DOMESTIC. In consequence of the arrival of dispatches at Windsor, on Monday morning at 7 o'clock, his Majesty gave immediate directions for preparations to be made for going to London with al possible speed. About one o'clock their Majesties arrived at Buckingham House. At 3 o'clock a Council was held at Buckingham House, which his Majesty attended; and at which were present the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Earl of Westmoreland, Lord Hobart, Lord Castlereagh, Mr. Bragge, &c. On Tuesday night, press warrants were issued and backed by the Lord Mayor. The press was very hot all that night and Wednesday. About 2000 seamen were picked up on the river and in the streets. They were seized in every part of the town, particularly in the city, in open day. The Admiralty Board has been sitting to a late hour every night since Saturday.-Orders have been dispatched to Chatham to get ready for sea, as quickly as possible, every ship that can be equipped for service. Orders have also been issued for the artificers in his Majesty's Dock Yards to work as much extra time as they possibly can, in completing the repairs of the ships of war now in dock, and of those ordered into dock, when there may be room for them. Orders have been issued at Portsmouth for the Captains of every ship in the harbour to repair to Spithead with all possible dispatch. Similar orders have also been sent to Plymouth. Several naval officers have been sent for to town. The first men impressed have been ordered to be sent to man such ships as are at Deptford and Woolwich, to expedite their getting to the Nore. The Hound sloop of war has come up to Deptford to the Tower, to receive the impressed. The army is to be recruited. To facilitate this object, H. R. H. the Duke of York has intimated to the proper officers, his Majesty's command that the standard for the recruits shall be reduced to 5 feet 5 inches, and that the levy money shall be raised to 6 guineas. Orders have been dispatched to all foreign stations. On Wednesday another Cabinet Council was held upon the present alarming state of affairs. PARLIAMENTARY MINUTES. Wednesday, Feb. 23.-COMMONS.-An account of different sums of money disbursed for the year 1802, was brought up.-Mr. Addington presented at the bar, an account of the money received, and to be received by the commissioners appointed under the Act of the 35th Geo. III. Ordered to be referred to the committee appointed to consider his Majesty's most gracious message.-Mr. Alexander presented a Report of the Mutiny Bill.— The Report of the Committee appointed to consider the Address to his Majesty, which was agreed to by the whole House.-The Chancellor of the Exchequer moved, that the order of the day for taking into consideration his Majesty's most gracious Message, (see p. 248) relative to the affairs of his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales be now read upon which a debate ensued; the speakers were Colonel Stanley, Mr. Addington, the Solicitor-General, Mr. Harrison, Lord Castlereagh, Mr. Sheridan, and Mr. Fox. Mr. Addington concluded with moving, "That it is the opinion of this "committee, that his Majesty be enabled to grant yearly any sum or sums of money out of the "Consolidated Fund of Great Britain, not ex"ceeding in the whole £60,000; being to take place from the 5th Jan. 1803, and to continue "until the 5th Jan. 1806, towards providing for "the better support and dignity of his Royal "Highness the Prince of Wales."-Motion agreed to 4 correct report of this debate will be given in the Supplement to Vol. 3.) Thursday, Feb. 24-LORDS.-Report of Bank Restriction Bill received and agreed to.- Lord Gwydir acquainted their Lordships, it was his Majesty's pleasure to receive the Address of the House at 2 o'clock this day.-The House accordingly proceeded to St. James's, with their Address. See p. 285. COMMONS-Lord Stopford reported to the House that his Majesty would be graciously pleas ed to receive the Address of the House this day at 3 o'clock. Report of the Address was then brought up, read, and agreed to.-The House proceeded to St. James's, to present the Address voted by the House to his Majesty. Saturday, Feb. 25 LORDS.-Counsel were heard relative to the Scotch Appeal, Finlayson, v. Innes and others -Bank Restriction Bill read a third time and passed.-Lord Pelham moved the order of the day, for taking his Majesty's Royal Message into consideration, relative to the affairs of his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales; which bes ing read, his Lordship rose to move an Address to his Majesty on the occasion; which, as usual, was a general re-echo of the Message.-Address voted nem. diss.—Lord Auckland moved for sundry accounts, previous to his discussion of the financial state of the country. A short, but interesting conversation ensued, which will be preserved in our Supplement to Vol. 3. The speakers were Lord Auckland, Moira, and Grenville. COMMONS. Mr. Addington moved, that the House be called over on Thursday next. Agreed to.-Militia Training Bill read a third time and passed. Monday, Feb. 28.-LORDS.-The royal assent given, by commission, to the Bank Restriction Bill.