Unless we bring into active operation our dormant resources, [JAN. and aim to overwhelm the ruler of the French nation, our only remaining object is to prevent, by diversions and armaments, the whole Continent falling under his immediate controul. Should he attain that design of his insatiable ambition, all his attention will be turned to the completion of a navy of sufficient strength to overwhelm ours*; and it is impossible for Great-Britain to build ships with that rapidity which his numberless ports and vast means will then allow to him. "The time is arrived, or is rapidly approaching, in which we may find that our warlike and ambitious views, if confined to the ocean alone, will not be able to protect us; that our system of warding off our adversary's blows, and screening ourselves behind our wooden walls, will no longer save us from destruction; that, like other great nations which have preceded us on the theatre of the universe, we must become a warlike people by land as well as by sea; that we must, in short, conquer upon both elements, or in all human probability we shall, on both, be conquered t." Here it is fit that I observe the regret we have to entertain, that the ruinous state of our harbours does not excite the more serious attention of the legislature. The continual collection of sand in the ports on our Southern and Eastern coasts, and our not being provided with a sufficiency of others, is a prospect far from satisfactory to a Briton's imagination.

I must particularly notice the very great inconvenience and continued heavy losses which, during many years, have arisen from the want of a harbour between Spithead and the Downs, and which has induced, at different periods, the sufferers and other individuals to promote plans to obviate the frequency of great loss and mischief to the coasting vessels, and to afford safety to the shipping that frequent the British Channel. Through the exertions of some dis

the state, or in military exercise, than there can be in mercantile and manufacturing countries. Those who live by trade or traffic, and refined manufactures, are not only themselves unprofitable consumers, but their subsistence and gains are taxes and burdens on the industry and consumption of others."

"To rely upon the superior address and bravery of our generous and noble seamen is criminal; others may learn address, and despotism drive them to the fight; but we must provide effectual and lasting sources to maintain a sufficiency of men who fight for glory to a grateful country and for a beloved king."

+ Major Pasley's Essay, &c.

ESTIMATES, &c.

tinguished characters, several very skilful men belonging to His Majesty's Navy, and others, have been employed to survey the coast, and all of them have reported most favourably as to the practicability of forming a good harbour at Newhaven, a situation between the Downs and Portsmouth, which enjoys greater natural advantages than the opposite ports of France and Flanders, and is contiguous to populous and commercial towns. The plans, however, were upon too limited a scale to be of that great public advantage which it appears, by the opinion of the best judges, can, from the bold coast of Newhaven, be afforded for the safety of commercial shipping as well as His Majesty's cruizers; and it is one of the best and most central in the country for the establishment of an army depôt and for the embarkation of troops. In the beginning of the year 1805, Lord Melville, then First Lord of the Admiralty, knowing such a harbour was greatly wanted, and would be highly desirable if even constructed at a very large expense, ordered Lt. Murray, a Naval Engineer, in a small sloop to survey the coast of Sussex, who was occupied the whole summer in that object, but his Lordship resigned his situation at the Admiralty before the above officer made his report, which was very favorable, but nothing was done, in consequence thereof. losses that have been suffered ever since that period by shipwrecks and captures there, and on the neighbouring coast, have urged a number of individuals to take into serious consideration the practicability of forming such a harbour as would give protection, both from the weather and the enemy, to the shipping that frequent the channel, and particularly to the coast of Newhaven, which it is found cannot be protected by the occasional cruizing of armed vessels. A meeting was convened for this purpose, and it appearing, from the Survey of Lieutenant Murray, that great public advantages might be derived from a more enlarged plan, a subscription was entered upon, and resolutions passed, to employ Mr. Rennie to survey, and form a plan of the harbour and adjoining coast of Newhaven, which he executed with care and accuracy, and made a highly-favorable report. An opinion of Captain Sproule on the same subject, as also a report of Captain Bolton's to Lord Melville, both officers of the Royal Navy, and who have served a considerable time on the coast of Newhaven; and one by Mr. Creasy, a person of great practical knowledge, who had visited the principal

The great

harbours in the several quarters of the world, in addition to Lieut. Murray's before alluded to,—are alike favorable to the establishment of a grand and capacious harbour on the coast of Newhaven. A memorial of the merchants, ship-owners, and principal inhabitants of the district round Newhaven, proves that great mischief arises from want of a proper port for armed vessels:-that ships are often embayed between Selsey Point and Beachy Head, and cannot round the latter;-that the coast has been almost daily insulted, and that the trade experiences great inconvenience from the enemy's privateers sculking under cover of Beachy Head in hazy weather, and cruizing off this port,-the effects of which have been severely felt by ships homewards bound from foreign ports, several of which latter description have even lately been taken, or driven on shore to prevent capture,-and that this is, from its situation, powerful back water, and other advantages, the only port between Portsmouth and the Downs capable of being made a sufficient harbour for the reception of vessels of considerable size, and is the most central situation for His Majesty's cruizers, and all other purposes.

