time, to know something of the sentiments of our enemy. The following article, translated from the French Official Paper, gives us, as to some very important points, that very useful knowledge, and, therefore, we beg leave to recommend it to the attentive perusal of our Readers.] 1962 explain the conduct of the British government. Formerly, it was considered as an honour to be faithful to engagements. Firma pacis fœdera was formerly the greatest homage which the French nation acquired in Europe. It is true that some ancient nations became subject to the quality of fedifraga.-Punic faith appears to have been bequeathed by the merchants of Carthage to the merchants of England. That England had no other object in the treaty of Amiens than to gain time, is not the only avowal which was made in those debates. Lord Hawkesbury told us in the discussion of the motion on the mediation of Russia, that war was not the time for forming coalitions with convenience and advantage, and that one object of the treaty of Amiens was to prepare a barrier against the aggrandisement of France (1). He informed us, that since the signing of the treaty, to the present moment, no effort had been spared to form a strict alliance with Russia, which should have for its object no views of hostility towards any other power, but only for defence (2). measures necessary a proper Unfortunately they found that Russia would not consent to this innocent proposition, and war has therefore arisen.-Although Lord Hawkesbury has thus had a moment of The only events which, at this time, merit great attention are the occupation of Hanover by the French troops, and two long debates in the British Parliament, the one relative to the conduct of ministers, and the other to the mediation of Russia. The question upon the conduct of the ministry has been decided, in a manner which acquired no difficulty to foresee. If we except the attitude taken by Mr. Pitt, who has not scrupled to avow his disapprobation of his right honourable friends, the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Minister for Foreign Affairs, and the indignation, or rather the pain which Lord Hawkesbury felt, and which he so clearly manifested to the House, we cannot discover that the true question was in any way entered upon.-Was it upon the good faith of the ministry that they were occupied? Was it upon their fidelity to their engagements that they were questioned? And upon the care with which they so scrupulously and religiously observed the treaty of Amiens? Upon this point no question was proposed, not one word was uttered. The debate was remarkable onltility towards any power, and having only in for the ingenuity of Col. Bastard; we want time to recruit our strength. These words, which excited no animadversion, completely VOL. III. (1) He must candidly admit, that one circumstance weighed particularly on his mind with respect to the conclusion of the last peace, which was that of forming a barrier to the aggrandisement of France. (2) From the signing of the treaty to the present time, no efforts have been wanting on the part of his Majesty's government to form a close connexion with Russia, having for its basis no hos Those view the necessary means of defence. Ii candour, we may believe that it was not in the language of all those famous statesmen. the Parliament, but in the interior of the One wishes for a war vigorous and short; Cabinet that he has manifested all his views. it must be directed towards one single point, In cagaging in the war,' he would have another does not deny that the war should said, we give other nations a great exam- not be of long duration. One regards it as ple of provocation which they may be mere sport to chastise France; another does tempted to imitate. We weaken, towards not conceal that it will cost his country long France, that sentiment of admiration and painful sacrifices. One minister wishwhich her victories have created, and we es to defend the whole country with Milireduce her from that high rank to which tia, another sees safety in nothing but troops her valour and her successes have eleva of the line. Mr. Pitt is convinced that ted her. Our boldness may awaken re- England can do nothing offensive; according to collection, open wounds, sharpen resent- Mr. Windham, that nation alone is capable ments, and, perhaps, revive hopes. That of defence, who is able to attack. There is no we may not fail in the attainment of this Englishman of any sense who is not astogreat object, we will be in readiness to nished at the chaos of contradictory views listen to the propositions of Russia: this and opposite plans. To every reasonable is not the moment. Let us begin by of- man, whether friend or enemy, the projects ' fering to our sailors an easy prize of four in agitation must appear nothing more than or five millions, which France and her the conceptions of despair.-It is strange, • allies have trusted, in full security, upon that, amongst the numerous friends of liberty, the sea, millions which it will be easy for there are none who are alarmed at the increase us to squeeze out of them by a loan of the troops of the line! Formerly, the whole when they have effected the great object country was ready to rise in as respect6 of making the war popular; and then, ing the simple construction of barracks, now whilst the gazettes are filled with ac- an immense army is voted and placed at . counts of our glory, we shall have all the the disposal of the Crown. The Secretary time that will be necessary for listening of War cited the example of the American to the propositions of Russia, to excite, militia, and of the French militia during if it be necessary, the interposition of their revolutions. He might also have some other great power, and thus, at the cited La Vendée, and, in times more anend of such an agreeable career of depreda- cient, the example of the Swiss, and of the tion and capture, make such a new treaty as United Provinces. When the people are 6 may be convenient. It makes little dif- set in motion, when their mosi ardent and ference to us in this new arrangement, most powerful passions are roused, they 6 whether we retain Malta or give it to are capable not only of great efforts, but of Russia. We shall have made war against miracles; but when a people naturally sluggish France with