in about three months' time, the drilling will commence, and if the corps are formed and fit to meet an enemy in less than nine months after that, then will I say that miracles have not ceased. An addition to the militia in Ireland is proposed. Will that measure be soon and easily effected, my lord? And will Mr. Ogle still say, that "every loyal man in that country rejoices at the peace, while every rebel views it with disapprobation and regret ?"* And will your modest and candid colleague still quote this as a proof that Mr. Windham's sentiments" are in unison with those of the United Irishmen? "+ In short, I greatly fear, that while it is indispensably necessary to send ten thousand men to the West Indies, we have not on foot a force nearly sufficient to protect our home dominions, if the enemy should seriously think of an invasion, with all their ports open, and with all the numerous facilities furnished them by the peace of Amiens; by that peace which Mr. Sheridan was "glad of," though it was giad of," though it was "degrading to the national dignity;" by that peace which Mr. Fox rejoiced at, "because it was glorious to France and to the First Consul;" by that peace on the signing of which Mr. Addingtion" reflected with inward satisfaction ;"‡ by that peace the advising of which Lord St. Vincent considered as the pride of his life;"§ by that peace of which your lordship, like another EROSTRATUS, wished to be known to posterity as the author;" by that peace, and by that peace alone, my lord, it is, that we have been stripped of our character, our consequence, and our power, and that we are now exposed to the inroads of a rapacious, an enraged, and a merciless enemy. WAR OR PEACE. THIS is the question now, as it was in October last, and we will still answer peace, if the present Ministry exist. They know the country would not trust them with a war: it would deserve to be burnt up if it did; and they are resolved to keep their places to the latest moment that they can hang on, with any chance of safety to themselves. They have put up with injury upon injury, insult upon insult, ignominy upon ignominy, till they have made their country a by-word and a reproach amongst the nations; and our readers may be well assured, that they did not make the present show of resistance, upon any other consideration than that o their own safely. They must long have known the intentions of Buonaparte; they would have made any further sacrifices to pacify him; but they, at last, were persuaded that he was actually about to make an attack, and then they became alarmed for themselves, fearing that, if his Majesty should awake some morning and find himself no longer the sovereign of Ireland, ministerial responsibility might become something more than a mere pompous sound. It is possible, therefore, that their fears may have magnified the danger of invasion. When a coward turns his head towards his enemy, he always either shuts his eyes or sees double; two most admirable properties in a statesman, for the former of which we have already paid most dearly, and we are now, perhaps, to suffer for the latter. * See debates on the Preliminaries, Register, vol. ii. p. 1190. As to the object of the negotiation, or pretended negotiation, it is impossible for us to say precisely what it is; but this we well know, that, if it be any remnant of the treaty of Amiens, it is of far less importance than many of the sacrifices already made and completed by that treaty. Malta is, too, of infinitely less importance than Louisiana, and the Ministers are ready and willing to suffer the French to depart for that colony, even before the point with respect to Malta and Egypt is settled! Nay, it would appear from the message, that they would regard as a proof of a pacific disposition the departure of the French troops to the neighbourhood of Jamaica, which is much more vulnerable than Ireland itself. Such is the state to which this peace has reduced us, that we think about nothing but our own domestic, nay, almost our personal safety. We were formerly sensible to the slightest blow in the limbs, and even in the extremities of the empire; but having been kicked and bruised, having become" a most vile and beaten thing," we seem to have no wish remaining but that of preserving our lives. We have seen it stated, and in print too, that Buonaparte yielded in the affair of the indemnities and of Switzerland; and, if that really was yielding, we are fully persuaded he will yield now. Reculer pour mieux sauter is, too, an art which the Corsican perfectly understands. "The tiger," said Mr. Pickering to the Americans, always crouches before he leaps upon his prey ;" and, we beg our readers to be assured, that if Buonaparte draws back at present so far as to furnish the "safe politicians" with a plausible pretext for keeping their places a little longer, he will, at no great distance of time, fall upon this country with a force which she will not be able to resist.The Moniteur, copies of which we have received to the 15th instant, seems also to strengthen the opinion we have formed on this subject. It contains the King's message, without any remark upon it; and this state paper, which operated like a thunder-stroke on the funds of this country, had, when the last advices came away, produced, as will be seen by our stock table, very little depression in those of France. The cause of this, however, we cannot, without more information, fully ascertain. " THE MECHANICAL MINISTRY. BESIDES many other forcible reasons for Buonaparte's patching up the present dispute, there is one which alone, we think, must decide him so to do; and that is, he must know that the present Ministry