" י For an answer to the ever returning question: "Will there be peace, or war We must beg leave to refer the querists to Buonaparté or the honest Talleyrand; for certain we are, that the sages of Downingstreet," the prudent Ministers who govern Great-Britain," know nothing of the matter. They have asked for, and will, of course, obtain, 50,000 sailors for the whole of the ensuing year. They are hurrying out the militia; they are "keeping an eye on the affairs of the Continent;" they are "bound to refer as we: it was, he said, insufficient to balance the expense of a war, "truth, no omission at all." (Speech, 13th of May, however fortunate and however short its 1802.) His lordship's expressions are by no duration. Upon this principle, we say how means of the clearest; but, it is evident enough, as we said then, the treaty of Amiens has that he regarded our right to cut logwood, been concluded; upon this grovelling prinnot only as not impaired, but as not at all put ciple right after right will be yielded, branch in doubt, by the treaty of Amiens. The after branch, limb after limb, will be lopped Master of the Rolls, whose opinion is, on off, till this once spreading, lofty, and flouevery account, of more weight than that of rishing empire, becomes a naked, sightless. Lord Hawkesbury, said, "that our right to sapless trunk, fit for nothing but to be hewn "cut logwood, &c. was a right of possession, down and cast into the fire. And shall we,t ,the "preserved throughout the war, and not an sons of Englishmen, the subjects of the best "nulled by the peace ;" and, Sir Frederick of kings, stand tamely by while our beloved Eden, adopting implicitly the opinion of country and more beloved sovereign are the Master of the Rolls, insisted, that "if shorn of their honours, impoverished, ruin"the non-renewal of treaties had any effect, ed, and annihilated, to humour the fears " as to this point, it must be disadvantageous and to gratify the avarice of a dastardly and "to Spain; since, by retaining possession selfish faction! Shame, then, everlasting "of this settlement, unfettered by any stipu- shame and infamy on our heads! lations, we should be freed from the en་་ gagement entered into by the 17th article "of the treaty of Paris, to demolish our "fortifications erected in the Bay of Hon"duras." He added, "that Great-Britain "would NOT ALLOW other nations to avail "themselves of the non-renewal of former trea"ties to set up ancient and exploded rights of "sovereignty." (See Sir F. M. Eden's Letters on the Peace, 2d edit. p. 193.) This was the high tone made use of by the defenders of the peace, in May last, which when com pared to the tone now held by the ministers, watching the encroachments of France;" may serve to show how far we are fallen in they know not what the price of the funds the short space of six months: like Falstaff will be to-morrow; they, and we along we have a wonderful alacrity in sinking-with them, are fairly entered upon that This "right of possession," this " unquestion- state, described in the Letters on the Preliable right, is now, it seems, not only ques- minaries of Peace: "The consequence of tioned, but the question is not determined:" this state of mistrust, uneasiness, expense, it is matter of " arrangement," and "no ar- " and danger, on our part; and of threats, "rangement respecting it has yet been fixed" intrigues, and hostile preparations, on the "upon." At the time, when the omission to "part of France, will enable her, suddenrenew former treaties was discussed, we ly, and with the greatest advantage, to made, in speaking of the rights, which had been endangered by that omission, the following observations.The language of the country to the ministers is this: " either "have given up those rights, or you have not; if you have, then do you merit all "the reproach that has been bestowed on "you; if you have not, let us noty see "whether you will defend us in the enjoyment of" #those rights." (Register, Vol. I. p. 555), This is the language, which we, in comnion with the rest of the nation, now address to these "safe politicians," these preci ous guardians of our rights, who, instead of giving an answer to our claims, will set themselves gravely to work to convince us, that the net proceeds of no one right are " *Speech, 14th of May, 1893, you renew a war, which will be pregnant "with the greatest danger to England, in "asmuch as the French will have had time "to collect their forces and their means of "attack, so as to bear upon the 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."-Is not this precisely our situation? Are not our predictions, as far as time would permit, most fatally fulfilled! And who, then, shall say that our present apprehensions are groundiess?" Resist"ance would be right, but it is not expedient,. "until we can find allies." Thus, we are keeping an eye upon the Continent, and the Continent is keeping an eye upon us : we are' *Cobbett's Letters on the Peace, 2d edit. p. 101, both raising our hands in mutual astonish-shores of St. Domingo! How does this ment at each others blindness, perverseness, force at Jamaica agree with the predictions folly, and degradation, while France is of the "prudent ministers?" And how does employed day and night in contriving the it agree with the ministerial tales of mortameans of our final destruction. But, the lity, amongst the French troops? We reContinent is less, far less to blame than we: member, that the Lord Chancellor (quoting the Continent is already in chains; we are, the Duke of Norfolk), said, that, "appearas yet, at liherty; and we have the baseness" ing to distrust the French was making to wait till our fetters are prepared. Every peace with a drawn sword in our hands." day, every hour, the means of resistance (Debate, May 13). We not only appear to are diminishing in a few months we shall distrust them now; but we openly acknowsee 50,000 men stationed on the shores of ledge that distrust to be the principle of the channel, looking us constantly in the action, the very system on which we proface. Not a soldier of the Continent will ceed.