sire to be known to posterity.Let it not be said, that we, by the promulgation of these sentiments, create despondency in the country; for, neither our wishes nor our actions have any such tendency. Those, on the contrary, who insist, that the existence of the nation depends upon the existence of the debt, are the persons who are most likely to plunge their hearers in despair; for, every man, however great his confidence in the solidity of the funds, believes that they must fail first or last; and, therefore, if he also believes that the fate of the nation is interwoven with that of the funds, how great, if he loves his country, must be his anxiety! A man, so believing, must view a depreciating stock table with the same sort of emotion that agitates the sick clown when he hears the ticking of the death-watch. "I would," says the author of the Pursuits of Literature, "I would inculcate one truth

with peculiar earnestness, namely, that a "revolution is NOT the necessary consequence of "national bankruptcy." This is the truth, which we inculcate, with all the earnestness in our power; and, we entertain a wellgrounded hope of seeing it, at no very distant period, universally prevail.

-During

DEFENCE OF THE COUNTRY. the same evening, on which the debate took place, relative to the tax upon the funds, the Secretary at War gave notice, that he should postpone, 'till Monday next, his motion for leave to bring in a bill for a further arming of the country; upon which Mr. Pitt rose, and, in a short speech, expressed his impatience at the procrastination of his Majesty's ministers. To this Mr. Addington replied, that no one could be more anxious than ministers were to hasten every measure connected with the defence of the country; but that, a bill such as it was now intended to introduce," ought not to be brought for"ward in a crude and imperfect state; it was "too gigantic to be so dealt with; and, he "was in hopes, that, in the end, much time "would have been saved by the present apparent delay, because the less imperfect "the measure might be, when brought forward, the more expeditiously would it pass through Parliament." This reply was a very good one, only it must have sounded extremely ridiculous from the lips of Mr. Addington, who had so lately brought in a bill, necessarily much less complicated than the present, which bill, before it passed into a law, underwent so complete a metamorphosis, that it, at last, changed its very namie. It must be confessed, however, that the minister would have proved himself " a

"hardened sinner" indeed, if he had not profited from such lesson; and, it really does appear a little unreasonable, that, after the derision, to which the ministers so lately exposed themselves in complaisance to Mr. Pitt, they should be so soon scolded for not again placing themselves in a similar predicament. The Conscript Bill originated with Mr. Pitt, who defended it as it at first stood, and who led the ministry into the whole of their conduct, respecting it, which conduct was certainly the most childish that ever was exhibited in any assembly of grown persons of either sex. After such an instance of the fallibility of Mr. Pitt; after feeling so severely the consequences of yielding a blind acquiesence to his will; no one will deny, that the ministers did well to pause before they brought forward another military measure dictated by him, especially a measure which is to have an influence so great and extensive as to affect, directly and even personally, almost every family and every man in the kingdom. The charge of dilatoriness, of neglect of duty, does, we think, come with rather a bad grace from Mr. Pitt, who suffered all the former part of the session of parliament to slide away, without one single day's attendance, while the news-papers more immediately under the controul of his friends, were continually rejoicing at his excellent health. That the war found the country in a wretched state of defence, or rather of exposure, is most certain; and, that the work of calling out and augmenting our force has hitherto gone most slowly, feebly, and inefficiently on, must be allowed; but, though we, though all the small party (and small, indeed, it was) who condemned the peace of Amiens, and who insisted that it could not last a year, without producing the utter rain of England; though we have a right to complain of the dismantling, and disbanding system, and of the tardy and reluctant conduct of ministers; those who applauded the peace, those who defended it, and especially those who assisted to make it, as was the case with Mr. Pitt, have, we insist, no reason whatever to complain of any deficiency that may exist with respect to military and naval means. Mr. Pitt defended the peace chiefly upon the principle of economy; and how was that economy to be practised, without retrenching the expenses of war? And how were these retrenchments to be effected, without diminishing the strength of the fleet and the army? He wished the treasure of the nation not to be LAVISHED AWAY in continuing a contest with the

now

"certainty of ENORMOUS expense!!!" (1) How many are there who now wish that they had been dumb at the time when the peace of Amiens was discussed! If, then, Mr. Pitt approved of the peace, because it put an end to enormous expense, he must have anticipated and approved of those measures, by which alone a diminution of that expense could be accomplished, and by which the country has been reduced to its present situation." Not be lavished

