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your obliged humble servant,AN OLD This melancholy truth I apply to their

SEAMAN.

NAVAL DEFENCE.

SIR,-Having, since the commencement of the present contest, been attached to one of his Majesty's ships, I cannot resist the impulse I have long felt of requesting that you would, through the medium of your weekly publication the Political Register, communicate to the public a few particulars on a subject upon which so much has lately been said, and which, I believe, we cannot too highly appreciate; this, you will readily conceive, is our present system of naval defence: a system which, if pursued much longer must be productive of the very worst consequences. I shall, as succinctly as possible, state to you a few facts, which have for these nine months occurred under my own observation; and in doing so, I hope to be exempted from the number of those disappointed, and discontented officers alluded to by a right hon. gent. on the motion of Mr. Pitt for an inquiry. Should I unfortunately possess either, they proceed from the idea of my country having been so long under the direction of a set of men, whose only claim to popularity is weakness and imbecility.In opposition to those who have so confidently asserted the inutility of gun-brigs, and the smaller class of vessels of war, as calculated to effect the enemy, I beg to state to you, that the ship to which I have the honour to belong, has been stationed off this part of the enemy's coast for the express purpose of intercepting its flotillas; and that scarcely a day has past, on which we have not had the utmost reason to complain of the total want of vessels of the above description. And, notwithstanding the numberless applications made to Lord St. Vincent on this head, no attention has ever been paid to it; his lordship always giving it as his decided opinion, that frigates were fully competent to the performance of any service; from this dangerous sentiment of his lordship the country has suffered innumerable disadvantages, and lost many opportunities of making it as dreadful to our common enemy as what has ever been heretofore. Yes, Sir, we have often seen with vexation and regret, those very, vessels destined to invade Britain, and to deprive it of its existence as a nation, pass along their own coast in full and perfect security, and all this for want of a few gunbrigs or cutters, who could follow them into shoal water, where frigates could not act.

coasting trade, which has experienced no interruption whatever, except in a few solitary instances, when chance contributed to the success of our brave tars. Thus, Mr. Cobbett, have the enemy's whole force been enabled to elude us, and collect at a point from whence they may, if favoured a little by the elements, be in the centre of Kent or Sussex in a very few hours. So that instead of having done every thing, (which we certainly might have done,) we have done nothing; but this well suits and corroborates the characters of those whom you have so aptly stiled "safe politicians." Permit me also to say, that the sentiments of those whose local knowledge and experience enables them to form a pretty correct idea of things, and, in particular, of the probability of invasion, is very widely different from that entertained by a number of people, who, rather than rely on their own exertions for the country's safety, are ready to depend on any other case in support of their theory; they assert, that the navy is fully adequate to meet invasion and repel it; a principle which I think easily refuted. True, we have an immense force collected before Boulogne; but of what kind? Ships so unwieldy that in a calm or very light winds, their operations would have very little effect on the immense number of small vessels sent to oppose them. In the light winds of June and July, nothing would be more easy than for the enemy's flotilla, if attacked, to row away, and, within an hour, it would be no difficult matter for them to get out of the reach of our ships guns. In this very probable state of the case, what would be the consequence? It has also been said, that these vessels are not calculated to make a good defence, this I cannot better deny than by stating to you the particulars of a circumstance, which has given no small satisfaction to a number of those who are apprehensive of invasion; out of the great number of gun-brigs that have got round, three have only fallen into our hands, they were attached to a large squadron that sailed from St. Maloes to go to Boulogne, but a very heavy gale of wind coming on, with thick weather, they were driven out to the middle of the Channel, when in making for their own coast, they were, by the merest accident intercepted by two of our frigates, the Tribune and Hydra, when, after an infinite deal of trouble, the above three were captured; however, let it be remembered, that though at this time blowing very fresh, one of the brigs fired a thirty-six pounder

