suffered to plead the " difficulty of the "times," in which he has had to act? et? Forbid it justice ! Forbid it common sense! Let us not, by admitting this plea, stamp our character for ever with the mark of cullibility!" He has hitherto," the hireling tells us, "steered the vessel of state safely through the tempest, and will, we doubt not, convey her, ultimately, "into the port in safety." It is a wonder they do not drop this unlucky simile. Lord Belgrave, that fine promising "young "friend" Lord Belgrave assured us, rather more than three years and a quarter ago, that the great man, his " Right Honourable " friend," had, even then, conveyed her, 'actually conveyed her and anchored her in safety, "in her native port," where she was riding triumphant!" And so said. that other famous young friend," Mr. Canning, in his Birth-day Ode, every stanza of which concluded with" the health of the "pilot that weathered the storm." My readers will do me the justice to recollect, that I then besought them not to regard the storm as over; that there was only a treacherous calm; and that the storm would soon revive, a storm not to be weathered by a Pitt.But, it seems, we are now to be told, that there were two things to combat in the French revolution; its principles and its power, of Having first to contend with the principles of France, he has now to con"tend with her arms. The former he has "defeated." Defeated by him! Good God! by him! What has he ever done to defeat them? It is Buonaparte who has defeated them, in the only respect in which they have been defeated. But, in what way were they dangerous? In the means which they afforded of extending the influence, the domination, the power, the arms of France. It was in this light that Mr. Burke always regarded them as dangerous to England, and in which he, in his writings (particularly his papers presented to the cabinet, and now published in the VIIth volume of his works) always described them as dangerous to her so that, Mr. Pitt's way of defeating the principles of France has rendered them productive, in the fullest extent, of the very conse quence that was apprehended from their success! He has now to contend with her "arms." Yes, and not with her arms such as he found them; not with her arms such as -they were before he was our minister; not with her arms such as they were before he began a war upon her principles; but her arms such as they have become, strengthened as they have been during his administration, formidable as they have grown in con 66 sequence of those principles which he has se happily defeated the way, and the only way, consistent with any principle of reason or of justice, to estimate the measures, and, of course, the wisdom, of a minister, is to take the two ends of his administration, and make a comparaison of the state of the national affairs, internal and external, at the two epochs. Let us try Mr. Pitt by this rule. As to the prosperity and comfort of the people, he found the poorrates of England and Wales (when the average price of the quartern loaf was about 7d) amounting annually to 2,167,7491. sterling: he brought this amount in 1803 (the average price of the quartern-loaf being about 104.) to 5,348,2051. and the number of paupers to about twelve hundred thousand, As to the credit of the nation, he found an abundant currency of gold and silver, and he has procured to be passed an act, making pa per-money, as to all practical purposes, a legal tender; having, during the progress, swelled the annual sum raised upon us to pay the interest of the national debt, from 9 millions to more than 27 millions. As to our external affairs; he found our ancient rival, and, whenever at war, our enemy, shut up within her long acknowledged_li mits; he found a balance of power in Eu rope quite efficient to the purpose of keeping her so; he found her with exhausted resources, with distracted councils, with a feeble and almost tottering government. What she is now; what she has become during the time that he has had the purse and the sword of England at his absolute command, I leave to be felt by the once-swelling but now-palpitating hearts of the Grocer's Company.` And, shall we still be told, that he is a great man?" In what part of his cha racter or his measures; in which of his acts, or of their consequences, are we to look for wherewithal to justify this appellation? "He is a great speech-maker." Certainly he is; and a friend of mine, upon the ground of this admission, proves him to be a great man; as thus: "A talker's a man; Mr. Pitt "is a great talker; ergo, Mr. Pitt is a great man." But, the Pittites take a still shorter course, contenting themselves with the intuitive proposition, that he has kept his place for 20 years. With those, who, like Boyd and Benfield, will, doubtless, want no other proof of greatness, Mr. Pitt will still pass for a great man;" but, those who estimate the mind and the merits of a statesman according to the effect which his opinions, declarations, and his measures produce upon the country he has to govern; those who reflect upon the professions and the conduct of his tholic Emancipation, and who have since seen him, having first returned to his former place, and all the circumstances continuing the same, not o. 