-Counsel finally heard relative to the Scotch appeal, Finlayson, v. Innes. After which the. Lord Chancellor stated the case, and concluded by moving, "That the Decree of the Scotch "court be affirmed by their Lordships, and that "the Appellant do pay £100 costs." Ordered.― Militia Exercise Bill, thiee Naturalization Bills, and two private bills were presented, and read a first time. COMMONS. On a motion by Lord Euston, James Trotter was ordered to be taken into custody of the Serjeant at Arms, for non-attendance as a witness on the Committee appointed to try the merits of the Dumfermlin election.-Lord Euston also moved, "That the deputy clerk of the 66 crown be ordered to produce the books of the "Dumfermlin district, in order that the name "of John Anderson, and all that relates to him, "be erased from the said books." Ordered.-Mr. Tyrwhitt made the following Official Communication from his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. "That the Prince has felt, with the most sin"cere and affectionate gratitude, the gracious purpose of his Majesty, in recommending his (6 present situation to the consideration of Par"liament. That having seen by the votes of "the Honse of Commons the manner in which "they have received his Majesty's recommenda❝tion, the Prince deems it incumbent on him "to express his warmest acknowledgment of "their liberality; at the same time the Prince, "though fully convinced of the propriety of resuming his state, and greatly regretting any cir 66 "cumstance which tends to disappoint the wishes "of his Majesty, or of the House upon that sub"ject, yet feels himself bound explicitly to declare, that there are still claims remaining upon "his honour and his justice, for the discharge of "which he must continue to set apart, in trust, a "large sinking fund, and consequently postpone, "until the period of their liquidation, the resump❝tion of that state and dignity, which, however "essential to his rank and station, he knows "from dear-bought experience, could not, under his present circumstances, be resumed without "the risk of incurring new difficulties.-The "Prince thinks that he owes it to himself, and to "Parliament, to make this declaration to them, "with the same distinctness as he stated it to his "Majesty's government, upon the first communi"cation made to him of his Majesty's benign in"tentions. With respect to the Prince's claim to * an account of the revenues which accrued from "the Duchy of Cornwall from the year 1762 to 1783, however strong his confidence in the va"lidity of his claim, a confidence fortified by the strongest legal authorities, yet as he trusts that "through the gracious interposition of his Ma"jesty, and the liberality of Parliament, he shall "be enabled otherwise to provide for those de"mands on his justice, which alone induced him "to assert his right, he now cheerfully relinquishes his suit, and has directed his law oth"cers to forego all further proceedings." Mr. Calcraft said, he had not heard any sufficient reason assigned for his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales not immediately resuming his state and dignity, and should on Friday bring for ward a motion on that subject.-Mr. Erskine said, that such a motion was without the authority of his Royal Highness.-Mr. Sheridan moved, that the Prince's gracious communication be entered on the Journals. Ordered.-Pancras Workhouse Bill read a first and second time. Sir F. Burdett presented a petition against the bill. Tuesday, March 1.-COMMONS.-The AttorneyGeneral of Ireland moved for leave to bring in a bill to prevent the forging of bank notes of Ireland. Report of the Expiring Laws Bill brought up.-Mr. Addington brought up a bill for allowing his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales an annuity of £60,000 a year, during the period of three years, and for repealing so much of an Act as authorised the appointment of commissioners, to expend the sum of £13,000 out of the Duchy of Cornwall, for the discharge of the debts incurred by his Royal Highness.-Bill read a first time. Wednesday, March 2.-Bill tor a-similating the Proceedings in the Law Courts of Ireland to those in the correspondent Courts of Great Britain, read a first time. In a committee of the House on the Irish Revenue Acts, Mr. Corry moved, "That the duties, commonly called customs, be rendered permanent in Ireland: that the duties on stamps he made permanent: that the revenues of the Post-Office be rendered permanent. Resolutions agreed to-Leave given to bring in a bill to prevent malicious cutting of cattle, and for punishing chalkers in Ireland: also another for the more effectual prevention of torging bills of exchange and Bank of Ireland bills.-Prince of Wales' Annuity Bill read a second time.-Mutiny Act read a third time and passed In a Committee of Supply, the Chancellor of the Exchequer moved, That the sum of £1,032,151 4s. 8d. be granted, for the purpose of detraying the charge of extraor dinary expenses of the Army from Dec. 25, 1801, to Dec. 25, 1802, not provided for by Parliament. -Agreed to. Thursday, March 3-LORDS.