at the Tribune nine times, till, by an accident, the gun upset; another of them held the frigates a chace of seven hours! Indeed, I have heard a number of experienced officers say, that the French gunboats are on a very admirable plan. It is well known that our vessels, of that kind, are always so filled with guns that they are rendered entirely unfit for a heavy sea, which accounts for some having sunk, &c. &c. last war. In addition to what I have already said, the truth of which I defy any one to refute; I beg to remind you, that from Cape La Hogue to Havre there has only till lately been two frigates stationed; one is now added, but seldom co-operates with us: this on an extent of coast forty leagues. Although I fear to have too long trespassed on your time, I shall further beg leave to draw a line between the above mode taken by the Admiralty in our naval defence, and that adopted last war, when there did not exist half the cause for vigilance and exertion as in the present: it was as follows, eight or nine of our finest frigates, with a proportion of brigs, cutters, &c. &c. under the command of two of the most enterprising officers in the British navy, Sir Richard Strachan and Sir Sidney Smith, were stationed as a flying squadron between Brest and Havre; with this squa. dron it is well known, that the utmost terror prevailed amongst the inhabitants on the enemy's coast, and that a fishing boat dared not appear without being immediately driven back. Expeditions of some kind or other were always going on; and the many convoys of every description destroyed or taken by the above ships, is the best criterion by which we are to judge of their utility, when compared with the present unconnected and impolitic method observed by the naval administration.- --T. Y. Guernsey, April 3, 1804.

FOREIGN OFFICIAL PAPERS. Proceeding in the French Legislative Bady, extracted from the Official Journal of the 25th of March, 1804. Fourcroy, (the orator of government) spoke as follows: The session which is now concluded must make impressions of gratitude on the Fr. people. Laws the most important have been discussed in the midst of war, in the midst of the most atrocious conspiracy: but the government proceeds with a firm step in promoting the interest and glory of the country; and to our enemies remain only shame and confusion. In their despair they spread their gold and their crimes. Their ministers at Hamburgh, at Stutgard, and Manich, will still be only the artists of plots. They corrupt some wretches; but their future steps will be detected as their past steps have been, and turned to their contusion.-If there are men, who, to the crime of having carried arms

-As to

against their country, add ingratitude and perjury, the government will punish them with the same calmness with which it would pardon; and the punishment shall always be personal as the crime. Neither the ties of friendship nor of family, shall be, in its eyes, any extenuation of guilt the members of that unnatural family, which wishes to inundate France with her own blood, that it may be able to reign over it, their first furies and their last criminal attacks, have placed between her and them an eternal bar. They have only been able to obtain from England permission to be her soldiers. They wish to sell her our conquests, our glory, our prosperity; they have only been able to sell to her useless crimes : let them live on the wages of opprobium and contempt.-But if they dare to stain our soil by their presence, the wish of the French people is, that they may there find death as their recompence for two millions of citizens who have perished in the impious war, of which they have been the chief artisans, and as a return for the crimes with which, for the last four years in particular, they have attempted to overturn our territory, by their fomenting and maintaining, as far as was in their power, robbery and revolt-Citizens Legislators, return to your homes, and make known the stability of our institutions, the loyalty of the citizens of Paris, &c.--The speaker then read the official decree of the government, ordering that the sittings of the Legislative Body should close that day (24th March, 1804.)

Death of Pichegru.-Extracted from the Moniteur, er French Official Journal, of the 8th of April, 1804.

