POLITICAL REGISTER Natal Fictories On ters there are two things ever to be kept in, nind The one is, that we were perfectly, scoure, without the naval victory the other, that we were, and still are, aiding in a war upon the Continent, not for mur oan interest or Beentity, but furely for the sake of the powers of the Continent. It follows, then, that we derive no additional security from the naval victory, and that, the millions raised upon us for subsidies this year, are given away, and not expended for any purpose beneficial to us. Observe, that this is no opinion of mine; it is a fair and inevitable conclusion drawn from the assertions of the writers, who are devoted to the ministry. But, the fact is, that these writers, true to the character of their sect, are hypocrites; hypocrites of the lowest cast. They believe not a word of what they say here; or they have, upon former occasions, most grossly belied their consciences. For, can the public have forgotten, with what exultation they hailed the continental war; and how anxious they were to convince their readers, that that war, caused by Mr. Pitt, had put an end, at least for a while, to the dangers of invasion? Like the vast prepa-1 "Fations of Caligula (said they, after having spoken of Buonaparte's being called off by the Austrians and Russians), "the "mighty threats of Buonaparte are now "furned to his scorn. The design of in"vasion, which, not long since, ministers "knew to be seriously entertained, appears "nole to be, at least for a tine, completely "abandoned." [And this, observe, with out any naval victory, and merely by the means of the sound of war upon the Continent Having no longer 200,000 dis"ciplined soldiers placed in a position, "from which they might pour in upon us, "in a few hours of favourable coincidence; "having the advantage of acting with allies, capable of engaging the vast armies that "were to be pour down upon us, horde "after horde, 'till we should be consumed even by continued victories, if we should be fortunate enough to gain them; we have now to congratulate ourselves, that the time is arrived, when we can, with "effect, act on the offensive, and alarm the "threatener with invasion in our turn. And, yet, they have now the assurance to tell the readers, to whom this was addressed, that England stood in no need of a continental diversion, that we entertained no apprehension for ourselves; that we do not wage war to achieve our security, but to enable the powers of the Continent to achieve theirs Dionist we here forget to recur exhibited by these writers, after the defeaty and capture of the Austrians, and, upon theq supposition that the continental war might soon be at an end. Austria gone, her armies annihilated, Russia can do nothing against France, and Prussia, may be dea terred from stirring; the war on the Con-ad tinent will be at an end, and the hordes an "of French soldery, inflamed by their suc-61 cesses, will return to the coasts opposite England, from whence invasion will be "attempted Sec. Yet have these pretend, that we never entertained any ap same writers now the profligate assurance to a prehensions for ourselves and never stood in need of a diversion upon the Continent!) For the reasons which will naturally suggest themselves to the readers of these comments, friendly to us upon the Continent, will reI am decidedly of opinion, that the powers, ceive but little animation from these naval victories. They will perceive, that our sue tional naval glory, will vex the ambitious cess, and especially our acquisition of addiNapoleon, and will retard his operations against us; but, they will also perceive, that we shall by our naval exertions, produced They have recently witnessed the inefficacy very little, if any, effect in their favour.d of maritime victories in deciding the fate of Araiens, the Stadtholder, and the King of powers upon the Continent. The peace of d Sardinia, are constantly before their eyes g they well know, that the victory of Trafal gar, though purchased by the death of Nel son, will not prevent a single battalion of Frenchmen from crossing the Rhine or the Alps; and they are equally confident, that, g if defeated in the field by Napoleon, they will not, in treating for peace, be suffered a Is there, besides, nothing, after all, of even to pronounce the name of England.drawback, in the loss of Lord Nelson That he was not, to England, of an importance & equal to that of Napoleon to France, may be, perhaps, allowed; but, that his valued was very great indeed, there will be nobody s to replace him? There may be men as able) a found to deny. Where shall we find a man many as brave; a few as much above all-g private considerations, as much devoted to g glory, and who as much identify their glory with the real service of their country. But, much authority in the service, who can venwhere is there a man, who will have so will inspire so much confidence in those yo ture so much to act for himself, whose name d mies? Am I asked for what would you sig under him, and so much terror in his ene to reserve him? What, after all, could he do but obtain victories over the enemy's fleets ? O di to erasmi If those My answer is, that, according