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every advantage of wind and weather during the whole day. The weather had been foggy, at times, a great part of the morning; and very soon after we had brought them to action, the fog was so very thick at intervals, that we could, with great difficulty, see the ship a-head or a-stern of us; this rendered it impossible to take the advantages of the enemy by signals. I could have wished to have done; had the weather been more favourable, I am led to believe the victory would bave been more complete.I have very great pleasure in saying, every ship was conducted in the most masterly style; and I beg leave here publicly to return every captain, officer, and man, whom I had the honour to command on that day, my most grateful thanks, for their conspicuously gallant and very judicious good conduct. The Hon. Captain Gardner, of the Hero, led the van squadron in a most masterly and officer-like manner, to whom I feel myself particularly indebted as also to Captain Cuming for his assistance during the action.Enclosed is a list of the killed and wounded on board the different ships. If I may judge from the great slaughter on board the captured ships, the enemy must have suffered greatly. They are now in sight to windward, and when I have secured the captured ships, and put the squadron to rights, I shall endeavour to avail myself of any opportunity that may offer to give you some further account of these combined squadrons.--I have the honour to be, &c.-R. CALDER.

List of the ships of the squadron under the orders of Vice-Admiral Sir Robert Calder, Bart. on the 22d of July, 1805.-Hero, Hon. A. H. Gardner. 1 killed, 4 wounded.

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WAR IN THE WEST INDIES.-Circular Letter sent by Order of the Commander in Chief, to the Custos or Chief Magis trate of Kingston. Jamaica, June 14, 1805.

SIR, King's House, June 14The Commander in Chief, having strong reasons to expect that the enemy will make an early and very serious attack upon this island, from the accounts he has just received, from the Governor of Barbadoes, of the great increase of their forces at Mantinique, consisting then of thirty-one sail of the line, and probably a proportionate num ber of troops; his Excellency directs me to acquaint you therewith, and to desire that you will make it public in the parish of Kingston. I am also desired to inform you, that the whole of the militia are again or dered upon permanent duty until further orders, and that the Collectors and Comptrollers of the Customs have been directed to prevent even droggers and boats from passing along the coast at present.You will be pleased to communicate the contents of this letter to the officers commanding the corps of foot and horse militia in your parish, th they may act forthwith thereupon, in the event of their not having received orders through the general officer of the district.

--I have the honour to be, Sir, &c.— J. TYRRELL, Sec.. -The Custos or Chief Magistrate of Kingston.

PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES.The 4th -Ajax, William Brown. 2 killed, 16 Volume of the Parliamentary Debates, com wounded. Triumph, Henry Inmann. 5 prising the period between the 13th of killed, 6 woundedEarfleur, George March, and the 14th of May, 1805, wil Martin. 3 killed, 7 wounded.-Agamemnon, be ready for delivery on Thursday next John Harvey. 3 wounded.-Windsor Cas-Every debate will be found given with the tle, Charles Boyles. 10 killed, 35 wounded.

Defiance, P. C. Durham. 1 killed, 7 wounded.-Prince -Prince of Wales, Vice-Admiral Sir R. Calder and Capt. W. Cuming. 3 killed, 20 wounded-Repulse, Hon. A. K. Legge. 4 wounded.-Raisonable, Josias Rowley. 1 killed, 1 wounded.-Dragon, Edward Griffiths. None.--Glory, RearAdm. Sir C. Stirling, and Capt. S. Warren. 1 killed, 1 wounded.- Warrior, S. Hood Linzee. None.Thunderer, W. Lechmere. 7 killed, 11 wounded.- -Malta, E. Buller. 5 killed, 40 wounded.--Frigates. Egyptienne, Hon. C. E. Fleming. No return.-Syrius, W. Prowse. 2 killed, 3

greatest accuracy; but particularly those relating to Lord Melville, and to the question respecting the Roman Catholics. The Ap pendix contains the Eleventh Report of the Commissioners of Naval Inquiry, making, together with the Appendix of the preceding Volume, the collection of those Reports complete, as far as they have hitherto been laid before the House of Commons.-The 5th Volume, which is in great forwardnes which will close the Debates of the Session, will contain the Financial Accounts, and other documents connected with the most important of the proceedings in Parliament during the Session.