'v refuse to support or countenance, but opp that very measure those who have had he patience to follow him through his volunteering dinners and reviews, have seen him mounted in his cars, and have read (in his own prints) the description of his cheering huzzas, while his right worthy comrade was engaged in the war of catamarans: those who now see combined fleets, and ports friendly to the enemy, created by his war of "precaution:" those who have viewed him in the Reports of the Naval Commissioners, and in the parliamentary proceedings consequent thereupon, and have compared the facts now brought to light, with his former opinions, professions, and boasts: those who have thus observed, and thus reflected, will be at no loss justly to estimate the character and inerits of Mr. Pitt; and, if they love their country, they will, I am persuaded, turn, with indignation, from the assertion of this hired writer, that, let whatever charges will take place," the people will demand, that Mr. Pitt shall have a principal share in the ministry." Such persons will clearly perceive, that all the dangers, to which the country is now exposed, have proceeded from the bad measures of Mr. Pitt; and, as the most favourable to him, and the least likely to be unjust, they will impute those measures to his deficiency in that sort of wisdom which is necessary to the conception and execution of measures calculated to Mr. Pitt with regard to the questions of parliamentary reform, and of negro slavery: those who heard his loud and repeated promises to put an end to the wars and the plunder in India, to reduce the debts of the company, and to make that company assist in defraying the annual expenses of the mother-country : those who heard him vaunt of his discovery for reducing the national debt, and congratulate himself, that, while other ministers had been distinguished by the burdens they had laid upon the people, it would be his glory to be distinguished by the removing of those burdens: those who compare the satisfaction which he expressed at the prospect of having his name inscribed on the proud column raised to national credit, with the law which he has since introduced and procured to be passed for making banknotes a legal tender: those who reflect on the consequences of his conduct with regard to the partition of Poland: those who now take a review of his measures during the late war with France, not forgetting his repeated assurances to the parliament, that the enemy was upon the brink, nay, in the very gulph of bankruptcy, and must, of course, soon yield for the want of resources to carry on the war those who recollect his false, his wild calculations, his extravagant exultation (repeated in a pamphlet issued from the Treasury itself and bearing the name of his Official Secretary) upon the subject of the Income-Tax, which he termed the solid system of finance those who, in the same year, heard him vow, that he never would make peace with France, without obtaining, as a preliminary, a full and adequate securi-promote the true and permanent interests of ty for the future, not only for England but for all and every one of the states upon the continent of Europe; and heard him, at the same time, declare, that he could carry on the war, for any length of time, without the creation of new debt: those who saw him, in less than three years after this, create new debt to the amount of 73 millions sterling, and, within the same space, advise, defend, and extol, a peace completing the total overthrow of the balance of Europe, and leaving no small part of its formerly-independent states in absolute subjugation to France, while he consoled the nation with the efficient balance which, in India conquests and the establishment of the Republic of the Seven Islands, he had provided against the acquisitions of France: those who saw him, in the year 1801, retiring from the cabinet upon the openly avowed ground, that he could not in honour and in conscience remain unless permitted to propose to the parliament the measure of what was called Ca a state. They will have perceived, that, even in the department which he has made his chief study; in which he seems to have, aimed at excellence and, as to his skill in which he has received so much applause, he has, upon every material point, every point requiring profundity of thought, been conspicuous for nothing but his errors. His expertness at estimating a tax; his dexterity at defending his impositions of all sorts; his art in enlisting all the selfish feelings on his side, in laying fear under contribution, and in opening the hand of avarice; these he possesses in an admirable degree, and to these he owes the admiration, with which he is always spoken of by those who have spent their lives behind the counter. But, in the science of political economy, what are these? At most, they'render a mak, amongst real statesmen, what a punster is among poets. Of all his errors respecting the French revolution, none was greater, or more fatal in its consequences, than that re lative to the financial resources of France; and, we now find, that he erred, too, and in spite of good advice. The warning, the predictions, of Mr. Fox we cannot blame in for having viewed with an eye of distrus; but, the same apology cannot be made for him with regard to the advice of Mr. Burke, who, in a memorial submitted to himself privately, in 1791; even at the very onset, warned him, earnestly besought ic, not to place any reliance on what was linked forward to as the effects of a He was national bankruptcy in France.* not only told, that no circumstance of that scit wonk have any effect as to the progress of the revolution, or that extension of nch ower and dominion, to which the ryol tion naturally tended; but, the reasons hen the opinion was founded, were lai betore him. Still, however, did in upon the poverty, the approachptcy, of France; and, by the aid worthy fellow-labourer, Sir Francis 2) venois - (a man of exactly the same size frind), succeeded, in persuading the parlament, year after year, that they had only to make one more effort, to draw their purses once more, in order to bring the enemy to their feet. To me, who used to read the English papers in America, it really appeared that the, stupid citizens of London were in expectation of seeing Carnot and Barras brought up before the Commissioners in Guildhall. Here we have a striking proof of the difference between the mind of Mr. Burke and that of Mr. Pitt, and of the vast superiority of the former over the latter. If Mr. Burke had been the minister of England at the epoch referred to, no reliance would