to all human probability, contests are in store for us, of far more importance than any that can hap pen at this moment; in which contests succes, or failure, may decide the fate of the country, and where success or failure may themselves be decided by the difference of such a man as Lord Nelson compared with any one likely to be substituted in his room, partr ularly if we are to judge from what we have lately seen. The loss incurred in the death of Lord Nelson, certainly ought not to be cited as an article of charge against the ministers, They could do no otherwise than employ Lord Nelson; and, for that very reau, as they incur no blame for his death, they can claim no praise for his victory.In concluding this article (the length of which will prevent me from offering some remarks that it was my wish to offer upon the recent intelligence from the Continent). I cannot refrain from returning, for a moment, to the malicious charge, referred against me by the SUN, of endeavouring to depress the hopes of the public, and to throw a gloom "over our national prospects." hopes are well founded; it those prospects, be, in the eye of reason, bright; it is impossible for me, or any one else, really to depress the former or to throw a gloom over the latter. But, as was before observed, this is the backneyed charge against all those who express their fears of the consequences of events, be they what they may, that happen during the administration of Mr. Pite. It is for him, and not for the comuy, that the charge is made.. If you ap prehend evil, you are regarded as his accuser, rather than which you may be guilty of all the crimes that ever were heard of.There is a pretty, cant phrase, in great Vogue in the purliens of Whitehall and St. James's Street, about "hoping for the best." Agreed: but, this phrase used to mean, -hoping for the best that reason teaches us to hope for; and, not for the best that our imaginations happen to furnish, us with, which deserves no name better than that of a wish; between which and hope there is a great difference.--The following paragraph, from the ministerial papers of the 1st instant, may be cited as a happy speci-. men of their mode of " hoping for the "best," and "keeping up the spirits of the "nation" I quote my favourite print, the COURIER In the mean time" [having just been speculating upon the means of retrieving affairs in Germany, and completely oversetting the French Emperor:] "In the mean time, the attention of every "man-is anxiously directed to the move"ments of the Prussian Cabinet. Captain Johnson, of the ship Venus, arrived at "Grimsby, from Tonningen, reported on * his arrival, that previous to his departure "from Tonningen it was stated, that the "Prussian army had been united to that of Russia, which had marched, and joined. "the Austrians; that the three armies.combined had completely surrounded those of "France over whom they obtained a victory, and after retaking Ulm, pursued "the enemy with every prospect of further "success. Captain Johnson was called upon to appear before the Mayor of Hull, and swear to the report, as it prevailed "at Tonningen. He immediately did so, "and his affidavit was yesterday morning "received in town, from the Collector of "the Customs at Hull, by a Gentleman of "the Custom-house in London."—A most proper channel, through which to receive such an oath! Verily, the nation, to keep. up whose spirits such means are resorted to, must be in a desperate way. Yet, if any. one had, upon the spot, scouted this story, he would have been accused of depressing the hopes of the public-I now take my leave of this subject, with just asking the reader, whether he can conceive any thing, T more dangerous, than to proclaim, at a moment like this, that our danger is now all over; that we are not fighting for our own security, but for that of the states upon the Continent; and, that, of course, the subsidies raised, and to be raised, upon us, are to berpended for no purpose, beneficial to us? Botley, Thursday, 14th Nov. 1805. PUBLIC PAPERS. DISPUTE WITH AMERICA. -Correspond ence of Mr. King, with Lord Hawkesbury. (Concluded from p. 730) Downing-street, April 11, 1801. SIR-I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 13th of last month, and to inform you that, in conse quence of the representation contained in it, a letter has been written, by his Majesty's command, by his Grace the Duke of Portland, to the Lords Commissioners of the» Admiralty: a copy of which letter I here, with enclose to you, for the information of the govt. of the U. States. HAWKESBURY. Whitehall, 30th March, 1801. MY LORD, I transmit to your lordships herewith a copy of the decree of the ViceAdmiralty Court of Nassau, condemning the cargo of an American vessel going from the United States to a port in the Spanish colo-pies: and the said decree having been resu ferred to the consideration of the King's advocate-general, your lordships will per ceive, from this report, an extract from which I enclose, that it is his opinion, that the sentence of the Vice-Admiralty Court is erroneous, and founded in a misapprehension or misapplication of the principles laid down in the decision of the High Court of Admiralty referred to, without attending to the limitation therein contained.