Printed by Cox and Baylis, No. 75, Great Queen Street, and published by R. Bagshaw, Bow Street, Covent Garden, where former Numbers may be had; sold also by J. Budd, Crown and Mitre, Pall-Mäk.

VOL. VIII. No. 6.]

LONDON, SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 1805.

[PRICK 10D. "Whereas divers cruel and barbarous outrages have been, of late, wickedly and wantonly committed in « divers parts of England, upon the persons of divers of His Majesty's subjects, either with an intent to "murder, or to inaim, disfigure, or disable, or to do other grievous bodily harm to such subjects; and, "whereas the provisions, now by law made, for the prevention of such offences, have bee found ineffectual for that purpose; be it therefore enacted, &c. &c." -PREAMBLE TO THE ACT, 43 G.o. ill. chap. 55, passed 24th June, 1803.

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SUMMARY OF POLITICS. BOXING.The public attention having been called to a recent, an extraordinary, and somewhat alarming decision of a Coroner's jury upon a case wherein death was the cousequence of a boxing match, I caunot, consistently with the opinions I have always entertained and frequently expressed upon the subject, omit, upon this occasion, to submit to my readers, some few of those reflections that press upon my mind. The case, here particularly referred to, is, as stated in the Morning Chronicle of the 25th ultimo, as follows: "George Hodgson,

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geon, who examined the body of the de"ceased in company with Mr. Reeve, of "Great Portland-street, surgeon. The sub"stance of his evidence was, that they had "been employed about three hours in the "examination, and that, upon the most minate observation that could possibly be made, it did not appear that there was any injury done to the viscera of the thorax, neither was there any extravasated "blood within the head, such as would have "been the case if a blood vessel had burst.

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-Upon the whole, he conceived that the "loss of life must have been occasioned by some injury done to the nervous sys"tem, or else by a violent concussion of "the brain, which might have arisen either from great exertion of passion or from repeated heavy falls, in which cases there might not be any mark upon the subject from which a professional man could *form a decided opinion. But, from the evidence which he had heard of the fight, which was sworn to have taken place, he had no doubt that it was from some cir

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sign between the parties to commit a "breach of the peace, and where that vio"lation of law terminated fatally to one of "them, with the additional consideration "that it was a prize fight, in which each "had money as an inducement to do an injury to the other; in such case he thought "the act of the one man who killed the "other, was clearly murder. If they "thought otherwise, however, they would

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say so. But of this the jury had not the "least doubt, and immediately gave a ver"dict of WILFUL MURDER, by Dennis "Dillon."-Such is the account given in the public prints. Upon inquiry I find, further, that the combatants were two journeymen in the same shop, who, having quarrelled at their shop-board, agreed to decide their quarrel by a boxing match.. It is said, that the only pecuniary stake, for which they contended, was a bet of half a guinea, which bet, however, did not take place till the moment before the fight begin. There was so little of what could be truly called malice, between them, that the d.ceased hạd proposed to make up their difference without fighting; and, though this was not accepted, a similar proposition was made by the survivor, during the course of the battle. There was, as, indeed, it clearly appears from the above stated evidence, no reason to suppose the death to be occasioned by any particular blow, but merely by the effect of exertion, and the breaking of a blood-vessel, as might have horned in a race, a rowing match, a jumping-match, a cricket-match, or in any other exercise requiring, either constantly or occasionally, any extraordinary.. exertion of bodily strength. These being

the circumstances of the case, one may confidently hope, that this will not be the instance, in which the last blow will be struck

