months after this estimate went forth to the world, you came to Parliament with another, founded upon the experience which that space of time had afforded you. In this second estimate of the establishment of the present peace, you rise from £4,823,842 to £10,533,000 (5). But, this is still short of the real expenditure; for, in the very same speech, in which you made this estimate, you ask for supplies, for the year 1803, to the amount of £14,957,325 which supplies have since been voted by the Parliament, as follows: (6) Navy, ordinaries, extraordinaries, and buildings...... Army and extraordinaries Difference between the estimate of 21st £6,669,378 7,500,000 787,947 14,957,325 4,823.842 June, and that of the 10th of Dec. 10,133,483 Thus, then, here is the trifling sum of ten millions added to your first estimate of the annual expenditure of the present peace! And, pray, Sir, let it not be said, that circumstances had changed, that France was become more powerful or more hostile; for, this last mentioned estimate was laid before the parliament just after you had resolved, a second time, to surrender the Cape of Good Hope, and at a time when you talked of nothing but peace and economy. Let it not be insinuated, that you could not foresee the present crisis; for, I make no allusion to it. The armament is laid totally out of my calculations and my reasoning: I am merely comparing the estimate, which you made upon a prospect of peace, on the 21st of June, with that which you made, upon the same prospect of peace, on the 10th of December: I am speaking of the savings of peace, and not of the expenses of a new war. Your peace was made and justified upon the principle of economy: it is upon that principle that I am now trying it, withcut any reference to the expenses, which will be brought on the country by the present armament, and which have already arisen out of the disbanding and dismantling system of you and your colleagues: these will enter into another view of the subject at present, my object is to expose the fallacy of your estimates, as applicable to a state of peace, to a continuation of that peace, by the means of which you were to "husband our resources;" those estimates, by which the people have been deluded, and (3) See Register, Vol. II. p. 782. (6) Ibid. p. 779. by which you have prolonged your ill-gotten and worse-employed power. Ten millions! A sum nearly equal to the whole of our expenditure some years ago : and this sum now constitutes the difference only in your different estimates of the same peace establishment! Buonaparté had extended his power, it is true; but, he had siezed on Elba, Italy, and Piedmont, previous to the signature of the treaty; and, as to Germany and Switzerland, those were points which you had yielded previous to your second estimate. If you were apprehensive of approaching war, in the month of December, to what are we to attribute your second order to surrender the Cape? And, if you were not, if you had returned to your former confidence in the pacific disposition of France, how will you account for the more than tripling of your estimate of the naval and military expenditure of peace? Either you believed your estimate of June to be correct, or you did not. If the latter, what becomes of your candour; if the former, where is your understanding? But, it is not your character; that were a trifle; it is the character of the parliament and of the nation that is herein committed. Your estimate of June went forth, not only to the people of this country, but to the whole monied and commercial world, sanctioned by a vote of the House of Commons, on the votes of whose proceedings it is recorded. If a statement thus solemnly made, passed, and promulgated, be found totally destitute liance? Where are they to look for authenof truth, on what are men to place their retic information? Where are they to seek for the grounds of public confidence? The House of Commons suffered itself in this, as it has done in too many other instances, to be the ladder of ministerial ambition; and, when the aspiring individual is a Walpole, a Chatham, or a Pitt, one may find something to pall ate, though nothing to justify, such blind acquiescence; but, that an assembly, chosen by the people to watch pecially those of a pecuniary nature; that over all their public interests, and more essix hundred noblemen and gentlemen, selected for their wisdom, their integrity, and their diligence, and calling themselves the constitutional guardians of the national purse; that, amongst these persons, no one should have been found to say NO to an estimate so glaringly fallacious; that they should all, all have become tame, passive instruments in your hands, the tools wherewith to work your way into the wealth and honours of the country, is a fact that stings one to the soul. Thousands of whigs bawling for parliamentary reform, tens of thou sands of republicans raving for liberty and equality, millions of canting miscreants praying for the reign of the saints, are not, with all their united exertions, half so dangerous to the government of England as one fact like this; the natural and inevitably tendency of which is, first to disgust, and finally to alienate, every man, able and willing to render service to the state. I should now enter on the remaining part of my task; but, as I perceive, that the comparison which I purpose to draw between the receipts and expenses of peace and those of war, if war had been continued, would require more room than I have at present to spare, I shall defer the two last topics of my proposed discussion to my next. I have the honour to be, Sir, yours, WM. COBBETT. &c. &c. Duke Street, Westminster, April 5, 1803. APOTHECARIES HALL.