-How long will this last? stir. We shall be kept in a state of constant alarm: no one will know what to rely on: the public funds will be constantly, as they now are, in the hand of Buonaparté, or his successor men will grow tired, as they are already grown ashamed, of their dishonoured country: they will, by degrees, grow familiar with notions of vassalage to France; till, at last, the question being put, for further submission or war, we greatly fear, they will determine for the former; and then farewell, a long, an everlasting farewell to the independence, and even to the name of England! By a reference to our domestic articles, it will be perceived, that, in a military and naval view, the kingdom is left still more defenceless than we, on a former occasion, stated it to be. We said, that the Admiralty could not, if an emergency required it, send ten ships of the line out of the ports of England and Ireland. It appears, that, even now, they have but nine ships of the line in commission in Europe; and we are well informed, that, there are not men enough on board the nine to man five of them for sea. The frigates are in the same state. Their names and numbers may serve to fill up the columns of a report to the House of Commons; but, were they, with their present bands, to be sent to sea, very few of them would ever return to port: our coast would be strewed with wrecks.This is the economy, for which the noble Admiral at the head of that department has been extolled. With all his economy, however, he has not yet thought proper to strip Jamaica quite so naked. That island, which, during the last peace, was guarded by one fifty gun ship and two frigates, has now nine ships of the line, nine frigates, and nine ships of war, notwithstanding the French have, by our connivance and assistance, removed all danger, from the threatening * * * It is said, that his Excellency Count Stahremberg, being a few days ago at Paris, on his way from Vienna to London, received an order from the French government to quit the territory of the Republic in twenty-four hours. To obey this order is, as every one must know, absolutely impos sible; and, therefore, if such an order has really been given, the object must be to expose the Count to arrest and imprisonment in some obscure town or village, where * *. Let Capt. D'Auvergne tell the rest, which, by the bye, he ought to do, and under his own name: it is a duty he owes to himself, to his country, and to the world.-Count Stahremberg has, during his visit to Vienna, received, from the hands of his Imperial Master, the Order of the Golden Fleece; a very great honour most assuredly, but not half so great, as that of being the object of the jealousy and hatred of Buonaparte. We hope he will escape from the dangers that threaten him, and arrive once more safe in England, where he will be greeted, not with the shouts of the brutal rabble, not by the hy pocritical smiles of opulent poltroons, but with the applause of all sensible, honest, and honourable Englishmen, who must · know, that if we ever again attempt to make head against France, it must be with the co-operation of the illustrious prince and the gallant and faithful nation, of whom his Excellency is, in every respect, the worthy representative. The Letter to Mr. Wilberforce in our next. *** In consequence of the great demand for the last number of the Register, containing MR. COBBETT'S LETTER to Lord Auckland, on the ABUSES IN THE GENERAL POST OFFICE, the Public are respectfully informed, that it has been reprinted, and is now ready for delivery. Printed by Cox and Baylis, No. 75, Great Queen Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields. Published by R. Bagshaw, Bow Street, Covent Garden, where all the former numbers may be had. VOL. 2. No. 23. ] London, Saturday, 11th December, 1802. [ Price 100 CONTENTS-Let.on State of Europe and of Parties, 737. Let. to Sir Jo. Banks, 743. Let. to Mr. Wilberforce, 745. Proc. in Parl. 751. Abst. Army Estimates-Turkey, 754. Dutch and Barbary Powers-Ratisbon-Vienna, 755. Basle-Bey of Tunis and Buonap.-Boudet's Rep. of St. Domingo, 756. French News-British Colo. 757. Distri. of the Bri. Navy, 758. Army-Names of Persons to be tried for Trea.-Meetings Ship Owners, 759. Sum. Pol. 762. 7371[738 ON THE SITUATION OF EUROPE, AND THE PARTIES OF GREAT BRITAIN. 