have been placed upon a bankruptcy in Trance; no false hope would have been entertained; the people would have been anused with no delasion; they would have seen the enemy and the nature of the confest in their true light; and, they would have hiado exertions proportioned thereunto, or they would have demanded peace. By either tarse their security might ultimately have been provided for; but, "by following neither; by taking no decisive part; by inspiring all the parties on our side with distrust, and by acting with just vigour enough 'to e forth the energies, and to furnish a pretest for the aggressions, of the enemy, the consequences that we now see and feel were produced.. It is not, then, in the difficulty of the times," but, if the want of wisdom, or, in some other want still more important, in the minister, that we Ꮮ Difcountsuke's works, Vol. VII. p. 47. are to look for the cause of the dangers, to which we are now exposed; and, I trust, that the reader will be of opinion with me, that, for all these dangers and for whatever calamities may result from them, Mr. Pitt to the nation a complete responsi Owes - bility. INVASION "Why, so, being gone, "I am a man again!" And so is the Editor of the Morning Post, who now talks as big as he did last year, when he published the first account of the catamaran expedition. --The public, and the "fasionable world," for whose particular use the Morning Post is published, will recollect, that it is only about three weeks, since that paper assured its readers, that the ministers had received "certain information, that the Corsican Usurper" (for so now they call their old friend) was coming with a most formidablə force; and, it will not be forgotten, perhaps, that the public were cautioned against be lieving what the ministers so confidently believed. It now appears, that that caution was not without reason; for, instead of invading England, Buon patié seems to have been, even at that moment, preparing for an invasion of the dominions of Austria. Great, however, is the exultation of the hireling papers; and, it is necessary to lay before the reader some few of the passages, wherein they express it, in order to point out to him what he has to guard against; for, if Buonaparte should, in a few months return to his projects of invasion, and find us in the state which these exultations are calculated to produce, the danger will be much greater than it ever yet has been. "It is now," says the Morning Post of the 6th instant, "known for certain, that Buo naparté has suddenly raised his camps at Boulogne and its neighbourhood; that "the 112,000 men which he was so lately reviewing, previous to their embarkation for the invasion of our shores, he is now marching to meet or to attack the Aus trians, and to seize the more favourable "chance that offers of victory, before they HAL hopes of his army. He must also feel no "small degree of shame and humiliation, " R not unmingled with regret, at relinquishing even the outward shew of an enterprise "of which he was so boastful, which he "foolishly imagined struck such terror into "the minds of Englishmen, that they could "attend to nothing but defensive measures, "and the security of their homes.”——On the 7th the subject is continued thus: "Dispatches were yesterday received at the Admiralty from Lord Keith, which con"tain an ample confirmation of the intelligence given in our last, relative to the breaking up of the camps on the French coast, and the march of the troops towards "the Rhine. We are further informed, that "the flotilla to convey these troops to the "invasion of Britain, is to be forthwith "dismantled, and that considerable progress has already been made in this work of undoing what was done with so much "ostentation of power, and so much in" solence of menace. Like the vast pre"parations of Caligula for the conquest of Germany, the mighty threats of Buonaparté for the subjugation of Britain, are "thus turned to his scorn. The design of invasion, which, not long since, mini"sters knew to be seriously entertained, appears now to be, at least for a time, completely al andoned. Upon this subject we shall take an early opportunity of "offering some remarks; contenting ourAlves. for the present, with the brief remark, that the enemy having declined "the combat they provoked, is to them a virtual defeat while to us it is in effect equal to a victory.Having no longar "200,000 disciplined soldiers placed in a position from which they might pour in upon us, in a few hours of favourable "coincidence, and watching for the op"portunity; having the advantage of acting with allies, capable of engaging, "and we trust, defeating the greater part "of the vast armies that were to be pour"ed down upon us, horde after horde, till we should be consumed, even by "the destruction of continued victories, "if we should be fortunate enough to gain "them; we have now to congratulate our"selves that the time is arrived, when "we can, with effect, act on the offen 86 46 " " readers against confiding in the opinions (if they can be called opinions) of babblers like this, will be to quote, word for word, what he wrote and published on the 5th of October last, just as the news of the Pitt and Dundas expedition arrived in London." The result of this expedi"tion, planned with as much secrecy as judgment, and executed with the most un"paralleled bravery, will prove both to foreign "boasters and factious Britons, that this is a country which cannot be insulted or "menaced with impunity. The enemy "threatened us. 66 66 Let them look to their own shores. Their innumerable flotilla was to land their invincible army in this country, which was to prove a rich and easy conquest; it was to bear the for"tune and destiny of France to our coast, "Where is now this boasted flotilla? "What is the present state of the for"tune and destiny of France, which were so pompously committed to it? Allthat "was accessible of it is