away in continuing a contest with the certainty of an enormous expense !!!" What a reason! What a reason for making peace! After having applauded a peace made on a principle like this, well may the poor deluded people be ashamed to talk of again going to war! It was this sordid, this base and groveling principle, that pervaded the whole of the transaction; that sunk the people in their own esteem; that made them patiently submit to what their forefathers would have spurned at; that broke their spirit, killed their pride, and rendered disgrace familiar to them. No man, therefore, who approved of the treaty of Amiens, and who still persists in that approbation, can have any right to censure the ministers for the evils which have therefrom arisen, and which never can be cured, till the principles, on which that disgraceful and infamous compact was made are explicitly disavowed, and universally exploded.--As to the bill, now about to be submitted to the Parliament, relative to a further arming of the country, we can say nothing, not being acquainted with any of its provisions, or with its out-line, or even with the principle on which it proceeds. As, however, a general arming and training has been mentioned, we lose no time in stating our opinion, that such a measure will fail of its object. What is every body's business is nobody's business; and, the government may be assured, that an attempt to enforce a general training will be productive of general discontent and general confusion, but of no one circumstance tending to repel foreign hostility or to preserve domestic quiet. A partial, and, in some degree, optional arming and training, is much better than a general and compulsory call upon the people: by the former, a great number of men, fond of arms, would be soon collected; by the latter a greater number would be brought out to a muster, but they would come like truants "lagging unwillingly to school;" they would slip away the moment they

(1) See Debates, Register, Vol. II. p. 1143.

| perceived an opportunity; while they remained all would be noise and nonsense; in short, every thing appertaining to the scheme would be so ridiculous, that it must, even in a few weeks, fall of itself into contempt and disuse. We do not want to see the rabbles that would arise out of an attempt to enforce a general training: we bave seen them; and, to use a phrase somewhat vulgar, if it please God to spare our eye-sight, we wish never to see them again. The militia of Pennsylvania is founded upon a system of general training: every man, from 18 to 50 belongs, and always belongs, to the militia. This force used to make an admirable figure upon paper; it amounted to seventy or eighty thousand men; but, when a very small number of these men were wanted to quell an insurrection, the refusal to march was unanimous; and, the legislature was assembled to pass a law, for the purpose of providing bounties for volunteers, and for raising, by ballot, the number of men not supplied by the means of recruiting. The best way of raising men is by the sound of the drum; the next best by conscription or ballot; and the next, by partial and voluntary enrollment, at stated times, merely for the purposes of training, but always under officers appointed by the government. Besides these ways of creating and raising a military force, we know of none that does not vex and disgust the people, that is not perfectly. useless, and, in many cases, dangerous to the state. Some parts of the plan, now about to be brought forward, should have in view the defence of the country, at the present time; but it should have a steady eye to the rendering of the people of this kingdom a military people, for a military people we must become, or we must be slaves; there is no other alternative; no Sunday schools, no soup-shops, no canting philanthropic societies; nothing will any longer save us from the use of arms, or, from the wearing of chains. A law, therefore, which is intended to further this mighty purpose, should be maturely considered: it should go slowly through the Cabinet, and still more slowly through the Parliament; it should receive the aid of all the sagacity and all the experience of the country, and, above all things, it should be founded upon a principle of longevity, looking forward, not only to a long war, but to a military age; not only to our present protection, but to the safety and the honour of our children. "Carthage," says Montesquieu," which "made war with its opulence against the

poverty of Rome, laboured, from that

Commercial states may long sub"sist in mediocrity; but their grandeur is of "short duration. They rise, little by little, "without being perceived: but, when the "wealth of such a nation has swelled to a

magnitude no longer to be hidden, every "other nation seeks to deprive her of that "which she has acquired, if not clandes"tinely, at least without any of those deeds, "which constitute the merit of nations."Before truths like these how the vaunting estimates of financiers shrink into nothing. Dess! Duly impressed with these solemn and fearful truths, we turn from Mr. Pitt's "commercial greatness," from the" splendid "assets" of Lord Castlereagh, from the "magnificent receipts" of Lord Auckland, with a loathing hardly to be described. No; it is neither by trade nor by money that we can be saved; but by men and arms; and, it is a truth that never can be too often repeated, that we must become a military people, or we must become slaves. FRENCH BISHOPS. Referring to what we said, in our last, the wicked attempt, made by the London news-printers, to excite public hatred and violence against the French Bishops and other emigrants, we have now only to make one or two additional observations.-The London Editors (all, we believe, without one single exception,) had asserted, that " the French Bishops, who "bad been FED in this country for so many

years, were now, in France, putting up

prayers for the success of Buonaparté, and "for the destruction of England." In reply to which, we stated, and we proved, that, out of nineteen French Bishops, who had been protected here, during the revolu tion, only five had returned to France, and that, of these five, one was dead, so that, out of the nineteen, it was impossible that more than four could have put up prayers of the description mentioned by the London Editors. But, upon a very strict examination of the Moniteur, we find, that only one of the four has, on the subject of the present war, uttered any thing that has found its way into print, and, moreover, that what has been uttered by that one contains not a