The public utility of such an undertaking ought to operate as a stimulus for the exertions of all ship-owners, merchants, and others interested in the trade, navigation, and prosperity of the kingdom, in carrying a plan of this nature into execution;-and I hope the efforts of a few patriotic individuals will not be baffled from the want of a general and necessary support.

Northfleet is also a good situation for this object :-in short, when we consider that such harbours as Dieppe, Boulogne, Calais, Dunkirk, and Ostend, have been formed by our enemy on coasts in general flat and foul, and, therefore, labouring under extraordinary natural disadvantages; and that in many parts we possess a bold coast, and every requisite in nature for forming noble and capacious harbours, we must be surprised at our remissness and inert conduct in a matter of such vast national importance.

Another circumstance to be very much lamented, is the inattention which our ancestors have shewn to the growth of naval timber, and which is daily becoming an article of the greatest scarcity. Of late years it has been the ambition of the landed interest of this country, to lay out a part of their estates solely for that purpose: they cannot expect to reap the benefits of their laudable conduct further than the gratifying satisfaction which

must arise in their breasts, of having disposed of their property in a manner which may prove profitable to their successors, and, at the same time, advantageous to their country. A century hence this nation will find itself highly indebted to such individuals, if, at that time, it exists as a free and independent kingdom, and to maintain the latter, in the words of Mr. Windham, " rather than risk the possibility of ever being obliged to acknowledge a superior on earth -our last shilling,-the moveable property of the empire,-the national debt, and, if necessary, the blood of our darling children, must be to Britons no consideration."

I have been more diffuse than was my intention on commencing these remarks, and have entered on subjects perhaps extraneous to those I set out with, but on none, I hope, uninteresting to military men. In conclusion I must make one further observation on an important point of the British service ;-viz. no provision being afforded to officers who have passed their best days in the honorable profession of arms. To see an old officer,--a veteran,―an honorable and upright character, deprived of the comforts and perhaps necessaries of life, is a sight painful and distressing. That lamented Statesman*, whose sentiments I have before had occasion to introduce, and whose honorable heart and generous feeling towards the army were at all times evinced, made an observation on this interesting point, which I cannot avoid rendering more public:"To see British Officers, grown grey in the service of their country, obliged to leave it, and to languish out the remainder of their days in exile abroad for trifling debts, contracted perhaps for a necessary subsistence, which their scanty pay refused, is extremely distressing to a liberal mind." Truly correct was the patron of genius, honor, and the distinguished member of society, in the above remark. Daily instances occur of this nature, but their existence will now be of short duration. An illustrious Commanderin-Chief, devoting his life to benefit the condition of the soldier and officer;-to exalt the military character of the country ;-and, by well-digested regulations, framed on a basis of liberality and foresight, with a view, not only to ameliorate the condition of the British soldier on service, but also in a particular manner conducive to the perfection of military discipline:-so judicious and noble a

Mr. Windham.

Ruler at the head of the army, cannot fail in shortly providing for the comforts of the grey-headed veteran officer,-and in having afforded to him, that which may render the decline of life smooth and unruffled by the deprivation of necessaries which old age absolutely requires, and which certainly should not be refused to him whose life has been passed in his country's defence. J. P. London, November 18th, 1812.

REVIEW.

The Regimental Companion; containing the Pay, Allowances, and relative Duties of every Officer in the British Service. By Charles James, Major in the Royal Artillery Drivers.-3 vols. 12mo.

IN our last number we noticed Major James's new edition of the Military Dictionary, and the task of paying a just tribute to those, who possessing literary talents, devote them to the ininstruction of their brother officers, is again afforded us in reviewing this work.

The Regimental Companion contains those Army Regulations, and General Orders, which have been issued for the government of the conduct both of officers and privates.-From the arrangement Major James has given them, and the occasional explanatory notes which he has interspersed throughout the work, officers may ascertain with great facility, the many important duties of their profession. The notes are fully calculated to explain those military points and regulations, which, from the variety of orders which have been issued by the different military departments on the same subject, and frequently in contradiction of each other, are frequently very obscure, and apt to mislead officers, more particularly such as have reference to the financial department of the army. In this performance, a very clear account is furnished of the Staff of the British army, including the Commissarial, Medical, and Agency Departments, with the different instructions relating to each branch; and the general compilation of this work exhibits that high degree of ability, attention to order and energy, which have always shone a most conspicuous feature in the literary labors of Major James.