328 HISTORY, POLITICS, AND STATISTICS. bank and government might account. The fluctuation of English stock would then never affect the people of the islands, and the facility of making a stable provision of income would increase the spirit of frugality there. The frugal are a stationary population always. The different forms and orders of English society would grow up and the influence of the observation of civi lized gentlemen, not engaged in the ART. XXVIII. Remarks on the late War in Saint Domingo. By COLONEL CHALMERS, THE whole attempt on Saint Domin- "From the ill-fated hour of our occupy ing Port au Prince, our affairs began to decline, in proportion, as it were, to the vast accumulation of expence, and all was languor, disease, or peculation. Tiberoon and Leogane, Jean Rabel, La Petite Riviere, and L'Artibonite, were re-occcpied by the republicans; and St. Mark was nearly lost by the treachery of the men of colour, to whom the gallant Captain Brisbane unguardedly had given his confidence, though extremely offensive to the loyalists of that quarter, who, aided by forty or fifty British convalescents, bravely retook the place from Toussaint; an additional proof, that the offensive operations of this boasted chief were impotent; and his shameful repulse about this time before La Verrete, one of the central posts of the cordon of L'Arcahaye, is no inean confirmation of this assertion. "Posterity will scarcely believe, that considerably more than two millions sterling were annually expended in Saint Domingo after the possession of Port au Prince; and will lament the infatuation of the times, when informed that the Mole and the entire Peninsula of Tiberoon might have been tranquilly secured for one third of that sum. "About seven thousand troops sailed in November, 1795, from Cork; and, experiencing those repeatedly terrible gales so destructive to Admiral Christian's convoy, they were obliged to return to that place; from which, in February, 1796, they again sailed, and arrived at the Mole in May, under the command of Brigadier Howe. This place, indeed, was very ill-adapted to restore troops after such a disastrous passage; and a dreadful mortality immediately ensued*. 66 If Mr. Edwards had possessed candour, that those and almost all the troops sent to command by Major General Forbes, a brave war, will derive, from this pamphle As if to seal the destruction of the said troops, they were, it seems, detained some work on board the transports in the harbour of the Mole, previous to their being disembarked. ART. XXIX. A Letter from Barbadoes on Manumission, 8vo. THE expediency of provisions for liberation from slavery, where slavery exists, has been found in all ages. Manumission operates as an incentive to good deeds: it is a mean by which fidelity may be recompensed, service remunerated, industry indemnified, and affection acknowledged. The Hebrews, the Greeks, the Romans, had accordingly their several forms of redemption; the English have connived at the introduction of a ferm of manumission, by declaration to that effect before the Lord Mayor of London. This writer (page 16) disputes the validity of such London manumissions; and maintains, that in the West Indies some dispensers of justice would attend to them, but that others would not. The uncertainty of the law is itself a sufficient grievance, to justify, or rather to call for parliamentary interference. It is obviously desirable, that some form of manumission should be devised, com、 mon both to the islands and to the mother country, and capable of being legally executed in the presence or absence of the parties. We recommend to fix a specific and a narrow price, at which every negro should have a right to demand and exact his freedom. The receipt for that amount, from his master, would then at all times be a proper proof of manumission. The Romans conducted a slave to the temple of the goddess Feronia, and there put him on a worsted cap. This was their form of manumission, and hence the cap of liberty. It is more in the spirit of our legislation, to be less emblematic, and more calculating. Sup pose there be a stamp duty on manumis sion, and the cap of liberty engraven on the die. ART. XXX. Substance of the Speech of the Honourable C. J. Fox, in the House of Com mons, May 24, 1803. 8vo. pp. 120. COULD the manner of Demosthenes be copied, says Hume, its success would be infallible over a modern assembly. It is rapid harmony, exactly adjusted to the sense; it is vehement reasoning, without any appearance of art; it is disdain, anger, boldness, freedom, involved in a continual stream of argument. Of al human productions, the orations of Demosthenes present to us the models which approach the nearest to perfec tion. Two thousand years have elapsed since these speeches were pronounced at Athens, and the whole surface of the earth has as yet produced but one rival to Demosthenes. How fortunate the Contry which possesses, how blind the Latry, which possesses in vain so rare evolution of human intellect. Mr. is not inferior to his Greek model the highest departments of art, in exhaustive argument, or in vehement, patig, soul-enkindling expression; he plays more humour, when he condecends to the ridiculous, and, at all times, a greater command of critical