single expression any otherwise hostile to England than as it is a prayer for the preservation and success of France. So that, it now evidently appears, that these news editors have been actuated by the most diabolical malignity against men, from whom it is scarcely possible they can ever have received any injury, whom they have, perhaps, never seen, and of whom they can know nothing, even from report, except that they are persons distinguished for their loyalty and their piety. It is truly curious to hear these editors slandering the emigrants, while they affect to regard with horror the rebellion and usurpation of Buonaparté! The truth is, they do not dislike Buonaparté for his treasons against his Sovereign so much as for his hostility against them and their Presses. This latter crime it is for which they hate him, and for which they would kill him, if they could do it without risk to their own persons. The gross absurdities, into which they have fallen on this and some other subjects have induced their rivals in France to suspect, that they are inflicted with insanity; and, really, when one looks back over their columns, published since the dread of invasion has prevailed, and particularly since it has been known that Buonaparté has marked them out for the Cayenne Diligence, there does appear abundant reason to apprehend, that terror has affected their intellects, as well as those of certain persons in the City, who, for the present, shall be nameless, and who, if any judgment is to be formed from their language, are certainly deranged.

MR. SHERIDAN.- It is with no small degree of surprise, that we see Mr. Sheridan persevere in his senatorial silence. The public will remember what chearing was bestowed on this gentleman for the "English feeling" which he discovered, at the time when his Majesty's message of the 7th of March was communicated to Parliament; and, it will also remember, we trust, with indignation, the base use which the news-papers made of a reply, which he made to Mr. Windham, accusing that gentleman with want of spirit and with disheartening the country. Let the public nu draw a comparison between the conduct of Mr. Sheridan and that of Mr. Windham. Not a word does the former say, at this dangerous crisis; not a word; while the latter is constantly in his place, constantly attentive to his duty, constantly lending all the weight of his talents and his name to every measure calculated to defend and preserve the interest and honour of the country. This is, indeed, no more than his Sovereign and his Country, expect, and have a right to expect, at his hands. But, how then, will the patriots Fux and Grey, answer to that Sovereign, and that Country for their present conduct? Do they keep aloof, because they cannot venture to oppose measures, absolutely necessary to the existence of the nation? Do they lie by, for a reverse of fortune?

LONDON,

97]

LETTER IV.

1

July 16, 1803. DEAR SIR,-In my last letter I took the liberty of stating to you some ideas of mine concerning the plan, which I think it would be wise for this country to adopt for carrying on the war, in which it is at present engaged with France. I then stated to you, that I could make the restitution of the mo narchy of France in the person of the legi tim.te Prince, the avowed object of it.-That such an object is perfectly consistent with the views, on which the ministers, the parliament, and the country, do think and declare the present war necessary, cannot be denied by any one. But I should be inclined to go further, and to state that the very arguments adduced by ministers in proof of the necessity of the war, (arguments which I am far from disputing, and which I only blame them for not seeing and acting upon soon enough and vigorously enough,) these very arguments, I say, render it absolutely necessary that they should adopt this object, or be inconsistent with themselves.-For what is their argument. They state that we are "at war be"cause we cannot be at peace," and the reason that we cannot be at peace is, that there exists in the government of France that hostile mind, such a rooted and implacable enmity and feeling of hostility against this country, as can never be appeased or extinguished; and which, considering the little regard to treaties and the most solemn engagements, which that government shows in its conduct to other powers, renders it highly dangerous for any country to put itself off its guard, or to enter into any compact with it. Very good and solid arguments these; good now, good 20 months ago when the treaty of peace was in agitation. Mr. Windham, as I recollect, then stated them to the House of Commons, and to the country; the facts were then disputed, the existence of that hostile spirit was most unequi vocally denied by Lords Hawkesbury and Castlereagh; the former of whom asserted, VOL. IV.

199

that Buonaparté had asked pardon for his former conduct both of God and man!! In one of the Parliamentary Debates (a little before Christmas I think it was, certainly not sooner) I recollect that Mr. Windham alluding to the necessity of the last war, said that he wondered gentlemen were "not at least convinced now, of the necessity of it, if by no other argument, at