66 Sir," The public FEELING," we are told in one of our journals, "is with MR. "WINDHAM, and the public REASON with Lord "HAWKESBURY." Such it was "most con"fidently armed," was the result of the debates on the speech from the throne. If this be true, never surely was there an administration that more exactly fulfilled the duty which it owes to the Sovereign and his people, and whatever may be the state of the continent, that of our own country is highly satisfactory." For this is the great end of all government, this is the leading object which human wisdom has aimed to secure, by all the different institutions of political society,-that the public RESAON should prevail over the public FEELING. But, however confident is the assertion, however pretty and quaint is the antitheses, in which it is conveyed, tricked out, too, with all the decoration of italics and CAPITALS, to catch the eye, and surprise the judgment, it is not so that a question of such serious importance can be determined. To satisfy the reason, something of closer examination and deeper discussion is required. As a plain man, therefore, having no party interest to manage, and thinking for myself, I shall endeavour to discover and exhibit truth, in her own unadorned simplicity. แ Let us, then, look a little into the ground of this assertion. I have, indeed, in some degree, chosen to begin this letter with the passage I have quoted, because the explanation which the writer gives of his meaning, is well worthy of attention." It is a "struggle," (he goes on to say), "between a sense of two sorts of dangers; the dangers of peace, and the dangers of war. "The first," (he assumes) แ are somewhat "distant and uncertain, and may be avert"ed by events: the latter are immediate "and inevitable. Hence, (concludes he) "to risk the former is preferred; but the "choice is made with a sigh, and with "heavy forebodings." Alas! Sir," sighs "and heavy forebodings" do not usually accompany the clear and steady decisions of satisfied reason: they rather speak the confused and tumultuous victory of one ill-defined feeling over another. If, however, we for a moment put out of our view the positive truth or falsehood of the comparison, which is assigned as the motive, I do believe this to be a sufficiently faithful account of the gloomy, dull, dead acquiescence which the majority of Parliament certainly, and possibly of the nation, coldly and doubtingly yielded to the ambiguous intimations of Ministers, and the more intelligible rhetoric of their powerful champion and protector, Mr. Fox. Our daydreams of the blessings of peace are fled for ever. We distinctly perceive that our present situation is, what, if I remember right, some of the Minister's own connexions described it to be,-nothing better than " a hollow arm"ed truce;" that very truce, which, when desired before, under its proper name, was refused, with the warm approbation of every honest man in the kingdom; but when offered to sale, as a favour and a boon, under the specious name of peace, was eagerly purchased by our rulers, at a price never yet given for the safest and most benefi cial settlement of our own interests, and the liberties of Europe. There is, in fact, no question now between war on the one side, and peace on the other. The only choice is between two evils of the same kind; the war of the sword, and the war of journals and gazeites, of memorials and remonstrances, of tariffs and cockets, of intrigues and influence (if any influence we can ever regain) in all the foreign courts of Europe; attended, at every turn, with mutual preparations for actual hostilities; and ultimately leading, at no great distance of time, to a more obstinate and dubious contest for our independence, or to absolute and final submission. To this point, Sir, FEELING and REASON have journeyed on amicably together; but here, it seems, they take different roads. The former, with HONOUR for her companion, holds on the steep and arduous, but plain and direct track that rises before her: the latter stops short, and led by INDO LENCE, turns away, to wind as she imagines, by a gentle declivity, along the side of the mountain that opposes her progress. I fear, however, that she will soon find her path rough with stones, and perplexed with brambles and briars, carrying her downward with more precipitous descent at every step, till she sees the gulph of ruin and infamy yawning under her feet; from which there is no escape, but by clambering up the over-hanging rocks with tenfold difficulty and danger. Indeed, she has taken an ignorant and deceitful guide; and, with a little departure from her own character, forgot to look at a map of the country before she set out upon her travels. channels of intelligence (and I have no other) confined themselves within still narrower limits. They chiefly protested against one passage of the address, which, they ap prehended might otherwise be interpreted into a declaration of confidence in the present administration, and as in propriety they were bound to do, they stated why they did not think that confidence to have been de served. It was, that while France had been continually month after month taking some new measure of violent and dangerous aggrandizement, openly attempting to in terfere in the internal concerns of this country, for the purpose of silencing the British Press, and at the same time endeavouring to prohibit us from interfering in the affairs of the continent; in proportion as she increased her military and naval force, our establishments were gradually reduced, and our conquests continued to be delivered up under the treaty, till a sudden alarm, we had not yet been told wherefore, all at once changed the whole course of our pro ceeding; new orders were dispatched to countermand the cessions which had been directed; and new invitations were thrown forth to re-assemble the men, whom we had lost no time, and spared no expense to dis If, Sir, the choice has been made on such a notion as this