allusion. Since the admirable speech on the Rus. san armament, Mr. Fox has not perhaps ecuted a superior piece of oratory to the present, for comprehension of view, sagacity of inference, for patriotism Advice, and for the adaptation of its temper to its aim. This statesman-philosopher, like the Olympian Jove, seems to look down, from his unclouded dwelling, on the mad strife of men with heartfelt pity; his benevolent wisdom estimates already the mischievous result with prospective equity, and commissions Pallas to seize the warriors by the hair :-" hearken in time, ye kings, or Nemesis, the goddess of retribution, will arrive to punish your heedlessness." What has in fact irritated this country most of any thing against Bonaparte, is the arrogance, the contemptuous tone toward us,ascribed to him. This charge is happily got rid of. "The charges of arrogance, and of a superiority assumed by the First Consul in s language towards this country, are further urged and supported on the testimony of his conversations with Lord Whitworth, to which allusions had been so frequently made: those conversations are said to have been not only offensive in their tone, but in their substance. Mr. Fox could see no foundation for this species of charge in the long conversation with Lord Whitworth, on which so much stress had been laid, and some expressions of What was the report of those expressions, as which had been so triumphantly quoted.given by Lord Whitworth himself? Does the First Consul say haughtily to him, I will come and crush you-Je vous écraserai? Just the reverse. He tells us plainly and di rectly indeed, that he shall attempt to invade us; but he says also, that he knows the chances are one hundred, to one against his success; that it is one hundred to one that he and the greatest part of the expedition would go to the bottom of the sea. He talked much, and with great earnestness, on this subject, but never once affected to diminish the danger. Yet this declaration of the First Consul, of the almost utter hopelessness of any enterprize he might attempt against us, is quoted as a proof of his arrogance and presumption! Whatever else there inay be in it,' said Mr. Fox, there certainly is in this conversation no tone of superiority; on the contrary, it is an acknowledgment of superigrity en our side. To call it arrogant or presumptuous, or to say that it is offensive in its tone, or in its substance, appears to me a very whimsical imputation. It reminds me of the most extravagant passage that is, I be lieve, to be found in a great, and, with me, most favourite poet, and who, notwithstand ing the frequent instances of the same sort which occur in his works, is one of the finest in our language, I mean Dryden, who, in the most extravagant perhaps of his pieces, and into the month of Almanzor, puts a sentiment which has always appeared to me to outsoar every flight allowable to the wildest fictions of the imagination. In the conquest of Grenada, his hero, who is burlesqued in the Rehearsal, under the character of Drawcansir, says, in anger to his rival: Thou shalt not wish her thine; thou shalt 'not dare Te be so impudent as to despair! "Now I confess, notwithstanding what I may have thought of the extravagance of my favourite poet, that I had over-rated it. I had thought that no case could happen to give common sense to those expressions, and make them applicable to real life. I thought them the daring efforts of a vivid genius, aiming at the summit of poetical hyperbole, but now I find that Dryden gave only a tame prosaic account of a matter of fact, a few years before it happened! He says, 'You shall not wish, you shall not dare, to be so impudent as to despair! Bonaparte says, he despairs of success in his invasion of Eng. land, and for his pride and impudence in despairing, as well as for his presumption in telling them so, ministers think no punishment too great. Now I profess myself to be one of those who agree in this respect with the First Consul, and who think that in his despair there is infinitely more good sense than arrogance. I think it is full one hundred to one that he and the greater part of his expedition would go to the bottom of the sea, if he should attempt a descent on our coast. I certainly think this, and I am very glad to find that Bonaparte is of the same opínion." It is not often, that a proposition of such extent and consequence as Mr. Fox on this occasion opened to the house, brought forward under circumstances so unpropitious to parliamentary union, has been distinguished by so universal a conself personally the result of that day must currence of public sentiment. To himbe presumed to have been highly gratifying. Added to the satisfaction of success, he could not be insensible to the general voice of parliament and of his country, nor to the favourable opinion of a great man, not very ready on other occasions to assist his exertions, or to do justice to his public conduct. That day also will form, should Europe providentially escape from its present danger, a very interesting epoch in its annals. If a balance to the conti nental power of France is ever to be recovered, it must be recovered through the operation of the principles contained in Mr. Fox's proposal, and through that only. If the smaller states of Europe are to enjoy any portion of independ ence, they must look for it in the system sketched out by his speech, and in that system only. ART. XXXI. Substance of the Speech of the Right Honourable HENRY ADDINGTON Friday, December 10, 1802. 