that manly, that generous mode of termirating quarrels between the common people, aode by which the common people of Land have, for ages, been distinguished from those of all other countries. But, though we may safely rely upon the wisdom and justice of the courts, before one of which this anfortunate boxer must finally take his tial, the occasion calls for some remark upon those exertions, which, of late, have been, and which yet are, making in every part of the country, with the obvious, and, in many instances, with the declared, intention, of utterly eradicating the practice of boxing; than which, I am thoroughly persuaded, nothing could be more injurious, whether considered as to its effects in civil lite, or in its higher and more important effects on the people regarded as the members of a state, and, of course, always opposed to some other state, and therefore always liable to be called upon to perform the duties of war. As few persons will be inclined to believe it possible so far to work, by any human laws, such a change in the hearts and minds of men as shall prevent all quarrelling amongst them, it is not necessary to insist, that, in spite of the law and the Gospel, in pite of the animadversions of the bench and the admonitions of the pulpit, there will still be practised some mode or other of terminating quarrels, some way in which the party injured, or offended, will seek for satisfaction, without waiting for the operation of the law, even in those cases where the law affords the means whereby satisfaction is to be obtained. If this be not denied, it will remain with the innovating foes of the pugilstick combat to show, that there are other modes of terminating quarrels amongst the common people less offensive to the principles of sound morality, less dangerous in their physical effects, better calculated to produce the restoration of harmony, to shorten the duration, and to prevent the extension, of resentment, together with all the evils attendant upon a long-harboured spirit of revenge, Without proceeding another step, I am confident, that the reflecting reader, though he may, for a moment, have been carried away by the cry of ""-ru

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tality," latterly set up against boxing, will, from our thus simply stating what our opponents have to prove, have clearly perceived, that the proof is not within their power. He will have perceived, that, of all the ways in which violence can possibly be committed (endence of some sort there

must be in the obtaining of personal satis faction) none has in it so little hostility to the principles of our religion, and that none is so seldom fatal to the parties, as boxing He will have perceived, too, that this mode, by excluding the aid of every thing extraneous, by allowing of no weapons, by leav ing nothing to deceit, and very little to art of any sort, is, in most cases, decisive as to the powers of the combatants, and proceeds, besides, upon the generous principle, that, with the battle, ceases for ever the cause whence it arose; a principle of such long and steady growth, so deeply rooted in the hearts of Englishmen, that to attempt the revival, or even to allude to, with apparent resent ment, the grounds of a quarrel which has been terminated by the fists, is always regarded as a mark of baseness, whether visible in the conduct of the parties themselves, or in that of their relations, or friends.Instead, however, of rejoicing at the exist ence of a practice which is so well calculated to soften the natural effects of the violent passions, there are but too many amongst us, who seem to be perfect enthusiasts in their efforts to extirpate it. Whether, if they could extirpate those passions themselves, or could so far neutralize them as effectually to prevent their producing acts of violence; whether, in that case, they would leave us any thing whereby, and whereby alone, pri vate injustice, domestic oppression, or foreign hostility, is to be resisted, I submit as a question to the doctors in the school of modern philanthropy; but, unless those pas sions can be extirpated, and until that great work be completed, I think, that every one who listens to reason in preference to an out cry, and who is attached to the substance and not the mere sounds of humanity and gentleness, will readily agree, that, to at tempt the extirpation of the practice of boxing is to make an attempt, which, if suc cessful, would lead to the frequent commis sion of all those sanguinary and horrible acts, by which the common people of but ton many other countries are disgraced, and which, amongst the people of England, have, till of late, been almost unknown. In support of this opinion, I may, as to an argu ment of experience, surely appeal to the law, recently passed, and the preamble of which I have chosen for my MOTTO; and, that such a law should have become neces sary, I am sure the reader, if he has an English heart in his bosom, will reflect with sorrow and with shame. What is now become of those manners which authorised the ho nest exultation of so many of our eminent writers, that, from the generous spirit of

