lover, to a man without principle, who uses her ill, abandons, and leaves her in the power of a villain, whofe defigns are defeated by means of the fon and wife of the perfon intrufted with her cuftody. The husband fights a duel and is killed, and the heroine and her first lover are made mutually happy in marriage. This work may be allowed to ftand on the fhelf with many others, and will afford half an hour's entertainment to the idle at a watering place. It contains nothing offenfive to religion or morality. R. marks on Revelation and Infidelity; being the Substance of several Speeches lately delivered in a private literary Society in Edinburgh; with Anecdotes of two of the Members, &c. By A. M. Secretary. 12mo. Edinburgh printed. Vernor and Hood. 35. 1797.

This publication is a reply to two answers to Bishop Watfon's Obfervations on Paine; the one entitled "Watson refuted by Samuel Francis, M. D. ;" and the other, "The Apology for the Bible examined by A. Mackod." Having feen neither of these answers, we can only say of the prefent performance,

DECLARATION.

STATE

This Pocket Book is intended for the ufe of a very numerous and refpectable body, who will doubtlefs patronize it when the plan and contents of it are known. It contains,

befides the ufual quantity of ruled pages for accounts and memorandums, a complete and correct list of all the regular Lodges and Royal Arch Chapters, as well in town or country, with their places and times of meeting, collected from actual enquiry, and a number of other articles peculiarly interefting to the fraternity. It contains alfo a number of lifts and tables, as of inembers of both houfes, bankers, itamps, &c. which render it equally useful to thofe who are not of the fraternity.

PAPER.

his fubjects induced his Majefty to renew his overtures for terminating

HIS

[IS Majesty's benevolent endeavours to restore to his people the bleflings of fecure and honourable Peace, again repeated without fuccefs, have again demonftrated, beyond the pollioi lity of doubt, the determined and perfevering hoftility of the Government of France, in whofe unprovoked aggreffion the War originated, and by whofe boundlefs and deftructive ambition it is fill prolonged. And while by the courfe of thefe tranfactions, continued proofs have been afforded to all his Majefty's faithful fubjects, of his anxious and unremitting folicitude for their wel fare, they cannot, at the fame time, have failed to recognize, in the uniform conduct of the enemy, the fpirit by which the Councils of France are still actuated, and the objects to which they

are directed.

His Majesty could not but feel how much the means of Peace had been obftructed by the many additional difficulties which his enemies had fo repeatedly thrown in the way of every Negotiation. Nevertheless, on the very first appearance of circumstances in fome degree more favourable to the interefts of humanity, the fame ardent defire for the cafe and happiness of VOL. XXXII. Nov. 1797.

himself of every opening which could in any manner lead to fecure an honourable Peace, and confulting equally the withes of his own heart and the

principles by which his conduct has been invariably guided.

New obftacles were immediately interpofed by thofe who ftill directed the Councils of France, and who, amidst the general defire for Peact, which they could not at that time openly difclaim, ftill retained the power of fruftrating the wishes of their own country, of counteracting his Majefty's benevolent intentions, and of obftructing that refult, which was fo neceffary for the happiness of both nations. Difficulties of form were ftudiously created; modes of Negotiation were infifted upon, the most inconfiftent with their own conduct in every other inftance; the fame fpirit appeared in every frep which was taken by them; and while the moft unwarranted infinuations were thrown out, and the most unfounded reproaches brought forward, the eftablithed cuftoms and ufages, which have long prevailed in Europe, were purpofely departed from, even in the fimpleft acts which were to be done on their part for the renewal of the

U u

Nego

Negotiations. All these things his Majefty determined to difregard; not as being infenfible of their purport and tendency, nor unmindful of the im portance of thefe points, in the public intercourfe of great and independent nations, but refolving to defeat the object of thefe artifices, and to fuffer no Tubordinate or inferior confideration to impede, on his part, the difcuffion of the weighty and extenfive interefts on which the termination of the War muft neceffarily depend.

He directed his Minifter to repair to France, furnished with the moft ample powers, and inftructed to communicate at once an explicit and detailed propofal and plan of Peace, reduced into the fhape of a regular Treaty, juft and moderate in its principles, embracing all the interefts concerned, and extending to every fubject connected with the rettoration of public tranquillity. The communication of this Paper, delivered in the very first conference, was ac. companied by fuch explanations as fully ftated and detailed the utmost extent of his Majefty's views, and at the fame time gave ample room for the examination of every disputed point, for mutual arrangement and concellion, and for reciprocal facilities arifing out of the progrefs of fair difcuffion.