8vo. pp. 35. on MR. Addington is the avowed copy of Mr. Pitt: the likeness is real, but it is not a flattering one; both are more adapted for the department of finance than of statesraanship; and harangue better with the figures of the arithmetician, than of the rhetorician. During war, it is expedient for the Chancellor of the Exchequer to make his statements of actual revenue at the highest, to infer his average produce of the year from those months which are most productive, and to wind up his a counts at the period when the tide of r venue is at flood. This favours an opi nion of the stability of funded property and of the national power to discharg the interest of further loans. It conse quently induces men to place money the stocks; and, by keeping up their price, enables the state to borrow much the cheaper. But, during peace, when the state in a train of paying, not of borrowing, becomes expedient for a Chancellor of the Exchequer to make his statements of actual revenue at the lowest, to deduce his average produce of the year from the unprofitable months or quarters, and to bring out his documents when the tide of revenue is at ebb. This favours alarm among the stock-holders, depreciates funded property; and by enabling the commissioners to make their purchases in the different stocks at the lowest possible rate, accelerates the extinction of the national debt. This speech was made during peace; and Mr. Addington has not shown himself aware of the propriety of this inversion of former policy. He follows a precedent when he should set an example; he hangs out the old show-board, and gilds the figures he should blacken. A passage, which may retain some interest, we shall select. "It was not possible till the conclusion of the year (when all these accounts were rade up) that they could be laid regularly fore the house, or stated with exactness. Great pains had however been taken to prorure the most accurate and complete information which the period of the year admitfed, and he thought himself justified, by what had been obtained, in pronouncing the commerce of the country to be in a state of unrirolled and unexampled prosperity. It appeared that the real value of the principal arcles of British produce and manufactures exported during the year ending 10th of Ocber, 1802, was 27,900,000l. while in the receding year it was something less than 24,500,000l. Supposing these articles to hear the same proportion to the whole of our sports which they had done in former years, the total value of British manufactures exported in the year 1802, would not fall short of 50,000,0001. sterling, being an increase of 8,000,000l. above the year preceding; and would be still more extraordinary. compared with any former year, the increase "The accounts of shipping were more imperfect than those of trade, as no quarterly account was made up, except in the port of London; but so far as the fact could be ascertained, it was no less satisfactory, especially with regard to the important circumstance of the increase of British shipping and seamen. "In the year ending the 10th of October 1801, 1762 British ships, measuring 418,631 tons, and manned with 23,096 men, had entered that port, and 1831 ships, measuring 350,634 tons, and carrying 24,070 men, had cleared outwards. In the year 1802, the British ships which entered inwards were 2459, the tonnage 574,700, the men 33,743. The British ships which cleared outwards were 1933, the tonnage 419,067, the men 28,112. The diminution of foreign shipping was not less remarkable than the increase of British. In 1801, the number of foreign ships which entered inwards was 3385, their tonnage 452,677, their men 20,588. The foreign ships which cleared outwards were 3381, their tonnage 445,651, the men 23,302. In the year 1802, the number of foreign ships entering inwards was reduced to 1549, their tonnage 214,117, the men 10,555. The foreign ships which cleared outwards were 1808, their tonnage 262,006, the men 14,826. These details he feared might be tedious, but he was persuaded the committee would excuse him for having entered with minuteness into the proofs of the increase of our commerce and maritime strength, which were the great sources of our prosperity and of our power." ART. XXXII. The Speech of the Earl of MOIRA, delivered in the House of Peers on Wednesday the 9th of March, 1803, on the present Situation of Public Affairs. 