boldness, and have made her and indolent, accustomed to all the convenience of pay the cost. We shall have clipped the opulerce, and to all the luxuries of civilization, is rising wings of her commerce; we shall, forcibly thrown out of all its habits, to support the for a long time, have paralysed her in- whims of ministers; when a prople of merchants is dustry; her commercial cities torn by invited to leave their counters, and lead for whole the wounds which we shall have inflict- years, the life of an hussar or a pandeur, merely for ed, will not for a long time dare again the honour of possessing a rock, and of breaking a 6 to hazard their industry and their ca- treaty selemnly ratified, we have some difficulty in be pital upon the sea. Our preponderat-leving that the ministers will attain the end which ing activity will then be able to insult their timidity. We shall have established a supremacy upon the seas, which France, in the first moment of her pros perity will dispute with us.'-Lord Hawkesbury and the British Cabinet may amuse themselves as long as they please with these illusions. We are sorry to draw them out from such security. They must know, however, as Mr. Burke once told them, that war, that Gorgon bristling with darts and serpents, is not a coquette to be sported with with impunity. When France wanted peace, you wanted war; nw fear lest France should wish for war when it may be agreeable for you to wish for peace.-Nothing is more singular than they prepase. The deputies from the Electorate of Hanover can now teach them what sort of confidence is to be reposed in hasty levies. How foolish are they who pretend to draw from the clouds of their brains that electric fire which sometimes forms great popular commotions. The insurrections which they are now provoking, may perhaps, be too effectually realised, but it will be to destroy those who by a foolish war, have reduced them to the necessity of asking an ignominious peace. Whilst these great events are unfolding themselves, the occupation of Hanover will serve as a balance to the losses which our commerce must necessarily sustain at the commencement of the war. It must be a very amusing recreation for the merchants of London, to see the ships of France arriving, month after month, to enrich their port. And it is but just that King George should defray from his own purse the experses of this little amusement which he has given his subjects. It is not without some difficulty that he has reconciled himself to bear these injuries. Protected by his floating batteries at home, he hoped that the great powers of Europe, would have undertaken the protection of his confinental possessions; the hundred voices of fame seemed to be the pledges of their se curity.Prussia, Denmark, and Russia,' it was said, would never quietly see the • French enter Hanover, and thereby strike all the North of Germany with alarm, and violate the peace of a country protected by the Treaty of Luneville.' For these considerations all the fleets of Russia were ready to set sail, all her armies were waiting to begin their march. A Prussian army advanced on one side; its direction was known, and its general was named. These rumours were the most ridiculous absurdities. It would have been strange if those who had violated the Treaty of Amiens, could have retrenched themselves behind that of Luneville; it would have been strange if those who had declared war against the Republics of Italy and Holland, only because they were under the dominion of the chief of the French Republic, could have made those countries respected which were under the government of the King of England. We might have believed that England was not serious in proclaiming this hope, if the Royal proclamation for a levée en masse, and the arrival of one of the sons of the King of Great Britain to command it, had not established the certainty. The folly of these two circumstances are requisite to give the expedition of Gen. Mortier the appearance of a triumph, by giving the capitulation of the Hanoverian army the appearance of a defeat. We may observe, that this capitulation is the same as that which was signed at Clostersevern in 1757, under the direction of the Maréchal de Richelieu. It was then stipulated under the guarantee of the King of Denmark, that the Hanoverian troops should not exercise any hostilities until the conclusion of the war. It is well known how that capitulation was violated after the battle of Rosbach. The celebrated Lord Chatham, the father of Mr. Pitt, decided that as the King of England had not ratified the capitulation, it could not be valid; and it was in consequence of that decision that the Hanoverians went from their lines, and went under the command of Prince Ferdinand to give the battle of CreveltIf the occupation of Hanover, which the folly of the British government has compelled us to call a conquest, possesses but little importance as a military achievment, it is at least, a source from which riches may be drawn. It is, however, a great military point. It is a great thing to have acquired fifty leagues more of that iron wall, so truely described by Mr. Windham, which now extends from the Mediterranean to the Baltic. The war at present is nothing more than playful pastime. When the English shall have finished their game of capture and depredation, and the French shall have completed their formidable preparations upon the whole extent of their coast, then will wAR commence, and a WAR which every thing declares will be TERRIBLE. MR. BURKE'S LETTER. The following is the fragment of the Letter from Mr. Burke to Dr. Laurence, which was read by the latter, in the House of Commons, on the 23d instant, during the debate on the Conscript Bill. It was written from Bath in the spring of 1797, when an increased attack of the writer's disorder threatened the fatal termination of his valuable life, which soon after took place. MY DEAR SIR,- -The very first relaxation of my complaint, which gave me lei sure and disposition to attend to what is going on, has filled my mind with many uneasy sensations, and many unpleasant reflections. The few of us who have protracted life to the extreme limits of our short period, have been condemned to see extraordinary things; new systems of policy, new opinions, new principles, and not only new men, but