-Militia Training Bill read a second time. COMMONS-Mr. Fox presented a petition from the druggists of Westminster, against the Medicine Act.-Report of the Committee of Supply on the Irish Duty Bills brought up and agreed to.Irish Revenue-Officers Disqualifying Bill read a third time and passed.-Mr. Vansittart moved for accounts of the number of ships entered in and cleared out of the different ports of Great Britain for three years; also an account of the amount of the bounties on flax, hemp, &c.-Ordered. [The Parliamentary Minutes will be brought up in Our next.] From the London Gazette, March 5, 1803.-St. James's, the 2d of March, his Majesty in Council was this day pleased to appoint-J. Johnes, Esq. of Dolecothy, to be Sheriff of the County of Caermarthen, instead of J. Llewellyn of Castle Piggin, Esq.-E. Kendall, of Beaufort, Esq. to be Sheriff of the County of Brecon, instead of S. Gwynne, of Twimawr, Esq. Whitehall, March 4.-The King has been pleased to grant to George Harrison, Esq. (Norroy King of Arms), the Office of Clarenceux King of Arms, and Principal Herald of the South, East, and West Parts of that Part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called England, in the room of Thomas Lock, Esq. late Clarenceux, deceased. Dublin Castle, Feb. 22.-His Majesty, by his Royal Letters, having appointed the Most Noble George Augustus Marquis of Donegall to be of his Most Hon. Privy Council of Ireland, his Lordship this day in Council took the usual oaths and his place at the Board accordingly. Crown-Office, March 5.-Member returned to serve in this present Parliament.-Borough of Yarmouth.-Chas Mac Donnell, of the City of Westminster, Esq. in the room of James Patrick Murray, Esq. who hath accepted the Office of Steward of his Majesty's Manor of East Hundred, in the County of Berks. Whitehall, March 8.-The King has been pleased to appoint the Reverend Peter M'Master to the Church and Parish of New Luce, in the Presbytery of Stranraer, and County of Wigtown.-The King has also been pleased to present the Rev. Andrew Jameson to the Church and Parish of St. Mungo, in the Presbytery of Lochmaben, and County of Dumfries, vacant by the death of the Rev. D. Dickson, late Minister there. Berlin, Feb. 26.-The Queen of Prussia was safely delivered of a Princess on Wednesday last the 23d inst. Her Majesty and the young Princess continue as well as can be expected. BANKRUPT - Joggatt, W. Bridgewater-square, merchant.-Hord, W. York, merchant.-Green, J. Reading, mealman.- Malone, P. Manchester, shoemaker. Finigan, J. Bishopsgate, muslin dyer.Cooper, J. Sen. and Jun. Sevenoaks, coopers.Leigh, A. Shoc-lane, smith.-Dow, J, Bush-lane, Cannon-street, merchant.-Tench, J. Jun. Tokenhouse-yard, merchant.-Clements, R. New Buckenham, Norfolk, shop keeper.-Baylis, J. Croome Dabitot, builder.-Whitby, R. Manchester, cotton-spinner. Shallcross, S. and R. Barnes, Manchester, cotton manufacturers. -Drayton, J. Carsbalton, victualler. Births. On Tuesday, the 1st, Lady Paget, of a son.-On Friday, the 4th, the Lady of Lord Middleton, of a daughter. Marriage,-On the 5th inst. at Bath, Lt. Col. A. Colston to Miss Warrington. Rye. .......... Qats ........ .... Eng. Wheat prq.44. to 58s Hops per cwt. 110s to 140s 32..34 Hay per load.... 83..140 20..25 Beef, per stone 4s.6d. to 6s. 40..44 Mutton 4s. 8d. to 5s 4d. 13..19 Veal 5s. od. to 7s. od. Pease (white).... 31..38 Pork.... 4s. 8d. to 6s. od. Beans (horse).... 31..35 Tallow. 4s. 2d. Flour per sack.. 44..47 Av. of Sugar pr cw 39s. 4d. Seconds..... 40..44 Salt, per Bushel 13s.10d. Coals per chal....50..00 Bread 9d the Quar. Loaf. ....... TO THE RT. HON. LORD HAWKESBURY. "They shall seek peace, and there shall MY LORD-This was the motto which I prefixed to the volume of letters, addressed to your lordship, in October, 1801, just after the signature of those preliminaries, that led to the disgraceful and ignominious peace of Amiens. The former part of this prediction has now been most amply fulfilled: the deluded people of this country have sought peace, and there has been none; mischief has come upon mischief, and rumour has been upon rumour; and, my lord, let those who are concerned be well assured, that, unless you and your colleagues are instantly removed from the councils of the King, and unless a new system of policy be adopted by your successors, the latter part also of this awful prediction will meet with a speedy accomplishment. I have taken, on this occasion, the form of a letter, my lord, not for the purpose of troubling your troubled mind with any new remarks, but merely as a vehicle for certain extracts, intended to remind you and your colleagues of your errors, and to give my readers another proof of your ignorance and your obstinacy.-The first which I shall take is from my Letters on the Preliminaries of Peace, written in October, 1801.