Such officers as meritoriously preserve their troops, highly merit of his Majesty; and, notwithstanding the superior strength of their regiments, never ought, except in extreme urgency, to serve longer than usual; for in such event, their exact discipline, and exemplary conduct meeting with no attention, would not by example stimulate succeeding regiments to such meritorious duty and conduct. Troops never ought to serve longer in the West Indics than five years, (emergencies excepted) and such knowledge of their certain return, would strongly tend to promote the health and comfort of the troops, and operate powerfully as an antidote to that discouragement, with Which officers and men embark on that serVice.- -If it is observed, that an extraordinary expense would be incurred by removing the troops sooner than usual; it is to be observed also, that such paltry considerations cught to shrink before the humanity, justice, and policy of the measure in question. Enlightened minds can readily conceive, that many things, which forty years ago were expedient, are at present become inexpedient; and this, perhaps, is not inapplicable to the mode of drafting the remains of regiments into other regiments, by which they are doomed to almost extermination. This mode, though long sanctioned by custom, is repugnant to justice, humanity, and policy, and ought to be abolished.A. §.August 1, 1805. as his officers are independent of hiin.hopes or fears of the babbling and unreffects ing swarms of the metropolis, who always unite criminality with want of success, and who never inquire into the means by which success is accomplished, or into the con sequences whereunto it leads; who are now reproaching the admiral because the combined fleets have got into Ferrol, but who seem to have forgotten, that it is to be attributed entirely to the dollar-war, in the success of which 'many of them so much exulted, that there was a combined fleet at sea, and that Ferrol was open to receive it. To the decision of such judges let us hope, that the conduct of our commanders is never to be subjected. Not a word do we hear from the 'Change against the conduct of those ministers, by whom we have been exposed to our present dangers; owing to whose war with Spain, and to whose subsequent management of our naval force, our colonies have been plundered or laid under contribution; a considerable convoy has been captured; and that the naval force of the enemy, the despised naval force of the enemy, has compelled our squadrons to fall back one upon another. Not a word does Lloyd's say upon this subject, while its sooty walls re-echo with reproaches against the admiral, who with fifteen sail of the line, captured only two out of the twenty that he engaged! But, admirals give no "commodations" to loan-jobbers: admirals have none of the public money to lend, without interest: admirals possessing none of the means by the overflowings of mercantile avarice or mercantile trepidation are keps within decent bounds. It is not meant here to cast a slur upon the mercantile character and those who choose to understand it that way, must take their resentment for their pains; but, when we hear, fros the city, such loud expressions of disap pointment, such clamourous accents of een sure on the admiral, and hear not, from the same quarter, a word against the conduct. of those, of whose measures the present lamented events are the natural and obvious consequence, to refrain from an exposure of the inconsistency, would be to merit a full share of the contempt for which it calls. SUMMARY OF POLITICS. COMBINED FLEETS.-Against the disappointment, so evident in the public, and so loudly proclaimed by most of the newspapers, at the result of the operations of these fleets, a timely endeavour was made to guard the readers of the Political Register. It was, from what ought to have been concluded from Sir Robert Calder's first dispatch, but too probable, that nothing further was, for the present, at least, to be expected from, the efforts of the squadron under his command; and, though that dispatch was not scarcemstantial as it might have been, ic by no means appears, hom any tang yet published, that the commander, any commander, could have done more that he did. Nothing is easier than to cry out coward and traitor; but. let us hope, that such a cry will never affect the life, or fortune erfame of any man, until he be fully and fairly onvicted of the crime laid to his charge: let us hope that neither the persons nor the reputation of our conmmanders will ever stand pon so slippery a foundation as that of the ac -Whe unfortunate events have taken place, it is perfectly useless, to sit down wids folded hands and repine,, This is not what the leaders of the French have done. Lrery new embarrassinent, with them, and wife all other men who have extricated themselves from greater dangers, has ever given rise to new and extraordinary exertions and, amongst such exertions has been the of getting the Letter of their prejudice, and sequent events. The truth is, that, if they possessed wisdom in the highest degree, they are too much taken up, and have been too much taken up, with self, with the important business of defending then selves, to attend to the business of the na tion, which is with them, a matter of secondary consideration; and, agreeably to the main principle, upon which they and their adherents proceed, we may expect to hear the insufficient state of our navy, the ap cation between the different squadrons, and the consequent escape of the combined fleets; all these, and the invasion of Ireland, were it to take place, we may expect to hear ascribed, not to the want of wisdom or integrity in the ministers, but to the hampering and shackling effects of the motions and speeches of the Opposition! And, if we reply, that, the Opposition being so strong is a good reason for the ministry being changed, your true Pittite will not hesitate a moment to declare us insane. Nay, a