-FIRST OF APRIL. Celebration of Mr. Hiley Addington's Birthday; and Anniversary of the arrival of the Treaty of Amiens (1). The attendance of Friday did credit to the nation. The company began to assemble at an early hour. The friends of the Family were in great numbers, and in high spirits. The preparations were splendid in the extreme, and would have been amply sufficient for the whole number of guests, had not the Reading Long Coach suddenly driven up to the door just as the company were sitting down to dinner, with a reinforcement not the less welcome for being unexpected. The passengers consisted of persons who had distinguished themselves at the Reading Ball, on the First of October in last year (2), and who came in the expectation of hearing another Speech on Peace, similar to the one which was addressed to them on that occasion, just two days previous to the remonstrance against the subjugation of Switzerland. As soon as the arrangements of politeness between the London guests and their rural invaders were satisfactorily adjusted, the company sat down to dinner. The decorations of the table were in a style highly creditable to the taste of the officer of the Hall, entrusted with the care of that department. The centre ornaments consisted of models of ships of the line, in pastry-work, to the (1) A circumstantial account of the celebra tion of the Minister's Birth-day on Michaeļmas day last, will be found in Vol. 1. p. 1034. (2) Sec Vol. II. p. 1035. exact number of fifty, each bearing on its flag the date of its preparation for sea, all of them within the space of one lunar month; in allusion to Mr. Addington's famous pledge in the House of Commons. As soon as the cloth was removed, and after the usual preliminary toasts, the Chairman gave "The Peace of Amiens; the conciliation which governed, and the firmness which maintains it;" which was drank with rapturous applause. This was followed by the well-known fa vourite song of "The Pilot that Moored us in Peace (3)," composed in praise of the elder Mr. Addington, as it is supposed by the younger. The following stanza in this Justly popular and well-timed ballad :— O take then, for honour awith spirit maintained, For councils, by judgment and prudence matured; O take, for the Peace, which thy Wisdom has gained, The thanks of an Empire whose rights are secured was received with a thunder of applause and exultation, and loudly and repeatedly encored. Its happy application to existing circumstances, seemed to make a forcible impression on the feelings of all who were present. The next toast was very appropriate, being suggested in great part by the ornaments on the table already described. "The Premier's three promises-Profound peace, fifty sail of the line in a month, and a million surplus at the end of the year." We must leave to the sensibility of our readers to imagine the delirium of pleasure. which this toast occasioned. When his speeches hobble vilely, What "hear him!" burst from Brother Hiley; Nothing could exceed the effect of this exquisite little piece of poetry. The toast which succeeded, and which concluded the festivity of the day, was adapted to the particular day and occasion of meeting; and was in, some sort a question put for the decision of the company. "May the Peace of Amiens be annually commemorated on the first of April !" 66 If we may judge from the reception which it met with, this sentiment was congenial to the wishes and feelings of all those to whom it was addressed; and we have little doubt that, for years to come, (should it please Buonaparté to continue to us the present advantageous peace, and to countenance the present respectable" administration, so long), we shall have to announce to our readers that this first of treaties, concluded under the auspices of the first of ministers, has been appropriately celebrated on the first of the month in which we are now writing; and we are persuaded, that long after the treaty of Amiens shall have been not only annulled, but utterly disbelieved, and the name of Addington irretrievably forgotten, there will remain attached to the first of April a certain pecuJiar character of simple sacredness and holiday gaiety, for which future ages will, perhaps, be at a loss to account, but which will, in fact, have originated from the double celebration of Friday. PUBLIC PAPERS. OFFICIAL PAPERS RELATIVE TO GOREE. The Commandant and Administrator-General of Senegal and its Dep ndencies, to the Minister for Naval and Colonial Affairs.—S negal, J. n. 5, 1803. Citizen Minister, I have the honour to address to you the subjoined correspondence between myself and Colonel Frazer, Governor of Goree, since my arrival at Senegal, in order that you may thereby understand in what manner that Governo, for the King of Great Britain, appears to evade the restitution of the Isle of Gorec, even after having assure! me, it at he would very soon specify the very day upon which he should be ready actually to cede it. Not knowing what might be his true motives for an evasive conduct so extraordinary, I have thought it my duty to inform you of the fact, as soon as it appeared 10 me to be attended with suspicious circumstances. I have the honour to inform you, that I have, for this end, dispatched the galliot La Légère to Rochfort, as the most certain and expeditious means that I could on this occasion employ.Blanchot. Jan 26. Since the date of the above letter, I have received another letter from Goree, which I likewise submit. The Commandant and Administrator-General of Senegal and its Dependencies, to Col. Frazer, Governor for his Britannic Majesty of the Isle of Goree.