To this proceeding, open and liberal beyond example, the conduct of his Majefty's enemies oppofes the most ftriking contraft. From them no counter project has ever yet been obtained; no ftatement of the extent or nature of the conditions on which they would conclude any peace with these kingdoms. Their pretenfions have always been brought forward either as detached or as preliminary points, diftinct from the main object of Negotiation, and accompanied, in every inftance, with an exprefs referve of farther and unexplained demands.

The points which, in pursuance of this fyftem, the Plenipotentiaries of the enemy propofed for feparate difcuffion in their first conferences with his Ma. jefty's Minifter were at once frivolous and offenfive; none of them productive of any folid advantage to France, but all calculated to raife new obftacles in the way of Peace. And to thefe de mands was foon after added another, in its form unprecedented, in its fubftance extravagant, and fuch as could originate only in the moft determined and inveterate hoftility. The principle of mutual compenfation, before ex

preffed, admitted by common confent as the juft and equitable bafis of Negotiation, was now difclaimed; every idea of moderation or reason, every appearance of juftice was difregarded; and a conceffion was required from his Majefty's Plenipotentiary, as a preliminary and indifpenfable condition of Negotiation, which must at once have fuperfeded all the objects, and precluded all the means of treating. France, after incorporating with her own dominions fo large a portion of her conquefts, and affecting to have deprived herfelf, by her own internal regulations, of the power of alienating thefe valuable additions of territory, did not fcruple to demand from his Majefty the abfolute and unconditional furrender of all that the energy of his people, and the valour of his fleets and armies have conquered in the prefent War, either from France, or from her Allies. She required that the power of Great Britain fhould be confined within its former limits, at the very moment when her own dominion was extended to a degree almost unparalleled in hiftory. She infifted, that in proportion to the increate of danger, the means of refiftance fhould be diminished; and that his Majefty fhould give up, without compenfation, and into the hands of his enemies, the neceffary defences of his poffeffions, and the future fafeguards of his empire. Nor was even this demand brought forward as conftituting the terms of Peace, but the price of Negotiation; as the condition on which alone his Majefty was to be allowed to learn what further unexplained demands were ftill referved, and to what greater facrifices thefe unprecedented conceffions of honour and fafety were to lead.

Whatever were the impreffions which fuch a proceeding created, they did not induce the King abruptly to preclude the means of Negotiation. In rejecting without a moment's hefitation a demand, which could have been made for no other reason than because it was inadmiflible, his Majefty, from the fixen refolution to avail himself of every chance of bringing the Negotiation to a favourable iffue, directed that an opening fhould still be left for treating on reafonable and equal grounds, fuch as might become the dignity of his Crown, and the rank and ftation in Europe, in which it has pleafed Divine Providence to place the British Nation. This temperate and conciliatory con

duct

duct was ftrongly expreffive of the benevolence of his Majefty's intentions; and it appeared for fome time to have prepared the way for that refult which has been the uniform object of all his measures. Two months elapfed after his Majefty had unequivocally and definitively refuted to comply with the unreasonable and extravagant preliminary which had been demanded by his enemies. During all that time the Negotiation was continued open, the conferences were regularly held, and the demand thus explicitly rejected by one party was never once renewed by the other. It was not only abandoned, it was openly difclaimed; affurances were given in direct contradiction to it. Promifes were continually repeated, that his Majesty's explicit and detailed propofals fhould at length be answered by that which could alone evince a real difpofition to negotiate with fincerity, by the delivery of a counter-project, of a nature tending to facilitate the conclusion of Peace; and the long delays of the French Government in executing thefe promises were excufed and accounted for by an unequivocal Declaration, that France was concerting with her Allies for thofe facrifices on their part, which might afford the means of proceeding in the Negotiation. Week after week paffed over in the repetition of thefe folemn engagements on the part of his Majetty's enemies. His defire for Peace induced him to wait for their completion, with an anxiety proportioned to the importance of the object; nor was it much to expect, that his Minifter fhould at length be informed what was the extent and nature of the conditions on which his enemics were difpofed to terminate the War.

It was in this stage of the business that, on the 11th of September, the appointment of new Pienipotentiaries was announced on the part of France, under a formal promile that their ar rival fhould facilitate and expedite the work of Peace.