destroyed. Sea, fire, and air, have witnessed and con"tributed to its destruction. What is be This is a most fortunate thing "for the country."Reader, put not your trust in such writers: their business, their trade, is to amuse, to deceive you; by turns to alarm and to cheer you ; they are paid for it. Believe them not, I conjure you, upon any subject, but particu、 larly upon the subject of invasion. Observe, they now tell you, that they are certain that Buonaparté is not coming; and this they do with just as much confidence, and, appa rently, with the same expectation of being believed, that they, only twenty days ago, told you they were certain that he was coming! And, I earnestly beg you not to regard the scheme of invasion as "aban"doned." No: do not think that we have gained a "victory" over the flotilla. Join with me, rather, in regretting that Buonaparté has discovered so effectual a mode of annoying us by the means of a force, which, at a moment's warning, he can direɛt against the powers of the continent; and, I may, surely, desire you to recollect, that, I have frequently stated, that part of the plan of Buonaparté was, by the maritime camps, if I may use the expression, to keep an army in preparation for a continental war; and this you will find laid down as part of his plan, in a French essay upon the subject, part of which will be found in the sup plement to the first volume of this work, Nothing, therefore, is so foolish; nothing so empty; nothing at once so contemptible and so dangerous as these boasts about victories over the flotilla. [In the next number I shall endeavour to pay the arrears due to the Pitt and Dundas faction. They are hard at work, both in Scotland and in England. Their instruments, of all sorts, are in motion. But, let us hope, that there will be found industry on our side sufficient to counteract their efforts. The dinner at Edinburgh will merit particular attention.] Botley, Thursday, I 12th Sept. 1805. PAPERS RELATIVE TO THE CAPTURE AND SIR,-I am commanded by my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to transmit to you herewith the enclosed copy of a letter from M. Riviere, of the Office of the French Minister of Marine, to the Commissioners of Transports, relative to the capitulation of the enemy's forces at the Island of St. Domingo, and to request you will lay the same before Lord Camden, for his lordship's information and directions thereupon. I am, &c.—WM. MARSDEN. Translation of a Letter from M. Riviere to the Commissioners of Transports, dated Paris, 12th June, 1804. GENTLEMEN,The Minister of the Department of Marine and Colonies being informed that the crews of different vessels, as well as the several garrisons which evacuated the Cape in the Island of St. Domingo (in virtue of the capitulation made on board the frigate La Surveillante, the 30th of Nov., 1903), are detained prisoners in England, his Exc. has ordered me to claim, in his name, on the grounds hereinafter stated, the return to France of these crews and garrisons, in conformity to the 24 article of the said convention. It is conceived in these terms-"The garrison of the Cape, embarked on board of the different vessels, and the crews of these vessels shall be prisoners of war, and sent to Europe as soon as possible, upon their parole, not to serve un til exchanged," &c. It is readily to be conceived that the spirit of this article, would, for greater exactness, require the word France to be substituted for that of "Europe."-Bat it would be an offence towards the English national character to suppose that its government could take advantage of a mere defect of precision in the choice of words, to infringe a capitulation, of which the very spirit is so explicitly developed by the very conditions which they who capitulated have subscribed.-In effect, if the intent and spirit of the capitulation had not been, that the garrisons and crews, who thereby constituted themselves prisoners of war, should be sent to France the soonest possible, instead of being detained in England, it is evident that their conveyance to Europe would not have been shackled by the condition of giving their parole not to serve before being exchanged.-No doubt but the military men on both sides, as well those whom the events of war forced to abandon the post which they had to defend, as those to whom they were forced to yield it up, frankly and fairly understood the spirit of the conditions which they signed, without a grammatical arrangement of the phraseology. And they never supposed that any discussion about mere words would afterwards arise upon a matter so thoroughly established by the essential condition of Art II.-His Exc. is therefore led by his own innate equity to think, that if the British govt. believes itself authorised to retain the troops and sailors who capitulated at the Cape, that belief can only be owing to its not having sufficiently fixed its attention on this second article of the capitulation, and especially on these expressions, which form so very essential a part thereof, viz. " and shall be sent to Europe on their parole not to serve until exchanged.” -His Exc. orders me to request you to lay these important observations before the Lords of the Admiralty; and he likes to cherish the belief, that the very line of conduct he himself would pursue, in a similar case, namely, to conform to the manifest spirit of the capitulation, will turn out to be that which their lordships will not hesitate to adopt in this. His Exc. observes, that the misfortunes of war are sufficiently grave in themselves, without those persons, who called by their places to such extensive influence over the lot of humanity, descending to aggravate them by resorting to evasions and quibbles unworthy their public character.It is come round to his Exe's ears, that certain persons in England have supposed, that prisoners of war, sent back to France upon parole, have been there employed before |