8vo. pp. 14. THIS animated and lofty eloquence of the Earl of Moira, called forth by the critical situation of public affairs on the eve of the present war, was admirably calculated to rouse the energies of Britons; he conceals not the dangers of the conflict, but he prepares us to encounter them like men, who fight for their property, for their hearths, for every thing that is dear to sons, to fathers, and to husbands: for their honour, their liberties, and all the cordial relations of sopial life.' The noble earl prepares us for an attempt on our country: the extent of coast possessed by our enemy renders an invasion not impracticable; but though he anticipates the desperate enterprise, he estimates the character of Englishmen too highly, to hold forth the possible subjugation of the country, as an object of the remotest apprehension. We are truly glad to see such speeches as this committed to the press: they do honour to the orator, they keep alive the noble ardour of the people, and they are not read with indifference on the continent. dispute the practicability of the plan. There is a figure of rhetoric, which the French call a Gasconade, and which the English might denominate a Welshism, under' which it seems most rational to class the eloquent passages relative to this expensive enterprize. ART. XXXIII. The Substance of a Speech intended to have been spoken in the House of Lords, Nov. 22, 1803. By R. WATSON, Lord Bishop of Llandaff. 8vo. pp. 46. THE short administration of the marquis of Lansdowne was distinguished by a wise selection of the objects of promotion: but a preference of candidates for advancement, recommended only by their merit, to those supported by parliamentary connexion, is but too sure to combine against a minister the constituted authorities. The elevation of the bishop of Llandaff was among the benefits conferred on Great Britain, by that short, but truly patriotic admini stration. The speech before us contains three distinct propositions, not equally within the province of this venerable prelate. First occurs a proposal for a rotatory militia, for training all the young men of the country, who have passed their seventeenth year, to the use of arms during six successive years. This is not an impracticable, nor an absurd plan: the military exercises promote health, bestow grace, afford amusement, and liberalize the manners. They tend to break down the barriers of rank and the arrogance of inequality, to open the gates of advancement to spirit, and to unite a whole nation in a brotherhood of feeling and affection. But they also tend to introduce an earlier libertinism: and thus to increase the proportion of prostitution, of bastardy, and of the undomesticated, uneducated, and improvident poor. Early libertinism in the numerous classes is accompanied with heavier demands on the pocket, than the wages of incipient skill can usually supply: the temptations to pecuniary improbity are thus increased. In a cominercial country this is a very alarming consideration: the exchange of honesty for honour among the industrious classes, is utter ruin. Impatience of confinement is probably another consequence of military habits, not very desirable in a mercantile nation; so that there is reason to pause before the usual division of labour is abolished, and the whole mass of our youth is barbarized into a soldiery. The bishop will not disapprove our discussing the morality of his project. Secondly occurs a proposal for the payment of the national debt; but as the means of accomplishing this magnificent scheme are veiled in obscurity, we can neither admire the ingenuity, ner Thirdly occurs a proposal for the coestablishment of popery, and the extension to all dissenters of eligibility to office. Here the bishop is at home; he argues with a candour, a liberality, and an earnestness worthy of his generous cause. "One circumstance in the situation of Ireland has always appeared to me an hardship, and that hardship still remains undiminished. I have always thought it an hardship, that a great majority of the Irish people should be obliged, at their own expence, to provide religious teachers for themselves and their families. I have the copy of a letter, in my possession, to the duke of Rutland when lord lieutenant of Ireland, in which I pressed upon his consideration, the propriety of making a provision for the catholic bishops and clergy in that country; and I have been assured by men, well achad such a measure been then judiciously quainted with the temper of the Irish, that adopted, a rebellion would have been avoided, and Ireland would long ago have been tranquillized. Whether the time for trying such a mean of tranquillization be now so passed that it cannot be recalled, I know not; but whether it be so passed or not, the measure itself, being founded in justice, s not unworthy the consideration of govern ment. I love, my lords, to have politics, on all occasions, founded on substantial jus tice, and never on apparent temporary expe dience, in violation of justice; and it does appear to me to be just, That the religions teachers of a large majority of a state should be maintained at the public expence. . If you would make men good subjects, deal gently with their errors; give them e to get rid of their prejudices; and especially take care to leave them no just ground for complaint. Men may for a time he inflamed by passion, or may mistake their pertinacity for a virtue, or may be misled by bad ass ciates; but leave them no just ground of complaint, and their aberrations from recti tude of public conduct will never be lasting truth and justice, though occasionally of structed in their progress, never fail at length to produce their proper effect. catholics, without injustice being done t "Justice, I think, may be done to the the protestants.The protestant clergy may continue to possess the tithes of the country |