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Englishmen, acts of cruelty were rendered so rare in their country? Our travellers must now held their tongues; for the world is told, and that too, by the legislature itself, who have placed the disgraceful truth upon. the records of parliament, that the laws and statutes of the land, heretofore in force, are no longer sufficient to prevent us from committing" cruel and barbarous outrages, with "intent to murder, maim, disfigure, or disable, one another." It is not till " of late," certainly, that such a law has been necessary, and, it is not till of late, that such a general desire to suppress the practice of boxing has prevailed. The mere coexistence of this desire (and of the measures, pro ceeding from it) with the frequency of the commission of cruel and barbarous acts, may not, indeed, be regarded as a conclusive argument in favour of the practice of boxing; but, no one can deny, that it strongly corro borates the conclusion, which reason, without the aid of experience, has taught us to draw; and, if this conclusion, thus fortified, be legitimate, it follows, of course, that we must either have cuttings and stabbings, or boring; the former of which, as being perfectly compatible with " a godly conversation" and with the cant of humanity, it is more than probable that the Saints, and Philanthropists would not hesitate to prefer But, it is the political view of this subject which appears to me to be most worthy of attention; the view of the effect which may, by the contemplated change of manners, be produced upon the people, considered as the members of a state, always opposed to some other state; for, much as I abhor cuttings and stabbings, I have, as I hope most others of my countrymen have, a still greater abhorrence of submission to a foreign yoke. Commerce, Opulence, Luxury, Eteminacy, Cowardice, Slavery: these are the stages of national degradation. We are in the fourth; and, I beg the reader to consider, to look into history, to trace states in their fall, and then say how rapid is the latter part of the progress! Of the symptoms of eleminary none is so certain as a change from athletic and hardy sports, or exercises, to those requiring less bodily strength, and exposing the persons engaged in them to less bodily suffering, and, when this change takes place, be assured that national cowardice is at no great distance, the general admiration of deeds of hardihood having already been considerably lessened. Bravery, as, indeed, the word imports, consists not in a readiness and a capacity to kill or to hurt, but in a readiness and a capacity to venture, and to bear the consequences. As sports or exercises, approach nearer and nearer to real combats,

the greater, in spite of all we can say, is our admiration of those who therein excel; Bel cher has, by the sons of caut, in every class of life, been held up to us as a monster, a perfect ruflian; yet, there are very few per sons, who would not wish to see Belcher few from whom marks of admiration have not, at some time, been extorted by his com bats; and scarcely a female Saint, perhaps, who would not, in her way to the conven ticle, or even during the snuffling there to be heard, take a peep at him from beneath: her hood. Can es mich be said by any one of those noblemen and gentlemen who have been spending the best years of their lives in dancing by night and playing at cricket by day? The reason is, not that Belcher strikes hard; not that he is strong; not that he is an adept at his art; but, that be exposes him self voluntarily to so much danger, and that he bears so many heavy blows. We are apt to laugh at the preference which women openly give to soldiers (incading, of course, ali men of the military profession), a prea ference which is always found, too, to be given by young persons of both sexes. Buty if we take time to consider, we shall find this partiality to be no fit subject for ridicule or blame. It is a partiality naturally arising from the strongest of all feeling, the love of life. The profession of arms is always the most honourable. All kings and princes are soldiers. Renowned soldiers are never forgotten. We all talk of Alexander the Great and of Julius Caesar; but very few of us, ever heard, or ever thought of inquiring, who were the statesmen of those days. There is not, perhaps, a plonchman in England, who has not a hundred times repeated the names of Drake and of Marlborough; and of the hundreds of thousands of them, there is not one, perhaps, who ever heard, or ever will hear, pronounced, the name of Cecil or of Godolphin. When princes are not renowned military commanders, they themselves, though they leave so many and such varions traces behind them, are, amongst the mass of the people, soon forgotten, except as having reigned during the victories of such or such a commander. Literary men have, almost uniformly, spoken with more or less contempt of military fame; but, notwithstanding the singular advantages which they have over soldiers, in perpetuating a knowledge of their famous deeds, within how narrow a sphere, comparatively speaking, is their fame confined! Where is the man, woman, or child, in this kingdom, who has not heard and talked of Nelson? And, does not the reader believe, that there are ninty parishes, in either of which the knowledge of Pope or of Johnson's having existed is con