writer holds out to us, of the dangers of war compared with the dangers of peace, I do not hesitate to say, it has been rashly as well as erroneously made. No such question has ever been discussed, certainly not in the debate on the King's speech, by which it is said to have been determined. For this I have what the writer whom I have quoted must allow to be incontrovertible authority. The report in the same paper will shew him, that he has, with consummate justice, pronounced sentence against Mr. Windham, without hearing him. That gentleman is there re-charge and disperse. I restrict myself to presented as having expressly distinguished that he did not mean to consider at all the expediency or inexpediency of immediate war. The words attributed to him are:"Not being in an official situation, I am NOT SUFFICIENTLY INFORMED to ad"vise particularly; but I THINK we should weigh well in what situation we shall be, when "the war shall come upon us; for come it will, and sooner than I wish to say. I "THINK it would be the wiser way to anticipate 66 the blow; BUT THIS IS MORE THAN IS "NECESSARY FOR ME TO ENTER INTO, "as it is for Ministers to determine." And the other reports all concur in making a similar reservation. As I am no respecter of persons, I am not concerned whether Mr. WINDHAM may be thought to have done right or wrong in thus treating his subject. All which I think it important to observe, is, that in fact he did so treat it. He seems to have designed no more, than to impress the country with a just and awful sense of its present situation; professedly leaving every thing beyond to future deliberation, whenever sufficient knowledge shall have been obtained to light the public REASON to a sound and well-informed conclusion. Mr. T. GRENVILLE and the other speakers on that side, if Wo may trust the Si same same the speeches in the House of Commons; because to them only allusion is made; but the tendency of what passed in the House of Lords appears to me to have been very similar. And in all this what is there to raise a question between FEELING and REASON in the comparative dangers of war and of peace. But the DANGERS OF WAR, truly! the "immediate and inevitable" DANGERS of war! Oh! Sir, how are we already degraded by this pusillanimous peace! This is the first time, I believe, that ever such an argument was addressed to our fears. While the war lasted, when the preliminary articles and the definitive treaty were debated, we heard indeed of the injustice of the war, of the inutility of continuing the war, of the barten and expense of all war, of the horror of war contrasted with the blessings of peace; but not a syllable of the positive dangers, "the "immediate and inevitable" dangers of war. I am persuaded, that the spirit of the nation was not then so far broken, as to have tolerated such language. And is it possible even now, that the people, who two years since, when all our allies, some from caprice, some from over-ruling necessity, one by one dropped away; when we were not only opposed single-handed, to France sion, or use, which our adversary will now, have, of so many harbours and naval stations opposite to the eastern, the most defenceless coast of our island. Yet, let us seriously reflect, that if we admit the preponderating weight of this argument, we' we must also admit at once the necessity of absolute, unqualified submission. In any future war, whenever begun, and from whatever cause, that danger must equally and all her allies, but the very Russian What does experience teach us of these It may be said, perhaps, in answer to these topicks from past experience, that we do not stand in the same advantageous position now, as at the conclusion of the late war. It is true, the treaty of Amiens has indeed made a lamentable change. France has augmented her army by more than 100,000 men. She and her allies have obtained from us a supply of seamen sufficient to man between 40 and 50 ships of the line. Their exhausted dock yards are replenished. They have actually at this moment more ships of the line commissioned than we. În the West-Indies they have Martinique, the key of the circumjacent islands, now rendered inex pugnable by our labour and at our cost; and from the relicks of their force at St. Domingo, if they despair of that enterprise, they may furnish an expedition at least of doubtful success against Jamaica. With regard to the East-Indies, we know not at this instant, whether if hostilities should now break out, we shall have a resting place for the necessary refreshment of our troops, who will otherwise go, not to the garrisons and camps, but to the hospitals of India. If we then turn our eyes homeward, we shall discover with mortification and shame that we have forfeited the confidence and affection of Europe, which never considered what France had over-run, as totally lost, till we abandoned all at Amiens. Then we did not gradually descend in reputation; we were at once plunged from the summit of glory to the lowest abyss of disgrace. The first sentiment, was, a disbelief of the fact; the next astonishment ;-that which too soon succeeded, and which will long remain, was,-contempt. And, whatever we have lost in character, is more than added to the intimidation, which France inspires. Such is the alteration worked by a single year of this ill-omened peace: what, then, are we to expect from its continuance ? Is the strength of the French empire likely to grow with its duration, or to be dimi |