would, in case of actual war, be instantly driven out of place, and he must also know that, if the whole British dominions, in every quarter of the world, were ransacked, another set of men, of whatever country or colour, could not be found so exactly fitted to the purpose of maintaining with him "the relations of peace and of amity." Negroes would have mutinied fifty times under the treatment which they have patiently and silently received at his hands. If war, or any other cause, should ever bring their precious diplomatic transactions to the light, the people of this country, if they have any sense or feeling left, will die with shame at having been governed by such men. Lord Carlisle, to whom the nation is indebted for the first warning it received, respecting the dangers to be apprehended from these "new and untried ministers," has lately most happily de scribed them as being a machine, formed by Mr. Pitt. "I will not," said his lordship, call them an infernal machine, but I will say, that they "have proved infinitely more destructive to their country, than that ma"chine was to the buildings and the people of Paris." Shamefully, indeed, was the nation insulted in the construction of this machine, which is hardly worthy the hand of even a journeyman politician. One of the wheels was soon taken out and replaced by another. What further repairs will take place, what further mending and patching, what further nails, and pegs, and bolts, and cleets, and braces, will be used to hold together this feeble and ricketty frame, it would be presumption in us to predict; but the public must by this time be well convinced that, unless it be knocked to pieces in a very short time, it will work the complete destruction of the British monarchy.-The Corsican is said to have grossly insulted Lord Whitworth. We deeply lament that our Sovereign should be exposed to insult in the person of his representative; but what else was to be expected, when the tame and degrading conduct of the Ministers was taken into consideration? It is to their pusillanimity, their propensity to crouch at his feet, that we are to attribute the insolence of Buonaparte ! He were no wolf, but that he finds them to be sheep." As Lord Temple observed, "they attract danger and disgrace, as conduc"tors attract lightning; as blunt conductors, which attract most strongly, "and spread the mischief most widely."* They are always in a state of uncertainty not one of them can even guess, now at this moment, whether we shall have war or not: their councils are full of doubt and of indecision they are continually balancing between the fear of losing their places and that of incurring the responsibility attached to those places : "Whate'er their doubtful hands "Attempt, confusion straight appears behind, "And troubles all their work. Through many a maze, "O'erturning every purpose; then, at last, "Sit down dismay'd, and leave the entangled scene STOCK-JOBBING NATION. THE Mercure de France, of the 26th of March last, has the following remarks on the conduct of the London stock-jobbers :-" Hitherto, we "have been able to discover, in the minds of the English, little more "than the spirit of stock-jobbing, which seems to have acquired new 'vigour from the warlike bluster of the Ministers; and, as the spirit of stock-jobbing is no more than the parody of the spirit of patriotism, one may take the liberty to laugh at the agitation it produces. The gaping inhabitants of the London 'Change, look with great solicitude "towards the stocks in France, to see whether they rise or fall; doubt"less, if there were stock-jobbers in France, they would look to the "stocks of London, in order to know what value to set on the credit of "their own country. Miserable game! at which Frenchmen formerly " * See Debates, Register, vol. ii. p. 1690. † Akenside. "had to blush; selfish calculation! which can never grow up amongst "an agricultural people, without producing the total extinction of public "spirit, but which suits very well in a nation, where everything is bought "and sold, where the Government is compelled to buy even the power of governing!"* If such were the sentiments of this writer two months ago, what must he think of us now? What must he think of the nation which has been disturbed, to the remotest corners of its territory, by a mere waggish trick played off on the mayor of one of its cities, and, a second time, by a paragraph in one of its newspapers? These are most alarming symptoms. They prove the body politic to be in a state of fearful feebleness. Its nerves are shattered. It starts and trembles at every report. The events of the last week have, we fear, stamped the character of the British public for ever, or, at least, till some great and strong, and perhaps violent, remedy be adopted for the cure of the moneyloving malady which now weighs us down to the earth. What that remedy will be, or whence it is to come, we know not; but this we venture to assert, that England cannot, with its present feelings, long continue to be an independent nation. Our readers will do us the justice to acknowledge, that we long ago predicted that it would be on the side of the funds which France would first attack us. We then stated, that with our present funded debt, it was impossible to maintain public credit, while there was a power who could raise and sink our funds at its pleasure. It is absolutely impossible; and therefore that debt must be destroyed, or we must, by some means or other, get rid of that menacing power which France has acquired over us, and which she now exercises with so much address and insolence on her part, and with so much folly and cowardice on ours. It is