-Sen:gal, Oct. 30, 1802. Governor, I have the honour to address to you the subjoined orders from his Majesty, the King of Great Britain, respecting the restitution of Goree. Having orders to take possession of that Isle and the factories dependent upon it, as Commissary for the French Republic, I request you to inform me on what day it may be most agreeable to you, that we should carry into effect the orders of our respective Governments; and that the French garrison should go to relieve the garrison of his Britannic Majesty now in the Isle. have given orders to Citizen Montfort, Enseigne de vaisseau, the bearer of this letter, and of the dispatches from his Britannic Majesty, to inquire, at the same time, whether you have orders to return the salute of our artillery with an equal number of guns? He will also signify to you, that I have the greatest pleasure in the prospect of seeing you personally, and of passing some short time in your company, which this occasion affords. Permit me, Sir, to recommend to your civilities, during his stay at Goree, this officer, who is known to me for honourable conduct, and who, on this occasion, offered himself to be the bearer of these dispatches, instead of my Aid-deCamp.-Blanchot. 9, Sir, I have had the honour to receive your letter of the 26th of last month, by which, I am informed that you have authority, as Commissary of the French Republic, to take possession of this Isle, and are also the bearer of orders from his Britannic Majesty to me, relative to the same object. I am ready to deliver up this place to you as soon as a transport, which I expect, shall furnish me with the means of evacuation, and of carrying away the garrison, provisions, &c.-The arrival of this transport may be speedily expected from the measures 1 have taken for that purpose. -As soon as the trapsport arrives, I shall have the honour to write to you in order to settle the day for restoring to you this Isle, conformably to the orders of our respective Governments. I rely also upon the obliging offer you have communicased to me verbally by your Aid de-Camp, M. Montfort, that assistance will serve to convey part of my provisions to Sierra Leone, the quan.. tity being rather large. Your salute shall be returned gun for gun.-Permit me to congratulate you upon your return to a colony which you have been able to preserve during so long a war, and to assure you of the pleasure I shall have in culți. M. Governor,-Citizen Montfort has delivered to me the letter you did me the honour to write to me, under date of the 9th Nov. 1802 (18th Brumaire). The uncertainty in which it places the day upon which we shall be able to carry into execution the orders of our respective Governments, has determined me to dispatch immediately the corvette Impatient, charged with a mission posterior to the resuming the possession of the Isle of Goree, and to make use for that object of a sloop and a cutter of the Republic, which are to remain here under my orders.-I join with Citizen Arnous, Lieutenant-Commander of the Impatient, in intreating you to procure him the succours which he may want during his stay in Goree Harbour, where he is going to wood and water. As the arrival of the transport which you expect may cause a delay in the execution of our respective orders, which might, perhaps, bring upon us the reproach of dilatoriness, which certainly neither of us would wish to deserve, I have the honour to observe to you, that we may effect the resuming the possession of the Isle of Goree, before the arrival of your transport, by tak. ing all the precautions which you may think necessary to ensure the preservation of the articles which the transport may afterwards carry away. One of the vessels which I shall carry with me, may be employed in the conveyance of your garrison to Sierra Leone, and another in the conveyance of your person and some effects. I beg you to take into consideration, what I have the honour to propose to you, and to inform me of your dispositions. Receive, Sir, the assurances of my sensibility, and extreme gratitude, for the obliging and flattering expressions at the conclusion of your letter, and be persuaded, that I am impatient to have the honour of seeing you, and thanking you in person, Health, esteem, and consideration.-Blanchot. Sir,-Your letter of the 27th Brumaire, I received the day before yesterday, and I avail myself of the opportunity of a ship, on the point of setting sail for Senegal, to acknowledge the recipt of it. You have stated to me that you were ready to receive this plate. I regret extremely that there should be any delay in delivering it up to you; but to my great astonishment, no transport has yet arrived to carry away the garrison. Yet I do not know of any example of an English garrison having evacuated an island restored by a treaty of peace, under any flag but its own; and as (unless the conveyance of the troops elsewhere was immediately necessary) I might be severely reprimanded for quitting the place in such a manner; an effect to which, I am convinced, you would not have me expose myself. I beg you not to be displeased at my deferring a final answer to your proposal to procure French ships to carry away the present garrison of Goree, until the return of a ship which I have dispatched to Sierra Leone, and which I expect very shortly, as the wind has been very favourable since she sailed.I will not fail, in case of the arrival of any trans port whatever, to give you immediate notice of it. This circumstance will be the more deshable, because it appears to me that the vessels at your disposal at Senegal would not be sufficient, without farther assistance, to carry away the garrison and the provisions. I have the honour to be, &c. &c.