The following is the substance of the juridical reports connected with the suicide of Pichegru :Citizens Soupe, Didier, Bousquet, Brunet, Lesvignes, and Fleury, surgeons appointed by the Criminal Tribunal to inspect the body of the Ex-general Pichegru, and to state what was the causes which gave rise to his death, unanimously declared-That (on the 6th of April) from the Temple they were conducted into the chamber where Charles Pichegru, the ex-general, was confined. On arriving in the chamber they found a male corpse. Atter describing his person, and what appeared to them his age, they go on to say that he died of strangulation. They state, they found a black silk handkerchief about his neck, through which was passed a small stick forty-five centimeters long, and from four to five centimeters in circumference; which stick, forming a tourniquet of the cravat, was stopped by the left jaw, on which he lay, with one end of the stick under, and this produced a degree of strangulation sufficient to occasion his death. They then remarked, that the stick had rested by one of its ends on the left cheek, and that by moving round irregularly, it had produced a transversal scratch of about six centimeters.-The face was discoloured, the jaw was locked, and the tongue was pressed betwixt the teeth. The discolouration (e remosée), extended over the whole body. The extremities were cold. The muscles and fingers of the hand were strongly contracted. Their opinion, therefore, was, from all they saw in the po sition of the body, and the idea they had formed respecting it, that the body was the corpse of the Ex-general Pichegru, and that he was guilty of suicide. Citizen Sirot, one of the gens d'armes d'élite, was stationed near the chamber of Ge neral Pichegru, in the Temple. He had heard a considerable degree of struggling and noise, but

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imagined that the prisoner laboured under great degree of difficulty of brea hing. He did not, however, think that there was any thing which required his particlar assistance.Citizen Lapointe was near the same spot. He awaked about four o'clock in the morning, but heard no particular noise.-Citizen Fauconnier, keeper of the tower of the Temple, deposed, that at half past seven in the morning (of the 6th of April), Citizen Popon, Pichegru's keeper, went to light his fire in the usual manner. He was astonished at not hearing him either speak or stir. He went immediately to Colonel Ponsard, the commander of the gendarmerie, and informed him of what had taken place. Thuriot, the Accuser General was informed of the circumstance. A medical person was instantly sent for, and all necessary instructions were given at the request of the AccuserGeneral.-Citizen Popon, principal door keeper of the Hall of Justice in the Temple, stated, that at half past seven o'clock (on the 6th of April), he went into General Pichegru's chamber, for the purpose of lighting his fire.-Not hearing him either speaking or stirring, an dreading that some accident had taken place, he hastened to apprise Citizen Fauconnier. He adds, that the key of Pichegru's chamber was taken away by him, immediately after supper, on the preceding evening, and that it had continued in his pocket till the time he went to light the fire in the morning.

PUBLIC PAPERS.

Note from the British Min. at Lisbon to the Portuguese Sec. of State, the Viscount Balsamao, relative to the publication made by Gen. Lannes, the French Min, at Lisbon, against the British Government.

The undersigned, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of his Britannic Majesty, has the honour to represent to his Excellency the Viscount de Balsamao, that, for the present he abstains from making his complaints in form to the Government of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent, respecting the article extracted and translated from the French paper called the Moniteur, of the 18th of February, and which has been print. ed and published in an extraordinary Supplement to No. 11, of the Lisbon Gazette of the 13th of this month-The undersigned will, for the present, content himself with remarking, that this infamous article, so worthy of its authors, is suited to the stile and genius of the official journal from whence it is copied ; but it is altogether unworthy of a place in that which gives the translation of it in the Portuguese language; and the undersigned infinitely regrets, that this remarkable essay of the liberty of the press at Lisbon, has been distinguished by the publication of an atrocious libel, invented at pleasure by the enemies of his Britannic Majesty, against the most ancient and faithful ally of Portugal. The undersigned reserves to himself the advantage which results from this facility of printing at Lisbon, the instant his government shall authorise him to avail himself of it, for the purpose of inserting a formal denial of the absurd calumny in question; if that government, with its strong sense of conscious recitnde, its glory, and its renown, should trouble itself so far as to answer to similar accusations, and does not rather consider it to be more consistent with its own dignity, to treat with the Sovereign contempt which it has always witnessed for the contemptible insipidities of the same kind, by which its enemies have so often, but vainly,

attempted to blacken its reputation, since the epocha of the French revolution. Signed, R. 5. FITZGERALD, and dated at Lisbon, 16th March, 1804.

Copy of the requisition transmitted by the French Minister for Foreign Affairs to Baron Edelsheim, Minister of the Elector of Baden, for the purpose of arresting the Duke L'Engluten.Signed, c. M. TALLEYRAND, and dated at Paris, March 10, 1804.