least by the then existing proof, of the "dangers and calamities of a state of peace "with the French revolutionary govern"ment."-That proof, however, was not enough to convince ministers of the instability of peace, of the unrelenting hostile. mind of the First Consul; for though they had themselves thought proper to violate an express stipulation of the treaty, by giving orders to retain the Cape of Good Hope, and thereby to commit an act of actual hostility, yet they went on asserting over and over again the prospect of its permanence. Nay, so convinced were they of this, that they actually, just before Christmas, adopted a measure, which themselves stated to have been unfit to be adopted at other times, than during peace, because the effect of it would be" for a time to unhinge all the proceed"ings of the different boards and depart"ments connected with the navy," and when they were pressed on that very account to abstain from passing the measure as rapidly as they intended, and were begged to let it lye over till after the Christmas recess, that they themselves on the one hand, and every other member of Parliament on the other, might have time and opportunity to inquire and learn what the effect of such a measure could be; so great was their hurry to adopt this measure, which would have the effect above stated so completely, as to be unfit to be adopted in any time but that of" profound peace," that they could not even delay it for six weeks.--On this occasion Mr. Addington himself stated, in reply to Lord Folkestone, who had proposed that delay,that though his Lordship mightentertain such a gloomy view of things, as not to

E

believe in the continuance of the present peace; yet he knew the country did not concur with him, and himself assuredly did not. This was spoken about two months after the peace had actually been broken by the order of my Lord Hobart to retain the Cape. I have mentioned these facts, in order to prove how slow his Majesty's ministers have been to be convinced of the hostile mind and intentions of France; and in order to infer that if they at length are so convinced, no reasonable man can fail of being so, at least as fully, and as entirely as themselves.

-They, then, and the country are now at length fully persuaded, that we cannot be at peace with the government of France, so long as it retains its present temper; its present hostile mind against us.What then is the inference.-One of these things must follow; either, 1st, that temper must be changed; or, 2d, that government must be destroyed; or, 3d, we must never expect peace again.-Now with respect to these three alternatives, though, I doubtless, am a strenuous advocate for all the opinions of those who have been stigmatized as friends to eternal war; yet, I for one must unequivocally reject the 3d consequence, as a thing not to be endured, the thought of which can never even be en ertained.And least of all should I be willing to admit it at the present moment; when, I believe, the country is more in want of peace, than it ever was at any former period; rejecting therefore, this third alternative altogether, we must try the probability of our ever attaining the other two. With respect to any change in the temper or views of France, or its inclination towards this country, I for one do despair of ever seeing any such change so long as the revolution lasts.. A jealousy between this country and France, a feeling of rivalry has existed, and even ought to exist; we used to feel it in England, and I think such a feeling is necessary for our safety. I think that is clearly proved now, for from the moment, when it began to be laid aside, we began that descent, which I fear we are still pursuing with increased momentum, and to the bottom of which we shall, without great exertion, soon arrive. This is not the moment for entering into an argument on this point; but if it were, I think it might be proved, that the Jaying aside our jealousy of republican France, is one great cause of our present degradation; and that, as frequently it occurs in bodily complaints, that the more a particular diet or habit impairs the health, the more the patient becomes addicted to that habit; so with us, the lower our

--

want of jealousy carries us, the more feeble our jealousy itself seems to become.-But, to return. Such a rivalry between the two countries is necessary to the well being and existence of both. But this rivalry is a very different thing from that bitter hostility, hatred, and animosity, which at present exis s in the mind of the government of France against Great Britain. That feeling has many ingredients, more in number, and more bitter in quality, than any which could enter into a rivalry betwixt two legitimate governments.- -It is, I am afraid, too powerful to feel that jealousy of our power, which is the principal and sole ingredient in the other case. But on the other hand, it feels as a country, that this is now the only nation that stands between it and the government of the world-It dreads the exertions, the means, the power, the abilities, of no other state -N; not of Russia, Russia is corporating with it, she thinks for her own aggrandizement but she is mistaken.-If Russia governs Asia, and France rules over Russia, who in fact is master of Asia? But this country has the means, has the power, has the ability, not only to prevent her attaining to universal empire, not only to check her triumphal progress, but to drive her back to her own limits, and to confine her to her own territory. We know this not, nor ever shall, so long as the present ministers are endured But France knows it, every Frenchman knows it, and burning as they all do, with an enthusiastic love of glory, and inordinate Just of empire, they hate us, as they must hate those who may stand in the way of the gratification of their appetites. And to this cause we may attribute all the moderation which the First Consul has displayed. I know it is fashionable to attribute to him every thing the very reverse of moderation; and two or three ridiculous acts of childish anger are brought as proof of his want of it. He may be passionate, he may be impetuous in his anger, and subject to fits of violent passion; but I maintain, that in his policy, he has been moderate; and I do think, that any man, who compares his power with our weakness, his energy with our debility, his activity with our slowness; will agree with me in that opinion. Do I rejoice at this? Do I think it is for good that he acts thus? I think he does so more surely to destroy us; and I think that for that purpose he has judged well.-He well knows how weak he is; he well knows on how crumbling and sandy a foundation his Empire is founded; he knows that if this country was roused to energy under proper hands,