-John Frazer. P. S. Captain Mallard having informed me of his intention of going to Senegal, I have begged him to deliver this letter to you, and to assure you of my impatience to surrender the isle to you as soon as I shall have sufficient means for conveying the garrison and the provisions. This letter is followed by two from the French Commandant, in the first of which he thanks Colonel Frazer for having informed him that he had taken up four French sailors who had deserted, and whom he had sent on board two French ships. In the second letter, he acquaints the Colonel, that, in order to avoid expense and delay, he had sent on board an American ship, provisions for the use of the French, atter the surrender of Goree. He requests the Colonel to give the requisite assistance to the officers sent to place them in magazines, and to take care of them.in a subsequent letter, dated December 19, Colonel Frazer informs General Blanchot, that he had received his letter by M. Dainville, and had allowed that gentleman to bring on land certain quantities of provisions intended for the future use of the French; and that the galliot he had dispatched to Sierra Leone, had returned with letters from the Governor; that a transport to carry away the British from Goree would sail on the 4th or 5th of December. In another letter of the 26th of Dec. Colonel Frazer writes, that since his last, Commodore Hollowell, in the Argo, had, in the course of a voyage for the annual inspection of the British establishment, on the coast of Africa, touched at Goree, and informed Colonel Frazer, that a part of the stares and provisions which Colonel Frazer meant to have taken to Sierra Leone were intended to be used in a different service; in consequence it became necessary to await the arrival of a ves el dispatched from England with particular orders respecting those stores, before it be possible for the British to evacuate Goree-An answer to those two letters, dated January 4th, signifies to Colonel Frazer, that General Blanchot, being willing to take charge of whatever stores the British should find it convenient to leave, for a time, at Gorce, would expect, that the day previously fixed for the cession of the isle, should not be altered on account of any change in the destination of those stores, and wou d therefore come to take possession of the isle on the day agreed upon, unless he should again hear from Colonel Frazer, with a more decisive refusal of the cession, upon weightier reasons. To this letter Colonel Frazer sent the following answer: Goree, Jan. 14, 1803. Sir,-In answer to your letter of the 4th instant, which I had the honour to receive on the Irth. I must beg leave to refer you to my letter of the 26th of Dec. 1802; and to observe, that, in consequence of the information which I announced to you, that I had received from Commodore Hollowell, subsequent to the date of my letter of Dec. 19th; it appears necessary for me to wait here at least some time, for the arrival of a vessel from England, instead of proceeding, as I had proposed, to embark the troops and all other things whatsoever, on board the transport from Seria Leone. This is so much the more rese.sary, bee cause, as the Commodore sailed nearly in the cu¿ of October, it is highly probable that the vessel which I expect may arrive one of these days. I should, therefore, have wished to delay writing to you till I might have been able to announce that vessel's arrival, if I had not feared that such a delay might appear to imply a want of due regard for yourselt personally, to whom it is my earuest desire to testify all possible respect upon this occasion.-Permit me to add, that as you expressed in your letter of the 18th of November, an ap prehension lest any delay in the restitution of Gotee should bring upon us the blame of our res spective governments, I shall be ready to do you justice, and to become personally responsible for any blame that may arise on account of a delay which has been occasioned by unavoidable accidents as to time. John Fraser. To this letter, the following is the answer of General Blanchot. Senegal, Jan. 15. SIR,-I yesterday received your letter of the 14th January, 1803, in which you do me the honour to say, that you refer me to your letter of the 26th December last, by which I had been informed, that though the transport you expected from Sierra Leone had arrived it appeared to you necessary, since the arrival of the Argo, to await the arrival of another vessel before you could effectuate the restitution of Goree. In consequence of this, I shall not repair to Goree till you do me the honour of informing me, that nothing remains to retard the execution of our respective orders. am infinitely grate ul for what you say in your last letter, obliging to myself personally in regard to the delays of the restitution of Gorce. But, I hope, that the precautions I have taken, will preserve me from all blame.I, however, intreat you, Sir, to accept my thanks, with the assurance of my esteem and consideration.