SIRI had formerly sent you a note, the purport of which was to request the arrest of the French emigrants which met at Offenburg, as the First Consul, from the successive arrests of the banditti which the English government has sent to France, and from the result of the trials which have been here instituted, has obtained a complete knowledge of the extensive part which the English agents at Offenburg have had in those horrible plots which have been devised against his own person and against the safety of France. He has at the same time learned that the Duke d'Enghuien and General Dumouriez were at Ettenheim. As it is impossible that they should be in that city without the permission of his Electoral Highness, the First Consul, therefore, could not see without the deepest concern, that a Prince whom he had distinguished by every mark of friendship, should give an asylum to the most determined enemies of France, and permit them so tranquilly to project such unprecedented conspiracies. From these extraordinary occurrences the First Consul has found it necessary to order two small detachments of troops to repair to Offenburg and Ettenheim, to seize there the authors of a crime, the nature of which was such as to place those who are proved to have had a share in it out of the protection of the law of nations. It is General Canlincourt who is charged with the execution of those orders of the Firft Consul, and who there is no doubt will employ every care and attention in fulfilling the same, which his Electoral Highness can wish. He will have the honour to deliver your Excellency the letter I have been directed to write you. Accept, Sir, the assurance of my high consideration.

Circular Letter of the French Minister of Foreign Af fairs to the Foreign Ministers resident at Paris.-Signed C M. Talleyrand, and dated at Paris, March 24, 1804.

The First Consul has ordered me to address to your Excellency, a copy of the report presented to him by the Grand Judge on the incidental con spiracy planned in France, by Mr. Drake, Minister of his Britannic Majesty at the Court of Munich, and which, as to its object and date, was connected with the infamous plot that is now before the tribunals.--The printed copy of the letters and authentic papers of Mr. Drake, is an. nexed to the report. The originals will be immediately sent, by order of the First Consul to his Serene Higness the Elector of Bavaria.--Such a prestitution of the most honourable trust which could be confided in man, was unexampled in the history of civilised nations. It will astonish and afflict Europe as an unheard of crime, and which, until the present moment, the most perverse gavernment, had not dared to attempt. The First Consul is too well acquainted with the sentiments and good qualities which distinguish the members of the Diplomatic Body, accredited by him, not to be convinced that they will behold, with profound sorrow, the profanation of the sacred character of Ambassador, so basely metamorphosed into an agency of plots, stratagems, and corruption.

6071

CORBETT'S WEEKLY Answer of the Imperial Minister.CITIZEN MINISTER, I return many thanks to your Excellency for the communication which you have been pleased to make me of the report of the Grand Judge, of which you have sent me a copy, and which I shall immediately transmit to Vienna, for the information of my Court. The opinion manifested by the First Consul of the sentiments and good qualities of the Diplomatic Body, which has the honour of being accredited to him, proves the justice he does to all the members of whom it consists; and unquestionably, he is not deceived in thinking that there is not one among us who does not decidedly condemn every thing which a Diplomatic Agent and his Government undertake contrary to the Laws of Nations, and the rules of right and good faith generally adopted among civilised nations. Signed, CoOUNT CORENZL, and dated at Paris, March 25, 1804.

SIR, I

Ansaver of the Russian Chargé d'Affairs.
have the honour of acknowledging the receipt of
the letter which you addressed to me by order of
the First Consul, and of the report which was pre-
sented by order of the Grand Judge, and I have
hastened to transmit it to my Court. His Impe-
rial Majesty will see with satisfaction, that his
agents to the French government participate in
the justice which the First Consui does to the
Diplomatic Body accredited to him, and that their
care to observe, on all occasions, the most ligo-
rous principles of the rights of nations, are ho-
nourably appreciated by the Chief of the Govein-
PIERRE D'OUBRIL, and dated at
ment. (Signed)