asserted, and we believe upon no very weak foundation, that the French have gained two millions in the British funds, since the date of the King's message. Of this sum a part has passed over to France in cash, the rest has been and is now passing in merchandise, through various channels, and the effect is felt amongst our bankers and other speculators in stock. We now feel the salutary, the practical influence, of that "capital, credit, and confidence," which Lord Hawkesbury and his worthy colleague held forth as the best security" to Great Britain. -While, therefore, France is gaining so immensely in this way, as * Mercure de France, p. 84. FROM A MORNING PAPER." One of the most infamous frauds and impo"sitions ever practised, yesterday threw the whole City of London into confusion. "Some persons, yet unknown, about half-past eight o'clock, or about nine, sent the following letter to the Lord Mayor:- To the Rt. Hon. the Lord Mayor.-Down"ing-street, 8 a.m.-Lord Hawkesbury presents compliments to the Lord Mayor, "and has the honour to acquaint his lordship that the negotiation between this "country and the French Republic has been aniicably adjusted.'-The Lord Mayor, "without the least suspicion of fraud, sent a copy to Lloyd's, stuck up the substance "of the note on the Mansion-House, and went himself to the Stock Exchange. "The market began at 69, and the price varied to 70. No suspicion appears to " have been entertained for three hours. At length the following letter from "Lord Hawkesbury arrived at the Mansion-House:-'Downing-street, May 5."My Lord,-As I have just been informed that a letter has been sent to your "lordship, pretended to be signed by me, respecting the state of the negotia "tions between this country and France, I lose no time in informing your lord"ship that no such letter has been sent by me, and I request, therefore, that you "would take immediate steps for undeceiving the public, and detecting the daring "forgery. 'I have the honour to be, &c. &c., "HAWKESBURY."" "To the Rt. Hon. the Lord Mayor,'” 666 X " well as by the base folly of the English nobility and gentry, who are daily making a pilgrimage to kiss the boot of the First Consul, that nation would be very foolish not to keep peace with us on almost any terms. A little quarrel, a menace of war, about three times a year, would effect her object much sooner than it could possibly be effected by any other means. France," said Mr. Windham, in his speech upon the Prelimi naries, "will be under no necessity to go to war with us; and nothing "but her own intemperance and insolence, and an opinion of our endurance "and weakness, beyond even what they may be found to deserve, can force upon us that extremity. She has much surer and safer means of going "to work; means at the same time sufficiently quick in their operation "to satisfy any ordinary ambition :-she has nothing to do but to trust to "the progress of her own power in peace, quickened, as often as she shall see occasion, by a smart threat of war. I cannot conceive the object "which a judicious application of these two means is not calculated to "obtain. A peace, such as France has now made, mixed with proportions "of a seasonable menace of war, is a specific for the undoing of a rival "country, which seems to me impossible to fail."* How correct, how exactly correct, was this opinion! Whether the intemperance and insolence of France have, or have not, been pushed beyond our forbearance, is a question that remains to be solved; but that she has tried them to the utmost is certain.If peace, beloved peace, should after all be continued for some time longer, the stock-jobber's hope will not, however, be realized. The nation must keep up an establishment nearly equal to that of war, or we shall have to arm afresh, and pay new bounties twice or thrice a year. One or the other of these must be, or we must become the subjects of Frenchmen. The candid Minister now stands between the horrors of war and the greater horrors of a financial deficit, which will be discovered, to the eyes of the most ignorant, long before the end of the year. War would be a good act of oblivion for his estimates of December last, and, accordingly, the French writers do not scruple to say, that, to obtain this act, was one of the objects of the present quarrel. Indeed, every man of any tolerable knowledge in the public affairs of the country cannot but perceive, that it is absolutely impossible for us to maintain, for any length of time, the peace establishment last fixed on, without annual loans or immense new taxes annually added to those already in existence and, that such a course would, in a very short space, inevitably produce a failure in the payment of the interest on the public debt, or consequences infinitely more fatal, it requires no great sagacity to foretel. Therefore, "the hope of the coward must perish." Something must be done to add to our power, or to diminish that of our mortal enemy. The lovers of peace and plenty," the hypocrite, the coward, the drunkard, the glutton, the pic-nic, and the miser, may continue to unite their voices in the praise of peace, they may continue to despise the terms of that peace, they may continue to revile all those who yet stand up for national honour; but neither their praise nor their revilings shall avail them aught; that honour must be regained, or their wealth and their luxury shall be destroyed, and they themselves shall become the most wretched, as they already are, the basest of mankind. There are some persons who, adopting the opinion lately quoted by us from a daily paper, seem to * See Debates, Register, vol. ii. p. 1162. + Mercure de France, March 19. |