-In order, therefore, to put a stop to the inconvenience arising from these erroneous sentences of the Vice Admiralty Courts, I have the honour to signify to your lordships the King's pleasure, that a communication of the doctrine laid down in the said report, should be immediately made by your lordships to the several judges presiding in them, setting forth what is held to be the law upon the subject by the superior tribunals, for their future guidance and direction. PORTLAND. Extract of the Advocate General's Report, dated March 16, 1801., I have the honour to report, that the sentence of the Vice Admiralty Court appears to me erroneous, and to be founded in a misapprehension or misapplication of the principles laid down in the decision of the Court of Admiralty referred to, without attending to the limitations therein contained. The general principle respecting the coJonial trade has, in the course of the present war, been to a certain degree relaxed in consideration of the present state of commerce. It is now distinctly understood, and it has been repeatedly so decided by the High Court of Appeal, that the produce of the colonies of the enemy may be imported by a neutral into his own country, and may be reexported from thence even to the mother country of such colony; and, in like manner, the produce and manufactures of the mothercountry may, in this circuitous mode, legally find their way to the colonies. The direct trade, however, between the mother country and her colonies, has not, I apprehend, been recognized as legal, either by his Majesty's government, or by his tribunals.—` What is a direet trade, or what amounts to an intermediate importation into the neutral country, may sometimes be a question of some difficulty. A general definition of either, applicable to all cases, cannot well be laid dowii. The question must depend upon the particular circumstances of cach case. Perhaps the mere touching in the neutral country to take fresh clearances may properly be considered as a fraudulent evasion, and is, in effect, the direct trade; but the High Court of Admiralty has expressly decided (and I see no reason to expect that the Court of Appeal will vary the rules) that landing the goods and paying the duties in the neutral country, breaks the continuity of the voyage, and is such an unportation as legalizes the trade, although the goods be reshipped in the same vessel, and on account of the same neutral proprietors, and be for+ : warded for sale to the mother-country or the colony. AUSTRIA AND BAVARIA.-A true Statement of the Conduct of the Serene Elector Palatine of Bavaria, in answer to the “Historical Representation of the Events which have directed the Conduct of his Electoral Highness." (Sec p. 609.) From the Vienna Court Gazette of the 16th Oct. 1805. The Serené Elector Palatine has pub lished an Historical Representation, in which he owns himself an ally of France, and declares war against Austria and Russia, excusing, by false allegations, the breach of promise he had made to the Roman Emperor, of ceding his troops to him. Not content with the indemnifications the Sereng Elector had received by the conclusum of the empire of, 27th April, 1903, he suffered himself, from ambition, to be drawn into secret engagements with France, which proved, on every occasion, to tend systematically to counteract Austria. As his ambitious hopes rested principally upon the prospects of a fresh attack with which the Court of Vienna was menaced by France on every occasion, those gradual armanients which his Majesty was compelled to make from the preparations made by the Emperor Napoleon, became an object of the Serene Eleo tor's attention. His first design was to raise a numerous army in Bavaria, and to hold it in readiness for the French Emperor. The quickness of the Austrian armament prevented the execution of that intention, and the Elector chose rather to hasten to go and join the French with all his troops, leaving his Bavarian and Suabian estates to their own fate, than to disappoint the expectation of the enemy of public tranquillity; consequently the whole of the Bavarian artillery was sent to Wurtzburgh, the Bavarian and Suabian troops were assembled, and a French general was present, to prepare every thing agreeably to the desire of the Emperor Napoleon. His Serene Highness the Elector had also prepared for his departure, when Prince Schwazenberg arrived at Munich, on the 6th of September. The danger that the Elector Palatine would join the French was indubitable; consequently a serious demand. for the cession of troops became a just meisure of self-defence.-The Elector agreed to the demand verbally, and in writing. He wrote to the Prince, on the 7th of September, with his own hand: I am resolved ; confer with the Minister Montgolas, on 757] NOVEMBER16, 1805.-Proclamation of the Elector of Bavaria. 