Paris, March 25, 1804.
Answer of the Prussian Minister.-CITIZEN M1-
took the earliest opportunity of trans-
NISTER,
mitting to my Court the letter your Excellency
did me the honour of writing to me on the 4th
inst. and the copy of the report of the Grand
Judge on the incidental conspiracy fortunately
discovered by the vigilance of the police.You
know, Citizen Minister, the lively interest with
which the King, my master, is inspired for the
preservation of the life of the First Consul, and
for the maintenance of order and tranquillity in
the state of which he is the worthy head. You
may therefore anticipate the effect which this
communication will have on the mind of his
Prussian Majesty, whoever may have been the
authors and agents of this conspiracy; and your
Excellency will easily foresee all the satisfaction
which his Majesty will feel at the entire cessation
of so many subjects of alarm for the friends of
France. For in discharging the commission en-
trusted to me, I have considered it my duty to as-
sure his Majesty of the perfect union existing be-
tween the August Chief of the Republic and all
-the servants of the state, between the whole na-
tion, and its representatives or defenders.It is
by such a conduct that I shall endeavour to con-
ciliate for the sacred character with which I am
invested, the confidence and the regard of the go-
vernment to which the King, my master, has been
-Signed, MAR-
graciously pleased to send me.
QUIS DE LUCCHESINI, and dated at Paris, March
26, 1804

CITIZEN MI-
Answer of the Danish Minister.-
NISTER, I have the honour to acknowledge the
receipt of the report of the Grand Judge, respect-
ing the conspiracy carried on in France by Mr.
Drake, and I have hastened to transmit it to my

POLITICAL REGISTER.

[608

Court. The perusal of the letters and authentic
papers issued by Mr. Drake, must sincerely afflict
all the members of the Diplomatic Body. It is a
subject of concern, to observe that a minister has
practised those intrigues which ought to be fo-
reign to his character, and to the dignity of his
functions. Every foreign minister must regret
with me, that a public man can be accused of such
conduct; and do not doubt but all the foreign
ministers will partake my sentiments and opi.
nions respecting the conduct of Mr. Drake,-
Signed, DREYER, dated Paris, March 25, 1804.
SIR, I have
Ansaver of the American Minister.
received the note which you did me the honour to
address to me, with a copy of the report of the
Grand Judge, relative to papers which prove that
Mr. Drake, the British Minister at Munich, has
held a culpable correspondence with traitors, for
objects which all civilized nations must regard
with horror; and that horror must be redoubled,
when we see that it is a minister that thus pros-
titutes his sacred character.-When a subaltern
agent comunit's a base or atrocious act, it may be
supposed that he is influenced by personal inte-
rest, but the actions of a minister are generally
attributed to the government he represents; and
even when he acts against his orders (which I
hope is the case in this instance) his conduct is so
much identified with his government, that such
acts tend to overturn social order, and to bring
I beg your Excel-
back nations to barbarism.
lency to offer to the First Consul, in the name of
my government, the most sincere felicitations for
having happily escaped the attempts of his ene-
mies, directed not only against his lite, but against
an object more dear to his heart, the happiness of
the nation of which he is the chief; a happiness
which is the result of his noble labours in the
field of honour, and in the cabinet, and which is
not yet sufficiently established, not to be deeply
-Signed, LIVINGSTON, dated
shaken by his loss

Paris, March 26, 1804.

Ansuer of the Bavarian Minister.—CITIZEN MINISTER, I have received the letter by which you have communicated to me the report of the Grand Judge on the scandalous and criminal intrigues of Mr. Drake, Minister of his Britannic Majesty at I do not hesitate to assure your Exmy Court. cellency, that the Elector will manifest, by measures the most severe, the most efficacious, and most conformable to his personal friendship for the First Consul, the grief and indignation which this Prince must feel, in consequence of the vile and iniquitous designs which have been so daringly meditated and followed up, within his states, under the mask of a sacred chara&er.--I should in vain endeavour to express to you, Citizen Minister, how deeply I deplore the outrage resulting from the transaction against the respectable functions which I exercise. It impresses me, however, with the strongest sense of your attention, in informing me of the juftice done by the First Consul to the sentiments of all those who have the honour of being accredited near his person. I shall ever be ambitious to obtain his approbation, as a flattering recompense for my zeal, and as the most honourable means of meriting the regard of my Sovereign.Signed, CETTO, and dated at Paris, March 26, 1804.