person of that description will, as to these very observations, object, that they are, in whatever degree they are likely to produce effect, calculated to add to our present dangers, by compelling the ministers to employ, in the preservation of their places, some their errors. The season of misfortune is, with a nation destined finally to triumph, the season for reflection also, upon which principle it is that I have now, in the selection of iny Morтo, endeavoured to recall the minds of my readers to the opinions held, or, at least, expressed, by the present ministers, in their defence of the Preliminaries of Peace with France; 1 say ministers, because the reader will find, by a reference to the debates, that the Pitts and Dundases, every one of them, joinedparently total want of authentic communiin the sentiments of Lord Hawkesbury, upon which sentiments the present situation of affairs precludes the necessity of any comment; nor, is it at all necessary to remind the reader, that sentiments exactly opposite, and foreboding precisely what has now taken place, were repeatedly pressed upon the country by Lord Grenville, Mr. Windham, and, indeed, by all those who opposed the peace; that peace, which Mr. Pitt defended, which he applauded, which he described as a subject of national pride and exultation, and as meriting, to the ministers who made it, the praise and the lasting gratitude of the country. "Well," some Pittite will exclaim, " and did not Mr. Fox too approve "of the peace?" Yes: but it was upon the ground of necessity. It was because the war could, in his opinion, be carried on no longer, without risking the very existence of the nation as an independent body. It was because the peace put an end to those, as he described them, hypocritical professions upon which the war was conducted. But, to Mr. Pitt belong the peace, the previous war, and the present war. All these three are to be viewed together; and all of them as the measures of the Pitts and Dundases; for, I repeat it again and again, that Mr. Addington acted constantly under their advice, not to say their controvi.—To return, then, to their opinions, the hopes they held out to us, to the promises they made us, at the peace, and a specimen of which is given in the extract, the question we have to put to ourselves is, "have we any ground of reliance upon "such men?" Let us not be told, that this is no time for asking such questions. It is the proper time. It is the time when alone it is perfectly proper to ask them; because it is a time when we have the means of obtaining a solution, It is for want of wisdom in rulers, and foresight, in them, is the proof of wisdom, that nations suffer calamity and disgrace; and the degree of foresight possessed by Mr. Pitt and his colleagues may be easily ascertained by their opinions, compared with sub more of that time, the whole of which ought to be devoted to the preserva tion of the country. A ministry so weak, so feeble both in mind and in the number and character of their supporters, possessing so very little confidence aongst the people, and, if possible, still less abroad, never can retrieve affairs such as ours now are. Nations, like individuals, are prone to shut their eyes to their dangers, especially after they have been some time upon the decline, and when the declining circumstances come pretty egularly one after another. Yet, one would think, that, who ever reflects upon the state of the public mind at the conclusion of the Preliminaries of Peace; whoever reflects upon what would have been, at that time, said of Mr. Windham, if he had predicted, that, in less than four years from that day, they would see the navy of France arrived at its present pitch; would see that navy laying several of our West-India, islands under contribu tion; capturing or destroying all the ships in their harbours; first capturing and then burning a rich convoy of our merchantmen and in such force upon the coasts of Europe as to compel our squadrons to sheer off from its presence: whoever reflects upon what would have been said of him; whoever reflects upon the bitter invectives, the Vile misrepresentations, the malignant imputations, which such a prediction would have brought from the hirelings of THE FAMILY, joined by all the base and seifish crew of dealers in funds and papermoney; whoever reflects on this, and who, at the same time, perceives that the present resentment of the public is confined merely to the conduct of an Admiral, who, at most, has only failed in the amount of a ship or two captured or destroyed, must, one would think, be satisfied that we are, though silently, going rapidly down. Already do we patiently hear the Pitt newspapers express a hope, a fond hope," it is in the Morning Post, that the combined fleets are not too powerful for the force which Admiral Cornwallis will soon have to oppose them." This we are already come to. We hear it with patience; and from such a state of mind men are not far removed from a disposition to "make the best of a bad matter;" or, in other words, to submit to disgrace without anguish, and almost without reluctance. Such, however, is so naturally the effect of the defensive system, that it would be matter of wonder if we did not now see it exist. You never yet saw a country conquered that did not, for some years before, act upon a system of self-defence; I mean pure self-defence; and this system inevitably arises out of an excessive commerce and its constant attendants, an excessive love of wealth, and a corresponding dread of all hazardous or arduous undertakings. All this our enemy is well acquainted with; and, not to profit from his knowledge, was never amongst the number of his failings. In India, where the fighting is carried on without any danger to us, and, for the most part, by foreign troops, we are not content with a system of pure defence. There, indeed, we find conquests necessary to preserve what we already possess;" but, here, at home, our