To renew, in a fhape ftill more of fenfive than before, the inadmiffible demand fo long before brought forward, and fo long abandoned, was the first act of these new Meffengers of Peace. And fuch was now the undisguised impatience of the King's enemies to terminate all Treaty, and to exclude all profpect of accommodation, that even the continuance of the King's Plenipo

tentiary at the appointed place of Negotiation was made by them to depend on his immediate compliance with a condition which his Court had, two months before, explicitly refused, and concerning which no farther difcuffion had fince occurred. His reply was fuch as the occafion required; and he immediately received a pofitive and written order to depart from France.

The fubfequent conduct of his Majefty's enemies has aggravated even this proceeding, and added fresh infult to this unexampled outrage. The infurmountable ouftacles which they threw in the way of Peace were accompanied with an oftentatious profeflion of the moft pacific difpofitions. In cutting off the means of. Negotiation, they still pretended to retain the Arongest desire to negotiate; in ordering the King's Minifter to quit their country, they profefed the hope of his immediate return to it; and in renewing their former inadmisible and rejected demand, they declared their confident expectation of a fpeedy and favourable anfwer. Yet before any anfwer could arrive, they published a Declaration, announcing to their country the departure of the King's Minister, and attempting, as in every former inftance, to afcribe to the conduct of Great Britain the difappointment of the general with for Peace, and the renewal of all the calamities of War. The fame attempt has been prolonged in fubfequent communications, equally infidious and illufory, by which they have obviously intended to furnish the colour and empty pretence of a wifh for Peace, while they have ftill ftudioufly and obitinately perfifted in evading every ftep which could lead to the fuccefs of any Negotiation; have continued to infilt on the fame inadmillible and extravagant Preliminary, and have uniformly withheld all explanation either on the particulars of the proposals of Peace fo long fince delivered by his Majesty's Minifter, or on any other terms on which they were them elves ready to conclude: and this in the vain hope that it could be poffible, by any artifice, to difguife the truth of thefe tranfactions, or that any exercife of power, however defpotic, could prevent fuch facts from being known, felt, and underfood, even in France itfelf.

To France, to Europe, and to the world, it must be manifeft, that the U u 2

French

French Government (whilst they perfit in their prefent fentiments) leave his Majefty without an alternative, unless he were prepared to furrender and facrifice to the undifguifed ambition of his enemies the honour of his Crown, and the fafety of his dominions. It must be manifeft, that, inftead of fhewing, on their part, any inclination to meet his Majefty's pacific overtures on any moderate terins, they have never brought themfelves to ftate any terms (however exorbitant) on which they were ready to conclude Peace. They have afked as a Preliminary (and in the form the most arrogant and offenfive), conceffions which the comparative fitu ation of the two countries would have rendered extravagant in any ftage of Negotiation; which were directly contrary to their own repeated profeffions; and which, nevertheless, they peremp. torily required to be complied with in the very outfet: referving an unlimited power of afterwards accumulating, from time to time, fresh demands, increafing in proportion to every new conceffion.

On the other hand, the terms propofed by his Majefty have been fated in the moft clear, pea, and unequivocal

manner.

The difcuffion of all the points to which they relate, or of any others, which the enemy might bring forward as the terms of Peace, has been, on his Majesty's part, repeatedly called for, as often promited by the French Plenipotentiaries, but to this day has never yet been obtained. The rupture of the Negotiation is not therefore to be afcribed to any pretections (however inadmfible) urged as the price of Peace; not to any ultimate difference on terms, however exorbitant; but to the evident and fixed determination of the enemy to prolong the conteft, and to purfue, at all hazards, their hoftile defigns against the profperity and fafety of thefe kingdoms.

While this determination continues to prevail, his Majefty's earneft withes and endeavours to restore Peace to his fubjects must be fruitless: but his fentiments remain unaltered. He looks with anxious expectation to the mo ment when the Government of France may thew a difpofition and spirit in any degree correfponding to his own, And he renews, even now, and before all Europe, the folemn Declaration, that, in spite of repeated provocations, and at the very moment when his claims have been ftrengthened and confirmed

by that fresh fuccefs which, by the bleffing of Providence, has recently attended his arms, he is yet ready (if the calamities of War can now be clofed) to conclude Peace on the fame moderate and equitable principles and terms which he has before proposed: the reject on of fuch terms must now, more than ever, demonftrate the implacable animofity and infatiable ambition of thofe with whom he has to contend, and to them alone muft the future confequences of the prolongation of the War be afcribed.