[The rest of these answers next sheet.]

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-Mall.

VOL. V. No. 17.]

London, Saturday, 28th April, 1804.

[ Price 100

"The present Government, if I may judge from the experience of the last session of Parliament, or the "actual feelings of the people, has little to apprehend from the opposition of the Right Hon. Gen"tleman (Mr. Windham). During that session, it must be admitted that we heard many excellent " opposition speeches (and I should be sorry that the Right Hon. Gentleman were deprived of the op"portunity of amusing and instructing the House); but then we had to set off against them some "good ministerial votes, the cordial and zealous support of a very great majority of this House."MR. YORKE'S Speech, December 9, 1803.

609]

TO THE SERIOUS CONSIDERATION OF THE

PUBLIC.

(Additions to the statement in p. 577.) The statement relative to our trade, revenue, expenditure, and debt, was, as to two points, left imperfect for want of the materials, from the use of which alone it could have been made perfect: I allude to the present produce of the war taxes, and to the exhausted state of our sources of taxation in general......... But, before I proceed to add to my former statement, let me correct some errors which I now find in it, and which, though they are of little consequence as to any of the conclusions that were drawn, are, nevertheless, of sufficient importance to merit particular notice here. In p. 584, the net produce of all the permanent taxes in 1803 was said to surpass the nett produce of 1802 in the amount of only "half a million:" it should have been, a million and a balf;" which, correction leads to another in the next page, where, in place of saying, that, making due allowance for depreciation of money, the nett produce of 1803, "did not surpass in "the amount of one penny," that of 1802, I should have said, that the produce of the first mentioned year surpassed that of the latter in the amount of less than a million. The sums quoted in p. 584, and the subtraction of one from the other, are correct; but, in the remarks made thereon, the error here noticed crept in.In p. 593, where, by way of illustration, a comparison is made in the proportion between the amount of the trade, and of the interest of the debt, in the years 1799 and 1803 respectively, the year 1798 is erroneously given instead of 1799.In speaking of the annual expenses of the national debt, I have, almost uniformly, called it" interest of the debt." I should have termed it, "charge on account of debt," because the sum I was speaking of included the allowances to the bankers and others for management, and also several other items not properly denominated interest. This misnomer could, indeed, make no difference at all as to the object or effect of the statement;

[610

but, in a subject of such vast importance, one cannot be too careful in the application of terms.- -After having shown, that, during the last war, though the charge on account of the debt was doubled, the export trade was also doubled, I make the following remark: "here the proportion is kept up, and, "if it were still kept up, there would, per"haps, be little cause for alarm." As this may, possibly, be construed into a declaration of an opinion, that, so long as the trade increases in proportion to the augmentation of the charge on account of debt, that charge may, with safety to the country, be augmented to any degree, I think it necessary to state, that I entertain no such opinion; and, that, in the passage above quoted, "little "cause for alarm," I meant alarm with respect to our ability, during the present war, to defray the charges of the debt and to support our other necessary expenses, never intending to let drop any expression from which it might be concluded, that I did not regard the increase of the charge on account of debt, under whatever circumstances of increased trade and revenue, as an evil of a most alarming nature, and one, to which, if not speedily put a stop to, the monarchy must fall a sacrifice...... I now proceed to my additions.

FIRST: As to the present produce of the war-taxes. Since the preceding sheet was published, there has been laid before Parliament an account of the net produce of those taxes from the commencement of their collection, on the 5th of July last, to the 5th of this present month of April, embracing exactly three quarters of a year, and showing the quarterly produce, thus:

The Quarter caded roth Oct... •£631,705 18 94 5th Jan... 1,242,966 4 2 5th April 1,866,647 2 114

Three Quarters........ 3,741,319 5 11 The remark that first presses forward here, is, that we have not even yet obtained, from this source, the 4,500,000l. which we ought to have had on the 5th of January. When,

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