'the conditions.' The minister confirmed his Sovereign's resolution, and proposed the conditions; that the Elector's own regiment, and that of the Electoral Prince, should remain at the disposal of his Serene Highness; and that Munich and Nymphen burgh should be exempted from the passage of Austrian troops. The agreement was to be concluded at Haag, on the following day. -On the 8th of September, Count Nogarola was sent off to the Emperor, with a letter from the Elector, beginning in the following words: I have this morning ordered my minister to conclude an agreement with Prince Schwarzenberg, in pursuance of which I shall unite my forces to those of your Imperial and Royal Majesty, to give you a proof of my inviolable devotion. No sooner had Count Nogarola set off with this letter, and even before Prince Schwarzenberg could go from Munich to Haag, than the Serene Elector left Bavaria in the night of the 8th, and withdrew all his troops by forced marches, having emptied all the public chests, and taken with him even the deposited bonds, and widows' and orphans' estates; whence it became necessary to put a stop to the farther drawing of annuities, &c. to prevent a total stagnation of the whole administration of the country.- When Prince Schwarzenberg and General Mack arrived at Haag, the Elector's intention of flying from his engagement was no longer secret. After they had waited a long while, there appeared a Palatine lieutenant-colonel, shewing, by his tone and proposals, quite different from those of Munich, that a pretence was sought for breaking off a nugatory negotiation. It was refused to leave the Electoral troops in Bavaria: their cession was to be deferred till the war had actually commenced, and they were always to remain together as a separate body.-After what had happened, the Austrian generals could not consent to leave an independent and numerous corps in the rear and Hank of the Austrian army, which was hastening forward-The Bavarian troops were not to be embodied by men or companies with the Austrians, as has been falsely asserted in the Palatinate part, but to remain together, in whole regiments or brigades. The entry of the Austrian and Russian troops in Germany had been notified to the Serene Elector, who had only made the exception of the districts of Munich and Nymphenburgh.-As to the requisit ons made for the maintenance of the Austrian troops, they are become indispersible, from the general practice of the French army, as no other power could otherwise cope with it. However, since the entry of the French, the rast difference be [758 tween their mode of raising requisitions, and the Austrian, has been experienced.--Neyertheless, to remove every pretence, his Majesty declared by his envoy, Count Buol, that he accepted the condition of leaving the Palatine troops together in a separate corps. The objection stated in the Serene Elector's letter of September 8th, namely, that the Electoral Prince was in France, was already removed, by the wise precaution of the Prince. Count Buol was even empowered to be finally satisfied with the dismissal (in-, stead of the cession) of the troops, by the way of furiough, or even of the Bavarian troops alone. All was refused. The French troops were received by the Elector with open arms, and all the Palatine troops joineď them. They take the field against his Majesty, and against the Emperor of Russia, and war has been declared.-In a word, the Elector became false to his word, which he had given as a Prince, and as a rani, false to his people, and to his En proved friendship of the F der; to the security and ny, and of Europe, v event of this war coul is the true statement or uc; to the AlexaGerma on the e. This de,hich the loyal subjects of ti at duce landly deprecate, at which is Lobo cable and patriotic feelings of his bare troops revolt, who are now shedding their aut, not for the deliverance of Germany, but for its enemies, and who are compelled to stain their hands with German blood. Proclamation of the Elector of Bavaria to the Bavarians, dated Wurtzburgh, Oct. 10, 1805. BAVARIANS, At the moment when I was solely intent upon your prosperity, when I foresaw no danger, I have been forcibly separated from you. Austria, for the preservation of which the generous blood of Bavarians has so often flowed, had conceived perfidious plans against you, and against me. She demanded, with threats, that your sons, my brave soldiers, should be distributed among the Austrian army, and combat against a power, which has, at all times, protected the independence of Bavaria.Thus the Bavarians were not to fight for their country, but for foreign interests; thus the very name of the Bavarian army was to be destroyed. My duty, as a Prince, and as the father of an independent and faithful people, has induced me to reject propositions so dishonourable to the nation, and to maintain, with firmness, the neutrality of my states.-I still flattered myself that I should see, my ardent wish accomplished, in the repose of the county. The negociations.upon ing the intentions of the Emperor. He will confine himself to the refleclion, that his Imperial Majesty had, at least, his reasons. for, considering the positive engagements which existed between him and Prussia, as of no-importance in his eyes, under the present circumstances; and that he himself was consequently on the point of sacrificing every thing to adhere to his engagements. He |