If fuch unhappily is the fpirit by which they are still actuated, his Majefty can neither hefitate as to the principles of his own conduct, nor doubt the fentiments and determination of his people. He will not be wanting to them, and he is confident they will not be wanting to themfelves. He has an anxious, but a facred and indifp.nfable duty to fulfil he will difcharge it with refolution, conftancy, and firmness. Deeply as he muft regret the conti nuance of a War, fo deftructive in its progrefs, and fo burthenfome even in its fuccefs, he knows the character of the brave people whofe interefts and honour are entrusted to him. Thefe it is the first object of his life to mentain; and he is convinced that neither the refources nor the fpirit of his kingdoms will be found inadequate to this arduous conteft, or unequal to the importance and value of the objects which are at fake. He trufts, that the favour of Providence, by which they have always hitherto been fupported against all their enemies, will be ftill extended to them; and that, under this protection, his faithful subjects, by a refolute and vi gorous application of the means which they poffefs, will be enabled to vindi cate the independence of their Country, and to refift, with juft indignation, the affumed fuperiority of an enemy, against whom they have fought with the cou. rage, fuccefs, and glory of their anceftors, and who aims at nothing less than to destroy at once whatever has contributed to the profperity and greatnefs of the British Empire: all the channels of its induftry, and all the fources of its power; its fecurity from abroad, its tranquillity at home, and, above all, that Conftitution, on which alone depends the undisturbed enjoyment of its religion, laws, and liberties. Westminster, Oct. 25, 1797•

JOURNAL

to the House of Peers, and being feated in his royal robes on the Throne, Sir Francis Molyneux, Birt. Gentleman Ufher of the Black Red, was difpatched to order the attends..ce of the cute of Commons, who appeared forthwith at the Bar, when his Majesty delivered the following ineft gracious Speech:

"My Lords and Gentlemen,

"IT is matter of great concern to me, that the earnest endeavours which I have continued to employ, fince I last met you in Parliament, to restore to my fubje&ts the bleffings of Peace, on fecure and honourable terms, have unhappily been rendered ineffectual.

"The Declaration which I have caufed to be publifhed, and the other papers which I have directed to be laid before you, will, I am confident, abundantly prove to you, and to the world, that every step has been taken on my part which could tend to accelerate the conclufion of Peace; and that the long delay and final rupture of the Negotiation are folely to be afcribed to the evasive conduct, the unwarrantable pretentions, and the inordinate ambition of thote with whom we have to contend, and above all, to their inveterate animosity againft theie kingdoms.

I have the fulleft reliance, under the bleffing of Providence, on the vigour and wildom of your counfels, and on the zeal, magnanimity, and courage, of a great and free people, fentible that they are contending for their dearett interefts, and determined to fhew themiclves worthy of the bleflings which they are struggling to preferve.

Compelled as we are, by the moft evident neceflity, to perievere in the defence of all that is dear to us, till a more juft and pacific spirit shall prevail on the part of the enemy, we have the fatisfaction of knowing that we poffels means and refources proportioned to the objects which are at itake.

"During the period of hoftilities, and under the unavoidable preffure of accuburthens,

cou

tinued highly productive, cur national induftry has been extended, and cur commerce has furpaffed its former limits.

"The public fpirit of my people has been eminently displayed; my troops of every de cription have acquired fresh claims to the efleem and admiration of their country; and the repeated fucceffes of my Navy over all our different enemies have been recently crowned by the fignal and decifive vidory with which Providence has rewarded the exertions of my feet under the command of Admiral Lord Duncan.

"No event could be attended with more important and beneficial confequences, or form a more brilliant addition to the numerous and heroic exploits, which, in the courfe of the prefent war, have railed to a pitch, hitherto unequalled, the naval glory of the

country.

"Gentlemen of the House of Commons,

"I have directed the estimates for the enfuing year to be laid before you. The ftate of the war, joined to the happy confequences of our recent fuccefs, will, I truit, admit of fome diminution of expence, confiftently with the vigorous efforts which our ftuation indifpenfably requires. In confidering what may be the beft mode of delaying the heavy experce which will be ftill unavoidable, you will, I am perfunded, pear in mind that the prefent crilis prefents every motive to animate you to the most effectual and spirited exertions; the true value of any temporary facrifices, which you may find necellary for this purpose, can only be estimated by comparing them with the importance of fupporting et fectually our public credit, and convincing the enemy, that while we retain an ardent delire for the conclufion of Peace on fate and honourable terms, we pofles the means, as well as the determination, to fupport with vigour this arducus conteft, as long as it may be

neceffary