maxim is to keep ourselves to ourselves;" and we complain of, nay, we abuse, with the tongues of worse than fish-women, all those who discover a wish to disturb us; and the ministerial prints, the Morning Post in particular, has seized the occasion of the combined fleets being in Ferrol to reproach Buonaparte with all the crimes he has ever committed, and which crimes, would he but give security that his fleets should be dedestroyed, this same Morning Post would as loudly defend; a task the more easy, seeing that it has already defended them! This was, perhaps it will be said, when Buonaparté was friends with us, and when his very expression about the two great na ་ tions" was faithfully fetailed to us through the columns of the Morning Post, and the other Pitt newspapers. Let it never be forgotten, that, when, a little previous to the peace of Amiens, it was reported, that Hol land and Spain made objections to the cession of Ceylon and Trinidad, the ministerial papers, particularly the SUN and the MORNING POST, exultingly bid their readers be assured, that though those powers might grumble, yet they must submit." Well, then, why do these prints now revile Buo naparté for having a Dutch and a Spanish navy in his service? Is it laudable in him to exe cise despotic power over those nations, does he deserve praise for exercising it over them, when the object is to aggrandize us; and does he deserve abuse, nay curses, for exercising it when the object is to annoy us? Such sort of justice may correspond with the opinions, or, rather, the feelings of the thoughtless and enervated tribe, on the humouring of whom such prints as the Morning Post rests its hopes of the only species of success which it has in view; but, we may be assured, that it corresponds not with the notions of those amongst mankind whose opinions are of any weight in determining the fate of nations.- -Before we take leave of this subject, it may not be improper to notice, generally, the indications of public indignation uniformly shown in all wars, previous to those of the Pitts and their associates, at any apparent neglect in the department of the navy; and, for a particular instance, let us take one,, where Mr. Pitt himself male a conspicuous figure; I allude to the inquiry, moved for, in the House of Commons, by Mr. Fox, in 1781, into the conduct of Lord Sandwich. At the beginning of that war, France, or rather the House of Bourbon, was equal, if not su perior to us in maritime force. Previous to the epoch referred to, Holland had joined in the war against us; and, it is well known, that the coast and harbours of our revolted colonies kept constantly occupied a fleet of not less than twenty sail of the line, besides great numbers of frigates and sloops of war, Yet, under such circumstances, did the loss of Saint Kitt's, and some other comparatively trifling reverses, produce so great a degree of indignation in the country as to render it impossible for the first Lord of the Admiralty to hold his place. He did not,;; indeed, hang on like one of THE FAMILY but, if he had been so disposed, there is every reason to suppose, that he would not have been able. Upon that occasion Mr. Pitt was amongst the foremost of the ac cusers; and it may not be amiss to hear a little, only a very small part, of what he said, upon the tardiness of the Admiralty to produce the papers called for by the House of Commons: "I must," said he, beg "leave to differ with my right hon. friend, in his observation, that the House, re"marking this conduct of the Admiralty, 66 of t to far, fulfilled by events. Before I proceed to will be fatigued and give up the pursuit "in despair. God forbid! No: they will, 86 on the contrary, view it as a silent symptom of conscious guilt; they will, if they see that there is a design to overthrow that by management, which cannot be resisted if fairly met, consider the Ad"miralty Board as labouring under the con"viction of delinqueney; they will say, "that it carries with it strong symptoms of "dark, latent, lurking guilt, which covets "concealment. That, after all the sounding, proud boasts, challenges, and defiances, they sink into mean and wretched "pretences, hoping to secure themselves, "for a time, from the infamy of that de"tection that must come upon them at last. red, that sted: wa existed a Nay, that they are so fond of place, that, for the sake of another week's life, they will fall so low as to practice a little manœuvre on the House, and live upon the precarious and temporary acquiescence of "parliament." Such was his language with regard to Lord North and his colleagues. Such was his tone; such the style in which, when out of place, he arraigned the conduct of the " King's government," of " his Ma-hear him out. "An attempt was certainly jesty's confidential servants!" Whether his "made by the enemy to put to sea on Sa conduct (for as to that of the old gentleman "turday last, but a sudden change of wind at the Admiralty, whose name I have for- "frustrated their intention. They con gotten, that is out of the question) will be- "tinue, however, in a perfect state of rea come the subject of an inquiry is more than "diness to sail, and no doubt is entertained I can say; but, if it should, the passage here "of their determination to avail themselves quoted from the reports of Debrett, 28th "of the first favourable opportunity to carry January, 1781, may be not altogether with- "their design into execution. From the out its use. "French coast, similar intelligence has been το received, relative to the preparations and designs of the enemy in that direction; " and government, we repeat, entertain no doubt of the desperate attempt being shortly hazarded from different quarters. ---To those who have minds capable of being gratified with the sight of public "virtue, the efforts which are making by "our brave countrymen in arms to prepare "themselves for the threatened blow, and "the ardour which they manifest to meet "the unprincipled and implacable threatener, "must afford the highest possible cnjoy "ment. But one sentiment pervades the INVASION.