-Blanchot. FOREIGN OFFICIAL PAPERS. FRENCH MANIFESTO inserted in the Hamburgh Correspondenten, of the 1st of April, 1803, at the Desire of the First Comal, and dated Paris, March 15. For several months past, a paper war has been carried on between the French and English journalists and pamphleteers. This was in a manner the last dying ember of an extinguished confiagration; the last comfort of a despairing faction; the nourishment of pitiful passions, or of hungry scribblers. The French Government was, therefore, not disposed to consider it as a matter of importance. Although some difficulties prevailed, with respect to the complete execution of the treaty of Amiens, yet France relied on the justice, of Britain, and eniployed herself exclusively with the restoration of her colonies. Trusting to the sanctity of treaties, she dispersed the remnant of her maritime power, which had been sacrificed to the English feets.--Suddenly appears a solemn message from the Cabinet of St. James's, and informs all Europe, that France is making immense preparations in her harbours and in those of Holland; a proposal is made in Parliament, to grant extraordinary means of defence to the King of England, such as are consistent with the security of the British Empire, and with the honour of the three crowns. The sudden appearance of such a Message, renders it doubtful, whether it is the effect of treason, or insanity, or of imbecility. If, on the one hand, we cast a view on the ports of France and Holland, where we dis over naval armaments consisting only of a few ships of the life and some frigates, destined for different coand other, contemplate the har bours of England filled with a formidable naval, power, we are tempted to believe, that the Message of the King of England implies merely a coarse irony, if this farce were not unworthy of the majesty of government. On considering the influence of factions, in a country boasting of its liberty, it may be supposed, the King of Enggland has only yielded to weakness, if weakness were compatible with the principal qualification, of a King, consequently there remain no other rational motives than those of dishonesty; of avowed enmity to the French nation; of perjury, and a desire of publicly violating a solemn treaty, in order to retain advantages, the renunciation of which is demanded by the honour of France, and by the faith of treaties-On reading this Message, we believe we exist in the times of those treaties which the Vandals concluded with the degenerated Romans; when power supplied the place of public faith; when the enemy to be assailed was previously calumniated with armed precipitation. In this modern state of civilization, there is a certain respect which a great mo narch, a polished people, owe to each other; even though it consisted only in finding a reasonable. pretext for an unjust war, But here every thing is fictitious, clumsy, unjust; eternal warfare will follow a shocking war: the more unjust the attack, the more irreconcileable must be the hatred. -Such a piece of news will doubtless excite the indignation of Europe. While Englishmen themselves, who are not completely dazzled by national pride, sigh on this occasion; the Times calls the peace of Amiens an armistice, and has published the most bloody satire on the government which it defends, the sudden fall of the public funds is the first omen of those calamities, which may fol low the violation of all the social rights. The French are rendered indignant, rather than terrified, by English menace. Their deleats have not reduced their spirit, nor have their victories contributed to their effeminacy: in a war apparently endless, they have seen all Europe conspiring against them. Their perseverance, their bravery, and the dextrous activity of their government, have terminated that contest. This war would have a different object. France will fight for the liberty of the nations of Europe, and for the sanctity of their treaties: and if the English government wishes to render it a national war, it may easily happen that their naval power, now so formidable, might be unable to decide alone (singlehanded) the fate of England, and to insure her victory. The French, supported by their just cause, and being powerful from the confidence which they repose in their government, are not deterred by new expeaces, and new sacrifices. which this war will necessarily occasion: their system of finances, mose simple and less pompous than that of London, is the more secure: all their strength lies in their soil and in their courage.On the first publication of the English message, the views of the world were directed to the cabinet of the Thuilleries; the least movements of it obtained a character of importance; the most indefinite expressions were caught with avidity. Each expected with impatience the assembly ap pointed for the presentation of strangers, which occus on one of the Sundays every month, at the drawing-room of Mad. Buonaparte; each was prepared to draw from it conclusions in his own way. It was as splendid as usual. The First Consul who appeared on this occasion, said, on entering the room to the English ambassador, who stood at the side of Count De Markoff: Now we have |