what might appear a new species of men. I believe, that they who lived 40 years ago (if the intermediate space of time were expunged from their memory) could hardly credit their senses, when they heard from the highest authority, that an army of 200,000 men was kept up in this island; that in the neighbouring island there were at least fourscore thousand more; but when he should hear of this army which has not its parallel, what must be his astonishment to hear, that it was kept up for the mere purpose of an inert and passive defence; and that in its far greater part, it was disabled by its constitution and very essence, from defending us against an enemy by any one preventive stroke or any operation of active hostility. What must his reflection be on hearing, that a fleet of 500 men of war, the best appointed, and to the full as ably commanded, as this country ever had upon the sea, was for the greater part employed in acting upon the same system of unenterprising defence. What must his sentiments be, who remembers the former energy of England, when he is given to understand that these two Islands, with their extensive, and every where vulnerable sea coast, should be considered as a garrison sea town? What would he think if the garrison of so strange a fortress, should be such as never to make a sally; and that, contrary to all that has been hitherto seen in war, an infinitely inferior army may with safety besiege this superior garrison, and without hazarding the life of a man, ruin the garrison and the place, merely by the menaces and false appearances of an attack? What must his surprise be upon finding, that with the increases of trade, and balances unknown before, and with less outgoing than at any former time, the public credit should labour, even to the edge of a bankruptcy, that the confidence of the people in the security of their property, should lessen in proportion as all the apparent means of their safety are augmented? The last part of this dreadful paradox is to be solved but by one way, this is, by an obscure undefined sense which the people entertain, that the apparent means of their safety are not real, nor well understood, and that they confide in their government, more from their opinion that some sort of government should be supported, than from a conviction that the measures taken by the existing government for the public safety, are rational or well adapted to their end. Had it pleased God to continue to me even the late weak remains of my strength, I purposed to make this the subject of a letter, which I intended to address to a brother member of your's upon the present state of affairs; but, as I may never be able to finish it, I regard this matter of defence as so much the most important of all considerations at this moment, that it supersedes all concern of my bodily and mental weakness, and urges me by an impulse I cannot resist, to spend at least, my last breath in laying before you some part of the anxious thoughts with which I have been oppressed, and which more than any bodily distemper, has sunk me to the condition in which you know I am. I have no hand to write, but I am able to dictate from the bed on which I pass my nights and days. What I say may have no weight, but it is po-sible that it may tend to put other men of more ability, and who are in a situation where their abilities may be more useful, into a train of dunking. What I say may not be pleasing either to the great or the multitude; but looking back on my past public life, though not without many faults and errors, I have never made many sacrifices to the favour of the great, or to the humours of the people. I never remember more than two instances, in which I have given way to popularity, and those two are the things of which, in the whole course of my life, now at the end of it, I have the most reason to repent. Such has been the habit of my pub. lic life, even when individual favour and popular countenance, might be plausibly presented to me as the means of doing my duty the more effectually. But now, alas! Of what value to me are all those helps or all those impediments? When the damp chill sweat of death already begins to glaze our visage, of what moment is it to us, whe ther the vain breath of man blows hot or cold upon it? But our duties to men are not extinguished with our regard to their opinions. A country which has been dear to us from our birth, ought to be dear to us, as from our entrance, so to our final exit from the stage upon which we have been appointed to act; and in the career of the duties which must in part be enjoyments of our new existence, how can we better start, and from what more proper post, than the performance of those duties which have made occupations of the first part of the course allotted to us? PUBLIC PAPERS. Note.-Presented by Mr. Liston to Citizen Vander Gas, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, dated Hague, May 24, 1803. Sir,-By order of my Court, I beg you to sub mit to the Batavian Government the following considerations :-The King is animated with the most ernest desire that the new war which has just broken out, shall not extend to the countries connected with France; and that it shall not involve in its calamities nations which have had no part in the events that have given rise to it. His Majesty, however, cannot adopt towards the Ba tavian republic the conduct which such sentiments would dictate to him, unless the French Govern ment is disposed to adopt an analogous system.— If France will consent to withdraw immediately her troops from the territory of the republic; if she will release the Batavian government from the obligation of furnishing any succours whatever by land or sea; if, in short, she will permit the republic to observe a sincere and perfect neutra lity during the continuance of the war; His Majesty will engage on his side to adhere with scrupulous exactness to a reciprocal neutrality, and in that case the vessels which may have been pro visionally detained, shall be immediately released. But if unhappily the First Consul persists in determining to occupy the Batavian territory, and to convert the resources of the country into means of hostility and attack upon Great Britain, His Majesty will feel himselt forced, by what he owes to the safety of his territories, and the dearest |