--" Me"thinks I hear you make a triumphant separates our shores from theirs. Naval tac"tics are not necessary in an enterprize, "the success of which requires but a few "hours of favourable wind. The French "having no enemy to dread on their land"board, may easily maintain, and they will maintain, a numerous army along the coast from Brest to the Texel. This army they may double at any moment they please, by those sudden and efficacious means, "which are become familiar to the people; "and, my lord, however you may be dis 66 posed to sneer, one and the same southerly "wind may bring four armies on our coasts. "It is not necessary to name the points of "embarkation or disembarkation, the enemy "is perfectly acquainted with the subject. "Great Britain will, as the least possible "evil, be obliged to maintain a numerous army, "to repel an invasion, and numerous fleets to "prevent the invaders from approaching ber "shores. We shall never know when an " "Hope, and to India. We shall not, as I "observed before, dare to enquire into the extent, destination, and object, of these armaments. We must observe their ope"rations in silence, and our first notice of bostility will be a preparation for resistance; for France will not suffer us to embark a single regiment, without rendering her a "full and satisfactory account. The military and naval establishment for such a 66 peace cannot be much less expensive than "what would have been necessary for the continuance of the war, or else it will be totally insufficient. It will not even be "attended with the advantage of forcing " the enemy to incur a proportionate expense; for the French government, cer"tain of having land forces at its command, whenever it shall have occasion for them, will always be able to diminish them "with facility; and, consequently, to ap"propriate to the navy a great part of the "funds, now employed for the support of "the army.-The consequences of this state 66 because I refused to illuminate it, in approbation of the compact by which you and your colleagues had ruined and dishonoured the country. You laughed, or rather, you grinned, on that occasion; you made my injuries a subject of mockery; backed by the shouts of the base million, you thought yourself secure from the vengeance of reason and of truth. I reminded you then, that the hour of retribution would come, and that a weak foundation, slippery and un"sure, had he who built upon the vulgar "heart." This hour, my lord, is now fast approaching; and, if I had a mind as low as that of your lordship, I should prepare for exercising on you a severe retaliation.But, my lord, objects widely different engage my thoughts. I think of the dangers to which my country is exposed, dangers which can no longer be hidden, and which must be met and overcome by our virtue and valour, or we must be the slaves, the abject, the toiling slaves, of the most cruel and impious tyranny that God, in his just indignation, ever sent as a scourge to a base and degene rate people. of uneasiness, mistrust, expense, and danger on the one part; and of threats, intrigues "and bostile preparations on the other, which is honoured with the name of peace, will enable the French, suddenly, and with the greatest advantage, to renew a war, which will be pregnant with the great"est danger to England, inasmuch as the "French will have had time to collect their "forces and their means of attack, so as "to bear upon those points which they have "in view; and as they will, moreover, "have it in their power to choose both their "time and their point of attack.-But, "the noisy partisans of peace, of any peace "whatever, even of the name of peace, will "exclaim-Is England, then, condemned to wage perpetual war with France? Yes, In this situation, my lord, I could have earnestly wished to hear, in the parliament, language more bold and decisive. To Lord Moira and Mr. Sheridan " spirited and animating" speeches have been ascribed, in the public papers. The former spoke like a man worthy of his name and his rank, and to the speech of the latter I have no objection, except that the reporter makes it altribute to Mr. Windham a sentiment which that gentleman never uttered, to wit; that this country, single-banded, is unable to con tend against France. I rejoice to hear these speeches of Lord Moira and Mr. Sheridan applauded in the public papers; I rejoice that they think our country capable of such noble exertions; but, when the tardy expression of these sentiments is brought forward in order to throw an odium on those of the gentlemen, who, from the first moment, reprobated the fatal measure, which has produced our preseut embarrassment, I must not, and will not be silent. From this consideration it is, that I remind my readers that Lord Moira, in defending the Peace, explicitly declared, that this country, single handed, was not able to contend against France. To negociate," said his lordship. my lord, she is, and it is your peace "which has reduced her to this lamentable "necessity. It has suddenly transported to "France a part of our force and of our riches; "and in a few years it will give her a naval "superiority. In all quarters, and with "inconceivable rapidity, it multiplies her "means of attack and diminishes our "means of defence. It leaves our enemy "armed and prepared; it compels us also "to remain under arms. This peace, then, "my lord, is a real state of war." (Letters on the Peace, p. 98).