futed to two or three persons? Such, too, is the nature of military fame, that it oblite mes all the folly and all the crimes of the postor. The discriminating few, the cri£ tic sers of character, will, indeed, take these into account; but, with the people in general, and particularly those of the nation, to which the renowned soldier belongs, his deeds of valour only are remembered. Whence, then, arises this universal suffrage of makinin favour of military heroes? Why are their deed prized above those of all other men? Not because their profession demands more skill than that of others; not because it supposes hard study or great labour of any sort; not because it is thought to require an extraordinary degree of genius or of wisdom. Some have ascribed it to the terror inspired by military combats; but, we often admire those heroes most at whose deeds it is impossible we can have felt any terror. Others have ascribed it to the signal and extensive consequences produced in the world by the deeds of military commanders; but, the deeds of statesmen produce much more signal and more extensive consequences; and yet, these latter sink silently to the grave, and rot there, without ever be ing named by the common people of only the very next generation. To what, therefore, can we ascribe this universal preference of military fame before all other fame, but to that all-pervading and ever-predominating principle, the love of life, and the consequent admiration of those who voluntarily place their lives in the most frequent and most imminent danger? This principle exists, naturally, in the same degree, in every human breast; and, bravery consists, as was before said, simply in the capacity of subduing the love of life so far as knowingly, deliberately, and voluntarily to put it to risk. Hence it is, that we cannot refrain from admiring the hardihood of miners, well-sinkers, and the like; but, in them we justly ascribe a good deal to habit, to hard necessity, and, besides, we do not, in their case, see where and what is the immediate cause of their danger; but, in the case of the soldier, we clearly perceive this cause; we see him voluntarily going forth and marching on till he comes within reach of those, who, on their side, are advancing for the sole purpose of taking his life. In proportion as the readiness to hazard life exists in a country, that country is brave, and, consequently, in proportion to its numbers, powerful. How deeply sensible of this does our rival and enemy appear to have been! Amongst all the changes and chances of the French revolution, there has never been a single day, when the rulers were not careful to reward

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and to honour those who had distinguished themselves by putting their lives to risk. The consequences we have seen, and now but too sensibly feel. We, on the contrary, seem to be using our utmost endeavours to extirpate every habit that tended to prepare the minds of the common people for deeds of military bravery. Am I told, that there are no boxers in France? I answer, that there never were; that their exercises and their combats were of another description; I have seen peasants in France turn out into a field, and cut one another with their sabres. But, if you extirpate boxing in England, can you substitute any other mode of exercise or combat in its stead? No: and that is not the object; the professed object is, to cry down and to put an end to, every species of exercise or of combat, in which life shall at all be put to the risk, or, indeed, in which bodily opposition and great bodily strength and a great capacity of bearing bodily pain are acquired. Not only boxing, but wrestling, quarter-staff, single-stick, bull-baiting, every exercise of the common people, that supposes the possible risk of life or limb, and, of course, that tends to prepare them for deeds of bravery of a higher order, and, by the means of those deeds and of the character and consequence naturally growing out of them, to preserve the independence and the liberties of their country; every such exercise seems to be doomed to extirpation. Even the very ani mals, for the bravery of which the nation has long been renowned, are to be destroyed, as men would destroy savage and ferocious beasts. Every thing calculated to keep alive the admiration, and even the idea, of hardihood, seems to have become offensive and odious in the sight of but too many of those, whose duty it is to endeavour to arrest, and not to accelerate, the fatal progress of effeminacy. That many of the persons s0 zealously engaged in supporting the system of effeminacy (for such it may properly be called), are actuated by motives of tenderness for the common people there can be no doubt; but, while I must think, that such persons act without due reflection, I hesitate not to declare my belief, that those with whom the system originated, and who are the principal instigators of all the measures adopted for effecting the extirpation of boxing and other hardy exercises, are actuated by motives far other than those of compass sion for the persons who are in the babit of being therein engaged. Let, however, what will be the motives, the consequences are, some of them, already obvious, and others i is by no means difficult to foresee. That cuttings and stabbings are more fatal that

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