- This was the word last August; it was the word the August before; and it will be the word every August, as long as the Pitt system exists. There may be a year, or, perhaps, a couple of years, when, in consequence of a peace, we shall be less alarmed at the dangers of invasion; but, as long as that system remains, let who will be minister, we shall never again know a really tranquil month of August. Am I again told, that I say this, because I predicted, nearly four years ago, that such would be the consequence of the disgraceful conclusion of the last war? I answer, that, whatever inay be the motive, from which I repeat this saying, it certainly is not rendered less true, nor less worthy of attention, by the circumstance of its having been, thus numerous ranks of our gallant defenders. "Let, then, the chemy come; let them try "whether the British bayonet, the force **of which in other countries they have so "frequently and so fatally experienced, will "be pushed with less vigour on British ground. For our own parts, we contemplate the approaching contest with calm “-confidence; convinced, as we are, that the “ day of combat will prove a day of glory to Britain. There are, doubtless, indi*viduals who regard this patriotic spirit, and the exertions to which it stimulates, "with the sneer of self-sufficient sagacity, and who congratulate themselves on their “ superiór wisdom in having avoided the ** fatigues and inconveniences to which they “see their neighbours cheerfully expose *Themselves. We do not envy such men "the torpor of their feelings, although we "are willing to attribute it to an erroneous "estimate of the danger to which the country is at present exposed. Sorry, indeed, "should we be, could we for a moment bring burselves to suppose, that there ff were a hundred voices in the island capable of echoing the declaration of a certain "factious demagogue, "that the country "was not worth defending." No; we are *convinced, that the contrary is too firmly “established; we are convinced that there "never existed a nation more sensible of the blessings which we enjoy, or more "unanimously determined to guard them against the attempts of an assailaut, of whom it may with truth be said, that "" havock, and spoil, and ruin, are his "gain." Had we not assumed our present attitude of defence, no one will be senseless enough to contend, that the armies "of France would not, long since, have "been poured upon our shores. To many (and many to whose opinions and feelings "we pay the highest respect), the possibi dity that our undismayed aspect may deter "the haughty threatener, is a subject of "satisfactory contemplation. For ourselves, 't we have no hesitation in avowing, that * the monent when we learn ke has made good his landing, will be to us a moment "of exaltation. Relying, with the utmost "confidence, on the patriotism, on the "bravery, and, we will add, on the skill of "our brethren in arms, we entertain not "the slightest doubt that the result would prove to the world the hopelessness of "any future attack on a country, the in"habitants of which are so closely and cor"dially united in the defence of every thing dear to them, in the defence of every thing for which existence. is desirable.' ¢ coming, that it is supported neither by fact nor reasoning, and that, to all appearance, it has no foundation in truth. Of the" calm, confidence," with which this patriotic spirit contemplates the approaching contest," a tolerably correct judgment may be formed from the confu sion of ideas, and the contradictory positions, so obvious through the whole of his remarks. -Fright is generally, if not always, accompanied with anger, partly arising from a sense of danger and partly from that of the shame of appearing to be afraid; and, the objects of such anger are, those who cause the fright and those who are the witnesses of its effects. Accordingly, we see, that, this patriotic spirit falls about him, and that, too, without much rule or reason; for, at a moment when he was calling upon his readers for unanimous exertion, was it wise, was it "patriotic," to talk of persons," who congratulate themselves in having avoided "the fatigues and inconveniencies, to which "they see their neighbours chearfully ex 66 pose themselves?" Was this wise And is the charge just?, I am persuaded the reader will agree with me, that it is an insinuation totally groundless, and arising solely from the base feeling above described; and, if it could, coming through so contemptible a channel, produce any effect upon the public mind, it would be that of setting men on to reproach, and, perhaps, to murder one another. We have, we have been told a hundred times, 700,000 men in arms, Our whole population does not afford more than three times that, number, capable of bearing arms; and yet, are we to be reproached, because we do not enough expose ourselves to fatigues and inconveniencies? And, is the proper person to reproach us, he who " pa"trioticly" expresses his wish to hear, that the enemy has made good his landing 2" -Not less malignant, nor less. false, is the imputation against Sir Francis Bardett, whose words, that the country was not "worth defending," are placed within muks of quotation, as if extracted from some authentic report of a speech of lis; when the fact is, as I have before shown, that he did not atter any such words, upon the occasion alluded to, and that, in all the other public prints except this very Morning Fost, his words conveyed quite a different sentiment, which was this, that, when the people were called on for money, or for extraordinary exertions of any sort, it was a proper time to redress their grievances, and thereby make them feel that their money would be useful to themselves and that their country was worth defending; a saltiment, Supplement to No. 8, Vol. VII.-Price 10d. 1 |