-These letters, my lord, were first published, during the very height of that " tumult of exultation and delirium of joy," which your preliminaries excited; and, I was actually engaged in writing the letter, from which this extract is made, at the very moment when the infamous peaceloving rabble came to demolish my house, " a peace, with any prospect of success, "ministers must necessarily accommodate. "the terms according to the relative situa"tions of the two countries, and a precise "reciprocity of cession on a pertinacious " contest, for the uli possidetis, was out of "the question where a WEAKER power bad "to treat with a STRONGER. As to Mr. us in a worse situation than we were previous to Sheridan, he also approved of the peace, that measure, would have been to acknowledge upon the sole ground of necessity, and styled that that peace was not "a peace of neces it" a peace that every man must be GLAD of, sity," that it was not a peace that every man "but that no man could be PROUD of." A ought to be glad of," though "involving peace, "involving a degradation of the nation- a degradation of the national dignity "He al dignity, which no truly English beart can had advanced these opinions in order to feel with indifference. " Are we then, justify his reprobation of the war, and his new my lord, become more strong, and is France set of opinions is intended to justify his joy become more weak since the time when these at the peace! CONSISTENCY is a very good declarations were made? Has the respec- thing, but, when purchased at a price like tive power of the two nations been brought this, it is somewhat too dear. nearer to an equality by the surrender of St. Pierre and Miquelon, Surinam, Berbice, Essequibo, Tobago, St. Lucie, Martinico, Elba, Minorca, and the Cape of Good Hope, on our side, and by the possession of those places on the side of France? Or has this equality been produced by the reduction of our army and the dismantling of our fleet, while the army of Buonaparte has been augmented, while he has filled his naval arsenals, received an accession of 20,000 French sailors, ten thousand Dutch, and seven thousand English, together with a great number of those artisans, which previous to the peace, were employed in our dock yards? Finally, not to grate your lordship's soul with too long and painful an enumeration, has this equality of means and of strength been produced by a separation, on our part, from all our continental allies, by the total distrust and contempt of us upon the continent, and by the acquisition, on the part of France, of a complete predominance in Germany, by her virtual possession of Holland, Switzerland, and Italy, and by the actual annexation of Piedmont ? Is this the change, my lord, which has rendered us able to cope, single handed, with France? Is it on this change that the noble earl and the honourable gentleman build their change of opinion? Or do these their new hopes arise from the "husbanding of our resour«ces," from the vast mass of treasure, which your right sapient colleague has been able to save during these ten months of feverish repose?-Lord Moira censured no one's opinion; I believe, and hope, that he has changed his own, not upon any favourable change in our circumstances, but upon a conviction that he was in an error. This, however, I shall not hastily allow with respect to Mr. Sheridan, who appears to me to have sought a pretext for condemning the opinion of Mr. Windham, because, to have acknowledged that gentleman in the right, to have acknowledged that the peace had placed See Debates on the Treaty, Register, Vol. II. p. 1107. +Ibid, p. 1096. 66 I was much pleased, my lord, to hear Lord Auckland give it as his opinion, that we were able, single handed, to contend against the monstrously augmented force of our enemy; but, I could have wished, that his lordship's confidence had been built on a foundation more solid than that of mere pecuniary means. I noticed, in my letters to Mr. Addington, on the preliminaries of peace, that his lordship had long entertained a high opinion of the virtue of this species of force. "War," says he, " is now becme a science of MONEY. That side must first "quit the field, whose exchequer first fails." One might have hoped, that the result of our two last wars, in both which, with unshaken credit, we quitted the field before a bankrupt enemy, would have cured his lordship of this error. But, men are apt to attach most importance to the science which they best understand; and, as his lordship has some little knowledge in calculation, he is naturally inclined to oppose money, or rather figures, to men and arms. After, however, the total inutility of the noble, and almost incredible exploits, of Sir Francis d'Ivernois, whom the French call le chevalier d'arithmétique, we should, I think, be very cautious how we place confidence in the ef fects of this science.-Your lordship, too, was pleased, to lay great stress on credit, capital, and confidence," which words were, by some persons, taken to have a cabalistic meaning, and to possess, when properly ap plied, the nature and powers of what the vulgar call a spell or charm. But, taking them in their literal sense, it was rather an unfortunate moment for his lord 64 |